Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

21 Sep 2006, 14:01 p.m.

Blood

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2006 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

In Iraq, fear dictates everything. You can't even help a dying man on the street for fear you'll be killed too.

It was not like this before Saddam fell from power. Ordinary people could live their lives; they were circumscribed, but not paralyzed by fear of random violence. This is the war of all against all. This is chaotic evil. This is why mere anarchy, loosed upon the world, was worse than the tyranny it replaced.