Holiday Shopping in Iraq

[Mephisto]

Thank Allah Ramadan is a holy month dedicated to compassion or it could have been worse!

Baghdad bomb kills scores as they shop for Ramadan

POSTED: 9:45 a.m. EDT, September 23, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb ripped through crowds of shoppers stocking up before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and killed at least 28 of them, police in Baghdad said Saturday.

At least 26 others were injured in the fiery explosion, which went off as people were buying gasoline and other supplies in Sadr City, a sprawling Baghdad slum and Shiite stronghold.

College student Dhiyaa Ali told The Associated Press he found bodies and blood everywhere when he ran to help after hearing the explosion from his home.

"I went into the flames just to get anyone left out of the fire," he told AP. "I saw a mother holding her child, both of them burned and dead."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/23/iraq.main/index.html

 

[shecky]

tsk tsk, always dwelling on the negative news...

 

[Mephisto]

tsk tsk, always dwelling on the negative news...

There is good news coming out of Iraq?

Oh yeah, today thousands of people in Iraq DIDN'T die because of a car bomb planted in a place to cause maximum casualties during holiday shopping.

There see - there IS good news coming out of Iraq.

 

[Huntster]

How's this for depressing:

On a recent Sunday, I was buying groceries in my beloved Amariya neighborhood in western Baghdad when I heard the sound of an AK-47 for about three seconds. It was close but not very close, so I continued shopping.

As I took a right turn on Munadhama Street, I saw a man lying on the ground in a small pool of blood. He wasn't dead.

The idea of stopping to help or to take him to a hospital crossed my mind, but I didn't dare. Cars passed without stopping. Pedestrians and shop owners kept doing what they were doing, pretending nothing had happened.

I was still looking at the wounded man and blaming myself for not stopping to help. Other shoppers peered at him from a distance, sorrowful and compassionate, but did nothing.

I went on to another grocery store, staying for about five minutes while shopping for tomatoes, onions and other vegetables. During that time, the man managed to sit up and wave to passing cars. No one stopped. Then, a white Volkswagen pulled up. A passenger stepped out with a gun, walked steadily to the wounded man and shot him three times. The car took off down a side road and vanished.

No one did anything. No one lifted a finger. The only reaction came from a woman in the grocery store. In a low voice, she said, "My God, bless his soul."

I went home and didn't dare tell my wife. I did not want to frighten her.

They've got some serious problems over there. They aren't going away anytime soon, because (obviously) somebody has to do it for them. They can't seem to do a damned thing about it themselves, because they're afraid.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Oh yeah, today thousands of people in Iraq DIDN'T die because of a car bomb planted in a place to cause maximum casualties during holiday shopping.

There see - there IS good news coming out of Iraq.

Clever Iraqis who shopped on line were spared the grisly death at the locally bombed flea market.

Great news. E-commerce, better than a Kevlar Vest!

But to be honest with you, I think this whole issue is being misreported. Americans, during our holiday periods, often suggest to one another "Hey, let's go and get bombed!"

Iraqis are trying to be more like their new Western friends, but they don't drink, being Muslims. The only way they can go out and get bombed is at the local market place, and hope for a guy with a car and an attitude to show up.

They probably wonder at our strange customs for holidays. It is not surprising we have trouble with hearts and minds: They think our customs are dangerous.

DR

 

[Mephisto]

I hear you, DR. Too bad someone couldn't open up a HOOTERS in Baghdad, we could teach them that "getting wasted" can actually be fun. Maybe we should consider spiking their drinking water with ecstacy, get em rubbing on each other. Being Westernized isn't all that bad.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Maybe we should consider spiking their drinking water with ecstacy, get em rubbing on each other. Being Westernized isn't all that bad.

Well, whatever we are trying so far hasn't done a great deal for peace, why not try that?

Who, knows, it might work.

*Awaits cries of "What About The Children?" and "You are advocating chemical warfare."

Hey, man, some out of the box thinking, that is all!

DR

 

[Katana]

How's this for depressing:



They've got some serious problems over there. They aren't going away anytime soon, because (obviously) somebody has to do it for them. They can't seem to do a damned thing about it themselves, because they're afraid.

That is absolutely horrendous. I cannot imagine living in such a world.