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Death is ubiquitous in Iraq. It is part of the daily pace of life. You rise, and if you’re in the right (bad) location, you might view last night’s collection of dead bodies: the pile of scarred carcasses bearing marks of torture from cigarette, knife, electric drill, and the coup d’ état – death by electric drill through the skull, or, if the torturer felt a moment of sympathy, a quick release from agony by bullet. All too often these bodies have no means of identification. Any identification cards have been taken by the killers for future use. The face might have been brutally disfigured in a gesture of contempt to the victim’s relatives.

As you leave your home to go to work, a market, or school, you face the real danger of being killed by a car bomb, the explosion shattering flesh and bones, even tearing limbs off the body. Again, if you don’t return home, your relatives must desperately search the morgue for your body.

Some Iraqis are getting tattoos, a unique way of identifying the body. As Gorilla’s Guides notes today:

BAGHDAD, 19 July 2007 (IRIN) - “My age is the same as the olive tree,” reads the blue tattoo on Qaisar Tariq al-Essawi’s left shoulder.

Al-Eassawi, 36, got the tattoo so his family and close friends could recognise his remains if he ended up in a morgue.

“I selected this wording because only my family and close friends know about our olive tree which was planted by my father when I was born,” al-Essawi, a father of two boys, told IRIN in Baghdad.

One response to sudden and violent death which has become commonplace in Iraq’s turmoil, is the emergence of a new subculture - the etching of tattoo identities on people who fear becoming an unclaimed body in a packed morgue.

It is more than just another grim footnote in a nation brimming with sad stories. It points to how deeply war and sectarian bloodshed have transformed the way Iraqis live today and confront the constant possibility of death.

As a Westerner I have a fairly accepting view of such forms of body marking. Body art is a tradition with man dating back thousands of years. In the far-distant past it was likely used for clan identification, or to show a spirit-bond with an animal, perhaps a wolf, or bear. Warriors had their bodies marked to frighten enemies, or prove their valor.

But some ethnic and religious groups ban tattoos as an offense to their deity. It is an insult to change what their creator has wrought. This prohibition applies to observant Jews, and some Muslims, and also some Christian sects.

Erdla, one of the writers at Gorilla’s Guides noted:

None of this article is news to any Gorilla’s Guides team member. As markfromireland (who has such a tattoo) pointed out on November 4, 2006. Every single one of us who goes to or lives in Irak has such a tattoo. For our Muslim members getting such a tattoo causes real distress as tattoos are considered deeply shameful and sinful.

Despite this, body marking thrives in Iraq. The shattered civic infrastructure is unable to cope with the chaos, and people are desperate to ensure their families learn of their deaths. McClatchy Newspapers reported in November, 2006:

Ali Abbas, a 24-year-old Iraqi man, shows a tattoo giving his name, neighborhood and family phone number as identification in case he is killed in a bombing or a kidnapping and then dumped on a street. Although tatoos go against Islamic law, many Iraqis are getting ID tattoos so they won’t be a nameless victim. Note, some of the lettering on his tattoo has been digitally altered to protect his identity.

He’d seen hundred of bodies in the city morgue and dozens of hospitals during his 18-day search for his missing uncle. He’d seen drill marks in swollen, often unrecognizable heads, slash marks across necks, bullet holes in backs, abdomens and swollen hands. He’d seen bodies that had been thrown into the river, so swollen they’d barely looked human. But by and large, the thighs had been intact.

So that’s where he decided to have his name, address and phone number tattooed, in case the day comes when someone is searching for his body.

Tattoos are considered a sin in Islam, which holds that believers shouldn’t deface their bodies. And tattoo shops are difficult to find in Baghdad. They’re often in the basements of more reputable shops

One Baghdad tattoo artist said he had marked nearly 100 men aged 20-50 over the past three months.

“There are about 10 of us in Baghdad and about a dozen in other provinces,” said a Fine Arts graduate who refused to be named for security reasons.

“We are working in our houses and people learn about us through word of mouth,” he added.

And it’s not just Iraqis. Some Marines, either from fear or macho bravado, are getting “meat tag” tattoos. These are a marking, usually on the left torso, giving your name, service ID number, blood group, and in some cases a religious affiliation.

Writing in Time before the 2003 invasion, Rick Reilly noted when profiling the service town Jacksonville, NC:

"A lot of 'em are young and scared to be going over," says Rachael Mays of the Sleeping Dragon tattoo parlor. "They come in for their meat tags. You know, dog tags for the skin. Their name, rank, serial number, religion, blood type and gas-mask size. They want 'em in case they're blown in half. Then at least some part of them can come back to their folks."

I found this example on a public site dedicated to Marines and their tattoos.

While the Bu$h malAdministration insists that the “war on terror” is going well in Iraq, a curious man might wonder why combatants on one side, and innocent bystanders on another, find it necessary to mark their bodies for identification purposes. He might even be appalled.