Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Times Online:

Throwing a sickie in Iraq has been easy since the US invasion in 2003.

Sara al-Bayati, for instance, simply had to call her boss at Baghdad University and tell him that a car bomb had closed the road so she was unable to get to work.

“I only invent an excuse for important things . . . such as if I feel very tired or there is a special family occasion,” said the 27-year-old administrative worker.

“Once a week, colleagues phone in with an excuse for not showing up, such as a bomb blast or US troops closing the road. It is difficult to know whether the story is genuine or a lie because these things really do happen,” she said.

With levels of violence dropping, however, the standard lines about car bombs, snipers, death squads and American patrols are becoming less believable.

Any one who took time off work because he or she was too scared to leave home now has less of an excuse to stay indoors.

Azhaar al-Wasety, 48, a manager at the Ministry of Finance, knows all about skiving staff.

The first call he receives every morning is from a member of staff excusing himself or herself from work.

“They say things like the security forces have closed the road because of a car bomb . . . or there is fighting between the police and the militia,” Mr al-Wasety said.

“I ask them to try to find another way to work or wait and see whether a particular road reopens. I know, however, that they will call later to say it is still not possible to come in.”

Before the invasion in March 2003, excuses for a sneaky day at home were similar to those used in most peaceful countries, such as sickness or a dental appointment.

A significant drop in the level of violence means that the members of Iraq’s workforce who fancy an extra day in bed in future may have to revert to their preinvasion excuses.

Car bombs and roadside blasts have fallen by 77 per cent compared to levels before February when the US-led surge of troops in and around Baghdad was launched. In addition, mortar and rocket attacks have eased to their lowest level since February 2006.

Taking advantage of the improving security conditions, the Iraqi authorities plan to reopen ten out of about eighty closed roads in Baghdad.

Already choosing to lie about an explosion has the potential to backfire; as Shaima, a 34-year-old teacher in Baghdad, discovered.

She received a call from her husband one morning when at school telling her to take the day off because he had been given a holiday by his boss.

Already at work, Shaima - not her real name - had to think of a good excuse to leave. Approaching her manager, she said: “I have to go to hospital because I just found out that my husband has been injured by a roadside bomb.” The manager agreed to let her go but added in a concerned voice that he and the other staff would also like to pay him a visit to offer their best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Distraught that she would be rumbled, Shaima sped home to tell her husband what had happened.

Instead of enjoying their day off, the couple were forced to scramble around the house for bandages to wrap around the husband’s head and arms before the teachers arrived.

“We had to make sure that it looked as though he was really injured. That is the first and last time I tell a lie,” Shaima said.

Meanwhile, others are already rehearsing their lines. Bassam al-Wadi, a 19-year-old high school student, is already thinking about the sort of ruse he will invent to steal a day off once the excuse of violence wears thin. “I will let you know with what kind of lie I come up with when I use it,” he said.

Favourite white lies

— Can’t come! Americans are sealing off my neighborhood

— Bridge is closed! I’m gonna be at least an hour late

— Clashes between the militias and the security forces right outside my door. Can’t leave home at the moment

— My cousin is kidnapped (or arrested by national guards). Can’t come to work today. Need to make contacts to get him released

— It’s a house-to-house search in my area. I’m the only man in the house. I need to stay with my mother and sisters