At least 65 people were killed today in two bombings, one in a bird market and the other in a pet market. My first thought when I heard was children. The image of a father relenting to a young son's pleas for a puppy ran through my head. I imagine that some child thought they were finally getting a pet they wanted and instead were faced with the reality of Iraq, blood.
In the bird market one man described a father running with his bleeding son. The blood was "flowing like a river" he told us and the father did not know where to go. Exhausted he fell to the ground and wailed until someone came to help.
Two women suicide bombers were the apparent cause of the explosion in the al Ghazil pet market in downtown Baghdad and a bird market in a Shiite neighborhood in the southeast of the capital. When the bodies were gone people covered the remains of flesh on the road with pieces of cloth.
We cannot run pictures that are too graphic, no pictures with blood and gruesome remains, no pictures of things that most Iraqis have seen at least once and often many more times than that in the almost five years of this war.
When the head of the female suicide bomber was found in the al Ghazil pet market, Iraqis filmed it on their cell phones.
A man lifted the head of a woman by her brown hair and with blood seeping from the severed neck he placed it gingerly into a shopping bag. Dead birds and animals were gathered up and put into a dumpster. Cleaners swept away the pools of blood, shop owners began to repair their shops once again and life went on.
Below is the video. But before you click on it, I warn you it's gruesome and if you can't handle blood don't watch this.
Although the video clip is certainly gruesome, I think more of the horror and violence ought to be broadcast to the American people so that the general public has a more realistic idea of what the Iraqi people have to deal with on a day to day basis.
The sanitized news clips presented on U.S. (and Canadian) television make everything look much less horrible than they really are.
Posted by: Pm | February 02, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Thank you Leila for providing this brief clip. I agree with Pm that it is vital that folks over here see more of what really happens, and that we feel the horror of it more fully. Iraqis CAN'T look away. We shouldn't, either--seeing as we brought this upon them.
May you all stay safe.
Posted by: Laura | February 02, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Uh, sorry, but the fact that A WOMAN'S HEAD WAS PULLED OFF THE GROUND AFTER TWO BOMBS WENT OFF, does not mean she was one of the bombers.
The End.
Posted by: KayInMaine | February 03, 2008 at 05:34 PM
Yup the surge is working for someone, but I can’t figure out who. According to news articles there were about 2000 Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq in January 2007 and the “SURGE” has resulted in killing or capturing about 500 in the past year. The US has spent over $100 Billion in the past year, Iraq has spent about $4 Billion and our “ALLIES” have spent about $1 Billion. Please check my math. If I divide 500 into $105 Billion my calculator says it cost $210 Million per Bad Guy killed or captured.
“The 500 Al Qaeda captured or killed in the past year have cost $210 Million each, plus 1000 American Lives, 5000 Wounded Americans, 2000 Iraqi Military Lives, 5,000 Iraqi Military wounded, and over 15,000 Iraqi civilians killed”!
What if we posted a reward of $25 Million for each Al Qaeda captured or killed and we just left Iraq except for a small contingent of protect and disburse the cash?
If we paid for 1000 Bad Guys the cost would only be $25 Billion.
2008 will cost over $130 Billion and the permanent bases Bush and McCain want will probably cost another $500 Billion.
Grants Pass, OR
Posted by: Rogue Cowboy | February 03, 2008 at 08:44 PM
Yup the surge is working for someone, but I can’t figure out who. According to news articles there were about 2000 Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq in January 2007 and the “SURGE” has resulted in killing or capturing about 500 in the past year. The US has spent over $100 Billion in the past year, Iraq has spent about $4 Billion and our “ALLIES” have spent about $1 Billion. Please check my math. If I divide 500 into $105 Billion my calculator says it cost $210 Million per Bad Guy killed or captured.
“The 500 Al Qaeda captured or killed in the past year have cost $210 Million each, plus 1000 American Lives, 5000 Wounded Americans, 2000 Iraqi Military Lives, 5,000 Iraqi Military wounded, and over 15,000 Iraqi civilians killed”!
What if we posted a reward of $25 Million for each Al Qaeda captured or killed and we just left Iraq except for a small contingent of protect and disburse the cash?
If we paid for 1000 Bad Guys the cost would only be $25 Billion.
2008 will cost over $130 Billion and the permanent bases Bush and McCain want will probably cost another $500 Billion.
Grants Pass, OR
Posted by: Rogue Cowboy | February 03, 2008 at 08:46 PM