Sunday, November 18, 2012

Hejira

Though the cause is unknown at present, a fire broke out in a New Baghdad market today.  Alsumaria counts at least ten people injured.  In addition, Sinan Salaheddin (AP) reports that a Khalis car bombing has claimed 3 lives and left sixteen people injured.

Meanwhile the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory in Baghdad is calling for the condemnation of the murder of journalist Samir Sheikh Ali, the editor of Al-Jamaheer.  He was 61-years-old and was killed last night while driving his car in Baghdad.  He took three gunshots to the chest.  His survivors include a wife and three sons. 

But don't worry, no one will fret outside of Iraq.  Outside of Iraq, the murder won't matter.  Just like the murder of Iraqi journalist Zia Medhi last month didn't matter to the Committee to Protect Journalists.  She's not even counted in their tally.  There have been 0 deaths of Iraqi journalists this year, CPJ is happy to report.

It's not true.  It's not reality but, hey, life's so much simpler when you erase murders and crimes, right?

So don't expect them to give a damn about Samir Sheikh Ali, they never gave a damn about Zia Medhi.  And as they make that clear, it sends a very powerful message to the repressive government Nouri al-Maliki oversees.  So don't whine in two or three years about the shocking brutality journalists face in Iraq.  Don't whine about it and certainly don't wonder how it happened.

It happened because the so-called watchdogs couldn't and wouldn't do their damn jobs.

We're not talking about sending in the US marines.  We're talking about journalistic committees refusing to call out the murders of journalists.

It wouldn't have cost them a damn thing.

But maybe their silence sends a needed message to journalists in Iraq?

Clearly, journalists in Iraq are on their own.  They have no real support from the outside world.  That's a hideous message but, if that's how it is, let's get the word out so that they're not mistakenly thinking someone on the outside is ever going to lift a finger.








I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
-- "Hejira," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album of the same name

 The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4488.



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