'Najaf's Residents Feel Trapped in Battle" - Yahoo, please rate [View All]

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Just out -- this article humanizes the people in Iraq.
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Najaf's Residents Feel Trapped in Battle

NAJAF, Iraq - For nearly three weeks, Amer al-Jamali hasn't been able to go to work. He cannot visit his father, find medication for his diabetic children or even sleep on his roof to escape the city's suffocating heat made worse by power outages.


The fighting between a Shiite militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces has scarred this holy city, killed scores of civilians, driven many families and pilgrims away and choked the city's economy.


"We're simple people. We just want to be able to go to work and come back home," said al-Jamali, a mechanic. "I don't know to whom I should complain. I just complain to God."
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When the rattle of gunfire and thuds of explosions echo through the city, al-Jamali's 12-year-old son, Mohammed, covers his ears with his hands. The fighting has made it too dangerous to sleep outside. And al-Jamali's whole neighborhood has been swathed in darkness since the latest bout of violence broke out Aug. 5.