July 24, 2003

Endgame in Iraq

Haunting and, we hope, chillingly accurate: Silflay Hraka's "Denouement"

He knows. He's known now for hours, since an aide who once cringed at a glance insouciantly tossed the sweat stained notice of the end onto the desk before him and exited the room without a word.

His sons, dead, betrayed to the enemy by a man they once wronged, a man who in their arrogance they had gone to for shelter. A man who once claimed blood ties. A man who will use his new riches to buy power; who will forswear all connections to the tribe of Tikrit in future.

Just six months ago the fear of his sons covered an entire nation. Today they discovered it had shrunken so much that it no longer covered even a single household.

The Americans came for them, and first they shot the walls away, until only piles of dust lay between them and his sons. And then they shot the dust away, and his name and the last hope of his glory floated away with it.

The rest can be read here.

Posted by Vanderleun at July 24, 2003 8:13 AM
Bookmark and Share