The latter have been excitedly violent despite the curfew. Been at home simply waiting and hoping for the best. The phone was not working and the electricity supply has not improved. We are at a point, however, where things like electricity, telephones and fuel seem minor problems. Even complaining about them is a luxury l @ s Iraqis can not afford these days.
sounds Gunfire and explosions usually begin at dusk, or at least is when I start to notice, and do not subside until well into the night. The day before yesterday there was a small gunfight on the main road near our area, but with the exception of shooting at the local mosque and a corpse found three streets away, the situation has been relatively quiet. Someday
neigh @ s @ s have been discussing the possibility that the men form a local monitoring device. We did during the war and during the chaos immediately following it. The problem now is that Iraqi security forces are as much to fear as the hooded men dressed in black who are attacking mosques, houses and each other.
not look like a civil war because Sunnis and Shia have been showing solidarity in large doses during these recent days gone by. I am not referring to the clergy, religious or political fanatics, but the average person. Our neighborhood is mixed and Sunnis and Shiites have been equally outraged by the attacks on mosques and temples. We have been without phone line, but we have agreed a primitive communication system. If a house in the area is surrounded, someone fired into the air three times, firing into the air if it is not possible, then someone inside the house will have to try to communicate the problem from the terrace.
The mosques also have a code when they are in trouble, the man who calls to prayer, shouting three times "Allahu Akbar" for the locals go to protect the mosque or whoever is involved.
Yesterday they were showing Sunni and Shia clerics praying together in a mosque, and while this seems to be hopeful, I only helped me feel angry. Why not simply tell their militias to stop, to stop attacking mosques and Husseiniya, to stop terrorizing people? It's so disappointing and empty on television, like a peaceful vision from another planet. The Iraqi government claims to be disturbed, but not doing anything to cut violence and bloodshed than the curfew. Where are the Americans in all this? They are sitting and letting things happen, sometimes flying a helicopter here or there, but generally not getting involved.
I'm hearing, I'm reading about the possibility of civil war. Possibility. So far I'm sitting here wondering if a civil war is like this. Has it become a reality? We look back in a year, two years ... ten ... and say, "began in February 2006 ...? It's like a nightmare that you do not realize that it is a nightmare while are having, only later, after waking up with galloping heart and your eyes searching the darkness a pinpoint of light, you realize it was a nightmare ...
- posted by river @ 2:27 a.m.
sounds Gunfire and explosions usually begin at dusk, or at least is when I start to notice, and do not subside until well into the night. The day before yesterday there was a small gunfight on the main road near our area, but with the exception of shooting at the local mosque and a corpse found three streets away, the situation has been relatively quiet. Someday
neigh @ s @ s have been discussing the possibility that the men form a local monitoring device. We did during the war and during the chaos immediately following it. The problem now is that Iraqi security forces are as much to fear as the hooded men dressed in black who are attacking mosques, houses and each other.
not look like a civil war because Sunnis and Shia have been showing solidarity in large doses during these recent days gone by. I am not referring to the clergy, religious or political fanatics, but the average person. Our neighborhood is mixed and Sunnis and Shiites have been equally outraged by the attacks on mosques and temples. We have been without phone line, but we have agreed a primitive communication system. If a house in the area is surrounded, someone fired into the air three times, firing into the air if it is not possible, then someone inside the house will have to try to communicate the problem from the terrace.
The mosques also have a code when they are in trouble, the man who calls to prayer, shouting three times "Allahu Akbar" for the locals go to protect the mosque or whoever is involved.
Yesterday they were showing Sunni and Shia clerics praying together in a mosque, and while this seems to be hopeful, I only helped me feel angry. Why not simply tell their militias to stop, to stop attacking mosques and Husseiniya, to stop terrorizing people? It's so disappointing and empty on television, like a peaceful vision from another planet. The Iraqi government claims to be disturbed, but not doing anything to cut violence and bloodshed than the curfew. Where are the Americans in all this? They are sitting and letting things happen, sometimes flying a helicopter here or there, but generally not getting involved.
I'm hearing, I'm reading about the possibility of civil war. Possibility. So far I'm sitting here wondering if a civil war is like this. Has it become a reality? We look back in a year, two years ... ten ... and say, "began in February 2006 ...? It's like a nightmare that you do not realize that it is a nightmare while are having, only later, after waking up with galloping heart and your eyes searching the darkness a pinpoint of light, you realize it was a nightmare ...
- posted by river @ 2:27 a.m.
