Election Day in Iraq

July 5, 2004
diary entry

News from Iraq so bad all week couldn't celebrate yesterday. Fell into a troubled sleep. In the dream, I wordlessly handed Iyad Allawi an old rifle. He broke into a huge smile and examined the rifle with reverence.

The dream couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds but I clearly remembered it when I awakened this morning. I was mystified. The rifle looked familiar but I'm not a gun person and know nothing about rifles. Then I remembered.

An original of the rifle was shown by the British host on last week's PBS installment of "Rebels and Redcoats." He explained the American invention took longer to load than a musket and couldn't take a bayonet, but that its range and accuracy gave the American guerrilla fighters a huge advantage over the British troops. It allowed the Americans to fight a sniper's war. He shot the rifle at a target to demonstrate its great accuracy.

What a nice dream. I guess somewhere at the bottom of my gloom yesterday I was celebrating July 4th.

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