For those who have not yet heard of Salam Pax, here is his latest entry:
the all clear siren just went on.
The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn’t even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday’s interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house, hotel pax was a good idea. we have two safe rooms one with “international media” and the other with the Iraqi TV on. every body is waitingwaitingwaiting. phones are still ok, we called around the city a moment ago to check on friends. Information is what they need. Iraqi TV says nothing, shows nothing. what good are patriotic songs when bombs are dropping
Add another perspective to the real-time war on our screens…which is, by the way, an astounding technological feat.
Friday, March 21, 2003 ::
The most disturbing news today has come from Al-Jazeera, they said that nine B52 bombers have left the airfield in Britain and flying “presumably” towards Iraq, as if they would be doing a spin around the block. Anyway they have 6 hours to get here.
Last night was very quiet in Baghdad. Today in the morning I went out to get bread and groceries. There were no Ba’ath party people stopping us from leaving the area where we live, this apparently happens after the evening prayers. But they are still everywhere. The streets are empty only bakeries are open and some grocery shops charging 4 times the normal prices, while I was buying bread a police car stopped in front of the bakery and asked the baker if they had enough flour and asked when they opened; the baker told me that they have been informed that they must open their shops and they get flour delivered to them daily. Groceries, meat and dairy products are a different story. One dairy product company seems to be still operating, not state owned, and their cars were going around the city distributing butter, cheese and yoghurt to any open markets. Meat is not safe to buy because you wouldn’t know from where and how it got to the shops. Anyway we bought fresh tomatoes and zucchini for 1000 dinar a kilo which would normally be 250. and most amazingly the garbage car came around.
The Iraqi Satellite Channel is not broadcasting anymore. The second youth TV channel (it shows Egyptian soaps in the morning and sports afterwards) also stopped transmitting. This leaves two channels: Iraq TV and Shabab (youth) TV. They are still full of patriotic songs and useless “news”, they love the French here. We also saw the latest Sahaf show on Al-Jazeera and Iraq TV, and the most distressing minister of Interior affairs with his guns. Freaks. Hurling abuse at the world is the only thing left for them to do.
On BBC we are watching scenes of Iraqis surrendering. My youngest cousin was muttering “what shame” to himself, yes it is better for them to do that but still seeing them carrying that white flag makes something deep inside you cringe.
we sit infront of the TV with the mao of Iraq on our laps trying to figure out what is going on in the south.
:: salam 3:13 PM [+] ::
I’m surprised Salam’s server is still up. By now I think most of the blogosphere knows of his site, and he even got slashdotted recently.
The
last blog from Salam was Friday. What has happened to him. He started it, you will recall, with “…the B52’s will be arriving soon…”
Me parece lamentable que Estados Unidos controle y maneje hasta la informacion que circula por internet cuando la misma no esta violando absolutamente nada, sino que una persona que vive en medio de una guerra que ni siquiera le pertenece y es inocente expresa lo que siente. Creo que realmente es Estados Unidos quien esta violando permanentemente no solo el derecho de este cuidadano de Iraq, sino de el mundo entero. Todos estamos esperando que alguien, algun paid fuerte y con poder, le haga frente y derrote a este imperialismo, esperamos en realidad que el mundo se levante ante esto y destruya el poderio que Estados Unidos ejerce sobre el resto de la tierra, ya que mata a iraquies con su guerra injusta, pero no nos olvidemos que dia a dia mata a millones de personas que mueren de hambre en el mundo. Saludos.
Me parece lamentable que Estados Unidos controle y maneje hasta la informacion que circula por internet cuando la misma no esta violando absolutamente nada, sino que una persona que vive en medio de una guerra que ni siquiera le pertenece y es inocente expresa lo que siente. Creo que realmente es Estados Unidos quien esta violando permanentemente no solo el derecho de este cuidadano de Iraq, sino de el mundo entero. Todos estamos esperando que alguien, algun paid fuerte y con poder, le haga frente y derrote a este imperialismo, esperamos en realidad que el mundo se levante ante esto y destruya el poderio que Estados Unidos ejerce sobre el resto de la tierra, ya que mata a iraquies con su guerra injusta, pero no nos olvidemos que dia a dia mata a millones de personas que mueren de hambre en el mundo. Saludos.