Gardenias And Grenades: Inside Iraq

Yesterday I saw the first Gardenia blossom in our garden. Photo: Dr. Mohammed

I'm sure I'm going to miss Baghdad but not this Baghdad. I'm going to miss my Baghdad, a Baghdad that was occupied by good and real Iraqis.

By Citizen Correspondent Dr. Mohammed Last of Iraqis

Date Posted: 04/30/08

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I love this time of the year; my wife and I love the Gardenia flowers so much…I have a tradition of looking for the first gardenia flower that blossoms in my garden and giving it to my wife. I have been doing that since we knew each other and I did it yesterday because I saw the first Gardenia in our garden. It's a bit early this year. As the night fell, we decided to sit in the garden and have dinner there despite the hot weather. As we started to eat, a huge explosion was heard and felt, it shook the table and we immediately got inside. I think it's too much for us even to have dinner in our garden. A few seconds after the explosion, the symphony of bullets started as usual. (Originally published on last-of-iraqis.blogspot.com)

Later we knew it was two mortars targeting Raghiba Khatoon (a neighborhood in Adhamiya) and no one knows about the casualties.

Things have deteriorated so quickly and it has became so dangerous to go out of home. Adhamiya had been closed for three days now and they say that they want to "disinfect it from the corrupted and terrorist individuals". I wanted to enter Adhamiya yesterday but I couldn't; the awakening members were so aggressive and they were yelling on everyone to get back. I heard that they have captured two suicidal women ready to detonate themselves in Adhamiya and in another district, Bab AlMoa`tham, they have captured another suicidal woman! It's like the fashion for 2008 is suicidal women, I don't know what will they do next? Maybe suicidal children?

Baghdad is burning. I literally mean burning because in every neighborhood or district there is at least one attack. In AlMansoor, there has been two attacks: one in the middle of the market where seven people died and 14 were injured, and the other one near a famous restaurant.

Three days ago in Bab AlMoa`tham, there was a fierce confrontation between the awakening of a Shaikh Omar neighborhood and armed men…the confrontation expanded into the market and bazaar. An eye witness told me "everyone was running or hiding, bullets coming from everywhere….you can't tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys! They all look the same. I witnessed the death of many people but I can't tell exactly how many died in that confrontation…It was really scary, one of the scariest thing I have ever seen."

The reason for that confrontation, I heard, was that the armed men wanted to kidnap a police general and the awakening prevented them.