Hometown Baghdad - an Iraqi students' blog

[shereads]

I saw this on CNN and had to pass it along, it's such an unexpected view of Iraq: young, secular, collegiate males with varyiing opinions on the U.S. military presence.

In today's one-minute film, one of the group plays the guitar and sings John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads." (Yeesh. If we're going to spread our culture, can't we do better than folk music?)

In the episode CNN featured, one student speaks about missing his class on the day of an important test. "I can't get out today," he says, deadpan. "You can hear why." (Bursts of gunfire on the streets outside his apartment.)

HOMETOWN BAGHDAD

 

[shereads]

"By these standards, I am an infidel."

Hometown Baghdad: the "Forbidden Salad" episode

 

[JPMMURPHY]

Thanks for the post. Amazing.

 

[shereads]

Thanks for the post. Amazing.

Yes, it is amazing. Because even in this extraordinary situation, the people are normal.

The family dinner scene (Forbidden Salad) is a mirror image of the same scene in tens of millions of American homes. The shy little sister, the son teasing his mom, the mom talking about his huge appetite...

Then at the dinner table, he tries to introduce the topic of religious extremists and their absurd dictates, and the older members of the family grow quiet...I wondered if they were just unwilling to let the mood be dragged down by a discussion of something distressing - or if they were nervous about speaking their minds while being filmed. What a chilling burst of reality in an otherwise pleasant evening.

 

[SeaCat]

I saw this as well. Makes me wish I had a faster hookup than dialup.

Somehow I don't see this going over well with too many people. It makes the "Enemy" look human. (Can you see Bush or his minions watching this?)

Cat

 

[moonlight elf]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[cantdog]

My admiration of you, shereads, grows week by week. Your wit, your passion, your humanity-- thank you for being here. My life would have been the poorer for never knowing of you.

 

[shereads]

I saw this as well. Makes me wish I had a faster hookup than dialup.

If you live near a library where you can get online via broadband, this series might be worth a trip. There will be a total of 38 episodes - only six more to go.

 

[shereads]

"Just get naked and play...You have a problem with that?"

HOMETOWN BAGHDAD: POWERLESS

 

[shereads]

"You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille..."

[/b]Hometown Bagdhdad: Nothing But Guitar[/b]

 

[3113]

Somehow I don't see this going over well with too many people. It makes the "Enemy" look human. (Can you see Bush or his minions watching this?)

But Bush and minions would say just the opposite--that these were the people are *not* the enemy, rather they are our allies, the ones we are trying to bring freedom and democracy to...and that if we leave Iraq they'll fall into the hands of extremists and how can we do that to them? So we should stay in Iraq until it's "secure."

The sad thing is, they're probably right. But the sadder thing is, Bush and his minions, who are spending American money and lives like water over this fiasco, will never admit that extremists have a chance of taking over and taking away the rights and freedoms of such people thanks to us. WE let the genie out of the bottle when we took out Hussein. He was an evil dictator...but he was also a stopper in the bottle. And if we weren't prepared to put another (presumably better) stopper in his place, then we should have uncorked the thing.

 

[shereads]

But Bush and minions would say just the opposite--that these were the people are *not* the enemy, rather they are our allies, the ones we are trying to bring freedom and democracy to...and that if we leave Iraq they'll fall into the hands of extremists and how can we do that to them? So we should stay in Iraq until it's "secure."

Not only must we not leave Iraq, for their sake; we must not let them leave Iraq to come over here.

The episode posted today is the toughest to watch, for me as an American. Ausama, who has been on vacation in Syria, reluctantly returns to Baghdad.

"As soon as I cross the border, I'm going to see horrible things...God, it's a destroyed city."

"Back to Baghdad"