Treasure of Baghdad — Another Nameless Iraqi
Every day we here in America are bombarded with the news that more Iraqis and Americans have been killed. Usually we’re just given a number, a total dead for the day.
37. 12. 53.
If one of the American soldiers happened to be local, in a few days, we might hear his or her name on the radio and television as well as the unit he or she served in.
But over here, we never hear the names of the Iraqis.
I kind of get the feeling that for the most part, Americans don’t really get that the Iraqis are actual people, that they have names. Yes, in case you didn’t know, the Iraqis have lives and families and friends. They live in houses and go to work or school. They worship. They dream. They have hopes. They fear. They want. They grieve.
Every Iraqi who gets killed over there is not a combatant. In fact, most of the Iraqis dying over there in their own country are not combatants. They are innocent people just trying to get on with their lives after the United States invaded univited. They are innocent people who are caught up in chaos and a mixture of holy war and civil war and the United States is in the middle of it stirring the pot. Our own soldiers don’t only don’t know who the combatants are but they don’t always apparently care, shooting at whoever they feel like just because they aren’t Americans and why not? After all, they’re just nameless Iraqis, right?
I’d like to introduce you to an Iraqi blogger, Treasure of Baghdad, whom I’ve been reading. Every day when I check his blog, I almost always hold my breath in hopes that there is a post, meaning that he’s survived another day. Peope he knows are dying. People he spoke to yesterday are dead. People he can name, friends, their relatives are gone. He grieves; he lives in fear; he is just trying to survive.
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on May 31, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Tamara said:
Wow, thanks for sharing this link.
on June 2, 2006 at 11:39 am
Dani said:
He is a very powerful writer!!! Definitely a link to be passed on!
I think for many of us it is just easier to see only the biased coverage on our local news. When we open our eyes to both sides we see so much death, devastation, and destruction it is almost unbearable. Especially when we’re dealing with a war America should have never started and seems to be refusing to end.
on June 9, 2006 at 6:08 pm
OneMoreWord » It’s FRIDAY!!! said:
[…] The Naked Truth links to a powerful blog by an Iraqi journalist. Read his daily account of the terrifying life of an Iraqi civilian — definitely worth a visit! […]