BOOK “Baghdad Burning� makes short list for Samuel Johnson Prize
NEW on: www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com
A Brilliant young Iraqi gives us the PARTICULARS of the US occupation and agony she, her family and her people endure daily. You will be shocked, ashamed and refreshed by her genius pathos and her eye for the poignant details. Most surprising and unique is her particular brand of scathing humor…
LATEST ENTRY: … I was shocked to find out the BOOK “Baghdad Burningâ€? had made the short list for the Samuel Johnson Prize- a prestigious, British award for non-fiction!! I didn’t even know it was on the long list for that award so it came as a huge surprise… I kept telling myself it was some sort of mistake because the other names on the short list are so illustrious but I got confirmation from the British publisher - Marion Boyars.
I’ve been walking around in a bit of a daze since I found out. I feel like it’s all happening to someone else and I have to keep reminding myself of it- while filling the water tanks, while cleaning out the kerosene heaters for storage and while changing the newspaper in the parakeets cage (“I hope you know the person cleaning out your cage is a Samuel Johnson nominee…�)
I just want to say it doesn’t matter if the book wins or loses- just to have it on that list is, in itself, an incredible honor…
Baghdad Burning (Feminist Press)
Baghdad Burning (Marion Boyars)
- posted by river @ 11:23 PM
Also peruse this site and see a few more blogs at least, well worth the tiny effort: April Fool’s Day… Or ‘kithbet neesan’, as it is known in Arabic. If the current Iraqi government should choose ANY day for their day- what better day than April 1? It’s appropriately named ‘Fool’s Day’, after all.
They have been foolishly trying to get a government together since they first announced the election results. And we’ve been patiently waiting. It’s like being under the threat of punishment for weeks and weeks at a time and finally just wanting to have the punishment over with.
I don’t think anyone believes they’re going to make any improvements or major changes, we’re just tired of waiting for the final formation. People need to know who’ll be in power because they want to know who to pay bribes to or get a ‘tazkiya’ from when they need something done. We need to know which religious party to go to when the Interior Ministry goons take away a relative.
They’ve been bickering over the Prime Minister’s position for so long now, I’m almost wishing Bremer were here to once again implement his whole “Puppet per month� arrangement as in 2003.
In any case, should you want to play an April Fool’s Day joke on an Iraqi (albeit a late one- or maybe even next year), I suggest the following:
“Guess what?! There’s going to be electricity this summer!!!� (For better effect, it is suggested a candle be broken in half and thrown high into the air with a whoop.)
“Guess what?! The Americans have declared they will be gone by 2010 and they won’t leave permanent bases behind!!!� (This should be said with a straight face.)
“Guess what?! They didn’t actually find three corpses in the strip of trees two streets away!!!�
“Guess what?! The Puppets finally formed a government!!!�
“Guess what?! They didn’t actually detain [fill in with the name of a relative, friend- everyone knows someone in prison these days]!!!�
“Guess what?! Chalabi solved the gasoline crisis!!!”
“Guess what?! No more religious militias- they’ve been banned from the country!!!” (This should be said in a low voice - just in case)
“Great news!! The US is going to make public how the billions of dollars in Iraqi oil money AND donations were ’spent’!!!”
“Guess what?! They’re going to actually begin reconstructing the country and they estimate it will take 5 years!!!”
“Guess what?! They caught Zarqawi!!!” (This will only work on Iraqis who actually think he exists.)
- Uncertainty… …I was reading the little scrolling news headlines on the bottom of the page. The usual- mortar fire on an area in Baghdad, an American soldier killed here, another one wounded there… 12 Iraqi corpses found in an area in Baghdad, etc. Suddenly, one of them caught my attention and I sat up straight on the sofa, wondering if I had read it correctly.
E. was sitting at the other end of the living room, taking apart a radio he later wouldn’t be able to put back together. I called him over with the words, “Come here and read this- I’m sure I misunderstood…� He stood in front of the television and watched the words about corpses and Americans and puppets scroll by and when the news item I was watching for appeared, I jumped up and pointed. E. and I read it in silence and E. looked as confused as I was feeling.
The line said:
وزارة الدÙ?اع تدعو المواطنين الى عدم الانصياع لاوامر دوريات الجيش والشرطة الليلية اذا لم تكن برÙ?قة قوات التØالÙ? العاملة Ù?ÙŠ تلك المنطقة The translation:
“The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area.�
That’s how messed up the country is at this point.
We switched to another channel, the “Baghdad� channel (allied with Muhsin Abdul Hameed and his group) and they had the same news item, but instead of the general “coalition forces� they had “American coalition forces�. We checked two other channels. Iraqiya (pro-Da’awa) didn’t mention it and Forat (pro-SCIRI) also didn’t have it on their news ticker.
We discussed it today as it was repeated on another channel.
“So what does it mean?� My cousin’s wife asked as we sat gathered at lunch.
“It means if they come at night and want to raid the house, we don’t have to let them in.� I answered.
“They’re not exactly asking your permission,� E. pointed out. “They break the door down and take people away- or have you forgotten?�
“Well according to the Ministry of Defense, we can shoot at them, right? It’s trespassing-they can be considered burglars or abductors…� I replied.
The cousin shook his head, “If your family is inside the house- you’re not going to shoot at them. They come in groups, remember? They come armed and in large groups- shooting at them or resisting them would endanger people inside of the house.�
“Besides that, when they first attack, how can you be sure they DON’T have Americans with them?� E. asked.
We sat drinking tea, mulling over the possibilities. It confirmed what has been obvious to Iraqis since the beginning- the Iraqi security forces are actually militias allied to religious and political parties.
But it also brings to light other worrisome issues. The situation is so bad on the security front that the top two ministries in charge of protecting Iraqi civilians cannot trust each other. The Ministry of Defense can’t even trust its own personnel…this directly contradicts claims by Bush and other American politicians that Iraqi troops and security forces are in control of the situation. Or maybe they are in control- just not in a good way…
They’ve been finding corpses all over Baghdad for weeks now- and it’s always the same: holes drilled in the head, multiple shots or strangulation, like the victims were hung. Execution, militia style. Many of the people were taken from their homes by security forces- police or special army brigades… Some of them were rounded up from mosques.
…A few days ago we went to pick up one of my female cousins from college. Her college happens to be quite close to the local morgue. E., our cousin L., and I all sat in the car which, due to traffic, we parked slightly further away from the college to wait for our other cousin. I looked over at the commotion near the morgue.
There were dozens of people- mostly men- standing around in a bleak group. Some of them smoked cigarettes, others leaned on cars or pick-up trucks… Their expressions varied- grief, horror, resignation. On some faces, there was an anxious look of combined dread and anticipation. It’s a very specific look, one you will find only outside the Baghdad morgue. The eyes are wide and bloodshot, as if searching for something, the brow is furrowed, the jaw is set and the mouth is a thin frown. It’s a look that tells you they are walking into the morgue, where the bodies lay in rows, and that they pray they do not find what they are looking for.
The cousin sighed heavily and told us to open a couple of windows and lock the doors- he was going to check the morgue. A month before, his wife’s uncle had been taken away from a mosque during prayer- they’ve yet to find him. Every two days, someone from the family goes to the morgue to see if his body was brought in. “Pray I don’t find him… or rather… I just- we hate the uncertainty.â€? My cousin sighed heavily and got out of the car. I said a silent prayer as he crossed the street and disappeared into the crowd.
E. and I waited patiently for H., who was still inside the college and for L. who was in the morgue. The minutes stretched and E. and I sat silently- smalltalk seeming almost blasphemous under the circumstances. L. came out first. I watched him tensely and found myself chewing away at my lower lip, “Did he find him? Inshalla he didn’t find him…� I said to no one in particular. As he got closer to the car, he shook his head. His face was immobile and grim, but behind the grim expression, we could see relief, “He’s not there. Hamdulilah [Thank God].�
“Hamdulilah� E. and I repeated the words in unison.
September 17th, 2007 at 8:08 am
y is this book banned!!!! yo tell me cuz!!!!!!!!