"At the morgue" -- from the McClatchy Baghdad Bureau "Inside Iraq" blog

[scarletwoman]

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/

February 15, 2007

At the morgue

We were asked to send the next of kin to whom the remains of my nephew, killed on Monday in a horrific explosion downtown, can be handed over. The young men of the family, as was customary, rose to go.

“NO!” cried his mother. “Isn’t my son enough?? Must we lose more of our youth?? You know there are unknowns who wait at the Morgue to either kill or kidnap the men who dare reach its doors. I will go.”

So we went, his mum, his other aunt and I.

I was praying all the way there.

I never thought a day would come when it was the women of the family, who would be safer on the roads. All the men are potential terrorists it seems, and are therefore to be cut down on sight. This is the logic of today, is it not? To kill evil before it even has a chance to take root.

When we got there, we were given his remains. And remains they were. From the waist down was all they could give us. “We identified him by the cell phone in his pants’ pocket. If you want the rest, you will just have to look for yourselves. We don’t know what he looks like.”

Now begins a horror that surpasses anything I could have possibly envisioned. We were led away, and before long a foul stench clogged my nose and I retched. With no more warning we came to a clearing that was probably an inside garden at one time; all round it were patios and rooms with large-pane windows to catch the evening breeze Baghdad is renowned for. But now it had become a slaughterhouse, only instead of cattle, all around were human bodies. On this side; complete bodies; on that side halves; and EVERYWHERE body parts.

We were asked what we were looking for, “ upper half” replied my companion, for I was rendered speechless. “Over there”. We looked for our boy’s broken body between tens of other boys’ remains’; with our bare hands sifting them and turning them.

We found him millennia later, took both parts home, and began the mourning ceremony.

Can Hollywood match our reality?? I doubt it.

Posted by Correspondent Sahar at 07:15 AM

I just found this blog this afternoon, thanks to a link from http://www.tinyrevolution.com/ . The posts are made by Iraqi journalists working for the McClatchy Baghdad bureau -- at great risk of their lives, as other posts there make clear.

To read what these brave people are faced with as the everyday hell their lives have become is beyond anything we comfortable and safe Americans can possibly imagine.

"...I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." (Thomas Jefferson)

sw

edit: forgot to include the link (duh!)

[scarletwoman]

1. No one has anything to say? Oh well... (nt)

[scarletwoman]

2. To whoever gave this post a recommend vote, thank you.

Reading the postings on this blog utterly broke my heart -- when I didn't think my heart could break anymore.

In starting this thread, I was hoping that people would take an interest in what life is like for the Iraqis who are still trying to keep some semblence of life together in that broken country.

But maybe it's just too depressing...

sw

[Karenina]

3. Found this on the back pages...

Out of sight, out of mind. :kick:

[scarletwoman]

14. Thank you, Karenina. I really appreciate you lifting this out of oblivion.

When I read this account of family members looking for the missing upper half of their nephew's body, it just totally choked me up.

And it seemed to me that at the very least, we owe the Iraqis a willingness to understand the raw reality that they are faced with in their daily lives.

sw

[leftchick]

4. and yet the morons on TV never question idiot head

and his boss cheney when they say Iraq is better off now without saddam. This is an incredible account sw, thank you for posting it.

[scarletwoman]

17. Thanks, leftchick. I'm really glad some people found this thread after all.

I watched it sink away unnoticed last night, and just thought, "oh well..."

It always brightens my day to see a post from you! :loveya:

sw

[mmonk]

5. wow. This is the post I first decided to check out this morning (Sunday)

It kind of slaps one in the face.

[Felinity]

6. K & R Comments? What can we say?

A bit of a sleeper thread. Excellent quote from Jefferson re: karmic retribution.

Our country has a lot of 'splainin' to do.

[DemReadingDU]

7. reading this link

adding it to to my growing list to check every day

[salin]

8. Missed this last night -

the horror we have unleased is unfathomable. Few (any?) of us can imagine living this horrific reality.

:cry:

k & r

[Divernan]

9. What a powerful, horrible description.

Creates such terrible visual imagery. How did this mother's son's body get torn or cut in half? Are we back in the middle ages of drawing and quartering? Eventually - maybe decades from now, the brutal facts of this war/invasion/slaughter will be revealed, to the US's enduring shame. Those barbaric acts which are not committed directly by U.S. forces, are funded and otherwise enabled by Bush's based-on-lies war.

I just saw Pan's Labyrinth last night - set in WWII, fascist Spain. It's a powerful anti-war film, and part of the scenario strikingly brings to mind Abu Graib & Guantanamo.

I know it was disheartening to get so little reply to this OP. It may leave people too depressed or speechless to post a reply, but you sure as hell should have gotten more recommends.

On edit: Meant to thank you for The Tiny Revolution link - excellent discussions there.

[City Lights]

10. Thanks for posting this, scarletwoman.

I've bookmarked it for daily reads. I plan to share the link with others to spread the word.

[enough]

11. Yes, thank you scarletwoman, that is an interesting site.

Interesting is too mild a word. My blood is boiling.

Of all the things I have read about life and death in Iraq, this is the one that has made me feel most vividly what it is like to have this happening to your OWN family.

There is no Hell deep enough for the people who have created this hell on earth.

[ArmchairMeme]

12. Can Hollywood match reality?

How apt for the way in which Americans see life as a movie. Americans have movie and t.v. shows promoting violence on a daily basis also video games shooting people with blood spurting out. Americans play at reality but think are apart from it.

I would say it will be mighty difficult for Iraqi people to view democracy as a peaceful way of life now compared to what came before the U.S. began the "bombs for democracy" farce.

Heck what other country reading about what is happening in Iraq would even want to speak about democracy as democracy now has a very negative connotation.

Jefferson quotation on karma is also on the mark!

[leftchick]

13. ...

k&r

[uppityperson]

15. kick, too late to recommend

[NNN0LHI]

16. I have noticed that McClatchy seems to do the best reporting from Iraq n/t

[Tinksrival]

18. Hello scarletwoman

I appreciate your post. The plight off the Iraqi people is lost to Americans and that is shameful. The bubble that is Bush is criminal and envelopes our society.
I had found a sight last week that was very interesting and had a post that was so amazingly written that I posted a thread on it but I only got one response.
I thought you might like to read it.
The post is here:
http://gorillasguides.com/2007/02/10/what-will-we-talk-about-today-you-and-i/

The home page is here:
http://gorillasguides.com/