Short Stories
-1-
The other day I was walking in the street when I came across an old college colleague. He has an attitude of justifying what the insurgents do. He owns now a sport-stuff store at Adahmyah district in Baghdad.
Chatting with him for a little while, he told me about an incident which he witnessed few weeks ago. According to his story, he was working in his store when a masked gunman took him by surprise. Standing in the middle of the store, the gunman started to yell calling him to come out and fight the Americans. My colleague said ‘The whole events took no time, during which I stood standstill unable to comprehend what I see. Then the gunman vanished within seconds. I was still shocked when shooting started in the street. I hurried to close the store but I couldn’t, since heavy firing of guns spread in the area. I ran back into the store lying down to avoid being shot’.
This lad had kept on talking positively about the ‘resistance’. Has he changed his opinion after this incident? Only God knows.
Chatting with him for a little while, he told me about an incident which he witnessed few weeks ago. According to his story, he was working in his store when a masked gunman took him by surprise. Standing in the middle of the store, the gunman started to yell calling him to come out and fight the Americans. My colleague said ‘The whole events took no time, during which I stood standstill unable to comprehend what I see. Then the gunman vanished within seconds. I was still shocked when shooting started in the street. I hurried to close the store but I couldn’t, since heavy firing of guns spread in the area. I ran back into the store lying down to avoid being shot’.
This lad had kept on talking positively about the ‘resistance’. Has he changed his opinion after this incident? Only God knows.
-2-
One of my neighbors told me another story about a teenager. My neighbor recalled his story when the teenager crossed in front of the car which we were using to tour gas stations looking for fuel (there is a real fuel & power crisis nowadays). This teenager volunteered for Al-Mahdee militia of Muktada Al-Sadder. He was assigned to fight in Najaf, though he lives in Baghdad. When he was in Najaf, another group of Al-Mahdee militia who fight in Baghdad took position, to shoot at the American troops, in front of his family house. His father and brothers tried to prevent them from doing so, since the Americans would retaliate causing lot of casualties to the family. They had a quarrel with the militants which evolved into shooting. As a result two brothers of the volunteer fellow were killed.
Two of his brothers were killed by his comrades. Paradoxical, isn’t it?
Visiting his family, on leave, the volunteer discovered the truth of how such militias can harm the people. He quit immediately and started to work as a porter.
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Two real stories of many here in Iraq. One can not persuade people by talking to them. They prefer, unconsciously, to go through every matter to have first hand experience. This leads us back to the Iraqi people awareness.
Two of his brothers were killed by his comrades. Paradoxical, isn’t it?
Visiting his family, on leave, the volunteer discovered the truth of how such militias can harm the people. He quit immediately and started to work as a porter.
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Two real stories of many here in Iraq. One can not persuade people by talking to them. They prefer, unconsciously, to go through every matter to have first hand experience. This leads us back to the Iraqi people awareness.
posted by Ibn_Alrafidain at 1:16 PM
11 Comments:
Wow - thanks for sharing those stories.
I have to admit (confess?) that I, too, many times need to take the hard road and find the answers the hard way. It is a human thing.
Take good care of yourself, Ibn Al Rafidain. We are rooting for your success and happiness in life.
It has been confusing for an ol' man like me to try and understand what the hell is going on in Iraq. I happened to find the following article and intend to get the book and to follow up on the upcoming updates by this guy. He is a "journalist", who with his own money and no connections, traveled and spent several months just talking to and traveling Iraq. It is very enlighting to me at least in explaining some of the hatred or dislike of the American "occupation".
Blog interview: Steven Vincent - "Women’s rights is the Achilles heel of Islamofascism"
Scroll down to this interview.
Don't be mislead by the title alone. His writings and conclusions go deeper than that. You also need to follow the link at the end of the interview. He promises more at a later date. I am going to request my local library get me a copy of his book.
Its never too late for an ol' dog to learn something new. But something I have learned in my long life is that "Pride" can drag down and destroy the best of us.
This is my post
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
First of all I want to thank every one who comments on my posts. It makes me feel happy.
Beth...
Thanks for the link (UDHR) which is easy to access after 9th April 2003. Such sites were blocked before that date. Moreover, free Email service was also blocked. One day I got a website address about English grammar from the VOA radio station and when I tried to access it, I received a blocking message. The Iraqi ISP used to forbid visiting wide range of websites.
Louise & Papa Ray...
Interesting discussion on the previous post. Please make as much comments as you like, it won’t bother me. On the other hand, keep in mind that I cannot make immediate replies, because of power shortage and unstable ISP service.
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What Diogenes Of Pumpkintown commented on the previous post is amazing. Is it true that 95% of people in the US have never heard of the UDHR either?
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Jan…
I agree with you completely.
Every body…
Please pardon me for not commenting frequently.
PS I’ve been waiting for the past 12 hours to make this comment. When I got power, phone line, and ISP, the blog hosting site did not respond. Other sites responded when I checked them. I tried to make a turn through other blogs who have links to mine on their side bars, but there was no respond from the hosting site.
So I am going to wait for another additional hours which only God knows how long it will be.
Ibn_Alrafidain-
Once again you give us much insight into how difficult it must be on the ground in your country to get information! Your stories about your friends and their experiences with violent interference are really informative, as is your comment about the blocking of Internet addresses within Iraq before the end of Saddaam Hussein's reign. Not to mention the practical problems with electricity and so on continuing to make communication difficult. So again I thank you for taking the time and going to the trouble to post for us. I'm indebted to you, and I appreciate so much being able to hear your perspective and experiences.
As for whether most folks in the US have heard of the UN's declaration, I really don't know if it's as low as Diogenes suggested (though it's possible). I am a college teacher and at the campus where I work, we always have a day of events surrounding the Declaration, with talks and papers, expressly for the purpose of informing our students & the community about the current world situation and ongoing human rights violations. (Such events also took place at the school where I did my graduate work.) I *hope* that such activity is not that unusual, but it's possible that most people don't pay much attention to such stuff-- especially because Dec. 10th falls at the end of the semester and most people are studying for finals, or preparing for the holidays, etc.
Take care, my friend- and thanks for keeping your blog going. I know that it is logistically difficult.
Beth
Terrible times, terrible stories. What can change things? Here is a story about soldiers trying to change things, one little toy, one child at a time.
It's not much (unless you were one of those soldiers that day), but its a start.
This is my post
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Hi! I usually comment as 'thinker' on Iraqi blogs. I really like your blog. I read blogs to understand your country better since the US has troops there now.
I have come to love Iraqis deeply through my reading. I want things to turn out well in Iraq for Iraqis and am so sorry it has been so hard for you.
Noting your words at the top of your blog....
I hear you! Many people will hear you.
Stay safe as I worry about all of you!
thinker...USA
Ibn_Alrafidain, My mother always told me that those who will not listen, have to feel. That of course was to get me to listen. This is such a human trait that until we feel or see for ourselves we are not convinced. I continue to pray for the good Iraqi people and that the eoections will be the first of many so that the common Iraqi has a voice. I am an ordinary senior citizen and I am concerned about the young people of this world who lack human rights. I hope the tragedies that have and are occuring in Iraq lead to peace. May God bless you.
Ibn, thank you for the stories. The way you wrote them sort of sounded like parables, although I have no doubt those are about real people. I can identify with people in both of them. The young angry shop owner who, when faced with the reality of fighting and dying, rethinks the cause. And the poor family that didn't want the insurgents to bring the "heat" down on their house. I can identify with that on a very basic level. Thank you again.
Greetings Ibn,
I pray that you and yours are safe and healthy.
I was over at 2slick blog and he has posted a speech, its way More than just a speech It was an eye opener for me. A lot of things I didn't really understand or could tie together are now, pretty damn clear.
And it scares the hell out of me.
I have not had a chance to do much of a background check on the guy giving the speech, but from what I can find out he is legit.
This is my post
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Greetings Ibn,
I have been upset all day about the mainstream media coverage of the Broad Daylight Murders. I was very upset at the MURDERS even before that.
Here is how AP describes the event that they watched and photographed AS IT HAPPENED !
"A brazen daylight attack in the heart of Baghdad with rebels executing election workers in cold blood served as a chilling reminder Sunday of the deteriorating security situation in the Iraqi capital with just more than a month before crucial parliamentary elections".
Now, does anyone else but me see something terribly wrong in the description of this event?
"rebels" THEY ARE NOT REBELS, THEY ARE COLD BLOODED MURDERERS !!!!!!
"executing" THEY ARE NOT EXECUTING, THEY ARE MURDERING !!!!!
All this while people are driving around them. Looking, watching on a busy street. NOT ONE PERSON EVEN ATTEMPTED TO RUN OVER THE MURDERING TOE SUCKING, SONS OF W****S. NO ONE STOPPED AND PULLED OUT THEIR WEAPON AND SHOT THE PIECES OF DOG S**T.
I just don't understand. Is everyone just so used to this that they don't even care or so afraid that they won't do anything ? It is not like it happened in a few seconds, it took minutes to stop the car, drag them out and then make them beg before they shot them.
Iraqis can not depend on having a policman or soldier on each corner, they must start resisting and taking action against these cold blooded murderers.
Maybe its because we are born and raised Texans, but everyone I talked to here agrees that they would have at the very least run them down, or shot them dead.
If someone is offended by this post, so be it.
This is my post
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
A friend of the writer Papa from Texas suggested reading has powerful journal entries here
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/baghdadjournal.asp
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