neurotic Iraqi wife

I just finished reading the heart wrenching story of Haider on the MSNBC Blog...Yes phonecalls like these happen everyday...Every single day...Im glad that Richard Engel wrote about it...Haider is just one of hundreds that get kidnapped everyday in Iraq...Hundreds go missing...For one reason or another...But the end result is all to do with MONEY...MONEY, MONEY, MONEY...They dont care if youre rich or poor..They dont care if youre muslim or not...The satisfy their disgusting criminal demeaning appetite by grabbing people off the street, from their cars, from their homes, from their work...All for money...They claim they are muslims, but ISLAM knows none of them....They are the lowest of the low...Infact they aint even humans...

Apart from our colleague H that got kidnapped a year ago, there is also E's dad...A family who since 1991 lived in California....Come 2003, the whole family decided to move back to Iraq...E got a job in the Green Zone, and the father and wife with siblings moved to their old house in Saydiya...Bad move....very bad move...He disappeared one day, to never return...It has been 9 months now...She tried everything, she even asked a guy who has connections with the Sadr militia to help her out...You see kidnappers are divided in 2 groups...Al Dhari/Zarqawi group or Sadr Militia...These are the main 2....Then there are the other small ones...If a loved one is kidnapped first thing people do is get intouch with these 2 main groups and ask around...

In H's case, a frined of a friend of an aquaintence got through to Al Dhari people...They asked about his name and where he was taken from...When given the details of H, they simply said we will check around and come back to you...They checked and called the guy up telling him they dont have him...Ofcourse ransom money was already paid...Same with E's dad...Ransom money was paid, yet no Dad, no dad....dead or alive....and No H....I always think of them in my thoughts, and pray...pray for them and for all those who are missing...

I also managed to watch CNN's Insight with Jonathan Mann today(I dont usually watch TV, but had to sit with parents for I havent done so in awhile)...Am not sure if people elsewhere get the same programs aired, but this week's insight was about AEGIS, the security company used in Iraq...AEGIS were the company that we used when contractors/engineers needed to go to the Red Zone....Most of them are British or South African and there were others who were South American...They even stayed with us in the same compound...The ones Ive met were really nice...but god they were the loudest people ever when night time came...Some of them stayed in rooms facing ours...They would have barbeques and dinners with loud music and believe me they all would get drunk...

One lady, an American got really disgusted and complained about the noise...An email was circulated that no loud noise was permitted after 10pm....I was shocked, when we first moved to that compound...I asked HUBBY who these noisy people were..He said these are AEGIS guys...I said so???what does that mean???He replied they are the security company...They are the ones that take us out in convoys etc...That just freaked me out...I mean these people would get drunk then next morning they escort people into the red zone....They get drunk and next morning theyre supposed to protect those who they are escorting into the danger zone...Not only that but they have guns in their possession...I couldnt believe it that they were under no supervision...

That tells you quite alot...But truth should be told...I have ridden twice with them...Once to go to the commercial side of Baghdad airport and the other time was the last time out of the Green Zone...In both times, they were really vigilent, and they have certain manouvers they take while in the red zone...I never felt unsafe...So yes there are bad ones, who are simple hooligans, that just wanna shoot, and there are professional ones who know exactly what they are doing....And they do it right...

In my personal life, I learnt today my first lesson...Before buying a fridge, measure kitchen door!!! When the delivery guys came in to the flat, looked at the kitchen door, their supervisor asked me, have you measured the door??? I looked at him blankly....Huh??? What kitchen door??? I measured the kitchen's area but umm, it never occured to me that I had to measure the door inorder to see if fridge can fit through it....Darn I felt so stupid....I mean really stupid...He rolled his eyes probably thinkin what an idiot...Yes he is right....Needless to say the door of the kitchen had to come out, as well as the fridge's doors so it can fit inside...Thankfully the fridge is right now resting where it should be with its doors back intact...Will have to test the ice function tomorrow...Yaaaay, Im gonna use it before HUBBY does....Umm sorry HUBBY.....

Im extremely exhausted and tired for today was one helluva day...six workers all in one time....figuring fridge, figuring washer....Thank God for my brother...WIthout him I woulda been clueless...I better go and catch up with sleep...Having my first home is turning out to be quite a challenge...But nevertheless, an experience Im learning quite alot from...I dunno why but maybe the effect of all those Mills & Boons or Harlequin stories I used to read when a teenager made things like these seem ever so romantic...Cant see any romance at this particular moment...Oh well...sigh...I better go and sleep ...Close my eyes and dream...A Midsummer's Night Dream....


***On a side note...Does anyone know the html for uploading video on the blog???Seth mentioned google video, but I dont wanna put it there I wanna be able to show it on my blog using HTML....