The airplane that was supposed to show up at noon didn’t do so until 2 PM, and it was a chartered Lebanese “Flying Carpet Airlines” B-737. It was kind of nice to go into a “foreign” airplane for a domestic flight. At 2:30 PM, we were on board, and the plane was full of Kurdish young men who didn’t know Arabic, and the Lebanese crew didn’t know Kurdish. One of the crew was a nice friendly old man who wanted to say “how are you?” to them in Kurdish, so he asked them in Arabic: “What is Kurdish for ‘Keef Halek?’”, and the problem was that nobody knew the others language, so I (came to the rescue, blah blah blah, and) gave him the (magic) word: Chony!
The travelers thought that I was Kurdish for a moment, but then I explained that I am from Baghdad and said the sentence that I’d keep saying all the time whenever someone in Sulaimaniya is impressed with my beginner’s Kurdish language: “Kurdi kem zanim, bess feyr abem” (= I know a little Kurdish, but I am learning!).
We flew a couple of rounds above Baghdad, and I got the chance to see our district, bathing in the afternoon sun; and got a glimpse at our house, where my laptop and luggage were forced to stay behind.
Then, horribleness began! The weather was pretty cloudy just north of Baghdad so we had terrible air bumps all flight long, and the barometer at my Casio watch read 940 hPa (mb) after the good ol’ 1007 it read while on the ground in Baghdad.
To make a long story short: It was like “Pirates of the Caribbean”, but no Keira Knightley…
And then, we landed.
21 August 2006
At the Airport
The 1st thing I noticed this time at the Airport was that for the 1st time in a long time, I saw women that are wearing stylish, modern cloths and outfits; not anything near “Veronica’s Closet full of black wide shapeless long sacks!!!”
I have seen this with a much narrower scale back at the hotel, first because the hotel is in downtown Baghdad and in a somewhat nowadays conservative area, (Baghdad is all conservative now thanks to the militias and insurgents!). Women may find it difficult to come to the hotel stylish, unless if they were staying there, thus being able to change in a safe environment. But since the Airport road is somewhat secured / isolated, and they will be landing somewhere better styled than today’s Baghdad (excluding Tehran, of course), so they have the chance to go with the global trend (reasonable version).
My flight was supposed to fly out at noon, and I entered the terminal at 9 AM, and I sat and sat, after buying 5 DVDs (Syriana, Date Movie, The Pink Panther, The Devil Wears Prada, and My Super Ex-Girlfriend).
I have seen this with a much narrower scale back at the hotel, first because the hotel is in downtown Baghdad and in a somewhat nowadays conservative area, (Baghdad is all conservative now thanks to the militias and insurgents!). Women may find it difficult to come to the hotel stylish, unless if they were staying there, thus being able to change in a safe environment. But since the Airport road is somewhat secured / isolated, and they will be landing somewhere better styled than today’s Baghdad (excluding Tehran, of course), so they have the chance to go with the global trend (reasonable version).
My flight was supposed to fly out at noon, and I entered the terminal at 9 AM, and I sat and sat, after buying 5 DVDs (Syriana, Date Movie, The Pink Panther, The Devil Wears Prada, and My Super Ex-Girlfriend).
Finally Out
After a night that was sleepless, it’s Monday 21 Aug. morning. The curfew has been lifted. At 7 AM, a car came and took me to the Baghdad International Airport, but as I arrived at the Airport entrance, the taxi turned out as a trick set out by the taxis office at Babylon Hotel. I thought that it was called from the Airport taxis office by the Babylon Hotel taxis office, but it turned out that the driver was just friends with the Hotel taxis manager, and that despite his being an officer at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior (working as a taxi driver on his days off), he was not allowed to go into the Airport premises. Only Airport taxis are allowed to go there; something I knew, but what I didn’t know was the reality of the car. So here I was, paying this guy 80000 ID, then paying the taxi that would take me inside the Airport an additional 20000 ID, instead of 50-60 K ID if the car was of the Airport taxis. That’s life… live and learn!
It isn’t that I haven’t tried, but when I asked them on Sat. for the Airport phone number, the Police (who are supposed to know everything in this country) gave me the phone number of a bank instead of the Airport’s!
Welcome to the 3rd World!
It isn’t that I haven’t tried, but when I asked them on Sat. for the Airport phone number, the Police (who are supposed to know everything in this country) gave me the phone number of a bank instead of the Airport’s!
Welcome to the 3rd World!
20 August 2006
I'm Still Here!
Today, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis walked to Kadhimiya for a holy visit, or "Ziyara" in Arabic, and which is mistakenly called (pilgrimage) in foreign media.
I heard the news about some clashes elsewhere in Baghdad, watched some TV, then i slept. I learned later that the curfew will be lifted on Monday at 6 am. I don't know if i should say "yeeey" or still wait for the real thing.
Tonight, i bought detergent powder, and sat to wash my cloths by hand, before i went down to the internet cafe. After i finished my works there, i went to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant, where i found the program team i told you about, and they were filming their final chats at their final night.
I heard the news about some clashes elsewhere in Baghdad, watched some TV, then i slept. I learned later that the curfew will be lifted on Monday at 6 am. I don't know if i should say "yeeey" or still wait for the real thing.
Tonight, i bought detergent powder, and sat to wash my cloths by hand, before i went down to the internet cafe. After i finished my works there, i went to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant, where i found the program team i told you about, and they were filming their final chats at their final night.
19 August 2006
Still Under Curfew
Hello Again!
Curfew turned out to expire on Monday morning, as i said, but without any exception, in contrary to what was already mentioned that the Police would simplify people's trips to and from the Airport.
I was not told about that until late Sat. night; therefore, i will remain here, stuck at the hotel for another day.
Curfew turned out to expire on Monday morning, as i said, but without any exception, in contrary to what was already mentioned that the Police would simplify people's trips to and from the Airport.
I was not told about that until late Sat. night; therefore, i will remain here, stuck at the hotel for another day.
Not Another Curfew!
Friday, 18 Aug. evening came, and i went to visit a friend in Karrada who i haven't seen since early 2004.
As soon as i returned to the hotel, i learned that due to a religious ceremony, there will be a curfew that will go on until Mon. morning, and the funny thing is that my travel is due on Sun. morning!
Another week! Another curfew!
So, i found myself trying to figure out a plan to go by, past this new curfew.
Just imagine! After 4 days of "house arrest", i am under "hotel arrest". The thing is that due to this curfew, the TOEFL test is blown up! Out of a week's time, 6 days are curfew!
Hahahahaha! [goofy crazy giggle]
As soon as i returned to the hotel, i learned that due to a religious ceremony, there will be a curfew that will go on until Mon. morning, and the funny thing is that my travel is due on Sun. morning!
Another week! Another curfew!
So, i found myself trying to figure out a plan to go by, past this new curfew.
Just imagine! After 4 days of "house arrest", i am under "hotel arrest". The thing is that due to this curfew, the TOEFL test is blown up! Out of a week's time, 6 days are curfew!
Hahahahaha! [goofy crazy giggle]
18 August 2006
"Cue!!"
After sleeping at 4 am last night, and getting down around 10 am for breakfast, and after i called a friend to wish him a happy 30th birthday, it turned out that there was a set for some Iraqi program at the hotel's front desk and lobby.
To be honest, i thought about approaching the director, cast or crew to be able to run my first, very own, exclusive story that is not about me, but the director seemed to be so so busy!
Later on, i found out that it was a true booboo when i didn't watch terrastreal channels, and even Iraqi satellite channels all through and even before the 2006 Middle East War. But, come on, with more than 1000 channels, you hardly have a choice but to follow what your family wants or the news lead.
One of the Iraqi channels is Al-Sharqiya, which has a youth show which enables them to practice their talents and realize their dreams, and the guys over here were doing just that.
I saw my very first episode of this show only yesterday at the hotel, which was only 2 away from the season finale. And when i first saw the guys i said to myself: "Where did i see them before?!"
Cameras still roll an hour after. A couple of the crew sit next to me, cracking practical jokes, while others are all over the lobby.
i forgot to metion the name of the show, which is "Saya w Surmaya", which means something like "Money Capital" or "Everything I own" in the early 20th Century Iraqi slang.
To be honest, i thought about approaching the director, cast or crew to be able to run my first, very own, exclusive story that is not about me, but the director seemed to be so so busy!
Later on, i found out that it was a true booboo when i didn't watch terrastreal channels, and even Iraqi satellite channels all through and even before the 2006 Middle East War. But, come on, with more than 1000 channels, you hardly have a choice but to follow what your family wants or the news lead.
One of the Iraqi channels is Al-Sharqiya, which has a youth show which enables them to practice their talents and realize their dreams, and the guys over here were doing just that.
I saw my very first episode of this show only yesterday at the hotel, which was only 2 away from the season finale. And when i first saw the guys i said to myself: "Where did i see them before?!"
Cameras still roll an hour after. A couple of the crew sit next to me, cracking practical jokes, while others are all over the lobby.
i forgot to metion the name of the show, which is "Saya w Surmaya", which means something like "Money Capital" or "Everything I own" in the early 20th Century Iraqi slang.
17 August 2006
One Heck of a Day!
Well, have you ever seen days so long, that the morning seems to be ages away when you finally hit the sack?
The 1st things was: My father and i took off to the Iraqi Airways office that i got my ticket from. The ticket for the 13 Aug. flight that i couldn't make it, remember? It turned out that their phones were down, therefore they couldn't do any ticket purchase or amendments! (smallie reminder: The year is 2006!!!). They asked me to go to another Iraqi Airways office, and guess what?! The car wouldn't run!!
I had to leave my dad who was trying to fix the car, under a "good" mid-August sun, with a "good" 50 C / 122 F heat, and go and return to and from that other Iraqi Airways office by taxi.
After some time, and with a valuable help from a cold drinks vendor, and after about an hour of sunbath, we managed to make the car run again, and then, another phase of this long day began.
See, i am to take a TOEFL test due on Sat. 19 Aug. and that takes place in Babylon Hotel downtown Baghdad, and because of the latest siege experience, i decided to go from Thu., stay for 2 nights at the hotel in preparation for the test, and in order not to find roads closed or anything when you want to come to the early start on Sat. at 8 am!
So, i arrived at the hotel, chilled out, went out to grab a bite for lunch, and to take a walk before sunset. At that time, wedding parades began to land at the hotel gate like rain. I think that there were about 20-30 couples checking in. I went downstairs to have dinner; and i went back to my room.
Anyways, here i am, at 3 in the morning, munching Lays, drinking Pepsi, and watching a Shelley Long movie called "Hello Again".
So, you see there, life can be beautiful after all; regardless of the fact of being a neighbor to someone who made a big noise in the hotel floor from his room, too big a noise that closing your door, and turning the TV volume higher gave no result!
The 1st things was: My father and i took off to the Iraqi Airways office that i got my ticket from. The ticket for the 13 Aug. flight that i couldn't make it, remember? It turned out that their phones were down, therefore they couldn't do any ticket purchase or amendments! (smallie reminder: The year is 2006!!!). They asked me to go to another Iraqi Airways office, and guess what?! The car wouldn't run!!
I had to leave my dad who was trying to fix the car, under a "good" mid-August sun, with a "good" 50 C / 122 F heat, and go and return to and from that other Iraqi Airways office by taxi.
After some time, and with a valuable help from a cold drinks vendor, and after about an hour of sunbath, we managed to make the car run again, and then, another phase of this long day began.
See, i am to take a TOEFL test due on Sat. 19 Aug. and that takes place in Babylon Hotel downtown Baghdad, and because of the latest siege experience, i decided to go from Thu., stay for 2 nights at the hotel in preparation for the test, and in order not to find roads closed or anything when you want to come to the early start on Sat. at 8 am!
So, i arrived at the hotel, chilled out, went out to grab a bite for lunch, and to take a walk before sunset. At that time, wedding parades began to land at the hotel gate like rain. I think that there were about 20-30 couples checking in. I went downstairs to have dinner; and i went back to my room.
Anyways, here i am, at 3 in the morning, munching Lays, drinking Pepsi, and watching a Shelley Long movie called "Hello Again".
So, you see there, life can be beautiful after all; regardless of the fact of being a neighbor to someone who made a big noise in the hotel floor from his room, too big a noise that closing your door, and turning the TV volume higher gave no result!
16 August 2006
The Siege (3+4): Doing Nothing
Two more days passed, and nothing significant happened. We just sat there, waiting, waiting, and waiting again.
As the dusk of Wed. 16 Aug. approached, there were signs that the siege have been lifted as cars began to move around the area in the last hour of light.
Later that night, there was a story on Yahoo! home page about our area.
It was the 3rd most important story according to Yahoo!
As the dusk of Wed. 16 Aug. approached, there were signs that the siege have been lifted as cars began to move around the area in the last hour of light.
Later that night, there was a story on Yahoo! home page about our area.
It was the 3rd most important story according to Yahoo!
14 August 2006
The Siege (2): The Inspectors
Mon. 14 Aug. started as calm as the day before. I went out early in the morning to one of the larger streets in our area, which is usually crowded when there is any movement.
It was 8 am when i reached the street, and found it, as well as the neighborhood, as if it was a ghost town. I ran into 3 tanks as i was returning home. Later that day, at around 6 pm, American tanks came and were deployed at our alley, then Iraqi troops came and filled the middle, and started searching houses along with the Amercian forces.
Some houses were searched by the US Army, some by the Iraqis. Our house was the Iraqis' share. They were a group of five soldiers. 2 sat with my family, and took some info about who lives in the house, as well as the car's registration documents, and last but definitely not least, the weapons in the house. Another 2 Iraqi soldiers went to look into the ground floor's rooms& the kitchen and all. The 5th soldier was accompanied by me, and he looked around upstairs and then it was all over.
It took about 10 mins. and we have, thus, been inspected.
13 August 2006
The Siege (1): "No Way, Jose!"
Well, it was one of those mornings, or i thought it was! A morning before which i have made all the proper preperations to leave to the Northern city of Sulaimaniya for a 4-day trip.
My flight was supposed to go out of Baghdad Int'l Airport at noon on Sun. 13 Aug. and as usual one needs to go to the Airport as early in the day as possible because you never know what pops up in your way... Like today!
As my father (who was supposed to drive me to the Airport checkpoint and drop me there) and i drove around the 1st corner, we ran into many people from our area on foot, and they were all saying the same line... "You'd better return, the Americans are everywhere, they'd hit you if they saw you..." It was true that we saw 2 tanks in as many alleys, so i decided to stop the car, carry my passport in one hand, and put the other hand as a sun shield on my forehead, and walk towards the nearest tanks, and show my English language muscles!
I walked for about 200 yds/meters, and i reached the tank. There i stood, passport in one hand, other hand on my forehead, and went: "Excuse me!! Anybody there?!!"
A moment afterwards, a soldier appeared on top of the tank. I said: "Hi. I work with the _________, (left as blank for security reasons) and i have a flight to catch to the North today, i have a car and i need to be dropped at the airport and the car needs to return here, is that possible?!"
Soldier said: "Hold on!", then he spoke on the radio with his leaders, and then said: "No way!"... I just echoed that to him with a sarcastic smile. Then i said: "So when would you finish?!"... He said: "When we finish, we finish..."
I left the place where the tank stood, and clicked a quick picture for it, after i reached a safe distance. As i was walking, i heard a voice on one of the humvees loudspeakers. It was a feminine voice which read an announcement from the Iraqi Army and the friendly Coalition Forces, saying that the zone is a no-drive zone from dawn till dusk, and there is a full curfew from dusk till dawn.
To be honest, this was a needed operation, especially after all the mortars, and the dead bodies we started seeing in the alleys and driving by them, which was one f the most awful and terrible moments of my life.
We drove back home, and that was Day 1.
07 August 2006
Three Mortars
At exactly 6:30 pm yesterday (Sun. 6 Aug. 2006), three mortar shells were fired from nearby (about 200 yards/meters). And it was so close, we were even able to hear the voices of those who shot it shouting to people to go away!
It wasn't clear where the shells landed.
During the next hour, till sunset, 2 American spycrafts were seen flying overhead.
04 August 2006
Car Bombs
Hello, and sorry for being late in writing... First i was busy, then the internet wasn't so good, and third there is the general unpreparedness to write.
The main events that we had during the past period of time, since i last wote, were some late morning shootouts between the Iraqi Army patrols that started showing up again, and some insurgents who "refused" that the Army reenters their stronghold. Well, it seems they'll have to face both the Iraqis and Americans soon.
There were also 3 car bombs inside the area, as well as suicide car bombs hitting the check points on the area borders.
The most "interesting" incident was the explosion in one electric equipment shop, which was from the inside out, which could probably be a sign that somebody inside that shop was preparing something explosive.
That's all for the moment.
The main events that we had during the past period of time, since i last wote, were some late morning shootouts between the Iraqi Army patrols that started showing up again, and some insurgents who "refused" that the Army reenters their stronghold. Well, it seems they'll have to face both the Iraqis and Americans soon.
There were also 3 car bombs inside the area, as well as suicide car bombs hitting the check points on the area borders.
The most "interesting" incident was the explosion in one electric equipment shop, which was from the inside out, which could probably be a sign that somebody inside that shop was preparing something explosive.
That's all for the moment.
Mercury News Article: Iraqis already believe they're living through a civil war
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15191428.htm
Iraqis already believe they're living through a civil war
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, told Congress on Thursday that the violence in Baghdad "is probably as bad as I have ever seen it," and went on to say that the country could be headed toward civil war.
Nearly all of the dozen Iraqis who work for McClatchy Newspapers' Baghdad bureau - evenly split between Shiite and Sunni Muslims - reached that conclusion long ago.
Their observations have trickled out day by day in the scores of conversations colleagues have with one another about their lives and difficulties.
Their experiences of the last month reveal a capital city that's disintegrating into chaos.
Neighborhoods are falling to insurgents or militias in days; the airport and roads leading from the capital are filled with people who've squirreled away months of salary to taste peace for a few weeks in neighboring countries; a criminal element apparently has decided that the government can't control it, leaving it to do whatever it likes on the streets.
Iraq saw a steady increase in violence after the Feb. 22 bombing of the revered Shiite Askariya shrine in the mostly Sunni city of Samarra. But what the staff talks about now isn't a slow evolution but a sudden change that took place in less than a month. U.S. forces now are entering the capital in an effort to turn Baghdad around so that Iraqis like those on our staff will considering returning to their homes, but no one here thinks they'll succeed.
I first began to realize what was happening when I received an unexpected e-mail from one of my usually mild-mannered Iraqi colleagues: "I want to have a fellowship or scholarship (to Canada) and get out of here," she wrote. "It is the only way I can leave here with my kids." It arrived July 7. At the time, I was away on a three-week break, my longest time away from Iraq since last September.
This colleague - whose name I'm withholding, as with all our Iraqi staff, to protect her from retaliation from insurgents who hunt down their countrymen who work for Americans - is a secular Shiite in her mid-30s whose coy smile often draws information from reluctant sources. She works as hard as she can every day, in part so she can get home to her kids on time. She didn't explain the sudden urge to return to academia, but I didn't have to wait long to find out the reason.
Two days later, another Iraqi staffer wrote. His mostly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, al Jihad, had been attacked. Residents there said that gunmen, some of them wearing Iraqi police uniforms, had brazenly attacked their streets. As residents fled, police at makeshift checkpoints asked them for their identification. Those thought to be Sunni, based on their names, were executed in front of their families. In all, more than 50 people were killed, some of them children.
It was wanton violence, even by Iraqi standards.
The women in the staffer's family fled that day. He stayed one more day, then left after a car bomb shattered the windows of his lifelong family home. The family hurriedly moved into a relative's house.
They sleep on the floor now, but their 10-month-old hasn't adjusted to her new environment yet. She can't fall asleep on the floor, and often stays awake until 1 a.m., the staffer complains. I can see it in his sagging eyes every morning.
He doesn't know what happened to his neighbors. The neighborhood is empty now.
"This is the first time this many Sunnis were killed this way," he wrote to me later that day. "I don't know if civil war is starting from al Jihad" or not.
Iraqis had witnessed the ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods before: Nearby Amariyah and Dora were branded no-go zones months ago.
Both those communities were taken over almost methodically. First, threatening notes, often with single bullets in the envelopes, appeared on doorsteps. Then the hairdressers were told to close their businesses because their work was un-Islamic. Perhaps a barber would be assassinated because someone mistook his chatty conversations with customers for spying. Slowly, the neighborhood changed as residents moved out and businesses shut down.
Al Jihad was on that track. But in one day, unpredictably, the neighborhood fell. And it was undeniable that sectarianism had forced people out.
From Washington, where I was visiting my family, I called to check in. Another staffer, a Sunni father of two young children who's never left Iraq in his life, told me that he was sending his wife and children to Syria. Just to give them a break from the violence, he explained.
The flights out of the country were booked for a month, incredible since at $400 a seat, flying costs too much for most Iraqis. Just two months earlier, one could book a flight two days ahead. But now many families wanted to get out of Iraq, at least during their children's summer vacation from school. The staffer's family would leave by road.
He asked whether he could stay in our offices in a Baghdad hotel while they were gone, saying he feared what would happen if Shiite militiamen or American forces found a single man alone at home. "Maybe they will kill me," he said.
Of course he could stay. Sullen at first about being separated from his family, he took to living among us. Between card games, he'd talk to his family.
"How do they like it?" one of my colleagues asked.
Without an ounce of irony in his voice, he replied: "It is just like Iraq except it has security and electricity."
When I finally returned to Iraq on July 26, I could tell that the atmosphere had changed. The streets were empty, the staff looked drained and hopes for this government, the first permanent democratically elected body in nearly 100 years, were dimming.
One of our Shiite staff members, who'd been the most open champion of the government, suddenly said little. He'd proudly voted for the biggest Shiite slate, the United Iraqi Alliance, in the election Dec. 15. But his neighborhood had seen a surge in sectarian violence. He was leaving work often to help friends pull their relatives out of the rubble left by car bombs just blocks from his home.
The criminals are controlling the streets; the government isn't doing anything about it, he complained. Three months after the government finally was seated, he said he regretted his vote.
"The politicians don't care about us. They are just taking our money," he said. "Then they will leave."
Why do you think this happening, I asked another staffer. He responded by quoting a popular Arabic aphorism: "Those who are not punished misbehave."
With that, I started looking for scholarship opportunities for the staff member who wanted out.
Iraqis already believe they're living through a civil war
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, told Congress on Thursday that the violence in Baghdad "is probably as bad as I have ever seen it," and went on to say that the country could be headed toward civil war.
Nearly all of the dozen Iraqis who work for McClatchy Newspapers' Baghdad bureau - evenly split between Shiite and Sunni Muslims - reached that conclusion long ago.
Their observations have trickled out day by day in the scores of conversations colleagues have with one another about their lives and difficulties.
Their experiences of the last month reveal a capital city that's disintegrating into chaos.
Neighborhoods are falling to insurgents or militias in days; the airport and roads leading from the capital are filled with people who've squirreled away months of salary to taste peace for a few weeks in neighboring countries; a criminal element apparently has decided that the government can't control it, leaving it to do whatever it likes on the streets.
Iraq saw a steady increase in violence after the Feb. 22 bombing of the revered Shiite Askariya shrine in the mostly Sunni city of Samarra. But what the staff talks about now isn't a slow evolution but a sudden change that took place in less than a month. U.S. forces now are entering the capital in an effort to turn Baghdad around so that Iraqis like those on our staff will considering returning to their homes, but no one here thinks they'll succeed.
I first began to realize what was happening when I received an unexpected e-mail from one of my usually mild-mannered Iraqi colleagues: "I want to have a fellowship or scholarship (to Canada) and get out of here," she wrote. "It is the only way I can leave here with my kids." It arrived July 7. At the time, I was away on a three-week break, my longest time away from Iraq since last September.
This colleague - whose name I'm withholding, as with all our Iraqi staff, to protect her from retaliation from insurgents who hunt down their countrymen who work for Americans - is a secular Shiite in her mid-30s whose coy smile often draws information from reluctant sources. She works as hard as she can every day, in part so she can get home to her kids on time. She didn't explain the sudden urge to return to academia, but I didn't have to wait long to find out the reason.
Two days later, another Iraqi staffer wrote. His mostly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, al Jihad, had been attacked. Residents there said that gunmen, some of them wearing Iraqi police uniforms, had brazenly attacked their streets. As residents fled, police at makeshift checkpoints asked them for their identification. Those thought to be Sunni, based on their names, were executed in front of their families. In all, more than 50 people were killed, some of them children.
It was wanton violence, even by Iraqi standards.
The women in the staffer's family fled that day. He stayed one more day, then left after a car bomb shattered the windows of his lifelong family home. The family hurriedly moved into a relative's house.
They sleep on the floor now, but their 10-month-old hasn't adjusted to her new environment yet. She can't fall asleep on the floor, and often stays awake until 1 a.m., the staffer complains. I can see it in his sagging eyes every morning.
He doesn't know what happened to his neighbors. The neighborhood is empty now.
"This is the first time this many Sunnis were killed this way," he wrote to me later that day. "I don't know if civil war is starting from al Jihad" or not.
Iraqis had witnessed the ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods before: Nearby Amariyah and Dora were branded no-go zones months ago.
Both those communities were taken over almost methodically. First, threatening notes, often with single bullets in the envelopes, appeared on doorsteps. Then the hairdressers were told to close their businesses because their work was un-Islamic. Perhaps a barber would be assassinated because someone mistook his chatty conversations with customers for spying. Slowly, the neighborhood changed as residents moved out and businesses shut down.
Al Jihad was on that track. But in one day, unpredictably, the neighborhood fell. And it was undeniable that sectarianism had forced people out.
From Washington, where I was visiting my family, I called to check in. Another staffer, a Sunni father of two young children who's never left Iraq in his life, told me that he was sending his wife and children to Syria. Just to give them a break from the violence, he explained.
The flights out of the country were booked for a month, incredible since at $400 a seat, flying costs too much for most Iraqis. Just two months earlier, one could book a flight two days ahead. But now many families wanted to get out of Iraq, at least during their children's summer vacation from school. The staffer's family would leave by road.
He asked whether he could stay in our offices in a Baghdad hotel while they were gone, saying he feared what would happen if Shiite militiamen or American forces found a single man alone at home. "Maybe they will kill me," he said.
Of course he could stay. Sullen at first about being separated from his family, he took to living among us. Between card games, he'd talk to his family.
"How do they like it?" one of my colleagues asked.
Without an ounce of irony in his voice, he replied: "It is just like Iraq except it has security and electricity."
When I finally returned to Iraq on July 26, I could tell that the atmosphere had changed. The streets were empty, the staff looked drained and hopes for this government, the first permanent democratically elected body in nearly 100 years, were dimming.
One of our Shiite staff members, who'd been the most open champion of the government, suddenly said little. He'd proudly voted for the biggest Shiite slate, the United Iraqi Alliance, in the election Dec. 15. But his neighborhood had seen a surge in sectarian violence. He was leaving work often to help friends pull their relatives out of the rubble left by car bombs just blocks from his home.
The criminals are controlling the streets; the government isn't doing anything about it, he complained. Three months after the government finally was seated, he said he regretted his vote.
"The politicians don't care about us. They are just taking our money," he said. "Then they will leave."
Why do you think this happening, I asked another staffer. He responded by quoting a popular Arabic aphorism: "Those who are not punished misbehave."
With that, I started looking for scholarship opportunities for the staff member who wanted out.
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