RAJAA AL-KHUZAI: IRAQI WOMAN OF CALIBER
By Beatriz Lecumberri - DIWANIYAH, Iraq
Khuzai, member of Iraqi Governing Council, says interim government is
only salvation for Iraqi people.
October 1, 2003 – (Middle East Online) Whoever thinks that Iraqi
women are always veiled in black, live to raise children and have no professional
ambitions or real clout has not met Rajaa al-Khuzai.
A well-established gynaecologist from the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyah
who also sits on Iraq's 25-member US-backed interim Governing Council,
Khuzai gave up her medical career in July and jumped into politics.
Helping women give birth was Khuzai's mission in life until her husband
encouraged her to take part in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq.
"My husband persuaded me to join the Governing Council. He told me
that someone who saved the lives of women and babies is strong enough
to help save the dignity of the Iraqi people," she said.
Her decision turned her life upside down.
She was criticised and threatened by hardliners in the conservative Shiite
Muslim community of Diwaniyah and had to rely on bodyguards to protect
her during trips between Baghdad and her southern hometown.
"Some people think that I became a traitor and that I joined the
US camp but ... the Governing Council is the only possible salvation for
the Iraqi people otherwise the US forces will never leave," she said.
Khuzai does not shy away from criticising the US forces who, she says,
treat the Iraqi people "with violence" fuelling their anger
against them.
"Spanish and Central American soldiers who are now in Diwaniyah are
different. They are not seen as occupation forces because they respect
our customs and have launched reconstruction projects," she said.
She is also very critical of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, who
she describes as a "dictator who deprived us of everything".
"Now we are savouring freedom," she adds.
Khuzai and her husband, a general surgeon, studied in London and both
had the possibility of working abroad but they decided to return home
to Iraq where they are raising seven children.
"I never belonged to the Baath party, although I was asked to join
many times. Financially we did not need that although the salary I got
from the hospital was ridiculous: a dollar-and-a-half a month," she
said.
Revenues from her private practice helped the couple get by.
She recalls that during the 1991 Gulf War her colleagues fled while she
stayed behind and often operated by candle-light.
Not afraid to trigger the wrath of hardliners from her community, Khuzai
has given up the black robe and veil her peers traditionally wear for
a discreet skirt and blouse and a matching scarf.
She never leaves home without a touch of make-up.
"Many women don't have the chance of having a husband like mine who
respects my freedom. A woman should be allowed to wear what she wants,"
she said, as she declines to give her real age but offers an "at
least 50".
Since the recent assassination of her colleague in the Governing Council,
Akila al-Hashimi, Khuzai can not travel outside her home without bodyguards
at her heels.
"They are stealing my privacy but I am ready for any sacrifice for
the sake of the Iraqi people," she said.
She often misses her medical career but says she is ready to return to
the operating table any time she is needed and has just returned from
a visit to Spain where she toured several hospitals.