House of cards mean anything to you, 'murkn?!
"Fear keeps many out of their Baghdad home" by Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times News Service | August 24, 2008
BAGHDAD - When Jabbar, an elderly Shi'ite man, stormed out of his house here in June wanting to know where all his furniture had gone, the sharp look of the young Sunni standing guard on his street stopped him cold.
The young man said nothing, but his expression made things clear: Jabbar had no home here anymore. After Iraq's sectarian earthquake settled, his neighborhood had become a mostly Sunni area. Instead of moving back, he is trying to sell the house while staying in a rented one nearby in an area that is mostly Shi'ite.
This after they lived together and intermarried for centuries!
Didn't blow up each others mosques, didn't kill each other -- until USrael got there.
Hmmmm.
It is not an unusual decision. Out of the more than 151,000 families that had fled their houses in Baghdad, just 7,112 had returned to them by mid-July, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Migration.
That's what Bush calls success. Sounds like New Orleans after Katrina.
Many of the displaced remain in Baghdad, just in different areas. In one neighborhood alone, Amiriya, in western Baghdad, there are 8,350 displaced families, more than the total number of families that has returned to their houses in all of Baghdad.
The reasons for the hesitation are complex, based on dangers both real and imagined. In most cases, Iraqis say they feel safe with their neighbors but cannot be sure about other residents. Some are afraid of the new guard forces on their blocks. In rarer cases, Iraqis cannot face neighbors who they suspect helped in killings.
In the patchwork of today's Iraq, there are many exceptions. But for now, returning families in many areas are still a trickle, indicating that even though sectarian killings seem to have ended, the distrust they sowed lingers.
Mission accomplished!!!
And while most Iraqis are trying hard to put the ugliness of the past behind them, moving their children back to areas where killings once raged is the ultimate act of trust that many parents - at least so far - seem to be unwilling to risk.
Would you, AmeriKan parent, because some foreign invader wanted a p.r. prop?
The neighborhood teenagers were the worry for Jabbar, who, like other Iraqis interviewed for this article, agreed to be identified only by his first name. The teenagers brought the war to his family's block in a few disastrous days in 2006, scattering leaflets that told Shi'ites to leave or "we will use swords to cut your necks." Within days, the area was unlivable, and the family escaped with only the belongings that fit in the trunk of their car.
That STINKS of "Al-CIA-Duh" to me!!!!
Jabbar was lucky. He lost no one. But he remembered the boys, friends of a well-known family. Their father distributed food stamps and knew people's addresses.
Security improved, and this spring Jabbar began to look into moving back. His wife went to see their house with a female friend first. Women, seen as less threatening, often carry out risky family missions, like receiving food stamps, in dangerous neighborhoods.
What, the sexist Muslims letting women do things?
Whadda ya mean they ain't beating them and locking them up?
She returned with mixed news. On the bright side, their furniture was still there. But there was a darker flicker: a young man from the local Awakening Council, the new Sunni group paid by the American military to guard the neighborhood, made her feel uneasy. He told her that he knew her sons. He asked how she was going to protect them.
Those are OUR THUGS that we are PAYING OFF, America!
This is your SURGE SUCCESS!
When the family visited the house together several weeks later, all that remained was an old VCR. Jabbar had no proof, but he suspected the young Sunni guards on his block had taken the rest. "The street was empty except for them," Jabbar said. A short time later, two Shi'ites were killed a few blocks away.
Awww, violence is down. Next lie....
--more--"
Also see:
Occupation Iraq: Israelis Killing U.S. Troops
Occupation Iraq: Israeli-Trained Death Squads
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh and the OSI
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh's Greatest Hits
Prop 101: The "Terrorism" Business
Prop 102: Iraq and Government Lies
Al-CIA-Duh
Who Invented "Al-CIA-Duh?"
"Al-CIA-Duhs" Catch-and-Release Program
Asymmetrical Warfare Group
Operation Gladio
Operation Northwoods
Occupation Iraq: British Bombers
Occupation Iraq: America's Roadside Bombs
Salvador Option
Special Police Commandos
Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group
Prop 201 tutorial
FRU
Islam's 9/11
How much more evidence do you need?
Final fart bleat: New York Times Admits War on Terror is U.S. Creation
With poot: Operation Mockingbird
Oh, about that sectarianism: Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation
Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam
Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors
