Seth Abramovitch says,
A young Iraqi journalist and blogger is taking a break from Iraq and hanging out at my brother-in-laws office (Committee to Protect Journalists, based in NYC) for a few days. He is staying in Brooklyn. His blog is very moving — he drinks wine and gets his hair cut by a woman for the first time in NYC, goes to Ground Zero, etc. This entry is about walking to school with my two nieces, Ruby and Lola.
Snip from "Treasure of Baghdad's Diary":
Joel and his two cute daughters arrived at the corner where I was waiting. Then we walked with his daughters to take them to their school as their mother who is a journalist is assigned for reporting in another state.
The school was so beautiful. It's a church school that looks like the school where my mother used to teach. She used to teach in a Nun's school, one of the best primary schools in Baghdad, called Dijlah [Tigris]. Because this school is located in the most dangerous street in Baghdad, Sadoun Street, my mother had to leave it and move to another school in my neighborhood. She decided to move after a massive car bomb took place at the main gate of the school where 22 Iraqi civilians were killed, most of them were pupils, school buses drivers and parents of pupils.
I remember how my mother was scared when I called her that day. She was crying and crying and saying things like the kids are killed, it's like hell and something like that. My heart sank at that moment. What does it mean when someone is trying to kill westerners in front of a primary school? Two westerners and 22 Iraqis were killed.
Link.
