Gorilla’s Guides

One of the things about doing this that makes me clench my fists is going to the Western news sites and the western bloggs. This lady is the mother of the murderer Jodka. I feel no pity for her. Her son is one the four American soldiers who murdered an inncent Iraqi civilian. He has been sentenced to 18 months for his part in the crime. 18 months! According to the western reports she has said that she hopes it will not “define his life.”

I am a parent, I can feel some sympathy for what is described as her anguish. But there are things that I as a parent also feel. Her son came to my country prepared to kill.

He was one of a group who took a crippled old man and murdered him. For his part in this crime he will spend 18 months in prison. Apparently he is “truly sorry.” Really?

Jodka earlier apologized to Awad’s family, to his own family and to “my Marine Corps whose highest ideals I have failed to uphold.”

What ideals? The ideals of a group of armed men who slaughtered my people. They have behaved like a wolf in winter from the moment they got here. In my own immediate family in this year alone I have buried six people. His “ideals” are the subjugation of my children and myself to his country. To hell with him, to hell with his parents who failed to do their job and rear him with respect for human life. To hell with the country whose true values he reflects.

Peace? Forgiveness? Yes eventually. After his comrades have been forced to leave my land. What will that take? It will take treating them as they have treated us. I do not grieve when I learn that another invader has been killed.

I rejoice.

And this is the thing that perhaps I hate this woman’s son and his comrades and the society whose true values he reflects for the most.

That they have killed my ability to feel the pity that one should feel for a mother who saw her child shackled like an animal as this poor woman did.

Laith

Today another backery was attacked in Baghdad. This time it was the al-Rafidayn bakery in Zayonah (East Baghdad). People need bread they gather to buy it - particularly early in the mornings. Therefore bakeries are often attacked. That is one reason why bakeries are attacked. There is another. Traditionally being a baker was a low-status job. It is not surprising therefore that in Iraq many bakers belong to the Shia sect.

The attack was carried out by gunmen. They drove up and shot four of the bakers dead along with customers. All four were brothers. According to radio Annas 9 people were killed and 12 people were wounded. If you look at the photograph you can see the shoes of the bakers on the floor in the blood.

You should also look at the child and how he holds himself.

Laith