Violence in Iraq Blog

It’s the day after Christmas. The first day of Kwanzaa. There are five days left until the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, will be complete. And Hanukkah didn’t end to long go either. But still, the San Francisco Examiner calls December “one of the bloodiest months for the military this year”. It sounds pretty naïve and almost impossible to get, but can’t we at least just ease down the violence for a while? Christmas is a time of peace, and the 10 days during which the Hajj takes place are some of the most holy days of the year. During these 10 days how about having the Muslims trying to make the most of this blessed time and have the Christians remember the goodness and pure heartedness of Jesus? Even within Muslims I would expect the number of suicide bombers to decline, but that seems far from reality. In one end of the world the Sunnis and Shiites are bombing each other, while not to far away they pray side by side in one of the holiest acts a Muslim can make. And while all this violence and killing is going on, how many people are going to remember the Tsunami in 2004 that killed over 200,000 people? The frontpage of the San Francisco Examiner mentioned nothing of the two-year anniversary of the Tsunami, but rather featured the Top Ten Ugliest Breakups of 2006. Although I don’t celebrate Christmas, one of my close friends goes to dinner at a family member’s house where among the festivities they all pray and remember the deceased ones in the family. To them, this time of the year is a moment to relax and escape the hectic lifestyle they normally wake up to. A time to reunite and reconnect with family. But if the killing around the world continues, there won’t be many whole families left to reunite with the next Christmas. – Maahum Chaudhry