I've kind of been obsessed with reading the blogs of Iraqis these past few months. Some good, some bad, some ugly. Just want to hear whatever inside scoop is out there from, well, the insiders.
Weirdly enough, however, the one blog that I've followed most religiously is from a guy who, despite his love for country, actually chose to leave Iraq after we all invaded and stuff. I mean, liberated.
Tomato, tomahto.
So he really wasn't even in Iraq very much of the time. Apparently we shocked and awed him into Jordanian exile. Go figure.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I kept up with his blog nevertheless. He started it up just in February of last year.
He's dead now. He recently went back to Baghdad to help take his family out, too ... but was killed in the process. Bad timing that was.
I still re-read his old posts. He haunts me somehow. I kind of wish he'd just leave me alone, it's rather disconcerting.
February 18, 2007, Ahmed -
Trifling post this, I know, but something that has been on my mind.
If you have a few spare moments, though, please do peruse the archives on his blog. I really miss him. Rest in peace, Ahmed.
Weirdly enough, however, the one blog that I've followed most religiously is from a guy who, despite his love for country, actually chose to leave Iraq after we all invaded and stuff. I mean, liberated.
Tomato, tomahto.
So he really wasn't even in Iraq very much of the time. Apparently we shocked and awed him into Jordanian exile. Go figure.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I kept up with his blog nevertheless. He started it up just in February of last year.
He's dead now. He recently went back to Baghdad to help take his family out, too ... but was killed in the process. Bad timing that was.
I still re-read his old posts. He haunts me somehow. I kind of wish he'd just leave me alone, it's rather disconcerting.
February 18, 2007, Ahmed -
"Hi everyone, This is my first post. I am trying out the WordPress Blog and I hope it works well. I will try to keep my writings simple. I am no political expert or anything near politics. I am just a computer engineer who wishes to serve his country."May 16, 2008, his death-pacted compatriot blogger -
"Yes. Ahmed is dead. He was killed in Baghdad on April 11th, 2008. He went back to Baghdad to take his family out, but he did not have enough time to do so."Ahmed's blog profile: "There isn’t that much to tell about myself. I am just an Iraqi person who managed to flee my country. I love my country so much and I wish I could go back."
Trifling post this, I know, but something that has been on my mind.
If you have a few spare moments, though, please do peruse the archives on his blog. I really miss him. Rest in peace, Ahmed.
God, that makes me sick! So very sad. Chalk up another one for the Bush legacy.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sick when these guys go around blathering about how we are "winning" in Iraq and how the surge is "working" - never acknowledging, never taking responsibility for the violence and mayhem their illegal and unnecessary invasion has caused in the first place.
The thousands of Iraqi and American lives that have been ended and changed for the worse, are just so much "collateral damage" on the way to their true goal: "Proving" that President Bush has balls, is a great leader, and wasn't wrong to invade Iraq.
This is a moral outrage. And we are being told that Barack Obama poses a danger because he believes in attempting to talk before shooting.
Might does not and never has made right.
Oh Doug R,
ReplyDeleteThat's just so sad. This story is so upsetting to me. It's such a tragedy.
So very sad.
That, is the saddest thing. The deaths of all the innocent civilians---we may never know. So kind of you Doug R, to visit his blog and bring this to our attention. I will be going there...my guts will be turned inside out, but that has been true since Bush, the war criminal, took over.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad, very. I don't know why this guy's blog stood out more so than the others I occassionally touch base with, but it did I think just because of his honesty and the way he expressed himself. Sad that he and his blog buddy made the pact about whichever died first ...
ReplyDeleteDoug B's outrage is obvious and we should all be so outraged. I like what Ahmed said on the 5yr anniversary of the invasion just this last march:
"This day marks five years since the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Five years full of death and suffering to Iraqis. What is even more sad, is that the suffering of the Iraqis did not start only five years ago. It started a long long time before that. Saddam and his entourage caused pain, agony, and death to an enormous number of people. Some people thought it would end by the occupation of Iraq by the US and life will flourish again. How wrong were they.
"Those five years were nothing but another episode of suffering. With some new types of suffering, I must admit. If we look into facts of what this war has accomplished in five years, and I mean the accomplishments to the simple Iraqi person who does not have "Democratic" dreams, you can simply say, NOTHING. And what pro-american people might say about the improvements, it is the improvements done to what was sabotaged during these years of occupation."
Also sad he left behind a baby girl. Sad in so many ways. Thanks for reading, though!
Wow Doug,
ReplyDeleteI have yet to visit his blog, but will soon as I hit send on this.
Just wanted to say, I got a lump in my throat as I read...and can only imagine what you are feeling having been one of his readers.
Thanks for sharing him and his blog with some who would have never known of his existence. On my way over there now.
Thanks, Lumina, Rain, Diane and Doug, really. Don't know why it means so much to me that you care so much about the guy, but it does. A lot.
ReplyDelete