Summer in Iraq

A long-ish post from Salam Pax appeared yesterday. I can hardly bear to think about the people of Iraq these days - the grinding tedium, misery and stress they must be experiencing. We had a mini-heatwave here (which just broke tonight with a lovely thundershower) and I never once felt sorry for myself - because I have experienced 105 degrees F in Atlanta and Chicago, so I know that the 85-90 degree F we are having here feels like a relief after that. And also, here it gets quite cool in the middle of the night, even in a heat wave. In Baghdad the temperatures are higher than that in the middle of the night, and to that suffering is added power outages, water shortages, and roving anarchic criminals.

One of the notable things about both Salam's own words and the e-mail from another Iraqi he quotes in his post is the way they go out of their way to not blame the coalition military, and to condemn the ongoing attacks on them. "If you can keep your head when all about you, etc. etc." If you pray, pray for the people of Iraq and the soldiers serving there.