Chapter 7 4.not a fantasy

This was the first time I had seen the city, for I had never sailed in such an ocean in my life. — I can't think of a city where photography is not allowed.When a reporter who used to be stationed in Baghdad told me the story of a photojournalist whose fax machine was seized at Saddam Hussein International Airport and his camera was confiscated while taking pictures on the street, I once attributed it to "Fairy Night". Tan".For four years, I have hiked the Great Wall and caught pandas in the Qinling Mountains.Expeditions on the roof of the world, floods, fires, riots, earthquakes... People who have even got the scoops such as "Death of Love at the Great Wall" and "The Robbery Civil Aviation Returns to Beijing" and other scoop news, what will they do? impossible"?But after a long distance with Baghdad, I was suddenly stupid for a long time.Li Dawei of the Baghdad branch said: "The danger you can encounter in Beijing is at most 180, but here it is at least 360."

I flew to Amman, and the chief reporter of Xinhua News Agency in Jordan told me about his experience of being caught by security personnel and confiscated by security personnel in Baghdad for taking pictures in Baghdad, and advised me not to act recklessly on the eve of the outbreak of war.After telephone consultation with Boss Lin of the head office, it was decided to temporarily store my precious fax machine in Jordan.I entered Baghdad with a Leica M-4 with an extremely light shutter hanging around my neck. On the first day, a reporter based in Baghdad educated me on the situation: I have to obey the rules when working here, otherwise accidents will easily happen.For example, Salah of the American League and Mamun of Reuters had their visas cancelled. Bazoft, a British journalist who filmed Baghdad's "military installations", was hanged seven months ago, and an unruly reporter from the Soviet Union's TASS news agency died. Because of the car accident, the Italian journalist who wanted to snatch the exclusive... Finally, it was the reporter himself, who was "reminded" by Baghdad because of his close relationship with the British and American journalists.During the conversation, another friend interrupted another joke, saying that half a year ago they discussed getting up at 5 o'clock every Friday morning to go fishing, but they were worried that they would not be able to get up in the morning.Unexpectedly, at 5 o'clock on Friday morning, the phone rang in the living room, and the receiver was picked up, but no one spoke.After several consecutive Friday mornings at 5 o'clock, the phone rang. The reporter called it "the little alarm clock of friendship with ears", which made cold sweat run down my spine.Seeing that my face was blue and my eyes were straight, my brother hurriedly said that it is not absolutely impossible to shoot, as long as you have a press officer with you, and the press officer will guide you on what to shoot and tell you how to shoot.

The history of the Middle East is always like the colorful costumes of the nomads in the Middle East, which makes me dizzy.Its frontiers were probably changed due to the wandering of nomads.Iraq is the first place with the longest history in this area. In ancient times, it was famous for its Two Rivers Civilization, Hanging Gardens, and Hammurabi Code. The Babylonian Kingdom in 2000 BC was the political and cultural center of this area.The Arab Empire established in the sixth century AD unified the Middle East, and Mansour, the Abbasid dynasty, built Baghdad as the capital of the empire. Today's Iraq is located in the northeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran, and facing the Persian Gulf to the southeast.But Muslims all over the world call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf, and the Persian Gulf is the name of the Persian-speaking Iranians.Iraq currently has an area of ​​444,400 square kilometers and a population of 11.8 million, with Arabs accounting for 4/5 and Kurds accounting for 1/5.Successively broke away from the rule of the Ottomans and the British until the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq in August 1921.During the same period, Ibn Saud, chief of the Najt province of Nejd in the great desert, expanded to the Gulf. It annexed Hejaz in 1924 and called itself the Sultan of Hank Nejd, and changed its name to Saudi Arabia in 1932.

The Palestine area has been ruled by the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century. After the First World War, it accepted the British mandate. In 1921, the British divided Palestine into two with the Jordan River as the boundary. The west was called Palestine, and the east was called the Transjordan Emirate.It was not until May 25, 1946 that Britain recognized the independence of Transjordan. On May 25, 1947, it was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and in April 1949, it was named the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.The Hashemite family was nomadic in the Arabian Peninsula, and was defeated by Saudi Arabia and moved to this place via Iraq. Today's Jordanian flag still retains the color of the king's flag of the Arabian Peninsula.

Today's Kuwait (The State of Kuwait) is located in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula, on the northwest coast of the Persian Gulf.It has an area of ​​18,000 square kilometers and a population of 1 million.In history, Kuwait has always belonged to the remote and barbaric land under Iraq. The Arab Empire in the seventh century AD placed it under the capital Baghdad as a province; later it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. In 1899, Britain and Kuwait signed a treaty not to have any conflicts with other countries. relations; World War II reduced to a British protectorate.It did not gain independence until June 19, 1961.After the discovery of oil in the Middle East, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia disputed over an oil field and peacefully demarcated the border in 1970.During the Ottoman Empire, Kuwait was a county in Basra Province, Iraq.The Treaty of Lausanne established the Kingdom of Iraq and the Emir of Kuwait under British intervention in World War I.In the eyes of Iraqis with a long history, regardless of ancient history or modern history, Kuwait treats Iraq like Taiwan belongs to China.The Kuwaitis, on the other hand, see themselves as Singapore separated from Malaysia.

In short, no matter where the old and treacherous British withdraw, they must leave a shit.Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and even the whole of Asia, Africa and Latin America are trying to make the independent countries as chaotic as possible, and profit from it with the so-called "glorious isolation" foreign policy.The British are proud of their "balance of power diplomacy" (Ba1ance of the Power), that is, Prime Minister Disraeli "has no eternal enemies, no eternal friends, only eternal interests". On Christmas Eve, I was at the desk of the Iraqi News Department at the Rashid Hotel, photographing Arab women in black robes singing and dancing in front of Saddam's portrait and buying Christmas gifts.My escort watched me work with satisfaction.Suddenly, a tall Arab man squeezed up next to me and ordered me in low English: "Listen, I don't allow you to take pictures of my sisters laughing under the portrait of that person."Back at the branch, I asked Lao Zhu for advice, and he said that I had run into a Kuwaiti in exile.

All churches in Baghdad closed at 9 p.m. that night.At this time, there are still ten days before the United Nations ultimatum takes effect. The next day, I was ordered to go to the US embassy to shoot "10,000 Women and Children Protest Against US Imperialism".A few toddlers hobbled around with big cards reading "Saddam, not Bush" and "Peace, not war".A white reporter on the left side of me took pictures and asked me when I came. We followed the crowd side by side and shouted the slogan "Down with Bush".I found out afterwards that this man was actually Dominique from the Associated Press.

Four years of news-grabbing experience once again confirmed the truth in "Peer Gynt": "When the wolves are howling outside, the safest thing is to howl together." Walking back down Sadong Street, looking at the empty glass windows on both sides, I dared to dare.I squeezed the 35mm wide-angle Leica with my right hand, walked forward casually, probably almost clicked, never dared to put the camera in front of my eyes, turned two streets, a policeman in gray uniform stopped me, and used a ratio I also asked in bad English if I took pictures of the shop windows on the side of the road, and I said absolutely not.I said that I was carrying this broken camera all the time, and I was going to rush back to the news department to publish the article. The only thing on the camera was the heroic scene of the anti-American parade of women and children.The police said that he had just received a report that a Japanese secretly took pictures of the store.I said that's possible, but I'm 100% Chinese, and I'm a brother. Haven't you seen "People's China" written on my body?As he spoke, he took out the identification plate with Chinese, English, and Arabic written on it under the collar.The police read my blood type B dubiously, saying that it might be a mistake.I yelled "Down with Bush" a few more times, which made the police look in awe, and then I asked the police how to get a taxi to the news department.

Qadishiya Square is located in the center of Baghdad.There are giant swords tens of meters high at each of the four corners of the square. The big hands holding the swords belong to Saddam Hussein and Nebuchadnezzar (that is, the king who burned Jerusalem and took the Jews captive in Babylon). The right hand is scaled up, and the tassel on the hilt is made of thousands of Iranian soldiers' helmets.The four huge swords crossed two by two, like a rainbow in the sky, standing at both ends of the square.According to reports, the "Kadishiya Victory" originally referred to a battle in which ancient Babylon defeated Persia.In 637 AD (the 16th year of the Muslim calendar), 120,000 Persian pagans invaded Babylon, and the Persians killed Hela with 33 war elephants.Abu Naheji, a death row prisoner imprisoned in Qadishia Prison, challenged 3,600 Muslims to defeat 120,000 Persians. This is known as the "Grand Victory of Qadishia" in history. Victory for the Persians.After the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqis believed that the Iranians had been defeated, and the Iraqi side believed that the Battle of Fao was comparable to the victory of Qadishia, so this square was specially built to celebrate.It is said that in the event of a battle, Kadisiya Square can be used as a military airport, so it is naturally listed as the number one protection target. The army, paratroopers and elite Republican Guards are responsible for the security tasks.

I hung Nikon around my neck and walked straight to the Republican Guard leading the squad with my ugly Leica M-4 in my right hand.A second lieutenant ordered me to stop, but I went right up to him and kissed him on the cheek saying "saramalikon" (a greeting among Muslims), his beard tickling me.Then came "Ai Helan, Yahe, Xinixiabi, Sohafi (OK, brother! People's China reporter)." He also greeted me very politely.I held up the Lycra to him, and pressed it with gestures: "Sura Monken (can you take pictures)?" He waved his hands again and again: "Mushu Mengken (no)." posture.I meekly threw a bunch of cameras on the ground, started talking about the AK-47 submachine gun in their hands, and said that the Chinese army also used the same type of rifle, but it was called Type 56.Shannanhaibeichaos, talk straight to the girl in Syria is the most beautiful. "Violent porn" quickly turned the soldier's attention away from the camera, but I knew in my heart that I had an exclusive photo of Qadishiya Square.