IRAQ: In one 'Black Night,' another Baghdad neighborhood is walled in

[NNN0LHI]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/07/iraq-in-one-bla.html



By Usama Redha in Baghdad

The vehicles moved through the cratered roads and alleys, looking for a way to leave the neighborhood.

My microbus driver zig-zagged aimlessly, changing course or going straight as other drivers made hand gestures to indicate that the road ahead was closed or open.

After a while we were all moving like a convoy, a convoy of microbuses searching for a way out of the neighborhood.

It was the day after the wall went up. The wall consists of gloomy concrete chunks, 12 feet high, set side by side to enclose my neighborhood.

Seven miles of it went up overnight. We call it "the Black Night."

[NNN0LHI]

1. Imagine living like that once

[Jim__]

2. Bringing peace and democracy to Iraq!

If it weren't so tragic, it would be funny.