Tuesday, November 16, 2004
"People in Falloojeh Are Being Murdered..."
Hardly news, I know. But that's Riverbend's cry of rage and despair as of Saturday, November 13th. I read it Sunday morning, and for two days have not been able to bring myself to say anything about it, or even to provide a link.
What is there to say? Somehow, highlighting, cutting and pasting what is a cry of inconsolable pain, bewilderment and outrage seems such an inadequate-bordering on criminally insane response. She asks two hard questions, both of which spell the doom of the Bush flying-by-the-seat-of-your-guts policy in Iraq: "WHERE IS EVERYONE???
Furthermore, where is Sistani? Why isn't he saying anything about the situation? When the South was being attacked, Sunni clerics everywhere decried the attacks. Where is Sistani now, when people are looking to him for some reaction? The silence is deafening."
I've been trying all weekend to send her a supportive email, I simply can't think what to say that won't seem cruel and empty; of what possible value to her and the millions of Iraqis she echoes is our sorrow, or apologies or empathy?
So here is the link, go and read, we owe her and Iraq that. It's important to leave a record that it was possible to know what is being done in our name. Scroll down, she has several other posts which draw a terrifying word picture of living in Baghdad the week before the assault on "Falloojeh," as she spells it. Don't miss, in particular, "The Rule of Iraqi Assassins Must End," a line of Rumsfeld's she deftly redefines. If Allawi ends up as the ruler of Iraq, even if the means of annointing him is an election, the Iraq that emerges will be a softer, gentler version, for public consumtion, anyway, of Saddam's rule.
E-mail links and a must-read recommendation to those of your friends and family who don't know about Riverbend, or the other Iraqi bloggers, and no, I don't mean the ones Andrew Sullivan is always touting. I've consistently read "Iraq, The Model" and the others; being a good liberal I always search out the other side to challenge my own beliefs. What is the "other side" of murder?
And go and visit Raed now at "Raed In The Middle." He has pictures, amazing pictures, of our guys, too; we have an obligation not to fail to look at the pictures. He talks about American casualties, too. I've been looking for ways to contribute to relief efforts; it sounds like there's too much chaos right now for the Jarrars' own such efforts to go forward.
Don't just look at the pictures, read Raed's text, as well, especially the parts about how this war is handing Iraq over to the fundamentalists, among whom Raed does not count himself. Is this war not becoming criminally insane? Visit Khalid, as well, Raed's "sunni brother," and read his only post since mid-October.
Also courtesy of Khalid is this link to a forum in which you can talk to or read the accounts of eye witnesses to what's happening "over there." There was no one there for "live" discussions when I checked it out, but you can click to read previous discussions, and to find out future schedules, and to leave a question. If any readers avail themselves and find interesting material, we would be happy to publish any such submitted posts.
What is there to say? Somehow, highlighting, cutting and pasting what is a cry of inconsolable pain, bewilderment and outrage seems such an inadequate-bordering on criminally insane response. She asks two hard questions, both of which spell the doom of the Bush flying-by-the-seat-of-your-guts policy in Iraq: "WHERE IS EVERYONE???
Furthermore, where is Sistani? Why isn't he saying anything about the situation? When the South was being attacked, Sunni clerics everywhere decried the attacks. Where is Sistani now, when people are looking to him for some reaction? The silence is deafening."
I've been trying all weekend to send her a supportive email, I simply can't think what to say that won't seem cruel and empty; of what possible value to her and the millions of Iraqis she echoes is our sorrow, or apologies or empathy?
So here is the link, go and read, we owe her and Iraq that. It's important to leave a record that it was possible to know what is being done in our name. Scroll down, she has several other posts which draw a terrifying word picture of living in Baghdad the week before the assault on "Falloojeh," as she spells it. Don't miss, in particular, "The Rule of Iraqi Assassins Must End," a line of Rumsfeld's she deftly redefines. If Allawi ends up as the ruler of Iraq, even if the means of annointing him is an election, the Iraq that emerges will be a softer, gentler version, for public consumtion, anyway, of Saddam's rule.
E-mail links and a must-read recommendation to those of your friends and family who don't know about Riverbend, or the other Iraqi bloggers, and no, I don't mean the ones Andrew Sullivan is always touting. I've consistently read "Iraq, The Model" and the others; being a good liberal I always search out the other side to challenge my own beliefs. What is the "other side" of murder?
And go and visit Raed now at "Raed In The Middle." He has pictures, amazing pictures, of our guys, too; we have an obligation not to fail to look at the pictures. He talks about American casualties, too. I've been looking for ways to contribute to relief efforts; it sounds like there's too much chaos right now for the Jarrars' own such efforts to go forward.
Don't just look at the pictures, read Raed's text, as well, especially the parts about how this war is handing Iraq over to the fundamentalists, among whom Raed does not count himself. Is this war not becoming criminally insane? Visit Khalid, as well, Raed's "sunni brother," and read his only post since mid-October.
Also courtesy of Khalid is this link to a forum in which you can talk to or read the accounts of eye witnesses to what's happening "over there." There was no one there for "live" discussions when I checked it out, but you can click to read previous discussions, and to find out future schedules, and to leave a question. If any readers avail themselves and find interesting material, we would be happy to publish any such submitted posts.
