Sunday, March 19, 2006
Three Years After the Bombs Fell
A Father in America writes about his son * An Iraqi Woman writes about her country
"A War Through A Father's Eyes"
*****
In the plethora of reports about the invasion of Iraq what stands out is that the situation is murky. All is going well and it is just a matter of perseverance and time according to Donald Rumsfeld, while a report in The Observer/Guardian describes a mess, bleak and hopeless. Are the Iraqis better off three years after we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom? Riverbend,the Iraqi woman blogger wrote on March 18th: "I don’t think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I’m so tired of it all- we’re all tired. Three years and the electricity is worse than ever. The security situation has gone from bad to worse. The country feels like it’s on the brink of chaos once more- but a pre-planned, pre-fabricated chaos being led by religious militias and zealots." The former Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (he was our man) spoke of a civil war raging. "Iraq is in the middle of civil war, the country's former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has told the BBC. He said Iraq had not got to the point of no return, but if it fell apart sectarianism would spread abroad. The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence."
"A War Through A Father's Eyes"
Reading Henry Barry Holt's account of his feelings about his son who served in Iraq and returned home, made me think of other parents who have gone through such experience and of those whose sons and daughters are still out there. Then there are those in whose hearts there is ache and emptiness because their loved ones have given their lives. I do not belong to any of the above categories. I opposed the war before the first bomb fell in Baghdad. With all the facts that are now known about taking the nation war, my position has solidified against the war. In that sense, those who believe in it are strengthened by their conviction. It helps them through the long, sleepless nights. May all the soldiers return home soon.
