Without fail, my mornings seem to all start with three little words... "today's car bombing..."
Between the time I get out of the shower and the time I'm halfway dressed, I hear on the radio from either an NPR reporter or a BBC reporter or a WTOP reporter - those three words. They're usually followed by the words "in Baghdad" or "in" some city or terrority that until 3 years ago I had never even heard of, like - Baaj, or Ramadi, or Sadr city. Then I hear the numbers - 10 dead; 18 dead; 27 dead; 40 dead and 39 injured; 68 injured; 104 injured.
Then I find myself hit with a wave of guilt, confusion and anger.
Guilt - because while I was in the shower, chances are I was bothered by the pain-in-the-ass E-mails and voicemails that I know are waiting for me in the office. Chances are, that deep down in the back of my mind I was hoping that I might come across gasoline at less than $2.22 a gallon so that I could fill up my American made SUV. Chances are, that I wouldn't eat a healthy chicken salad for lunch if the guys wanted to go out and get greasy steak and cheese subs.
These are the worries of my day. Shame on me.
Somewhere, halfway across the world while I was sleeping in my warm and toasty bed, some Iraqi men and women were in a market buying fruit, or bread, or batteries and some savage, mindless, bloodthirtsy monster pulled alongside them and detonated 50 pounds of high explosives wrapped in 70 pounds of metal nuts and bolts.
Somewhere, halfway across the world while I was sleeping in my warm and toasty bed, 78 men in the twenties and thirties lined up outside of an Iraqi police station. They had decided to risk their lives and take a stake in what could be The New Iraq. They were ready to join the police force. This is, until a dark blue Toyota Camry loaded with fertilizer, gunpowder and hand grenades plowed into their line mere seconds before blowing up in a bright yellow flaming mushroom cloud.
Somewhere, halfway across the world while I was sleeping in my warm and toasty bed, several dozen Iraqi boys and girls were playing outside of their elementary school when some innocent looking teenager with a backpack slung over his shoulder walked among the children. He probably gave them a slight smile of innocence envy as he pushed the trigger in his pants pocket closing a small circuit and exploding the nine pounds of semtex and five pounds of ball bearings in his backpack.
Somewhere, halfway across the world while I was sleeping in my warm and toasty bed, six US Marines and seven US soldiers were conducting a vehicle checkpoint east of the green zone when two men in a beat-up Honda Accord pulled up to them. One of the Marines told him to turn his vehicle off and pop his trunk. The man complied and leaned forward whispering a silent thank you to Allah. Sensing his fate, the Marine called to his fellow troops, yelling for them to "get down!" But his words were lost in the roar of 100 pounds of high explosives doing the one thing they were made to do.
And I'm worried about some damn E-Mails and steak subs. GUILT.
I found something interesting as I typed this post. If you go to Google and select NEWS links and type these three words "suicide, bomber, Iraq" you get OVER 8800 hits. If you type in "car bomb Iraq" you get over 12,000 hits. I find this absolutely amazing. Amazing and horrifying.
This is where my confusion and anger comes into play. This situation [like DARFUR] is a complete human tragedy. The numbers of dead, dying and injured is so high and it is growing so fast, that I find myself numb with anger. This conflict is so mindless and was so avoidable. The shame it has brought to our once great country. The disregard of the lives of our brave men and women who voluteered to serve our nation, by George Bush and the countless Washington bureaucrats. The victimizing and murdering of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children. The violent bloodlust of sectarian madmen who kill in the name of their God and who kill in defense of how THEY think their God should be worshipped. It is frustrating, it is disgusting, it is inhuman, it is devastating, it is all here again... in... today's car bombing.
TTBM
