The war of words
By Times Staff Writer
Published December 29, 2004
The news from Iraq is a drumbeat of death, destruction and heartache.
It comes with such regularity that "routine" roadside bombings and assorted American deaths don't even rate the front page; it's just another day in Iraq.
A year's worth of news, however, has introduced Americans to a pantheon of people, places and things. The images spin by.
Fallujah. Najaf. Baghdad. Mosul. Ramadi. Sadr City. Karbala.
Dover, Del. Coffins we're not allowed to see.
Sunni. Shiite. Kurds. Turks. Baathists.
Civilian security contractors. Blackwater. Mutilated. Hanged from a bridge.
Ahmad Chalabi. Salem Chalabi. Ayad Allawi.
Abu Ghraib. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, investigating. Human pyramid. Donald Rumsfeld. Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits. Pfc. Lynndie England. Spc. Charles Graner.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Beheaded: Nicholas Berg. Shosei Koda. Kenneth Bigley. Eugene "Jack" Armstrong.
Ansar al-Sunna Army. Military mess tent. Mosul.
Robert Novak, Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, and enriched uranium.
George W. Bush. Gen. Tommy Franks. The Green Zone. Gen. John Abizaid. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Paul Bremer.
"Catastrophic success."
Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. Deserter?
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Muqtada al-Sadr. The Shrine of Imam Ali.
Insurgents. Car bombs. Roadside bombs. Armored vehicles. Scrap metal.
Parliamentary elections.
WMD. IED. RPG.
What will 2005 bring? If all goes according to the Bush plan, Iraq will be transformed from dictatorship to democracy. Iraqis are to elect an interim government . . . ratify a constitution . . . elect a permanent government.
If all goes according to plan . . .
Information from Times wires was used in this report.
[Last modified December 29, 2004, 00:19:14]
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