Tuesday, May 25, 2004
HEARTS AND MINDS
Instead of the usual sounds of stray gunfire punctuated by grenade explosions and car bombs, the streets of Baghdad were filled with the sounds of revelry and merrymaking last night as word filtered down of President Bush's proposal to knock down Abu Ghraib prison and built a brand new state of the art prison in its stead.
"This makes the whole invasion and occupation worthwhile," said Ahmed B., a young Shia who until recently had held radical tendencies.
"Now I understand what is wonderful about democracy," he continued. "Thank you for coming here. Long live Boosh."
Ahmed's sentiments were echoed across town by twin brothers Salaam and Balaam, who are of the Sunni persuasion.
"We were just on our way to plant a roadside bomb when we heard the news," Salaam said.
"But now everything is different. We are turning in our explosives and volunteering to be the first inmates at the new prison, as soon as our good American friends from the Halliburton company get it built."
Balaam smiled in agreement. "You ask your president," he said to me, "if we can join Christian religion and Republican party after detainment time is over."
"You are learning our ways," I said. "But you've got things just a little bit backward. In America, you become a big Republican first, then you go to prison, then you get religion."
My new Iraqi friends and I shared a hearty laugh and ambled off into the sunset together arm in arm.
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Instead of the usual sounds of stray gunfire punctuated by grenade explosions and car bombs, the streets of Baghdad were filled with the sounds of revelry and merrymaking last night as word filtered down of President Bush's proposal to knock down Abu Ghraib prison and built a brand new state of the art prison in its stead.
"This makes the whole invasion and occupation worthwhile," said Ahmed B., a young Shia who until recently had held radical tendencies.
"Now I understand what is wonderful about democracy," he continued. "Thank you for coming here. Long live Boosh."
Ahmed's sentiments were echoed across town by twin brothers Salaam and Balaam, who are of the Sunni persuasion.
"We were just on our way to plant a roadside bomb when we heard the news," Salaam said.
"But now everything is different. We are turning in our explosives and volunteering to be the first inmates at the new prison, as soon as our good American friends from the Halliburton company get it built."
Balaam smiled in agreement. "You ask your president," he said to me, "if we can join Christian religion and Republican party after detainment time is over."
"You are learning our ways," I said. "But you've got things just a little bit backward. In America, you become a big Republican first, then you go to prison, then you get religion."
My new Iraqi friends and I shared a hearty laugh and ambled off into the sunset together arm in arm.
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