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11/19/2004: "I hate america"

I haven't posted in awhile. I have been really busy trying to make it happen in my hometown, where we are settling in, and have been working all night delivering the "Wall Street Journal". In between, I have been doing custodial work and kitchen work.

I am the poster child of the Bush Economy. A college degree, eight years IT experience, and I am delivering, of all things, the WSJ!!!!

But my problems are miniscule compared to the horror and atrocity of what is happening in Iraq. I have a link to "Girl Blog from Iraq" on the right side. I think it is appropriate to place her lastest post front and center. So much for winning hearts and minds.
This is madness, and it won't stop soon. I will also admit that it wouldn't have stopped soon if Kerry won either. I don't really like America right now....

American Heroes...

I'm feeling sick- literally. I can't get the video Al-Jazeera played out of my head:

The mosque strewn with bodies of Iraqis- not still with prayer or meditation, but prostrate with death- Some seemingly bloated an old man with a younger one leaning upon him legs, feet, hands, blood everywhere The dusty sun filtering in through the windows the stillness of the horrid place. Then the stillness is broken- in walk some marines, guns pointed at the bodies... the mosque resonates with harsh American voices arguing over a body- was he dead, was he alive? I watched, tense, wondering what they would do- I expected the usual Marines treatment- that a heavy, booted foot would kick the man perhaps to see if he groaned. But it didn't work that way- the crack of gunfire suddenly explodes in the mosque as the Marine fires at the seemingly dead man and then come the words, "He's dead now."

"He's dead now." He said it calmly, matter-of-factly, in a sort of sing-song voice that made my blood run cold and the Marines around him didn't care. They just roamed around the mosque and began to drag around the corpses because, apparently, this was nothing to them. This was probably a commonplace incident.

We sat, horrified, stunned with the horror of the scene that unfolded in front of our eyes. It's the third day of Eid and we were finally able to gather as a family- a cousin, his wife and their two daughters, two aunts, and an elderly uncle. E. and my cousin had been standing in line for two days to get fuel so we could go visit the elderly uncle on the final day of a very desolate Eid. The room was silent at the end of the scene, with only the voice of the news anchor and the sobs of my aunt. My little cousin flinched and dropped her spoon, face frozen with shock, eyes wide with disbelief, glued to the television screen, "Is he dead? Did they kill him?" I swallowed hard, trying to gulp away the lump lodged in my throat and watched as my cousin buried his face in his hands, ashamed to look at his daughter.

"What was I supposed to tell them?" He asked, an hour later, after we had sent his two daughters to help their grandmother in the kitchen. "What am I supposed to tell them- 'Yes darling, they killed him- the Americans killed a wounded man; they are occupying our country, killing people and we are sitting here eating, drinking and watching tv'?" He shook his head, "How much more do they have to see? What is left for them to see?"

They killed a wounded man. It's hard to believe. They killed a man who was completely helpless- like he was some sort of diseased animal. I had read the articles and heard the stories of this happening before- wounded civilians being thrown on the side of the road or shot in cold blood- but to see it happening on television is something else- it makes me crazy with anger.

And what will happen now? A criminal investigation against a single Marine who did the shooting? Just like what happened with the Abu Ghraib atrocities? A couple of people will be blamed and the whole thing will be buried under the rubble of idiotic military psychologists, defense analysts, Pentagon officials and spokespeople and it will be forgotten. In the end, all anyone will remember is that a single Marine shot and killed a single Iraqi 'insurgent' and it won't matter anymore.

It's typical American technique- every single atrocity is lost and covered up by blaming a specific person and getting it over with. What people don't understand is that the whole military is infested with these psychopaths. In this last year we've seen murderers, torturers and xenophobes running around in tanks and guns. I don't care what does it: I don't care if it's the tension, the fear, the 'enemy' it's murder. We are occupied by murderers. We're under the same pressure, as Iraqis, except that we weren't trained for this situation, and yet we're all expected to be benevolent and understanding )

Replies: 3 Comments

Yes, I do have a comment. I love America! I love it now. I loved it when Clinton was president! I have always loved it. I refuse to believe that America is some great satan delivering misery to the world. America has spread freedom democracy and human rights like no nation before. To this supposed girl blog in Iraq. Just because you say on a blog site that you are a girl in Iraq does not make it so. There is no way she lives in Iraq. You gullible liberals want to believe it because it represents America in the worst possible light. Look at the english. Look at the way she refers to developments in her own country in the third person. Look at the way she references the towns and the clerics. Look at the apparent disregard and lack of sympathy for the deaths experienced by the Iraq police force and the consistent sympathy to the terrorists and insurgent forces. The terrorists in here country are killing many more of her own people but there is no reference to them. She writes like an observer reading papers there is no ownership in her writings. Also it is amazing that given all of the problems with delivering power to the country after the war, she has found a way to use her trusty computer almost every day without interruption. So while she is fearing for her safety and struggling to make it day to day, the most important thing to her when she is avoiding the bullets from the evil Americans is to pull out that trusty computer which is unaffected by power surges, plug it in to the convenient outlet (supporting alternating power connections) and reports to the world about the evil done by the Americans. It is comical for anyone to give this blog sight any relevance and credibility whatsoever. Clearly she is a far-left radical extremist Bush hater with sympathies to the radical fringe of the Muslim faith. The same group that plots to release nuclear weapons on Americans for the sole reason that we live. The consistent reports coming from the people who are actually there and who have actually spoken to the common citizens is that Prime Minister Allawi had it right when he addressed congress. The people are grateful to be rid of Saddam Hussain, they are grateful that we are helping them rebuild their country, and they are glad we are there helping to ensure a stable and peaceful Iraq. So, go ahead and continue to wear your tin foil hats and believe all of this garbage but you democrats would be better served to find a message that supports America and promotes what the majority of the people know to be correct. America is a consistent force for good in this world. I am also really surprised that none of you democrats have condemned the blatant racism being spewed by the left with regard to the appointment of Dr. Rice as Secretary of State.

mike said @ 11/20/2004 01:38 PM CST

Uh, Sorry Mike, but if you had been reading her posts from the beginning, it would be obvious that she is from Bagdad. You question this because her English is "too good". You have got to be kidding. I know this isn't usually broadcast on the Rush Limbaugh show, but before the war and despite Sadaam, Bagdad University was the best school in the Middle East, at least of the Arab Countries. I speak fluent Spanish. If I wrote a spanish language blog (which I might do), then just because I spoke it well, then someone in Mexico might say, "how can he be american, his spanish is too good". Sorry, but despite the many common misconceptions of Iraqi's, many of them are very highly educated, like this gal.

bob said @ 11/22/2004 01:30 PM CST

OK, I am glad that you conceded all of my other points without discussion and I am glad that you also see that she is not from Iraq. Now for further evidence that this blogger resides not in Iraq but most probably in Canada or possibly in the San Francisco area, take a look at he following. First, where is the Arabic language version of her blog sight? Surely someone who wanted to persuade others would not eliminate her own citizens? Of course possibly, she is an Iraqi living in America with ties to her family that still resides in Iraq. Clearly if by some remote chance she is in Iraq, the family and the individual are part of the Baath party. This is evident by the excellent job she had when she was working with computers for the dictator Saddam Hussain and that her job was eliminated once Saddam Hussain was removed from power. Because of this, you have to filter what she says as if it comes from the mouth of Saddam himself. Clearly her support of the insurgent forces indicates a Baath party affiliation. In addition, in order to run a blog sight like she has, it take a monthly subscription. I know this because I researched the terms and conditions of her blog hosting firm (a big American company Google) and she has chosen the no-add option and this comes only with a monthly subscription. Well, do you think she is using her handy dandy Baath party master card? It is obvious she cannot send the money because in her blog on Thursday, October 09, 2003, she stated that she removed all of her money from the bank and converted it to gold for fear that it would be taken. So, the question remains, how does she pay the monthly subscription. Hmmm... obvious answer...she is not in Iraq. Secondly, it is highly unlikely that she has such a complete understanding of the American political system to say the things she said in her open letter to Americans. For example on Nov. 3, she was talking about red and blue states. This is very American slang term that would not be captured or comprehended by someone who spends her days worrying if a U.S. Tank will come through her walls as stated in her blog on Friday, April 09, 2004. Very American slang is rampant through her diatribes and would not be internalized into speech in such a timely manner by someone who has waited for the better part of a month (July 2004) for telephone service. Nice try but for the many reasons stated, I cannot give anything she says any credibility.

mike said @ 11/22/2004 09:04 PM CST