The one I want to wrap in my arms and bring home is Nebras. I didn't even know her name when I return to Iraq, shortly after the assault on Baghdad. I am armed only with a photo of a beggar touching her nose with her tongue. I had met her a few months before, when I'd traveled to Iraq with a women's delegation, just five weeks before the U.S. bombings and invasion. Unfazed by impending disaster, the little girl, old enough to be in … [Read more...]
Still Alive
I'm learning to read his jaw. Sometimes I lose the language in his translations, but his jaw telegraphs the unspeakable. But, tonight, I can't see it. We're facing each other, squaring off in the shadows over outdoor vanilla sundaes laced with crisp kiwis and strawberries, arguing about whether I should accompany him to pick up his food rations from the United Nations. The UN had suspended food giveaways, and he finally has an appointment … [Read more...]