THE FACES OF IRAQIS ARE HARD TO FIND
By Kate Rogers Gessert
The Register-Guard, OR
June 7 2007
Last month in Iraq, 126 U.S. soldiers, five soldiers from Great Britain
and other countries, and about 2,770 Iraqi civilians were killed,
according to figures collected by Iraq Body Count. In newspapers and
on Web sites, we read about American casualties, both the dead and the
wounded – Americans such as Sgt. Will Glass, the wounded young soldier
whose story appeared in The Register-Guard on Memorial Day weekend.
But it is difficult to find news stories that focus on individual Iraqi
casualties. Personal details drop out when only a few reporters are
working on the dangerous streets of Iraq, many Iraqis are afraid to
talk with reporters, and large-scale carnage is occurring. For example,
although 652 Iraqi civilians were killed in the first week of May,
news reports included the names of just 14, according to Iraq Body
Count records (www .iraqbodycount.org).
Yet only by hearing about the lives and deaths of people who are dying,
by seeing the faces of Iraqis as well as Americans, can we begin to
really understand what is happening.
During the past month, I’ve read both The Register-Guard and the
Internet sites of a broad range of international media, searching for
news of Iraqi civilian casualties of war. I learned two things. Even
on the Internet, there is little except casualty counts. I had to
dig hard to find anything.
And in The Register-Guard, there is more than I realized, though it
is easy to overlook. Most days, on page 2 of the main news section,
there are composite articles about Iraq. Although these articles
focus on political and military developments and general descriptions
of the preceding day’s violence, they sometimes include, whether in
paragraph seven or 12, glimpses of Iraqi civilians who have died.
You might remember Sami Hussein (Register-Guard, May 23) who lost her
5-year-old son in a Baghdad market bombing, or Saif Fakhry, a TV news
cameraman, killed while he walked to the mosque with his pregnant wife
(Register-Guard, June 1).
Looking at international media, I’ve found more glimpses to add to
the shadowy picture of Iraqi civilian casualties of May 2007.
~U May 1: Nejim Mohammed Hussein, a Kirkuk blacksmith, refused to
cooperate with militants. They burned him alive in his car in front
of his blacksmith’s shop (Agence France Presse).
~U May 7: Jaafar al-Anbaki and his wife taught in the same elementary
school in Diyala province. Gunmen stormed the school and executed
the two teachers in front of their students and colleagues (Voices
of Iraq).
~U May 7: A roadside bomb exploded beside a U.S. patrol in Baghdad.
The soldiers started firing, and their bullets pierced the walls of a
nearby house and killed Zaruhi Karabet, a 79-year-old Armenian Iraqi
woman who lived inside (Karabakh Open).
~U May 8: According to Iraqi security sources, shots were fired at a
U.S. helicopter in al-Nada village in Diyala province, and soldiers
in the helicopter returned fire, hitting Al-Saada elementary school.
Witnesses said six children were killed and six others wounded (Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty).
~U May 23: Samarra is a city of 300,000 where the Iraqi government
and the U.S. military have imposed a blockade since May 6, when a
suicide bomber killed a dozen police officers. No vehicles are allowed
into the city; it is difficult for residents to find food, water and
medical supplies. According to a doctor in Samarra’s largest hospital,
at least 10 people, including seven babies, have died because of a
lack of power for incubators and other medical equipment. Doctors for
Iraq has called for an end to the blockade, which it calls "collective
punishment" (Inter Press Service).
~U May 27: Khalil al-Zahawi, known as Iraq’s "sheikh of calligraphers,"
trained practitioners throughout the Middle East in classical Arabic
calligraphy. Gunmen pulled him from his car outside his Baghdad house
and shot him (BBC).
~U May 30: Thirty-one-year-old Abdul Rahman al-Isawi lived with his
family in Amiriyat-al-Fallujah and worked as a freelance reporter.
Late at night, "gunmen entered his house and dragged him with his
father and brother to a nearby orchard, where they shot them," said
Mohammed Hussein, al-Isawi’s cousin. Five other family members also
died at the hands of the gunmen. Two other Iraqi journalists also
were killed: in Kirkuk, Mahmoud Hakim Mustafa, editor of Hawadith
newspaper, and in Amara, Nazar Abdul Wahid, a 38-year-old father of
three who was on his way to a journalism workshop (Reuters).
These are 33 Iraqi civilians among the 2,770 who died last month. May
they all rest in peace.
Kate Rogers Gessert, a writer and teacher, wrote "Undercovered,"
a digest of news related to war, politics and the environment, for
Eugene Weekly from 2001 to 2005.
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