Iraq, blogized

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Because Iraq has become such a dangerous place, hardly any journalists remain in the country the US is practically at war with. There are only sparse reports as how the situation is outside the areas with strong troop representation.
An article in a newspaper brought a couple of blogs to my attention that are written by Iraqi citizens, living and struggling in their country.
A 15 year old girl by the name HNK writes about her experiences:

the situation is always getting worse. one day ago, we heard about 2 big explosions each hour.
We didn’t even fix the kitchen’s window that broke last month. because every day we heard an explosion which is big enough to break the window over again.

A dentist gives a more general overview over the recent developments.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a retired U.S. general and adjunct professor at the Military Academy, recently returned from a trip to Iraq and has written a surprisingly candid report on the situation. [...] I agree with most of his assessment, except his rosy description of the current security operation. Also, like most U.S. military officials, he is mistaking the recent infighting between tribes in the Anbar Governorate and Al-Qaeda as a turning point in the insurgency and support for the U.S. or the Iraqi government. But he recognises, correctly, that the only road to success in Iraq is through reconciliation.

He also lists many more Iraqi blogs.
Another young woman, riverside, 24, writes from her point of view

As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat), showing Americans how to get out of debt. Her guest speaker is telling a studio full of American women who seem to have over-shopped that they could probably do with fewer designer products. As they talk about increasing incomes and fortunes, Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman, is on Al Jazeera telling how Iraqi security forces abducted her from her home and raped her. You can only see her eyes, her voice is hoarse and it keeps breaking as she speaks. In the end she tells the reporter that she can’t talk about it anymore and she covers her eyes with shame.

Finally, the Mesopotamian wants “to bring one more Iraqui voice of the silent majority to the attention of the world.”

Personally I have mixed feelings about this execution. To start with, if the punishment for murder is to be death, according to the Law in many lands, including that of the U.S.A., and in accordance with the writ of the Great religions; then Saddam deserves at least a million or so executions. His guilt is as clear as sunlight. The Trial was frustrating for most people around here. Perhaps there should have been an international trial so that the world can see and hear the full story of some of the most horrendous crimes in the history of humanity. But do you think that his friends would have been at a loss for things to say if that had happened? Well, when there is a culture that has lost respect for truth, reality, logic, decency; and become complete slave to prejudice and bias; anything can be said and any argument goes. It is a sure sign of decline, decay and fall when a civilization starts to lose its respect for veracity and when words can be twisted to suite any purpose and present any argument regardless of the truth. For the “Word” is sacred. Remember the first sentence in the bible: “At first was the Word, then was the World”.

Edit:

Doug (himself a gulf veteran) pointed me to a blog from the Fightin 6th Marines, who are stationed in Fallujah, one of the worst sections of Iraq.

There are a few stray bullet marks around some of the gated archways but the tiling on the spires are still glorious to behold. Driving down some of the main roads you can get a sense of the empire this region once held in the world. It’s easy to forget  in the madness of war sometimes that this  is the birthplace of algebra (algebra itself is a word of Arabic origin) and other sciences.