[lit-ideas] apocalypse now, just not here
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:20:48 EST
_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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