Last Updated: Thursday, 21 December 2006
Iraqi bloggers react to the violence http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6194329.stm
People in Iraq are facing the highest level of violence since June 2004. These postings from bloggers inside Iraq are personal accounts of life in a war zone.
This story contains links to external websites which are not subject to the usual BBC editorial controls.
http://iraqirocker.blogspot.com/
Iraqi Rocker, or "Meemo" is a 19 year old man living in Baghdad.
Wednesday, December 13 2006: The Mehdi militia tried to take over our neighbourhood, but they couldn't. I think they will try again later.
The other team that is trying to take over the neighbourhood is al-Qaeda.
They don't attack in the same way as the Mehdi army; they are more bloody.
They use sidewalk bombs, they get inside people's houses and kill everyone.
Both teams are killers, I don't like either of them and I want them both to burn in hell.
Wednesday, December 20 2006:
[A road out of Baghdad]
Good Bye Blue Sky:
I leave Baghdad in two days. I'm going to Syria as a first step to the world.
I'm not going to see death anymore; I'm not going to hear car explosions again; I will come back to life again.
I'm not living dead anymore, I'll be back to humanity in two days.
Goodbye Baghdad, I hope that you will recover soon and that peace will return.
I wish you peace, Baghdad, for the New Year.
firstwordsfirstwalkfirstiniraq.blogspot.com/
Chikitita is a 27 year old woman living in Baghdad.
[chikitita's web image]
Monday, December 18, 2006: Am I the only one who believes that the post-invasion crimes committed by the government-backed militias have kind of desecrated the memory of the mass graves victims?
Isn't it ironic that such an appalling crime makes Saddam look like an angel, compared to today's Satans. At least the bodies were buried when he was in power; he didn't give orders to dump them in piles of trash with the three bullets to the head trademark.
On second thoughts, I think Iraqis should be thankful to the democratically elected government.
But for them, we wouldn't have felt the sense of equality; when bakers and academics, the rich and poor have all become victims of the militia-infiltrated security agencies as well as hard-line insurgents.
neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/
Neurotic Iraqi wife is an Iraqi British woman living and working in Baghdad's Green Zone.
[Neurotic Iraqi wife's web image]
Monday, December 18, 2006: Iraq has become the victim of violence, domestic violence.
Punched, hit, beaten up and raped. Raped by Iraqis, Americans, Brits, Arabs, Africans, Iranians, Afghanis.
Raped by the WORLD. The whole world.
Iraq has fallen victim to psychotic personas. Psychotic personas pretending to cry for Iraq. Psychotic personas pretending to kill for Iraq. Yet the victim, the victim is none other, but Iraq; Iraq and Iraqis: victims of violence.
http://nabilsblog.blogspot.com/
Nabil is a 19 year old student who wants to leave Iraq and move to New Zealand. He lives in a Sunni district of Baghdad.
[Car bomb explosion 20 metres from Nabil's house]
Monday, December 18 2006: A car filled with explosives exploded about 20 meters away from the outer gate of my house.
The car exploded when an American army patrol was passing in the street. There were no injuries to American soldiers or civilians.
Electricity high tension wires got destroyed and now the neighbourhood is without any electricity at all.
Sunday, December 3 2006:
[Baghdad's universities are coming under increasing attacks from Sunni extremist groups. Nabil photographed and translated this threatening message from the Sunni militant organisation, Ansar al-Sunna, which was posted to walls in his neighbourhood:]
[Notice on walls in Sunni area of Baghdad]
To students and professors in Sunni districts: communique about closing universities and institutes in Baghdad.
This is a result of the acts of the Maliki government and its dirty death squads, who kill and torture Sunnis. These crimes used to be done by small groups; today, they are done by hundreds of people in broad daylight, by the Persian forces of the Internal Affairs Ministry.
We have decided to cancel the 2006-7 academic year for undergraduate and graduate students in all Baghdad universities, to save the blood of our professors and students, and to clear these institutions of death squads.
http://astarfrommosul.blogspot.com/ A star from Mosul is an 18 year old woman who has just started her first term at university in Mosul, northern Iraq. Thursday, December 7 2006:
[A Star from Mosul's web image]
Universities in Iraq are mixed which was a bit hard to get used to.
We are walking baby steps towards better communication with each other. Some boys just want to start a conversation, which is sometimes really annoying, since they just can't say a whole sentence without making fools of themselves, and sometimes offending us.
I left home late today since the neighbourhood was surrounded.
We were having breakfast when an explosion happened and broke several windows in the house, including the dining room, but none of us was hurt.
A bullet broke one of the windows yesterday too. We'll need new glass for the windows and new curtains too. You can never anticipate what's going to happen next.