Feature: U.S. sinful of plunging Syrians into abyss of misery

"I wonder if it is enough for British and U.S. officials to say that they regret the invasion of Iraq as it was only a mistake. How about my family's life which was turned miserable by the war? How about my husband and sons who lost their lives in the chaos and bloody violence?" Um Ibrahim said.

The woman in her 50s lives with her two daughters and a seven-year-old grandson, struggling for survival after she lost her husband in a battle between the U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents about 11 years ago in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Later in 2006, she lost her two sons when militia took them away from their house in the northern neighborhood of Hurriyah in Baghdad and shot them. The deaths of civilians were frequently seen after 2006 in the country as the U.S.-led invasion destroyed the political system and sparked sectarian strife.

In 2006, a group of gunmen bombed the Askari shrine, one of the most sacred Shiite shrines in the city of Samarra, 120 km north of Baghdad, sparking waves of sectarian violence across Iraq, including the capital.

Um Ibrahim's family was forced to leave their house, joining some 300 Sunni families, who were also forced to flee the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah.

More than 100 people were killed at that time and at least five Sunni mosques were burned during a five-month turmoil in the neighborhood.

"My family and I used to live in peace there. I've never expected that one day they would kill my sons. They had been friends," Um Ibrahim said at her small vegetable stall at a marketplace in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliyah in western Baghdad.

"We used to have difficulties in our life before the invasion, mainly due to the embargo on Saddam's regime, but lived in peace and happiness and I remember that my husband and I had hopes and dreams about how my sons and daughters will grow up and what will they be in the future," she said.

"But everything has gone. Now we are starving, displaced and yearning for safety."

"They killed my two sons because they refused to leave that neighborhood. I begged them to leave, I begged them," she muttered, wiping her face with handkerchief as tears rolled down her cheek, immersed in the painful memory.

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the U.S., Britain and other coalition countries was catastrophic for most of Iraqis. According to Iraqi government data, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in conflicts after the 2003 invasion, while unofficial tallies put the toll from military actions and sectarian strife at over one million.

The war also left some 3.4 million people displaced inside Iraq and more than two million outside a country with a population of over 34 million.

A long-awaited report by Sir John Chilcot was released on Wednesday, which revealed that the invasion led by the U.S. and Britain was planned on flawed intelligence and lack of adequate preparation for the post-war governance.

Britain followed the U.S. to invade Iraq in March 2003 on two allegations: first, the war on former Iraqi President Saddam Hussien was a reaction to the 9/11 attack as Saddam had relations with the al-Qaida; second, Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction which could threat the Middle East and the whole world as well.

However, the seven-year inquiry by the British team and similar investigations conducted by U.S. experts after 2003 concluded that there was no evidence of Saddam possessing any nuclear weapons, neither the evidence of any cooperation between Saddam and al-Qaida.

At Um Ibrahim's house in Ghazaliyah neighborhood, the walls of the living room were randomly planted with wires. She got electricity from two sources, from the government which supplies electricity about 15 hours a day, and a large generator in the neighborhood of which the owner sells electricity.

As the temperature in summer in Iraq reaches some 50 degrees, Um Ibrahim would find it harder to provide further amount of power from the private generator to operate her old refrigerator.

"Some people in the neighborhood are so kind to me. They paid money to the owner of generator for me, because I can't afford it with my income," she said.

Her daughters, Maha and Shahad, are living with their mother. Maha, who lost her husband in one of Baghdad bombing attacks, found a new job as seamstress with a salary that can barely provide for the family.

Shahad, who graduated from the management institute last year, is looking for a job, but has to wait for a long time as the unemployment rate in the country rises sharply in recent years.

Um Ibrahim said all the tragedy and misery of her family was caused by the invasion by former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"It is very simple; they should apologize for what they did. But that would not bring back my sons and husband, as well as hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and certainly won't change my life and the lives of my family members," she said. Endit