Liberal Talk Radio

An article on Basra in IraqSlogger includes this image, which, on this particular Saturday morning, I find very disturbing.

It’s a picture of an “insurgent,” or maybe a militia member. He’s dressed in grey slacks, loafers and a buttoned-down white shirt. All the trappings of a middle-class Iraqi. And then on top of it all, are the trappings of an insurgent: the headscarf, AK-47, and vest.

Seeing this, I’m struck by how jerry-rigged (jury-rigged?) the whole war is. This guy’s not a life-long solider. He’s just another Iraqi who didn’t have enough cash to flee to Amman or Damascus and this is what 5 years of war have done to him and his country. It’s depressing to think of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who’ve follwed a smilar path.