An excerpt from Baghdad Burning, a blog written by an Iraqi woman who lives in Baghdad with her family. I urge everyone to read this blog regularly (link below at left), so you''ll grasp what it feels like to walk in the shoes of everyday, law-abiding Iraqi families during these turbulent times. So you'll understand how the US's violent occupation of Iraq feels to Iraqi citizens.
After viewing the video of an American Marine killing a defenseless, wounded Iraqi lying among the dead bodies in a sacred mosque.....
"We sat, horrified, stunned with the horror of the scene that unfolded in front of our eyes....The room was silent at the end of the scene, with only the voice of the news anchor and the sobs of my aunt. My little cousin flinched and dropped her spoon, face frozen with shock, eyes wide with disbelief, glued to the television screen 'Is he dead? Did they kill him?' ....
'What was I supposed to tell them?' he asked, an hour later, after we had sent his two daughters to help their grandmother in the kitchen. 'What am I supposed to tell them---Yes, darling, they killed him. the Americans killed a wounded man; they are occupying our country, killing people and we are sitting here eating, drinking and watching TV?' He shook his head, 'How much more do they have to see? What is left for them to see?'
They killed a wounded man. It's hard to believe. They killed a man who was completely helpless---like he was some sort of diseased animal. I had read the articles and heard the stories of this happening before---wounded civilians being thrown on the side of the road or shot in cold blood---but to see it happening on television is something else. It makes me crazy with anger.
And what will happen now? A criminal investigtion against a single Marine who did the shooting? Just like they did with the Abu Gharaib atrocities? A couple of people will be blamed and the whole thing will be buried under the rubble of idiotic military psychologists, defense analysts, Pentagon officials and spokespeople and it will be forgotten. In the end, all anyone will remember is that a single Marine shot and killed a single Iraqi 'insurgent' and it won't matter anymore.
It's typical American technique--every single atrocity is lost and covered up by blaming a specific person and getting it over with. What people don't understand is that the whole military is infested with these psychopaths. In this last year, we've seen murderers, torturers and xenophobes running around in tanks and guns.
I don't care what it does...I don't care if it's the tension, the fear, the 'enemy"....it's murder. We are occupied by murderers. We're under the same pressure, as Iraqis, except that we aren't trained for this situation, and yet we're all expected to be benevolent and understanding and, above all, grateful....I don't know what to say anymore...they aren't humans and they don't deserve any compassion.
The people slaughtering Iraqis, torturing in prisons and shooting wounded prisoners are 'American Heroes.' Congratulations, you must be so proud of yourselves today."
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