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My friend Betsy just sent me an
e-mail. "The news last night said that Iraqis are starting
to turn against extremists and starting to fight Al-Qaeda...is
this wishful thinking or are people really talking about this
in Baghdad?" Are they talking about it? Yes and no. Yes,
they are talking about it, but, no, it is not the major topic
of conversation.
What everyone here in Baghdad is really talking about is DEATH.
Death is everywhere here. It permeates the very air we breathe.
It seeps into our conversations and into our dreams - which
explains why, since I have arrived in this country, I almost
never sleep.
A CBS camera crew just wandered into the press
room. "Have you ever been to an Iraqi morgue?" I asked
one of the team.
"No, I have never been to a morgue. Morgues here are very
dangerous places."
I was surprised. Why would a morgue be so dangerous? "Because
the Shia go there to pick off the Sunnis who go there to claim
dead relatives and the Sunnis go there to pick off the Shia
who have also gone there to claim their dead." So. Death,
if you are still looking around for thy sting, I guess your
best bet of finding it would be in an Iraqi morgue.
Whenever American soldiers say goodbye to each other over here,
they always say, "Take care." For Americans in Iraq,
Death rides in every vehicle, haunts every road, lives in every
hooch. It's life on the edge. One never knows.
When I first came to Iraq, I thought I was here
to write stories. But now I think I'm just here to be a witness
- a witness to the power of death. Make no mistake, boys and
girls, The Grim Reaper is the real governor of Iraq, no matter
who sits in parliament or how fortified the Green Zone is. And,
knowing that, my next question should be, "Will I die here
too?" No, not me. I am immortal! I can't even imagine a
world without out me. It's hard for any one to conceive of their
own death.
But I know what the next question I ask after that one should
be. "How can the supposedly idealistic United Nations,
the supposedly democratic United States, the supposedly civilized
European Union or even Russia or China allow a country to exist
with Death as its commander-in-chief?" They overthrew Saddam
here. They should overthrow Death too. But they won't. Instead,
Death has been given permanent membership on the UN Security
Council. Death is now a member of the G-8.
People here in Iraq talk about death all the time. It has become
a permanent part of their lives. Death never gets invited to
dinner, but he comes. He never gets any votes here, but year
after year he is re-elected. In this country, he's the one you
go to if you want to get anything done. In Iraq, Death is the
ultimate problem-solver. Betsy, the only way in the world that
there will be any kind of truce between Al Qaeda, the Shia,
the Sunni, the Americans, the Iraqi mafia, the fundamentalists,
etc. is if they all get together and vote Death out of office.
But that just isn't happening here - and won't be happening
any time soon.
PS: In case you might be wondering how death
came to be so prevalent in Iraq, read Naomi Klein's latest article
in Harpers regarding the role of "Disaster Capitalism:
The new economy of catastrophe" in world affairs. Read
it from beginning to end. Print it out. Sleep with it under
your pillow. And then get ready to welcome Death to your city
or town too.
PPS: I'm finally scheduled to fly out of the Green Zone tonight!
Anbar province, here I come - that is, if Death doesn't roll
out the welcome mat between now and then.
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