By Tom Heinen
                   of the Journal Sentinel staff

                    Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Aug. 6, 2000

                   Basra, Iraq -- In heat so intense that rays of sunlight seemed to have weight, the cracked and
                   bumpy cemetery grounds waited for the boy who was to have been named Ahmad.

                   Born premature at seven months, the tiny baby completed his journey through life in 24 hours. Too
                   quickly to carry a name.

                   The death certificate at the cemetery listed shortness of
                   breath as the cause. There was no way of knowing for
                   certain why he died, or whether he would have lived in a
                   fully equipped hospital.

                   It seemed odd to chance upon a funeral so quickly, after
                   driving in circles for several minutes while a government
                   official tried to find the unmarked cemetery. But funerals
                   do take place in Basra, and often.

                   This cemetery was rough and weedy, with grave markers
                   made from poured concrete. Many Muslims believe that
                   the best graves are the ones that look humble, because
                   they do not distract from more important spiritual
                   matters.

                   The short, littered road leading to it from a busy urban
                   street seemed more like the entrance to a dump. That,
                   however, was not traditional. It was a sign of how much
                   the garbage collection and sanitation had deteriorated in
                   the past 10 years.

                   Beneath the palm-leaf roof of a small, open-air pavilion, a
                   cemetery worker followed Islamic burial requirements.
                   He poured water over the tiny body seven times to
                   cleanse it. He recited some prayers. The child's eternally
                   sleeping face was pointed toward Mecca.

                   Only the father and grandmother were present, possibly
                   because the family did not live close enough for other
                   relatives to come. The mother was still hospitalized. The
                   grandmother called out repeatedly in a wailing voice to
                   her own mother, who apparently was long deceased,
                   saying: "I am in distress. Please come help me."

                   It was a quick and simple service.

                   In accordance with tradition, the body was wrapped in
                   white cloth that contained no stitching.

                   There was no imam, or spiritual leader, to say the proper prayers as the small bundle was carried to
                   the grave. So Milwaukee-area physician Waleed Najeeb stepped in and recited prayers by heart
                   from the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book.

                   The body was laid in a small hole in the parched ground, the face pointing toward Mecca. A
                   cemetery worker dumped small spadefuls of dry dirt into the hole. And little almost-Ahmad
                   disappeared beneath a small, rising cloud of dust.