My water bill this month was $87. In a generation school children will be studying what the "middle class" was. Julie Krueger w/ a massive headache ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: I'm so glad our govt has been able to spread democracy and freedom Date: 8/11/06 4:07:18 A.M. Central Daylight Time From: _carolkir@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:carolkir@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: Jeez, my landlord's accomplishing the same thing, just by sending current tenants a 50% rate hike! >ck, in the gallows of humor ----- Original Message ----- From: _JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxxx (mailto:JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 1:57 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] I'm so glad our govt has been able to spread democracy and freedom _Baghdad Burning_ (http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/) ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend... Saturday, August 05, 2006 Summer of Goodbyes... Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words âLeave your area or else.â The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadrâs followers- Mahdi Army. Itâs general knowledge, although no one dares say it out loud. In the last month weâve had two different families staying with us in our house, after having to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. Itâs not just Sunnis- itâs Shia, Arabs, Kurds- most of the middle-class areas are being targeted by militias. Other areas are being overrun by armed Islamists. The Americans have absolutely no control in these areas. Or maybe they simply donât want to control the areas because when thereâs a clash between Sadrâs militia and another militia in a residential neighborhood, they surround the area and watch things happen. Since the beginning of July, the men in our area have been patrolling the streets. Some of them patrol the rooftops and others sit quietly by the homemade road blocks we have on the major roads leading into the area. You cannot in any way rely on Americans or the government. You can only hope your family and friends will remain alive- not safe, not secure- just alive. Thatâs good enough. For me, June marked the first month I donât dare leave the house without a hijab, or headscarf. I donât wear a hijab usually, but itâs no longer possible to drive around Baghdad without one. Itâs just not a good idea. (Take note that when I say âdriveâ I actually mean âsit in the back seat of the carâ- I havenât driven for the longest time.) Going around bare-headed in a car or in the street also puts the family members with you in danger. You risk hearing something you donât want to hear and then the father or the brother or cousin or uncle canât just sit by and let it happen. I havenât driven for the longest time. If youâre a female, you risk being attacked. I look at my older clothes- the jeans and t-shirts and colorful skirts- and itâs like Iâm studying a wardrobe from another country, another lifetime. There was a time, a couple of years ago, when you could more or less wear what you wanted if you werenât going to a public place. If you were going to a friends or relatives house, you could wear trousers and a shirt, or jeans, something you wouldnât ordinarily wear. We donât do that anymore because thereâs always that risk of getting stopped in the car and checked by one militia or another. There are no laws that say we have to wear a hijab (yet), but there are the men in head-to-toe black and the turbans, the extremists and fanatics who were liberated by the occupation, and at some point, you tire of the defiance. You no longer want to be seen. I feel like the black or white scarf I fling haphazardly on my head as I walk out the door makes me invisible to a certain degree- itâs easier to blend in with the masses shrouded in black. If youâre a female, you donât want the attention- you donât want it from Iraqi police, you donât want it from the black-clad militia man, you donât want it from the American soldier. You donât want to be noticed or seen. I have nothing against the hijab, of course, as long as it is being worn by choice. Many of my relatives and friends wear a headscarf. Most of them began wearing it after the war. It started out as a way to avoid trouble and undue attention, and now they just keep it on because it makes no sense to take it off. What is happening to the country? I realized how common it had become only in mid-July when M., a childhood friend, came to say goodbye before leaving the country. She walked into the house, complaining of the heat and the roads, her brother following closely behind. It took me to the end of the visit for the peculiarity of the situation to hit me. She was getting ready to leave before the sun set, and she picked up the beige headscarf folded neatly by her side. As she told me about one of her neighbors being shot, she opened up the scarf with a flourish, set it on her head like a pro, and pinned it snuggly under her chin with the precision of a seasoned hijab-wearer. All this without a mirror- like she had done it a hundred times overâ Which would be fine, except that M. is Christian. If M. can wear one quietly- so can I. Iâve said goodbye this last month to more people than I can count. Some of the âgoodbyesâ were hurried and furtive- the sort you say at night to the neighbor who got a death threat and is leaving at the break of dawn, quietly. Some of the âgoodbyesâ were emotional and long-drawn, to the relatives and friends who can no longer bear to live in a country coming apart at the seams. Many of the âgoodbyesâ were said stoically- almost casually- with a fake smile plastered on the face and the words, âSee you soonââ Only to walk out the door and want to collapse with the burden of parting with yet another loved one. During times like these I remember a speech Bush made in 2003: One of the big achievements he claimed was the return of jubilant âexiledâ Iraqis to their country after the fall of Saddam. Iâd like to see some numbers about the Iraqis currently outside of the country you are occupyingâ Not to mention internally displaced Iraqis abandoning their homes and cities. I sometimes wonder if weâll ever know just how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them will actually return. Where will they go? What will they do with themselves? Is it time to follow? Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?