Assassinations stopped in my neighborhood since five months ago. Translators, government employees, policemen, Iraqi army soldiers, and any one working for the Americans were killed since the U.S.-led invasion to the country. Yasir, a neighbor of mine, was assassinated last year just because he worked with an American company responsible for reconstruction in Iraq, Mohammed was killed by a bomb put under his car, Ali the policeman was shot dead in the neighborhood six months ago and some other people whom I didn't know were also killed either by bombs or shootings.
This phenomenon erupted again. Last night, I was sitting with my friends A. and S., they told me that three people were killed during Eid. One of those was a minibus driver and he was killed because he worked in a polling center during the referendum. I felt so bad for him. I've seen him several times with his two little daughters. Omar, the victim, was full of life and smile never left his face which was full of life.
This phenomenon erupted again. Last night, I was sitting with my friends A. and S., they told me that three people were killed during Eid. One of those was a minibus driver and he was killed because he worked in a polling center during the referendum. I felt so bad for him. I've seen him several times with his two little daughters. Omar, the victim, was full of life and smile never left his face which was full of life.
The other one, my friends told me, was a husband of a primary school teacher. He was shot dead in front of his house on the third day of Eid and no one knows the reason behind assassinating him. The third one, however, was assassinated because he was Christian! Yes, I know. It's terrible.
People in the neighborhood believe that these assassinations increased when "people of Fallujah, who left their destroyed city, bought houses in the neighborhood." Maybe this is true and maybe it's not. But it started when they came to the neighborhood. My neighborhood was one of the most peaceful parts of Adhamiya, a Sunni district in Baghdad. If you come to it, you'll notice how different it is than the other neighborhoods in Baghdad. Internet cafés, for instance, remain open till a late hour at night, unlike other cafés in other neighborhoods that close at 7 p.m. sometimes. There is a mutual respect between the police patrols and people of the neighborhoods. Any stranger is caught by police. That's why people say the killers live in the neighborhoods and know the people here, the people who used to live peacefully.
Of course, these assassinations made my parents worry again. "Where have you been all that time?" my mother asked me when I returned back home at 10:30 p.m. "Don't you hear of the assassinations and killings?" she said. This thing made her furious and always worried. She is worried if someone would hurt me.
One more thing to mention, 24 Steps to Liberty started posting his diaries he wrote when he was in the United States last March.
