ضياء خلف

From the news reports:

On the first day of school last fall, the second grader picked up a "canister" in the schoolyard.Although other children urged Saleh to put it down, his father related, the youngster was scared and didn't know what to do with it. Saleh's 16-year-old brother, Dhiya, grabbed the device to protect his little brother. It exploded, killing Dhiya.

WRMEA Mar 2004

Saleh's 16-year-old brother, Dia, was up to his usual tricks, switching their conservative uncle's Quran TV station to a channel with dance music.

The younger Saleh was too modest to join the prank, but he giggled anyway. He didn't have all the dance moves like Dia, who wore his hair shaved on the sides and long on the top -- just like the American boys. ...

Dia had a mind of his own. In the family's southern Iraqi village of Bada'a, he spent his time hanging out with friends.

Too reckless, said an aunt, to marry her teenage daughter. That morning, on Oct. 10, the adults in the living room were giving serious thought to a wedding between the youths when Dia interrupted them with his rendition of the Macarena.

Raheem shook his head, but he had to smile.

SFC 12 Sep 2004