New from Riverbend

[Richard D]

Thank You for the Music...

When I first heard about the abduction of Christian Science Monitor journalist Jill Carroll a week ago, I remember feeling regret. It was the same heavy feeling I get every time I hear of another journalist killed or abducted. The same heavy feeling that settles upon most Iraqis, I imagine, when they hear of acquaintances suffering under the current situation.

I read the news as a subtitle on tv. We haven't had an internet connection for several days so I couldn't really read about the details. All I knew was that a journalist had been abducted and that her Iraqi interpreter had been killed. He was shot in cold blood in Al Adil district earlier this month, when they took Jill Carroll... Theysay he didn't die immediately. It is said he lived long enough to talk to police and then he died.

I found out very recently that the interpreter killed was a good friend- Alan, of Alan's Melody, and I've spent the last two days crying.

Everyone knew him as simply 'Alan', or "Elin" as it is pronounced in Iraqi Arabic. Prior to the war, he owned a music shop in the best area in Baghdad, A'arasat. He sold some Arabic music and instrumental music, but he had his regular customers - those westernized Iraqis who craved foreign music. For those of us who listened to rock, adult alternative, jazz, etc. he had very few rivals.

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[Roland99]

1. .

:(

[yodermon]

2. kick for riverbend n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Well, I'm sure that Alan is grateful to America for bringing

democracy to his store.

:(

[JohnyCanuck]

4. That is so sad.

And for each story like this, there'll probably be many more just as heart rending that we will never hear about.

He was a Christian from Basrah and he had a lovely wife who adored him- F. We would tease him about how once he was married and had a family, he'd lose interest in music. It didn't happen. Conversations with Alan continued to revolve around Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, but they began to include F. his wife, M. his daughter and his little boy. My heart aches for his family- his wife and children...

[Cults4Bush]

5. K&R'd. n/t

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Kick n/t

[OneBlueSky]

7. kicked and recommended (need one more for Riverbend) . . . n/t

.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. It's all so horrible

Is this the Christian quakers who were taken recently?