[From the Baghdad Burning blog]
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#108133824770418172
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
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?
<snip>
And as I blog this, all the mosques, Sunni and Shi'a alike, are
calling for Jihad...
Full at: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#108133824770418172