Meanwhile in Iraq .... time for another Iraqi blog news roundup

[beachmom]

I have been very happy looking at the world's reporting on Obama's victory yesterday here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/4/114210/2785/744/430474

But that got me to thinking about how the Iraqi people are doing. No news is not necessarily good news.

First, Nabil is exiled in Jordan, and had a conversation with his cousin, who is still in Baghdad. This didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling:

http://nabilsblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/drama-continues.html

He tried to explain to me the changes that have taken place in Baghdad, he said that the situation is about 5% better than how it was when I was Iraq, he says "do you remember the men we used to see on motorbics who used to kidnap people and kill people? Alqa`ida men?" I said "sure", he goes "well, yeah, now they call themselevs the Awakening men of Adhamiya, they have removed Alqa`ida masks from their stinky faces and now wearing the masks of the awakening wave, he said you would be amazed if you come to the area and see the checkpoints ran by even children, you may see a 14 year old kid rasing a gun in your face and asking you to obey him in order to check you for guns and explosives, he said the only reason that the situation now is a little better in the area is because the American troops have paid those guys money in order to work with them", he continues saying "the whole issue is about money, give money you get alliances".

The short version: we're paying al Qaeda in Iraq members off to cooperate. Okaaay.

Then, very sad news about a blog I originally found via Josh Marshall, called Alive in Baghdad. This website was dedicated to videoing Iraqis and putting it up online so that people all over the world could understand what it was like for ordinary Iraqis (and it is often too dangerous for journalists to do this):

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_healingiraq_archive.html#3586306615151485779

Alive in Baghdad Reporter Killed

Ali Al-Moussawi, the Iraqi correspondent for the Alive in Baghdad video blog, was found killed at his home in Habibiya, just south of Sadr City, on December 14th, 2007. An Iraqi Army convoy had raided his street that night and neighbours heard shots fired. Al-Moussawi, 23, was found shot with 31 bullets to the head and the chest.

So, the Iraqi Army killed him; probably "collateral damage", but still, this is horrible. More here:

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/12/15/ali-shafeya-aib-special-correspondent-killed-at-home/

Ali lived in Habibya, it’s considered as a part of the Sadr city. On Friday the 14th at 11:30pm Baghdad time, Iraqi National Guard forces raided the street where Ali’s house is, one of the neighbors heard a gun firing after 15 minutes from the arrival of the Iraqi National Guard convoy to the street, the force left at 3:00am. His neighbors kept calling Ali’s phone and it was switched off all the time, so they called his cousin Amar because he lives one block away from where Ali lives.

Amar arrived in Ali’s house and found Ali shoot dead in the living room, Amar called the Iraqi Police and told them the story as he heard it from Ali’s neighbors. At 8:30 am Baghdad time the Iraqi Police took Ali’s body to the morgue, his two uncles received the body at 10:00am and they headed to Najaf to bury him.

Amar said the neighbor who lives in the front of his house was shot dead too during that raid, the guy’s name is Hussein and he is 26 years old. He was in his place along with his brother and nephew. The brother and the nephew disappeared after the convoy left.

The morgue report says that Ali took 31 bullets between the chest and the head and died immediately. He will be missed and remembered. His two brothers were killed in the Firdos Square bombing in 2005. He is survived by his mother and sister.

The site asked for donations to the family, and they did receive money as well as condolences. I found this poignant letter from Ali's family written in Arabic and translated:

To all who sent their condolences after our painful tragedy,

Thank you all from where you are and from where you sent your condolences, Ali is your son and your brother, thank you for feeling our disaster that happened to us and to all the Iraqis in Iraq.

Ali died as a martyr and his memory will continue living in our hearts forever. Pray for mercy and forgiveness upon Ali and remember him everywhere, and one more time thank you for your feelings that warmed our hearts.

The family of the Martyr
Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi

To get an idea of what Iraq looked like in 2007, watch this video took by an Iraqi blogger driving abandoned streets here:

http://last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com/2007/06/neighborhood-of-sorrow.html

This video (I have taken a week ago) shows the road to Adhamyia(one of the most ingrained neighborhood in Baghdad) which is controlled now by Al-Qaeda , I have video-taped it myself at 2pm. It is heart-burning video for any Iraqi. The video starts from 'Antar' square where Adhamyia starts , passing through one of the most active and crowded streets in the past then turning to 'Althobat' St. which was also one of the beautiful streets of Baghdad with shops and people walking around , it used to be very active neighborhood in the past.

That video was taken in June 2007 (pre-surge), so I looked to check if things had gotten better. This incident he describes in a post on December 18th doesn't seem a good indication:

The most painful feeling you can have is when you see your neighborhood on the verge of destruction, the deepest sorrow is when you watch the place where you lived all you life and where you dreamed to live being raped by criminals! When you watch the situation in your neighborhood deteriorates and there is nothing you can do, that's the real pain and that's where it's more than enough.

Controlling the emotions and the rage is becoming hard day after day as the destruction and terrorism crawls closer to me.

Yesterday was one of the bloodiest days I have ever witnessed (By my self), I was going back home from work, I was driving my car in my neighborhood streets while listening to the radio, as I was two blocks away from my home, I noticed children running scared from a side street and my neighbors are rushing into that same street, I stepped on the peddle to see what was happening, the radio was a bit loud so I couldn't hear anything so I turned it off and I heard gunshots, they were close, so so close. I reached the side street and I saw the most horrible thing a man can see, there was a car (Kia minivan) escaping and two men shooting at us from it, half of their body was out of the window and they were shooting at us (me and the neighbors) and there were two men on the side walk, drowned in their blood, I wanted to follow them but then I remembered I don't have a gun or any weapon what will I do? in addition to that they were shooting, that means I'll be shot before I reach them, so I decided to go the wounded men and try to help them, at this time the minivan managed to escape, I stepped out of the car and ran to them, one of them was shot in the head and the chest, it was a sure thing that he's dead, the other one wasn't dead yet, he had several shots in his chest and abdomen, I tried to carry him and he was making that terrible voice, he was in the agony of death; struggling and coughing blood, I knew he will die within seconds, so I gently placed him on the pavement; I didn't want him to die in my arms, at this time all the neighbors were out in the street, one of them went to call the national guards from their checkpoint, another one called an ambulance to take the dead bodies.

Every one was shocked, this is the first time that such things happen in our neighborhood, every one had tearful eyes, I was in shock and really angry, there was a kid screaming " I saw them, they were carrying the two men in the car then they pushed them out and killed them, then they escaped" few minutes later the national guards arrived to the scene and they forced us to get away so I don't know what happened later, I went home.

They weren't from the neighborhood so we couldn't know who they are or why they were killed, but one of them was wearing a gray shirt, he might, just might be in the Adamyia's awakening! And was kidnapped by AQ and killed in my neighborhood, no one knows for sure till this moment who were those two dead men, but whatever, they were two human beings that were killed two blocks away from my home and right in front of me. And as usual nothing was mentioned in the news, they said that 30 unidentified dead body were found in Baghdad.

As I reached home, I was very sad, angry and afraid. I was so depressed. Many things were circling in my head, one of these things is a decision I made to leave Iraq as soon as possible, I'm thinking seriously about that.

Just think: as we were all getting ready for the holidays or battling on the blogs in the primary battle, this horrible incident happened to this man. I think the surge has reduced violence overall in Iraq; however, I think it is artificial, and as soon as America pulls back a bit, the violence is going to reignite on a larger scale. The fundamental problems have not been addressed even with a small step. Only American forces and the money and arms they promise various factions are keeping things more in line. And as the incident above illustrates, violence is still a way of life in Iraq every day.

[ProSense]

1. Thanks for posting this.

Really tragic! Here is more on U.S. media coverage of Iraq.