Real People Live and Die in Iraq

In the midst of our all strategizing about what the hell to do in Iraq, and reading article after article telling us about the 15 people killed in this bombing or the 40 people killed in that bombing day after day, it's easy to forget that real people live in Iraq, and that whatever happens they-not us-will be the ones to suffer the consequences. In that vein I share this post with you from the well-known blog "Iraq the Model", straight from the mouth of someone who wakes up in Iraq every morning. An excerpt:

We woke up this morning to the sounds of many explosions in Baghdad and since we are familiar with those sounds we recognized that these were no doubt mortar shelling but not like the usual which is one or two rounds fired by some terrorists in a hit and run manner; this time fire was exchanged between two or more groups and lasted for more than an hour.

I wasn't home this morning but I was close enough to home to know that the relatively unusual intense bombardment was close to my neighborhood. It still felt 'normal' until my cell phone rang, I picked up and it was my father.

Yes dad?
Are you coming home soon Mohammed?
Yes, why?
I just want to tell you not to panic when you see the crowd and police vehicles in our alley…
What's wrong? What happened?
Don't worry (said the old seasoned former soldier) it's just a mortar round; it hit the home of one of our neighbors, some 60 meters from ours.
Anyone hurt?
No, no one was hurt….

Go read the rest of it. It's worth it.