Shoot an Iraqi: pg. 128-177

This last portion of the book finds Wafaa in his final week of his installation.  Amidst some paintball supplier and technological difficulties, Wafaa is heartened by a peace lily (2 actually) sent to him by some friends.  The next day, a girl figures out that if she constantly moves the gun to the left, she can shield Wafaa and gets a bunch of other people involved, creating what they term "The Virtual Human Shield."  Though aided by the shield, Wafaa is dispirited by how much weight he has gained and how tired and unhealthy he feels due to the stress he has undergone during the month.  On Day 30, he decides to continue the project one additional day, as a message to the people who didn't think he would do it.  On the last day Wafaa silences the gun and proclaims, "We silenced one gun today and I hope we will silence all guns in the future" (162).  

Wafaa Bilal during his project Domestic Tension

Wafaa's alternate narrative about his past details his time in the Saudi refugee camp, the abusive treatment by the guards, and the ensuing uprising of the refugees. Finally, some people in the camp were selected to possibly be taken to the U.S.  Wafaa's name was among those on the list and so he was interviewed.  Both him and his brother were allowed to come to the U.S. and were sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Wafaa began to learn English and eventually enrolled at the University of New Mexico, studying art.  He continued to pursue political art and began to take his work down a more interactive vein, a crucial aspect to his art today.