[wordup] It's good to remember it's not over.

[Adam Shand]

From:http://dearraed.blogspot.com/2003_05_01_dear_raed_archive.html#200265616

:: Friday, May 09, 2003 ::

5 US Dollars for a single hour of browsing. Talk about someone milking 
it, I wonder if they would let me pay for only half an hour.

I am not complaining; I would not have believed anyone who would have 
told me a week ago that I will be able to browse at all. There are more 
of these centers popping up here and there so the prices will go down. 
Besides I have heard today that a NGO called [Communication sans 
frontiers] has arrived in Iraq and will help. They will probably be 
doing what the Red Cross is doing, a center in Baghdad and a team moving 
around Iraq. The Red Cross has been moving its phone service, if you can 
call it that, around Baghdad. Two days for each district and they depend 
on the word of mouth to spread the news, usually they end up with huge 
lines and waiting lists but everybody is grateful. Many people have no 
way telling their relatives abroad how they are doing. A couple of 
Arabic TV stations, mainly Jazeera, has been putting their cameras in 
the street and allowing people to send regards to their relatives 
abroad, tell them they are OK hoping that they would be watching at the 
time. So what the Red Cross has been doing, and I think what 
Communication sans frontiers would ultimately be doing is much 
appreciated. The only way to communicate with the world otherwise is to 
go buy a Thuraya phone, very expensive by any standard ($700 down from 
$1500 two weeks ago, that is not counting the call charges). I don’t 
know how long it will take until a network can be put up. Since the one 
we had is now reduced to ruble.

I have made a very un-salam decision today. I let Raed talk me into 
going along with him on his next two day trip to the south. I am a bit 
of a coward; I am not dealing too well with all the bad things around me 
in Baghdad. I move thru the city with a wince. And what he has been 
telling me about his trip last week made me just want to crawl deeper 
into my cocoon. So what is Raed up to? Raed has been working for the 
last two weeks with a small outfit that is calling itself Campaign for 
Innocent Victims in Conflict [CIVIC], they think about the acronyms 
before the name, don’t they? They are a very small team of volunteers 
and almost-volunteers (I mean they are getting paid much less than their 
effort deserves) who are going around residential districts that have 
seen military action with these forms and trying to get as much 
information as they can about civilian deaths and injuries. They are 
also collecting hospital records in order to come to an estimation of 
the number of civilian casualties. Until now they have around 5000 
injuries and deaths in Baghdad and they are starting to form teams in 
other Iraqi cities. This is what he wants to drag me into. We will go to 
Karbala, Samaweh, Naseriyah then basrah. And back thru Kut. These names 
should be familiar they have been thru quite a bit during the war. Raed 
has already been to these places, with the exception of Kut, and has put 
together teams there. In Samaweh we will meet one of our university 
friends and spend the night at his place because our driver abu-saif 
does not like the idea of arriving in Naseriyah late and spending the 
night there. He also says that the only unsafe bit of the trip will be 
the way thru Kut. Did you know we have a Hizbullah now in a Iraq? Rigt 
there in Kut an Amarah (do you know what Hizbullah means? It means God’s 
faction, allah’s party). This hizbulla is calling itself [hizbullah al 
iraqi] and is anti-Iranian. We will be going thru Hizbullah territory 
and this makes abu-saif uneasy. We’ll see. We will leave early Saturday 
and should be back on Monday, wish us a safe trip.

Prices of weapons on the market have been going up. At one point you 
could get a hand grenade for 500 dinars, that’s a quarter of a dollar. A 
Kalashnikov for $200 and a brand new Uzi for a bit more. These are on 
display on the roads. In Baghdad-al-Jadida and al-baya districts but the 
cheapest could be found in Thawra (revolution) district (It used to be 
caleed Thawra then Saddam now they are calling it al-Sadir district). It 
is like a militarized zone in Thawra. If you don’t live there you better 
not go.

The streets markets look like something out of a William Gibson novel. 
Heaps of cheap RAM (stolen of course) is being sold beside broken 
monitors beside falafel stands and weapons are all available. Fights 
break out justlikethat and knives come out from nowhere, knives just 
bought 5 minutes ago. There are army sighting thingys, Weird looking 
things with lenses. And people selling you computer cases who tell you 
these are electric warmers, never having seen a computer case before. 
Really truly surreal. Software CDs, Movie CDs and cheap porn. And a set 
of 5 CDs called [the crimes of saddam] it has things from halabja, the 
footage they have taped during 91 while squishing the uprising after the 
war and other stuff about Uday, there is one whole CD about Uday. Have 
not seen any of them yet. They say there is some gruesome footage on 
them but the Uday CD is not as juicy as you’d think.

Back to the weapons. The prices have been going up because they are 
being bought from the market in big quantities. One of the very few 
bright ideas our new American administration has been having was if the 
looters want money for the stolen weapons let’s pay them for bringing 
them to us. Outside Baghdad it is said people are being paid a fixed 
price for each piece of weaponry they bring in. In Baghdad it is being 
bought off the market at street prices. But still no one is going into 
the Thawra District.

American civil administration in Iraq is having a shortage of Bright 
ideas. I keep wondering what happened to the months of “preparation” for 
a “post-saddam” Iraq. What happened to all these 100-page reports, where 
is that Dick Cheney report? Why is every single issue treated like they 
have never thought it would come up? What’s with the juggling of people 
and ideas about how to form that “interim government”? Why does it feel 
like they are using the [lets-try-this-lets-try-that] strategy? Trial 
and error on a whole country?

The various bodies that have been installed here don’t seem to have much 
coordination between them. We all need to feel that big sure and 
confident strides forward are being taken; it is not like this at all. 
And how about stopping empty pointless gestures and focusing on things 
that are real problems? Can anyone tell me what the return of children 
to schools really means? Other than it makes nice 6 o’clock news footage.

Schools have been looted; there are schools that have cluster bombs 
thrown in them when fedayeen were still there, no one bothered to clean 
that mess up before issuing the call on [Information Radio] that all 
students should go back to schools. How about clearing the mess created 
by the sudden disappearing of the ration distribution centers? How about 
getting the Hospitals back in shape? How about making it safe to walk in 
the street?

I mean there are a million more pressing issues for these committees 
meeting daily than getting children back to unsafe schools.

Yes yes I know. Patience. God needed seven days to finish his work and 
all that.

Living in my headphones. The best place to be these days.

:: salam 11:47 AM [+] ::