CNN Blog: 'Baghdad is dying'

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/in.the.field/

'Baghdad is dying'

"Baghdad is dying, we are all just waiting in line." Khaled -- not his real name to protect his life -- one of our Iraqi employees, said the words softy, his eyes glossing over.

It was during a conversation with our Bureau Chief Cal Perry, talking about work in the bureau, and I was helping out translating. But the conversation had quickly shifted from business to life.

"It's so hard for me Arwa. This skull won¹t absorb English," he said, smacking both palms against his head. "I just have too much on my mind. I'm supporting three families, most of them women, each time my phone rings my heart sinks thinking that one of them was killed."

...

There absolutely nothing to say. Reassuring words ring hollow. And so I just said "I know." And his eyes glossed over even more.

Iraqis are strong and proud. You won't often see their suffering in their actions or in their voices. You see it in their eyes. Baghdad is dying.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. Oh, god. how very sad. may we be forgiven for what the U.S. has done to them.

[Jazzgirl]

4. I don't think we'll ever be forgiven for what we've done.

This is so sad. I can't believe a man has control of this country that can virtually do anything he wants to because of his fucking ego. This is so sad and beyond comprehensible to me.

[WindRavenX]

2. another great city of civilization that we've fucked up

Sigh.

[alfredo]

3. My anger has turned into grief. It is so sickening what

bush and his henchmen have done to the people of Iraq.

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. Bush has destroyed Baghdad and tried to destroy New Orleans

What's next Bush...Paris?

[WiseButAngrySara]

11. Tehran... ....n/t

[Miss Chybil]

21. No, Tehran. nt

[cmd]

6. From the children

A little further down in the article:
It was just an idea – talk to kids. Find out what they think of the war. When you interview adults here in Iraq – you often get a filtered view of reality. On the other hand, kids can’t lie. They will always tell you the truth – and really, it’s the truth we’re interested in.

(snip)
It took over three hours of talking to people before we found a 16 year old boy who was willing to tell us his thoughts. His first one, “Saddam was better than the Americans.” We’re off to a great start – I thought. “Any hope for Iraq” I asked. “None,” he said.

(snip)
Kids in Iraq are wonderful. They run the same routine anytime they see a foreigner. First they send a scout. He appears from no where – checks out the situation, then disappears. Depending on his report to the others, flocks of kids start to arrive. In this case, there were at least a dozen.

One became the leader. He pointed out everything that had changed – the trash, the blast walls – the western security. He told us he wished he could play football without fearing for his life.

I asked one final question to the group that had arrived. “How many of you have lost family members in this war? Everyone raised their hand.

[WiseButAngrySara]

13. I'm weeping over that one. ...n/t

[Rose Siding]

18. Some wingnuts commented on that one-

http://www.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/in.the.field/2007/01/iraq-children_04.html
A 16-year old isn't going to value the freedom and liberty achieved, nor look at the future and what benefits will appear in 10 years.
Posted By Volodymyr, Issaquah, WA : 2:14 PM ET
________________
Things will eventually get better and democracy will win in Iraq. Yes violence is probably worse now than it was before but in will eventually end. Yes the 16-year old kid is probably telling the truth, but ask any American 16-year what they think of their country and I will guarantee that is negative. We Americans need to stay the course and bring a better life for the future of Iraq.
Posted By Nicholas Piperis Boca Raton, Florida : 3:30 PM ET
_________________
Congratulations, you've been used. You're a tool.

What you didn't report on were the Muj snipers ready to shoot the kids if they thought the jihadi line wasn't being parroted.
Posted By Bob, Houston, TX : 4:02 PM ET
____________________
typicalCNN - America is bad, Sadam was good
Posted By Ruth, Nebraska : 4:39 PM ET


I'm expecting Malkin to show up and accuse CNN of inventing 16 year olds. :eyes:

[progressoid]

19. Yeah, some of those people have serious kool-aid poisoning

[fooj]

7. I feel ashamed. How can we allow this to happen?

:cry:

[WiseButAngrySara]

8. G Damn I hate B*. Doesn't he know what he's done? How

can he remain oblivious to the tragedy that resulted from his greed and his lies and his arrogance? It is ghastly beyond measure... beyond even a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearian tragedy, because most of the good tragedies were about intelligent humans. B* lacks even that.

[illinoisprogressive]

9. I had my husband read this and told him I hope Bush and Cheney

fry in hell for what they have done to the Iraqis, the middle east to this country and to the world.
I read where many humanitarian organizations have called on the EU to be the new moral authority in the world since the united states no longer fits that bill. We no longer deserve to be that.
My heart aches for this country and for those poor Iraqi's that we've destroyed.

[ninkasi]

10. This is just too much!

I am here, safe in my home, and just reading about the agonizing lives the Iraqis live is crushing me. What must it be like for them? I can't stand it that an idiot, and bully, claims to be causing all of this hell in my name, and the names of my friends and family. This is wrong, so wrong, so immoral, that a fear what our karma will be. Why do we have to be inflicted with a sociopath to impose his will, which is to cause destruction, and death, and sorrow, upon us and the world?

I just want this to stop. I want him and his master Cheney impeached, and thrown into prison, and want to give the rest of us, the ones of us who do not accept this imperial view of America, to heal, and repair the damage that he has done to the rest of the world. I am in a nightmare, and can't wake up.

[illinoisprogressive]

12. Like you, I just want this to stop. For Bush and Cheney to be put away now.

[originalpckelly]

14. And the sad part of this is that their lives sucked less before we invaded, but...

they still sucked. So we're really fucking things up when they are losing hope. Think about how awful what we have done is, just imagine for a second how bad Iraq was during the sanctions. Now it's worse. How the fuck is this even possible? It boggles the mind how this has been fucked up and how fucked up it was at its core.

[illinoisprogressive]

15. I was always against this war yet, I feel so guilty

[GuvWurld]

16. Is this story on the blog only or is it on TV too?

I no longer watch TV so I ask this in blissful ignorance. I submitted the question as a comment to CNN's site too.

[eridani]

17. The passive voice should be changed

People are killing Baghdad--the neocon sociopaths, to be more specific.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

20. K&R... "see it in their eyes," in this imagery that reflects profound human suffering ...

[Jcrowley]

22. K&R n/t

[Doctor_J]

23. In 18 months or so the residents of Tehran will be saying that

about their city. Death and destruction are the only things that have given Smirk joy in his entire pathetic life. Killing off an entire city in the cradle of civilization will be the crowning achievement of his life.