Omar's Oddyssey

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This is a translation of the Arabic posted a week ago
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In the past, I didn't want to leave Iraq - earlier to February 2006, life was difficult, but in a way, Iraqis got used to it, after my friends were killed, it took on a whole new meaning, and two days after the last friend passed to the world beyond, I heard this story, it was all I needed to know that there is no life for me here anymore.

Had this story told by anyone other than a guy that I know won't talk crap to me, I would have immediately called it off as typical Iraqi exaggeration one way or the other, Omar may have exaggerted as some point or the other - as it simply involves pretty much everything and everyone you see on TV - and much, much more! You are probably so bored of individual Iraqi death stories by now but this one simply crosses the Rambo line.

WARNING: This story has a happy ending.

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ENTRY
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An oddyssey normally refers to the mythical trip undertaken by Odysseus in ancient Greek literature, where he encounters strange beings and nameless creatures on his way back home. The following real-life story has been narrated to me by a friend of mine, Omar, one hot morning in Baghdad, and if it doesn't qualify as an honest-to-Homer Oddyssey, I don't know what does.
Omar is my Kia driver, he is my age, but have dropped out of high school midway through and started a carrier as a plumber, before buying a Kia and starting this 'line'. He is mentioned earlier in my blog, in this post. Omar is a streetwise kind of guy, but in the same time he is such a sweet lad, despite his constant swearing and sun-burned tan that suggests back-alleys, his green eyes betary a niceity which I have seen very little of these days.
One day, Omar's mother, his sisters, and two younger brothers (one born 1987, the other 1990) were all taking a taxicab from now-infamous Adhamiya, unfortunately, the taxi dude turned out to be a chewer, (i.e. a person who's connected to a criminal organization one way or the other, the traditional menaing of chewer indicates the middle man between regular people eligible for kidnap and murder, and the interested gangs) The Chewer delievered them to their Grandfather's house safe, but, perhaps on knowning that they are Sunni in someway, or perhaps of something they might have said, the guy returned with 3 pick-up trucks, broke the door and took the two boys away.
Omar wasn't around at the time, his mother called him weeping and sobbing, after knowning what has occured, he hurried back home, took a Shiite friend of his, who we shall call Salim, and went as fast as he could to an area in Baghdad now known as The Presidential, where a Sadr office is located. By the time he undertook this quest, the time was 9:00 pm, way past the curfew, he was stopped by several checkpoints, frenzily explaining his story he would be let go by the soldiers, at one point he asked them for help, but whenver the words 'militia' was heard, faces would recoil in fear and he would just be let through.
Upon reaching the presidential area, Omar lost his grip and his friend Salim took over driving, the area was barren and empty, like all of Baghdad, after roaming around for a few blocks lost they found a drunk guy, who answered in a drunk, overconfident "Hell, yeah! Sure I know where the office is!!!" They picked him up, and despite his drunk incongruence, he sure knew where the office is. However, The office was just as desolate and unhospitable as everything else is.
At this particular moment, Omar's frustration bubbled to the surface, and he let loose in massive frantic that cursed all the Shiites on the face of the earth, he kept on screaming, yelling and shouting until the glorious pick-up trucks came back to the office, and beat them inside it. Omar and Salim took a few cables, but the militiamen beat the shit out of the drunk guy, while on duty, in sync with the religious ideology of the Mahdi's army - they assume a very hostile tone to alcohol. That done, Omar and Salim were separated for questioning.

-What's your name?
-Omar. he gave that up, cuz they already looked in his ID
-You Sunni or Shiite?
-Shiite (cable slashes across his body)
-Don't talk shit to me now.
-Sunni....Sunni....
-What brought you here?

Omar told him his whole story, the tale was filled with joyful intermissions exercised by the investigator on Omar's thin, frail body. After the investigator got tired, they brought Salim, who looked like he's been treated with a similar reception, and then shortly afterwards came the Sayyid.
Sayyid is the 'religious authority' in the office, he's the guy with the turban, all militiamen cowered in respect, he asked the two about their names, and then quickly issued his verdict. "Those people are terrorists, go to Sadda and kill them very well."

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MEANWHILE.....
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Man: What is your name?
Omar's youngest bro: Mazin
Man: Are you a Salafi (Wahhabi)?
Mazin : No.
Man: Do you love Ali?
Mazin: Yes.
Man: Curse Omar.
Mazin: (curses Omar)
Man: Tell me what you know about the 'brave resistance'?
Mazin: I don't know anything....
(Man falls with a sledgehammer deep on Mazin's fingernails....a horrible shriek comes from Mazin, as broken nails are driven deep inside his own flesh in a mess of blood.)
Man (laughing): Good. The Mujahideen has taught you not to speak.

Afterwards, Mazin has heard the name of that man, when Omar told it to me, it was the first time I ever heard of it, but I would hear it countless and countless times after that.
The man's name was Abu Dera'.

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SADDA
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The executioner took the two unfortunate men and hurled them inside Omar's own minivan (Kia), they were blindfolded, he switched the ignition, and the car was filled with Hussam al-Russam's Iraqi party music, he quickly turned it off and murmuered in anger, and the car now headed to Sadda. Sadda is an area in Sadr City that serves as the execution ground for the Mahdi's army, Omar has now gone from crumbling despair through unflinching anger into silent oblivion. But his friend Salim kept talking to the man every now and then.

-Sir, where are we going.
-Sadda.
-How long yet?
-Soon. ...
-Sir, are you going to kill us?
- ....

The sir didn't answer, and his silence soon grew until it horribly engulfed the whole car, Omar became certain of his destiny at that moment, and he began reciting the Shahadas (couplets recited by Muslims upon death) as quickly and repeatedly as possible, he said that all he was thinking about at that particulalr moment of time was how his mother has wound up with losing all her sons together, he just wanted to have once last chance to see her and tell her goodbye.
The car reached the Saddah, the man descended and took the two silent boys to the ground, he took his gun out, reloaded....and then his mobile rang out. The caller ordered the man to stop the execution but continue routine investigation. It seems that Salim's father has connections, and his connections worked at just the right time.

As I told Omar, and as Iraqis normally would say, Omar has "the luck of bitches."
They were transferred from in various cars afterwards, until finally reaching an air-conditioned prison, the drunk man was reinstated in the shithouse, though.
After a merciful investigation that didn't involve attempts to connect coaxial cables with Omar's asshole, a man came smiling sociably and said: "Amoori, we apologize, you're free to go."
"What about my brothers?"
"They are doing well and alive in Sadr City. Don't worry, they will return soon."

For the first time that night, Omar exhaled.

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OUTSIDE
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Omar and Salim came out at 3 AM, like wet dogs in the rain, they rode Omar's Kia and proceeded down the road, but no sooner than they had crossed a few blocks that a swarm of bullets was being fired at them by local generator guards who mistook them for thieves. Omar pointed to the side of his Kia and sure enough, a nice line of holes decorated the side of the dark purple van. After they were well out of the way, they were met by, lo and behold, the old bandits of the streets! the average carjackers...four Opels flashed their headlights in the distance before Omar managed to use his experience as a Kia driver and dodge them around some side-streets, eventually ditching the car in some dump and spending the night at a friend's house.

Omar arrived in his house in Adhamiya the next day, to find that 2 brothers have already arrived before him, the older one wasn't tortured much, they only used his face as an ashtray, putting them out on his mouth, cheeks, nose and eyelids....but the youngest.....

the youngest was another story, a horror story, Abu Der'a's sledgehammer has made good memories out of his fingernails, and had transformed his knee-joints "Soaps, in Arabic" into actual soaps. His back was filled with light drill marks here and there....and whatever was left of him was filled with all sorts of mischief. He was immediately transported to Adhamiya's major hospital, al-Numan.

By noon, Omar's modest household was filled with all sorts of people - family relatives, friends and other people....soon, a group of men who Omar described as "al-Mujahideen" came smiling and tender, Omar's voice beamed with pride as he talked of the way one of them, upon wrapping up their diplomatic mission, swore to Omar that they'd make them pay back by 'hijacking a bus of Shiites.'

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"But, but, is that right?" I said to Omar in a low voice that came from the depths of some unrealistic pool that felt like an obligation, a laughable imitation of the corny, fake stuff they put on television.

"You're right, sure sure...I even told them so..." Omar's voice was just as dead.

NOTE: This story is happy, because nobody is killed - that's how far can a story be considered 'happy' in Iraq.

Battle Of Adhamiya, Live as LIVE can be

(PRELUDE)
I have read so many contradictory and strange reports on the events that summarized the Battle of Adhamiya, between the good people of Adhamiya and the notorious Interior ministry forces, bascially, everybody down there really knows what's going on, so here's how I, until very recently a resident of this glorious area, interpret what happened in the past tragic couple of days.
First off, this isn't the first time that such a thing had happened in Adhamiya, the very same thing, on a smaller scale, was tried last month, and has been happening everyday in short bursts, read my post (The Day I Tried To Go Home), two posts before this one.

On the night of Mahmood Al-Hashimi's death (THURSDAY, Apr 13), clashes in Adhamiya were ferocious, it is said that the usual young dudes were returned home and only the tough guys, the ones with the BKCs and RPGs, were in the zone.
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Monday, April 17 2006
TIME : 2 am

I was at my room, pretending to read, except I just bought myself an amplifier for my electric and was trying to scare the bejesus out of my grandparents sleeping below, Aerosmith was banging hard on my setlist so when the fas hit the ras (Iraqi antonym for fit hit the shan) I didn't know.
Hell was loose outside, all sorts of variations on the word Boom could be heard from all sorts of directions, I shrugged, in our side of the Earth, rat-a-tats at night were the oh-so-mundane lullaby of the bedtime story, they usually subsided after 10 or 15 minutes, probably some wise-asses Shiite back-in-blacks trying to take over the nearest mosque they could get at in the Sunni monster of Adhamiya, or like last time when a dude of the locally set-up watch teams accidentally mistook an American hummer for Interior forces and lashed out, intiating an accidental firefight that lasted for 30 minutes, only this time, it didn't break down.

As time went on, things only got worse and worse, the explosions became less monotonus and more scary, and for the first time in many moons, me, the careless, bohemian 21-year-old guitarist started to feel the pangs of fear, this was different, these goddamn Interior forces, why just couldn't they let us be...

I washed myself at 4 am and tried to pray, from far off, explosions stopped for a minute, triumpahnt cries of 'Allah Akbaar' were heard before the explosions barked back in retort. The event gave me a very uneasy feeling, what WAS going on out there?

I went to sleep.
I woke up at 6:30 am, half an hour before our Kia arrives to take me to college, Abu Esmail was up, as usual, but what was unusual was that the explosions outside did not die down.

This was bad, the room was hot, and I woke up in a pool of sweat, it was one of the few times when I felt an unbearable force of gravity pushing me to the ground and I felt that if only I could just get out of my clothes, my body, and just be free of all this terrible mess, of this inexplicable country, if God could only fleetingly transform me into an unimportant bird that could fly high in the sky singing songs about summer and meadows, as if in some false sugarcandy musical.
Oh my god, Oh my god.
I called the Line Driver, who said that he ain't coming and that All Adhamiya is sealed off.
Sure, I said, how can u come?
I cursed under my breath, took off my half-worn college clothes and slept semi-naked, Abu Esmail was still up.

***

I woke up at 2:30 pm, I heard nothing and I grudglingly I did some few chores before going outside to sniff out some news, Habeeb, my favorite naive neighbor told me that yesterday only five of our guys were killed, two of which were killed by 'friendly fire' or what he cheekily called 'own goal', of the Interior forces, he couldn't say, there were dozens dead ....

Those sons of bitches, they had it coming...
The people of Adhamiya are known for a strong anti-occupation stance, Adhamiya was named because of the Abu Haneefa mosque, otherwise known as Al-Imam Al-Adham (The Greatest Imam) hence the Adham in Adhamiya, the mosque ranks in importance as that of its Shiite counterpart in Kadhimiya, Imam Mosa Al Kadhum's. for these reasons, it is sometimes identified as the leading Sunni territory in Baghdad, in as much as Sadr city is THE shiite region.
Sectarian Badr/Interior forces have been responsible for the deaths of many good men of the area, such as the aforementioned Haji Amir which I talked about...
According to Iraqirabita.org (Arabic), which is so far the same site which told the events as we saw them on ground, about 2 am yesterday, a force of the Interior ministry backed up by militias in civil uniform demanded to enter the area for search operations, since any search operation was prohibited after curfew (11 pm), and the force was not backed up by any joint American coalition forces as instructed by the Interior/Defense ministry directives, the local watchteams refused their entry, clashes erupted soon afterwards... preliminary counts indicate that six vehicles of the Interior commandos were destroyed with its crew and that bodies filled up the aptly-named Omar street.

By the end of the day, I called my Shiite college friend, who told me that life outside was pretty normal and that everyone, except those whose homes are in Adhamiya, have attended seminars. His talk seemed very alien to me at the moment, as if speaking from another planet, I found normalcy irrelevant, he tried to talk me up about the graduation party but I almost wanted to slam the phone in his face, where the fuck are we and where are you? it was weird because normally I didn't give a damn.

Pretty soon, the day ended and the night came, I stayed up waiting, 2 am, 3 am, 4am
nothing....
oh well, I slept it and called it a day.

DAY 2

I woke up at 6:22 am, precisely so because the Alarm clock was mad and furious at me, I woke it up angrily hoping for all that noise to stop, I shut off the alarm,
it didn't stop.

the noise were outside, this time 3 times stronger than yesterday, I didn't even bother to call my line driver. the gunshots and explosions were literally over the top of our heads, calls from anxious relatives came rattling and local people with AK-47s were running in the streets, the mosque gave away a customary Muslim war chant : Allah Akabar , Allah Akabar , La Ilah Ila Allah....
some reports said that gunmen banged on doors and demanded young men to defend the area, nothing of the sort happened in our part of the town. Habeeb and his brother stood outside at the rooftop with their guns ready, much as we did in the days following the Feb.22 Samarra mosque catastrophe. I wished I could participate, but my parents have got rid of all the guns.

My love for my country, incongruent but always there, have focused now on my love for the people of my area, this was one of the dangers of sectarian get-togethers, my grandma, TA'IFFIYA, cursed Shiites on her every passing-by that day, and I don't blame her considering the trauma we've been suffering her for her emotion, wrong and politically incorrect as it may be.
As for the interference of the army in containig the crisis, a relative called and said that the National Guard people were just 'standing there shooting up in the air' while the fight rang on elsewhere.
American forces also joined in, siding up with the Interior forces, I really don't know about this one, I'll ask my pals later today.

Cursing, I slept again at 10 am, woke up at 3 and found that the noise has subsided thankfully, I hurried to Habeeb, we sat together talking girls for a while before his uncle came, telling us of the Interior forces commando who was lain dead at the head of our street for 3 hours...

The fight, as always, took place in the approprietly titled Omar street, as well as the Ras Al Hawash areas nearing the police center.

Fights were rampant around Baghdad college perimeter as well.

That afternoon, My grandparents told me that fliers were thrown in which 'Shiites' threatened to kill or arrest all the youths of Adhamiya, and said that the place have become unsafe for me and they told me that I'd better do the moving out which I've been planning for several months now today.

I quickly hurled up a few items of mine into a taxi and hauled ass, this was 5 pm.
the area was mostly empty, in Kamm street, Iraqi army forces set up checkpoints and began inspecting cars, we left there for my other grandma's house in an area that shall remain unknown.

Today, I called my grandma TA'IFFIYA to see how she was doing, she said things were fine and people at Abu Haneefa mosque gathered : National Guard officials, Msulim Scholars and Interior forces representatives settled to solve the issue, but said that there were rumors of things loose still, I told her I wanted to come back and pick up a few things and she approved this but instructed me to be careful.

I took up a taxi again and as soon as we reached the place I felt a sense of wondrous, wondrous pride of the people of my area, goddamit, we are strong, word on the street that something as big as 400 Interior forces members were killed.

Look at me, all sectarian and igrnoant in this post, but what can u do when hell's split asunder, u run for people who look like you, I'm sorry to say this, but the chances of any average Iraqi Joe considering things in non-sectarian terms, be it the people he meets or the subliminals given off by the color of his underwear, are as much as the appearnce of the proverbial Red Flying Elephant.


All this while the assholes in the g-zone play merry-go-round round the Prime Minister chair.
















Wedesnday, April 19 2006

The Day I Tried To Go Home...

[TRUE STORY]
Thursday, March 23 2006

[SCENE1 :
We are on the outskirts of Adhamiya, THE Sunni territory in Baghdad, largely Shiite National Guard have installed deployments on its outskirts, a convoy of three police cars, filled with members of the notorious Interior ministry forces, arrive and is stopped by the National Guard].

INTERIOR POLICE CAPT : I demand to enter the area
NATIONAL GUARD : You do not have jurisdiction here.
INTERIOR POLICE CAPT: You do not tell me what I have and do not have, we have business to do and we will do it whether you like it or not.
NATIONAL GUARD CAPT: We have an agreement with these guys, we do not enter and they do not hit us, You will not enter.
INTERIOR POLICE CAPT. : Them? We shall enter the place and kill them to the last Jihadist, Fuck them, and their mothers and daughters, we will go in there and tear up their asses, and rape down their mothers and sisters in every house.

[INTERIOR POLICE CAPT. shoots three bullets near NATIONAL GUARD CAPT's feet]

NATIONAL GUARD CAPT. : You did this...okay, then please step right ahead, but I should warn you, they are monsters.

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[INTERIOR CAPT. rides up his car and the three vehicles progress onward, NATIONAL GUARD CAPT. waits for a bit and then goes to MUJHADEEN, telling them of what happened]

MUJAHEDIEEN : Take your troops and leave the area.

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[EARLIER THAT DAY]
a Kia filled with sleep-deprived college students is lazily trotting in a quarter of Adhamiya notorious for its high insurgency factor, in the Kia, KONFUSED KID sits near the driver's seat, pretending to read for yet another exam, a pose he's been doing these whole two weeks, the narrow steets are filled with masked men holding checkpoints]

KONFUSED KID : Something's not right.
KIA DRIVER, a young dude the same age as KONFUSED: Them are just leftovers from yesterday's nightwatch.
KONFUSED KID: True, but why are they all masked?
KIA DRIVER (ponders) : Yesterday 13 returning visitors from Karabala were killed in Amriya....probably it connects....
On the way to college, the Kia drives by, TANTAL, a guy in the same department as Kid's, but has a different ride - the two exchange waves.
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SCENE : College, 2pm apx.
(TANTAL's phone rings, it's his mother)

TANTAL's MOM : Hello Sweety Tantal, listen, do not, at ALL costs, attempt to return back home today, it's very dangerous right now and bullets are flying everwhichways, explosions are on a minute basis, please, please, return to your aunt's house in Palestine Street. is that okay?TANTAL : Okay.
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nearby, KID is met by two people in his line : a guy, JIDIDA and a girl, JUBBA.
JIDIDA : Hey Kid, line's not coming, says he's got car trouble or something...KID : Oh...(looks at JUBBA, who confirms), I guess we'd all have to take a taxi then...
the three pick up their stuff and head back home to Adhamiya.while on taxi, JUBBA's mom calls - tells her daughter not to come back to Adhamiya cuz it's a slaughterhouse right now, the girl has no place to go and tells the mother she's with two guys from her line, Mother grudgingly accepts the fact but tells JUBBA to be careful, and to most importantly stay out of the main roads. JIDIDA makes phone calls for most of the trip, KID - always broke and never caring, is unpetrubed - he sits near the driver and hums to the radio.
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SCENE :The roads today were conspicously straightforward, we now are overlooking THE BRIDGE leading to Adhamiya, police forces have completely blocked out the entrance and prevented even people from going across.The other side of the bridge looks promising - smoke rising from several different places, gunshots, minor explosions here and there...

KID : Sounds like Fun day.
The three step out of the taxi.
JIDIDA (to passerby) : Hey, how can we get in there? is Kadhum route open?
PASSERBY : Closed, so is Kassra's, everything is blocked out nowadays.
JIDIDA makes several phone calls at once, JUBBA is infected by his workmanship and does so too.
JIDIDA is flustered, he sits on the pavement.
KID takes a picture of JIDIDA, shows it to JUBBA.
Although JIDIDA seems to lead the scene right now with his businessman like-nervousness and phone calls and KID has kept to himself most of the day,
JUBBA always dicusses things with KID. KID wonders why...

KID : you have no place else to stay?
JUBBA : no. My uncle's in Jihad Quarter, and things are worse there.
KID : Then I guess we'd have to walk you home
JUBBA : You don't really have to
KID : What can we do anyway, all roads are blocked.

After a while, people are finally allowed to cross the bridge at their own risk, the three decide to take their chances, JUBBA's house is at the district just left of the bridge, once the boys get to drop JUBBA home they can be move more freely.as they move near the guards, JIDIDA asks :

JIDIDA : Can we get through?
GUARD is apparently slightly annoyed : Sure, at your own risk.
ANOTHER GUARD, more hippety-hop : Where you wanna go?
JIDIDA : Sifeena(Both guards exchange mocking looks)
ANOTHER GUARD : You'd need a boat, my friend.
KID : What's going on, anyway?
ANOTHER GUARD (with a smile) : Our guys versus yours, you know

The guards were friendly enough, as the three are halfway the bridge, the rucus, which have been quiet for a while, suddenly cracks big to life again - in Technicolor, multiple shots are fired and car sirens bellow somewhere close to where they are heading right now...the three make jokes about death, the atmosphere is tense joking, especially for JIDIDA, who's about to run.as they close on the area, the place is absoultely devoid of any human being at first - a ghost town, an ambulance car whizzes by quickly amidst the backdrop of gunshots. At any minute, a car full of gunmen could pass by and shoot the three stone cold.The street is lined up with shells.
JUBBA : As soon as we near the area, we can go into my friend's house, hers is the first in the sidestreet.
JIDIDA : What are we ever going to do? My father says on the phone the biggest problem is between Sifeena and our houses.
JUBBA : We can stay there until things quiet down, or even our house.JIDIDA is uncomfortable with the idea of hassling girls ; KID senses this and reminds him
KID : Hey dude, you forgot that we got friends here? both JESUS and MAHDI have houses here.
JIDIDA is relieved, JUBBA is a little disappointed.
Once the three enter the actual sidestreets of the area, signs of life begin to show up in volumes, all the usual kids are out on the street, some of them obliviously out of sync exchanging porn pictures on Bluetooth. they decide on continuting the trip to JUBBA's house, a little deeper inside the area.
The three are met with glances, JUBBA is a girl of the area and the two strangers with her merit some explanation.
JUBBA finally gets home, she invites them for a sip of water as a thank-you, KID wanted to give in but he was interrupted by JIDIDA's nervous no-thank-you before he could open mouth.
the two go to JESUS's house, a guy with them in the Kia but didn't go to college that day. JESUS is not christian, they just like to call him that

The street of JESUS is filled with masked men holding AK-47s.
a man talks to one of the masked men
MAN : Yo Mohammed, take off the masks, Americans are patrolling Jirdaagh street...
MASKED MAN doesn't answer, three other masked men arrive, a car finally picks them up all and heads off somewhereJIDIDA almost pisses his pants at the sight.
JIDIDA : Who are these guys?
KID : Probably Mujahideen of the area
JIDIDA : Goddamn.
The two ring up JESUS's house, after 10 tense minutes, JESUS appears, apparently just awoken up.
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SCENE :Jesus's House, Hour later.
Food is on the table, Jesus does the role of hospitable host very well, urging the two to stay the night here until things quiet down. JIDIDA is strongly opposing the idea, talking about what if Americans patrol the area at night and takes us as detainees and what of these crazy-ass Mujahedeen out there? He continues making phone calls throughout, KID also calls his grandmother, TA'IFFIYA, who tells him to stay put.KID is still unconcerned, JESUS is almost dying of insistence to make the two stay, and JIDIDA is dying to get home.
KID : So what if we got searched, plus, you are Shiite, we are the Sunni folk, we gotta be afraid, not you, What if we can't go home, man? Plus, I think you wanna go home because of the rumorsJIDIDA : about waht?KID : About Jesus's sexualityJESUS looks at JIDIDA sidelong glance, the three burst out laughing.
KID and JESUS try to strip JIDIDA while he is talking to his pop on the phone.
in the end, JIDIDA's brother rendez-vous with JIDIDA at the tip of the bridge, just where the taxi guy dropped them, as the two walk out, much to the opposition of JESUS and his pop, BIG JESUS.
Both men are very tired and worn out, hair in disarray, looking like shit and smelling like piss.
a taxi man comes out of nowhere, and asks them : Why is the road closed?The two look at each other, nobody bothers to answer.
JIDIDA's brother awaits them in a 4x4 as promised.
Finally, KID is dropped off at his house at 5:30 PM.
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FINAL SCORE
2 HOMEBOYS KILLED, 16 POLICE OFFICERS DEAD.
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And so here I am, back home after one of the most troublesome days I've yet met - made more intense by JIDIDA's incessant fears and nagging.Today I was utterly and truly convinced of the helplessness of the political game, I lost faith again in keeping interest, true, I love my coutnry and I wish the best for it, and I may have been more optimistic in the past - much to the admiration of those stupid clueless Americans who just want someone to assert their legality of the war - FUCK THE EXCUSE, the country is falling apart, people, it takes strong strong wills to have more faith in this country, look everywhere on the blogosphere, hope is quickly dying...I just wanna swear my ass off at this horrible mess we've deteroriated into, it is now impossible, I tell you, impossible not to think of sectarian terms, as people are being divided into Sunni and Shiite territories, things do not look very promising. Six months earlier, I didn't even know what the word 'sectarian' meant in English, after a death of a close family friend by Badr, I became aware of the danger, but I shrugged it off as something that cannot ferment a long-standing unity, but today, it is amazing how little evil work can change a belief so quickly - these days, every person I meet, there's a little voice inside me that wants to know if he's Sunni or Shiite, I've become hatefully familiar with all the discrmiminations between Sunni and Shiite and how to tell who's who (names, areas, clothings, rings, vocal intonations)...All out Brother-against-brother Civil War? why the hell not....
The only place I feel free of these constraints is in college, most of my friends there are Shiite from southern governorates, and some of them are actually UIA-affiliated, they are also the nicest people - we spend our days talking girls and laughing head-over-heels, but when you get back to your repsective Sunni/Shiite territory, things are a lot different.
Well well, what to do, I guess I'll turn up Metallica's 'Mercyful Fate' and revel in swearing it all away as a last resort of an insecure teenage dude who's weak with words..
[hip-hop backup beat]
F**k You
F**k Me
F**k Sunni
F**k Shiite
F**k Iraq
F**k USA
F**k Allys
F**k
F**k
Piss
C()t
D((k
Stupid Mothafa'in' Politicans

oh, btw, if anyone cares to know, I no longer am troubled by Allys, she took a hike with her rich ugly-as-mutt ex-boyfriend again, I still love her, but now seeds of a mercyful hate have finally arisen - I think I'll get past this soon enough.

"What's so civil about war anyway?" - Axl Rose

Men In Black...with torn slippers...

For those of u still wanting to continue on the cartoon comments debate, i've posted there, so read. now...

Men In Black....wish Will Smith was here now.

Ahhh...where to start...
Not to look like everyone else, with the before/after askariya mosques, so here goes, i won't talk shit about what happened, so I assume u know the specifics, if not, go read pretty much everybody else, god I'm so sick :

DAY1
It was the normal kinda college day, I was walking with my friend Dobi, who is a shiite from Karbala, when suddenly another shiite from Najaf, Hamchi, comes all concernced, saying'They hit the Hadi shrine in Samaraa'
Depsite his Karbala descent, Hobi is practically an atheist, he shrugs and we walk on, this is also the first time I ever hear of the Hadi shrine...in Samarra? erm...excusez moi, but ce n'est pas sunni territory? what r u saying? Hamchi is deeply into religion and is part of the UIA-related organization in our college, much unlike the Badr horrific acts, Hamchi is probably one of the nicest guys I ever met....he walked away in hurried strides.

Anyway, things continued normally for the time being, I laughed so hard that day my belly still hurts. what a stupid fool.
Until it was time to leave college...
Considering that we live in the overly Sunni district Adhamiya, several of my friends decided to stay in college today, not risking going back, I chose to go back nevertheless, better today while I can...
I rode off in several mass transit lines, all the time hammered by calls from concerned parents and relatives, not all of them neccessarily in this country. My father was the worst, he looked deeply distressed as if cursing the day he let me stay in Iraq, his voice held a tone of introvert emotion....he asked me when will exams end and when could I come to Jordan...I calmed him down in a nonchalant voice, loving his concern for me but unable to react accordingly inside a suffocating Kia.
Things were quite normal outside, except for an extra checkpoint at Sunni Bayaa, but Mansoor, Bab El Ma'dham et all did not show me anything of the horrible confusion my parents/relatives were talking about. When I reached Adhamiya, the roads were blocked in a fashion similar to that of Ashoora's celebration day roadblocks, but everything was calm and orderly, the soldiers were not demeaning or threatening in any way, as a matter of fact, they were instructing people how to find differnet routes back home. I had to walk home, I picked up my dinner on the way back home. It was placid. thankfully...You only needed to watch the TV to see the horrible news unfolding from every direction, countless mosques burned and Imams killed, people dead on the streets...
the day progressed less than tolerably...
Past midnight, there were voices outside and sounds of footsteps, mistaking it for the long-sought thieves who steal the power wires of the local generators every other five days or so, I hurried to the window, only to find several plainclothes men with rifles and Klashinkov roaming the area, After a hazy confusion, I understood, those were neighbors out in the street to warn and defend the area should any Badr militia try to go through here.
I didn't go outside anyplace today, I feel gutted and tired the same way I got out of bed. My hair is getting long too.
So far, nothing has really happened in our area, wait a minute...just now....I can hear intense gunshots to the south, there seems to be two sides, one near me, the other distant, as if replying...the sounds have subsided after a full minute.
phone call....a family friend, asking me if everything's okay....i okayed him, feeling the general tension and very much not liking it.
well, that's pretty much all that's going on. General tension awaiting for things to resolve, gunshots every now and then, and horrible news on TV and the Internet, 111 dead!So far, nothing has happened in our area, but everybody's on their toes.

DAY 2

Today was a Friday, but guessing by the curfew I expected little to no sermons today, official hoopla was to 'deny preachers the right to inflame things up and to prevent gatherigs' I don't dig the government, but that was cool. I stayed home, supposedly reading for an indefinite exam, but actually watching tragedy after tragedy on TV. 47 bodies were found in Nahrawan, laying side by side like their babies. big bearded dirty blood-soaked babies.The curfew was supposed to end till 4, but it got extended till next day.
Events have culminated in the emergence of the 'men in black with torn slippers driving pickups', who are purpotedly Mahdi's army, but Moqtada Sadr denied their allegiance, the Men in Black have took numerous mosques around the capital, anyway, district-wise, these dudes tried to enter our district through Al-Noman's hospital, and were warded off, they also tried to take over the two nearby mosques, Sideeq and Assaaf, but about 30 something neighbors received them in their underwear with a heavy dose of AK-47 spray bulleting...I got a call in the middle of the night, It was Habeeb, a neighbor friend.

'Hey kiddo'

'Hey Habeeb, something happened?'

'Naw, just bored, standing outside here with my Noss Akhmaas [AK-47], wondered if you could come and join us?'

I never fired anything in my life, nor do I intend to

'I've got nothing but my dick in my hands...plus, I gotta read, ward off the bogeymen for me'

'Thought so'

'Can't believe u carrying it, shoot a bullet for me'

'Shut the fuck up'
I looked outside to take a peek, basically, all the assorted kids of the neighborhood, after The nighttime prayer, the lights are intentionely turned low, and the warzone officialy assimilates its shape. Five roof snipers, about 10 people on the streets, all the while smoking and laughing, probably watching porn on mobile phones too... Where are we headed? I don't know, but I'm hoping Habeeb stays with two legs this evening.

To quote the old Iraqi moral, I pissed and went to bed.

DAY 3
I couldn't stand staying in home much longer, things were realtively calmer today on TV. everyone with a turban agreed on national unity, but there was an explosion in a Karbala market...what the hell. My hair was very long, I went to Habeeb, who insisted that we go to the nearby mosque to pray before we head to the barbershop.The small mosque was crowded at the low-traffic prayer of Noon, amazing! but one needs little to wonder, often in times of struggle people turn to religion.
We headed out to the barbershop, the streets were ghastly and serene, by the time we reached the shop, it was closed, 75% of the market was closed, save for a few shops whose owners live nearby.
I returned, we spent the daytime on the street, the street was narrowed down with palm tree logs that would force any car to slow down...we sat on the log and traded war stories...
'15 Badr people have infilitrated Adhamiya''People in red Opel stopped and started firing yesterday, that's the mess u heard late at night'etc etc...
So far, the only people happy with the situation are the little kids, facing empty streets, they set up small soccer fields and kicked the living out of each other, they were all happy like chipmunks.
I looked at their happiness and felt the pristine carelessness of it, savoring the moment and wishing I could live forever as a kid who don't give a shit. It's a shame, It's a real shame what's going on, but I think things can be contained after all, as long as we keep the faith, in ourselves.
Curfew's been extended too, so no college tomorrow, Yay...on second note...Yay?

Hey....Right now, Sadr dudes and Sunni dudes are gathering in Abu Haneefa, working out a unified statement. hope it's not the usual condemnation gibberish.

Yesterday, I was sick and afraid, but today things have got quieter and I got thinking, although people have died, and mosques were torn, the situation has been boiling up for two years and it had to come to a point like this..despite the many extremists and stupid folks in this coutnry, the majority, Sunni and Shiite, know what's good for them and they won't shut up. Mahdi's army or not, these people will be vanquished....Sunni and Shiite people have come together and rebuilt Qibaa mosque and prayed noon together, always be optimistic, not stupidly so, but keep the faith in yourself and your people. Some media are scaring the shit out of me, but I will ignore them.

I can't wait for these days to finish, and they will finish, because afterwards Sunni/Shiite will be closer...

Kid