Donald Rumsfeld, when asked about the looting that followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, memorably replied that “stuff happens.” Three years later, stuff is still happening. Salam Pax, in his resuscitated but occasional blog (he posts only slightly more frequently than I do), has a useful entry about a man whose father was rushed to a hospital after being shot in a taxi:
Ahmad gets a phone call and leaves work to go check on his injured father. Shula is a Shia district and although it has seen its share of violence it was never as mad as neighbouring Ameriyah, so he wasn’t that worried about going there. When he gets there he finds out that his father will survive and other than the injury he doesn’t have much to worry about. He walks out of the hospital and before he gets to his car he is bundled up and kidnapped. A couple of hours later his body is found, decapitated. His head in a plastic bag near the body and no explanation.
Salam also mentions that a friend of his family was robbed at home. When one of the robbers found the homeowner’s passport, he was surprised and inquired, “Can you tell me what you are still doing here?” Salam writes, “I ask myself the same question almost every day. And clearly answering ‘this is home’ really isn’t cutting it anymore.” Click here for more.
