meehawl

all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned

A City Of Ghosts

by ·

The commotion in the streets — goods spilling across sidewalks, traffic snarled under a searing sun — once prompted the uninitiated to conclude that Baghdad was reviving. Of course, they were seeing the city through a windshield, the often angry voices on the streets inaudible. Today, with traffic dwindling, stores shuttered and streets empty by nightfall, that conceit no longer holds … “If they brought the Israelis, the Jews, and they ruled Iraq, it would be better,” said Karima, her face framed by a black veil. Sunlight bathed the room; electricity, as usual, was cut off. “It would be a million times better than a Sunni, a million times better than a Shiite.”

Leave a Reply