David blogged July 8

David checked in by phone and by blog on Sunday. He was almost light-hearted about his "Saddam's Revenge," a reaction to bad local water. He After I talked to him on the phone, I wondered if I should have been more worried, but because he trained as an EMT, so he knows enough to know when to get medical treatment, and not play the tough guy. Still, it's not fun, and I'm glad he has some time off this week to recover.

I haven't blogged much this last week, partly because of work and partly because David's blogs have been so thorough and evocative. But I also find that the sense of crisis mode I had when David first went to Iraq has dissipated somewhat, the way the inevitable 9/11 mood faded. The wave after wave of Google alerts listing bombings, casualties, Iraqi and American politics, and most of all, other bloggers commenting with varying levels of insight (or idiocy) and political angles has become numbing.

And that numbness is both deceptive and disarming. I am sitting 10,000 miles away from Iraq, and it's easy to be swept away in the daily detritus of my job of newspaper deadlines, of Paris Hilton and Scooter Libby stories (played equally and more prominently on broadcast media than the war), family issues and even in the cultivation of my terrace garden. But in Iraq, people lives are at best, greatly disrupted, at worst, torn apart.

Still, it is inevitable that we -- David, Craig and I -- have all adapted to this "crisis." We wait for the phone calls and blog entries; we send packages, wait for them to arrive. As a parent, I am trying to adapt to a situation of the adult child telling me it's all in day's work to drink bad water -- offered by a local resident in good faith and hospitality -- and to suffer its consequences. It's all in a day's work to bang down a stranger's door and take over the home -- and feel bad about it, but knowing it is necessary for this campaign. It's all in a day's work to know that someone is shooting at you, but what you recall at the end of the day is a little girl's smile.

Regarding David's July 4 blog entry, the cynic in me was surprised that the Iraqis welcomed the American Army to take over their homes. But given their situation, what else could they do? Al Quaeda took over Baquba with Taliban-like strictness, even forbidding smoking, which is much more common there, and then kicked people out of their homes so they could rig them up as bombs. Of course, they sincerely welcome the next wave of invaders who will destroy the bombs and get rid of the invaders. But our guys can't stay too long, because it is human to say within their hearts: "Get the hell out all of you and leave us in peace."

It has nothing to do with how our people handle the people -- although how they behave will be remembered for many years after -- but just the weariness of war.

I think I've rambled on enough.