10 year old Iraqi boy: "I prefer to be illiterate than to die"

[sabra]

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56971&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

IRAQ: Haifa Waleed - ?I prefer to be illiterate than to die?



BAGHDAD, 10 Jan 2007 (IRIN) - ?I am 10 years old but I have not been to school for the past three years because I?m scared of the killings taking place in Iraq. Many of my friends have either been kidnapped or killed.

?Since I was five I had been attending the Adhamiyah Primary and Secondary School, in Adhamiyah district (one of the most popular Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad). I made many friends there but since last year, many of them have either fled Iraq with their parents or have left school because their parents are afraid for them because of the increase in kidnappings and killing of children and teachers.

?I miss my school very much but in the classroom I used to keep looking at the door to see if someone would break in and kidnap me. My family is poor and if they (the kidnappers) take me, I might die because they cannot pay a ransom.

...

?I want to stay at home because somehow I will be safer. I prefer to be illiterate than to die or see a friend killed in front of me or maybe kidnapped and have my ears sent to my family as happened to one of my best friends three months ago.?

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Sounds like he doesn't appreciate all we have sacrificed to bring

democracy to his country.

Better shoot him, before he becomes a terrorist.

[NNN0LHI]

2. Sounds like Bush had better get another coat of paint on that school n/t

[demnan]

3. The smallest victims of Bush's imperial disaster

poor little boy :cry:

[ninkasi]

4. That poor child

Bush's invasion is ruining many lives. This little boy says, " Sometimes I think I will go crazy with the tension I have in my head and the pressure from all sides, especially from my mother who insists that I have to go to school to be someone important. Inside me I know that what I want is just to be away from this violence." He speaks of a friend who was kidnapped, and his ears sent to the parents. He says that if he is kidnapped, he will be killed, because his family is poor, and can't afford to pay a ransom.

Are you proud of this, you ignorant ape? How many Iraqi children are being left behind, left traumatized, and then decide it's better to join a militia, because he views this option as one to create safety for his family, and friends? His life, and the life of every other Iraqi, has been made a living hell, because of an idiot's ego and stubbornness. He has seen things no person, especially no child, should ever have to see.

[JuniperLea]

5. He's just another brown boy to Bush

There's not a shred of conscience in the Bush Regime. How can any true human being not be touched by this boy's plight?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. From an a 14 year old Iraqi gir's blog...

http://livesstrong.blogspot.com/

It couldn’t happen to you ...........

Hello , what is the meaning of " BAD DAY" ?

Yesterday " Thursday " I had a very bad day , I was in the garage , waiting for the driver , when my neighbor " H" , came to say hello , he was standing near me , and talking with my grandma, suddenly he touched his leg and said " awwwwwwwch " , my grandma thought that he had a muscle spasm , or something like that , but I realized it was more then that , he shouted "it is a bullet" .

A bullet entered his leg, he fell down on the floor , my grandma went inside the house to call his family , no one was in the street , I got panicked and started to cry and shake hysterically, I ran and brought handkerchiefs , and started to put them on his leg , he was bleeding , the driver came to drive me to school , I told him to wait , I put my bag in the car and ran back to my injured neighbor , I went to bring my mom I was out of breath , and couldn't talk , I was terrified " I was , a man , a bullet , the car , blood , neighbor , bandage , cotton, come please " I couldn't create a sentence , she didn't understand me but she came and brought medical cotton and bandage with her , she ran wearing her pajamas ! anyway she tied his leg so hard , to stop the bleeding , and I kept crying shaking and spreading so many handkerchiefs on the floor to cover the blood, I don’t know why !.

Then his wife , kids , brothers , sisters , cousins , and nephews came running toward our house , and one of his relatives took him to the hospital by his car , I went to school , and kept crying all the way long , and when I reached there , I was shaking so badly, even the teachers were worried about me , my mom called the headmistress and told her what happened , when I arrived school the headmistress asked me to sit in her room, the teachers were around me , trying to calm me down , after an hour I stopped shaking , but kept crying , I missed 2 classes and did so bad in geography exam , I wrote " the running winds" , and I did very silly mistakes ..

"R" my dearest friend came while I was in the headmistress room ,she was crying and shaking too , a mine exploded in front of their car , !!!! the car's windows were broken , then US soldiers started to shoot their car !.