Neville Watson
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad October 9, 2003

The latter is probably the most accurate and much of what is here consists of direct quotes from the writing of Simone Weil’s essay “Human Personality”. (The Simone Weil Reader, David McKay Inc N.York 1977). I confess to understanding a fraction of that which she writes and I make no pretense that what follows accurately portrays her ideas. It is simply my interpretation of it - an interpretation prompted by the circumstances in which I write, the occupation of Iraq by the USA. For convenience, and because at 74 years of age the mind loses its edge, I write in the masculine. If you translate it into inclusive language that is all to the good and it is certainly my meaning. For my purpose I simply state what is found in many documents : ‘The term “his” is includes and means the word “her”.

Neville Watson
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad
October 9, 2003

The cause was simple, the effect disastrous. An old man was pushed over and as a result about 25 people were killed. And it happens again and again.

I sat last night and listened to the story told by Karima who was there last Saturday when it happened. A large number of ex Iraqi soldiers gathered outside the army pay office. They had come to receive their allowance of $3 a week. They were lined up between the razor wire that has become so much a feature of life in Baghdad. Tanks and wire and machine gun carriers abound everywhere around here. Along the line walks an old man. The old are respected in Iraq and it is not unusual for them to be given preference in queues. It is a cultural aspect which as an old person I find quite appealing, and it is a cultural characteristic almost unknown in the US and Australia.
The old man is confronted by a US soldier. The soldier knocks the old man down; a young man in the line remonstrates with the soldier; there is a fight and the soldier is struck with a rock. An ex Iraqi soldier pulls a gun and fires at the US soldier who is unhurt thanks to his flack jacket. The US soldier gets back to his Jeep and opens fire with the machine gun. Within a few minutes dead and dying are everywhere - how many will never really be known because in instances like this one rarely hangs around to make a systematic body count. The witness to whom I was listening estimated 25 deaths but the number of deaths is not the point. The point is that people were killed because of a teenage soldier being unaware of the cultural aspects of the country of occupation. He was trained as a killer not as a sociologist.