“Introduction”

As much as most of us attempt to know it all, there is a naïve part in each of us. This trusting naïve part could not be stronger in me as I have often put trust before blame. For most of my life, I have been non-judgmental.  

I recall the first time I hypnotized a murderer around 1980. It was a well-known murder case in Chicago. A man had shot and killed someone in front of thirty-two witnesses. He remembered nothing of the shooting. I was called to Cook County Jail to hypnotize him in order to have him recall killing this person. I witnessed an extraordinary event. I viewed a man who without any doubt killed someone but in his own way attempted to put it out of his mind. In his mind at the time of the killing he felt justified and then later realized he had done wrong. His mind wiped it out because he could not deal with it. With hypnosis he was able to recall the event. After listening to his story for more than 4 hours, I realized that even a murderer has a reason for what they do. It may not be right, but in their own mind they can find a justification for it. My mother taught me as a young child not to judge others because they may have a reason for what they do or who they are which we may not understand.  I began a philosophy to not judge others, but instead to observe, learn  and love. 

When I was asked to go to Iraq to hypnotize a business man who had been injured I had no idea of this businessman's identity.  I have often wondered if I had known he was Uday Hussein, would I have still gone? 

I was open to going because I was naïve enough and trusting enough to think I could possibly bring together a separation of two countries which had continued for the past ten years. My thoughts were, if the former Iraqi Government invited me to come there for the purpose of helping one of their people, then they must want to make a positive connection with our country. Of course as the turn of events occurred with the war of 2003 I obviously was wrong. I recall reading on the Internet about travel to Iraq in April of 2001, “Do not travel to Iraq as it is dangerous. If you are there leave immediately!” My first thought was not how dangerous it may be, but who was this person to write such a statement. What was this statement based on and what kind of fears did they have or what knowledge did they have. This is how my mind thinks. I remove my mind from the fears of others and trust a feeling which is deep within all of us. It is a feeling of trust or fear from our inner self, not from others. I have sat in my office since 1970 and have listened to over 60,000 people. I have learned that many have fears based on someone else’s experience, not their own. We seem to be a world of trusting others more than we trust ourselves. Many especially trust the media. How often have you heard a statement similar to, “I know it is true, I read it in the newspaper, I heard it on the news or the leader said so!”  So we move along in life believing what others have told us and never finding out information on our own. The statement of Iraq being dangerous could not have been further from the truth for me.

For some reason which I cannot explain it felt good to me with the thought of traveling to another land feared by most because of the media. I am not sure what God may be to you, but in some way within all of us I feel there is a higher power guiding us. If we quiet our mind, remove the unfounded fears, we will hear the truth for us. It may not always be the truth of the media or the masses or our leaders, but it will be our truth. I have learned to trust this inner truth and for many years I have not had any negative experiences because of this trust.  

I thought deeply of this invitation from another country which had such a terrible reputation. Most likely from what the media said it was one of the ten most dangerous places in the world. I wondered why I was asked to go and because of such a profound invitation, how could I possibly turn it down! If our own government felt I would be safe, then it must be safe. Why else would I have been selected to go to Iraq? Is there anyone else who would not have feared going to this feared country?  I began to ask and found there were few who would have gone. My assumption was at that time, there must be a reason for me to go to this special place and meet with some of the most feared people in the world. In my naïve mind it must be to help bring some love and peace to our two countries.   

I have waited until I felt the time was right to tell this story. I finished writing this story one year after I returned from Baghdad. By the time I found an agent to handle such a unique story and then had it re-edited to meet the standards and needs of the publishers the journey began. During the next two years there were 8 publishers and three movie houses very interested in pursuing the story, but one by one they returned the manuscript with a similar note saying, “At this time we cannot publish this story!”  I was never told why. Of course the war began in 2003 and as each day went on, the media promoted how bad it was in Iraq and how bad many of the people of Iraq were. Of course my story does not have one bad interpretation of the city or the people. Even the feared Government people I lived with for 20 days were not as bad as we have read and been led to believe. At least to me they were not and this is all I can write of, what I experienced. I am sure there are other horror stories, but I know of none. Maybe this was the reason that the publishers said, “At this time we cannot publish this story.” There were many stories of Iraq and the people which were published after September 11, 2001, but none with a positive description of how generous the people were or how beautiful the country was. Only how bad things were.  

This is a story with many interpretations. It is a story of people living in a far away place who most of us never think of as having jobs to go to each day, schools to get up for each morning and sitting down at the table for dinner with their family each evening. I often use an example, “Most of us cannot imagine what others are going through each day unless they tell us.” Can you imagine the horror of getting up every day in Baghdad and heading off to work? I wonder what you would feel if your son or daughter were to head off to school each day with tanks, soldiers shooting in the streets and bombs going off. Would you let your child go to school? And sitting down to dinner would be an interesting experience. When would you go shopping for groceries to sit down to dinner? Would you go shopping for necessities when the insurgents were resting or the guns weren’t firing? Could you imagine sitting down to dinner and your door is broken and the soldiers say, “Ooops, sorry, wrong house!” Yes, this is land which few Westerners can imagine living in. I lived in Baghdad two different times for almost 20 days with some of the most feared people in the world. I met many of the residents of Baghdad who may no longer be alive. I interviewed many, photographed Baghdad and its people and video taped and recorded their stories. Because of the embargo and bombs occasionally falling since 1990 they have had a difficult time. Of course with the war of 2003 it only became worse.

I sat with a young 7 year old girl named Christina and heard her tell me about school and the fear of walking to school each day for fear of a bomb falling from the sky. Imagine your young son or daughter going to school each day with a fear of another bomb falling. I say another as many bombs had fallen since the 1990 Gulf War.  I met fathers who made $30.00 a month to support their families and many families living in one apartment bringing their monies together to make life work the best they could. In 1990 one Iraqi Dinar was the equivalent of three American dollars. In 2001 one American dollar was the equivalent  of 250 Dinars.  About seven cents per Dinar compared to $3.00 per Dinar only 10 years before.

Even though during the Gulf War my own country had dropped bombs that had destroyed hospitals and every other kind of infrastructure, directly and indirectly killing over a half a million children and civilians in the years following; even though the embargo had caused untold suffering to families forced to sell everything they owned just to survive; even though the average salary in Iraq was now only $15.00 to $30.00 a month, barely enough to get by in the inflated economy, the Iraqis did not blame me personally or the American people for their misfortunes. Nor did they make me feel like an outsider or an “enemy.” Instead, they welcomed me, treating me with the same kindness, respect, and hospitality that they had been showing to one another for thousands of years. That is just the way this culture operates. (Or at least did before the horrors of the Iraqi or Second Gulf War of 2003.)

Of course we could blame the prior Iraqi government for such devastation, but also the embargo I would imagine had much to do with the difficulties in the living conditions of the people of Baghdad. With over 800,000 Iraqis killed since the war of 2003 began we need to wonder if we have done justice to a country which has existed since the beginning of time without our interference.  With much resistance and even blocks from many sources I have decided to bring my story to the public to share life in Baghdad and describe the personalities of many feared leaders including Uday Hussein.    

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing this story.