It seems to me that things are getting worse. This week I was at the scene of a bombing, reporting a news story about three explosions in Adhamiya. They were horrible explosions, all at the same time in a very crowded Shia neighborhood. I remember the smell of the blood, the flies all around and the injured people, the broken glass and the destruction. ------------------------------ I do not think I am more cautious or worried than most people. In Adhamiya I was the only woman on the street while the police were clearing away the remains of the explosion, the glass, blood, clothes and the pieces of meat left over from restaurants. But it seems to be that things are getting worse, and I am now being more careful to avoid crowded places and bazaars. ---------------------------- In The New York Times's office I am the one who sits next to the whiteboard where we record explosions, shootings and other deaths in Iraq. Since two days before Barack Obama's victory I started to notice the board filling up again. There are many explosions. Many of them are small, but some days we have to start a new column. It was not like this even two weeks ago. But my mother lives in a safe, Shiite neighborhood, and always sticks to her house. The reason she thinks the situation is becoming worse is because of what she hears speaking to friends and neighbors whose relatives were killed or injured. Some people are saying that the Americans are making the bombings to make Iraqis believe that it is very important for them to stay in Iraq, that they are still needed. The Americans say that when they withdraw from Iraq violence will increase. Is that a threat? You can read it as a threat, or you can read it as an expectation. Some Iraqis take it as a threat. Some people are asking: "Are the Americans punishing us with bombings because Iraq has refused to sign the SOFA?" [Status of Forces Agreement] Here that is a reality, people think it. I can see it in people's eyes when they say it to me. Real belief in what they are saying. ------------------------ Anwar J. Ali is an Iraqi journalist who works for The New York Times in Baghdad. It seems like more than some people think all these bombings are from the Americans. At times it seems like everyone thinks so. Just two days ago I went to cover a car bombing in what had been a relatively peaceful part of eastern Baghdad. The bomb exploded in a parking lot surrounded by doctors' offices and pharmacies. My colleague, Mudhafer, and I searched for one of the doctors, walking through bombed-out buildings filled with broken glass and overturned furniture. Finally, in one of the pharmacies we found Dr Daniel Khafaji, a clean-shaven man in a pin striped suit. "It is only the SOFA," he said casually, referring to the contentious security agreement being negotiated between the Americans and Iraqis. "This is all in the interest of the Americans. We are occupied." He said that American troops were seen near the bomb only 10 minutes before it went off, a line that you hear so often it has almost become a formality, and he repeated the usual theory: the Americans said there would be violence if the SOFA, which sets the conditions for the Americans' continued presence in Iraq after the end of the year, didn't pass. It hasn't passed so here's the violence. If it makes sense it must be true. ------------------- These next few months are not going to be easy.
This week I was at the scene of a bombing, reporting a news story about three explosions in Adhamiya. They were horrible explosions, all at the same time in a very crowded Shia neighborhood. I remember the smell of the blood, the flies all around and the injured people, the broken glass and the destruction.
------------------------------
I do not think I am more cautious or worried than most people. In Adhamiya I was the only woman on the street while the police were clearing away the remains of the explosion, the glass, blood, clothes and the pieces of meat left over from restaurants.
But it seems to be that things are getting worse, and I am now being more careful to avoid crowded places and bazaars. ---------------------------- In The New York Times's office I am the one who sits next to the whiteboard where we record explosions, shootings and other deaths in Iraq. Since two days before Barack Obama's victory I started to notice the board filling up again. There are many explosions. Many of them are small, but some days we have to start a new column. It was not like this even two weeks ago.
But my mother lives in a safe, Shiite neighborhood, and always sticks to her house. The reason she thinks the situation is becoming worse is because of what she hears speaking to friends and neighbors whose relatives were killed or injured.
Some people are saying that the Americans are making the bombings to make Iraqis believe that it is very important for them to stay in Iraq, that they are still needed. The Americans say that when they withdraw from Iraq violence will increase. Is that a threat? You can read it as a threat, or you can read it as an expectation. Some Iraqis take it as a threat.
Some people are asking: "Are the Americans punishing us with bombings because Iraq has refused to sign the SOFA?" [Status of Forces Agreement]
Here that is a reality, people think it. I can see it in people's eyes when they say it to me. Real belief in what they are saying. ------------------------ Anwar J. Ali is an Iraqi journalist who works for The New York Times in Baghdad.
It seems like more than some people think all these bombings are from the Americans. At times it seems like everyone thinks so.
Just two days ago I went to cover a car bombing in what had been a relatively peaceful part of eastern Baghdad. The bomb exploded in a parking lot surrounded by doctors' offices and pharmacies. My colleague, Mudhafer, and I searched for one of the doctors, walking through bombed-out buildings filled with broken glass and overturned furniture. Finally, in one of the pharmacies we found Dr Daniel Khafaji, a clean-shaven man in a pin striped suit.
"It is only the SOFA," he said casually, referring to the contentious security agreement being negotiated between the Americans and Iraqis. "This is all in the interest of the Americans. We are occupied."
He said that American troops were seen near the bomb only 10 minutes before it went off, a line that you hear so often it has almost become a formality, and he repeated the usual theory: the Americans said there would be violence if the SOFA, which sets the conditions for the Americans' continued presence in Iraq after the end of the year, didn't pass. It hasn't passed so here's the violence. If it makes sense it must be true. ------------------- These next few months are not going to be easy.
"Are the Americans punishing us with bombings because Iraq has refused to sign the SOFA?"
Well, we'll know soon enough: Since both al-Maliki and al-Sistani are now both in favor of the agreement, those Americans who are supposedly behind the bombings will at least stop them until and unless the Iraqi parliament rejects it. If the bombings continue regardless of the current Iraqi momentum towards supporting SOFA, that would seem to weaken this speculation.
But quite frankly, I find this theory hard to believe to begin with. Mr. Ali, the blogger, is correct:
Don't they realize it's in the interest of the Americans for everything to be quiet right now? That all of this violence actually makes the Americans look bad?
And his colleague Mudhafer's explanation, in that blog post, seems much more plausible:
Mudhafer astutely suggested that the insurgents are savvy enough to understand how this thinking works and could be taking advantage of it to cause chaos.
In other words, the insurgents know that Iraqis are susceptible to anti-American conspiracy theories, and the rationality and credibility of such theories is beside the point when the aim is simply to make people hate and distrust Americans ever more intensely. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
How can iraqis not feel they are suffering colonial abuse when their very own govt is being held to ransom in a way that is indistinguishable from gangsterism. Lovely country you've got here, shame if something happened to it - smash - . keep to the Fen Causeway
