A Baghdad man can find no safe place to mourn his mother

[babylonsister]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-funeral11apr11,0,4004964.story?coll=la-home-world

A Baghdad man can find no safe place to mourn his mother
The cemetery is out, and even a memorial gathering at home can be interrupted by gunfire.
From a Times Staff Writer
April 11, 2007

BAGHDAD — It has come to this in Iraq: A son cannot even lay his mother to rest.

I have a good friend called Jamal, and I think of him as a brother. His mother had been sick and she died last week. Like any son, he wanted to bury her himself. But when I called him the morning of the funeral Thursday, he said that most of the men in his family would not be going to the cemetery for fear of drawing the attention of police or sectarian militias.

I decided not to go either, because the road leads through Abu Ghraib, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Baghdad.

Once the funeral procession had left his house, Jamal drove by and picked me up so we could go to the market together. The custom in Iraq is to cook a big meal for the many visitors who come to pay their condolences.

We bought meat, beans, dried apricots, raisins, almonds, cardamom, spaghetti, eggs, coffee and cigarettes. We also picked up a live sheep to slaughter later.

When we put the animal in the trunk of the car, it struggled to get out. It reminded me of all the kidnapping victims who are stuffed in trunks and taken to an isolated part of Baghdad to be shot.

Driving back to Jamal's house, we saw what looked like pieces of a Humvee lying in the road — another bombing, we guessed.

Jamal also needed to rent plastic chairs for his visitors. There were a few shops nearby where you can do this, but they were in a Shiite Muslim area and he is Sunni. So he had to ask relatives who live in another part of the city to bring them.

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[snappyturtle]

1. THIS is the story of what' s going on in Iraq. imho

Where is everyone this morning. I'm going to K&R this next. It is so shameful that the U.S. has brought this on to the Iraqis....I am ashamed. I wish the media would jump on Bush like they have on Imus.....let's get rid of all the trash.

[babylonsister]

2. It's disheartening to post these stories and no one seems to care.

Thanks, snappyturtle, for caring.

[snappyturtle]

3. You're welcome! I just don't get it either.

IF people would just envision their families in the situation you've posted about they'd realize how awful this is. I wish I could run up the K&Rs on this to get you some attention to an excellent post. Maybe you should re-post at a little different time and see if that works.

[babylonsister]

4. I've tried posting articles about Iraqis on every forum, at all

different times. DUers aren't persuaded; I guess there's so much going on politically within this country they can't (or don't want to) think about what's going on outside of it. What bugs me is that we've induced all these horror stories, rather they've been done in our name. I do feel responsible for that...:(

[snappyturtle]

5. I feel responsible too but I guess many just want

to bury their heads in the sand. You've given it your best effort and that's all that can be done. There are times I check in at DU and I don't see much worth of importance when there's so much out there. When I've posted I get knocked down a lot like I don't know what's important! There seems also, at times, to be too many posts on the same subject. I think people go over board in one area and are side-tracked, so consequentially nothing else can gain their attention. Amen.

[bdamomma]

7. these people have the same color of blood we do, red

so disgusting and painful what we are doing to Iraqis, we are committing genocide, that beacon of light we stood for is out.

[malaise]

6. Yes this is reality for Iraqi people

This madness must stop.

[bdamomma]

8. just imagine if the shoe was on the other foot

well, we got the evil empire, not to be funny in my response.

[malaise]

11. You're right

It's almost comical to hear Bush saying that terrorists will follow Americans home when it is Bushco slaughtering Iraqis who had nothing to do with 9/11

[Theres-a]

9. Outrageous.

Thanks.

[Cults4Bush]

10. Hey Sister.

Dont take this all on yourself. Remember this is not an anti-war site its a Democratic Party mash up site (despite there being no official affiliation it is where many Dems come to bump heads ). I stopped posting here for a long time because people are mostly here for political reasons and my activism is focused on the one thing that for me trumps all other political concerns and thats this illegal & pre-emptive war.

I know its yours to... keep doing what youre doing. Pieces like this one you posted serve to remind those of us, who have been doing this since before the war began, that we have been more right about this than the bulk of our elected officials (Dems included) and also much of the citizenry itself... a chunk of which is in fact represented on this board. Its the worse thing in the world to be right about because war is the worst thing in the world to be wrong about.

Sometimes reading articles such as this is just what I need to realize that all of my problems and yes most everyones problems are to put it quite frankly a very far second to the suffering and hatred we have sown in Iraq. It supercedes my own rights, my own spiritual faith or lack of it sometimes, my own desires and wants, my "Party" or anything else.. war is every crime known to man put under a pressure cooker of violence and cultural upheaval. I dare say with few exceptions nothing is more important than ending the war and beggining to make amends as if we were on the Steroids of Peace.

Stay true to it Sister :)