I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this news article linked on the front page of Yahoo today: As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch.
What's next, "Littering down in US, prisoners out of jobs"?
This really goes to show you can't win in Iraq. Especially with the media. Killings are down, but instead of any kind of headline emphasizing that, we're supposed to feel sorry for all the cemetery workers who's hopes we got up for a few years??
Even more ironic, the same article also mentions that "the cemetery workers themselves aren't immune to violence," as militant groups and coalition forces occasionally fought IN the cemetery, "forcing burial operations to stop."
You know what? What better place to wage a battle! It's like the difference between mowing a lawn with an automatic bagger attachment, or just scattering the debris all over the place and raking it up later. Mow everyone down, let 'em rot right in the bag, and you've effectively eliminated the middle man.
And if that sounds too harsh to you, consider this comment from Basim Hameed, 30, a body washer:
"Certainly, when the number of dead increases I feel happy, like all workers in the graveyard. This happiness comes from the increase in the amount of money we have."