Iraqi Americans: Witnessing a Genocide

by Weam Namou

Overview

In Witnessing a Genocide, Weam Namou shares her visit to Iraq in 2000, a journey where she embraced Easter with relatives, remembered her magical childhood in Baghdad, and enjoyed her ancestors' town of Telkaif in Mosul. The trip, held dear to her heart and preserved through pictures of extravagant picnics, tours of ancient monasteries and other lively explorations, is soon drowned by the events that follow the 2003 US-led invasion.

Like the rest of the Iraqi American community, Namou watches from a distance the destruction and devastation befalling her birth country. The violence and persecution of Iraqi Christians causes most of her relatives still living in Iraq to flee. The emergence of the Islamic State further ravages this community. But Iraqi Christians are not the only targets. Over three million Iraqis, of different ethnic and religious background, have been displaced by the conflict in Iraq since January 2014.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780977679072
Publisher:	Hermiz Publishing, Inc.
Publication date:	07/21/2015
Series:	Iraqi Americans , #2
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.29(d)

About the Author

Weam Namou is an award-winning author of 12 books - three novels, one poetry book, the Iraqi Americans Book Series, and a 4-book memoir series about her experience with Lynn Andrews' 4-year shamanism school. For nearly ten years, she has been a journalist for the Chaldean News and is a reporter and ambassador of Arab America. Formerly, she was a columnist for the Macomb and the Oakland Observer, a contributor for the Gazette van Detroit, and a feature writer for the St. Clair Shore Times. She is the ambassador to Arab America, where she is also a regular contributor.

Namou received her Bachelor's Degree in Communications from Wayne State University. She studied fiction and memoir through various correspondence courses, poetry in Prague and screenwriting at MPI (Motion Picture Institute of Michigan). She writes for several local newspapers and her essays, articles and poetry have appeared in national and international publications including World Literature Today, Mizna, Gargoyles, Acumen 59 [England], the Transnational [Germany], MultiCultural Review and numerous other literary publications, including a chapbook called Lettre Savage.

As the co-founder and president of IAA (Iraqi Artists Association) and Ambassador of Arab America, Namou has given poetry readings, lectures and workshops at numerous cultural and educational institutions such as Madonna University, Wayne State University, Oakland Community College, and RAWI Conference at the Arab American National Museum, and Allied Media Conference. In 2012, she won a lifetime achievement award from E'Rootha.

Namou studied Sikkim from one of her teachers, a Native American man who lived with the Tibetan monks. She is a certified Reiki Master, and a graduate of Lynn Andrews' 4-year shamanic school.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
INTRODUCTION ix

Part One: The Development of the Islamic State
1 Small History 1
2 Baghdad, the Gift of God 4
3 Mosul, Once the Home of Christians 12
4 The Restart of Iraq's Christian Persecution 17
5 Attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church 21
6 The Battles in Fallujah 34

Part Two: ISIS Announces the Creation of an Islamic State
7 Camp Speicher Massacre 46
8 The Islamic State Attacks Nineveh Plains 50
9 Protests Against the Islamic State 59
10 The Yazidi Genocide 66

Part Three: Iraqi Americans Try to Pick Up the Pieces
11 Finding an Alternative to Ryan Road 74
12 Speak the Truth Even if Your Voice Shakes 80
13 Teachers Educating and Creating Hope 89
14 The Compensation Project 94
15 Under the Umbrella of Bishop Francis 99

Part Four: The Archaeological Riches of Mesopotamia
16 The Museum and Famous Sites 106
17 Babylon, Walking on Cracked Ice...From Babylon to USA 113

Conclusion 117