A Ray of Hope in Baghdad
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 2nd, 2008 4:28 am by HL
A Ray of Hope in Baghdad
Whenever I am trying to get a glimpse of what’s happening at street level in Baghdad, I call my friend Abbas. He is a driver and businessman, and a member of a large Shiite clan from a Baghdad neighborhood called Hay Salaam. A man of wide girth and robust laugh, he comes from a family in which Shiites have intermarried with Sunnis. He is shrewd and tough, with a sharp sense of humor that has survived events Americans can’t even imagine. His uncle was hanged by Saddam Hussein, and a close relative was killed by militiamen after Hussein fell. He has been receiving written death threats. When I asked if he was scared, he replied: “When I get through every day I say al-hamdulillah [thanks to God], I am OK.”