Situation in Baghdad

[Bad Thoughts]

Over at the group history blog Cliopatria (of which I am a member), there is a wonderful post from historian Hala Fattah, who just got back from Iraq. He describes the situation in Baghdad and how ordinary people cope with the violence. Please take the time to read it here. Here is an portion of the post:

Compounded to this sense of unreality was the geographic scale of Baghdad, and the vast problems affecting the transport of state bureaucrats and employees to their daily work. Baghdad is a very large city, and its transport infrastructure is at death’s door. Although many of the traffic lights were working this time, and policemen were everywhere directing traffic, the amount of cars imported over the past year only added to the decrepit vehicles still chugging along the roads and belching black smoke; predictably, they caused massive traffic jams. Being confined to a car on a heavily packed road in the city is not conducive to the usual daydreaming; in Baghdad, where suicide bombers have been known to plow into National Guards’ headquarters on crowded streets, this can be an enervating experience. But my Baghdad-based friends claim that cabs are the most reliable form of transport in Baghdad because, while your misfortune may have you passing by when an explosion has ripped through a police post, suicide bombers would not target a cab deliberately. This is the logic of Baghdad natives who have lived, and are still living, through very violent times, and I am forced to respect it.

[Bad Thoughts]

1. kick

Please read. It's important.

[j_carters_neighbor]

2. Those people are tough

Hopefully after Kerry wins we will be able to apologize to them, and maybe learn a lesson from them.

[Bad Thoughts]

3. It will take more than elections to repair the country n/t