Summary
Haunting our small, everyday irritations comes humbling advice from Iraq: a woman, a computer-science graduate, makes a simple request to the world beyond her smashed-up city. "Never take water for granted," she says. "Every time you wash your hands in cool, clear water, say a prayer of thanks to whatever deity you revere. Every time you drink fresh, odourless water say the same prayer."
The poignancy of those words, the reference to "fresh, odourless water" as a longed-for prize, convey the wretchedness that, so far, defines the White House war lord's gift of freedom. In a week of further civilian killings and a significant death threat to Iyad Allawi, the country's interim president in waiting, Letters From Iraq (Radio 4, Thursday) was one of the most affecting programmes on the random furies of conflict. Hugh Sykes, the BBC's award-winning reporter, pieced together splinters of insight from the correspondence and journals of ordinary Iraqis, public officials and US military personnel, and the result was a documentary of such ongoing pain and confusion there seemed little room for hope.See the full content of this document
Extract
Water: The White House War Lord's Gift of Freedom
Read by actors, the letters offered scant evidence that post-war dangers and chaos are receding. Indeed, Mark Clark, a British sports adviser attached to the coalition, noted the sta...
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