In Baghdad, volunteers are picking up the dead. They give the dead a proper burial to maintain their dignity as they move to the afterlife. They wash them in sand and wrap them in cloth. Then they bury them, 2 to a grave. The bodies are photographed and entered into a computer so that one day they may be claimed. However, for many, they are too mangled, too burned, too disfigured to be recognized even by their own families.
No one should have to face that fate. Innocent men, women, and children are suffering because of this war. Their loved ones cannot identify them because the bodies are so mangled. There can never be a closing for the rest of the family because they do not know if their son or daughter is dead or alive. They may never know. I cannot believe that the American government has let this go on for so long. This is a democracy so shouldn't our voices be heard? Or are our voices muffled by the sound of preparations for war and the war already at hand?
Sheik Jamal al-Sudani, one of the leaders of the volunteer groups for burying the dead, told CNN"I only think about one thing: That one day, I will face the same fate as these people have faced, and will there be someone to take care of me and bury me, too?"
At the rate we're going, I think that that is a very prevalant question indeed.
1 comment:
As Colin Powell said, if we break Iraq, we will have to buy it. I believe he said this before the invasion. Now Iraq is broken and it is ours, or at least it is the responsibiity of our soldiers to try to keep it from destroying itself. The bombings and civilian deaths have declined just a little since the surge, the extra 30,000 troops sent over since last January. Our nation is at a terrible impasse: How to get out of there without leaving behind an even greater bloodbath.
Post a Comment