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Walking through the door at Sinbad’s Café and Bakery (2528 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis) I was met with a mouthwatering array of hot buffet dishes of lamb, lentils, rice, and vegetables, and a deli and pastry counter featuring feta cheeses, Middle Eastern salads, and a variety of olives. The aroma of freshly baked pita bread and spices permeated the store.
Sinbad’s proprietor is Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American man of courteous demeanor, a serious smile, and eyes that sparkle with kindly humor and intelligence. A father of three teenage boys, Sami has lived in the United States since 1986, leaving behind in Iraq a mother, four sisters, a brother, and their families. One sister lost two infants due to the effects of UN sanctions. Another sister, who has eleven children, has had a difficult time finding enough food to feed her family due to the embargo. More than once she has felt so desperate that she has attempted suicide.
This past January, I interviewed Sami. This is a brief excerpt from that interview.
Judith Anthony: In what part of Iraq does your family live?
Sami Risouli: They live in An-Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad, and those places, among other places in Iraq, were subject to being bombed once in a while. We don’t hear about that here.
JA: No, not in the mainstream media here.
SR: So I have here (gesturing to a television set near the pastry case) programs via satellite which I can see . . . I see the Iraqi channel and lots of Arab channels as well via satellite here, so we know when the American planes fly with the British . . .
So I have been here since 1986, and in June 2001 I became an American citizen. I have this nightmare about possible war against our people in Iraq. I say “our people in Iraq” because I believe people on this planet are one. There is no difference between here and there. My home is here, and my home is there and my home is everywhere.
JA: Your family in Iraq—do they wish to stay there or leave?
SR: Nobody likes to leave home, but because of the hardship of the economy—and people are really tired of the effects of the embargo—they don’t have enough to eat, to feed their kids. They don’t have proper medication when people get sick. All this is decided by the UN and in the UN there is a committee which is controlling these things, which are mainly prohibited by the U.S. and the British members . . .
JA: You are an American citizen. Do you have a desire to go back to Iraq?
SR: To visit, of course. I mean, I may be an ordinary citizen, but I feel like I have an extra task that is to connect the two countries, rather than see them apart and not in a normal relationship.
JA: Do the people in Iraq understand that the American people don’t hate the Iraqis?
SR: Yes . . . They want you to go to Iraq as sisters visiting them, to lay out with them the beautiful future of united humanity, not to go as armed personnel with tanks and cruise missiles with all this destruction . . . People understand in Iraq that American people are so nice, they are just like them. I mean, there is no difference. But what moves and drives the desire for war is the self-interest and self-centeredness, the greed, and the power.
This is what I believe: The U.S., to maintain their superiority as a superpower in the world, needs sources of energy. Without the energy, they cannot maintain this position, especially with the growth of the European Union, and also the industry advancement and technology in Japan. In order to control this in China and North Korea, they have to have the oil . . .
JA: Is there anything else you would like to say to WAMM members?
SR: I would like to say this: Three thousand years ago there were no Jews, no Muslims, no Christians . . . there were only people, one family, one human family. . . Peace and God are the same. God is one in peace and peace is one in God. So if we come to this understanding as humans, as people, we will prevent evil in whichever form it comes. . . . But we have to work at it . . . we have to talk about it and educate people about this fact and make the difference . . . make earth a better place to live for everybody and share the wealth and share the knowledge.
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