Nice Bombs

Today is Feb 5, 2004, Baghdad.

11:30 am

Last night we had some Heineken beer, yum. Anyway I was talking about Pacha during the Eid dinner. Pacha is tongue, eyes, brain, feet, intestine, and basically the whole sheep head. At one point I was given the tip of a sheep tongue on my plate and instead of contemplating whether I should eat it or not I just stuck it in my mouth and chewed. Really it was delicious ( my Dad and I used to eat Pacha when we were younger as my sisters and Mother ran away from the food in disgust)

Aghh so much food. Last night was total Eid celebration in the streets of Baghdad. The whole city was out honking their horns, banging drums, blasting music, dancing right in the middle of the road. And I thought I would have trouble video shooting people...ha! Everytime I pull out my camera everyone motions for me to shoot them. Waving and laughing and being silly. Although last night a kid that looked about ten years old had a gun that he cocked and wanted me to video-tape him. I even saw American soldiers driving in their humvee-tanks blasting heavy metal music. The traffic is totally insane! I can't even to begin to explain how chaotic it is. But somehow they all manage.

I am uncertain about the Basrah trip. Not so much a safety issue anymore but we really do not have time.

Things are cheap here. One dollar is about 1300 dinars. Food is cheap, everything is pretty cheap. And we are able to buy almost any drug we may require at the pharmacy.

Oh, and I was able to buy some minDV (digital video tapes) for my camera, so no problem.

We were going to go to Kerbala and Babylon today but because of Shia Haij it may be too crowded right now . We may have to go this Saturday.

Also, just to make something clear. Iraqi women do not have to wear Abayas. Kristie only wore it when we were in the holy area of Kadhamya. Some Iraqi women dress in jeans and the latest fashion, and of course some ware Hajib's. Iraq is not an Islamic state (not yet at least). I mean things are mellow for women here. We may even go to a night club before we leave.

We we are staying in Al-Mansoor and there are several churches all over. My Uncle Kamal was telling me about all the religions here in Iraq. You know there is even a sect that worships Shaytan (Satan), seriously.

When I said earlier that some of my Anti-American positions were changing I did not mean that I support Bush or anything like that. I mean that there are some really good things that go on here thanks to the Americans. They are helping the Iraqi police and generally leave most people alone. But the behavior of some soldiers toward Iraqis is extremely disrespectful. At one point my cousin Tareef and I were trying to enter the Green Zone (the American controlled area where they all hide) and they looked at our passports and then when they asked for Tareef's ID (which was in Arabic of course) the soldier said I CAN'T READ THIS SHIT! Many stories like this. Or soldiers just aiming their guns at Iraqis, some to just to mess with them, others fire shots around them to scare them, and saying things like MOTHER FUCKERS. One of my relatives asked me if MOTHER FUCKER is an insult, I said yes it is, and he said I thought so I gave him the middle finger! hee hee.

It goes on. Much of this is in my documentary. Anyway, we did not get into the Green Zone and the General (not the soldiers) that helped us was very nice. I talked to the soldiers a bit and asked them what they thought of all the Eid celebration and they did not even know what the hell I was talking about. They said, oh like it's Christmas? umm...not exactly but yeah, okay whatever. They look so young. Maybe 18 or 19 years old. But I have to say they are freaked out. I overheard them joking that they will get blown up today. One of them said something like, yeah I can't wait to get a bomb thrown at me. They are stressed and afraid. I could not shoot them with my camera and didn't really want to push it. But I did manage to video tape some tanks at the side of the road. Let me explain that a car full of Iraqis, heading toward American tanks with a device that has a microphone on it that may resemble a gun is a little freaky. And I'm aiming at directly at the soldiers. It's very risky and the soldier looked directly at me...my heart was pounding...but I got the shot.

Everyone has a gun in Iraq. Every Family has some sort of firearm. And I'm realizing more and more that most of the machine gun fire and explosions are kids and people celebrating and playing. It's everywhere. And the US helicopters are everywhere. You hear them every couple of hours and they shake all the buildings.

I'm getting used to it. Maybe because I was in Basrah during the Iran war I'm not really so freaked out about the bombs and explosions. Although I did get nervous being so close to the American soldiers.

Baghdad is very hyper because we are in Eid week. And there internet centers opening up everywhere. I can see the future here.

K said something that I think is really relevant about Baghdad. She said: the future and the past co-exist simultaneously here. I mean, you have sheep herders sacrificing the animals in front of mobile and internet stores. Technology is booming everywhere.

The American army are not seen as much anymore. More Iraqi police. These soldiers are really stressed. But they have done some awful, horrible things to innocent civilians. My God the stories I hear...
anyway.. more later