Protected democracy in Baghdad
I spent two terrible days in the middle of the green zone, which is supposedly the only safe area of the country. But even though there was a safe haven an explosion ocurred 50 meters from the U.S. embassy, which is huge and will have the dimensions of the Pentagon and it will have schools and McDonalds, Pizza Huts, cinemas and sports clubs and churches and banks, such as Americans need in an American city in the middle of Baghdad. The explosion killed an American truck driver who was returning to United States after two years of work there. And the same day that we arrived, 75 journalists from the whole world an American was found dead at the entrance to the green zone, beheaded with his hands tied behind his back . We spent two days in the middle of a bunker surrounded by American soldiers and Peruvians mercenaries, Peruvians are 2000 men, working as paramilitaries, who are responsible for the security of the area. Recruited in Lima and Bogota, and San Salvador and are being taken to be cannon fodder there, do not know a word of English and live in dusty barracks in Baghdad on the day off they go to play soccer in the U.S. embassy the only fun they have. We met journalists and translators, they told us about a ghost town deserted and where people who are lucky to have that work run from home to work and from work to home, without looking anywhere without talking to anyone. We spoke with relatives of the 295 journalists killed in the course of 6 years. Almost all say, "we miss Saddam, he was a dictator, but he knew the country and the internal relations and under his administration could we live. What is happening today is the slow death. The Americans have no idea of the Pandora's box they have opened. " We were invited to eat at a restaurant on the banks of the Tigris River and the dinner was fish from the river, the translators told us, "if they knew the number of deaths we've seen down the river you should not have the stomach of eating fish out of there." My colleague the Valencian television journalist and writer Lola Banon, member of the Platform for Artists against Gender Violence and I refused to go, we did not want to enjoy the safety of food for a hundred armed soldiers guarded when the Iraqis are not dare to set foot in any of those restaurants. The conference was an attempt to normalization, we met the families of journalists killed, 295 in 6 years. And to show the world that you can now go to Iraq. But it showed us that it will take years to rebuild the civil society When we left the hotel Al Razeed, a colossal 14-story, guarded by dozens of soldiers patrolling and in front of parliament, a Peruvian soldier approached me and said, "I'm Alan, can I call to your house and send to you some email and tell the story of what is really happening here?" Just now he called for the first time, I will try to give him a little voice in this war so full of lies and fabricated reports by the ministries of lies and disinformation agents, the ones selling to us the doctored pictures of the statue Saddam on the ground and reports showing with one hundred percent truth that weapons of mass destruction were there for grabs. Ana -- http://anavaldes.wordpress.com http://passagenwerk.wordpress.com http://caravia.stumbleupon.com http://www.crusading.se Gondolgatan 2 l tr 12832 Skarpnäck Sweden tel +468-943288 mobil 4670-3213370 "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return. — Leonardo da Vinci _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
