Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 11, 2003

On Wednesday, in the U.S. Senate, and yesterday—Thursday—in the U.S. House of Representatives, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, the former commander of the war in Iraq who has since retired, were questioned about the deceptions in the war's preparations, as well as the current problems and casualties of U.S. forces in Iraq and concerns about the future of their presence there. Their answers were not convincing. The Defense Secretary did not attend the second session, which added to the volume of protests. Now, very serious concern has gripped the Americans, because they hear daily reports of their killed and wounded in Iraq and see no progress, and the discrepancy in casualty figures further obscures the situation.

This morning, while a report on Voice of America radio said that the number of American casualties—since the war—is over 30, a second report, quoting German officials, said that the number of American dead is over 210. The U.S. has also requested Germany and France to send military forces to Iraq to establish security, and they have said they are only willing to act under UN supervision. The U.S. military officially announced today that since the beginning of the Iraq war, more than 1,200 soldiers have been wounded in Iraq.

The official in charge of Iraq's Oil-for-Food program has stated that despite having the budget, sending food to Iraq has become difficult due to security and management issues. A large number of Iranian Kurd refugees, who have been in a camp in Kalar, Iraq since the past, have fled due to insecurity and shortages. Previously, a large number of Iranian refugees from camps in southern Iraq had also fled for the same reasons. The Iraqi people consider them enemies, foreigners, dependent on Iraq's Ba'ath, and a nuisance.

Today, several attacks were carried out against U.S. forces in Iraq. In Friday prayers in Iraq, there is great emphasis on the necessity of their withdrawal and the end of the occupation, and the troops, under pressure from Iraqi fighters, have withdrawn from Fallujah.

I went to the University of Tehran to lead the Friday prayers. I read a sermon on trust in God (tawakkul), and in the second sermon, I spoke about the difficult quagmire in Iraq for America and the failure of the American conspiracy in Iran. In the evening, Mr. Seyyed Javad Tabatabai, the son of Seyyed Aziz, came. He brought a handwritten manuscript of the late Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Tabatabai Yazdi, the author of 'Urwat al-Wuthqa, and sought assistance in resolving a problem he has with the National Bank of Iran.

In Fars, an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale occurred; it caused only one death and 20 injuries.