Shattered Lives

Arthur Silber, Once Upon a Time...

...As I have noted before, even if we left Iraq within the next few months and made all those reparations that are possible, as we should and must, we must never think there will be forgiveness for what we have done. Some acts are so terrible that they cannot be reversed, or repaired. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is such an act, indeed a long, horrifying series of such acts. We all prefer to believe in redemption, but there are times when redemption is no longer possible. It is not possible here. We will not be forgiven, and we should not be. We have destroyed redemption for ourselves, as we have destroyed countless lives and an entire country...

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The accursed: widows of Iraq’s torn-apart society

Hala Jaber, Timesonline

When Um Noor’s husband was blown to pieces by a car bomb last year, she drew comfort from the thought that she and her five children could at least depend on their close-knit community for support. But Um Noor, a fragile figure barely 5ft tall, was a Sunni in the predominantly Shi’ite Baghdad district of Amil, and sectarian strife was taking the city by storm. Soon her brother was murdered by a Shi’ite gang that spotted him in the street and chased him into a neighbour’s house where he was shot in cold blood. Then the death squad burst into Um Noor’s own home and dragged away her eldest son and a nephew only six years old. They, too, were shot, just for being the sons of Sunnis...

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