With all the talk of the rising/declining role of Iraq in the presidential campaign and its affect on hawkish candidates like McCain or Rudy, we can sometimes forget that Iraq is not an abstract policy question--the war is still raging and is destroying the lives of millions of people. I will be the first to admit that I have become desensitized to media coverage of Iraq--the images and stories of explosions and dead bodies rarely even register with me anymore. But I just came across this short video (thanks to a powerful blog run by Iraqi reporters), which is the first thing that has jolted me out of my numbness in a long time:
It's a message that transcends languages, but if you want the translation:
Answer me…
Are you Sunni or Shiite?
Are you Sunni or Shiite?
Are you Sunni or Shiite?
Are you Sunni or Shiite?
Sunni or Shiite?
Iraqi.
[Gunshot]
Sedition is worse than killing (a verse from Qur'an)
Terrorism has no religion
It's an ad that is currently being run on a number of Arabic television channels. Let's hope that its message resonates with Iraqis as well.
--Zvika Krieger