neighborhood of sorrow

This video (I have taken a week ago) shows the road to Adhamyia(one of the most ingrained neighborhood in Baghdad) which is controlled now by Al-Qaeda , I have video-taped it myself at 2pm. It is heart-burning video for any Iraqi . The video starts from 'Antar' square where Adhamyia starts , passing through one of the most active and crowded streets in the past then turning to 'Althobat' St. which was also one of the beautiful streets of Baghdad with shops and people walking around , it used to be very active neighborhood in the past . For those who doesn't know Adhamyia I should give a short assay about it: Adhamyia before the war was a very nice and quiet neighborhood in which a considerable number of Shiite families and majority of Sunni living side by side in peace , and there was absolutely nothing bothering in this neighborhood . Saddam legislated a law that states any one who wasn't born in Adhamyia before 1948 can't own a land or a house in it (Adhamyia is the only neighborhood that has such a law) , so it's obvious that all the people who live in Adhamyia are long-time neighbors and that what makes this neighborhood so special , when you enter it you feel the intimacy between the people there , in addition to the great shops and the beautiful streets where people used to walk in the afternoons , it was great , just great . Till the war begun where it started to get worse , It was the last place where Saddam was seen in Baghdad (after the statue has fallen down) so there were heavy clashes between the US army and the remnants of the former Iraqi Army and special forces which caused a great deal of destruction .after that it was considered to be the Sunni stronghold although as I mentioned there were many Shiite there , so Al-Qaeda was trying to have control over it and they succeeded eventually in the last year . It's a terrible place now , one can feel the destruction in every brick of each wall , the asphalt of the streets feels like it has been mixed with sadness and tears . where ever you point your head you see signs of death and destruction and I think that's Al-Qaeda goal in order to undermine the authority of the government , and that what happened in it , they started killing the Shiite families so the rest of them decided to leave the neighborhood if they weren't threatened . the militants are every where on their motorbikes and cars , it's unusual if 30 minutes passed without the sounds of bullets or an explosion , the streets are so empty .there is no single police patrol car or national guard hammer that can stop inside adhamiya , if they pass in it's streets then they will be driving insanely fast , in the video before the intersection (before it's end) there is a wreck of concrete , that was a national guard check point 10 days ago , it was constructed about 20 days earlier , and I'm not over exaggerating if I say that every 15 minutes they are attacked by the militants whether Al-Qaeda or the Islamic army or whatever militants there is , until they forced them to leave this checkpoint .before that checkpoint you will see a long street that had three of the most famous super markets in Baghdad , that street used to be very crowded , it takes about 15 minutes to pass it and now as you see it took me about a minute .then you will see the burnt up shop which used to be a home appliances shop , I used to be a customer , unfortunately now it's just a wreck . And I'm just another Iraqi wail over his country and the neighborhood in which he spent most of his life and had the most beautiful memories there.