shiva2999
May 12th, 2007, 1:20:22 PM
Heck of a job Bushy!
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/573361.html
Longing for devil they know
Dennis Rogers, Staff Writer
Whether you view the war in Iraq as a crusade of liberation, a life-or-death battle against international terrorism or a stumbling, bumbling hemorrhaging of American lives and resources, you will likely agree on this much: The suffering endured by ordinary Iraqi people is almost incomprehensible.
Some estimates say a million Iraqi civilians have died and even more have fled the scourge of bombings, kidnappings and sectarian violence. They were not insurgents, terrorists or soldiers, just plain folks trapped in a bloody crossfire of cultures that seemingly has no end or understanding.
Mohamed Ali sits in a cramped office at the small used-car lot in Raleigh where he makes his living these days. He speaks with a poet's poignancy of a distant homeland that is forever scarred by the misfortunes of war.
"Iraq is a devastated memory," he says.
Ali was fresh out of a Baghdad high school when he came to the United States to study engineering at N.C. A&T.
He remembers the date: Sept. 11, 1978. Now 46, his career in telecommunications engineering at Nortel sidetracked by layoffs, he remembers home with a passionate, sad and angry eloquence.
"If you took a vote in Iraq today, 99.9 percent of the people would say go back to what we had four years ago," he says. "Everybody had it better under Saddam. We only thought it was bad then. We didn't know how bad things could get. As bad at it was under Saddam, multiply it by 10 and that's what you have now."
It is difficult to square Ali's rosy recollection of life under Saddam with widespread reports of the dictator's often deadly oppression of his political opponents. I offer Ali's thoughts because I think it's important to know that while most of us see this war, for good or bad, from an American perspective, there are those in our community with different views.
I will leave it to you to decide which version of reality you accept. Just remember that sometimes sweet memory can be a healing balm for a broken heart.
"Yes, Saddam was an iron fist in Baghdad," Ali says. "He was hard on those who opposed him. And there was corruption. But if you kept your mouth shut and were not involved, you had nothing to worry about.
"Everybody knew there was a line you did not cross. Now there are a trillion lines you cannot cross, and no one knows where they are. Before, all you had to worry about was the government taking you away. Now it could be criminal gangs, the U.S. Army, the government or anyone else taking you. When people leave home now, they say goodbye because they may never come back."
...more...
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/573361.html
Longing for devil they know
Dennis Rogers, Staff Writer
Whether you view the war in Iraq as a crusade of liberation, a life-or-death battle against international terrorism or a stumbling, bumbling hemorrhaging of American lives and resources, you will likely agree on this much: The suffering endured by ordinary Iraqi people is almost incomprehensible.
Some estimates say a million Iraqi civilians have died and even more have fled the scourge of bombings, kidnappings and sectarian violence. They were not insurgents, terrorists or soldiers, just plain folks trapped in a bloody crossfire of cultures that seemingly has no end or understanding.
Mohamed Ali sits in a cramped office at the small used-car lot in Raleigh where he makes his living these days. He speaks with a poet's poignancy of a distant homeland that is forever scarred by the misfortunes of war.
"Iraq is a devastated memory," he says.
Ali was fresh out of a Baghdad high school when he came to the United States to study engineering at N.C. A&T.
He remembers the date: Sept. 11, 1978. Now 46, his career in telecommunications engineering at Nortel sidetracked by layoffs, he remembers home with a passionate, sad and angry eloquence.
"If you took a vote in Iraq today, 99.9 percent of the people would say go back to what we had four years ago," he says. "Everybody had it better under Saddam. We only thought it was bad then. We didn't know how bad things could get. As bad at it was under Saddam, multiply it by 10 and that's what you have now."
It is difficult to square Ali's rosy recollection of life under Saddam with widespread reports of the dictator's often deadly oppression of his political opponents. I offer Ali's thoughts because I think it's important to know that while most of us see this war, for good or bad, from an American perspective, there are those in our community with different views.
I will leave it to you to decide which version of reality you accept. Just remember that sometimes sweet memory can be a healing balm for a broken heart.
"Yes, Saddam was an iron fist in Baghdad," Ali says. "He was hard on those who opposed him. And there was corruption. But if you kept your mouth shut and were not involved, you had nothing to worry about.
"Everybody knew there was a line you did not cross. Now there are a trillion lines you cannot cross, and no one knows where they are. Before, all you had to worry about was the government taking you away. Now it could be criminal gangs, the U.S. Army, the government or anyone else taking you. When people leave home now, they say goodbye because they may never come back."
...more...