Hanady Salman (editor at As-Safir in Beirut) sent this:
"I know you think I've gone mad. Well, you're right. We all did. We burst into laughter while looking at pictures of the dead. We burst into laughter when we're told someone was killed,we all laughed histerically when Zeinab was telling us about the doctores she saw in Tyr hospitals yesterday . She thinks all of them have gone mad. They all told her they were in the south
throughout all the wars : 78, 82, 93, 96, 98, and the smaller clashes in between , but that they'd never seen anything like this. The doctor in Tyr was smiling while pointing at a door and telling her : I keep here 200 corpses , I don't have coffins to burry them , I don't have names for them , I don't know where their relatives are , I don't know what to do because we're expecting tens of bodies today from the villages the Red Cross were able to enter after a week long siege. HE WAS SMILING. HE'S GONE MAD. We burst into laughter and we stop short when we feel it's going to turn into tears. WHAT CAN WE DO, WE'RE ALL SITTING HERE, COUNTING THE DEAD, WAITING TO BE KILLED ONCE THIS TRUTH IS OVER AT MIDNIGHT. Oh , yeah , by the way , maybe Hussein's mom isn't dead after all : we can't find her body. Isn't this funny?"