Chamblee54

This is a repost from 2010. There are thousands of stories like this in West Asia. … There is a story in a New York Times “blog” about a man, Yasser, who died in a bombing, in Baghdad, the other day. With all the talk about “the surge winning the war”, this is a sad story. It would be a sad story without the happy talk about victory.
Yasser_____ ( use of his last name would endanger his family) worked for a London news service. His Shiite family moved out of a mixed neighborhood during the civil war, only to move back after things calmed down a bit. The blog story tells a few things about him…he was brave, friendly, and useless in the kitchen… This was another human being. And now he is a statistic.
There is a sense in America that the wars are a game. The lower price of gas, and spreading democracy to Babylon, make it all worthwhile. Arabs and Persians are seen as somehow less than human, as towelheads and terrorists. These people are human, and have paid a fierce price for our experiment.
HT to Iraqimojo for the story. … In a digital miracle, the story from Iraqi Mojo is available in 2025. There is an ironic comment: said… “Thank you Mojo for linking to Stephen Farrell’s fine post about his friend and fellow journalist, Yasser. It was very moving and tells us of the price paid by those who risk their lives to bring us the news. The list of journalists murdered by Al Qaida and their fellow terrorists from Daniel Pearl beheaded in Pakistan in early 2002 to Yasser is a tragically long one and reminds us of why Al Qaida and its allies must be defeated.” David All 1/27/10, 4:35 PM
A lot has happened in the last fifteen years. Recently, the government in Syria was overthrown. As with all such events, it is tough to know exactly what happened. It is highly likely that the forces currently in control of Syria had American support. It is also all but certain that these forces have strong ties to Al Qaida. There is a revolving door between enemy and ally, and vice versa.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured photograph was taken by Jack Delano in September 1941. “Merrymakers at the World’s Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont”