A Family in Baghdad blog asks:
What is the worth of the citizen here??? An Iraqi??
To live in a place where there is no state, no law, no protection... GOD the MIGHTY is the only safety factor, for those who believe, and depend on him... I have been living my days wagering upon this fact only. Not on a government, nor an army, nor police, they were all in a jam, and each one wants to protect himself some how... even the occupation force...is only thinking of protecting itself, and how to cut down the daily losses.
This Baghdad mom says in a nutshell why the so called "liberation" is scarier to Iraqis than Saddam. Today's violence can hit anyone, while Saddam's violence was usually conditional on someone's words or actions towards his government...
I hate to just "cut and paste" but this blogger is so powerful in her description of day to day chaos US brought that I couldn't find a single thing to add but "bold" some of the critical passages...
When I opened the second part of the gate, a red car drove near, then stopped beside my car, I looked coolly to them, thinking them visitors to the neighbors, but I noticed that they got out quickly, facing me, carrying rifles and guns aimed at me....
Every thing froze in that moment...I saw my self dead, for sure.
Two of them moved towards me, signaling me to keep quiet, then one of them got into the car, while the other kept pointing his gun at me, I then realized that they came [for my] car
...I hoped for a miracle to happen, to stop them, but they went by, quickly, and my heart tore up... I run to the street, and stopped the first passing car, told him: Please help me, they took my car...I want to follow them or notify the Police...
I felt I shall die of sorrow, feeling defeated in front of a dirty enemy you can not confront... I felt that even the Police were helpless, so the possibility of getting it back is very slim....
One of the reasons for my incident is that the streets are almost devoid of Police cars these days, for most of them went to the tension areas, where there are clashes with Al-Mahdi Army and that presented the golden opportunity for thieves and gangs.
I am seriously thinking of leaving this house.. perhaps the next step would be to kidnap me or one of my sons...
Now the conditions are worst [since Saddam's days], and no one can control them ? So moving away from the area is the safest solution ?
What is the meaning of life without security? How could a person work, give and create, while living in a constant state of panic?
In the Institute, I sit in class, listening to the teacher, and thinking warily: will a shell fall down now, break the windows, smash the walls, kill and wound us?"
I opened up the Internet to read my e-mails... some were reports about Bush, Kerry, and the elections battle, and how it moves on...
I smiled and shook my head...each is living in his far away world, away from the other...diving into different details...
What brought them here?
Can they believe that they have ruined our lives, present, and future for uncountable years to come? Is there still among them a dreamer who thinks he loves the Iraqis, and he is here to help them??
We have an old saying here, one which we use in time of disasters bound with love... (and there is the love that kills......)