[lit-ideas] apocalypse now, just not here

_Baghdad Burning_ (http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/)  
Volatile  Days...

The last few days have been unsettlingly violent in spite of  the curfew. Weâ
ve been at home simply waiting it out and hoping for the best.  The phone 
wasnâ
t working and the electrical situation hasnât improved. We are at  a point, 
however, where things like electricity, telephones and fuel seem like  minor 
worries. Even complaining about them is a luxury Iraqis canât afford these  
days.

The sounds of shooting and explosions usually begin at dawn, at  least thatâs 
when I first sense them, and they donât really subside until well  into the 
night. There was a small gunfight on the main road near our area the  day 
before yesterday, but with the exception of the local mosque being fired  upon, 
and 
a corpse found at dawn three streets down, things have been relatively  quiet.

Some of the neighbors have been discussing the possibility of the  men 
setting up a neighborhood watch. We did this during the war and during the  
chaos 
immediately after the war. The problem this time is that the Iraqi  security 
forces are as much to fear as the black-clad and hooded men attacking  mosques, 
houses and each other.

It does not feel like civil war because  Sunnis and Shia have been showing 
solidarity these last few days in a big way. I  donât mean the clerics or the 
religious zealots or the politicians- but the  average person. Our neighborhood 
is mixed and Sunnis and Shia alike have been  outraged with the attacks on 
mosques and shrines. The telephones have been down,  but weâve agreed upon a 
very 
primitive communication arrangement. Should any  house in the area come under 
siege, someone would fire in the air three times.  If firing in the air isnât 
an option, then someone inside the house would have  to try to communicate 
trouble from the rooftop.

The mosques also have a  code when theyâre in trouble, i.e. under attack, the 
man who does the call for  prayer calls out âAllahu Akbarâ three times 
until 
people from the area can come  help protect the mosque or someone gets 
involved

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