Iraq 5 Years Later - An Insider's View

I read a blog by an Iraqi dentist on a fairly regular basis. He gives a very clear picture of what life in Iraq is like now. Many times he has blogged that he is afraid for the safety of his family and himself. Today he posted a look at the 5 year anniversary of the war.

It is a long a sometimes hard to read account and throughout the post I can feel his anguish and longing for life to return to normal. He says as he finishes, he doesn’t want the US to pull out immediately, but he does want things to be as good as they were when we invaded. In the 5 years since the invasion, power is still an occasional luxury in Baghdad. Prior to the war it was something to take for granted. Same for clean water and available food. Now all that is a fond memory.

From his blog:

“During these 5 years I have experienced everything, two of my relatives kidnapped, 6 of the people I know closely including relatives and close friends have been killed, I can't count the number of people that I know who were murdered, my niece who is 7 years old girl died in an explosion, most of my friends and relatives have left the country, I watched my teachers and college professors being killed or kidnapped one after the other, I have been near an explosion countless times, I have witnessed uncountable number of dead bodies and crying families taking their dead beloved from the forensic medicine building, I have seen 3 men at different times being shot to death in front of me, I have been through militias checkpoints several times, Me and my wife have been targeted by a national guard sniper for a reason I didn't know till this moment, I have seen dead bodies left on the side walk and no dares to bury them, my family have been threatened and forced to leave the country and I joined them and stayed in Jordan/Amman for about a year and then had to return back despite the horrible situation and the extra danger on me being threatened, but what can I do, I tried desperately to find a job there but like most of Iraqis, I couldn't. I'm just one Iraqi and I have such loses, imagine 28 million one like me, how much looses does the Iraqis have?”

Imagine indeed. Let’s work together and end this international nightmare. Stop the war!