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Adhamyia, Iraq: Neighborhood Of Sorrow

By Citizen Correspondent Dr. Mohammed Last of Iraqis , Baghdad
Date Posted: 04/15/08
Reader Rating: rating

Summer 2007: A quiet avenue, very hot weather, every few minutes a lonely speedy car passes by leaving a trail of dust. The silence is terrible and really horrifying; all the shops are closed and there is not a single wall without hundreds of bullet holes in it, no intact windows and even the asphalt of the road is feeling pain masked by the destroyed huge concrete blocks that lies in the street and blocking it. I was in Adhamiyal I have just entered it, and I have to walk because no taxi will go there.

I was walking in the street with only one thing occupying my mind; will I make it to my relatives' house? On my way I saw some of the usual: in the corner there was AlQaeda watchman sitting on a chair, a motorbike with two teenagers on it ( AlQaeda assassins) passes by me, and there was smoke going from somewhere, an explosion which is a normal thing here.

When I reached the house I was in sorrow ,as usual, for what the lovely neighborhood where I spent most of my life has turned to. I can remember the day when all of this started, I can remember the day when AlQaeda and other militias decided to make Adhamiya their stronghold and destroy everything beautiful in it, when they decided to kill its spirit. I remember the day when some of the nice people of Adhamiya were deceived by AlQaeda and other militias and thought they were for a better future. I also remembered how beautiful, peaceful and lovely this district was.

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