`Aqil `Ali is dead. My friend Sinan told me the sad story of Iraqi poet `Aqil `Ali. He died a few days ago. Apparently, he was very ill, and they called the ambulance for his rescue. When it showed up, they refused to pick up him up because he was inebriated. He was left to die on the street. I would never want to live, or die, in a republic of religious virtue.