or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 19, 2007
"Dad Is Missing"
Here's an article from Saturday's Wall Street Journal by Sarmad Ali, a young Iraqi journalist living in the U.S.:
About 5 o’clock on a mid-December morning, I was awakened by a call from my brother in Iraq. “Dad is missing,†he said. He was upset and some of his anger spilled out at me: “You should be here,†he shouted. “You don’t seem to care.â€ÂÂMy father had left home in Baghdad that morning to go to the auto-repair shop across town where he works. Fifteen minutes after he left, car bombs exploded on his route to work and he hasn’t been seen since.
His disappearance set off a desperate search by my family through the netherworld of war-torn Baghdad. It also put me in the agonizing position of trying to help my family with the violent dislocations of civil war  over the phone, from thousands of miles away.
The rest. You can also hear Ali reading a version here.
(Thanks to Saheli, a friend of Ali's friend Cyrus Farivar, for pointing this out.)
Posted at February 19, 2007 06:51 PM | TrackBackI can't imagine what Sarmad Ali, his family, and for that matter all the people living in Iraq must be going through.
Meanwhile, our national clown today compared himself to -- get this -- George Washington, and the war on terror to the American revolution. It would be hilarious if it were not so damn tragic.
Jonathan Schwartz: I read this Man's article and I even thought of commenting to him, but I didn't. What can one say to this Man? Especially in light of ALL that's happened and what MY COUNTRY has done to his. Immigration is such a convoluted process only the MEXICANS AND COYOTES seem able to outwit our imigration policies. If this Man were from Mexico it seems money would be his only obsticle in getting his family here, with employment. THE CRIMES THIS NATION has purpetrated against his homeland makes all other criminal activity minscule. One wishes one could at least give some advise, but what would one say in such a matter?
Posted by: Mike Meyer at February 19, 2007 09:14 PMSHIT!
I hate reading such accounts, but we must. If we have any compassion at all, we need to realize the horror of Iraq.
Again, thank you George W "fucking" Bush. You are such an admirable human being.
