Grandmother Leaving Iraq This Weekend

[Ravenseye]

We're finally getting her out. She's going by car with some friends to Amman. There are flights from the airport, but the road to the airport is pretty much a running gunfight, so it's by car, hoping to avoid roadside bombs.

Once there she's into a hotel until we can get her a visa to somewhere with family.

She's lived through the Iran Iraq war, the first Gulf War, the sanctions...and never wanted to leave. It was home. Her friends were their, her stuff was there. The anti-aircraft fire is pretty, it's like fireworks.

Now she can't wait to get out. It's that bad there now folks. The worst it's ever been.

We haven't been able to talk to her for days now so hopefully everythign is proceeding fine. The cell phone network there that we finally got her on is basically turned off so insurgents can't use it to communicate attacks for the upcoming election.

If someone asks me for a 'source' on this post I'll flip, I swear to god. My Grandfather already died because of all this bullshit, I just want my grandmother out of there, now.

[underpants]

1. Good news

Yaay!

[Ravenseye]

7. I know

I'll be jumping up and down once I hear from her in Amman where the phones work.

[miss_kitty]

2. I'll keep a good thought for her

and the rest of your family. And for all the others as well.

[Ravenseye]

6. Thanks

Don't forget the people who can't afford to leave or get visas to escape. Or the people who love their country and just want it to be a nice place again.

[miss_kitty]

11. That's who I meant by 'all the others'

What has happened in Iraq and her people at the hands of the US over the last decade plus is beyond travesty. There were other ways to deal with any perceived problems that did not involve the mass slaughter of civilians, including the very old and the very young and now the destruction of the infrastructure. I know I'm in the minority in this country with my humble opinion, but all the shit this country has done to Iraq sucks huge.

I am sorry for the pain I cannot even imagine the Iraqi people have suffered.

[Jesus H. Christ]

3. May I ask what happened to your Grandfather?

nt

[Ravenseye]

4. Well Jesus....

...he died.

Long story short, he got triaged because of his old age and didn't get antibiotics because they were in short supply. So his cold grew into Pneumonia and they admitted him. Then again because of the sanctions they were low on saline and trained medical doctors, so they gave him a sugar water drip instead of the saline, and he had diabtetes. So he died. Based on how other men in our family had aged he still had easily 15-20 years in him. No more.

I've only cried twice in my life. Once when my first child was born, and once when my grandfather died.

Scratch that. Three times. I cried when I saw Yoda fight with a lightsaber in Star Wars Attack of the Clones.

See I make jokes. Thats how I deal.

[Jesus H. Christ]

9. Myself, I cried when they made Justin Timberlake a jedi.

But I take it your grandfather was a bystander to combat?

[Ravenseye]

12. Correct

He wasn't killed by a bullet or anything that directly.

Though a tomahawk missle flew down their street back in the first war and broke and blew out all the glass windows.

One of my cousins was shot though. She's ok, but has a scar on her face.

Also about a couple months ago a dud U.S. muntion dropped in my great aunt's backyard. If it had gone off it'd have killed about 10-20 of my extended family.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

5. Best of luck to her and your family

That must be so horrifying, having to abandon everything you know and a place that's part of your soul.

[Ravenseye]

8. Thank you, and yes it is.

It's scary for her to leave. She never left before because of all that. WEll she'd leave for visits, but they had basicallymoved back in the early 80s permanently.

You know things have to be bad for her to be EAGER to leave.

[auntAgonist]

10. best of luck to your family and your Grandmother!

May she have a safe journey and feel the love and comfort in being surrounded by those who care for her. My condolences on the loss of your Grandfather. May he rest in peace.

[WritersBlock]

13. Sending strong hopes for her safe journey

And thoughts for those who cannot leave. I am so sorry this is happening to them.

[u4ic]

14. Best wishes to her

and I hope she's quickly reunited with the rest of her family. She's one brave lady.