It's the World We Live In
When American soldiers decided that they wanted to take occupancy of an abandoned spaghetti factory in Baghdad to use as an outpost, they ran into one unexpected problem: In a hole in the courtyard outside the factory, they discovered a corpse floating in several feet of shit.
The body, floating, was in a billowing, once-white shirt. The toes were gone. The fingers were gone. The head, separated and floating next to the body, had a gunshot hole in the face.
To their credit, the soldiers decided that they needed to do something for the victim, whom they dubbed "Bob," as in, bobbing up and down. (You can understand the need for a little dark humor.)
The body, it was quickly decided, would have to be removed before the 120 soldiers could move in. "It's a morale issue. Who wants to live over a dead body?" [Army Major Brent] Cummings said. "And part of it is a moral issue, too. I mean he was somebody's son, and maybe husband, and for dignity's sake, well, it cheapens us to leave him there. I mean even calling him Bob is disrespectful. I don't know. It's the world we live in."
He paused.
"I'd like to put him in a final resting place," he said, "as opposed to a final floating place."
This is the kind of story Kurt Vonnegut, RIP, would understand. It's horrible almost beyond belief, but there is also beauty and courage in it.
And, sadly, it is, of course, an apt metaphor for the war and America's involvement in Iraq.
Read the full story by David Finkel in the Washington Post—it will reinforce your admiration for our soldiers even as it breaks your heart over what has happened in Iraq.
