tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4019662.post-873184402003-01-12T13:11:00.000-08:002003-01-13T11:35:22.000-08:00January 12, 2003 <br />Baghdad (by way of Amman, Jordan) <br /> <br />Dear you, <br />This is a quick note letting you know I'm fine but <br />have been unable to communicate outside of Iraq for <br />some time because of the FUCKING Pentagon and their <br />email "attack" (the story broke Saturday morning on <br />CNN.com). The whole Internet infrastructure in Iraq <br />was shut down because of it. We couriering stuff into <br />Amman, Jordan, to be sent out. <br /> <br />The situation in Iraq is the same, which is to say not <br />much. Those who can afford to prepare for a coming war <br />do, buying petrol and water parrifin for heat and <br />lighting. Those who cannot pay pray. The rest are busy <br />trying to get the international media's attention on <br />the plight of the Iraqi people and the devastation <br />another war will bring to this country. War <br />preparation is above all a class issue for me. There <br />are divisions between the upper, middle, and lower <br />classes in their perspectives on what can be done <br />about living through an invasion. Most of the upper <br />echelons of Iraqi society think that Baghdad will be <br />ablaze with street fighters beating back the <br />Americans. The middle class (if you can call it that) <br />have largely left it to the fates, having had little <br />to no history of political self-determination. The <br />poor of Iraq wants to see the invasion over with. The <br />sanctions have made their life already impossible, why <br />not a war to shake things up a bit: what's there to <br />lose? A young poor Iraqi teenage girl summed it up <br />nicely when she said that she can't wait for the <br />invasion so she can marry an American soldier. <br />Desperation and creativity doesn't make that strange <br />of bedfellows. Despite the differences on how one will <br />survive a war and how a war will be waged in the <br />country, they all agree that if there is a war, it <br />won't begin until AFTER the invasion. It is <br />incandescently clear that Iraq does not have the <br />capabilities to fight the American military <br />juggernaut. The real story of Iraq's survival will <br />begin after the Americans come (if they come, yes <br />there is still time and the means to stop the war, <br />there is always time because tomorrow is today) and <br />set up their puppet regime. A media escort and veteran <br />of the Iran/Iraq war said, "They will have an <br />occupation in hell." <br /> <br />I'm not ready to live in hell. And I assume the <br />wonderful people I've met here in Baghdad aren't ready <br />either, regardless of how many litres of petrol they <br />buy off the black market. I also assume that you <br />aren't ready for hell either, since by all accounts, <br />in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey the sentiment is that <br />there will be no way to contain the resentment an <br />unjust war will bring to the Middle East. The <br />resentment is beginning to build into a political <br />program that promises nothing short of mass political <br />insurrection, here and abroad, back home, where I live <br />and you too. <br /> <br />I have tried to make my work here with a certain <br />sensitivity and language to describe another kind of <br />Iraq existing in another kind of reality marred by <br />economic sanctions, the weight of war, and (American) <br />popular culture. But I can feel myself losing this <br />sensitivity. The fear is becoming overwhelming and the <br />space for describing the taste of lamb's head stew <br />made with food rations and trash is disappearing. <br /> <br />Perhaps the time and space will come again. In the <br />meantime (what a word) there is (still) a war to stop. <br />I am sure you've heard about the January 18th protests <br />(global by the way, since the German, Japanese, and <br />Italian delegations in Baghdad have informed us of <br />their country's intention of doing solidarity protests <br />on that date). I've been rereading Martin Luther King <br />Jr.'s moving speech against the Vietman war delivered <br />at New York's Riverside Church in 1967 and will try to <br />finish off one more piece of writing based on it <br />before I return to the States. <br /> <br />My return date is dicey at the moment but rest assured <br />I'm well taken care of. Support group I will contact <br />you first regarding my flight back. Let your media <br />contacts know that I'm returning and that I'll talk to <br />anyone about the work we've done here (can continue to <br />do, members of the Iraq peace team continue to come <br />into Baghdad and will do so throughout January and <br />February, war or no war). <br /> <br />This turned out not to be such a quick note. I'll see <br />you soon. Baghdad is tense and beautiful, as usual, by <br />the way. <br /> <br />P. <br />Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11365690346376170574noreply@blogger.com