Asleep on the Roof

From The New York Times' "Baghdad Bureau Blog"

By Mudhafer al-Husaini

Mudhafer al-Husaini is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD — Throughout their history, Iraqis have slept on their rooftops in the nights of summer, with the cool air of the evening, the fresh breeze of the dawn and the beautiful image of the sky. We gave up many things for the sake of democracy and freedom lately, and unfortunately this tradition is one of them, basically because of the security situation.