5 Years and Some Deaths Later...

5 Years and Some Deaths Later...

Five years ago-

It was my freshman year of college and I was having dinner with friends at the campus center when Bush came on TV. The campus center was usually very busy at this hour, but when Bush started talking everything stopped. As he declared war on Iraq, I looked around and saw that everyone was completely frozen, staring at the screen- they had even stopped eating. It was one of those moments I would remember forever because life would never be the same after that moment. I couldn't finish my dinner afterwards. I knew what would come next- but I had no idea exactly how bad things would turn out. In the weeks that followed we saw the bombing over Baghdad- the TV lit up in green and they called it shock and awe. I wondered why they didn't call the operation as it is- bombing the hell out of Iraqis.

Five years and over a million Iraqi deaths later-

I watch the evening news, and there is no mention of Iraqis- just the number of American soldiers dead. American soldiers who died for a lie called WMD. No one cares about Iraqis- no one cares about how they died or how they are living now in Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and elsewhere. Today, no one here is talking about Iraq- except for Bush, who insists on calling it a victory. its all about the economy and elections. And of course, there is no mention of Palestinians stuck in the midst of all this. Oh but wait there

The sad reality is that whether its Iraq or Palestine or almost any place else in the "Middle East" - we are not in control of our own fate. It's been sixty years and Palestinians are wondering when they will be able to return home. I sometimes wonder if it will take another sixty years before Palestinians and Iraqis make it back home. In the meantime, we continue to sit, watch, and lament: wondering, waiting, for the day we re-claim our destiny.