Posted by Benjamin on: 03.18.2008 /
So I wanted to draw your attention to Lily Hamourtziadou’s weekly feature over at Iraq Body Count called “This week in Iraq” She recently wrote in answer to the question:
“When you close your eyes and think of Iraq, what do you see in your mind’s eye?”
Images in Iraq: This is What I see (some excerpts)
Image 1: the coffins. They are carried daily, those cheap-looking boxes with the Arabic writing adorning their sides, incomprehensible to me and to most westerners like me, on the shoulders of men, young and old, pain and anger visible on their faces.
Image 2: the bodies. Bullet-riddled, decomposed, unidentified, dumped or buried in mass graves… the bodies of Iraqi citizens feature in daily reports, now lifeless, as though they had always been inanimate. …
Image 3: the women. Invariably dressed in black robes, almost as devoid of identity as the bodies found every day. Since the invasion of their country Iraqi women no longer dare to venture outside without their black cover. …
Image 4: the young assassins. The new generation of Iraq, those that should have been enjoying the joys of youth, the challenges and dreams of the future. The hope of every society. Teenage boys and girls who are learning how to make bombs, how to kill themselves and others …
Image 5: grief. The screaming mother outside the morgue, the sobbing child next to a pool of blood, the father carrying his child’s body, …
This week 384 civilians were killed or found dead. At least 8 of them were children. More coffins, more mass graves, more loss.
What about you? When you close your eyes and think of Iraq, what do you see in your mind’s eye?
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