Iraq is burning with wrath, anger and sadness (Dahr Jamail in Baghdad)

Iraq is burning with wrath, anger and sadness
Dahr Jamail
November 12, 2004

Leaving the hotel is always an adventure. Last night, with a full beard and a kefir draped around my shoulders, Abut Talat wisks me out into the chaotic streets of occupied Baghdad.

As we traveled around the capital, we took side roads, winding varying routes towards our destination, never daring to take the direct, most obvious path. Aside from the obvious threat of kidnapping which is my greatest concern, we travel accepting the fact that anywhere, anytime, we could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether that take the form of a car bomb like the one yesterday which detonated near a US patrol on Sa’adoun street, killing 17 people and engulfing 20 cars in flames, or a full scale battle between occupation forces and resistance fighters like that which occurred in al-Adhamiya today.

The damp night air appeared as a haze which exaggerated the ever-present of smog in the capital. Driving around Baghdad always provides an assortment of smells-from beef kebobs cooking on the roadsides as vendors stoke their fires, or more commonly, as the stench of raw sewage as one passes through yet another un-reconstructed sewage infested area.

One of our stops is at the home of Dr. Wamid Omar Nathmi, a senior political scientist at Baghdad University. An older, articulate man who vehemently opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein, he is now critical of the US policy which is engulfing Iraq in violence, bloodshed and chaos.

He told me that during the buildup to the siege of Fallujah, he had sent John Negroponte, the current so-called ambassador of Iraq, a letter which, along with several other points, asked him, “Do you think that by occupying Fallujah you will stop the resistance?”

(more)

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000110.php

Friday 12th November 2004 :
Falluja facing humanitarian crisis



http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4276

When will they ever learn.

He held up his hands and asked, “Who will provide security in Ramadi now, angels?”

“I can assure you, it is well over 75% of Iraqis who cannot even tolerate this occupation,” he said a little later when discussing the Bush administrations attempts to whitewash the situation in Iraq. “The right-wing Bush administration is blinded by its ideology, and we are all suffering from this, Iraqis and soldiers alike.”

After our interview, we stopped by Abu Talat’s home for a coffee and so I could say hello to his family. His son Hissan somberly asked me, “When will the Americans leave, Dahr?” I had no response. “I don’t know Hissan. I really don’t know.” He then said, “I don’t think they are ever going to leave Iraq.”

As much as I like Kerry -- I don't think he was planning to leave either -- he talked about staying & winning the Peace.

The bushie gang is working hard to win more enemies -- world wide. And the citizens of the US will be wearing bull's eye on our backs when we travel abroad.

They're in my prayers!!!

Absolutely.

The U.S. is like Hans Brinker with their finger in the dike, trying to hold off the wave of change that will hit them in Iraq.

It will end up an Islamic state and the U.S. puppet government will be overthrown.

Iraq what you see is what you get for next year.

Wake up this isn't Panama babyj!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Violence spreads across Iraq

just like the CBC reporter predicted, there would be a backlash, many of the fighters would simply resurface in other areas.

Welcome to the real world of occupation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111304X.shtml

We need to focus on the positives in Iraq

like, uhh well like....hmmmmmm never mind.

Well said.

in the USA. I am so fearful of payback time! Shrub, I feel less safe now then ever.

:argh:

what's happened to Americans. I just don't get it. It's like the 59MM idiots that voted for Bush are under some spell.

This is a horror and I don't know what can be done.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/13/wirq13.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/13/ixnewstop.html

excerpt:

Some of the toughest street fighting encountered so far erupted during the day as rebels re-emerged in areas already secured by US marines in the north of the city.

Gunmen resumed positions on the roofs of mosques which had earlier been cleared, effectively drawing troops away from the main advance southwards.

"It's extremely dangerous right now because the insurgents have nowhere to go. They are just sitting in houses waiting for us to come in. I'm supposed to shoot into the houses before our troops go in," said Marine Cpl Will Porter.

"Some battalions are pushing through the city and others are clearing it. Battalions like ours are coming from behind, going house-to-house killing guys," said a US marine, Lt Michael Prato.

...more...

But most of them think Bush is God's gift to humanity.
They don't give a shit about reality, just their
desire to get revenge, or merely a thirst for
blood or personal glory.

I'm starting to just think, the more of them that
get killed, maybe, the sooner they'll wake up.
That's what it's going to take, and that's what
they've chosen.

It was so sad seeing all these families suffering from their loss of a loved one.

Let's see, the country is under martial law, Fallujah is full of corpses, they have a puppet government, their country is occupied by foreign soldiers who abuse them, their infrastructure is in shambles, their cities are becoming uninhabitable...

Why aren't they happy? They must hate us for our freedom.