Iraqi blogger- we have plunged into darkness

[RainDog]

Salaam Pax's blog is amazing. he doesn't agree with many here, because he wants US troops to stay. He thinks his country will fall apart even worse if they leave (and I, unfortunately, agree...the issue is that we should have never invaded, but instead used the increased pressure available after 9-11 to get Saddam, with the UN, and to go into the country as was done in South Africa...but maybe I'm too optimistic about that what if...but present reality doesn't bode well, either...

you should also view the photos his friend has posted and which are linked from this blog.

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

when we got there there were lots of poeple trying to find out what happened to their families. people crying, shouting. the thing is there is a a hospital right next to the UN building, the cieling there caved in because of the explosion. many injured but no one killed.
this is what I know and what I saw.


I am plunging into a fucking depression, do we have a future? is this country going to be hijacked by shit extremists who want to prove a point?

UPDATE: Sergio de Millo has died during the attack, a couple of minutes ago it was reported that his secretary was taken out of the rubble seriously injured now we have heard word that he has died.
and I think the Americans are finding more evidence that this was a suicide attack.
we have plunged into darkness.

[Cha]

1. Well he can thank bush.

[RainDog]

3. it is a complex situation

The guy lived under Saddam's repression and he's glad to be free of him. He wants America to succeed, so that his country can be independent...so in some ways he's very naive or optimistic.

At the same time, his friend who works as a translator for media was beaten by American soldiers.

His past entries have the sort of ironic sadness that seems to be part of the survival technique of the humane under a totalitarian regime.

[aquart]

9. It's heartbreaking. This man is not my enemy.

[DoremusJessup]

4. And arab terrorists can thank bush too, for providing a training

ground for hundreds if not thousands of new recruits. While the conventional war was on the job training for US troops, now its the arabs turn. The pendulum swings both ways, always does, always will. It's gonna be target practice and nothing will stop it, save getting the hell out.

Iraqnam is bush's creation and he will reap what he has sown.

[Brian Sweat]

2. "He thinks his country will fall apart even worse if they leave"

He is probably right, but things are only going to get worse one way or the other.

[aquart]

8. He has beer in the fridge.

He's really going to hate those religious clerics.

[bpilgrim]

5. "to get Saddam, with the UN" - we went ALONE

but i agree that there needs to be a stablizing force there... it just shouldn't be US it should be the U.N.

peace

[RainDog]

6. agreed

and Bush and Rummy and Cheney and Perle and Wolfie need to eat some serious shit for the mess they created.

[Kbowe]

7. No matter what anyone says, Saddam is not to blame for the

condition of Iraq today. The US and the Bush-PNAC cabal is to blame for this along with Tony Blair. Before we invaded, there were never any suicide bombings in Iraq. There was Saddam and his regime...if you didn't cross them you had little to worry about but in general the majority of Iraqis were not in the shape they are in now. Even with Saddam in power, Iraq was a beautiful place...until our first attack and invasion in Desert Storm and it was downhill from then on. We could have used a different tactic with Saddam. We have legitimized worse dictators to get them to do what we wanted.

Our arrogance, greed, and racist tendencies are what most of the world hates about us, not our democracy or freedom. No one can truthfully say that Iraq suffered more under Saddam than it is suffering now under US occupation.

I feel so sorry for the victims of today's bombing. It just seems that the really good people reap the punishment that should go to the wicked.
The UN should just get out of Iraq and let the US have what it wanted...complete control. I understand the UN's quest for humanitarian aid but the US just doesn't get it. In our arrogance we and the UK decided to go it alone and control the entire region the UN should just bow out and let them have it. The US really doesn't like the UN anyway.

[karlschneider]

10. Interesting point you made (below) and welcome to DU!

"There was Saddam and his regime...if you didn't cross them you had little to worry about but in general the majority of Iraqis were not in the shape they are in now."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A little spin on this could result in:

"There was Bush and his regime...if you didn't cross them you had little to worry about but in general the majority of Americans were not......"

Saddam put lots of people in jail with no counsel or rights...
sounds like Ashcroft and Gitmo.

Saddam tolerated no dissidence. Shrub/Cheney/Ashcroft/Rumsfeld say things like "watch what you say", "if you aren't with us you're against us", "you are supporting terrorism".

I had another salient point, the damn phone rang and now it's gone down to oblivion. So I stop now.

[RainDog]

11. good points

and thanks for posting.

the only problem with letting the Rummy fiasco run its course for me is that innocent citizens of Iraq will be killed and soldiers who are following stupid order will be responsible.

Not to say the same would not happen with UN forces, but I think they would provide some sense of "fairness" that the Bush gang certainly does not.

it's amazing to me that the media is silent now about all the warnings this administration had from generals and intel and ambassadors telling them that an invasion would make the world less safe, would make America less safe...and yet they were willfully ignorant and chose to do this, and do this without UN support.