Iraqi Born Under Saddam, Now is American With Story

The Iraqi government had been in power since 1963. The rules of how to live and who to fear were developing and taking By 1969 the regime took control of all media and gave many of the countries intellectuals, poets and artists a choice between joining the Baathist party or they would loose their jobs, be prosecuted, tortured or put to death. Of these people many would give in to the regimes demands out of fear, the others would often disappear. Benyamin Benyaminan can tell you stories first hand of life under dictatorship. He and his family lived in Iraq.

In 1973 Benyamin Benyamin lived in Iraq with his family. His family had been reading an Arab Magazine called Life in United States. They knew there was a better life outside of Iraq and decided to leave Iraq. They discussed a plan with their final destination as the U.S.

The family could not leave all at once because the government would realize they were defecting. They decided to leave the country a few at a time. The family met together and developed the plan. The first to leave would go to Lebanon (a friendly country) and get an apartment, a job and begin set up roots there. The idea was for the first to establish Lebanon as the stepping-stone from Iraq, then to a family member already living in Chicago, IL. Benyamin and his brother were the first to leave. The two had to be careful when asking permission from the passport officer to leave the country. Benyamin pieced together a simple story to get him out without suspicion of defection. He told the officer his fiancé was in Lebanon and he needed to go there to marry her. They were granted a pass to leave.

Once Benyamin and his brother were safely in Lebanon they began to work and send money home to his family. This money would be used to prepare for others to leave. They communicated by letter. The regime read all correspondence entering Iraq from other countries. Because of this the family agreed to use a code in their letters.

Once it was time for Benyamin and his brother to leave Lebanon for Chicago, they would send for a few family members to make the leap of faith to Lebanon. In a letter home Benyamin used the agreed upon code. He wrote in the letter inviting his family to his “graduation ceremony.” This phrase meant ‘leave the country’. The family knew it was time to send the second group to Lebanon. Once the new family members made it safely to their apartment, Benyamin stayed a while for the family to make their surroundings familiar. He gave them the keys to the apartment, showed them where the grocery store was located, and had already found them jobs. Benyamin and his brother then left Lebanon for Chicago where they found a place to live in a Christian church and found work in a factory putting nameplates onto refrigerators and appliances. The war in Lebanon started in 1975 and the United Nations rushed papers for the remaining family in Lebanon to leave the country.

The Iraqi government had been in power since 1963. But the rules of how to live were already firmly in place. By 1969 the regime began taking control of all media and gave many of the countries intellectuals, poets and artists a choice between joining the Baathist party or they would loose their jobs, be prosecuted, tortured or put to death. Most would give into the regimes demands while others would disappear.

Benyamin is a member of Assyrian Church of the East. The church is growing. NobleDoctrine encourages contributions to the church.

Assyrian Church of the East8712 N 35th AvePhoenix, AZ 85051Learn more about the Assyrians and their history, resource; http://www.aina.org/aol/peter/brief.htm#Language (Assyrian International News Agency)