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May Atwar and all the martyrs of Iraq rest in peace

Living murder
Every day is one's last in the new Iraq, until the sun sets and rises and it starts over again, writes Nermeen Al-Mufti.
Al-Ahram, 2 - 8 March 2006


....The question haunted me as I saw her picture on the front page of various papers. Once a news reporter, now she's news. Why was Atwar killed? Who killed her? And who killed journalist Saad Al-Janabi on the day following her murder? No one has the answer to these questions. In Iraq, 44 local journalists and over 20 foreign reporters have been killed since the occupation started.

Accusations were made against many groups. But let me tell you that some journalists were killed with US fire, a few of them in cold blood. Let me recall here what Eason Jordan, former CNN news executive, said at the Davos forum in 2005. He said that during his visit to Baghdad, he sensed that US forces were killing journalists on purpose. The statement caused such a stir in the US that Jordan was forced to retract it and resign. The US administration is still denying purposefully killing journalists, although available evidence tells another story.
(.....)
In my newspaper, I have a team of young journalists who refused to work in publications that take no particular stand on the occupation. Perhaps we're taking a risk by being pro-Iraq. Perhaps we are taking a risk by reporting the sad facts and the terrible reality. The following numbers are all official: since the occupation started, 182 academics have been assassinated and hundreds fled Iraq after having been abducted and forced to pay ransom. Some 278 teachers have been assassinated. Most military leaders of the "disbanded" Iraqi army, as well as many pilots, have been assassinated. In the past six months, 26 doctors have been assassinated. Dozens of lawyers, engineers, and professionals have been killed.

The world will never know the true number of Iraqi victims. The authorities are reluctant to mention the number of murdered journalists. According to international organisations, Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world. You wonder how I keep working in Iraq? You wonder how the Iraqis go on living? Just keep us in your prayers. May Atwar and all the martyrs of Iraq rest in peace.
find this article: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/784/sc2.htm
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