SEEING IRAQIS

We are told not to worry. There will be “no boots on the ground in Syria.” We are told there is no contradiction between that promise and the assertion that “all options are on the table.” Yet the drums of war beat louder and louder and I hold my breath. What are the chances, I wonder, that the locals who treated me with generosity and warmth are still alive. Were they wiped out by an i.e.d., while buying mangos at a market? Maybe a suspicious “pattern” of gathering with friends got them targeted and assassinated by a U.S. missile or drone? With the war on Iraqis and Afghanistan not over yet, haven’t we seen enough carnage?

As I write this, the news tells me my government is supplying weapons to Syrian rebels. (Apparently, that means more weapons, because the administration has already been sending some weapons there.) I long to see the people of Syria for myself. I worry especially about the men “of military age.” I imagine they look a lot like the guys I talked and laughed with at the Afghan guest house and on the streets of Baghdad.

            Here are photos of some of the men, and women and children I met on those trips and wrote about in Seeing for Myself.

IRAQ (Afghanistan photos are psted on a separate blog.)

Men of "military age" on the street with board game

It was a rare occasion when I escaped the group to wander the streets alone. "A couple of boys noticed my video camera and...started mugging for me...Several older boys joined us...then a few grown men. Soon we were all laughing ...since none of us spoke more than a few words of the others' language." SFM page 204 

Boys shouting "Down With Bush

Our group was invited to visit a boys' school and imagine our surprise when we were greeted by the entire school gathered in the courtyard to shout, "Down, with Bush, down with Bush" over and over, while the teachers looked on with apparent pleasure.

Boy working at what looked like a tool shop

Boys who looked about 11 or 12 worked in various Baghdad shops along a major avenue on the way to the market. They all greeted us tourists warmly and looked as if they loved their jobs. Because of the danger we were only allowed one trip to a market, a very brief one.

Another happy worker. If he is alive he  is of "military age" now

Girls shouting "Down with Bush"

Geiger counter on "Highway of Death"

One of mmy tanks left on the Highway of Death. Years after the Gulf War had supposedly ended, Depleted Uranium was still poisoning the air and threateneng the lives of fetuses and new born babies.

 Our group visited the Highway of Death near Basra. When Iraqi troops gave up their fight in the Gulf War they left their tanks behind. As they were escaping, U.S. forces continued bombing with Depleted Uranium-tipped weaponry. It is widely believed that the DU caused numerous births of seriously deformed fetuses and infants. The Geiger counter showed that the carcinogenic substance was still present in the tanks

Uum Khaidars' family.

Mustafa, Umm Khaidar's six-year-old son and his
brother, Khaidar "had been playing with other
children outside the house. ...an explosion of a
U.S. satellite-guided missile... Khaidar rushed
outside, where she found Khaidar covered with
blood. She could see that he was dead and she
could only carry one boy so she picked up
Mustafa....Nineteen children playing that day
were killed."  SFM page 196-7

Most children in the hospital were suffering from cancer, 

apparently caused by Depleted Uranium possibly inhaled by 

there fathers in the war. They looked frightened, but this girl's

smile lit up the room.

Everywhere we went we were greeted by warmth and welcomes. This is my room mate , Sharon, with  the children of one of the families we visited in Baghdad.