September 20, 2003
War
...same as the old boss...
Riverbend at her weblog "Baghdad Burning" writes of terrorism in Iraq:
I first witnessed a raid back in May. The heat was just starting to become unbearable and we were spending the whole night without electricity. I remember lying in my bed, falling in and out of a light sleep. We still weren't sleeping on the roof because the whole night you could hear gunshots and machinegun fire not very far away- the looters still hadn't organized themselves into gangs and mafias. At around 3 am, I distinctly heard the sound of helicopters hovering not far above the area. I ran out of the room and into the kitchen and found E. pressing his face to the kitchen window, trying to get a glimpse of the black sky.
…
Out on the roof, the sky was black streaked with light. Helicopters were hovering above, circling the area. E. was leaning over the railing, trying to see into the street below. I approached tentatively and he turned back to me, "It's a raid… on Abu A.'s house!" He pointed three houses down the road.
…
The house was ransacked… searched thoroughly for no one knows what- vases were broken, tables overturned, clothes emptied from closets…
By 6 am the last cars had pulled out. The area was once more calm and quiet. I didn't sleep that night, that day or the night after. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Abu A. and his grandson L. and Reem… I saw Umm A., crying with terror, begging for an explanation.
Abu A. hasn't come back yet. The Red Cross facilitates communication between him and his family… L. no longer walks down our street on Fridays, covered in chocolate, and I'm wondering how old he will be before he ever sees his grandfather again…
And before some imbecile says something about children of the victims of 9/11 not ever seeing their parents again, let me remind you that there was no connection between the events of 9/11 and Iraq. George W. Bush admitted as much a few days ago.
Yes, there are now terrorists in Iraq (although there were almost certainly few or none before our ill-conceived invasion). Some there willingly and are part of Hamas, perhaps, while others are part of Al Qaeda. But the majority, unfortunately, wear American uniforms and are there unwillingly at best.