I've tied in diaries from the inestimable, invaluable
Riverbend on several occasions in the past.
You know her. You love her. She rules.
In the latest installment, Riverbend's cousin narrowly escapes one of the recent car-bombings. The savior: His mother (and Riverbend's aunt) makes a memorable lecture covering all subjects great and small that are wrong in her sight.
That hectoring, busybody older relative of yours might save your life someday. No kidding!
We've only heard six car bombs recently.
These last few days have been explosive- quite literally. It started about 4 days ago and it hasn't let up since. They say there were around 14 car bombs in Baghdad alone a couple of days ago- although we only heard 6 from our area. Cars are making me very nervous lately. All cars look suspicious- small ones and large ones. Old cars and new cars. Cars with drivers and cars parked in front of restaurants and shops. They all have a sinister look to them these days.
If there is something that I appreciate most in Riverbend's writing, it is her use of understatement.
Sort of like Captain Lawrence Oates' famous Antarctic quip: "I am just going outside and may be some time."
Of course, the good captain had his dark side, too, but that's a separate issue: The damage that a class-worshipping, jingoistic, nationalistic media cult is capable of doing to reality. (You didn't think the kowtow communiculture was a recent phenomena, did you?)
But let's return to Iraq, shall we?
The Evolutionary Value of Nettlesome Relatives
Riverbend discusses Persian rugs for a few paragraphs, which both fascinate and annoy a visiting aunt --- because they are still out on the floor and not put away for the summer months
Not being familiar with the long-term care of Persian rugs, I located the website for a rug dealer, which was quite educational. Apparently, Riverbend's aunt knew all the tips outlined by my new friends at Louis Shanks Furniture, and was more than happy to share this information with others.
Seeing an oportunity to escape his mother's neverending commentary on the little wrongs of the world, Riverbend's cousin makes a break for it:
Her son couldn't spend the night however, and he decided to return home the same day. It was around maybe 1 pm when he walked out the door, planning to walk the two kilometers home. He listened to my aunt as she gave him instructions about heating lunch for his father, studying, washing fruit before eating it, picking up carrots on the way home, watching out for suspicious cars and people and calling as soon as he walked through the door so she could relax. He shook his head in the affirmative, waved goodbye and walked out the gate towards the main street.
Three minutes later, an explosion rocked the house.
Pause to Check the Latest News
Riverbend indicates that the events of her narrative occur on April 30, 2005: "The worst day for us was the day before yesterday."
Linking through Today in Iraq, we find the following stories related to car bombings in Iraq for April 30:
Two car bombs kill 2, wound 10 in Baghdad
It's not the Zayuna attack, because per The Times of Oman, that attack occured at 12:30am local time...hardly good shopping weather, never mind that it was daylight
Which means it was the attack in the west of Baghdad, which is consistent with Riverbend's prior statements about living out from Baghdad in the general direction of Fallujah.
Now here's something that's just plain pitiful: When I googled "April 30" "car bomb" "convoy" "Baghdad", the first hit I encountered was Xinhuanet, a Chinese online periodical
BAGHDAD, April 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A suicide car bomber blew up his car near a convoy of the head of an Iraqi Shiite party in western Baghdad on Saturday, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding three others.
"A suicide car bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle and blew it up near the convoy of Abdul Radha al-Khafaji, who escaped the attack unhurt," one police officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
One of Khafaji's bodyguards was killed in the attack and three others wounded, the officer said at the scene near the Nafaq al-Shurta (police tunnel) in western Baghdad.
Six civilian cars were damaged in the attack, which took place at about 2:00 p.m. (1000 GMT) and targeted Khafaji, head of the Democratic Party of Iraq.
The Star-Crossed Name: Khafaji
Per BBC:
A member of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has escaped unharmed after gunmen ambushed her convoy.
Salama al-Khafaji was on her way to Baghdad when the attack happened in the town of Yusufiya, Governing Council members said.
Her 18-year-old son, who was travelling with her, was killed in the attack, along with three of her bodyguards.
Ms Khafaji was returning from the holy city of Najaf, where she took part in mediation efforts to end fighting.
It's interesting that there's no attribution as to why Mr. Zhafaji warranted a convoy...no title given, nothing. He's just important enough to (a) be a target of insurgents and (b) warrant some serious protection.
Nafaq al-Shurta -- There used to be lovely Christian church there
Per Al-Jazeerah: On October 15, 2004 four Baghdad churches, including St. Joseph's, were bombed. There are also two pictures of what remained afterward.
Why this matters? Long before, on August 7, 2004, Riverbend remarks in response to an earlier wave of church bombings:
There's a lovely church in our area. It stands tall, solid and gray. It is very functional and simple- a rectangular structure with a pointy roof, topped by a plain cross or 'saleeb', simple wooden doors and a small garden- it looks exactly like the drawings your 7-year-old nephew or daughter would make of the local church. This simplicity contrasted wonderfully with its stained-glass windows. The windows are at least 30 different colors. I always find myself staring at them as we pass, wondering about the myriad of shapes and colors they throw down upon the people inside. It hurts to pass it by these days because I know so many of the people who once visited it are gone- they've left to Syria, Jordan, Canada... with broken hearts and bitterness.
Oops. Left you guys hanging there.
Riverbend's cousin comes back, rattled but safe and sound...
I was just going to cross the street but I remembered I should buy the carrots" He spoke rapidly, "So I stopped by that guy who sells vegetables and just as I was buying them- a big BOOM and a car exploded and the one next to it began to burn... If I hadn't stopped for the carrots..." The cousin began waving his arms around in the air and I leaned back to avoid one in the face.
My aunt gasped, stopping in the living room, "The carrots saved you!" She cried out, holding a hand to her heart. My cousin looked at her incredulously and the color slowly began to return to his face. "Carrots." He murmured, throwing himself down on the sofa and grabbing one of the cushions, "Carrots saved me."
Riverbend relays an eyewitness assessment that of three serious casualties, two were definitely dead, one was likely to make it, with about a dozen lighter injuries among the bystanders.
This (as well as the timing) varies from the Xinhuanet account, but as we have come to learn, a certain skepticism about media pronouncements is warranted in wartime...even when they're from me. :)
