Oh yes...
Posted on 10/21/2006 11:56:35 PM PDT by Republicain
It has been a disastrous week for the US military in Iraq, which has suffered its highest weekly casualty rate for nearly two years. But even that is insignificant when compared with the number of civilians who are being killed in an increasingly vengeful sectarian conflict.
This is a snapshot of life for two people in one Baghdad neighbourhood.
Before I introduce you to the baker and the barber though, a little background...
They both work in Karrada which sits on the east bank of the river Tigris.
It is one of the wealthier parts of the city and right now it is seen as something of a haven. In this case that means bombings and shootings only once or twice a week, rather than every day.
This is a majority Shia area, but many of its residents are Sunni, and there are large numbers of Christians too.
So far though it has avoided the fate of other traditionally mixed neighbourhoods which have become ever more homogeneous, as death squads and militias drive out whichever group is in the minority.
The question though everyone in Karrada has at the back of their minds is: how long before it starts happening here too?
Fresh bread
Hussein, the baker, is a Shia. Sami, the barber, is a Christian. These are not their real names.
There is nothing fancy about Hussein's bakery. No cakes or pastries on sale here, just one kind of traditional flat bread.
He works incessantly as he answers my questions, flipping diamond-shaped pieces of dough from a tray and onto a long wooden paddle.
Once full, he plunges it into a cavernous oven beside him.
I soon feel myself starting to sweat with the intense heat coming from within. Hussein keeps cool though with the aid of two large fans attached to the wall behind.
It is not long before he whips the paddle out again. Almost in the same movement, he sweeps the freshly cooked bread down a chute and starts filling the paddle again.
A colleague at the other end of the chute scoops a bundle into a bag and hands it to a customer waiting at the window.
It is a wonderfully efficient process - it is just minutes between the dough going into the oven and a customer walking away with steaming-hot bread for the evening meal to break the Ramadan fast.
Easy target
Hussein is a tough-looking character, with a boxer's face and forearms shaped like bowling skittles.
But he is nervous. He is not just keeping watch on his bread. His eyes flick constantly towards the street outside.
Because bakers have become the latest casualties in Iraq's seemingly unstoppable slide into communal blood-letting.
The reason is simple - traditionally most bakeries in the city have been run by Shia families.
So, for Sunni insurgents trying to stir the sectarian demon, or seeking revenge for Shia attacks on their own communities, bakers make an easy target.
The stern face of one of the most revered Shia Imams staring down from the wall leaves no room for doubt as to the kind of Muslims who work here.
"We will stand up to these people," says Hussein. "We are doing a good thing, making bread for the people."
"The government has to protect us," he says - his tone suggests though he has little hope it will.
It is hardly surprising - Iraqi government and American security plans for Baghdad have come and gone, but the killing only increases.
We don't stay long. They are concerned that the presence of our foreign faces will attract undue attention. Hurry, hurry, says the man at the bread chute, as I finish talking to Hussein.
At risk
Sami has the same concerns when we visit his barber shop a few streets away.
He is also at risk now. Although you would not know it when you walk in - business is good. He snips away as he talks. The leather seats are full of waiting customers, including a screaming little boy with his father.
But in recent months, a growing number of barbers have been killed or intimidated - on religious grounds.
They are accused of breaking Islamic codes by cutting hair in a certain way and shaving men's beards, an echo of similar edicts issued by the Taleban in Afghanistan.
The threats are coming from both Sunni and Shia extremists - the same people are behind much of the sectarian violence.
"I am very worried," says Sami.
"I know what has happened to barbers in other districts."
For the moment though, he is benefiting from these attacks on his profession.
Because in some areas, all the barbers' shops have now closed and their customers are coming to areas like Karrada. But, like Hussein the baker, he keeps an eye on the street outside.
"It's very sad," he says. "Before the war, we would just cut hair the way people wanted. Now we're not allowed to."
And he went on: "Before we would never talk about whether someone was Sunni or Shia or Christian. You would never hear those words, we all lived peacefully. I don't know what is going to happen now."
Then, with another furtive look at the street outside, he calls for the next customer, the father with his small boy, still screaming, to come and take his place on the red leather barber's chair.
Oh yes...
After a while, Iraq will be stable and generally peaceful.
Self-persuasion ?
Exaggeration, distortion, twisting, misrepresentation...the media is at it again. Gosh, there must be an election coming up.
Opinion. Your neighbor, Germany, had a bit of uprising immediately after World War 2 (it could even have gotten an influx of Communists to parallel the influx of Islamo-fascists into Iraq) but is today a stable and generally peaceful country. Although being mainly Muslim doesn't help, there is no reason Iraq can't be the same.
Iraq is going to work. What most people don't understand is that these things take time - they aren't wrapped up all neatly in a prescribed amount of time like their favorite TV shows are.
Iraq needs stronger leadership, though. They're new at all of this and I'm sure they'll get it sorted out eventually.
Oh, yes. For sure, one day the situation in Irak will be different. One day...
Do you really think that everything that doesn't strenghten you in your certitudes is always ignoble propaganda ? I've always thought that Americans, as champions of democracy, were necessarily respectfull of other's opinions. I'm desappointed to see I was wrong.
No, I tend to believe what I see, not what the media reports. I've seen twisted and distorted reporting for almost three years now.
So, no, I do not respect that the media laces its so-called "reporting" with their blatantly slanted agenda. They're lying, they've been lying and a majority of us here on the ground will attest to that.
What I find disappointing is how many people outside the theater of operations just swallow the crap the media feeds them, no questions asked.
You know, I read on FR so many "exaggerations, distortions, twistings, misrepresentations..." about my "theater of operations" (France) that I really understand and share your statement...
The Iraq I see with my own eyes and the one I see on the TV news/newspapers bears very little resemblance to each other.
I'm not saying it's not violent or dangerous here because it is.
But while it's far from idyllic, things are going much better here and progress is much farther along than the media will ever admit.
We're winning this thing. It's just going to take some time. My country's own democracy (republic) took several years to settle into place.
Not all opinions are worthy of respect. Disdain and ridicule might help those who say ridiculous things.
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