Riverbend. Riots, gasoline shortages, blackouts, and how to explain to a seven year old in Baghdad that people sometimes choose to eat dinner by candlelight. Then a discussion of rising ethnic tension. The last paragraph:

I once said that I hoped, and believed, Iraqis were above the horrors of civil war and the slaughter of innocents, and I'm clinging to that belief with the sheer strength of desperation these days. I remember hearing the stories about Lebanon from people who were actually living there during the fighting and a constant question arose when they talked about the grief and horrors- what led up to it? What were the signs? How did it happen? And most importantly... did anyone see it coming?