The Locusts

Felicity Arbuthnot, UN Observer

Locust swarms are the dread of hot countries, also of course, the Biblical curse. They devour all, destroying sustenance. The locusts in uniform, who have destroyed Iraq, humanity, sustenance, its history, predating the time of Christ and the Prophet Mohammed, are never, it seems, satiated or satisfied. From the early defiling (ongoing) of Mosques, cemeteries (Muslim, Christian, Yazidi ...) even the sacred tributes to the memory of the martyrs are being destroyed and defiled. After the illegal invasion, the US military did the unthinkable. They made a camp in the great turquoise memorial to the half million lost souls of the Iran-Iraq war. In the marble mausoleum, where the names of all the dead are believed recorded on the shining marble walls, where their belongings and gifts in their homage, are displayed, they camped - and despoiled the names with graffiti, regimental symbols, defiling even the dead. The memorial is split, so the souls of the dead can fly heavenward - and the fountain represented the tears for their loss, or the eternality of the Euphrates, thus life itself, depending on whom was asked. It was Iraq's equivalent to America's Viet Nam memorial wall, Arlington Cemetery, to Britain's Cenotaph, symbol of slaughter in two World Wars. Now it appears that what Karen Dabrowska (Iraq: Bradt Travel Guides) described as "Iraq's Arc de Triomphe", is being demolished...

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