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July 28 2009 Maliki Government to Censor all Print Material in Iraq

McClatchy reports a  chilling phone call from the Society to Defend Press Freedom in Iraq. They said that the Iraqi Ministry of Culture has decided to censor the importation of books fromoutside the country and restrict printing them inside the country.

Everything that is printed, even posters, will require a permit.

Reuters reports the Iraqi media is dominated by party-backed publications and there is little investigative journalism. More than 100 journalists have been killed since 2003, and self-censorship is more common than government censorship.

And lets not forget the U.S. censorship of the occupation. Remember Zoriah Miller, the photographer banned from covering the Marines because he posted photos of their dead bodies. The New York Times reports that he is not alone in being pressured to avoid showing graphic pictures of the war and occupation of Iraq.

It's been a long time since Iraqis have had unfettered access to information. Ever? I'm not sure, but we can help by pressuring media to tell us the whole truth. I'd love to know the command chain that forced Zoriah Miller out of covering the Marines...

July 27 2009 a cop in Baghdad: a dangerous job as police and civilians become targets.

[This is based on a story we believe to be true. We have known this person for 5 years and have followed his life closely.]

Our friend Sameer is a cop in Baghdad. He wasn't always a policeman. Once upon a time he worked as the manager of a large market, like our supermarkets here in the states.

At first it was hard getting back and forth to work because of curfews, road closings, checkpoints, etc., but he managed. Then entire neighborhoods were closed without warning. He was often stranded at the store overnight. As the violence increased the store had less and less business and finally, in 2007, the owner could no longer afford to keep it open.

Sameer has a wife and two children. They live in what used to be a mixed neighborhood in Baghdad. It is now almost entirely Sunni, and anyone else had better keep a low profile because the neighborhood has many 'militia' in it.

They began to run out of money last year. Sameer thought about becoming a policeman, but his brothers and sisters forbid this because it was too dangerous. And if he died then the burden of his family would fall to them. About 6 months ago the family found it almost impossible to help them out and he decided to enter the police force.

Policemen have one of highest rates of assassination in Baghdad. sometimes their children are murdered as a warning for them to resign. Sometimes they are killed. Sameer felt he had no choice. He joined the force 4 months ago.

Last month he decided to walk home for his break instead of napping in the house across from the command post that the police had appropriated. The house was raided and 6 were killed.

"It is in the hand of Allah, may he be praised."


And while we're on the subject of violence...how come our media fails to tell us the truth about what is going on in Iraq? And why don't Americans admit that we are responsible for unleashing the madness? And why don't we deliver the humanitarian aid we owe these people. We certainly have enough people on the ground to deliver it.

Have you written your representative lately to ask that these things be done?
Have you sent us a gift of cash so we can send it to a Baghdad widow and her family?
What's up with this?
b

Reported Security incidents July 27, 2009 [War News Today]:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded four others in Palestine street, northeastern Baghdad, police said.
The first bombing Monday came in eastern Baghdad, shortly before noon, when a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol but missed, killing one civilian and injuring four others, said an Iraqi police official.

Diyala Prv:
#1: Sunday Gunmen killed two civilians in Nahar alshiekh area north Baquba around 7 p.m.
#2: According to another police officer, gunmen shot dead the brother of a police major outside Baquba, north of the Iraqi capital.

Abu Ghraib:
#1: Three policemen were killed in an armed attack by unidentified gunmen on a checkpoint in the western Baghdad area of Abu Ghraib on Sunday, an Iraqi police source said. “Unidentified gunmen opened light gun fire at a police checkpoint on al-Amarat street, Abu Ghraib, (20 km) west of Baghdad, leaving three policemen killed,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Hilla:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot down a child in front of his house in the district of Djerf al-Sakhr, near the city of al-Hilla, a security source in Babel said. “Gunmen in a vehicle opened a volley of fire at a child standing in front of his house in Djerf al-Sakhr, (65 km) northwest of Hilla, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Irbil:
#1: A member of the political bureau of the Kurdistan Islamic Union on Monday said that the union’s headquarters in downtown Arbil city had been attacked by Kurdistan Alliance (KA) supporters. “At 02:00 a.m. today, hundreds of KA supporters attacked the headquarters of the union’s political bureau in al-Iskan al-Jadid area, downtown Arbil, in an attempt to plunder it,” Mohammed Faraj told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Random gunfire in Arbil on Sunday night, after an unofficial announcement of the Kurdistan election results, left one person dead and 10 others wounded, a medic from the city’s hospital said on Monday.

Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi soldier on Monday was injured in an explosive charge blast that occurred in downtown Kirkuk city, according to a local police official. “This morning, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near an Iraqi army vehicle behind a gas station in downtown Kirkuk city, wounding a soldier and causing damage to his vehicle,” Brig. Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Meanwhile, a source from the Joint Coordination Center in Kirkuk said that a body belonging to a policeman was found near al-Ahnaf village, al-Abbasi district (85 km southwest of Kirkuk) on Sunday (July 26) evening.
#3: Four U.S. soldiers were wounded when their vehicle overturned north of Kirkuk city, an Iraqi police source said Monday. “The four soldiers were inside the vehicle during the traffic accident,” Col. Othman Abdullah told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The accident took place near Charman village, (25 km) north of Kirkuk,” he said.

Mosul:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Sunday broke into a Pepsi factory in Ninewa province and killed one of its staff, according to a local police source. “On Sunday, a group of unknown gunmen broke into a Pepsi factory on Talkeef road (15 km north of Mosul), and killed a Christian worker before they fled to an unknown destination,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#2: Six Iraqi servicemen on Monday were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) hit their patrol vehicle in Mosul city, according to a local police source. “This morning, an explosive charge targeted an Iraqi army patrol in al-Matahin neighborhood, southern Mosul, wounding six patrolmen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
#3: A chieftain on Monday was killed in Ninewa and his driver was wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went off in central Mosul city, a police source said. “Sheikh Mohammed Fadil al-Hayiali was killed at al-Dowasa neighborhood, central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The incident took place near a restaurant in the area,” he said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: On Sunday evening, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew up himself among civilians who were in the mourning ceremonies of alMirawi in Khaldiyah town killing two policemen as they tried to stop him and injuring 13 people.
#2: The director of the emergency police in Amiriyat al-Falluja district has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Ramadi city, according to a local source. “On Monday noon, Captain Ibahim Khayrallah was killed when a sticky IED targeted his vehicle near the residential compound in Amiriyat al-Falluja district, southern Ramadi,” Maj. Yasseen Mohammed told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “One of the director’s companions was wounded as a result of the explosion,” the major pointed out.

July 26 2009 Over 4330 U.S. troops lost in Iraq as refugees fear to return home.

Oh man, oh man, oh man. As the US media turns its head away from the violence in Iraq, dutifully reporting about voting in the North, corruption in the South, and general problems for the Iraqi government, the killing goes on. And it isn't just Iraqis who are being destroyed.

Ken Drevnick, the father of Spc. Daniel P. Drevnick, and his wife Julie, right, attend the burial service Saturday, July 25, 2009 at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis for 22-year-old Daniel of Woodbury, Minn., who was among three Minnesota National Guard soldiers who were killed last week in Basra, Iraq. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

We don't read much about US casualties in Iraq these days. 4,330 of our men and women have died and over 21,000 serious injuries have been reported. The papers are beginning to fill with reports of Afghanistan deaths of US forces, and the struggle they face as they come up against a resistance that owes much of its education to experiences in Iraq. All well and good, but where is the reportage about Iraq? How can the media fail to inform the American people about the continuing horror we have unleashed by our decision to use force in Iraq?

And while I'm asking questions, what about the Iraqis? They are still  being killed, mostly by unknown forces that seek to ensure an unstable Iraq. Many think these are remnants of AlQaeda, or Iranian mercenaries, or more and more disgruntled Awakening Council members angry about Maliki not following through on his promise of employment.

Many of those killed these days are Iraqi policemen, and their families. Let's not forget their families. A little child was killed yesterday in front of her house in a drive-by shooting intended as a message for her dad, the District Cheif of Djerf al-Sakhr, near the city of al-Hilla. [more]

And for the internal refugees, now numbering upwards of two million men, women, and children the situation is frustrating and dangerous. Security has generally improved in Iraq over the last few months, but it is far from safe.

Abu Ghraib is a clear example. It was a mixed town before the occupation. Subsequent sectarian violence turned it into a Sunni enclave and Shi'a who have returned to their homes there have been killed.
The Chikouk refugee camp is filled with Shi'a refugees from Abu Ghraib. With no electricity, scant clean water, and not enough flat ground for all to sleep on, Chikouk is far from a comfortable place to live, but it is safer than Abu Ghraib for those who take shelter here. Chikouk lacks a functioning sewage system and has no regular rubbish disposal. There are many poorly constructed shelters and many residents have health problems. [more] Iraqi government officials refuse aid to the largely Sunni camp because it is built on goevrnment land without government permits. This, of course, becomes fuel for sectarian anger, easily exacerbated by those seeking violent revenge.

And it not just Abu Ghraib, nor is it just Shi'a. Many areas that were ethnically cleansed while the US forces failed to stop the mini-genocides, some of Shi'a and some of Sunni, are scattered throughout Iraq. Baghdad itself has many neighborhoods that fall into this category, and returning home to them is dangerous for any family that finds itself in the minority in what once was a mixed environment.

Obama should pressure Maliki's government to pay attention to this serious problem. If not attended to it will foster more sectarian violence and these refugee camps will become fertile recruiting grounds for terrorists. The Palestinian camps provide ample examples of such growth.

And the US government is likely to do nothing if the US public remains uninformed about the truth on the ground in Iraq.

b

July 19 2009 Iraqi poorest finding it harder to survive

Hi,
Here's a video of 121Contact's exhibit in Second Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkRvtWyrHk
The video was made by an beautiful Italian who goes by the name Ipazia Cortez in sl. She and some of her friends helped build the exhibit and have taken part in the discussions held there. 

Hundreds of people from all over the world have visited this exhibit and many have become friends of 121Contact. They help with fund raising efforts and take part in our efforts to disseminate the truth of the occupation of Iraq through the eyes of the innocent Iraqis who suffer the consequences of our decision to use violence in Iraq.

And here is some information to disseminate, should you have the inclination. Our public must be informed so that they can join the efforts to aid Iraqi civilians suffering from our actions. Governments must hear the truth from citizens:

Poorest Finding it Harder to Survive
By Sarah Price and Nizar Latif

Huda, in the cast, will lose her arm if she cannot get treatment soon. (Photo: N. Latif)

Asime is 13 and lives in east Baghdad. He has lost both his parents in the last two years, and is now taking care of a sick uncle. With no job opportunities and insufficient help from the Iraqi government, he has had to turn to crime to survive. He hates to steal, but knows that without this, he and his uncle will starve. [full article: http://iraqsolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com/]
--
In loving kindness,
Bruce and Noor
www.121Contact.typepad.com <- the blog

July 17 2009 Gitmo closure-Associated Press (AP) misrepresents 9/11 families

In yet another sin by omission the AP released this distorted headline: "Gitmo closure angers families of 9/11 victims". Carried by USA Today and other media outlets, the headline misrepresents the views of 9/11 families by inferring that all who lost loved ones that day feel the same way.

As evidenced in the recent meeting of 9/11 families with President Obama's task force on Guantanamo with Attorney General Holder in attendance, this feeling is far from unanimous. In fact it represented a minority opinion at that important meeting. 

They may just as well have headlined "9/11 Families favor violent revenge", or "9/11 families know of World Trade Center conspiracy", or 9/11 families favor chocolate" since there are some who do believe these things. Thousands of families were directly affected by the events of 9/11 and for you to characterize them as a homogeneous mass of opinion is to dehumanize them and deny their wide-ranging points of view.

The fact that I lost my nephew, Supreme Court Officer Mitch Wallace, in the South tower on 9/11 has not led me to abandon my love of justice and lawful action in the face of terrorism. I am not alone in feeling that Guantanamo represents an unnecessary, immoral, and illegal attempt to deliver justice outside the law. In a recent meeting with top members of President Obama's Task Force on Guantanamo and Attorney General Holder I and other representatives of 9/11 families who are opposed to the continuation of GTMO and opposed to indefinite detention procedures were given ample opportunity to present our case to the government. This meeting, unlike the trip to Guantanamo, was intended to bring opinions to the government. There was a wide range of opinions in the room. Some of the people who feel as I do have also visited Guantanamo but the AP chose to omit our opinions in their slanted article.

This is not the first time that erroneous information put out by one media outlet was picked up and transmitted to the public by other irresponsible editors. I think it was back in 2005 when Ahmadinejad was misquoted as saying, "Israel would be eradicated from the Middle East map." A more correct translation would have shown him referring to the Zionist government, and not the nation of Israel. This story, too, was picked up and widely disseminated, adding to the Arab/Muslim-paranoia that so easily takes hold of the American public. And it's not a surprise. Americans are constantly and sadly misinformed about Arabs, Muslims, the Middle East, and other matters critical to our survival.

Yes, I am insulted, but I have not given up. The truth will out, and sometime soon there will be a media outlet respected for its veracity and even-handedness. NPR anyone?

 

July 14 2009 Cheney, Assassination: secret (U.S.) or public (Iraq)

There is now talk that Cheney began a secret program (evading scrutiny of Congress, and perhaps even the awareness of Bush) to assassinate those designated (by who?) leaders of Al Qaida without any due process or oversight. CIA-trained assassins would be dispatched at the the whim of Cheney to kill people he named as targets.

In Iraq, today, there is a much more public, more sinister, and more astonishing effort to promote assassination. And it is being spearheaded by al Mutamar, a Baghdad-based daily run by associates of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi. You may remember that this is the organ the U.S. was paying to publish 'news' articles favorable to the American occupation (back in '05), according to the Los Angeles Times.

Al Mutamar have now published a list of names and addresses of employees in the General Directorate of Security that has been disbanded. Along with this list comes inplications that these people are guilty of terrorism and are now actively engaged in sabotage so that they 'might return to power in Iraq.'

They offer no proof, no due process, no evidence of individual involvement at all. Just a list published at the whim of ??? And in some instances there are, along with the addresses, directions to their homes and offices.

I often hear, from Iraqi friends, that our culture has too much freedom. Abortion, gay rights, and sex-without-marriage are held up as examples of 'freedom gone astray'. "This is not freedom, but desire." But they all seem to love the freedom of the press. Al Mutamar has gone too far astray. It is immoral to blanket a group of people as individual terrorists without any proof. It is immoral to imply, no matter how subtely, that these people are deserving of revenge.

Freedom of the press should be a right of all newspapers. And as with all freedoms, there comes with it a moral responsibility. But maybe this is just my old-fashioned-senior-self intruding upon a world in which responsibility is less and less part of the social equation.

And as always, our U.S. press is free to ignore the continuing violence we unleashed in Iraq: 

[suicide bombing in Taza, Iraq,(Photo: Reuters) where at least 72 people died and 200 were wounded]

Reported Security incidents, July 14, 2009:
Baghdad:
#1: Seven persons on Monday were wounded in an explosive charge blast that occurred in southern Baghdad, according to an Iraqi police source. “A roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off in al-Jadriya area near al-Zawya intersection, southern Baghdad, while a police patrol vehicle was passing the location,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Three patrolmen and four civilians were wounded in the explosion,” the source noted.
#2: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded 10 people, including four policemen, in the capital's central Karrada district, police said.
#3: A sticky bomb attached to a car killed the driver and wounded four others on Sunday in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district, police said.
Dhi Qar Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy carrying U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Chris Hill in southern Iraq, but the envoy was unhurt, the U.S. embassy said on Monday. Hill was traveling in Dhi Qar province, about 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, on Sunday when the bomb struck his convoy, U.S. embassy spokeswoman Susan Ziadeh said. "No personnel were injured or hurt. An investigation into the incident is taking place," she said. 
Basra:
#1: The U.S. base at Basra International Airport on Monday was hit with Katyusha rockets, said a security source from the province. “Two Katyusha missiles hit the base, 25 km west of Basra,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.There was no word on casualties or damage.
Al Sharqat:
#1: A blast outside a local council meeting in northern Iraq wounded seven U.S. troops and a linguist, U.S. military officials said Monday. The incident Sunday in Salaheddin Province was the first known major attack on U.S. troops since U.S. combat troops completed their withdrawal from urban centers on June 30. Maj. Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Multi-National Division-North, said Sunday's explosion happened around 1 p.m. outside the Al Sharqat Qa'da council building. The troops were walking back to their vehicles after a meeting with district government officials about civil capacity projects to help the citizens in the region, Cheng said. 
Mosul:
#1: Three children on Monday were injured in a car bomb blast that occurred in front of a Shiite mosque in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “During an early hour this morning, a booby-trapped car detonated in front of a Shiite mosque in al-Faysaliya area, eastern Mosul, wounding three children and causing damage to the mosque’s front façade,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The blast also caused damage to the nearby Virgin Mary Church, a building and two civilian vehicles, according to the source. “The blast occurred at 05:30 a.m. while U.S. personnel were leaving al-Nasr police department,” the source noted.
#2: One Iraqi soldier on Monday was killed when a sticky improvised explosive device (IED) targeted his car in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “The soldier was off-duty in al-Rashidiya area, northern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. 

July 11 2009 Michael Jackson 10, Iraq 0 as Iraq no longer exists in the media.

The headlines rarely speak of Iraq these days even though we still have 134,000 US soldiers and about 132,610 military contractors on the ground. This despite the fact that 73 percent of Iraqis oppose the presence of US forces.[Mideast Dispatches]

We certainly don't get the details anymore. [see list of today's incidents at the end of this post]
And we get barely any reporting on the ongoing suffering of the innocent Iraqis who pay the largest price for our invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"In the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Index Iraq failed to reach the top ten in any media format for the four full weeks of June 2009. Iraq has continued to fade from America’s attention. In May 2009 for example, Iraq not only did not make the top stories for the four weeks of the month, but in two of those weeks did not make the top ten in any media format. June has now topped that. This was despite the number of mass casualty bombings that racked the country, and the preparation for the American withdrawal from Iraq’s cities." [Full story at Ground Truth in Iraq]

The U.S. is still on patrol, with the expected results for Iraqi civilians. Today in Tikrit a truck driver was mistakenly killed by American forces outside the northern city of Tikrit, as reported by the US Army. And in Diyala yesterday  the driver of a car was killed in a head-on collision with a U.S. Army Stryker vehicle.

Almost all the Iraqis I know in the U.S. have the same reaction when they first arrive. "There's no war here!" It is shocking to them that the American public has so little an idea of what is going on in their country. Many of them risked their lives to help the U.S. forces. All of them have lost family and friends to the violence we unleashed. None of them can understand, at first, the massive denial they encounter.

[July 4, 2009, Mother Jones]

 

Reported Security incidents, Saturday July 11 2009:
Baghdad:
#1: Friday Gunmen attacked a checkpoint of a local Awakening council, American formed militia, in Al Amil killing one and injuring one around five a.m.

Diyala Prv:
#1: The driver of a car was killed in a head-on collision with a U.S. Army Stryker vehicle outside the city of Al Khalis in western Diyala province at approximately 9:20 p.m., July 9. The car struck the lead vehicle of a combined U.S. forces and Iraqi Army convoy as it was returning to Forward Operating Base Grizzly after a routine patrol. According to reports, the convoy slowed its speed to approximately 30 mph and moved to the shoulder of the road to allow the on-coming car room to pass. However, the car hit the lead vehicle head-on, killing the driver and injuring at least one Soldier inside the Stryker.

Abu Ghraib:
#1: Gunmen on Saturday killed one civilian in al-Wadi village, northern Abu Ghraib suburb (west of Baghdad), according to a security source. “The incident took place at noon,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.“The gunmen were driving a small saloon car,” he said.“They opened fire on a civilian in the village,” he added.

Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: Gunmen killed one member of a government-backed militia and wounded another in Jurf al-Sakhar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Amarra:
#1: Three Katyusha rockets landed Friday on al-Batira airstrip northwest the city of al-Amara with no casualties or losses reported, a security source in Missan province said. “Al-Batira military landing strip, (5 km) northwest of al-Amara, came today (July 10) under an attack with three Katyusha missiles, but caused no casualties or losses,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Tikrit:
#1: A truck driver was mistakenly killed by American forces outside the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, the US army said on Saturday. The troops had stopped along a highway between Tikrit and Balad, north of the capital, after one of the vehicles in their logistics convoy broke down early Friday. They signalled for the truck, which was approaching the convoy from the rear, to stop but it sped up as it closed in, according to a statement. A soldier then fired on the truck after the driver did not respond to the warnings, killing him. A teenage passenger was unharmed, and the incident is under joint US-Iraqi investigation.

Kirkuk:
#1: Two persons on Saturday were arrested while trying to plant an explosive charge near Kirkuk city, according to a local security source. “This morning, Iraqi army forces arrested two men while they were trying to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) on the main road linking Sulayman Bik to Touz Khormato (80 km south of Kirkuk city),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Mosul:
#1: A policeman was killed when an improvised explosive device went off near a checkpoint west of Mosul city on Friday, a police source in Ninewa said. “The explosive charge went off near a checkpoint in al-Shifaa neighborhood, western Mosul, leaving a policeman killed,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

July 9 2009 Obama, Guantanamo, and Indefinite Detention without a trial

President Obama,
I implore you to reject using the process of indefinite detention without charge or trial. It is an immoral choice.

One, even a President, may know in one's heart that an individual is guilty but that does not excuse ignoring justice under the law. That consideration is an important part of American culture as well as an established and fundamental element in our legal system.

We are indivisible as long as we are with liberty and justice for all. The moment we break this faith we splinter. Some of us will become the enemy; driven by fear and self-righteousness into justifying lawlessness. We have seen the price that innocent civilians pay for such activity.

People such as Timothy McVeigh and James Kopp will grow in numbers, believing that the principles upon which we base our law are malleable at the whim of individuals. This jural mentality, as seen in groups such as “the sovereign,”  and “the freemen,” will be seen as justified by the President's own willingness to step outside of the law. The result will be a more violent America.

Reject those who seek to steer you into a path which leads away from more peaceful tomorrows.

In hope that you choose the moral path,
Bruce Wallace
121Contact

July 8 2009 LA Times: Iraqi widows suffer because of Iraqi government. U.S. is very, very good.

In yet another example of the U.S. media failing to correctly assess blame for the horrors visited upon innocent civilians in Iraq the L.A. Times reports:
"At the suggestion of an Iraqi women's group, the Marine Corps recently bought 50 cows for 50 Iraqi widows in the farm belt around Fallouja, once the insurgent capital of war-torn Anbar province.

The cow purchase is seen as a small step toward reestablishing Iraq's once-thriving dairy industry, as well as a way to help women and children hurt by the frequent failure of the Iraqi government to provide the pensions that Iraqi law promises to widows."

[The bold is mine. The widow, below, is doing what she can. The violence that killed her husband is a direct result of our decision to use violence in Iraq.]

I would suggest a more accurate "hurt by the United States' invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq."

It's not that the cow wont help. It's that the children of today who read twisted truth get the impression that we are so very, very good.

It's like what that gentleman in the audience said to Noor after she spoke about the conditions in Baghdad under the occupation. "Hey," he said. "What about all the good we do? What about the children we fly to U.S. hospitals and give them arms and legs?"

And he was serious. And I assume the LA Time is serious, too. Too, too sad.

July 4 2009 Baghdad, Iraq: sand storm [and death] brings strangers to the garden

090705 a disturbance in my neighborhood

[At least 447 Iraqi civilians were killed in June, according to the Associated Press. Baghdad is still a city of little water and intermittent electricity. Daily life is still filled with fear, loathing, and uncertainty. Security is a distant memory, but kindness and generosity reign as always.] 

Before the occupation the neighborhood was quiet, tree-lined, and the gardens were kept beautifully. A mix of people lived there; mostly Sunni with many Shi’a, Kurdish, and Christians, too. Today it is a sad, walled-off enclave with many checkpoints like most neighborhoods in Baghdad today. The population is mostly Sunni now, but some Shi’a have bravely returned.

Today there was a disturbance. After noon the neighborhood was closed; from 3 o’clock to then o’clock at night. It was totally isolated from the world. In addition to the four checkpoints Iraqi guards were spread all over. People who were passing through to go to different neighborhoods were stuck.

When I went out to see what’s going on I saw the streets filled with people with shocked looks on their faces. They asked me if they could stay in my home for a while. I asked them, “What’s going on? Why are these guards everywhere?”

They answered, “You live here and you don’t know what’s going on? Three Iraqi guardsmen were shot in their base. A man, or some men, entered and shot the three of them. Now they are looking for them.”

[The base was a private house next to the checkpoint. They had displaced the family that lived there and used it as a rest spot when they were taking breaks or off duty. If they were lucky the family was moved into an abandoned house.]

I had to go to the supermarket to buy some food for the family. Though I was too lazy to go because of the dust storm. It has been here for three or four days now, and sometimes you could not see a man just a meter away. It was so thick with red dust. It covers everything. I think I had to forget my laziness and buy the food for my children just in case the situation will get worse.

I arrived at the supermarket, but no one was there. Not one of my friends, the shopkeepers, or other shoppers. Only a few people were waiting in the street. And some of them entered the garages and gardens of different houses. I asked about the soldiers and was told that by a clinic worker that one of them died, the other is in critical condition and he will die soon, and the third was only wounded and he will live.

When I went back I found three families in my garden. Women and children who refused to get into the house, but were satisfied to be sitting in the hot dusty garden in spite of the 107 degree heat. Like ‘insumatna’ when you pour boiling water on somebody. We are in hell, but alHamdulila after all!

One of the ladies said, “I was about to take my grandson to the hospital. I have an appointment there. I don’t know how long this is going to be. They don’t allow me to leave the neighborhood. I didn’t shoot anybody. Why don’t they allow me to leave? What is our crime? Look at these people. These innocent people in this dusty, hot weather. They are going to their business. Do you think the man who shot the soldiers is among us? How could this be?”

I gave her water, but of course it is hot water from the water we are saving because there is no water in the faucet. It is hot water because we have no electricity for the riff. I left my wife talking to the ladies and I went to the men who were sitting in the garage. They were sweating and smoking and thirsty. They stayed until 10 o’clock, then the police allowed them to leave, but only gradually, after checking everyone carefully.

The neighborhood is so quiet today. No people are moving around. A person who works in the supermarket told me they arrested a lot of young men for investigation.

A

[A later Australian report set the death toll at 5. This came in a day when there were at least 15 bombing incidents, tens killed, and scores wounded. It was a dark day in Iraq again, and the sandstorm did little to dampen the violence.]