Tigris Tales - Salam Pax

[fizzana]

A few nights ago, a small local hospital in the town of Musaiyab was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. Luckily, no one was hurt. But what is really funny is the fact that the guy who fired the missile went to the hospital the next morning and apologised, saying it landed there by mistake: "Nothing against you guys - it was supposed to hit something else." Well, that's a relief. The guy shot a hospital by mistake and went to apologise. It's called manners. I bet his mum is proud.
Now the tragic part. A couple of days later, another coalition convoy is attacked in the same area and it seems the "resistance" is using the same sharp-shooter. He misses the convoy and the RPG lands in the local gas station. Look, give the idiot some slack, he did make things go "kaboom", didn't he?

What lesson do we learn from this little story? First, the "resistance" has not got better at aiming. This is kind of lucky for the troops but has worrying consequences for the rest of the population. Second, they are not afraid to show themselves. This is new.

A couple of months ago these people would keep a very low profile. Anti-American slogans used to be sprayed on the walls at night, sometimes left unfinished, suggesting that whoever was doing the spraying fled in mid-sentence, or was perhaps just as stupid as our friend above and failed to check that he had enough paint.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1197263,00.html

Beneath the humor one can see that Iraq has undergone a sea change in the past few months. Maybe better for Iraq but definitely not for the U.S.

[On the Road]

1. Wow --That's Great

I hadn't read anything by Salaam Pax for awhile. Nothing like an eyewitness report.

[anarchy1999]

3. Have you checked out www.empirenotes.org

have you heard of Jo Wilding or Darh Jamail:

from Darh: call me if you think he is making this up.

Baghdad , Apr 19 - Last Wednesday, Sunni resistance fighters detained five Westernerns and a Palestinian Iraqi who were traveling from the besieged city of Fallujah to Baghdad. In a month marked by numerous kidnappings of foreigners by Iraqi guerillas, the activists recount that their captors treated them well and released them unharmed.

British activist Bethan Jones said of her captors, “From the moment they took us out of the vehicles until the moment we were released, they treated us with complete and utter humanity -- to the extent of giving me medicine since I was sick.”

After US Marines besieged the city for more than a week, killing hundreds of Iraqis, Jones and fellow activists Jo Wilding, David Martinez, and Donna Mulhearn had traveled to Fallujah to carry out emergency work that included escorting ambulances to rescue wounded Iraqis. They also assisted in evacuating from the city Iraqi families trapped in their homes by more than a week of heavy fighting.

While leaving Fallujah Wednesday, the four activists were traveling with
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=170

Is there anyone sorry here yet?

What have we stopped, we have marched, we've typed and called, faxed and phoned all week long and look at what we have left. This is wrong. This is criminal. Bush and Company are doing all of this in our name, for "freedom and democracy". Picture "Freedom and Democracy" coming to your neighborhood soon...........can't wait, can you?

[Lithos]

2. I love reading Salaam Pax

I realize his humor is black and sardonic to cover up for some really nasty things going on, but the attitude he displays in his writing voice is simply amazing.


L-