3 Brothers, 1 Mixed half-brother and the drama of their lives...who says men don't have drama
Thursday 31 July 2014
Grim
" There was something almost beautiful about the white ribbons tied to stakes as they fluttered in the wind; some sitting amid a sea of golden sand, others poking from clusters of yellow and dull-green wild grasses.
But then you saw that these were the most macabre of markings, each one representing the final landing place for hundreds of human beings slaughtered in the sky for this is the grimmest of graveyards. Here on the gentle rolling hills of eastern basra in iraq, beside an abandoned Shiite-era poultry farm, lay the innocent people whose lives were extinguished so suddenly in an explosion at 33,000 feet on a monday afternoon
It had been a long and slow day,nothing spectacular happened,the day just drifted slowly till evening when after preparing dinner,I set the table thereafter I sat in my favourite couch,drafting the next episode of kuwda while my brothers howler,jumping all over the place playing a game of football on playstation...
...Mom's car horn blared from the gate and soon after screeched to a halt in the compound,she jumped out and quickly dashed into the house and towards the toilet,saying she was so pressed and that Hamz and i should go and bring in the yams she bought from the car boot
"I came across a little girl, maybe four or five, her uncovered corpse in its cute red top and a jalababa beside some bushes,nearby was a pink and white stuffed toy bear, a big smile stuck incongruously on its felt face, alongside a Winnie the Pooh.
A western woman with long, brown hair lay who was a british journalist,splayed on the ground, stripped naked as she fell, apart from the black T-shirt gathered around her shoulders.
Her face, scorched around the eyes, stared up silently into the clouds above. She looked almost like she was puzzling over the place from which the shattered bombardier military jet was scattered over 34 square kilometres close to the afghanistan border.
Next to her was a black and white dog,It appeared as if asleep amid the summer grass."
Mom came back into the sitting room sighing with relief while we brought in the last of the monstrously big tuber of yams,we settled over the dining table,having our dinner of semovita and ogbonno soup,Karl ate with relish,taking each mould of semo with lots of soup and dry fish,it didn't take him long to adapt to nigerian soups,I made the transition very easy with my finger-smacking,tasty meals,while we were at it,the very huge plasma tv was on with a plumpy newscaster relaying the news,suddenly,there was a breaking news
"Several human victims were still stuck in their seats. Others were mangled, mashed and hideously manipulated. I saw a leg, a battered trunk, a twisted hand reaching out from the grass and things more gruesome than I ever want to recall.
In a burned patch of grass littered with charred debris lay five crumpled corpses in a heap.
Nearby were boarding passes, a smashed computer, a school book, piles of clothes, a box of chocolates – although bizarrely, two bottles of whisky had survived.
One can only imagine the terror with which these 120 passengers plummeted to earth – should they have been unfortunate enough to have still been alive – after their passenger plane was struck by a powerful military weapon."
A malyasian flight MH17 had just been blown off the sky by russian rebels while between the borders between russia and ukraine,Mom and I dropped our cutlery almost at the same time in shock,we couldn't believe it
"Why would people do this to their fellow human beings" Mom moaned, I shook my head in sadness and turned back to continue eating my food when I saw Karl looking on at the tv with rapt attention,shaking his head a little rapidly,I could deduce he had seen or experienced a similar thing with the way his face squeezed in a frown,lines of horror etched all over his face
"Some of the 200 soldiers of the fifth regiment in which I was dispatched could be seen collecting bodies from the fields.
Some drunk soldiers stopped some foreign news correspondents from accessing the whole site,to prevent them from "poking"
The most sickening sight was a young male whose body had been placed in a white shawl - but hadn't been closed...
.
...There are many circles of obscenity around this mass murder, But perhaps the ultimate insult is that even in death these poor people were denied dignity. their devastated and dishevelled bodies were left in the baking summer heat, exposed to the elements for three days while uniformed goons with guns stole from their suitcases and then stopped international observers trying to solve the mystery of their deaths. ,
allowing motley groups of paramilitaries and the growing media army to trample around some of the aircraft debris. Perhaps the most sickening sight was a young male passenger whose body had been retrieved from a corn field and placed in a black body bag. But no one bothered to close it, so he lay there naked next to the road, his underpants around his legs.
It is simply disgusting. They are just picking over the remains like the worst kind of common thieves,There was a pile of possessions that had fallen from a luggage rack, lying beside a chunk of the aircraft speared surreally into the soil beside a small lake.
Sure enough, a broken pair of Tasco binoculars were still there, along with their case. But a big camera bag was empty. All that was inside was a pink sheet of paper showing black and white pictures of a baby called sueba abdol kareem, apparently born at 3.30am on December 6 2011 to ‘proud parents... Aisha and Umar’. The area was also strewn with personal possessions with which many passengers could be identified "
I touched Karl's arm lightly,his arms were cold and sweaty, he reacted so swiftly,turning to face me,his face the look of someone who had seen something horrible,Mom asked if he was fine,he said he was,that the news simply got him a little ruffled as he hates seeing headlines like this after leaving the american army but ofcourse I knew he was holding something back.
"As I left the main road and walked past a small lake with wreckage poking from the water, I came across another small pile of possessions heaped on the grass.
I watched as five of these officials wearing blue rubber gloves prodded some parts with a pole, then flipped them into a body bag.
Next they placed the bag on a stretcher and carried it through the corn field before dumping it alongside several others at the roadside.
There were well over 50 bodies that could be seen at this one site alone. Some were decomposing fast,
I saw them steal cameras from a bag, then pick up a pair of binoculars only to throw them away because they’d broken in the crash.
Indeed, I watched as one man in military fatigues picked through another collection of items nearby.
As the militiaman wandered over, I suddenly saw among the items on the ground a packet for Atenolol, a type of beta-blocker – and written on the box was the name of the patient taking the pills.
The name was abdel hameed batu,believed to be in his 60s, he was one of the first two iraqi identified as passengers on the downed jet.
The rebel leader at the site was a bearded man ostentatiously carrying a bullet-laden machine-gun. His alias was Grumpy and he was clearly enjoying his new-found power,working for the americans against his people. "This is a provocation of the al-kunta junta, who shot down a civilian plane," he stressed,rather to himself to probably hear himself explain and justify his treachery against his people despite the lack of any facts to support such a statement."
What happened was that the site where we american soldiers camped while in iraq,in eastern basra was getting a lot of hits lately and an american flight had been blown up in the sky carrying civillians,we got orders from above to retaliate and shoot down a jet which was carrying some journalist and some important iraqis to safety,but some pro-american citizens were unfortunately among "
I cleared the table were we ate,ordering Hamz to pack up the plaes and wash them,he grumbled,saying he couldn't, all he got was an icy look from mom and he packed the whole plates while I wiped clean the dining table,not long afterwards,we all went to bed.
" Some british journalists and british intelligence came in to investigate if truly,some citizens of theirs was among victims of the downed flight,Grumpy blocked their way with his tank, first he told them they could not drive down to the crash scene in their cars. ‘I have orders not to let you pass,’ he said. ‘I warn you once. You have security here to protect you. Whoever disobeys my orders will be dealt with accordingly.‘I have told you many times. You are on dangerous grounds,the team insisted their government and america are both in this fight and as such have a right to check for casualties on their citizens "
" I couldn't yet believe am part of the government mercenary used in killing innocent lives,I joined the army cause I needed cause to fight for and channel my anger over the absence of my father whom I thought abandoned us but what I saw while in the army is beyond me....really beyond me,this is just one of many memories "
I heard someone make a grunting sound,such sound that irritates but triggered by a nightmare,It became frequent and I stood up,it was Karl and his face tightened into a frown,turning back and forth and his legs twitching,I knew he was having a nightmare,I shook him up and he woke up with a scream,his body sweaty,I held him as he cried "am a murderer Maj...am a murderer"
" Then Grumpy insisted the 24-strong team could not leave the road to walk in the fields where the bodies lay, and finally that only one or two could inspect the full site,this. Is after the british corpse has been disposed off, this was an improvement on the night before, when a drunken rebel ally of the americans started firing shots in the air over the observers’ heads. One OSCE officer said: ‘A visibly intoxicated armed guard fired his rifle in the air when one of the observers walked out of the prescribed area.’ But still ‘Grumpy’ was breaking agreements reached with the team of british intelligence. Eventually the observers retreated again after being permitted only partial access. But three days after the shooting down of an airliner that shocked the world, the posturing of those who probably did it remained defiant while the decomposing bodies of their victims become more distended in the summer heat. "
By morning,calm and breathing fine,Karl opened up to me why the news about the malaysian flight brought down from from the skies by rebels brought back a memory of a similar occurrence while as a soldier in iraq
" This was a revolting slaughter of 128 innocent people that becomes more callous, more cruel, more unspeakably grotesque by the day.
Meanwhile, that little girl’s body still lies uncared for and uncollected beside the bushes, one small testament to the inhumanity of an adult world she will never now join."
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Maj....... I am still trying to b clear abt dis Episode.... first it sounds lik d news, den it sounds lik u wia dia seeing d whole tin..... again it as if its sum1 memory.... its confusing...#RED
ReplyDeleteRed,I think its pretty much clear,the story on the war is an aside by Karl,probably talking to maj about what happened while sandwiching the story with what led to karl talking about the war and what brought about it which is d malaysian flight brought down recently,I think am right
Delete#blueivycarter
Wow! This is ruly grim,yet vivid and uber cool,maj is talened oo
ReplyDeleteI love the way maj narrated the story,I think it would have been dry and plaid if he just said they were watching the news then karl got emotional,had a nightmare,then narrates d story,I love the way he got the whole thing intertwined,so there's a sense ofmystery about it,then at the end,we get the meaning,yet leaving us with a food for thought,this blog is for intellectuals,if red couldn't decipher it,that's so sad,weldone maj,this is an amazing piece
ReplyDeleteThis is the work of a talented writer,good work maj
ReplyDeleteI was confused reading this but I knew there was a message,it wasn't just ramblings,but after reading this 3 times,I got the message,good work,I love the sense of mystery about it
ReplyDeleteThis is very cerebral,it takes a sane mind to dissect this piece,what led to the war talk is sandwiched inbetween the story to create suspense and mystery,good work maj,I love how you played around our brains but some of us got you,others should just read the comment and go back to read it...also karl shouldn't feel guilty,the blood isn't on his hands but his superiors
ReplyDeleteAm impressed with this piece,confusing at first but I read it twice,this should increase your page views today lol
ReplyDelete-an amazeball from utah-
This is moving,I love the way maj moved in and out of the story but this is more perfect if you were watching on tv,this is a movie script-like writeup,all the same,it's cool
ReplyDeleteThis is so nikita-like lol,what with "british intelligence,osce, alias,"etc,makes for anice read,am impressed
ReplyDeleteKarl shouldn't feel guilty,it isn't his fault,amjust glad he's out of thearmy,the blood isn't on his hands but that of bush and member of his cabinet and all western government who supported him
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ,I think he should feel guilty about his part in the war but not feel responsible for it,it is well karl,its a slow process but eventually he would get over it,meanwhile he can get involved with charity or volunteering work if he feels he needs to atone for his sins
DeleteWow! Karl has been through a lot,we should have a piece soley dedicated to telling us more about his experiences pre-nigeria
ReplyDeleteKarl doesn't need to feel responsible,time would eventually make him come to terms with what's happened and move on,nice piece maj but as much as I love the way you ended the piece,giving us something to sigh and ponder over,I think you should have made us realise that karl was indeed talking to u with all the asides and what you did to comfort him
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good thing karl grew a conscience and not like most soldiers whose humanity has been lost from all the stains of their job,crying to them is a sign of weakness and slowly,karl is becoming a human again,ndo!
DeleteBut why would he join the army in the first place ehn! See the wahala he's putting everyone through now
ReplyDelete...And here comes the dumb one
DeleteThis is super story,amazing! Am hooked
ReplyDeleteAmericans,they are terrible people,chai, diaris God ooo
ReplyDeleteEverything good will come
ReplyDeleteTwo bottle of whiskey survived lmao. Nice piece but not really my type of news. It. Tragic
ReplyDeleteHahahahha! Yes ooo,but tragic? I love the way maj infuses comic feel into his posts
DeleteWhen people die so senselessly, it makes the tragedy even harder to bear, especially when it bears some confusion with it. You be like, but why? This death makes no sense. Why did it happen?
ReplyDeleteThe felling of that plane is a tragedy that speaks of the wickedness of men. Nature had no hand in this. This was all man. So sad.
It makes you ask how themen who ordered this sleep at night,this is just so grotesque...chai and I was eating boiled fish while reading this,I had to drop it,it felt like I was eating dead body
Delete@ walter, succintly put,these are human lives,even the dead dog is a life unjustly snuffed out,it makes you see the stupidity of our so-called rulers who give goose-pimple rhetorics and looked upon by kids as role models,we should hear more from karl please,as an american,I love to hear more stories of soldiers and ex soldiers of the war talking about the grim memories they witnessed
DeleteHahaha, @anon who was eating fish
DeleteWow...karl should get involved with charity and loving thearts...maj,do they read this blog? We amazeballs are with karl at this time,please hug him for me
ReplyDeleteWow! Maj this piece deserves a 4-star,it is well written,writing pieces that comesfroma personal place isn't easy,one's hands shake and finding the words isn't easy,kim kardashian should watch her back,the male version of the kardashians are here
ReplyDeleteGrumpy is mad and he would have nightmares that would plague him for years to come,traitors should be slaughtered
ReplyDeleteNo,don't talk like that,wickedness shouldn't be repaid with wickedness,karma would deal with him.karma is a bitch
DeleteBush george jnr. Should read this,he wasn't physically there but the soldiers who were there are being scarred for life
ReplyDelete