From a Medical Officer in the Green Zone
Had a motivating experience today. Thought I would share it.
Yesterday was a bad day. The suicide bombers in the green zone took the
wind out of a lot of people's sails. There was more than enough death,
destruction, and suffering to go around. The bombings occured about 1
pm and at 10pm they were still finding body parts on rooftops. The
Iraqis were particularly hurt, because in addition to such loss of life,
there was loss of livelihood, as many shops and stores were destroyed by
the bombs. These people lost their living, even if they did not lose
their life. It was a willful malignant strike at the economic recovery
of Iraq, in addition to a simple terror attack. The Iraqis who have
little shops in the green zone work very hard and embody all that is
good in a free market economy. The open early, close late, are service
oriented and compete with each other to deliver the best product the
fastest at the best price. When the terrorists struck at those shops it
was probably as much out of jealousy as hate.
Of course, after the bombings the facilities in the Green Zone all went
into lock down. Security was tight, and there was concern and even fear
in some people's faces. The shops that were left were closed or
deserted.
I worked hard all day the day of the bombing, doing a craniotomy on a
severly injured american, and treating multiple people of all
nationalities with less severe head wounds. The terorists had not just
struck at american soldiers or Iraqi shopkeepers, they had hurt and
affected british, pakistanis, south africans, koreans and more. I
continued working all that night, since I had many patients in our
intensive care unit, all of them very sick. The next day the pace
continued and I did a craniotomy on an Iraqi National Guardsman. Once
that was done, there was a breather for a moment. I paused and
reflected on the previous 24 hours. I really had not slept. what
little I had eaten had been on the fly, swallowed whole in order to get
to the next patient faster. Despite my fatigue, I kept noticing how
subdued everyone was. The mood had really changed in the last 24 hours.
"If we just all stay inside and hide, they win" I thought.
I remember thinking that I had not exercised in several days, and wanted
to go for a run. The new policy was that anytime you left the building
you had to have body armour and helmet on, so that would mean running in
body armour. I decided that I would do it anyway. I loaded up my
rucksack with about 45 pounds of weights, strapped on my body armour and
helmet and took off for a run down Haifa Street, the big street that
goes down the Green Zone. I must admit, I got some curious looks at
first. I ran several laps up and down Haifa, completing a circuit of
about 5 miles. I was really doing it just to get some exercise, but
also to prove to myself and any bad guys watching that I would still
live my life, suicide bombers or not.
A funny thing happened.
Several Iraqi National Guard soldiers ran along with me briefly,
shouting encouragement. They continued to cheer long after I ran along.
The soldiers guarding the asassin's gate (site of so many car bombs)
cheered and thanked me for motivating them, and several loud HOOAH's
were exchanged. Some little kids ran alongside me and smiled. Several
women, dressed in traditional islamic attire shouted out to me several
sentences that clearly had the words "Zhurqawi, today, american", but my
arabic is not good enough to figure it all out. When my ruck-run was
done, an Iraqi man walked up to me and asked if I had understood what
the women had said. he went on to explain that they said:" the
americans bomb Zhurqawi and he hides. Zhurqhawi bombs you and you come
outside. Today, who is really scared?"
The man thanked me for running and walked away.
So how do you fight terrorism?
All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi
Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic
Had a motivating experience today. Thought I would share it.
Yesterday was a bad day. The suicide bombers in the green zone took the
wind out of a lot of people's sails. There was more than enough death,
destruction, and suffering to go around. The bombings occured about 1
pm and at 10pm they were still finding body parts on rooftops. The
Iraqis were particularly hurt, because in addition to such loss of life,
there was loss of livelihood, as many shops and stores were destroyed by
the bombs. These people lost their living, even if they did not lose
their life. It was a willful malignant strike at the economic recovery
of Iraq, in addition to a simple terror attack. The Iraqis who have
little shops in the green zone work very hard and embody all that is
good in a free market economy. The open early, close late, are service
oriented and compete with each other to deliver the best product the
fastest at the best price. When the terrorists struck at those shops it
was probably as much out of jealousy as hate.
Of course, after the bombings the facilities in the Green Zone all went
into lock down. Security was tight, and there was concern and even fear
in some people's faces. The shops that were left were closed or
deserted.
I worked hard all day the day of the bombing, doing a craniotomy on a
severly injured american, and treating multiple people of all
nationalities with less severe head wounds. The terorists had not just
struck at american soldiers or Iraqi shopkeepers, they had hurt and
affected british, pakistanis, south africans, koreans and more. I
continued working all that night, since I had many patients in our
intensive care unit, all of them very sick. The next day the pace
continued and I did a craniotomy on an Iraqi National Guardsman. Once
that was done, there was a breather for a moment. I paused and
reflected on the previous 24 hours. I really had not slept. what
little I had eaten had been on the fly, swallowed whole in order to get
to the next patient faster. Despite my fatigue, I kept noticing how
subdued everyone was. The mood had really changed in the last 24 hours.
"If we just all stay inside and hide, they win" I thought.
I remember thinking that I had not exercised in several days, and wanted
to go for a run. The new policy was that anytime you left the building
you had to have body armour and helmet on, so that would mean running in
body armour. I decided that I would do it anyway. I loaded up my
rucksack with about 45 pounds of weights, strapped on my body armour and
helmet and took off for a run down Haifa Street, the big street that
goes down the Green Zone. I must admit, I got some curious looks at
first. I ran several laps up and down Haifa, completing a circuit of
about 5 miles. I was really doing it just to get some exercise, but
also to prove to myself and any bad guys watching that I would still
live my life, suicide bombers or not.
A funny thing happened.
Several Iraqi National Guard soldiers ran along with me briefly,
shouting encouragement. They continued to cheer long after I ran along.
The soldiers guarding the asassin's gate (site of so many car bombs)
cheered and thanked me for motivating them, and several loud HOOAH's
were exchanged. Some little kids ran alongside me and smiled. Several
women, dressed in traditional islamic attire shouted out to me several
sentences that clearly had the words "Zhurqawi, today, american", but my
arabic is not good enough to figure it all out. When my ruck-run was
done, an Iraqi man walked up to me and asked if I had understood what
the women had said. he went on to explain that they said:" the
americans bomb Zhurqawi and he hides. Zhurqhawi bombs you and you come
outside. Today, who is really scared?"
The man thanked me for running and walked away.
So how do you fight terrorism?
All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi
Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic