Latest News From Iraqi Bloggers

The driver told me yesterday that before he came to take me to work, he took his sister to Al-Nu'mman Hospital in Adamiyah because she was ill. The Emergency ward was filled by Iraqi Police corpses, dead and wounded… some criminals drove to Antar Square in Adamiyah in the early morning, got out of their cars, and shot the Iraqi Police Patrol with automatic weapons, filling the street with bloody bodies, then ran away….
One day before that, there were attacks on police patrols in Baghdad and other cities, there was a large number of victims… and today, while we were at the shop, we heard the blow of a nearby explosion, which turned out later to be an attack against a police patrol by the Rowad Restaurant in Mansour… a crowded shopping area.
And then I read in the newspaper today that Bush promises to make Iraq an example in fighting terrorism, not an example to adopt terrorism in the Middle East.
I smile as I look upon this beautiful example, and how it is being created and formed, with plenty of wisdom, and the least possible minimum of damage to lives and property… GOD only knows when this example will be accomplished, and how many casualties will be paid for that.
I do not know.
The equation still goes between fools and criminals, who are disfiguring the world… and each thinks himself right. Each speaks sometimes in the name of GOD, rightness, and justice.
And there is a foolish American woman who writes to me from time to time, asking me: What have you done to help Iraqis? Why do you speak about the bad things, and not mention the good ones??
She is a supporter of Bush, and the Fox Channel…
I answer her quietly, and in contempt: Read my articles again, and you shall see that I talk about how much effort we spend to rebuild Iraq, and help the Iraqis. But I forgot to tell her that, as usual, if I have seen some good things, I would have told you, because I am more eager than you are for them.

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http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/

After some days of work on my Visa to the States, people in the organization that invited me changed their minds.

Why?

Because they think I am “anti-Semitic”

...

Whooooooa!
When and how did I use the Buzz word?
Even if I did, is it enough reason to discard me and my thoughts?
Should I defend myself all the time and apologize for being Iraqi&Palestinian?
Hmmm, should I tattoo my arm before coming to the States? I *Heart* Semitic people

...

Saturday, September 04, 2004
I called one of my friends at Najaf today, Dr. Haidar, and he was telling me how catastrophic the situation in the city is. He said that the number of CIVILIANS killed is 950, and another 1570 were injured which is more than 5 times the number of Iraqis killed and injured in Najaf during the 2003 war.

Haidar used to work in the main hospital in Najaf before the U.S Army closed it some months ago because they were attacked by Iraqi fighters from the hospital, and the hospital was never re-opened.

Najaf, as Haidar says, looks like a battle field. Most of the houses were affected in a way or another because of the street-fighting there. Two of his cousins were killed during the fights, one of them is a mother of two children, and the other the father of five. Both of them were at their homes.

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http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

August was a hellish month. The heat was incredible. No one remembers Baghdad ever being quite this hot- I think we broke a new record somewhere in mid-August.

The last few days, Baghdad has been echoing with explosions. We woke up to several loud blasts a few days ago. The sound has become all too common. It’s like the heat, the flies, the carcasses of buildings, the broken streets and the haphazard walls coming up out of nowhere all over the city… it has become a part of life. We were sleeping on the roof around three days ago, but I had stumbled back indoors at around 5 am when the electricity returned and was asleep under the cool air of an air-conditioner when the first explosions rang out.

I tried futilely to cling to the last fragments of a fading dream and go back to sleep when several more explosions followed. Upon getting downstairs, I found E. flipping through the news channels, trying to find out what was going on. “They aren’t nearly fast enough,” he shook his head with disgust. “We’re not going to know what’s happening until noon.”

But the news began coming in much sooner. There were clashes between armed Iraqis and the Americans on Haifa Street- a burned out hummer, some celebrating crowds, missiles from helicopters, a journalist dead, dozens of Iraqis wounded, and several others dead. The road leading to the airport has seen some action these last few days- more attacks on troops and also some attacks on Iraqi guard. The people in the areas surrounding the airport claim that no one got any sleep the whole night.

The areas outside of Baghdad aren’t much better off. The south is still seeing clashes between the Sadir militia and troops. Areas to the north of Baghdad are being bombed and attacked daily. Ramadi was very recently under attack and they say that they aren’t allowing the wounded out of the city. Tel Affar in the north of the country is under siege and Falloojeh is still being bombed.

Everyone is simply tired in Baghdad. We’ve become one of those places you read about in the news and shake your head thinking, “What’s this world coming to?” Kidnappings. Bombings. Armed militias. Extremists. Drugs. Gangs. Robberies. You name it, and we can probably tell you several interesting stories.

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http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/