iraqi woman and a cup of coffee

Copied this excerpt from an article in the ny times back in 2002 as the u.s. was on the cusp of moving in to occupy iraq. I thought the war was a disaster then. Just how great a disaster we had no idea.

I still think of this woman occasionally and when i remember, i say a prayer for her.

I don't know what made me think of her today. Perhaps knowing that for five years now, i can walk into any hair salon and "pamper" myself. Knowing that they'll offer me a cup of good coffee and i'll sit, waiting, with a "woman's magazine" on my lap, my only source of stress at that moment deciding whether to try a new hairstyle or not. Knowing that for some inexplicable reason, i am "entitled" to this indulgence because my country has the strongest weapons to ensure that its women remain pampered (and passive).

I hope this smart, brave doctor has found that quiet place to sit and read a woman's magazine and drink her coffee.

"At the Ibn Al Balady hospital for mothers and children, Dr. Alhan Rashid, chief of pediatrics, gave a tour that included a stop near six incubators, most more than 10 years old, for premature babies. They cannot be replaced, she said, because of the penalties. ''They are working half and half,'' she said. A cautious woman, she sidestepped as too political any questions about how the hospital might be preparing for war: there is a generator, she allowed, and it is tested regularly. While referring any specific questions to a psychiatric hospital, she said the pressure in Iraq was hurting the nation's health.

''Always this talking about war -- war, war, war,' she said. 'It is bad for people.''

She did not want to talk about anything other than medicine or the penalties, but in the end she did. Nothing would make her happier, she said, than a flow of magazines and books, not the cheaply printed pirate versions, from the rest of the world. ''I like to read a very beautiful book,'' she said. ''I like to read novels and magazines.

'I like to read Women's Own and People to know what is going on outside of the country,' she added.

To top it off, she would like to read them and relax with a cup of coffee. ''That is very nice,'' she said."