and we all know how fucked that place is right now, so that makes me even prouder of erik holmes, staff writer for the air force times, who has been in iraq and now afghanistan for the past month or so. he is travelling with photographer Rob Curtis and they’ve been keeping a blog about their travels called tales from the sandbox. erik’s a talented writer, so i’ll let him speak for himself:
As we drove on a dirt road next to the Tigris River, lined with tall reeds swaying in the breeze, it was easy at times to forget there is a war going on. It was quiet and peaceful, with a few small fishing boats drifting near the far bank. But Riffle pointed out to us the support trusses of the July 14 Bridge, and told us how the bodies of victims of sectarian violence get caught up there with other refuse after they are dumped in the river. He described pulling the bound, blind-folded and bullet-riddled bodies out of the water. The occasional, distant pop of small-arms fire in other parts of the city drove home the point: There is nothing peaceful or normal about Baghdad, even if it may seem so for a second.
that’s kinda hard to imagine as i prepare for an upcoming trip to another river. the green river in utah for a little fly fishing. i’m can’t tell you how relieved i am that i don’t have to worry about getting shot. i’m serious.
An old man at the second bombing site walked up to me and told me, in excellent English, that he saw a dead woman and child in the rubble. Another man had lost both of his children, one only 6 months old, in the blast. The old man asked me what I thought about what had happened. I said one word – “terrible” – and felt ashamed because it was so inadequate.
it’s excellent first-hand accounts from somebody i know to be a level-headed analyst, which brings the war closer to me than it has been at any point since i finished work on Faces of the Dead. i know. grim.
so – if you’re up for it – head over to tales from the sandbox and catch up on some ground-level iraq and afghanistan observations. it is important to expose yourself to the results of this war, whether you are in support or opposition. it’s going to be an important event in our lives.