A Flight Against the Blockade

by Gregory Elich Monday, Mar. 05, 2001 at 11:47 PM
gelich@worldnet.att.net PO Box 13186, Columbus, OH 43213-0186

Flight into Baghdad challenges sanctions.

A FLIGHT AGAINST THE BLOCKADE

By Gregory Elich

The boy paced rapidly back and forth, driven by desperation. His mouth, twisted in anguish, produced an expression of such intensity that I could not avert my eyes as I gazed at him through the window of our bus. Only moments before, as we approached the bus that would take us to the airport, we were surrounded, as if from nowhere, by several street peddlers. They were all pre-adolescent boys carrying trays filled with goods, their hopes soaring at the sight of more than 90 Westerners. This was Baghdad, and we were about to return home. The boy who caught my eye appeared to be no more than eleven or twelve years of age, and his tray was filled with packs of cigarettes. He hadn

Original: A Flight Against the Blockade