Iraq 2003, Lebanon 2006, Palestine everyday

"Abu Ghayeb impersonates the role of a farmer. He wears a yashmak and has his photograph taken in order to obtain a farmer's identity card. He tells his wife, "The damages that have resulted from the blockade are estimated at billions of dollars. We've returned to the pre-industrial age, so the government is encouraging farmers to support the economy."

"What I can't understand is why they bombed the mosques, the schools, the homes for the disabled and the civilian shelters. What have they got to do with military targets?"

He replies with a shrug, "Who can afford to buy food from the markets at the present prices?"

He then adds, "We used to import seventy percent of our food requirements. Now they have deprived us of the seeds. The stranglehold on the animal products became complete when they bombed the only lab that produced vaccines against animal diseases. That came after they ruined the irrigation canals, and we can't obtain fertilizers or pesticides.""

From Betool Khedeiri's novel "Absent", set in Bagdad (thanks dear Marcy).