I came across a very vivid blog by a photographer in Iraq, Stephanie Sinclair. Her despair at the chaos in Baghdad is moving, especially since she is no apologist for Saddam and a lukewarm war-supporter. What I think we may have missed is how the poor security situation made everything so much worse – made coalition soldiers jumpy and trigger-happy, which alienated Iraqis even more, which fed more distrust, and so on. The mistake was early on – when order was not restored after liberation, the borders were left unsealed, and mayhem allowed to unfold. We are still recovering from that early Rumsfeld-designed disaster. Then there is the impact of terrorism in Iraq itself:
I had the misfortune of spending the last two days stepping around pieces of dead bodies after two suicide bombers detonated themselves outside a police station and army recruiting facility in Iskandariyah and then in Baghdad. I can’t really begin to explain what it is like to see this type of pain and suffering and carnage. Even worse, I can’t even imagine what it must be like for the families that had to go to the morgue and sift through decapitated bodies, torsos without limbs, burned bits of clothing to identify their brother or son. I just sat there wondering how I would feel if I had to see someone I loved burnt and in pieces. It hurts to just write that and this was the reality for more than 100 families here in Iraq this week. To say it is sad is an understatement. One young guy in his 20s showed up at the morgue and was so upset he could barely stand because he was shaking so badly, overcome with fear and grief. Another young Iraqi police officer went into convulsions while watching the bodies being moved around, falling into a pile of burnt debris and garbage. This was worse than anything I saw during my experience covering the war. The most frightening part of all this is the local response to the explosions. At each scene Iraqi civilians accused the Americans of staging the attacks. In Iskandariyah hundreds of people were convinced that an American plane shot a missile at people applying for jobs the police station. Then they said that the police were cowards for cooperating with the Americans and started breaking the windows of one of the new police cars. Shortly afterwards a police officer shot about 30 gunshots in the air to disperse the crowd and of course at least one bullet hit a bystander and they had to be taken to the hospital. At the second site, the locals claimed the American soldiers set off the explosion and that is why all the soldiers were behind the concrete barrier when it happened, resulting in Iraqi casualties only. Of course this is crazy Iraqi talk, but it shows the lack to trust the local people have in the coalition forces here. Even Alaa started to wonder if this was as true and he is a college graduate who speaks three languages and has so far loved the Americans. The whole situation here is worrisome.
With any luck, the new government will ease this problem.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “The only way we ever found [Saddam] is finally somebody put enough pressure on enough people to find out that somebody had an idea where somebody might know somebody who might know somebody who would know where he might have been,” – Donald Rumsfeld, in classic form.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “Here I am, your freak. A proud gay man who votes Republican more than not, and will be voting for Bush. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Federal Marriage Amendment because gay people suddenly think it’s fine for judges to impose their beliefs as law. They forced this. Instead of letting the American people decide (and there’s a good chance they’d have decided in our favor), they had people imposing their views, forcing people who were against it, feeling powerless, to play the same way. How can you not acknowledge this? I am not saying two wrongs make a right, I am saying this – what were opponents supposed to do? I don’t agree with the FMA (doesn’t seem like reason enough to amend the constitution) but it isn’t illegal and I understand where it’s coming from. And I don’t need marriage to sanctify my love for my partner. I think civil union benefits makes more sense, it isn’t separate but equal, gays and straights ARE different. If marriage is primarily about a family, then it excludes ALL gays, except those who inseminate and hire surrogates which I believe is drastically wrong when there are needy children who can be adopted. You can’t shove gayness down people’s throats. We’ve had to endure the ugly stereotype of trying to convert straights and now it seems to be realized. Instead of trying to convert them, we want to coopt an ancient tradition that really doesn’t fit homosexuals who don’t procreate and we are utterly intolerant of Christians who don’t break laws but think we’re going to Hell (instead of just saying to Hell with them). Just remember Andrew, there are different types of people out there in the world, please stop painting in such broad strokes. I hope you will print my letter so people can know that gays come in more flavors than they can imagine.” Well, I did. There’s more feedback on the Letters Page.
The Dish 