[Media-watch] An alternative view: Jo Wilding's Diary 27th March

Sat Mar 29 22:53:51 GMT 2003

March 27th
> Nowhere is Safe
>
> This morning the sky had cleared: a mixed blessing. It
> was good to be able to see through the daylight again,
> although the view of smoke plumes across the city
> wasn't the most soul-fulfilling sight. At the same
> time it seemed likely to mark the end of our period of
> grace, such as it was, when the weather was holding up
> the onslaught.
>
> I've not read the mainstream media coverage of what's
> going on, so I don't know what's been reported, but
> yesterday a marketplace and a convoy of civilian buses
> from Syria were hit. I can't tell you much about the
> bus attack, because it happened four hours' drive from
> Baghdad, except that a friend saw five of the wounded
> come into hospital in Baghdad and they said there were
> three buses travelling together from Damascus, heading
> into Baghdad.
>
> An Apache helicopter was following them for some time
> and, as they approached a bridge at an interchange,
> the Apache destroyed the bridge with a missile. There
> was a collision between the buses. One bus was hit
> with a missile while some people were still inside. I
> don't know how many died or were wounded.
>
> In Al Shaab market Mohammed Al Zubaidi told us he had
> a shop where he made and sold cushions for car seats.
> It was the second one from the left as you look at the
> remains of the building which the bomb hit. It's burnt
> out but you can see the small compartment which was
> his. His assistant, Faris El Bawi, was crushed in the
> blast and his body incinerated in the fire that
> followed, along with his eleven year old son Saif who
> was helping him, because his school was closed for the
> war.
>
> Mohammed was out of the shop and saw two rockets
> dropped, about five seconds apart at 11:30 yesterday.
> He couldn't see the plane because of the thick air,
> but says he heard it. There was a crater in the mid
> strip of the road - not deep - and the buildings
> either side of the road were wrecked and burnt out.
>
> Husham Hussein said he was about 200 metres away,
> indicating a set of traffic lights, when it happened.
> He saw the missile hit the front of the building where
> Mohammed's shop used to be. It wasn't a huge missile,
> he said, which fits with the relatively small size of
> the crater. He said a lot of people were injured in
> the flats above the shops. The shops were all open and
> the market was busy. He thought 25 people were killed.
> Someone else said 45-50 people had gone to hospital.
> No one could think of a military target nearby.
>
> Mohammed said five people died in the restaurant near
> his shop. Abu Hassan, a 45 year old father of five, 17
> year old Malik Hamoud and Sabah Nouri, 28, were all
> working in the restaurant. Two customers also died but
> no one we met knew their names. The crowd of men told
> of women in cars which caught fire, burning to death
> because no one could get to them. Safa Isam and his
> brother Marwan, 17 and 12 respectively, were injured
> in a car driven by their father, who died.
>
> Family after family has been torn apart: mothers,
> fathers, children, wives and husbands, and it's only
> been a week.
>
> Within the same district a missile hit a home next
> door to Balqis Secondary School for Girls on Tuesday
> night. The school was damaged: most of the neighbours
> think that was the intended target. The bomb ploughed
> through the wall of number 74 next door, bursting into
> square fragments about half a centimetre each way,
> pocking the walls in all directions with what looked
> like a rash of bulletholes: small pits about two
> inches in diameter at the surface.
>
> The television exploded and a metal bar on the window
> melted. The mattress where the family were sleeping is
> covered with blood. Munib Abid Hamid managed to shield
> his wife and child with his body. His wife Sahar Taha
> had chest injuries but has been discharged from the
> An-Naman surgical hospital. Their six year son Khaiser
> Munib has two broken legs. His parents were downstairs
> with the rest of the family, all unhurt.
>
> Munib is a solid looking bloke. The doctor said he'd
> only survived this far because he's so strong. His
> mother told us in gestures that he was cut from his
> chest to the bottom of his torso. His body was
> peppered with the metal squares: the doctor said he
> had multiple injuries to his abdomen: they had removed
> bits from his intestines and liver, both legs and
> feet, but some had had to be left where they were.
>
> The bandages which encase his legs are yellowed and
> foul-looking - he's fighting gas gangrene and still in
> danger of losing his legs. "How can I work in future?"
> he asked. "I am a car mechanic. I think I am
> finished." Another livelihood destroyed. The same
> question as in previous days echoes like the
> after-rumbles of the bombs: "Is this democracy? Is
> this freedom?"
>
> We were invited in for tea and biscuits in Adamiya,
> where a rocket demolished five homes on Monday
> lunchtime. Because people are not going to work or
> school, they were mostly at home in the middle of
> Monday and six died. No one saw a plane or heard
> anything till the explosion: they speculate that it
> might have been fired from the sea. Strange how a
> command from so far away can simply erase whole
> structures built for life and family and shelter from
> the world.
>
> The missile landed vertically on number 13, killing
> the grandmother, Khowla Sherkhli, the father, Ahmed
> Munier, and the daughter, Maha Waleed. Three survived
> with injuries. Another three died in the street whose
> houses back onto that one. In number eleven 65 year
> old Wadha Mukhlif and her husband Abid survived being
> crushed and lacerated, as did 10 year old Hamsa Ahmed
> and her mother at number 15.
>
> It all seems so casual. I know my vision is skewed
> because I'm not paying any attention to military
> targets and have no idea how many have been hit, but
> daily I see mangled homes and bodies, only a corner of
> the picture and that's only the most dramatic aspect.
> My friend Zaid has been without electricity for three
> days now and the water supply is intermittent. My
> friend Majid says his house has only an occasional
> power supply and all their windows upstairs have
> shattered.
>
> He was worried because their house is very near the
> airport and one of the theories is that forces will
> land there and advance into town, taking them right
> past his house. His mates have all left, many of them
> to Dialla, which he says is the safest place in
> Baghdad. Dialla is where the farmhouse was attacked a
> couple of days ago. Home isn't safe, the farms are not
> safe, the market isn't safe. Nowhere, nowhere is safe.
>
------- 
Mark and Andrea Priestley 
Beechwood
Ochil Road
Menstrie
Scotland 
FK11 7BW 

Tel: +44 (0)1786 823709 
Email: priestley at onetel.net.uk 
Mobile: 07929 942638 (Mark) 
Mobile: 07812 774317 (Andrea) 


To: "Anne Marie Cato" <amcat at tinyonline.co.uk>,       "Karen Strang" <riverkarann at aol.com>,       "Alison Sangster" <sangster at lineone.co.uk>,       "Caroline Davies" <caroline.davies at btconnect.com>,       "David Spooner" <davidspooner at email.ky>,       "Mark and Andrea Priestley" <priestley at onetel.net.uk>,       "Darren Smith" <d.j.smith at stir.ac.uk>, "Ruth Hoult" <rjwil at bgs.ac.uk>,       "Stephen McKee" <stephen_mckee at hotmail.com>,       "Teresa Cannavina" <bookeys at supanet.com>,       "Nerys Jones" <nerysannjones at aol.com>,       "Fran Junnier" <fran_junnier at hotmail.com>
Subject: Fw: Jo Wilding's Diary 27th March
From: "Ellen Dickie" <ellen.dickie at btinternet.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 04:47:21 -0000

>From Ellen
6 Manse Crescent
Stirling
FK7 9AJ
01786 472449
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Mackenzie" <davidmc at enterprise.net>
To: <davidmc at enterprise.net>
Sent: 28 March 2003 23:03
Subject: Jo Wilding's Diary 27th March


> To: David's Local Contacts:
> March 27th
> Nowhere is Safe
>
> This morning the sky had cleared: a mixed blessing. It
> was good to be able to see through the daylight again,
> although the view of smoke plumes across the city
> wasn't the most soul-fulfilling sight. At the same
> time it seemed likely to mark the end of our period of
> grace, such as it was, when the weather was holding up
> the onslaught.
>
> I've not read the mainstream media coverage of what's
> going on, so I don't know what's been reported, but
> yesterday a marketplace and a convoy of civilian buses
> from Syria were hit. I can't tell you much about the
> bus attack, because it happened four hours' drive from
> Baghdad, except that a friend saw five of the wounded
> come into hospital in Baghdad and they said there were
> three buses travelling together from Damascus, heading
> into Baghdad.
>
> An Apache helicopter was following them for some time
> and, as they approached a bridge at an interchange,
> the Apache destroyed the bridge with a missile. There
> was a collision between the buses. One bus was hit
> with a missile while some people were still inside. I
> don't know how many died or were wounded.
>
> In Al Shaab market Mohammed Al Zubaidi told us he had
> a shop where he made and sold cushions for car seats.
> It was the second one from the left as you look at the
> remains of the building which the bomb hit. It's burnt
> out but you can see the small compartment which was
> his. His assistant, Faris El Bawi, was crushed in the
> blast and his body incinerated in the fire that
> followed, along with his eleven year old son Saif who
> was helping him, because his school was closed for the
> war.
>
> Mohammed was out of the shop and saw two rockets
> dropped, about five seconds apart at 11:30 yesterday.
> He couldn't see the plane because of the thick air,
> but says he heard it. There was a crater in the mid
> strip of the road - not deep - and the buildings
> either side of the road were wrecked and burnt out.
>
> Husham Hussein said he was about 200 metres away,
> indicating a set of traffic lights, when it happened.
> He saw the missile hit the front of the building where
> Mohammed's shop used to be. It wasn't a huge missile,
> he said, which fits with the relatively small size of
> the crater. He said a lot of people were injured in
> the flats above the shops. The shops were all open and
> the market was busy. He thought 25 people were killed.
> Someone else said 45-50 people had gone to hospital.
> No one could think of a military target nearby.
>
> Mohammed said five people died in the restaurant near
> his shop. Abu Hassan, a 45 year old father of five, 17
> year old Malik Hamoud and Sabah Nouri, 28, were all
> working in the restaurant. Two customers also died but
> no one we met knew their names. The crowd of men told
> of women in cars which caught fire, burning to death
> because no one could get to them. Safa Isam and his
> brother Marwan, 17 and 12 respectively, were injured
> in a car driven by their father, who died.
>
> Family after family has been torn apart: mothers,
> fathers, children, wives and husbands, and it's only
> been a week.
>
> Within the same district a missile hit a home next
> door to Balqis Secondary School for Girls on Tuesday
> night. The school was damaged: most of the neighbours
> think that was the intended target. The bomb ploughed
> through the wall of number 74 next door, bursting into
> square fragments about half a centimetre each way,
> pocking the walls in all directions with what looked
> like a rash of bulletholes: small pits about two
> inches in diameter at the surface.
>
> The television exploded and a metal bar on the window
> melted. The mattress where the family were sleeping is
> covered with blood. Munib Abid Hamid managed to shield
> his wife and child with his body. His wife Sahar Taha
> had chest injuries but has been discharged from the
> An-Naman surgical hospital. Their six year son Khaiser
> Munib has two broken legs. His parents were downstairs
> with the rest of the family, all unhurt.
>
> Munib is a solid looking bloke. The doctor said he'd
> only survived this far because he's so strong. His
> mother told us in gestures that he was cut from his
> chest to the bottom of his torso. His body was
> peppered with the metal squares: the doctor said he
> had multiple injuries to his abdomen: they had removed
> bits from his intestines and liver, both legs and
> feet, but some had had to be left where they were.
>
> The bandages which encase his legs are yellowed and
> foul-looking - he's fighting gas gangrene and still in
> danger of losing his legs. "How can I work in future?"
> he asked. "I am a car mechanic. I think I am
> finished." Another livelihood destroyed. The same
> question as in previous days echoes like the
> after-rumbles of the bombs: "Is this democracy? Is
> this freedom?"
>
> We were invited in for tea and biscuits in Adamiya,
> where a rocket demolished five homes on Monday
> lunchtime. Because people are not going to work or
> school, they were mostly at home in the middle of
> Monday and six died. No one saw a plane or heard
> anything till the explosion: they speculate that it
> might have been fired from the sea. Strange how a
> command from so far away can simply erase whole
> structures built for life and family and shelter from
> the world.
>
> The missile landed vertically on number 13, killing
> the grandmother, Khowla Sherkhli, the father, Ahmed
> Munier, and the daughter, Maha Waleed. Three survived
> with injuries. Another three died in the street whose
> houses back onto that one. In number eleven 65 year
> old Wadha Mukhlif and her husband Abid survived being
> crushed and lacerated, as did 10 year old Hamsa Ahmed
> and her mother at number 15.
>
> It all seems so casual. I know my vision is skewed
> because I'm not paying any attention to military
> targets and have no idea how many have been hit, but
> daily I see mangled homes and bodies, only a corner of
> the picture and that's only the most dramatic aspect.
> My friend Zaid has been without electricity for three
> days now and the water supply is intermittent. My
> friend Majid says his house has only an occasional
> power supply and all their windows upstairs have
> shattered.
>
> He was worried because their house is very near the
> airport and one of the theories is that forces will
> land there and advance into town, taking them right
> past his house. His mates have all left, many of them
> to Dialla, which he says is the safest place in
> Baghdad. Dialla is where the farmhouse was attacked a
> couple of days ago. Home isn't safe, the farms are not
> safe, the market isn't safe. Nowhere, nowhere is safe.
>


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