I feel as though the air in
Iraq sizzles with electricity. There's something about peering down the narrow, dirty streets.
The people huddle around the streets. They turn their heads and look at me and I see dark, empty, soulless eyes. Everything thing it seems that they partake in as a people is hell bent on self destruction.
I wonder how much blood the sand has swallowed into the cold ground.
And then every once in a while you meet them. The human beings. It helps to reaffirm my faith. It gives me hope in humanity. At least, here, in the middle east. Then I think about it... Well no, but perhaps in Iraq. It's the people with life in their eyes. The hunters, not the hunted. It's survival of the fittest, and the fittest are tough sons of bitches.
That is, until the other hunters catch their scent. Then they are prey. Ripe for slaughter. Torture. Execution. They kidnap them, and hold them for ransom. When the debt is paid they let them go.. But wire their vehicles with explosives and remote detonate them in crowds or checkpoints. They kidnap them and bound them before slaugthering them in creative ways. Like little blocks of explosives in their shirt pockets. Or maybe a stabbing in the stomach.. Or simply lining them up and shooting them. But if they have time, if they are not in a hurry, then they'll whip up a dish of Mohammed's favorite.
Beheadings. Perhaps with a long bowie knife. But if the blade isn't sharp enough then the man is stuck sawing at his victim's head. And that just isn't good television. Especially when you are filming it. But if shock value is what you're after, then there is plenty of gargling and gasping from the exposed throat.
Then they bury their bodies outside of mosques because they know we don't like to go there, tends to stir up a ruckus, something about them being "holy" sites.
As a person capable of empathy, there's no fucking way I'd ever say we ought to leave this up to them. They can't take care of themselves. They take no accountability, they use no rhyme or reason. Maybe I'm not being fair though, I mean there's plenty of other state-sponsored fighters from other countries in the region here stirring up trouble. There's no way they can fix themselves. Holy shit.
Sometimes I'm prone to speaking out of sheer emotion, as I'm sure people can attest. But, my original thoughts on this matter are still the same. The Iraqis are not a united mass of people with a common goal. Every official is on the take, either on a militia payroll or a commander of their forces, or at best, an enabler. Everyone hedges their bets so that when the Amerikees leave they will be able to leverage things in their favor. To leave this level of responsibility in their eager, grasping fingers is a terrible idea. And with recent events showing the intent of other countries in the region I find it impossible to cope with the idea of "immediate redeployment".