New
article out by the AP:
National Guard Sees Parallels to Baghdad
NEW ORLEANS - A month ago, this steamy riverfront offered Michael Rogers a much-needed vacation after a year's tour in Iraq. His head was spinning when he returned in his National Guard uniform, unable to shake the similarities to his time on the streets of Baghdad.
An angry crowd. A hot blazing sun. A murky mixture of resentment and gratitude.
I've often wondered what could possibly happen to wake up Americans to the fact that people other than US Soldiers are dieing in Iraq. How could people be shown that ordinary people who just wanted to go about their lives are dieing every day because of how poorly we have handled the situation there.
Perhaps the realization that New Orleans is our very own Iraq right here at home (complete with total lack of planning) will make people wake up.
"This right here I'd have to say is very similar to Iraq, the way the people are -- hungry, very angry," said Rogers, a 33-year-old specialist.
Spec. Ricardo Richards, also of the Arkansas unit that had been in Iraq, stood squinting in the sun, armed with flak jacket, webbed helmet, assault rifle pointed to the ground.
"They're clapping on one side, because they see the security. On this side they're not clapping, they're hungry and thirsty," Richards said. "It's like Baghdad all over again ... The only thing different about this is there's no car bombs, no IEDs, nobody shooting at you."
Is there a chance that this could be used to let our country know that the people "over there" are just like us in the most important ways?
Clearly, the people who share the sentiments of this political cartoonist will never be able to see the common thread of humanity which runs through us all. But maybe some of us who have only watched the growing US death toll in Iraq will become more concerned about the civilian death toll as well.
I know that I will.