#iraq

Ramadi’s sky was generously filled with stars. Celestial ornaments set against a banner of a deep blue velvet sky. It was a place where hell, death, and heaven were so clear and the closest I’ve felt to all three in my life. ↗

— M.B. Wilmot

#heaven #hell #iraq #iraq-war #ramadi

In a place of extreme violence and devoid of order, the practical subsumes the principle. I drifted down the path of bribery and corruption endemic to the streets of Baghdad ↗

— Jason Whiteley

#iraq-war #jason-whiteley #money

We would send them all to hell! And hell they would go! ↗

— Thomas Ferreolus

#drama #iraq-war #middle-east-conflicts #war #iraq

The Iraqi sun quickly heated the air to an unbearable one hundred twenty three degree’s, causing an unquenchable thirst to boil up in him. Thomas then dropped his rifle under his right arm, where it hung beneath his pit by a strap called a fast sling, there the weapon dangled under his sweat soaked uniform. ↗

— Thomas Ferreolus

#drama #iraq-war #middle-east-conflict #war #iraq

War is politics for everyone but the warrior. ↗

— Tiffany Madison

#iraq-war #political-commentary #politics #war #war-on-terror

Sometimes, a war saves people. ↗

— José Ramos-Horta

#humanitarianism #pacifism #war #iraq

Fallujah was a Guernica with no Picasso. A city of 300,000 was deprived of water, electricity, and food, emptied of most of its inhabitants who ended up parked in camps. Then came the methodical bombing and recapture of the city block by block. When soldiers occupied the hospital, The New York Times managed to justify this act on grounds that the hospital served as an enemy propaganda center by exaggerating the number of casualties. And by the way, just how many casualties were there? Nobody knows, there is no body count for Iraqis. When estimates are published, even by reputable scientific reviews, they are denounced as exaggerated. Finally, the inhabitants were allowed to return to their devastated city, by way of military checkpoints, and start to sift through the rubble, under the watchful eye of soldiers and biometric controls. ↗

— Jean Bricmont

#foreign-policy #france #human-rights #iraq #kosovo-war

I have to be accurate; I don't have to be impartial ↗

— John Burns

#balkans #current-events #iraq #journalism #iraq

A few days later, Tuesday quietly crossed our apartment as I read a book and, after a nudge against my arm, put his head on my lap. As always, I immediately checked my mental state, trying to assess what was wrong. I knew a change in my biorhythms had brought Tuesday over, because he was always monitoring me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Breathing? Okay. Pulse? Normal. Was I glazed or distracted? Was I lost in Iraq? Was a dark period descending? I didn't think so, but I knew something must be wrong, and I was starting to worry...until I looked into Tuesday's eyes. They were staring at me softly from under those big eyebrows, and there was nothing in them but love. ↗

— Luis Carlos Montalván

#dog #dog-lover #dogs-loyalty #iraq #iraq-war

We can't have a failure in Iraq, but we also can't be there for the next 10 years because if we are, it's going to become, I think, a failure in and of itself. ↗

— Dennis Ross

#because #become #failure #going #i