My Father True Story – THE TRAIN OF DEATH

This story I call (( THE TRAIN OF DEATH ))

Back In Iraq where we used to reside as my father was working with the royal family. He was their portrait painter . He used to paint a large oil portraits of the royal family members. And they use to reward him. He was also a civil army engineer and the royal family  sent him to UK to study. When the communist took over Iraq most of the royal family was slaughtered and executed , hanged raped and massacred by the communists and by the Iranians followers. Many of the royal workers, contractors , suppliers, and friends also were hanged and many others run away to Jordan and Turkey .

My dad didn’t think of it  and he wasn’t scared as he was not a politician, he was  just a worker for the government that what he thought. Boy he was wrong.

 For the communist thugs that was not good , they came to our home knock the door so hard my dad by now was preparing for such a day as he have heard many of his friends were rounded up and tortured,  so he wear many thick clothes .

When the army came to take him they beat him up at the door with sticks and kicked my mom and told her to go inside I was at the balcony screaming my father my father, leave my father alone,  you sons of bitches I will kill you all .

I was only 6 years old ,one of the police aim his machine gun at me and the other officer told him to put it down , they took my father in the army car and drove a way. 

From that time I hated all the Communists thugs.  and I vowed that their blood will be OK to spill anywhere in that sick country called Iraq .

They took him to jail and later he told us what they done to him ,as they tortured him with electric, cold and hot water, sleep deprivation. ceiling fan torture  and water boarding.

The judge was one of the communist thugs and it happened that this judge wanted to marry my aunt (the sister of my father ) but my father hated that man as he knew he was communist thugs,and drunken idiot. This judge  never forgot my father , and  took a revenge on my dad , and sentence him to 5 years in jail

My father put in  prison number 1 , which is very famous in torturing the political inmates. The Judge didn’t like the sentence so he ordered some of his thugs to kill my father and make it as accident .The  judge  told  the authority  that my dad oil painting of the royal family fall under the propaganda section , The army then  took my dad to what they call (( the train of death)), along with more than 45 prisoners .

Now this train of death is new Iraqi method  of killing.  What they do is that they put all the prisoners in one of the iron train car,  and they lock the iron door with no windows , and put  all the prisoners in the train car  with no water . The train rail  from Baghdad to Basra in July or august in the hot summer days and then back from Basra to Baghdad by that time most of the prisoners will die from heat exhausting ,thirst and heat stroke.

They will take all the dead bodies  to north so no one can see them in Baghdad,  and then they get a doctor to check them and write the cause of death sun stroke as they try to run away etc…so they always fabricate stories so the UN and the human rights can make to believe the medical reports. That was the plan.

But  one of those 45 prisoners had a very good tribal connections,  and his relatives and tribes were waiting for the train , they were carrying machine guns and grenades , and heavy weapons . They managed to stop the train and kill the guards,  then stop the train and open the doors and managed to rescue more than 32 and the rest were dead already.

 My dad was a life , he said he was putting his nose in a small hall in the corner of the train car,  and managed to breathe some air . the armed tribes helped the prisoners,  gave them water and food, then took their sons and others and run away to Syria. My father  and other 15 with him decided to stay beside the train of death .

The tribal men told them that if they stay here the Iraqi army thugs will come and kill them all , as they will be accused of this accident . My dad was worried and he was thinking of my mother and us .

 So he decided to walk with some of the prisoners and go to a city called Balad. They went to the police  station that 3 km from that train , and they surrendered and told them that some thieves did this to the train and took some prisoners . The police put them in cell and called the army.  The army came and collect them , tortured them gain, kick them and then ask them all kind of questions but no one knows the identity of those tribal men as they were all masked and no one can identify them .

The army send my father and the prisoners to a regular prison,  and they lifted the death penalty from them as they came willingly to the police station and they didn’t run from justice , and that save them from the train of death.

My dad went to city of Mousel prison , up north Iraq,  and he become the prison artist,  painter and army portrait and his painting still in the Iraqi army museum.

Many of the royal painting was burned. Those Iraqi thugs  do not give a shit with art and painting until now , and they do not care with people talents only when it fit their purpose and propaganda , that’s why most of the Arabs and middle east culture and great contribution were done long time ago,  and all declined after the fall of Turkish empire. Now we are getting fanatics burning and destroying arts , museums and destroying cultures.

The days went by and I graduated and I was doing x-ray in one of the hospital in Iraq when a patient arrived to have a skull x-ray and to my surprise I found that he is the son of that judge who put my father to death.

I called my older brother and my good friends and I told them what i think is with me, they all came with weapons and waited  outside the hospital . But then I felt sorry for him he was my patient , he was nice,  many of those thugs  were long gone and died, some  arrested and put in prisons. New government took over Iraq and his father was already hanged. It was so hard for me to seek revenge, I was remembering my dad pain, and our hunger and poverty caused by this man father, and was thinking of  how my mother were suffered because of his father the evil judge.

 I called my mom and I told her who is my patient , then she was mad at me and told me don’t ever do any thing to him . My son be better than them don’t fight evil with evil , she told me.

 But mom , I vowed to revenge from all of them and this is my chance, I told her. They will be judge by god ,  his father have already been hanged, and he paid for his crimes , she said.

So I went out and told my brother and his armed  friends  it is a mistaken identity , it is not him. I was afraid that if  the patient go out they will shoot him and kill him 100%  , so I save his life , the life of the son of a criminal thug .

I really felt good , my heart needed a revenge,  and my mind was thinking of God . But my mother words ringed in my ear , and I conducted myself with good ethical and professional way and let him go and helped him.

When I went home and told my father he was so happy that I let him go unharmed .I was so surprise to hear this from my dad ! After all they done to you ! I asked.

Son it is not his mistake he was young and has nothing to do with it, my dad said. 

Revenge is sweet and forgiveness is sweater , and more difficult than you imagine, but when we  forgive for God sake, it is the best feeling  you  ever have , and God is watching us  and you . Justice must be applied to those who did the crime , and not their families  or those who has nothing to do with the crime, otherwise it will be a criminal act. We must forgive those who hate us and transgression against us and that what Jesus said once and all others after and before him.

God bless you my dad , he passed away in 2003 .

Thank you for reading

Steve Ramsey, PhD.   Canada