Shoot an Iraqi: pg. 45-127

Wafaa Bilal during his art installation, Domestic Tension

This section of the book begins with Wafaa's server for his project's website being overloaded by the amount of traffic, but the problem is soon solved thanks to his new programmer friend Jason.  A couple days later, Wafaa got an unexpected visit from a Marine who brought him a new lamp (because people had shot his old one) and wanted to tell Wafaa that his project really meant a lot to him.  Wafaa was moved by such a simple, honest gesture.   He also discussed how people visiting the website soon discovered that they could turn the paintball gun into a machine gun, shooting paintballs in quick succession.  As the days passed, the project continued to become more and more widely known, with some people posting really explicit and awful things.  Wafaa was able to have some intelligent conversations with people about his work but a lot of them either didn't care or just wanted someone to talk to.  He continued to develop more post-traumatic stress symptoms and often found it difficult to sleep, in addition to being paranoid and exhausted. 

In the sections discussing Wafaa's past, he talked about the major exams he had to take in order to get into college.  He was excited to get away from home and study art, but unfortunately he was not admitted into the art program because of a cousin who had run afoul of the government.  In college, Saddam tried to keep students from organizing and spreading dissent.  He would send them to military camps during the summer and banned dormitory housing for students the year that Wafaa began school.  Classes and professors were heavily pressured by the Ba'ath Party to teach their philosophy.  Wafaa later left school, convinced that he was being closely watched by Ba'ath Party members and student spies because of his refusal to keep his head down.  He eventually traveled to a refugee camp just over the border in Kuwait and lived there for a time before being transported with the other refugees to Saudi Arabia by American soldiers.