Iraq Again

"I'm really sorry to bother you. I know you have more important things to deal with. Health insurance, tax cuts, a BP oil spill, another Gaza flotilla.

"Yeah, it's Iraq again. And will always be.

"I will not let this GENOCIDE go by. I will not let the Holocaust of Freedom & Democracy vanquish me. So it's Iraq again, on the agenda. I put it on the agenda. Top priority. Top of the list.

"Iraq, a country the size of California, in the words of US general Odierno, has witnessed the LARGEST movement of military equipment - the US armada - since WORLD WAR II.

"IOW the world has seen nothing like it for a country the size of California.

"World War II? Do any of you out there read history? Do you know how many nations were involved back then? Back then, when military technology was nowhere near as 'advanced' as it is today.

"Iraq, a country the size of California, a 'third world nation', broken by over 10 years of sanctions - and all this military might to defeat 'the enemy'? And you expect me to just let it go so you can concentrate on your health insurance, tax cuts, and Gaza flotilla?

"Oh boy, you've never met a true Iraqi.

"The fact of the matter is I will never let it go. Not until Justice is done. Like it or not - that's the way it is and that's how it shall be.

"No one talks of Iraq anymore. Or hardly ever. Read again what I've written above.

"Fuck it! I will not let those bastards drive us into the shadows of cemeteries. I claim life by claiming words.

"Yet I feel so powerless. An old keyboard. Hundreds of articles. Hundreds of testimonies. And a lone voice. Where are the Iraqis?

"Are they all ghosts of this Occupation? Is there anyone at home?

"At times I feel like giving up. This isn't something I can do alone. I'm not Superwoman. Ignorance surrounds me like a thick wall of silence. I try to keep that tiny flame alive in me, in the darkness. If it dies, so do I.

"No, I will not let them erase it.

"Facing my old keyboard and typing these words, at times incoherent, is my only sanity.

"No, I will not let them erase it.

"It's Iraq again."

Layla Anwar, Yeah, Iraq again! 6/12/10