Baghdad Burning........"we haven't sent the kids to school for 3 days"

[RedEarth]

From time to time, I like to read blogs from Iraq and the Middle East since they give a perspective of the situation we don't normally see or hear from our news sources.

........doesn't sound like we are winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.


Baghdad Burning


... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Teapots and Kettles...
Now it seems we are almost literally reliving the first few days of occupation… I woke up to the sound of explosions and gunfire last night and for one terrible moment I thought someone had warped me back a whole year and we would have to relive this last year of our life over and over again…

We haven't sent the kids to school for 3 days. The atmosphere is charged and the day before yesterday, Baghdad was quiet and empty, almost… the calm before the storm. The area of A'adhamiya in Baghdad is seeing street fighting: the resistance and Americans are fighting out in the streets and Al-Sadr city was bombed by the troops. They say that dozens were killed and others wounded. They're bringing them in to hospitals in the center of the city.

Falloojeh has been cut off from the rest of Iraq for the last three days. It's terrible. They've been bombing it constantly and there are dozens dead. Yesterday they said that the only functioning hospital in the city was hit by the Americans and there's no where to take the wounded except a meager clinic that can hold up to 10 patients at a time. There are over a hundred wounded and dying and there's nowhere to bury the dead because the Americans control the area surrounding the only graveyard in Falloojeh; the bodies are beginning to decompose in the April heat. The troops won't let anyone out of Falloojeh and they won't let anyone into it either- the people are going to go hungry in a matter of days because most of the fresh produce is brought from outside of the city. We've been trying to call a friend who lives there for three days and we can't contact him.

This is supposed to be 'retaliation' for what happened last week with the American contractors- if they were indeed contractors. Whoever they were, it was gruesome and wrong… I feel for their families. Was I surprised? Hardly. This is an occupation and for those of you naïve enough to actually believe Chalabi and the Bush administration when they said the troops were going to be 'greeted with flowers and candy' then I can only wish that God will, in the future, grant you wisdom.

This is crazy. This is supposed to be punishment for violence but it's only going to result in more bloodshed on both sides… people are outraged everywhere- Sunnis and Shi'a alike. This constant bombing is only going to make things worse for everyone. Why do Americans think that people in Baghdad or the south or north aren’t going care what happens in Falloojeh or Ramadi or Nassriyah or Najaf? Would Americans in New York disregard bombing and killing in California?

more........


http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[JeebusH]

1. but the freepers say the schools are open ....

progress :eyes:

[Fenris]

2. At this point

I have a hard time seeing the advantage of "staying the course" in Iraq. It seems to be an awful situation for both sides. Perhaps it is time we give them back their country to do with it what they like.

Bellum se ipsum alet

[sushi]

10. Exactly!

It is their country, and they want it back.

[Frederic Bastiat]

3. Winning the hearts and minds

This is f#cked up on so many levels.

[w13rd0]

4. Not good...

"And as I blog this, all the mosques, Sunni and Shi’a alike, are calling for Jihad..."

[qanda]

6. I guess we're on the same page

[w13rd0]

8. I'm reminded of a quote from Dune...

...but I can't recall it. Something about the Corriollis storm or whirlwind or something. Bush, a uniter, not a divider.

[RedEarth]

7. Thanks for posting that part ...

I meant to have it in the original post........sounds a little scary, doesn't it.

[qanda]

5. Chilling words....

"And as I blog this, all the mosques, Sunni and Shi’a alike, are calling for Jihad..."

I fear for this weekend. :scared:

[sushi]

9. Now when I see coalition troops in Iraq

on TV news I wonder why they're still there. Iraqis must be glad that Saddam Hussein is gone but now they're getting tired of being occupied by foreigners. Since no WMDs (the reason for the invasion) have been found, it is time to leave before many more Iraqis and coalition troops die.

Does the coalition want to meddle in Iraq's business until Iraqis adopt democracy? We can't force democracy on others. They must desire it. It must come from within. Besides, it would take ages, maybe a generation or two.

Now they are pounding Fallujah. I thought they wanted to win the hearts and minds of the people.

---

"So, a mob of Iraqis torch, beat, mutilate and hang corpses belonging to four American defense contractors on the same day that five U.S. soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing."

"While the killings are indeed gruesome and God help the families of those killed, I would like to ask what on Earth do you expect? These are people who suffered under 13 years of sanctions, constant and consistent bombing throughout the 1990s and persistent random trigger-happy killing of civilians by U.S. troops in the last year... You want candy and flowers?"

"Grow up. Occupation begets every single form of violence to reject, deject, and eject the occupier..."

"Jim Clancy of CNN says pictures of the bodies dragged through the streets were shocking to everyone, including the Iraqi people. I beg to differ. The problem here is the westernized, ethnocentric, Judeo-Christian, and downright racist approach to Iraq. Missing are the pictures of U.S. soldiers with their boots on the necks of detainees who have yet to be questioned. It seems U.S. soldiers believe everyone in Iraq is guilty till proven dead...

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1840&mode=thread&order=0