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almarst2003
- 10:25pm Mar 31, 2003 EST (#
10856 of 10879)
The Morning After "Shock and Awe"
By Kathy Kelly, AlterNet March 22, 2003
Editor's Note: This is the latest report filed by Kathy
Kelly, the founder of Voices in Wilderness and a member of the
Iraq Peace Team.
Baghdad (March 22) – Here in Baghdad, along the Tigris
River, a gentle dawn and the sweetest of birdsongs were more
precious than ever following a horrific night of intense
bombardment.
With the calm morning came relief after learning that the
families of friends who work at the hotel are "ok." Abu
Hassan, a pro at charades, pantomimed what happened in his
home. He pointed to the windows in my room, held up five
fingers, touched the floor and then affirmed, "Finished." Five
windows had shattered. Then he swung his arms around to
imitate a ceiling fan, also "finished"– it had crashed to the
floor, and next he crouched down with his hands on his head to
indicate what the children had done.
Riyadh then told us that his brother and father were
"finished"in the 1991 Gulf War – making a gesture of falling
asleep, which meant that both had been killed during the war,
and then he mimicked wiping tears from his eyes to explain
that his mother had wept through the night, remembering past
agony while quivering through the present one. Abu Hassan and
Riyadh live in the impoverished Saddam City section of
Baghdad.
At 8pm last evening, I sat on a second floor balcony of our
hotel watching tracer lights flash across the sky. The first
round of bombing seemed distant and in the calm that followed,
Neville suggested that perhaps that would be it for tonight.
We joked about Neville’s prediction, quite exact, that bombing
would begin precisely 45 minutes after he lay down to take a
nap. "You’ll just have to stay awake now Neville," said Ed.
Our levity was broken by thundering explosions that repeatedly
shook our hotel building.
I darted to my room, swiftly poured a cup of coffee,
pocketed a handful of cotton swabs, grabbed my journal and a
few books and then hurried down two flights of stairs to join
other hotel residents and staff in the ground floor "tea
room."
I saw Marwan, age 12, and his 9-year-old sister, Dima,
surveying the adult’s faces. Thankfully, all of us were
managing to appear calm, and Marwan and Dima followed suit. A
Christian woman made the sign of the cross while a Muslim man
unrolled his prayer mat (the hotel owner, a devout Muslim, has
invited his Christian neighbors to stay with us).
We settled in to endure a long night of bludgeoning attacks
on Baghdad. The cotton swabs were handy for playing pick-up
sticks and making a tic-tac-toe grid. Cathy Breen produced a
few lumps of clay which we made into markers. Mohammed, our
friendly cab driver, picked up a tiny pink lump and popped it
in his mouth, expecting it to be a gumdrop. Did he do it on
purpose? Anyway, it was a brilliant distraction that sent the
children into gales of laughter.
Tomorrow we’ll plan a birthday party for Amal who turns 13.
Last night, a cake appeared in the tearoom in celebration of
Mother’s Day. Tiny Zainab and Maladh, daughters of the hotel
night manager, have warmed up to me and let me help their
parents rock them to sleep. And so it goes. As Operation Iraq
Freedom storms on, we’ll liberate ourselves from any
government’s efforts to sever natural bonds between us.
As I write, I can hear explosions in the distance. Clouds
of smoke are billowing in every direction. We’ve heard that
last night’s casualty list includes 207 wounded, four of whom
died in hospitals. News reports say that more than 1,000
cruise missiles were launched last night, and the US may be
planning to release many more tonight.
On a beautiful spring day, welcome to hell.
REPEAT AFTER ME:
LIBERATORS ARE COMING!! ... LIBERATORS ARE COMING!! ...
LIBERATORS ARE COMING!! ...
almarst2003
- 10:29pm Mar 31, 2003 EST (#
10857 of 10879)
The Neocons’ War - http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=42968
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