⁂ Asterism

Iraq's "Mubarak"

2011-02-07T01:30:00.001Z

Iraq's "Mubarak" was not Saddam but Nuri asSaid, the Iraqi Prime Minister from the creation of the "Independent Kingdom" in 1932 up to the revolution of 1958. Reading through the the archives of the Time magazine, I noticed many similarities between General Nuri Pasha (as he was known) and Mubarak.

Like Mubarak, he was a military man having trained as an officer in the Ottoman Empire. In the 50's Time, regularly promoted him as "Iraq's 70-year old Strongman". Not without reason:

In Iraq, Western diplomats reported that 50 of Premier Nuri es-Said's police were injured putting down the latest of a series of almost daily pro-Nasser riots in Baghdad. The government replied by ordering high schools and universities closed indefinitely.(THE ARABS: New Alignments
Monday, Dec. 03, 1956
)

Nice move - close down the whole education system because the students disagree with you! If there was Internet, Nuri would have not hesitated to pull the plug.

Also, like Mubarak he clung on to power for almost 30 years - a revolution rather rudely unseating him. And even more like Mubarak he was not too worried about pushing votes in his favour regardless of the interests of the Iraqi people. On British orders he planned to dissolve the state of Iraq and form a new union with Jordan as counterweight to Egypt. Time wrote:

Circumstances demanded an election ... Nuri asSaid needed a mandate from his Iraqi voters. They had no more choice in the matter of candidates than Nasser gave the Egyptians in the plebiscite he ran off last February. Nuri was not even so insistent as Nasser that everyone get out and vote. Last week about 25% of the voters turned out peaceably at the polls, and Nuri Pasha's candidates, being unopposed, won all 145 seats. Most Baghdad newspapers reported the results next day on inside pages.

The new Parliament ... duly ratified the federation (IRAQ: The Pasha's Poll
Monday, May. 19, 1958
)

This proved the last straw for Iraq's nationalists. And two months later a small group of officers in his army instigated a rebellion leaving Nuri asSaid to the mercy of the Iraqi people. His fate does not bode well for Mubarak and his cronies:

Nuri asSaid ... escaped from his house disguised as a woman—only to be hunted to death and dragged dead through the streets the next day.(IRAQ: The Dissembler
Monday, Apr. 13, 1959
)

Mubarak and the Shadow of Iraq 1958

2011-02-05T00:11:00.001Z

Cairo's million man march is not the only million-strong demonstration in recent Arab history but certainly the best publicised and will be the most influential in world history. The other has been all but forgotten by today's youth but its effect is a strong influence on the way that Mubarak and his gang of medieval thugs are thinking as well as an important lesson for the current revolution. I do not mean medieval as a baseless insult but if you think of any time in history when there was another regime that matches Mubarak, King Henry VIII comes to mind.

In 1958 a small group of mid-ranking officers (about the same rank as the ones that assassinated Sadat) siezed control of the military and overthrew the British-backed monarchy. What happened after created one of the major fears that guide Mubarak's actions now. Several of the monarchy were killed by the Iraqi people including the prime minister Nuri As-Said. The phrase killed is somewhat of an understatement. The Iraqi people tore Nuri As-Said apart limb from limb. My mother remembered seeing a procession through the streets carrying his foot.

I used to find it hard explaining the violent hatred that drives to people to this until Mubarak recently gave the world the perfect example. Mubarak would have been a young man at the time and would have remembered the events well. He can only wonder at the fate that awaits him if he ever loses control and the military abandons him to the anger of the Egyptian people.

The other event was the rise of the Communist party. From being a fairly small organisation before the revolution it grew to a point where, in 1959, it was able to call for a demonstration and a million iraqis turned up. People I know who witnessed the event describe a march that started in the morning and people were still filtering through to late evening. The Communists has everything in their hands - popular support, the intelligentsia, the unions, even large sections of the military. Everything to seize power - but they hesitated.

At the time the grip of Soviet Russia on the world's communist movements was strong and the order came from on high that the Communist party should not take control but support the generals that were currently in power and the Iraqi communist leadership slavishly obeyed.

The result was that Qassim took fright of the communists's power and purged them from controlling positions in the country. Qassim became isolated and bit by bit the Baathists took power and Iraq ended up with Saddam.

The moral

How a small party could rise from nowhere and threaten a military establish that had been ruling since the early days of the Ottoman Empire must have made all the military elites of the region take fright. All it took was one year of freedom and the whole people rallied behind an alternative. One can see that since '58 never again has the Arab military classes allowed such a period of free expression.

When Mubarak and the heads of the armed forces in Egypt weigh their options the spectre of July 1958 haunts them. Mubarak knows his fate if he left to the people and his generals worry about what will happen if the Egyptian people are given even three months of freedom.

Mubarak and the Egyptian military are dinosaurs left over from the Middle Ages but their time has long passed. It used to be the text-book destination of any revolution to take over the TV station - those days have passed. Now all one has to do is sit in the centre of town and tweet. And the government response is to send in peasants on camels.

But Mubarak and the military are more frightened of the people than each other. Mubarak will not go and the army will do nothing to make him. If the military are to force Mubarak out they have to be pushed first and, if the people hesitate, bit by bit, Egypt will get another Saddam.

The Great Arab Revolution

2011-01-30T23:58:00.001Z

I asked my father, a veteran of the 1958 Iraq revolution, what he thought of the events in Egypt. His answer... "this is a world revolution". I agree. It is more than Egypt, the era of dictators is over.

A myth created by the imperialists forces that occupied the Middle East was of the great Arab Revolution that swept away centuries of Ottoman rule. The reality is that there was no such thing. The military elites that ruled in the name of the Ottomans saw which way the wind was blowing at the end of the the First World War and switched sides to serve new masters.

These elites are part of a social class that established itself over 400 years of Ottoman rule and has roots that go back even further - they have learnt over hundreds of years the methods of organizing and exercising power and are not going to give up control lightly. If one looks at the recent history of the Arab world - the end of the Ottoman rule, the beginning of imperial rule under the British Empire, the upheaval that brought about the independence of the Arab states in the 50's, and the establishment of the modern dictators in the 70's - there was one constant through all this change: the military classes that ran the armies of the Arab world. But this class is not always reactionary. Sometimes it will fight for nationalist causes and support the people against foreign powers. But always this class will fight tooth and nail for its own survival and will not hesitate to sell out its country to stay in power. In the recent years of occupied Iraq the same class was responsible for much of the armed resistance to American occupation yet also responsible for harboring the extremist thugs that carried out horrendous massacres against Iraqi civilians, and for cooperating with the occupier when they saw their rule threatened from within Iraq.

It is these same military families that held up the bloody dictators in Iraq, Syria and Egypt; the same elites that tacitly accepted the state of Israel. What we are witnessing is the end of this era.

The web, mobile phones and modern communication has brought up a generation that are well connected with each other and the rest of the world. This generation is no longer willing to be treated as serfs to a medieval landlord.

The modern globalized economy has created a world where countries and markets have to adapt quickly to changing economic conditions and the feudal mentality of the military elites can no longer sustain the populations they rule. The military classes must recognize that their time has long past and if not, as in the streets of Egypt and Tunis, the people will remind them daily.

We, the Arab peoples will find ways to rid ourselves of these parasites whether peacefully as in the British Industrial Revolution or violently like the French Revolution. The Great Arab Revolution has begun and like the French revolution it will change the world.

Iraq: Seven Years On

2010-03-22T10:11:00.001Z

Crossposted from GVO

If you read no other blog this week read this one...

Lubna writes:

Now, I want to share with all of you guys some of my own personal experience as a young woman living in Baghdad, may be that’ll give you an inside access to the sometimes very secret and seemingly mysterious world of 'Middle Eastern women'...

So here I am saying it loud and clear : I am an Islamic feminist, my mom ran out of the house when I was 12 and we’ve never heard anything from her ever since, that’s right, she’s not dead, but I refuse to be judged by others according to what my mom did, Allah judges me according to my own actions only-not according to the actions of anyone else even if that anyone else was my mom, so all of you must do the same, all of you must accept me as I am

Seven Years On

With the recent elections still fresh in the news it is all too easy to forget that the anniversary of the start of the war is this week. But this will not pass some bloggers.

In a series of four posts, Layla Anwar marks the seventh anniversary of the invasion of Iraq with her memories of wars past. The power of her writing brings back vividly the pain of a people who have endured war after wars for more than fourty years. She writes:

One scene leads to another, like in a labyrinth...no wonder this is a door I never wanted to open...

War after War after War...back in the tunnel, swirling back...subtracting years, 1991, the fireworks of another liberation. 1980, 1973, 1967...I remember them all...one by one...

The same scene repeats itself...windows shattering, plastic and tapes, glued to the radio for the latest news, hoping batteries won't run out, and more sirens...all the sirens sound the same...Baghdad and beyond -- same sirens, same wars...

Israeli air raids in 1967 and 1973, I was there too...I laugh when I think about it, laugh sarcastically, as if Destiny wanted me to be a witness...

I remember another shelter...this one was very damp...it was in the basement of a building...not really a shelter but more like an underground storage room...it smelled bad...humidity and piss...I remember Dad grabbing the radio, and Mom pulling me by the arm - Yalla Layla, let's go...and I'd hear the thunder outside shaking the earth beneath my feet...and after so many rounds of "punishment" from the Sky, I'd say to my mother - do we really have to go to this dark room, can't we just die here in our home ?

I remember her just pulling me by the arm down the stairs -- no time for a reply, every minute counted...hurrying down the stairs whilst everything shook...and ending up in that dark humid, smelly room, smelling of rot and piss...there would be several families there...again each family would take a corner, gather and huddle together...waiting for the final verdict, waiting for the final sentence, waiting...to see if God, the Universe, MIG fighter jets...decide who will live and who will die that day...

And so it is in this part of the world, from 2010 to all the way back...their raids and bullets fly over your head taking you from up and their articles take you from down....and they still shove them under your nose telling you how oppressive - oppressed you are...

and Iraq Pundit makes a defiant statement: Iraq will never fall apart. He writes:

The outsider view of Iraq is that it is crumbling. There is a deep sectarian divide that is difficult to heal, according to outsiders. Experts for hire declare: "It could get really nasty," says Joost Hilterman of ICG. "I'm utterly unconvinced that the Iraqi institutions are strong enough to withstand that kind of conflict." Of course he would say something negative, he has been arguing against Iraq all along. He can't believe Iraqis can get along because he would not longer have an act. He and others have built entire careers on the idea that Iraq is a failure.

To outsiders, it's a divide between Sunnis and Shiites. This is based on what Iraqis consider a war of attrition between al-Qaeda and the Iranian militias. Naturally they coopted locals into the battle, but Iraqis by nature don't focus on Sunni-Shiite differences.

Post Election Talk

With Inside Iraq's summary of the latest results showing that the election on 7th March is still too close to call there is only speculation in the blogs.

Laith wonders about the whole point of the election:

In all the election all over the world, the majority is the one who form the government but in Iraq, it looks that our political parties have a different ideology for election... It looks that our politicians want to design a kind of democracy that fits their demands and wishes regardless the wish of millions of people who voted only to have a real national government that can provides their basic needs which they have been waiting to gain for decades.

If we are going to see the same sectarian and ethnic sharing in the coming government and since our election aims only to share the positions among the political parties, then why did we participate in election. In fact the right question should be (why do we even have election?)

Ladybird gives her analysis of the post election conflicts and predicts the worst scenario for the Americans in the elections. She writes:

Washington’s worst scenario right now, is that any understanding occurs between Syrian — Saudi Arabia during the conflict tactics will lead to the rise of a unity government and a new Iraqi nationalism, leads to the emergence of unexpected election results similar to the results created by the new Lebanese cabinet recently, which are formed as a background of an understanding between Syria — Saudi Arabia, and led to a major coup in the agenda of regional Middle East policy.

To look at his blog you would think of him as an average American. Yet, Ramsin voted in the Iraqi election even though he grew up a world away from Iraq and his parents left some twenty years before he was born. He gives his reasons why he took part in the out of country vote (OCV):

Until Iraq’s democracy moves past its post-conflict illiberal stage, OCV-eligible voters have a duty to express their franchise in solidarity not with some interest group but rather with the principle of democracy itself. That is the story behind my purple finger.

And Dr. Human wrote:

Actually I hate politics , and I dont want my head to ache me because of it , I thought not to go to the election , but then I thoght they may play with my paper and fill it with a person that we never want him .. !! so I went and [gave] my vote to a person after I read his C.V. on the net ,and I saw that he is an active person and has nice projects ..

Baghdad , Bombs and Ballots

2010-03-08T22:37:00.001Z

(cross-posted on Global Voices)

Will the elections herald a new era of political stability for Iraq or will it be more of the same? Iraqi bloggers discuss their fears and hopes on the day of the national elections. But first...

If you read no other post this week read this one

On the eve of the poll, Sunshine writes about her wishes for the future:

We are just tired from living in horror , we don't want to lose more people we love, this war was bloody and I just want it to end and be a bad memory in my life .. I wonder if my relatives abroad will come back, I didn't see my only aunt for 5 years, and my cousins doesn't know me.. Iraqis want their lives back… I can't wait till the day I'll wake up and open the curtains in my room and see life in my neighborhood again instead of a ghost city, I can't wait till the day that we'll remove the wood we placed over the windows, I wonder always if I and all Iraqis will ever feel relief.. I have so many hopes and plans for that day, wonder when will it come ..

I want to hear good news about rebuilding my country, the developing and improving in economy, not how many people who were killed..

She reports of the current campaign by terrorists against all Christians in her home city of Mosul and writes:

Why? why did that happen? Who's behind forcing the Christians to leave?
Political parties fight each other, and the victims are those innocents.. all of that murders and frightening was because of the election, to force the Christians to go to the countryside , and ban them from participating ..
What makes me so angry and so frustrated is, when there is a "weeping ceremony " the country become in an emergency situation, so many soldiers and a very serious secured procedures is taken to protect the Shiites ,. While the government didn't ensure the safety of the Christians who only wanted to continue their daily lives, go to school, or work normally , it is so unfair ..

Word from the streets

Sunshine photographs her ink-stained finger in a victory salute.

Baghdad Dentist tells us how his city is on the day of the vote:

Cars were banned last night and many roads that lead to the election centres were closed by barbed wires and army vhecles.
With the begining of the voting many explosions occurred in Baghdad.news were about falling many mortar in many districts in the city including Adamyah,Al-adil,Palestine street,Ur and many other places in a wave of attacks. Baghdad is not secured...

With all the fears of going to vote,Iraqis insist on democracy to stop violence and choose Iraqi citizens to represent them

Nibras voted and felt great:

The greatest thing about it was how normal it felt; elections have become a ho-hum, commonplace occurance. That's quite a feat for a country with Iraq's past and current challenges...

This was a logistical failure for the jihadists; hardly any successful suicide bombers or sniper attacks near the polling stations. Lobbing mortars indiscriminately around Baghdad is BS intimidation. It certainly didn't deter voters.

Ladybird went to watch the voting "circus" in the Netherlands and reports:

I noticed that many people chose to vote for secular parties, especially for Allawi’s list Al-Iraqiya, but there are also Maliki’s supporters...

The queue was very long, waiting time about 4–5 hours. I left the pol center on 17.00 and the queue was about 1 km.

From what I read and watch, I think Maliki and Allawi are going against each others head to head.

and McClatchy Newspapers gives the most comprehensive coverage from all over Iraq in its journalists blog.

Fears and Hope

Layla feels the initial results are hopeful but expects widespread fraud. She is tweeting results as she hears them and concludes:

This is a huge MORAL defeat for the Shiite parties and for Maliki in particular... and they have also shown what I have been saying all along for the past 4 years - that we are essentially a secular people and nationalistic one.

This is ALSO a symbolic defeat for Iran and for the AMERICAN plan, the agenda with which they brutally and criminally occupied us, dividing us along sectarian lines.

... I love you Iraq.

But after constant election watching, she had enough:

I need to get out of the Iraqi election mood. I don't feel good about what's going to happen after the final results are published...my gut feeling tells me so...I need to switch off, completely switch off...
I need to get out of the Iraqi election mood. I don't feel good about what's going to happen after the final results are published...my gut feeling tells me so...I need to switch off, completely switch off...

Neurotic Wife did not vote and explained her reasons as a letter to her departed father:

Im sorry, but there is no one that I believe can bring a better life to the Iraqis. All the promises that these people claim to bring to Iraq are false. They entered the election race to satisfy their own egos. Their own egos and their own needs...

Yes Baba, I know you dont agree with me. I know that you always had hope. BIG hope... Baba, there is no honest man out there, believe me. Their words stopped meaning anything to me. For I know, I know that the Iraq you have known will never come back. Not now, not in my children's lifetime, not ever. And no, Im not being a pessimist as you used to call me, but a realist.

Many people are calling this a historical moment. What history? Are we gonna call every election a historical moment?Thats something I dont understand. What kind of history are they making. What will my little ones read when they grow up?Iraq, the Shattered Dream? Hundreds of thousands of people are risking their lives because of Hope. And maybe Hope is the only thing they have right now. But for me this is nothing but a repeat of a definite failure. Sorry Baba, I dont want to upset you, but you always told us to speak our minds, and this is exactly whats on my mind.

Sunshine could not disagree more. She writes:

How many times we think about ourselves, the things we need to do and use the term "I" in the day? It will be great if people say "Iraq"instead in this day, and put the benefit of the community before theirs, because there's nothing in this day more important than voting to build a better future for us and for our families..

All of my relatives in Baghdad and Mosul, inside Iraq and abroad voted, as well as my friends , even those who hesitated to go, decided to vote after I urged them..

I am so proud of all Iraqis who voted and will…

Hammorabi has some hope for the future, but not much:

the interference of the other countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia, the lack of plan for the foreign troops to leave a strong Iraqi army capable to protect the Iraqi borders and internal security and many other problems. All these and other problems resulted in a weak and corrupted Iraq...

Today most the Iraqis went for election looking for a change which they hope it will come after this election to result in a government and parliament without sectarian ideology. It should take the interest of Iraq on the top and not the interest of the other countries.

We feel that some change may come and we know there is nothing magic.

And Finally:

Living in the US, Iraq the Model has a somewhat different experience voting:

In December 2005 we walked from home to the voting center (which also used to be where I went to school as a kid) to a soundtrack of mortars and gunfire. Indeed, that ten minute walk was wrapped in so much fear and worry, but also in so much hope and pride.

My trip to the voting center will be less interesting this time because I'll be taking the orange line to Arlington where the place is, which happens to be some hotel whose owner will eventually be Paris Hilton.

Yes, that's a little boring.

Iraq: Remembering Michael Jackson

2009-06-28T23:08:00.002Z

There was some comment in the Iraqi blogs on Michael Jackson. But first...

If you read no other blog this week read this one:

A little late in the posting but essential reading. Sunshine studies for her exams while braving constant explosions, shooting and poor electricity. She writes:

I wish the shooting and explosions will stop , and It will be a miracle, if we can have electricity more often , I'll feel the luckiest person in the whole world, my eyes hurts me when I stay late at night studying with torch light, I can't study more than two hours with poor light! Sometimes I wonder Am I demanding too much??? !!

Michael Jackson

The Narcicyst, an Iraq rap musician, summed up his feelings in MJ titles:

Fight till the end, but I'm only human.

You're moonwalking while we stay living in black and white. You made us all stare at the Man in the Mirror and find a way to heal the world. There was no way we were BAD enough, even a smooth criminal knew he wasn't dangerous enough. We are the world, but the world of music will never be the same without you. We apologize for chastising you, the world is a fucked up place. Rock Rock On my brother.

Miss you man.

Layla Anwar pays tribute writing: "Had it not been for Michael Jackson, the stupid, racist MTV would have not allowed a black man. M.Jackson was the first black man to appear on MTV with his Billie Jean, paving the way for subsequent black artists..." while reminding us to keep some perspective on the news:

While the whole world mourns the pop icon M.Jackson, whose Thriller was the turning point in his career, there is another series of thrillers taking place in Baghdad and which will mark another turning point in the recent bloody history of this doomed country.

Over the past 4 days alone, over 350 Iraqis were killed. And scores of others injured. ...

I already see zombies and ghosts rising from the graves just like in the M. Jackson Thriller video, except this Iraqi thriller is no pop video and no one is there to pay their homages and mourn us.

And Attawie reminds us of her favourite Jackson lyrics:

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

Maybe the world would stop talking about if he was white or black, good or bad, Muslim or not.

That's all for now
and... Let's heal the world

Iraq: reflecting on Iran

2009-06-28T23:07:00.001Z

Assuming my dear readers have not been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, the developments after the recent Iranian elections need no introduction. Here I present, in their own words, the recent comments of Iraqi bloggers on the subject. So much has been said about the elections already, that whether a blogger is pro- or anti- the protests is becoming more irrelevant. But, what is important here is the Iraqi perspective. How, after sanctions, forced regime change, war and destruction do Iraqis respond?

An Open Letter to Iran...
Layla Anwar:
This is from an Iraqi woman.

I will not mess around with words...I know that this is your speciality...it is not mine.

I have learned that life is too short lived...and I have no time for words.

I will tell you, give it to you the way it is...and the way it is supposed to be.

There is a sense of urgency looming over my head. And am getting quite impatient...

I have swallowed words, paraphrases, sentences, dictionaries...whole and undigested.

Now, excuse me, I have one hell of an indigestion and I need to vomit it all out...in your faces.

Listen to me, and listen well...

I am no beggar of an Arab,

I am no Palestinian either...

These are your pawns, and they love being played around with...to the applause.

I am neither.

I am no pawn and no beggar.

And I also have no time for delicacies,

I have no time for niceties.

I have invented Language, I own it.

I play with it, pull it like a string dangling from a

from a puppet...

There is nothing you can teach me,

nothing you can invent...

I have mastered the Art

The art of deception,

the art of hypocrisy

the art of language...

I have mastered the art,

of sitting on edges

like a humpty dumpty

and I see you now

teetering...

I know,

you know,

we know...

Leave aside the wordings

kick away the propaganda...

like in a football

match

I match,

you match ?

No you don't.

I know, I know.

I know and you hate me for knowing.

I know your torturers by names.

I know your hidden agents by their codes.

I know your identities even if you are hiding...

Cover up,

like you cover us up.

Ali, Hassan, Hussein

watch them over

wearing Arabic labels

glued on their chests,

stamped from Al-Hijaz.

I see Darius galloping

in your minds,

minds covered with turbans

of pretence

bowing to yourselves....

bowing,

prostrating

to a saint

the saint of your imagination...

I hear echoes...

blasting through cement walls

as thick as your brains

thicker than your brains.

I see colors pouring down hallways,

I see the green

I see the black

I see the red

and

I see the white

of Death

hovering over...

fluff, fluff

cotton fluff

cloud fluff

word fluff

hovering above

open arms

receiving truths

from dungeons

dungeons

where Aryans

dark skinned

Farsi

interrogate

in the name of

Mani

of Zarathustra

in the name...

Whose name was it

do you remember the name?

I have forgotten names

I have erased them,

with chalk

with paint

with black covers...

a thick cloth

A thick cloth

through which you are now

shouting

I hear you

I hear you,

But did you hear me

in that dungeon

where you engraved

my name

with the sword

of some Ali

where you chained me

with the rods of

some Hassan and Hussein...

My eyeballs just rolled on

the floor

like some dice of fate

like some dice from a poker

game

being played

in a sand castle

a castle of turbans

a castle of turbans

and lamenting women

waiting

for another prince...

I feel metal drills

drilling secrets in my limbs

touching nerves

with which

I will awaken you....

I push aside thick curtains

black thick curtains

hanging behind bars

hanging behind subterranean

cages

I push them aside

and watch your faces

shouting

for freedom...

I cry out to you,

I am Josef in the well

give me your hand.

You do not hear me,

you buried me

alive.

Now you are screaming

I hear you screaming

alone...

Iraqi Mojo:

As the the death toll in Iran reaches into the dozens and outrages American leaders, the "resistance" in Iraq and other jarab continue to mass murder Iraqis in the numbers we have become accustomed to seeing there, without the outrage expressed by the President. It's as if Iraqi lives are worth less than Iranian lives. It reminds me of the comment by Madeline Albright, about the sanctions being worth the price. Iraqis have always been expendable.

Nadia:

Hey I wish the Iranian people the best too, at least the best that they can possibly get out of the situation they're in right now. But why is it when so many liberals and leftists feel the need to convince the right wingers that Iranians are human beings, it's a portrait they paint as a contrast to all those "special" people that they are surrounded by? Not that I didn't already know that that was how they felt, cause believe me, this is not the first time I ran into this sentiment and it won't be the last.

This really wasn't what I wanted my first post on the aftermath of the Iranian elections to be about, but there it is. If anyone cares though I concur with this guy.

Layla Anwar:

Neda Agha Soltani is the name of the young woman assassinated with a bullet in her heart by the Iranian government Basij Militias. No family funeral was allowed for Neda.
Her family and fiancé were interviewed and the video of her ruthless murder has not ceased circulating across the globe...

All the media outlets have been talking about Neda. That is fine with me. But how come no media outlet has spoken of the thousands of Nedas in Iraq that have been brutally murdered by the Iraqi Shiite Militias trained, armed and funded by Iran ?

Hundreds of Iraqi women have suffered a worst fate than that of Neda, and only in total 3 articles and a couple of videos were circulated in their names. Not even.

Why ?

...

The whole of Iraq has become a Neda with a bullet in her heart.

And that is more or less it. While Twitter and other blogospheres have been ablaze with comment most other Iraqi bloggers chose to spend their words talking about daily life or Michael Jackson, or Microwave Chocolate Mug Cakes. From a country which will, arguably, be the most affected by any upheaval in Iran, this lack of interest speaks more than all the comment in the world.

Iraq: Six Years On

2009-03-26T08:30:00.001Z

Its the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war and bloggers remember the past yet few seem to look to the future anymore.

Pioneering blogger, Salam Pax, who started the Iraq blogging phenomenon looks back six years to the beginning of the war. In a series of posts, Salam reveals previously unpublished notes from the days he did not have electricity to blog. His wish to break from the past is clear when he writes:

In three weeks time it’s the 6th anniversary for the fall/liberation of Baghdad.

Baghdad Falls / Baghdad is liberated.. all semantics. What is fact is our life in Iraq as we knew it ended at that day.

Since the start of the war in 2003 we had to move house three times for various reasons...

While looking through the boxes of our belongings I found the notebook, with newspapers, photos and the flyers I had kept. As five years have passed and we’re entering the our seventh year of our post-war/post-Saddam lives I thought it would be good to look over these notes and share what I have from that time with you... I will upload it all online and throw the pieces of paper I have away. Hanging on to all of this for six years is enough.

For Sunshine, the war coincides with her time at high-school. At the leaving party for her school she remember the good and bad events at her school in the six years that have passed:

My best memory [was] when I asked my friends to make a surprise for our friend R who lost her dad and several relatives, I thought she needed to feel excited and happy so I decided to buy her a PC computer, my friends participated with some of their saves and I bought the computer, wrapped it and took the present to school. The students, teachers, and R were shocked, it was the best birthday gift ever..

Beside all the good events there has been very painful memories, when R lost her dad and several relatives, when M lost her mother, whenever a classmate have to leave Iraq, or get a threat, as well as all the times we had to hide under our desks when shooting starts, there has been terrifying battles near school, a mortar once fall, too many car bombs exploded, mines etc .. Many times we had to go walking among the tanks; our way to school is dangerous.

I'll always remember the good events and laugh, and the hard ones will only give me the strength, power and make me prepared for every hard thing I may face in the future
Sunshine.

Laith reviews his dreams and reality:

When the US military started what they called Operation Iraq Freedom, I really felt so happy for one thing. I thought Iraq would be free again and we would have real government with politicians who really care about Iraq future and its people. I had a real big hope that services will be the best again and we would live happily again. I never thought that we would start killing each other for the sake of some strangers or to kidnap each other for money but I was completely wrong. I was sure that the American administration had planned very well for the stage after the war but I was wrong again. Nothing really changed in Iraq after six years. To be honest, we have one big change. Now we have hundreds of political parties that do nothing to Iraq and all they care about is their interests. After six years, the Americans approved that they came without any plan because most Iraqis are still poor and deprived from the simplest human rights. Iraqi governments and the American administration failed completely in putting Iraq once again on the right path.

I have to admit that after six years of the invasion, ALL MY DREAMS HAD GONE WITH THE WIND

After years away from Iraq, Attawie can only think of what she misses:

I'm away from beloved Baghdad. I'm away from family and friends. I'm away from the land I was born on; away of the soil I took my first step on, away from the house I was raised in, away from my neighbors, I'm away … but… not mind and soul.

War, chaos, loss of uncountable people and things, unemployment, corrupted system, mysteries, sadness, chain of mischief, lost dreams, burnt houses, smell of death, widows, orphans, tears, sad stories, cruel memories… That's all what we are left with?... I don't want to sound devastated. I don't want to show despair. I just want to tell you the picture is not pleasant, And it needs a lot of repair. What's going on right now is unfair.

I lost my focus and lost my words. I'm not sure if it makes sense. But that's all you're going to get on a Day Like Today. Life is frozen… the clock is broken. The prayers you're saying are not answered today... Oh Iraq, returning has become the dream that makes my day. Your memory is the sweetness in this bitter life. You are the sound of laughter, background music for this noisy life, the kiss on a mother's forehead, the grip of an infant fist.

Faiza writes a long post of her feeling after six years of war and occupation and concludes:

I smile, at the sixth anniversary of occupying Iraq, in spite of the sadness weighting on my heart, but I will never give up hope, ever; that Iraq will come beck to its people, that a brave nationalistic leadership will come, a leadership that wants only Iraq’s interest, will negotiate the occupation out, and will withdraw all the occupation’s powers.
When will that day come?
Only God knows…. But it will come, no doubt… for these are God’s laws on earth…

And, in the way that only Layla Anwar can, an essay comparing the creation of a new Iraq to a mother giving a forced birth of a mutant baby:

It was a monster infant. A hydra with a hundred heads, a hundred skulls, an octopus with a hundred arms, a deformed face with hundreds of eyes, bulging..its skin made of scaling scabs, its body made of slime, an invertebrate crawling, with no legs to stand, and from its mouth, instead of gurgles, it drooled a burning caustic froth...

And it has kept crawling for 6 years already, sniffing like a rabid dog, sniffing for more...keeping scum for company and preying for more fresh blood...more fresh meat...

It was exactly six years ago and she is still lying in that delivery room which now looks like an overused, stenchy morgue...drowned in her own blood, mummified with slogans and jargon...her womb and mouth stuffed with newspaper articles and essays...with words...stuffed with a silent forgotten death, like the desolate forgotten walls of this city, where rats and roaches furtively scurry along, feeding on the monster's vomit and excrement...feeding on ashes and dust.

And on that note I will leave you to make up your own mind if the war in Iraq, six years ago, was really worthwhile.

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2009-03-15T20:21:00.001Z

A lot has happened in Iraq since my last post and it is with regret that I cannot keep these updates more frequent but as long as there is life in the Iraqi blogs I will labour on.

I, the terrorist...

I, the terrorist,

watched the bread break off my brother’s teeth

He had never tasted blood-drenched bread...

I, the terrorist held my breath,

as the bricks from my kitchen ceiling

hit my forehead…

But I could still stand…

I, the terrorist,

took the hole-filled road to get water

for my suckling infant.

I lost my fingers

on the way,

to a precision sniper…

I, the terrorist,

dug-up some water

with what was left of my stubs,

and tried

to nurse my wailing one,

as he lay in the arms

of the still-warm

body of his departed mother…

I, the terrorist, hated

that my newborn had to taste

blood-stained water;

I hated that

he now had no milk

the scarlet stuff slowly surfacing on his lips…

Then, I the terrorist,

realized

that he,

like his mother,

like my brother

and every other terrorist

who had sat for a meal

at that fractured kitchen table

had stopped feeding too…

Inspired by a survivor of the Gaza massacre, sitting in what remained of his home with what looked like a fingerless bleeding hand...

written by ZZ

First Baghdad became peaceful

And no other blogger can give the bittersweet impression of a peaceful capital than Sunshine. Last month, she traveled to Baghdad for a short holiday from the northern city of Mosul. In a long post full of pictures and observations she concludes:

I didn't write about good events for long time, I am so glad I had good news to tell, yesterday I visited my friend, she is studying medicine, I didn't see her for 2 years! I had a great time..

I hope Mosul will be as safe as Baghdad, and I hope next time I visit Baghdad I'll find it as good as the past and even better

But this was not to last

Chikitita returned to Baghdad after a long stay abroad only to experience a new wave of bombings. Why? She writes:

They say I’ve jinxed the place again. Iraqis are too superstitious and once they read this, they will collectively sign a petition to the PM asking him to send me away. Iraq was heaven on earth until my return. All those deadly explosions ripped through the quiet streets of Baghdad because of … well make a wild guess!

On "Objectivity"

By Layla Anwar

Mince your words Woman, turn them around, change their colorings, give them new dimensions, weigh them, objectify them just like they objectify you and them, so they can understand in their objective minds...the intent, extent and depth of their own indifference and destructiveness...

Turn your inner and outer world,

banish the desert storms and the whirlwinds,

dam the rivers

stop the currents

erase the feelings with a rubber, blank them out,

become the zombie of PTSD

appeal to them, so they can pity you.

this is what they want to hear, need to hear...

their flip side is the Savior...

the objective savior

who needs to understand before he saves...

before he saves you, from himself...

Yet at the same time, control yourself, control your feelings and emotions because the objective mind does not accept what drops out from his frame...what is not aligned in with his thoughts...

Laith writes of his feelings when one explosion happens near his home:

It was about 7 p.m when I started my prayers. few second later, a big bang shook me like a little bird. I'm so familiar with the sound. Its a sound of an explosion but this time its so strong which means it is so close to my family's house and more than that its so close to the mosque where my father, my uncle and all my neighborhood men pray. At that moment, There was nothing longer than my prayers which I wanted to finish it but it was very long. When I finished the prayers and while I was trying to go out, I heard a second explosion. OMG I'm sure many people died. I run quickly and I saw the smoke of the explosions. I started asking and the men in the street told me that two roadside bombs detonated. My neighbor who is an old women said "Laith, go and check for your brother). Sh wanted me to look for her son who is a real brother for me. I was trying to check weather the bomb was inside the mosque or not. Thanks God, its near the mosque. My other neighbor came out of her house crying and yelling "I lost my son, I lost my son" I tried to talk to her but she didn't listen to me and run towards the place of the explosion. Thanks God again, he was simply injured...

It looks that the dream of living in peace in Iraq will not come true at least for the coming few years. The increasing violence during the last few days revealed the truth about the fragile security situation.

While Baghdad Connect speculates that the new wave of bombings are a reaction to the recent elections and the announcement by US President, Barak Obama, of troop withdrawal from Iraq. Baghdad Connect also reports of the latest announcement by Saddam's Vice President, Izzat Al Douri, calling for all the former regime's army officers to accept a government offer to return to their posts, leading them to fear a resurgence of the Baathists. They write:

The green zone soon will no longer exist as such and the American embassy will be the sole symbol of the invasion power in the capital. Everything is moving at a “double cheese whopper” speed of pickles. One interpreter for the invaders is given a gun to protect himself! He told us “the f***ing Americans are throwing in the towel!”...

“The Baathists are coming back” one professor said. “We need to build it up from the core; this is our way of doing business”!!!

Sentences Sentences

With many sentences handed out recently from former Iraqi regime officials, serving presidents to show throwers; Layla Anwar muses on the meaning of a "sentence":

The power of words -- phrases, verdicts and sentences...they take you up and down, they can make you, break you and change your life for ever...

The sentence has become a prison, a guillotine...has become the gallows...le bourreau du 21 eme siecle...

They have become daggers and knives to stab...they have become a charade, a masquerade for a circus...Today, sentences are meaningless...because there is no conscience behind them...

They sentenced him to Life, they sentenced him to Death...they cry out.

Who is the judge and who is the guilty one ? Does it have any meaning today ?

When the judge is the guilty one and the culprit is the innocent...what do sentences mean anymore ?

Lately there has been a lot of serious flirting with sentences...

Al-Bashir, Al-Majid, Aziz....a few names that come to mind...

Who will sentence the real killers...can any court of law answer me ?

Who will sentence those who "beefed and sexed up" the murder of over a million innocent ones ?

Who will sentence those responsible for an unprecedented genocide in the history of "Democracies" ?

Who will sentence the real criminals ?

And finally

We all have trouble with our Internet Service Providers. But Salam Pax's ISP takes the biscuit.

This made me laugh today.. Iraqi tel-com company Kalimat has a poll on it’s front page asking us how we rate interent service in Iraq.

the only options I can chose from are Excellent, Very Good, Good and Fair…! Only options I would consider are Poor, Abysmal, Over-priced and Drives-me-insane.

Iraq: Elections have come and gone

2009-02-03T19:25:00.001Z

Return of the Violet Finger by saminkie

Elections have come and gone in Iraq. With reports that the day passed peacefully, the whole process could have been seen as the most boring national event after the war. Najma highlights this in a rambling post which ends with:

The day before yesterday a car bomb exploded close to our house, but we were warned and expected it so there were little damages (a single window). No human losses in the neighborhood, thank God.

Oh, I almost forgot what this post was supposed to be about :)

Yesterday I finally got to vote on something without having a fight (that something being Ninevah's Provincial Council's Elections). I was feeling dizzy, and it pretty much felt like going to an exam without studying, and I proved quite dumb at the voting room: I was about to put my ID in the voting box instead of the voting card, I didn't know which finger to put in the ink pot, and finally, I almost took the voting pen home! but I FINALLY DID IT and voted! Now I have a violet finger and it shocks me every time I see it, until I remember.

But what of impressions of the bloggers themselves?

Politics of Democracy

No Paper Tiger by Layla Anwar

I am no Communist,

nor a Marxist-Leninist,

I am no Socialist

nor a Baathist,

hardly a Nationalist

not even a Pan-Arabist

most likely than not,

a Trotskyist

I trot, alone

and I love the loneliness

the aloofness

the wilderness...

In the jungle of paper tigers

am no Maoist, either.

Labels, I study them

then rip them off

one by one...

And what a pleasure to rip them off...

Am no poet either,

the ink is dry

and the pages are crackling...

like the crackling wood

in a blazing fire...

You sit and you know

you are there,

here,

everywhere...

This where you belong

somewhere,

hanging in between,

in between the flames,

You have no race

no religion

no nationality,

You are beyond

papers,

paper tigers...

I love the humility

of being a no one,

just a lonely voice

in the cold,

Just You and I

treading along the path

a path,

with no name...

Salam Pax, the original Iraqi blogger is back to blogging and back in Iraq. He sat with his family and tried to work out who to vote for:

There are 18 provinces in Iraq and each will have it’s own council. The biggest is in Baghdad with 57 council members. The number of candidates campaigning for these seats is astounding … there are 2371 candidates just for Baghdad. The total number of candidates all over Iraq is an astonishing 14,400.

And the noise these thousands of candidates are creating is enough to make you withhold your vote just as a protest...

but all I can think is ‘who are these people?’ and I can assure you the majority of the fifteen million Iraqis who from the electorate are thinking the same.

The last two times we had legislative elections it was easier the same parties and individuals were up for election in the whole country. This time it’s different in each province. And trying to find what each of the 14 thousand candidates stands for isn’t just difficult but impossible.

If Salam found elections confusing, Last of Iraqis found them shady:

Yesterday an independent candidate called a debate program on a local Iraqi channel and discussed one of the laws which was really strange; if a list failed to achieve the required number of points then all its points will be given to the big list!!! Well, who decides which list is big and which one is small? This is absurd let's say I chose a list for secular candidates and they didn't make it, in what reason should my voice be directed to a fanatic Islamic party? What logic is this?...

Few days ago I was talking with a relative who got to read the detailed list for PM Almaliki and we really laughed a lot... In the list there is the name of the candidate, his number in the list and his higher educational level….in the field of the educational level you can see miracles one of the candidates is "doctor to-be"!!! Another is "His father is a doctor"!!! And another candidate is a real doctor (physician) but what kind of physicians he is? ... Have mercy on us god

But Hammorabi was more optimistic:

This is important election which will shape the political demographic map in such different way than the previous one as the democratic process in Iraq moved towards better maturation. The Iraq citizens are now looking to give their voices to those who got better vision about services and building of a better life. This is more matured way compared to the previous election when more was given towards ethnic and sectarian issues. Every one is now looking for a change which is a good way and indicating some maturity. More or less the process went smooth with better freedom than the previous election which makes it more responsible way respecting the individual choices without pressure.

Intimidation

Two bloggers pointed to threats and intimidation by rival parties. Leila Fadel talks about three candidates that were killed before the election. She writes:

Provincial elections are on Saturday and candidates are dropping. Today three were killed. One in Mosul, another in Baghdad and one in Diyala province. It's almost expected here. Two others were killed recently as well.

In the United States this would be big news. Here it's a line in the violence report of the day. Better then other days, a huge improvement over the frightening times of more than a year ago but yet still more bloodshed.

And Fatima has a friend who is running for the Baghdad council. The day before voting a car drove by the friend's house and shot and killed her sister-in-law. Fatima writes:

These crazies need to wake up and stop their foolish game of scare tactics, death and fear mongering. They need to realize that God is not on their side, He is not on the side of violence, of death, of killing, of orphaning, of widowing, of foolishness.

Word from the street on the day of the vote

Shaggy went out to vote on the day but was sent all around his neighbourhood to find a polling station that would accept him:

Eventually we found it and were left very ticked off that they had sent us to a polling station on the opposite edge of the neighbourhood from our home whilst there were at least two that were within a moderate range.

Choosing to vote was kind of a last minute decision for me ... But I don't think anyone on that list is going to get a seat anyway. What's bothering me more than that is that whilst walking from one polling station to another I noticed a sign suggesting that a bank is going to be built over a public park that's in the middle of a residential area. The park is a mess right now, but it has so much potential... It's also the place where I got high the very first time.

Saminkie enjoyed the day:

I woke up at 11:00 am. Woooow. It feels so good. I will be as lazy as I want today... I finished my coffee and took my clothes and went to vote. My name was not in the first school, nor in the second. They told me to check a third school which was little far. I went sadly and frightened that I won't find it but I found it and said with a loud voice: "Here it is!"

In the voting room I saw very beautiful women. They were all smiling. They were very very kind as if from heaven. I voted. They said: "Thank you". I said: "thank you" with a smile and went walking. I saw many families walking happy. The father's and mother's index fingers are colored by that ink. I saw him coming. We greeted each other with kisses like Iraqis usually do. I went back with him waiting while he voted. He didn't ask me for whom I voted. Nor I did ask him. We are Iraqis with different views and this is our way to show respect to each other. We went back walking slowly and talking about memories of how our quarter was so beautiful before hoping that it will regain its charm while we were proud of our violet fingers.

And on the day of the election Caesar of Pentra was in two minds about what to do:

To be quite honest, I wasn't sure that I should vote this year for many reasons;

a. No specific candidate in mind to vote for. I'm not convinced with the majority of the parties and candidates listed in the election card.

b. Being skeptical about the integrity and impartiality of the elections. Rumors say that the last elections in 2005 there were several incidents of forgery reached a percentage of 30% of the whole voting process.

c. The curfew of the motor-vehicles, and the nearest voting center is about 2 km far.

d. I don't want that stupid ink stain to stick on my index...

Honestly, I felt that it would be a waste not to participate in such "democratic" processes. If I wanna criticize the performance of the government, the parliament, or the local councils, I should have at least participated in making the decision by voting for the side or the candidate I like. And to be more honest, I felt so f***in' bored and it would be a great idea to walk out to get some refreshing air in such a beautiful winter sunny day.

I went to an election site and marked the same old bloc I voted for 4 years ago. They are secular but they didn't win many seats at that time. Hopefully this year they win. In fact, I hope everyone who wants to serve Iraq in real wins.

George Bush and Iraq: 'Shoe'denfreude?

2008-12-16T10:29:00.002Z

Muntazer al-Zeidi, "hero of the Iraqi People" by Carlos Latuff

Will this become one of those moments in history? In years to come will you recount to your grand children where you were when an Iraqi journalist, Montather Al-Zeidi, threw his shoes at the president of the United States? For me I was at home just getting my kids ready to sleep when my father called me insisting that I simply had to switch on the television immediately.

Iraqi bloggers reacted in much the same way with a number who wrote their first new post in months just to make their comment. Abbas Hawazin went as far to predict that shoe throwing will now be part of mainstream culture and has gone to look for a good-sized shoe to carry in his pocket, "in case I need to make any public expression of anger should the case arise."

Word from the Streets

Last of Iraqis broke his once-a-week frequency to share his opinion on the incident. "In the Iraqi traditions or may I say Arabic traditions in general; it's the maximum insult a man can do…it's the maximum humiliation no word can accomplish", he writes. And he gives his view of the Iraqi Street:

Today I went to work as usual and all the people I saw were very very happy, it was like a national celebration…A female patient came to me for a filling and as we were waiting for the Anesthesia to take effect she said "do you know doc. That yesterday was an Eid to me; I haven't celebrated Eid for the past 3 years because the Americans "accidentally" killed my husband and son and Bush is the reason why they are here so yesterday some of my revenge has been taken" …all the staff said the same thing "A statue should be built for Muntathar" in fact many of them have used the photo of Muntathar as a background for their mobiles but the really beautiful thing that made me even happier was that no one referred to his sect or anything…they were all proud of him...

So what will happen now? Will he be considered a terrorist? Will throwing a president with a shoe be a terrorist act?
I think there will be two scenarios of what will happen…either he will continue his life in jail for countless charges and die there or he will be released within few weeks and after some time he will be dead and of course they will say for natural causes or he might die in an accident.

Hammorabi goes some way to explain the anger behind the man who preferred a shoe to a well-worded question:

This journalist have seen the US troops killing women and children since 1991, children died from the use of Depleted Uranium ... because the USA has prevented importing such treatment under the 12 years sanction since 1991 Gulf war. He has seen the USA many times since 1991, destroying the Iraqi infrastructures, hospitals, mosques, houses, schools, universities, historical sites, factories, and so on. After the invasion in 2003 he has seen the American and their allies’ troops humiliating, assaulting and torturing the Iraq civilians in Abo-Ghreeb prison and in Basrah city by British troops. It is in front of his eyes and every Iraqi eyes the US soldiers and the American security companies such as Black Water killing the Iraqis, humiliating them, and behaving with arrogance and superiority ... Iraq became the country of death, killing, lack of services, diseases such as cholera, corruption especially in oil, and division. Many and many other consequences since 1991 US wars in Iraq. All these in mind no wonder why the Iraqi journalist hit GWB with his shoes. GWB was wrong to say this is so the journalist wants to bring attention. It is not but it is the response after all these years of misery by the USA in Iraq.

We feel that the journalist could have asked GWB some questions however that might pass unnoticed and he chose the way that he likes to express his anger against the US wars in this country.

Khalid Jarrar broke a six-month silence to list reactions on his Facebook page. He writes:

Believe it or not, a lot of people think that this guy, Montathar, regardless of the beating he probably is still having, deserves a statue in the middle of Baghdad. I am willing to fund it myself :D

One person who does not think so is Nibras Kazimi who stood alone among Iraqi bloggers to defend George Bush:

Personally, I got angry. Very angry.

I will make a public promise: should I ever run into a certain reporter called Muntather al-Zaidi, presently of Al-Baghdadia TV, I will seriously consider beating the crap out of him... See, I will forever remain indebted to President George W. Bush. He is my hero. He liberated Iraq, and that's how I will always see it. Had there been no President Bush, then Saddam would still be Saddam.

The usual suspects are ecstatic over what happened, especially the US-based media and Iraq-watchers. I would like to beat them all up too, but I think that would be a tad bit excessive. The best revenge is to make them watch Iraq's democracy strengthen and prosper.

Baghdad Treasure is torn between professional pride and being an Iraqi:

As a journalist myself, I found what the reporter did was extremely wrong. Journalists have their voices and pens (and now the internet) to express whatever they want to protest against. However, I was kind of relieved. As an Iraqi citizen, I believe Bush deserved this ending that the entire world will remember and cherish. I mean what wrong the man had done was huge. His failure to prepare for an invasion aftermath caused Iraqis and Americans hundreds of thousands of souls, not to mention the destruction of an entire country, the millions who have migrated and the creation of terrorism in Iraq. Well, you know the rest. There is no need to go into details here...

Anyways, now Bush has one last thing to have the world remember him with. If I were him… Nah, I’ll keep this to myself.

Free Montather

Several bloggers are concerned for the journalist and call for his release. Raed Jarrar has started an online petition. He writes:

Some of my contacts in Baghdad assured me that the Iraqi Journalist who threw the shoes at bush today was heavily beaten (you can actually hear him scream in pain in this released video)

After beating him, the Iraqi authorities arrested Mr. Al-Zeidi.

Layla Anwar adds:

We were also filled with grief and recited the Fateeha, because we knew that Muntather Al-Zaidi signed his own death warrant. This guy is finished.

Mom added that he will be tortured first, most probably with shoes before his execution...

I therefore urge all people of conscience, in particular Journalists without Borders, any syndicate or union of journalists anywhere in the world, to mobilize themselves for the release of Muntather before he gets executed.

And Finally

Ladybird reports on the inevitable computer games that will be spun from the shoe throwing incident. She links to an "Educational" one from a Norwegian newspaper where the player can calculate the right angle and force.

OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! woooohooooo. Wow!!!

2008-11-05T17:54:00.003Z

So says Neurotic Iraqi Wife. Overall Iraqi blogs were positive toward president elect Obama, but not all bloggers were happy.

Layla Anwar only forsees doom for Iraq during Obama's presidency:

So Obama, the booma, won the elections. [Booma means owl, but in Iraqi dialect it also means someone very stupid]...

the vice president for the booma Obama is none other than J.Biden. J.Biden, the Zionist, is an ardent supporter of the partition of Iraq into three statelets. No wonder Maliki and Co were also backing the booma along with Iran... I am glad that the evil, bastard Bush is out. No doubt about it. But I shall not congratulate you on your 44th president. He will simply finish off what the other Zionists had started -- The final partition of my country.

To hell with all of you and all of your presidents.

To say that Neurotic Wife is pleased with the US presidential election would be an understatement. She writes:

Change, change, change. Change is on its way. Change to the vicious Bush administration. The Bush administration that lied, tricked, conned the world, and most of all conned the Iraqis. ... For me, this is not just about history, this is about someone who was able to bring down the very people that broke my country. It’s a great punch to the very people that destroyed the individual Iraqi. And that to me is an enough victory.

I will only have to say to Mr Obama, don’t let us down. You came thus far, and as an Iraqi Im depending on you. Don’t let dirty politics break your promises. ... I learnt a few lessons in life, and that is to never ever over expect things from individuals, but in this instance I am. I am expecting many things from Obama. And disappointment is NOT one of them. As for all the red neck extremists out there, for all you people who cannot fathom how a black American can be your president, Tough luck. Live with it...

It’s a beautiful clear sky today. A BLUE sky. The start of a new era. The Obama Era…

And Fatima, an Iraqi American is at last proud. She declares:

For me, I am so proud of America right now. Proud of it for overcoming so much, and showing us what it is capable of.
And for me, I really hope that Obama does not disappoint. I hope that he leads this nation to justice and equality for all, and that he stays away from aggression, wherever it may be. I hope that he does not become just another one of them presidents.
And finally, I really do salute John McCain on his work and his speech last night. It was chivalrous, and I hope he rests after his long years of service.

GOOOBAMA! Long Live Justice, Equality and all this is good in this world!

And Finally

I end with messages of congratulations from Iraqis to America.

Iraqi Mojo:

Americans have elected an African American man named Barack Hussein Obama as their next President. God bless America!

Sahar:

Am I happy for Iraq? I don't know. I don't know what will happen and I'm afraid.

Will he pull out the troops?
Will he care enough to reach a good compromise – fair to the Iraqi people?

But in spite of all my fears, I am so happy for America - You have come such a long way. You had the strength, the will to elect this man of change. And with all my heart I hope he puts America on the path to recovery.

To see America again on the pedestal of freedom and democracy, a benign force that heals instead of hurts, unites instead of divides – soon inshalla.
I wish to congratulate you all.

Iraq Pundit:

Over the years I have often found myself defending Americans from such critics as the French or Arabs, who charge the people of the U.S. are ignorant racist idiots. I have tried to talk to those critics, but naturally I got nowhere. Maybe the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States will tell them how wrong they are. Only the heartless were not moved last night when Obama was announced the winner of the presidency. ... So congratulations to Barack Obama. Let no one say this is not an amazing country.

And from Baghdad, Marshmallow26:

Congratulations dear Americans on the elections and the new US president. no matter how the results came out, you hope and we hope that the new president will bring a brighter future to the USA and Iraq.

More than 130 million Americans have been voted. That is a massive number.

What I like the most about Americans is that they didn't put " race" on top priorities while voting, the majority of white people had elected Obama who is an African descent, because they don't believe in colors or religions but principles towards the country and its people...

Once again Mabrook :)

Who Would Iraq Elect, Obama or McCain?

2008-11-04T16:56:00.000Z

Is the question Alive in Baghdad asks in a video roundup of public opinion, Correspondents Nabeel Kamal and Ali Al-Le’abiy interview Iraqi's on the streets of Baghdad. AiB writes:

Our sampling was done in a short timeframe and by no means represents a statistically accurate cross-section of the Iraqi public. However, we do feel that you will hear an array of different opinions, and begin to gain a little insight into how the Iraqi public views the American government and electorate, more than five and years after the invasion.

As Nibras Kazimi says, "Perhaps no other country in the world sees itself as directly affected by Tuesday’s outcome as much as Iraq... If any case could be made that non-Americans should be allowed to vote for either Obama or McCain, then Iraqis would get the first go." So who would Iraqi blogger vote for? There is a very wide range of opinions to choose from. Nibras himself gives his whole hearted support to McCain. He writes:

History can be made on someone else’s time, not when there’s a crises afoot; Iraqis need to be vigilant and practical in their choice... Who will be a better president for them? Who will help them defeat the terrorists, curb Iran and stabilize the region?

The clear answer is McCain.

Another Iraqi living in the US, Iraqi Mojo would have supported McCain but was put off by the choice of vice president:

I like McCain. I appreciate his efforts to help Iraq defend itself against terrorists. He has criticized the Bush administration's blunders in Iraq. But when it came time to choose a running mate, McCain chose poorly, in my opinion. I found her comments about "real" America to be strange - they reminded me of Arabs who cling to "real" Iraqis. Palin mocked community organizers and implied they don't have actual responsibilities.

Neurotic Wife, an Iraqi who worked in the Green Zone, is not impressed with the argument that American troops needs to remain to keep Iraq secure. She writes about a conversation with her husband and discloses a hint of bitterness towards the current Iraqi government:

Looks like Obama will win, he said. What do you think Neurotica? Wow, I was actually impressed he asked my opinion, for in the past few days he has been pretty sick and not really conversive. I wish Obama wins, I typed. I wish he wins and withdraws all the troops by end of the year. HUBBY was shocked at my answer. How come Neurotica? If the US leaves there will be chaos and Iran will jump in. We cant let that happen.

I Lol’ed so much, for Iran is ALREADY in. The government of Iraq is nothing but Iran’s puppet. “Neighbouring countries should respect the sovereignty of Iraq” is ALL BS. I really really want the troops to leave, and Im serious...

I want chaos to break. YES. I DO. This is the only solution. The only solution to the current Iraqi govt. They are useless, and will continue to be so because even though they say they want the forces to leave, they know it wont happen, and so every night when they go to bed, they're confident that a soft cushion awaits their empty heads. They depend on the forces. I get really angry when I talk about this subject. I get really upset, that such a rich, resourceful country has ended up in such filthy hands. Filthy, corrupt and no loyalty. No loyalty to the earth they are walking on. I want them to suffer...

Yes, Obama, please win. Win and withdraw the troops. Personally I believe the US is wasting its time. Its time, money and effort. Try and save the fallen economy instead with the money you will be wasting on Iraq. Iraq has enough money. Iraq is rich. Unfortunately the wealth is going into Ammar al Hakeem’s pockets, and his repulsive likes. Do you know that he bought properties here in the Emirates worth millions of dollars? No you don’t know that fact. He spends millions while the children of Iraq die of starvation, cholera, typhoid, abuse, rape and torture. WELL DONE Ammar!!! Lets see what happens to you when the forces leave? I want to see you torn apart, exactly the same way a lion preys on his victim. Is what Im saying vicious? I really hope so.

The reply McCain gave when one of his supporters accused Obama of being an "Arab" dismayed several bloggers. Treasure of Baghdad wrote:

I'm sure all of you saw this ignorant American woman rallying for McCain saying she doesn't trust Obama and that she has "read about him and found out he's an Arab." At first, I thought she said "he's an error" which is why I accepted McCain saying, "No, Madam. He's a decent family man…" But when I realized she meant an "Arab" and connected it to what McCain said, I felt very offended. It appeared as if he was saying, "No, Madam. He's is decent, not Arab." I wonder if he said that deliberately to convey that Arabs are not decent and that since Obama is not an Arab, he's decent!

In all cases, I'm not surprised that this came from a McCain supporter and from McCain himself. I wonder what would the Arab Americans feel when they heard this ignorant woman. What would they think when they see the country they built along with their Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, atheist and Hindu countrymen intolerant like this.

Hammorabi puts his outrage more bluntly:

this indicates the hatreds and racial discriminatory attitude that JM [John McCain] harbors toward the others especially Arabs and Muslims.

If JM is going to be the next US president he will never be able to remove the stigma of being racially discriminating against the Arabs neither any one Muslim including the American Muslims will forget for him such nauseating comments. He will be nothing but a failure. In fact whether he is elected or not the American Muslims and American Arabs should lawsuit him for his racial insult against them.

And Finally

Given the obvious embarrassment Barak Obama has shown about his middle name, Hussein, I wonder how the Republicans will take Nibras Kazimi's compliments when he compares John McCain to that great Muslim leader:

‘Hussein’ is a popular name in the Muslim world, in both the Sunni and Shia components of it, because it was the name of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. There are only two male bloodlines that go back to Muhammad, through the brothers Hassan and Hussein... But Hussein is made more unique because he led a desperate rebellion against a dynasty that had usurped the leadership of Islam. Hussein was led to believe that he enjoyed overwhelming support in the battleground state of Kufa, and he barnstormed his way over there only to find that his get-out-the-vote machine was busted, while that of his enemies had managed to raise an army of several thousand...

Hussein found himself on the plains of Karbala surrounded by a rebel band of a few dozen kinsmen and womenfolk, the mavericks of Islam. All around them were the fluttering banners and ranks of the enemy, thousands and thousands of them, hemming in the rebels from the riverside of the Euphrates...

I will spare you the details of the epic battle... The last man standing was old Hussein. He had just watched his cousins, his brothers, and his sons get cut down one after the other... The story ends with Hussein making his last stand, and the rest is history...

John McCain though, fights in the same spirit as Imam Hussein. Faced with incredible odds, he marches on towards battle. There’s honor in his cause, and that keeps him strong, unwavering.

And I guess that’s also where I draw my own strength and commitment in this bleak final stretch.

“Every day is Election Day. Every land is a battleground state.”

Here’s to fighting the good fight!

Iraq: Look at the world - where is peace?

2008-09-24T06:56:00.001Z

So says Sahar. On the occasion of World Peace Day she writes:

Look at the world – where is peace?

It is shy and illusive.

There is turmoil and war.

There is distrust and fear of the other.

There are hearts bleeding for their loved ones – it doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter who – loved ones are just as precious.

Can we really strive for a day – one day of peace?

One day in which we intentionally look at the half that is full instead of the half that is empty?

Can we take a day to look at what human beings on Earth have in common rather than what divides us?

Can we make the effort?

Today a mixed bad of posts. A meeting of old friends, a little politics, a coin of excellence, a dose of female geekery and, if you read to the end, find out what fasting really does to you.

If you watch no other video this week watch this one

If you listen carefully to the news you may hear the odd glib comment about the concrete walls that have gone up around Baghdad. But, to truly understand the devastation these walls cause to the communities that are divided by them one must listen to the voices of the ordinary Iraqis. Which is exactly what Alive in Baghdad does.

When Birds Die

Where do birds dig their graves,

brown and black ...

and blue?

They crawl at the end of their time

into nothingness

that we will never know...

They respect each others private

last minute

with God...

before the final accession.

They turn their heads

the other way

when loved ones die.

Then turn them again

to bestow all the love of the skies

and flight...

in parting.

Poem by ZZ

Bits and Pieces

A&E Iraq meets his closest friend that he has not seen since they parted in Iraq. The meeting brings memories of times past:

I had flashes from the past, him being threatened by the security forces, there weapons were pointed to his neck, when I started shouting and threatening.
We were always ready to die together, he never let me down...

I kept looking at him, the same smile, the same gestures, and the same childish behavior. I closed my eyes and found myself sitting in his black small car (the one he used to have in Baghdad), as he used to come everyday, ringing the bell, and then we both disappear.
Going out, drinking special juice from (14th of Ramadan street), chatting, listening to songs, eating Falafel or Lahmb3ajeen, and then going back, sit in the car, keep talking, talking about love, friends and future plans.

Last of Iraqis notices the recent prisoner releases by America but finds some ominous signs for the future peace in Iraq:

I can surely say that there is a good number of [Al Qaida] members among those prisoners as a colleague of mine said when he was talking about his neighbor who is a released prisoner:" I can assure you Mohammed he was in [Al Qaida], I'm sure of that as I'm sure of my name…he was released and few hours 4 members of the Awakening came to visit him!! can you believe that…I bet the situation will get worst pretty soon"...

Only god knows what the coming days are hiding for us.

Inside the Green Zone, Neurotic Wife gets an award (picture left) from the Commanding General in charge of her office. For the first time "the woman that can go on talking forever and give headaches to people all over the world", is speechless. But, she does not want to take the credit for herself. Neurotic Wife writes:

I seriously don’t think I deserve this coin, but instead, I believe that this coin should be dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the name of this country. First and foremost I dedicate it to all the innocent Iraqi martyrs whose blood is still running deep. Deep within these rivers. And ofcourse, I also dedicate it to the coalition forces and the multi national forces who may not have sacrificed their lives because they “love” us, but they sacrificed their lives in the name of their own country. And to me, to me all those who sacrificed their lives for THEIR country is the epitome of ones honour. A Pure and Honest Honour…

Ihath finds a Swarovski Crystal pendant that is also a USB memory stick and, as a true female geek, she cannot contain her delight. Ihath tries to explain to the confused shop assistant why this is so cool:

So I began to explain to her that this thingy can be attached to a computer or a laptop and you can transfer you files to it and then you have your files with you all the time but it is also a heart shaped pendant which makes a statement about the love you have for these files. The elderly woman still looked puzzled and asked me “So why is that cool?”. “Well it is cool because you have your files with you in a heart shaped pendant hanging on your chest, which means you love your files and your digital files are important to you and you have them hanging right next to your heart, which says something” I tried to explain. “Aha” she replied, but she didn’t look very convinced.

And Finally

Bookish posts a result of Ramadhan that everyone fasting will find familiar:

This is my weight just before having Al-Futoor.

My weight just after having Al-Futoor. :)

Iraq: They call this freedom

2008-09-01T11:27:00.002Z

It can be hard to believe that it is approaching 2000 days since the beginning of the occupation of Iraq. After all the promises and expectations made at the start of the war maybe it is worth taking stock of the current situation for Iraqis. Bloggers have been reviewing their lot and give some slices of their daily experiences.

Made in Iraq by Bookish

"I have finally found something that was really made in Iraq."

"They are real human skeletons. In the past, they were importing skeletons for (the college of Medicine) from India and Pakistan. But these in the photo were made in Iraq (this is what the doctor told me about them)."

Mama visited Baghdad and gives her impression of the city and its people. In a post titled "There was no Baghdad" she gives a picture of a devastated and demoralized city:

when we reached Baghdad ... the very first sight that upset me and filled my eyes with tears , was the large no. of beggars in the streets, they were old women under the burning sun , with four or five years old skinny kids.

... the roads are walled with concrete walls hiding from view; the stores. the only thing every one sees is concrete walls, all streets look the same. it was frustrating , to see my beloved Baghdad like that.

... It was very obvious that the people are very tired from the situation, the lack of electricity, lack of fuel, the costliness ,and the loss of hope. the No. of people leaving Iraq is greater than ever. I had to farewell a very dear family, I felt that Baghdad is not the same and it's empty. I missed it's lineament, and missed the very large No. of friends , neighbors and relatives who either left abroad or dead.

I swear that I needed to scream from anger many times, but who will listen and care!!

This Silence
as I trace my steps back and forth

in a corporate commercial building on the third floor

next to a set of white iron rails and carpet

where the stains

of last winter

still linger...

Last May

I had called her from this staircase

and she described what it meant living the way

she was

dodging bullets

while trying to keep her children sane.

I had not heard her voice in two winters

and in spring when I did

it brought all the sunshine that Iraq could endure

and Ohio could dream of…

Silence

as I press my shoes in the carpet

my toes jut out in impatience

but for someone I love like next of kin

someone I knew all my life…almost

I have been very patient.

I have waited 13 months…

At times the silence spat staggering truths about the end of waiting.

At times the lines spawned noises that clawed at my brain and my breath.

She is no longer in that local Baghdad directory...

and I am left to this silence.

The occupation had raped and killed an ‘Abeer’

and set on fire all that was left of her and her kin

and hence followed nightmares that this is an omen…

I wake up in sweat and all around there is this silence.

I wonder and anger that this world can remain this silent...

Abeer returns in dreams every May,

a smile of compassion from warm brown eyes

and a nonchalant nod at the life she knew or knows…

I don’t know...

I wonder if she even breathes anymore…

or if her body lies somewhere…

in silence.

poem by ZZ

Baghdad Connect tells of the trouble one must go through just to do business in Iraqi. He writes:

The other day we had a call from a business man to meet in his office... We drove the car in sweltering heat the distance of roughly 10 kilometers, and literally there was a military check point at every 300 to 500 meters!! In derelict, filthy roads full of cars and low-life pathetic looking people - It was sickening. By the time we got to his home-office we already forgotten the objective of our trip. Prior to talking about the tender – totaling USD 4.5 Mil our business associate began to talk about the certain gifts that we should pay the ministry employees, the bank employees, the logistic handlers and a few extra men – based on sects, that totaled more than 350 thousands US dollars and prior to bidding!!! This is an absolute mortal circus when compared with the years of Saddam. Later the business associate began to talk about the security situation and how the Iraqi resistance can turn things into flaming hell in matter of hours but the orders now is to play politics and for a few months!! How on earth one could do business if hell can be ascended in a few hours?!

And offer some advice to those Iraqis who can lead a life outside the country:

For those Iraqis who are in foreign countries and have a slight hope for a job opportunity or a vague form of decent life we recommend that you do not even think of coming back for a long, long time.

Faiza Al-Arji gives the stories of Iraqis that she helps through her charitable work in Jordan:

UUm Mohammed's father in law came from Baghdad a week ago; he has a gland in the liver that needs to be removed, the operation requires thousands of dollars, of which they do not own even one, and I don't, either. I don't know; maybe he'll die waiting for a donation.

Um Ahmed's husband was kidnapped at his front door, 3 years and 3 months ago, he is possibly in an Iraqi-government's prison; I seek someone to help us locate him…

A blind old man's family went back to Baghdad and left him alone. I help him monthly to pay the house rent, but I know that his wife and daughters there in Baghdad suffer hunger and poverty; I cannot help them, I do not have super financial means to cover the expenses of all the needy…

... There is a number of Iraqi women who are alone without families; whose husbands or families were killed and they remained alone, waiting to be re-settled. They face improper advances and molestation by this and that, looking towards a life more dignified and more settled, in some spot in this world.

At work, I daily receive women who were beaten and treated cruelly by their husbands. Poverty is the reason in most cases; or the frustration that befalls the man because of poverty and unemployment; they turn him into a wild, cruel, and aggressive creature. This is what happens to some Iraqi families here; the conditions of displacement, poverty, estrangement and degradation all put pressure on the men and the women and increase the rate of family violence…

... Are these the signs for the end of time, of the dooms day? That the world has lost its mind, its ethics, its mercy, justice, and all its beautiful features?

Sunshine is becoming frustrated::

All I want is a safe and open road so that I can go to school... like all students in the whole world, be a good citizen and rebuild the country I love, I am doing my best to make my life seems normal, and try to go to my teacher’s houses no matter how far they live and how serious the situation is, but sometimes I feel that I can’t, I just want a rest, because I can’t take it any longer ..

School and studying are not so much fun for all of the students right? well add to that spending hours in order to reach!!! hearing gun-fire and explosions in your way, And seeing horrible views in your way to school such as armed men, dead people etc, sometimes I feel it is amazing how I can tolerate that..

I see on TV. and internet, talk with people abroad and wonder, we are all human beings have feelings, strength and have the same needs, why do Iraqis have to suffer that much and have that pain in side their hearts? While other people don’t get through 1% of what we are going through .. they have a good life without war and all that mess.

... Two days ago my family and I arrived home, dad was opining the garage’s door and tanks came by they started to wave and pressing horns at us to go away, I felt so angry because the car is in front of OUR OWN garage in OUR OWN neighborhood ... we have an aphorism says “it is our own house and people kick us out” it is exactly what’s happening here its so hard to be an Iraqi, but no matter how it get worse I’ll always have the Sumerian blood and I refuse to belong to any other nationality.

And I will finish with a message to "the Liberators" from Mama:

So many things changed since YOU AMERICA invaded my country to liberate us from our live...

my people are suffering in every life field, specially the educated citizens, the government that is supported by AMERICA, trying to spread and encourage the backwardness . many strange idolatrous rituals, appeared in my country, we didn’t know before AMERICA’S liberation ,wonder if this is the brighten future that America brought us!!!!.the government allow those who weep the thousand years gone imams, in the streets, and also stop the traffic and close the roads for them. not just that but also make curfew in the capital Baghdad for the weepers safety. ignoring all the citizens life matters, business, and the country financial losses , due to paralyzing all life issues , to weep. leaving the country reconstruction, and instead steeling and straying it’s wealth.

What shall I do, where shall I go? I want a better life for my children, they deserve to live in peace, and to get good education, they deserve to have fun , and enjoy their live, they deserve to live the recent century , and not live in the darkness without electricity ,and in the backwardness without knowledge. but leaving my country, my friends and family is not what I want. I can’t.

Iraq: "Obama couldn't care less about us"...

2008-09-01T11:25:00.002Z

...so says Iraqi Pundit.

"..." by Baghdad Connect

Apart from the usual suspects, talk of the US Presidential campaign in Iraqi blogs is pretty thin on the ground. But that silence in itself speaks volumes. Neurotic Wife gets the reason from some co-workers:

I asked a few Iraqis, many did not seem to have interest in the US politics “We have enough of the Iraqi one let alone the US” in their own words.

The selection of Joe Biden as vice presidential candidate made some bloggers suspicious of Democratic candidate Barak Obama. Iraq Pundit opines:

Barack Obama's choice for vice president can only drag the country into ugly territory. His pick simply confirms his total disregard for the Iraqi people. All along, Biden has made it clear that he sees Iraqis as nothing more than savages bent on killing one another. His solution is to divide the country to stop the beasts from murdering the other beasts. He can argue all he wants that President Bush and John McCain are not nearly as smart as Biden is, but at least they will not abandon the Iraqis.

Nibras Kazimi adds:

Wasn’t Biden’s ‘intellectual’ heft supposed to be the whole point of adding him to the Obama ticket to balance out the greenhorn factor?

Iraq’s political class doesn’t seem to be buying it, though. They are not reassured by the Biden pick, whose name is forever associated, in Iraqi eyes, with a hastily-thought plan to divide Iraq

However, there seems a general preference for Obama among Iraqis. Fayrouz is smitten for her own fuzzy reasons:

It's not only hope that drives us to him as his opponent claims. It's how he put us on our feet to face the reality on the ground. It's his ability to make us believe in the "good America" that we always loved. It's the power of "we" instead of the power of "I" that drives people to him.

While Iraqi Atheist compares Obama to his favorite TV show. He writes "Season 4 of LOST is much more awesome. And even more awesome is Barack Obama." and Neurotic Wife asks Iraqis in the Green Zone to offer an opinion. She writes:

of the minority who did say they are curious, said they like Obama more. It was funny, cause one of the guys said in a very enthusiastic manner and I quote “No Macyeen, yes Bahama” Bahama? I thought to myself, is that a new candidate that I haven’t heard about, hmmm? It took me a few seconds to register he actually meant Obama, lol.

Iraq: BlogIraq is Dead

2008-05-18T18:28:00.001Z

I am sad to report the death of Ahmed the writer of the blog BlogIraq who was murdered in the Al-Mansour district of Baghdad. May he rest in peace. Iraqi bloggers are a close-knit community and we mourn the death of fellow bloggers as if it is from our own family. There is not one family in Iraq that has been untouched by the violence that gripped our country and Iraqi bloggers are no different. His friend, Mohammed Alani, who helped set up the blog, wrote on BlogIraq:

Ahmed (BlogIraq) is dead. He was killed in Baghdad on April 11th, 2008... He had an appointment that day with a guy he knew. This guy was supposed to get him some documents that prove corruption in some USAID office back in Baghdad. I don't have complete details about it. Anyway, he and the guy bringing the documents were killed at their meeting place in Mansour district in Baghdad...

His brother in-law found him dead with his friend in Mansour district in one of the small streets there. Thank God his body was found, unlike many of our friends who were killed or just vanished without a trace.

When I first setup this blog for him, he gave me the admin password of his blog and I gave him the password of mine. We agreed that whoever dies first, the other should write about it in his blog. Its just my bad luck that he died first. I can only think of his 20 months old daughter. Shes about the same age as my daughter, Aya.

May God take revenge of those who killed him and orphaned his lovely daughter.

Abbas Hawazin adds: "I am feeling so much anger boiling, I tried to cry but I couldn't."

If you read no other post this week read this one:

The media is increasingly making noises about how the modern world is creating a new environmental crisis. Yet scant attention is being paid to the environmental disaster that is befalling iraq as a result of five years of war. Last of Iraqis takes a look at all aspects of the crisis:

year after year it's getting hotter, I remember before the war and two years after it when I used to sit in my room the fan was enough...

but in 2007... I remember when I got back to my house and opened the door, I swear to god it was like opening a door to hell although the house was left for only 36 hours without air cooling! ... one can feel that the weather got crazy here, this year we were punished by the several sand storms and the swinging temperatures...

Deterioration in agriculture was the reason behind the climate change as I think; people say that what used to be farms became a desert now in the south middle and west of Iraq and that's one of the main reasons behind the sand storms that we suffer from now because there are no trees and plants to hold the sand storms, Iraq is suffering and it's transforming, I know people are dying in Iraq and they can't be even counted but what will we inherit our children even if the situation improved and Iraq became free again and everything is settle? What will we inherit them? A destroyed land? A desert? a community filled with hatred?

Waiting for the war to come in Mosul

Empty streets in Mosul
by Mosul is in Heart

The iraqi president, Nouri Al-Maliki has made a big noise about reclaiming the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Like the massive Basra offensive he moved to Mosul to personally direct the army. Iraqi bloggers give their impressions of a city about to be at war.

Najma is bored of being locked up at home because of endless curfews:

Hatred, such a strong unhealthy feeling.. but I just can't help but hate it here.. I hate it, I hate it, I HATE IT.. I want to shout it at the top of my lungs so everybody can know that I just can't stand it here.

The curfew that started at 9 PM last Friday was only temporarily stopped at 6 AM today and is going to start again at 6 PM until further notice.

And Sunshine writes about life in the war zone:

Everyone knows the new operation may starts in every sec , and the curfew may last for few weeks probably, so my dad bought every thing we need, rice , flour, eggs, cheese ,oil, meat , vegetables , fruit, etc. but there are many families can’t buy all those stuff , and live day by day, so when the national guards allowed the citizens to walk , many people started to do shopping, but this time, the prices were doubled or got higher 30-50% ..It breaks my heart to see my people living under hard circumstances, there are many issues need to be solved, like economy for example, and many other things, but who cares ?!!...

On the third day ... a fight started in far away neighborhood, dad immediately harried to carry Yosif inside , as soon as he carried Yosif a bullet hit the pavement where Yosif was standing !! I am so thankful it didn’t hit Yosif ..

The situation today is not good, we heard many explosions and shooting.. and there were sounds of helicopters since the early morning, as well as many tanks

She concludes:

I really hope Mosul will be free of terrorists, I don’t mind spending 3 months stuck in the house, if there’ll be a happy end, we want to live in peace, we are tired of the continues fights, kidnapping, and killing. all Iraqis want their lives back, I want to go back to my room and sleep there, and I am eager to the day we’ll fix our house and be aware it won’t be damaged, whenever I look at our walls or my closet and see the bullets and shrapnel, my heart breaks, each damaged corner in the house has a painful story ..

I want to be able to walk freely in the streets without being afraid of terrorists, many times I wonder, god created us all equally, and gave us mind to think , and feelings to sense, everyone like children because they are so innocents, why some of those children grew up and became evils ? why people fight each other ? I can’t understand that, why someone wake up in the morning and his attention is to kill ? I can’t understand the reason that motivate people to kill, sometimes they kill because of nationality!, religion!, race, some times I wish everyone can remain a child to keep the innocence!

And finally

Given the - for want of a better word - unique experiment of democracy in Iraq, where does the young intelligent Iraqi look to for a role model in a world leader? Marshmallow26 tells us:

I was watching on TV with dad of course... Any way Dad was pointing at Medvedev, I said dad is that the new Russian president?

Yes daughter. Dad said

Wow he looks hot!! haha I mean he is really cute and young and above all he is taking the responsibility of leading his country...

As he took the oath he stated:

I believe my most important aims will be to protect civil and economic freedoms; We must fight for a true respect of the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously hampers modern development.

Waw "to protect civilians"!! that is a very important thing, now days in Iraq we miss hearing this phrase from our leaders, as a matter of fact there is a conflict amongst them which is about how to get rid of civilians and fight them to death!!...

I hope there will be rightfulness in our next elections, I hope that Iraq finds and elects the honest person who cares about his people and his country first.

Iraq: Stop the massacre in Sadr City...

2008-05-07T00:30:00.001Z

... so says Al-Ghad.

In the weeks following the high profile attack on Basra by the Iraqi army and its high profile failure something of a low-level war has been going on across Iraq much behind the scenes of the mainstream media. Yet now the situation seems to be coming to a head.

Al-Ghad issued a statement giving an urgent warning that an imminent massacre of the people of Sadr City is being planned:

The occupiers have decided to implement the Israeli style ghettos of imprisoning people in concrete walls. When this didn’t solve their problem, they came to the idea of mass slaughter of the whole of Sadr-City, using mass bombing, rockets and heavy artillery against a civil population.

Wafaa' Al-Natheema condemned the attacks against hospitals in Baghdad:

Today the Shu'la hospital in Karkh district was attacked... Historically, I am unaware of military operations targeting civilian hospitals!!...

Who will evacuate the dead bodies and heal the wounded? I really can not keep silent when today my colleague, the journalist, Yasir Shammri described Sadr City Hospital as the hospital of death whose function is just to keep corpses.

While Ladybird reports rumours of plans to use chemical weapons on Sadr City:

I don’t know the truth behind this story ... but there are rumors .. that neighborhoods around Sadr-City are being evacuated.

According to al-Badeel al-iraqi, their sources in Sadr-City sent a message saying that the attacking forces are preparing to hit the city with opiate fentanyl non-lethal gas, the same gas the Russians used to attack the rebels in Moscow theater in 2002.

Whatever can be said about the new security plan in Iraq, it has not come without cost. The new Iraqi army can hardly be called non-sectarian. Zeyad posts a video showing Iraqi Security Forces raiding a small town in Iraq in a scene reminiscent of Saddam's violent quelling of an uprising in 1991. He writes:

A massacre that you will not see on CNN, perpetrated by the US-backed "Iraqi security forces" or, more accurately, Badr/SIIC/ Da'wa gangs in uniform and out of uniform... The soldiers are heard spitting out obscenities at the wounded detainees and even at dead bodies. Others are seen dragging another injured detainee, kicking him violently and cursing him before throwing him on a pile of dead bodies... Those are the "security forces" that our American friends want us to trust and to condemn attacks targeting them.

Raed posts stills from the same video and writes:

The Iraqi police, army, interior ministry forces, and other US backed forces are nothing more than nice titles for militias that happened to be called "governmental". The Sunnis and Shiites allied with the US get to have their militias treated as "good militias" with governmental titles, but the other Sunnis and Shiites who represent the majority of Iraqis and oppose the occupation are the ones with "bad militias" that are described as terrorists and extremists...

The congress has approved billions of dollars of US-taxpayers money to fund these sectarian militias who are directly responsible of the ethnic and sectarian cleansing that has been taking place in Iraq during the last 5 years.

On a lower level Last of Iraqis has a confrontation with the same kind of soldiers at a checkpoint in Baghdad. He was stopped and nearly arrested. He writes:

During the ordeal many things were running through my head, I was thinking about the previous trouble that I have faced and remembered the comments; that really helped me to be cool, I was thinking about my dead friend; Omar who was killed by the Iraqi army in a situation like mine, he was talking with my other friend on the phone when he reached a checkpoint for the Iraqi army in Harthia neighborhood so he placed the phone aside and my friend could hear everything through the phone…it was so similar to my case but they took him and the next day his dead body was found in a garbage!!!

I know you are bored from the same story being told over and over by me but this is what the ordinary Iraqis go through everyday despite the countless explosions and assassination. That's the army and police that should protect us!! How funny.

These events leaves me with the same questions that Wafaa' raised:

Aren't these disasters sufficient to move the conscience? What freedom and democracy and what government reform, reconstruction and national unity are those? Will these events move the corrupt political parties to PM Maliki's table? What constitution allows the army to kill people and insults and threatens doctors? Is there any wise man amongst you, deputies and ministers? Where is the Islam of the Islamic parties where is the democracy of the liberal and patriotic parties?

Iraq: A defining moment?

2008-04-08T07:29:00.001Z

(Cross Posted to Global Voices Online)

War in Basra... curfews in Baghdad... airstrikes on city centres... then a ceasefire... what on earth happened? As a BBC report said, the Basra operation is an empty vessel - it can be filled with any interpretation you choose. And fill it I will, with interpretations of iraqi bloggers. Some polarised, some contradictory, but a selection that can fill the gaps that exist in current reports.

But first, if you read no other blog post this week read this

Last of Iraqis gives the definitive guide to the five days of warfare from his view in Baghdad. The post is worth reading in full to get a true understanding of the ferocity of the war. He concludes at the end:

I think AlMaliki and Muqtada had a dispute and they disagreed on something and Muqtada though that he is stronger then AlMaliki wanted to show him that he is the strongest and he is the boss and Muqtada should always obey and fear him…so it's just a show business nothing more, nothing less, and now Muqtada is convinced that Maliki is stronger and AlMaliki also knows that Muqtada can really cause troubles if he wants...it's a children's fight...and now they are back to what they used to be brothers in destroying Iraq and killing Iraqis.

AlMaliki is a joke now…even in the news the presenter was announcing the last news which was about a high ranked Iranian official called AlMaliki "dear and honorable" and she laughed in a sarcastic way.

I'm afraid that the coming days will the worst…I believe there will be so much innocent's blood in the streets.

And on to the analysis...

Nibras Kazimi sees the Basra operation as a glorious victory for the Iraqi government. He writes:

Maliki was a political nobody before he ‘accidentally’ became Prime Minister almost two years ago, but today he is perceived as a statesman commanding a strong and motivated army that can impose law and order on once-powerful forces that have run amuck. If that’s not a benchmark of success, then what is? ...

Maliki won, pure and simple. ... Maliki’s approach is piece-meal: he’s taken out the intimidation factor that kept much of the Sadrist sway in place and he’s done that by showing them that they are no armed match for a better-disciplined, better-supplied Iraqi Army with plenty of stamina...

Now the Sadrist will have to sway voters their way with words and entreaties, rather than threats and drills. Most of the crime cartels are also on notice that the days of the ‘Wild, Wild South’ are over and there’s a new sheriff in town.

And he spends much of his posts criticising what appears to be every American media outlet for daring to disagree with him. Nibras writes:

It is unfortunate that what little news the American public gets to see and read about Iraq gets so distorted by the neurotic contortions of a handful of maladjusted, misinformed journalists.

However it is not only maladjusted and misinformed journalists that beg to differ with Nibras a number of Iraqi bloggers also disagree.

Neurotic Wife, blogging from inside the Green Zone is incredulous:

Al Maliki, who I cannot Friggin believe just stated today that Last week’s battles IS A SUCCESS!!! Is he pulling an April Fools on us??? Is that possible?

And Abbas Hawazin gives a more detailed discussion. He writes:

I'm surprised that there are people who can still wrinkle out a positive spin from this ; just type Basra or Iraq in Google News and behold pandemonium itself. Of course, one should always take into account the loyalties and the backgrounds of the news sources, but such a depressing pandemonium is unarguable, I myself rooted for the surge itself in its early days as the last hope, but as the haze clears you can't help but call a spade a spade, or a civil war a civil war, or the Iraqi Army the Badr Brigade.

Interestingly, as someone who is from the Sunni community one can notice a certain grudging respect. He writes:

Muqtada is an easy man to make fun of, with his extremely crude speech, the habibi and the repetitive uh grunt, but if you excuse his Fish Market mannerisms, you can find that he's coming from some sort of a tangible idea.

But this "respect" is one thing coming from a somewhat libertarian former rock guitarist but in a later post he also explains that even his sectarian Sunni relatives in Iraq are beginning to show support for Muqtada as a lesser of two evils:

while a great margin of Shi'i folks openly deride Mooks [a nickname for Sadr's militia], the Sunnis in general prefer him waaaay much more than the royal dynasty of the Hakims, my grandmother Ta'iffiya, a rather sectarian individual, commented on his interview last Friday by saying: "The poor sod, he cannot form a single comprehensible sentence. What a shame."

Al-Ghad looks at the conflict and sees the oil companies behind it...

There is now mounting evidence that Maliki’s “sudden” offensive on Basra was decided during Cheney’s visit to Baghdad. Cheney was present in Baghdad, at a press conference called by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the occupying forces in Iraq. Oddly enough Petraeus said that he was speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to call on the major Western oil companies to invest in Iraq’s energy sector, as Iraq looks outside to boost oil, gas and power production.

Al-Ghad considers the operation a failure and concludes by quoting Vali Nasr:

President Bush was right that Basra marked a defining moment for Iraq, but not in the way that he intended.... this is the birth of Sadrist power.”

Meanwhile Blog Iraq sees the aims of the forces that want to partition Iraq. Namely the party of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim wants to create an independent region in Southern Iraq a so-called "Southern Federation". Blog Iraq writes:

f you read the names of the cities and provinces in which the fight is fierce, you can easily link it to another list. The list of the provinces that Al-Hakim wants in his "Southern Federation". Of course we will have to add Najaf and Karbala. Referring to the Article 115 of the Iraqi constitution:

"One or more provinces shall have the right to organize into a region based on a request to be voted on in a referendum submitted in one of the following two methods:

A. A request by one-third of the council members of each province intending to form a region.

B. A request by one-tenth of the voters in each of the province intending to form a region."

And since Al-Sadr has many followers in all of these provinces, and the Sadr PMs are highly against this decision, it will be virtually impossible for Al-Hakim and the Shiaa Coalition to impose such a decision without kicking Muqtada and his followers out of the way.

And Finally

Baghdad Connect gives the whole analysis of this crisis an historical perspective. its all Tactique Habibi:

“It’s a tactic, buddy” this was Muqtada’s reply in his latest interview in Al Jazeera when asked about the latest development in Basra, so was Saddam’s reply in Saudi Arabia before he started the war with Iran in 1981

And after giving a historical trail from 1981 to the present day he concludes:

This is how today’s Iraq ushers the Iraq War 2 period, and while the American military regime’s sole dilemma is how to turn Al Maliki-Talibani-Hakim into oligarchy that looks after the invaders interests in Iraq in return for the safety of the formers’ lives, other Iraqi innocent lives are being lost everyday because it is simply a “Tactique Habibi”!!!

Iraq:Five long years ... most of them in tears.

2008-03-22T22:33:00.001Z

(Cross Posted to Global Voices Online)

For me the whole story of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war can be summed up one post. One post that says nothing about the past five years but implies everything as well. We can talk about the lack of security, the number of deaths, the failure of the occupation, but all this talk has become as meaningless as glib phrases like "Collateral Damage." What really matters is how the war is affecting people's lives. Sunshine's life this week has been rocked by death threats against her father and the deaths of friends and neighbours. She writes of the thoughts and emotions that go through her mind:

we were threatened by terrorists who wanted to kill my dad, I spent the whole nights thinking, and crying, I was in shock, and terrified...I kept wondering with tears in my eyes, what will happen next? Will they Kill my dad? Kidnap one of my family members? Why ? we’re not rich, don’t belong to any political party, very simple family, and never harmed anyone, what do those terrorists want? Money? Or they just want to terrify us? ... I suffered from horrible headache and insomnia, I want my dad to see me publishing my first book, graduating from the best collage, being successful person in my life, and more important I want to be so nice to him and make him forget everything, every disparity we had, & every time we argued, I hope he’ll forget those memories.. and be proud of the girl he raised, although he tells me he’s proud but I want to make him even more prouder..

She concludes:

“X” sent me a message saying “ I lost my brother, my brother died” it’s devastating, there isn’t any family in Iraq who hasn’t been threatened, or lost a son, father, daughter, or a friend, there isn’t any family that didn’t see the house they live in damaged, we are all hurt, but we’ll continue praying to see a light at the end of this dark tunnel. In this week three big explosions happened near my school and the roads were blocked, and we hear explosions the whole time..
I don’t cry easily, but I spent those two weeks crying most of the time, I am depressed, terrified, sad, and in this moment I have no hope..

Five long years.....

most of them in tears..

so many have left Home...

the lucky reside in Tombs..

at least some still live

though without a Soul..

I wonder how much more to go?

would I be buried at Home?

by Zappy Corleone

The Good

Laith tries to list the good points of the new Iraq although his tongue may be firmly placed in his cheek on this one..

For this great anniversary, I want to count some great democratic changes that happened during the five years of freedom and democracy...

Reducing the CO2 and the other gases in Iraq. We have big fuel crisis and people couldn’t uses the kerosene heaters in winter and they cant use the propane gas all the time because of the big shortage and the high prices.

Reducing the casualties of the electrical shocks. The ministry of electricity supply most of the Iraqi governorates for less than three hours a day which forces the families to pay attention to every single ampere...

Most Iraqis became fit again and they started practicing compulsory the walking sport because either of the curfews or the sudden blocking of the streets. Now we have less angina pectoris or myocardial infarction.

Of course, I must not forget that these great changes would not be done without the big support of the US administration to the Iraqi government.

The Bad

You can find no better review of the last five years than from Last of Iraqis. He writes:

During these 5 years I have experienced everything, two of my relatives kidnapped, 6 of the people I know closely including relatives and close friends have been killed, I can't count the number of people that I know who were murdered, my niece who is 7 years old girl died in an explosion, most of my friends and relatives have left the country, I watched my teachers and college professors being killed or kidnapped one after the other, I have been near an explosion countless times, I have witnessed uncountable number of dead bodies and crying families taking their dead beloved from the forensic medicine building, I have seen 3 men at different times being shot to death in front of me, I have been through militias checkpoints several times. Me and my wife have been targeted by a national guard sniper for a reason I didn't know till this moment, I have seen dead bodies left on the side walk and no dares to bury them...

I'm just one Iraqi and I have such loses, imagine 28 million ones like me, how much looses does the Iraqis have?

Correspondent Hussain compares Iraq now to before the war. He summarises:

Shortly, in the last five years, Iraqi people get suffering more than the 24 years of those during Saddam’s regime. In the past, we have the mass graves hidden while nowadays we can see them in open streets. In the past we had Saddam and his security forces who caused that catastrophe while now we have the Qaeda , the gunmen, the guards of the foreign security companies and Iraqi officials , criminals and the USA troops who can cause death to anyone and anywhere in Iraq

Neurortic Iraq Wife remember relatives who argued in favour of the war five years ago and makes a statement to them and all the war's supporters:

Im just gonna say this to Ali and all the likes of Ali, especially Bush and rumsfield. I hope and pray to god that you will find forgiveness from all the women that got widowed. Forgiveness from all the children that got orphaned. Forgiveness from every Iraqi that suffered. Not only Iraqis, but all the soldiers that died. Died due to your selfishness. Its one thing to want freedom for Iraqis, its another thing to want people to die in the name of the so called freedom. Saddam was evil, But I never imagined that there were people as evil as he was. I guess I was wrong!

BlogIraqi measures the results of the war and comes to a conclusion:

Those five years were nothing but another episode of suffering. With some new types of suffering, I must admit. If we look into facts of what this war has accomplished in five years, and I mean the accomplishments to the simple Iraqi person who does not have "Democratic" dreams, you can simply say, NOTHING.

And Layla Anwar thinks that bloggers are secretly thinking that Saddam may not have been so bad after all. So she gives a few points in his favour:

Under the former dictatorship our trees were still producing fruits and not razed to the ground. Under the former dictatorship music was still allowed, so were films.

Under the former dictatorship we had no drugs,no poppy fields, no drug addicts and no drugs peddlers and traffickers. Under the former dictatorship we had no pedophile rings, no professional killers, no professional drillers and no professional rapists...

Under the former dictatorship, we had no over 100’000 detainees with no trial, no children sodomized in prisons and no women gang raped in exchange for freeing their loved ones...

Under the former dictatorship, our artists, poets, writers, singers, journalists (233 killed since 2003) were not abducted, kidnapped or assassinated...

Under the former dictatorship we had no 2 million widows, 5 million orphans, 4 million wounded, an X number of disappeared, we had no mass graves of a million plus murdered by Democracy.

Under the former dictatorship we were not considered the second most corrupt country in the world and the FIRST most dangerous country on earth...

Under the former dictatorship, we had a country called Iraq. Under the former dictatorship we had a Life. Under the former dictatorship, we were Free.

And to the Point

If you really want to know what happened, nadia n can tell you in one paragraph:

What the US did is not only overthrow Saddam—that’s a byproduct—it destroyed the Iraqi state, which is something that took eighty-five years to build, all of its institutions and everything. That was not all the product of Saddam. Saddam was a latecomer. What the United States did is destroy an entire state, entire infrastructure, all of the institutions, so that there, you know—so, of course, life was better when you had a system that was functioning.

As for the noise of all the Iraqi blogger still cheering the war on? You can just make out the sound of one hand clapping..

Iraq: “it’s good it wasn’t a car bomb!”

2008-03-15T08:13:00.001Z

(Cross Posted to Global Voices Online)

What better, after a short break, than to give my audience what they really want to read - words from the street in Baghdad and Mosul. And there is no better time as Chikitita is back blogging from Baghdad giving her impression of a city that she has been away from for many months and Neurotic Wife, takes a tour through the 'red zone'. While Baghdad Dentist returns to Mosul after a break in Baghdad and tells us about the difference.

Baghdad Central Train Station by Neurotic Wife

In Baghdad

They say Baghdad has become safer - almost back to normal. And in a way it is true but the issue is one of perception and it is all relative. Chikitita is back in Iraq, visiting her home. She writes:

I sensed some kind of progress in the air; a cab driving through a once Al-Qaida-infested area on its way to a still Badr-controlled one. Last time I was home, this was unheard of! I was amazed by the new changes; all checkpoints have tacky artificial plants as if to divert the beholders’ attention from the camouflage and rifles to the fact that the young servicemen mean no harm.

... As I was promised, ... a cruise across the Tigris. It was BREATH-TAKING! For the first time in my life, I was able to take pictures inside my city, on a boat though, pictures that scream I WAS IN BAGHDAD!

The last stop is my favourite place Kadhimiya marketplace, which seemed to have survived. No rip-offs, cheery faces and the good old Iraqi spirit seem to be buzzing with life.

Saddam's Mosque in Mansour (still standing) by Neurotic Wife

But after a few days the reality strikes her:

I seemed to have counted my chickens way too early in my previous post. A fellow commuter, barely catching his breath and checking his trousers for traces of dust, said he survived a bombing by a miracle... the IED tore through the very same childhood neighbourhood of mine. What confused me about this young commuter was the fact that he was smiling as he was running at full speed to catch the bus and his funny comment “it’s good it wasn’t a car bomb!” Aren’t we lucky!

Neurotic Wife leaves the Green Zone to take a rare drive through the streets of Baghdad and goes out for a meal in a local restuarant. She says:

That place was crammed. People were coming in and then leaving because there arent any free tables around. I looked at the people, they were happy people. Young ladies dressed in the latest fashion with make up, large fashionable sun glasses over their heads shielding the hairs from their eyes and large hoop earrings dangling from their ears. Everything and everyone around me looked so colourful, so lively. And most importantly, so NORMAL!!!

I had the urge of taking my cam out and snap hundreds upon hundreds of pictures. I wanted everyone in the world to see that no matter what happens to Iraq, the rockets, the bombings, the assassinations, the kidnappings, there is Always Life. ALWAYS.

Some shops in Baghdad by Neurotic Wife

Maybe one of the reasons for the glowing reports of stability in Baghdad come from the wishful thinking of its residents. Chikitita, having seen the world outside of Baghdad, looks at her friend's optimism in a new light. She writes:

I have ceased to look at bright sides in Iraq and given up hope on positive changes, but [my friend] hasn’t. She was so eager to show me life through her eyes, just anything that could give me a false sense of peace and co-existence. She failed. She was right about shops opening after 5:00 p.m., but they close down at 7:00, I couldn’t see any progress there... mosques are still protected by barbed wires, a proof of ongoing mistrust. I heard commuters exchange sectarian insults with each other, not a good sign either and it was her own mother who told me about a private school for girls next door that received threats by militias to expel the qualified senior male teachers or else they blow up the whole school premises.

And Mosul

Baghdad Dentist returns to work in Mosul after a holiday at home in Baghdad. He gives a picture of life for the single young professional in that city:

it's too dangerous to live in my home because when the national guards or the american soldiers find a young man living alone he'll be considered as a terrorist and will be detained. ... [my] neighbours were afraid and hesitated to talk about the situation and they didnt give me a clear answer . ...

i met my friends whom i missed and new rotator dentists were there ... by night we were laughing and chatting and the sleeping song was 3 blasts and some shooting. ... Friday, the alarm was a horrible sound of explosion that woke us up and we were looking at each other to check if some one was injured.

Even the universities and the students cannot escape the violence in that city. Aunt Najma writes:

Today the situation was tense, there was an assassination attempt to kill the university's vice president, and there were many security measurements inside the university.

We discovered today that a dear classmate, M, was shot few days ago. They told me it hit him in the leg and he's okay. I was shocked to hear the news, nobody has told us, as if we do not care.

Toys in a shop window by Neurotic Wife

And finally:

Even if you are stuck at home Marshmallow26 finds a way travel the world from her armchair in Baghdad:

Yes, I was sitting on my chair, enjoying the delicious flavor of my red apple. I visited Austria - Pfaenderhang, Japan, antique shop in Europe. super market at night, and a city square do not know even where...

Every thing is possible when it comes to Google search, I was reading in one of the technological websites, and found a trick word, a mantra that you write in Google's search bar and you get all live cameras around the world...the word is: liveapplet.

You get to see airports, metros, New York times square, factories, Zoos, and you get the picture!

Although I have not been on a plane nor to any other country except Syria, I feel as if I went to all those places which I searched through Google...I always say it, I LOVE TECHNOLOGY.

Technorati Tags:
Blogosphere, Iraq

Iraq: F*** you Washington Post

2008-02-25T15:52:00.001Z

...so says Raed Jarrar. Today's post features voices from the edge. Sunshine is waiting for the war on her doorstep to end and writes of her hopes and aspirations; Last of Iraqis is turned back at the Jordanian border and writes of hopes lost; Layla waits in the immigration queue; Baghdad Dentist writes of a relaxed Baghdad and the blogger formerly know as Konfused Kid writes of a world that has changed.

(Cross Posted to Global Voices Online)

But first...

The Washington Post publishes a story about a dog that was rescued from the 'Baghdad slums' and Raed is incensed. He writes:

one million Iraqis killed in the last 5 years, and you celebrate rescuing an iraqi dog. what a bunch of racist a**holes.

f*** you Karin Brulliard, and f*** the washington post.

and he invites concerned people to send similar comments to that journalist.

On the edge in Mosul

The city of Mosul is virtual war zone at the moment. With the Iraqi government threatening a final battle to retake the city, there is a nervous tension that verges on the unbearable. Sunshine describes the feelings of waiting for the war to end and her hopes for a better future. In a post that must be read in full she writes:

I still have hope, I don’t know why.. All the ex-operations failed, but there is a voice inside my heart telling me to be optimistic...

I open the curtain above my bed, look at the sky, and think.. If the troops will defeat the terrorists and we’ll have security, my relatives who live abroad will come to Iraq, and I’ll be able to see my aunt again, we’ll do whatever we want and wear what we like, without being afraid from terrorists .. I’ll feel more free to write about what I feel.... we’ve been living in a war zone for four long years, full of sadness & fear ... I can’t end the war, but we say “if you have lemon, make lemonade” there’s no bright side in the war, but in this four years I became stronger, and independent person, I believe in myself and I know nothing can stop me from moving forward, not even the war, nor terrorists when I have determination and faith ..

I realized how much I love Iraq, I didn’t know how much Iraq means to me, until I saw It destroyed.

.. but I have to prepare myself for the worse, so that I don’t get depressed if things didn’t work well, I don’t want to feel what I felt in the beginning of the war, I thought we’ll have the life we were told to have, a bright future, and live happily ever after, I didn’t know there’ll be fights and battles in front of my house.. I didn’t know I’ll see dead people in the streets nor hear all of the horrified stories that I hear each day, I didn’t know I’ll have to hide under the stairs for 10 hours continuously!

and Najma's family is preparing for the army house raids that will inevitably come:

Mom has been trying to get us ready, "they might come from the roof, so don't be scared if you see them at your room in the middle of the night", I start whining and tell her to stop but she keeps reminding me that it can happen and I have to be ready. ... Now if my sister decides to have a baby in the middle of the night, what shall we do?

Conversations like this went on and on between my mother and my aunt as I and my cousins sat trying to imagine a better future!

God shows me his love in so many ways.. And I trust that there will be a way out one day, one very happy day... I just can't see it yet!

Meanwhile in Baghdad

Iraqi Dentist is enjoying the new peace that the capital is experiencing. He writes:

as for baghdad, it's great. now it's on the way to heal and stepping forward in the road of revolution and good future. except for some what i call "defects" here and there, one may say that the city has settled down. the people now feel safe and can go out for shopping, visiting friends and relatives without fear. i feet that the normal life is getting back again. while in febuary last year (like the current days), i just wanted to get out of baghdad because at that time i couldn't get oiut of the outdoor. eveeryday we heard someone or two were murdered in our destrict. no one day passed without a funeral...

we still have some problems concerning electricity ( well they are big problems). the electricity in Baghdad just say "hi" for few minutes twice daily. The goverment ... spent millions of dollars just to provide every family with 10amps ... 10 amperes for every family?!!!?? that means no A/C at all, can't iron with refrigerators turned on, can't use ovens or microwaves and and .... moreover till now we are not supplied with that 10 amps. where all that money has gone?

Marshmallow26 is suffering from a bout of insomnia and with army raids in her neighbourhood and barking dogs she has a hard time catching up with her beauty sleep ("oh no I see those black circles surrounding my red bleared eyes…wish there were no mirrors at all"). Marshy concludes that it is the suffering of others that has caused this:

so many killed people and couple of deadly explosions took place yesterday and the day before... I guess that is why I am suffering at night, there are many people need prayers, sleeping on the streets, no shelters, many kids don't know whether their parents will stay for another extra hours with them in this world or the rope of death will wrap them in a spit of a heart beat!!

I decided every time I wake up at night, I must say a prayer, I should ask for peace, peace and peace in the land which the "peacetime" term turned into a forgettable expression.

And over at Alive In Baghdad, a video about the youth football team in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.

Waiting in Exile

Last of Iraqis tries to enter Jordan to leave Iraq for good but gets turned back at the airport. In a repeat of the treatment he received last time at Jordan's Queen Alia Airport he witnessed the wholly degrading experience given to Iraqis turned back at the border. In an essay with photographs and detailed description gives stories of treatment of Iraqis in the "airport jail". He concludes:

I feel the disappointment every minute, a stupid low life intelligence officer destroyed my future and killed my dreams, a legal dream of having a secure safe future, a dream of becoming a dentist in a place that appreciate science and doctors, not trying to kill each one of them… a stupid officer made me sleep on the floor and starve me!! A stupid officer prevented us from seeing our families whom we miss so much…a stupid officer destroyed our dreams….this is what happened in one day…this is a story for one person….just imagine every day how many stories like this happens…every day…can you imagine? This is a serious issue….I don't know what the Iraqis are made of to stand these crisis? What happens every day in that cursed airport is something so important, where is the media from all of this? It really requires the media attention, the light must be spotted on this issue and I'm ready to help as much as I can to expose the truth.

Once in exile in countries like Jordan and Syria, Iraqis do not fair much better. Layla Anwar joins the queue at the immigration counter along with many other Iraqis who apply to extend their residence. She gives a beautiful (and horrifying) description of the nervousness and fears of people waiting for a single official who, at will, decides who will stay and who must leave. She writes:

We were lined up like a herd of sheep, patiently waiting for the "official's" stamp. That much needed stamp which will prove that we are still accepted here...

Or that stamp that will allow us a few more months of breathing space...

Or that stamp that will give us an illusory freedom in some temporary legality...

Or that stamp that will confer upon us a seeming sense of belonging...Another illusion of a "home", however fleeting and ephemeral, that illusion may be...

I stood there like everyone else, waiting for my turn, overwhelmed by a strange feeling that I am about to take part in a game of Russian Roulette...

What if he refuses to stamp, what if he finds an excuse not to stamp, what if he delays the stamp, what if he requests more papers to stamp, what if...what will happen then?

I am almost certain that I was not the only one entertaining these deadly thought. And yes they are deadly if you happen to be an Iraqi hanging on by a string...

So much power in the hands of some official, who sometimes holds your documents upside down...Some much authority in the hands of this, almost always, mustached man who has the final say on your life or death...

And finally...

The blogger formerly known as Konfused Kid now goes by the catchy handle of Abbas Hawazin and renamed his blog to "Catharsis" in English and "Shaqshaqa" in Arabic. Has he grown up? has he reached an epiphany? Abbas tries to explain:

things might change on the inside quite a long time before they do so visibly. The changes that I implemented to this blog and the desire to do so have been long thought of, I just didn't know how I would finally impart with the name I've been using for quite a long time now, after all, "Konfused Kollege Kid" was a gimmicky name for a gimmicky blog...

As for the name, the Arabic signifies that Arabic language is going to play a more prominent role here, I can't decide whether I will dedicate another blog for it or just throw the whole thing here.

Shaqshaqa is taken from a famous Shiite sermon in which the usually reserved Ali throws a fit and rants about his lost caliphate title in a very angry, but articulate manner, after he is interrupted one of his companions ask him to continue but Ali replies to him dramatically: "O' Ibn `Abbas it was like the foam of a Camel (Shaqshaqa) which gushed out but subsided." Meaning he has calmed down now. I've always loved the word 'Catharsis', which basically means a similar, but less Camel-inclined, thing in English.
So people, don't worry, I'm really feeling quite okay.

2008-02-12T07:50:00.000Z

So says HNK. The world media seems to treat the Northern Iraqi city, Mosul, as more of a footnote their in the stream of news. Giving no more than a passing comments that the Iraqi prime minister declared a "decisive battle" to win back the city. When I read such headlines I know the human consequences will turn out to be horrific. So, today I dedicate my post to the extraordinary bloggers of Mosul who are living on the front line of a war zone. Also, one blogger writes on the condtions for women in Iraq and if you read to the end, you will find the mother of all biker's.

"mspaint love" by nadia n

But First...

Here at Global Voices authors have a tradition of emailing birthday wishes to each other. In the same spirit I wish to send belated birthday greetings to Sunshine. She got the wish that every Iraqi in her stuation hopes for. Sunshine writes:

On my birthday, I came home, had lunch, and decided to take a nap, because I couldn’t sleep well at night ... as soon as I laid on my bed a [gun] fight started behind the house, (about 30 meters away), of course my wish in my birthday was to stay alive.

I thought “to run, or to stay???!” then I remembered the saying “what hits me wasn’t suppose to miss me, and what miss me wasn’t suppose to hit me”, so I put the pillow on my head and a blanket, and fall asleep!!!! I was so tired.

At 4 pm I heard singing “ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU” , I opened my eyes and saw my family members around the bed singing, it was really funny and special I blew my candles while I was still in bed ..

End life, killed laughter

Breathless, hopeless, and fatigue

That's what I am now..

I am between the devil and the deep blew see

and between them

I am wishing I am never be...

poem by HNK on her life now in Mosul

Mosul on the edge

Aunt Najma explains the situation in Mosul like no one else can:

In short very little is going right, and the situation in Mosul is going from really bad to much worse.

During the exams period, and in the course of one week, two professors in the university were killed in their way back from their colleges. One was killed in front of his children as they were with him in the car, and the other in front of his son who also got a bullet from the attack but survived it. ...

It is a bad dream, but that's it, it doesn't end. You just have to live through it and put all your feelings in some jar because they won't do you any good.

ِDuring the exams a car bomb exploded in our street and broke some of the windows.. And during the exams, and in the midst of the mess, they decided to change the flag. And they did. And we the people didn't have a say in this.. They're just way too wise to be true.

Now it's the break.. and I hate breaks.. I'm sitting here at home waiting for the decisive battle on Mosul.. I'm waiting for them to come search the house.. and I do not feel like writing, so excuse me.

Sunshine reports that the past three weeks have been "very very very hard":

I felt afraid from staying alone at night because the shelling didn’t stop and we didn’t have electricity, it is hard to admit that 16 years old Sunshine was afraid to stay alone at night! The new operation against Al-qaida will begin soon.

She gives her account of the huge explosion which I reported before but she adds the stories which made her "feel how great people the Iraqis are":

I heard [on] the radio, when A man said “ I was in the hospital in the day of explosion, and I saw the ambulances bringing people injured very badly, I wanted to help but didn’t know what to do, so I took my car, went to a neighborhood and started to shout, “an explosion happened in a neighborhood, many people were injured, is there any one willing to donate with blood?” and I came to the hospital with about 25 guys”

Many people called and adopted the orphans, many people donated with money, clothes, & medicines, my mom and her friend called every dentist they knew collected money to the wounded people.
A man called the radio and his words touched my heart he said “I don’t have money to give, but I’ll work for free and re-build the destroyed houses and shops“ and he gave the reporter his number, the world needs more people like him.

Meanwhile in Basra...

Hussain went to visit his relatives. For readers not faimiliar with the city, here is Hussain's description:

I love Basra city, which lies in the far south of Iraq and in the north of the Arab gulf. So it has the sea and harbors which we don't have in all over the country in addition to its people who are well known for their generosity and hospitality. ... More than 75 % of the budget comes from Basra.

The strange thing is that all Iraqi ports lie in Basra which means that all imported stuff from Asia and some European countries and exported oil to them should be through the Arab gulf and Basra! If Basra depends only on taxes which come from harbors, it should have skyscrapers everywhere.

But he was shocked to find the city neglected by the government in every way and rife with corruption:

the road from the main Harbor ... to Basra city is unsafe for driving as the pavement is not good and bumpy due to the careless it has. This is a simple thing, while hospitals, factories and infrastructures are neglected or broken in this city. ...

I went to Umm Filous harbor (about 30 km south of Basra), which is used to be a commercial one, but it becomes the harbor of oil smugglers.. When I asked my companion about the matter, who is from Basra city, he said" We have smugglers from Iran, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE , India and everywhere who deal with counterparts in Iraq with million dollars per day! I asked "Do the government know of this matter? The answer shocked me. "Most of the Iraqi smugglers are related to main parties in the government sharing the profits with them "he said.

Hussain concludes:

My question is now for the government, if the government can't control a small piece in the far south of Basra, how it can rule the whole country?

The conditions for women

Neurotic Iraqi Wife has a conversation with a colleague who lives outside the Green Zone where Neurotica works. Her friend explains why she must go to work everyday dressed in black and with her head covered:

"I have no other choice “Neurotica”. Its either I cover up or I get killed

“Oh Neurotica, this is happening everywhere in Iraq, not just in Basrah or here but everywhere. We have become easy targets for those animal extremists”. The sadness in her voice slowly turned into anger. “Yes we suffered under Saddam’s regime, but atleast then, we knew who to blame. Now Neurotica, now, we don’t even know who to point the finger at? The Sadr Militias? The Badr Brigades? The Al Qaeda Wahabi extremists? Who do we blame Neurotica? Even the US forces are guilty.

“I don’t even know if my neighbour will tell on me, or my friend. Or that old man I buy the vegetables from. Or that small boy sitting in the corner begging. I don’t know who will shoot me first. The militia? The police? The Americans? Or maybe a drug addict, or a drunk man? Who is it gonna be? If it wasn’t for my elderly parents I would have left long long time ago.

... "nothing has changed. Nothing at all. In Saddam’s time, we lived in fear, and now, we STILL live in fear. Do you think its possible for things to become normal again? Ever?”

Neurotic Wife concludes:

It angers me to see how these women suffer just because they ARE women.

...In my eyes, those women, those constantly supressed Iraqi women, are my true heroes. All they witnessed is constant sorrow and pain, yet their constant hunger for survival puts everyone to shame. Everyone, including me. I send my love and utmost respect to these women. These tough, resilient Iraqi Women. The women behind the Abbayas and Veils.

And Finally...

Imad Khadduri found on an Iraqi Classified Ad's website a photo of what must be Iraq's oldest Hell's Angel:

Iraq: The Idiots have finally made Saddam’s wish come true

2008-02-05T00:46:00.000Z

(Cross Posted from Global Voices Online)

Or so says Baghdad Connect read on to find out why. But the main story is a double bomb blast shattering the perceived lull in violence in Iraq, bloggers put a human face on the impact of such explosions. And reactions to a report that one million Iraqis have died since 2003.

Iraqi Masgouf by Marshmallow26

Here are two pictures of the grilled fish ( simich mazgouf), dad is a professional fisherman, he knows how to grill a fish in a robust way. My aunt and uncle's widow were invited to our house yesterday, so dad bought this delicious fish and cooked it out in our front yard…enjoy watching!!!

If you read no other posts this week read these

While the bomb attacks in Baghdad receive wide publicity, mainly because of their political significance, one must not forget that Iraq's second city, Mosul, is undergoing even worse troubles. Much of which is barely glossed over in the world media. Baghdad Dentist gives a first hand account of the aftermath of one huge explosion that he witnessed first hand. He writes:

it was a DISASTER. even the word disaster doesnt describe the crime happened there. as if a nuclear bomb were thrown there.the trees were 100metre away. the bricks of the buildings were everywhere.the power cables were in pieces allover the place. i couldnt distinguish the houses from each other and from the shops. a cyclon is less less destructive. i stood astonished there. i havent seen like this only when the b52 aircraft bombed one of the buildings during war in baghdad. without any exaggeration 20 houses were severly ruined up and nearly 35 affected. who was that monster who did it? he is the evil himself.

And Baghdad Connect interviews an Iraqi professor who gives an interesting perspective on the design of the new Iraqi flag:

the Idiots (MPs) have finally helped Saddam’s wish come true, when they approved a tentative Iraqi flag with missing three stars that bears solely the wording of ‘God Greatest’!

For nearly a decade Saddam’s intention was to drop the three stars ... and keep ‘God Greatest’ alone. The move was to portray himself as a heaven’s gate protector for the rest of the Arab countries from any foreign aggressors like Iran.

Snow in Baghdad by Marshmallow26

It snowed for the second time this season in my city, and this time was better and thicker than the first time on Jan 12th. I was lucky enough to take some pictures with my friends ... while we were taking pictures a US convoy included 4 vehicles were on the road, two of the US soldiers stepped out of the vehicle, one of them carried a disposable camera, he looked at me and asked if its ok to take a picture with him...

Those guys were surprised about the snow we had. Oh well when I see snow it is as if am seeing peace around me.

Bombs in Baghdad

We have all heard of how 100 people died in a double bombing in Baghdad pet markets last week that was attributed to the work of Al-Qaeda. Iraqi bloggers fill in the background about the area and people affected.

Leilaa Fadil, who works for one of the international media offices in Baghdad reported how life went on after the event:

When the bodies were gone people covered the remains of flesh on the road with pieces of cloth. ... Dead birds and animals were gathered up and put into a dumpster. Cleaners swept away the pools of blood, shop owners began to repair their shops once again and life went on.

Neurotic Wife wakes up to the news and is angry. And shouts at the people who spend their time disputing the numbers killed in this war:

we still have worthless people still disputing the Lancet report, asking whether its a true study? No its actually a fake one, done in really weird circumstances, they tell the world. No dont believe this report they argue. This report is all lies!!! If this report is all lies, then all those millions of Iraqis that got martyred and are still getting martyred everyday are but film characters in a sci fi movie, right? ... The majority of today’s victims were kids. Real kids!!!Kids whose parents wanted to take advantage of the weekend to entertain them. Entertain them instead of keeping them locked up between the walls of their cold, dark, lonely homes. But no, entertainment in Iraq is wishful thinking. For even the thought of it is a sin by itself.

She also points to ominous signs of more violence to come:

just as I was chatting with HUBBY, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, a large explosion took place very close to him. It was so close that even I heard it over the speakers. I guess its official now that the 6 month standoff of al Mahdi militia is over.

Iraq Pundit uses the bombing as an example to berate American politicians who call for a quick withdrawal from Iraq. He writes:

Guess it's easier for the politicians to apologize later. You know, the way Bill Clinton apologized for sitting back and watching the killings in Rwanda while he was in the White House.

Most of us can understand on some level why terrorists don't have a conscience. They're murderers. Any sense of what's right and wrong would prevent them from doing their jobs. Please don't tell me to vote for the presidential candidates who look the other way in order to do their jobs.

Alaa gives some background to the area and the people there:

This particular place has been attacked several times before and still it happens. It is heartbreaking really. The people who frequent these traditional and very lovable places are usually amongst the poorest and are mostly young animal loving hobbyists.

He reproaches the Arab media for ignoring this atrocity or blaming others and goes as far as criticising America for allowing its allies to finance groups that openly support Al-Qaeda. Alaa writes:

Perhaps it is this weak-kneed American attitude that has contributed to the aggravation of the terrorist phenomenon.

Talking about weak-kneed attitudes, Baghdad Connect picks up on George Bush's recent trip to Saudi Arabia where he was photographed posing with a sword. In a sketch Baghdad Connect alleges Bush is associating with symbols linked to Al-Qaeda and their brand of religion and how it makes such groups look like they have official American support. While the truth of this is disputable, one can only wonder at how little the American president and his advisors understand about the symbolism of such actions.

One million dead and counting?

A recent survey published an estimate that more than one million Iraqis have died following the 2003 war. Raed Jarrar gives a political reaction:

More than one million Iraqis have died ... at the same time, bush is revealing his plans to leave permanent military bases in Iraq...

One million Iraqis have been killed because of the US occupation, but US interventionists from both the "right" and "left" are still giving excuses to stay in Iraq.

Oh lord, protect Iraq from the U.S. "right" imperialists who want to stay in Iraq to kill the bad guys, and protect Iraq from the U.S. "left" imperialists who want to stay in Iraq to save Iraqis from themselves.

And Layla Anwar gives an emotional response:

Add to that the 1.5 million during 13 years of sanctions and add to that an unknown number of missing persons and add to that 4.5 million in exile or displaced and add to that all those who were tortured, raped, maimed, and crippled by your liberation.

Bravo Americans, you won the jackpot. You won over 2.5 million Iraqi corpses. And you may share the 4.5 million in exile or displaced as as bonus. ... You invaded and occupied under the name of Democracy and Freedom, so that makes you nothing but a collective bunch of maniacal psychopaths, a group of revolting sick perverts, a disgusting affront to anything called human, an insult to the world.

And finally:

Marshmallow26 explains the importance of the mobile Internet in her life:

I don't even know who said this adage: the world is a small village, but it is %1000 true, we were shocked when the Internet technology invaded our world, life, work and houses but we never thought that there would be another source; mobiles or cellular phones which I call the teeny-weeny genius invention will give every one of us the feeling of mastering the world by one touch!! What a lovely feeling… I did buy a card and a SIM card and boom I had internet via my phone, well now this type is making me more sluggish than the first, why? You know that the weather is getting really frosty and I can't resist the heat and the softness I have in my bed, I decided to check my emails and my blog besides your blogs while am in my bed and my head is under my pillow!! What a lovely feeling. I wouldn't imagine that I can travel around the world while am in bed, ahh so relaxing…am thinking of taking my cell phone with me to the bathroom next time, ha-ha.

2008-01-28T16:23:00.000Z

Flagging at the Iraqi Blogodrome

Collage of the new versus the old Iraqi flag by Konfused Kid

Iraq has a new national flag. Some people may say that flags are really not important, but for Iraq it is big deal. Every new regime has sought to cement its presence through the national symbol. And this government is no exception. So what do Iraqi's really think and were the media right? And, if you read to the end, find out what design the Iraqi blogger collectively agreed upon.

But first, if you watch no other video blog this week see this one:

Alive in Baghdad continues its essential role, bringing the story of an Iraqi family that had to deal with the kidnap of their child. With the total breakdown of security in Iraq, kidnapping is a problem that faces all Iraqi families - we hear so much in the news yet nothing can bring home the devastation of kidnapping more than hearing directly from the families that were directly affected.

AIB writes:

In 2006 Baghdad became a nightmare, more then 200 being kidnapped every day in Baghdad by gangs and militias. ... Some families travel every morning to the morgue, looking for their fathers, brothers, or other relatives, because in many cases though the family pays a ransom to the kidnapper they never received their loved one, so they go desperately searching for a corpse, and there are many kidnapped people who, to this moment, have never been found.

Well, this time the media has got it so wrong

Bloggers from all sides of the political spectrum were incensed by the way the media reported the new flag. Nibras Kazimi's blood boiled:

I'm happy about the flag change ... but reading the papers this morning still managed to get my blood to boil....

It’s funny how the western media is so ignorant about the history of the flag that had just been changed. The three stars do not refer to the tenets of Baathism, rather they represent a proposed union between Egypt, Syria and Iraq....

The western media is also neglecting to mention that choosing a new flag and national anthem is mandated in Iraq’s new constitution

And Baghdad Treasure was really irritated:

The American news outlets changed the facts about the former flag. They attributed the flag to Saddam Hussein... the flag was basically chosen before Saddam came to power. ...

The other thing is that all American newspapers and websites insisted that the three stars symbolized the three Baath Party goal ... they did not. ... Unsurprisingly, the US media did not have the guts to mention that fact. Instead, they insisted on misinforming their audience by saying these three [stars] represented Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party goals.

One blogger is happy

Nibras Kazimi likes the new flag but not without reservations. He writes:

I am happy about the temporary change to the flag: it opens up the possibility of future, more dramatic changes. I don’t like the Allahu Akbar (‘God is Great’) slogan on it and what its colors represent, but parliament ruled that the change would be temporary and would last a year.

The rest... hate it

Layla Anwar expresses her anger in poetry:

Look what they’ve done to our flag, ma.

They turned it upside down, ma.

Tied it up and threw it to the grounds, ma...

Look what they’ve done, ma...

They have invaded us, occupied us, killed us, destroyed our country, our history, our heritage, our people, humiliated us, pillaged us, plundered us, impoverished us, divided us, tortured us, raped us, imprisoned us, exiled us and now they changed our flag.

Look what they’ve done to us, our country and flag, ma...

And Zappy is in denial He changed his blog banner and sidebar and wrote:

See the Flag ... on the right? This the flag I was raised under, and thats the only flag I know about.

Nadia n writes:

It's somehow incredibly fitting to me that, contrary to what the articles said, the part that was kept is the only part that actually was Saddam's doing... [the adding of the words "Allahu Akbar"]. What else stopped in 2003: not corruption, persecution, poverty, or killing, so why not keep that little bit consistent too if this really is the flag of Iraq 2008. Is there any better statement of absurdity than to put God's name on all of this bullshit they expect them to swallow? Any better summary of the audacity of the last five years? As if God needs to be associated for these sociopaths and apologists, like he doesn't already have enough working in his name. No wonder he left us.

Baghdad Treasure simply hates the new design:

So the Iraqi people woke up today to find out their flag has been changed! But what a horrible change! The new flag is dull. Just red, white, black and dark green. They should have either changed the whole thing, or kept the original. They removed the stars and left what Saddam has already put! The “Allahu Akbar” inscription. The only thing they did is they changed the handwriting of Saddam into the Kufi calligraphy. The main idea of having “Allahu Akbar” is still there! And who put it? Saddam!! So have they really removed Saddam’s imprint from it?

The legitimacy of the vote was also questioned.Konfused Kid writes, "the Iraqi parliament today approved a new interim design to be approved for one year with a majority of 110 out of 275, 100 MPs were absent from the session." While Salam Adil (that's me) wonders about the politics behind the new design:

This flag represents a humilliating defeat for Kurdish chauvinism - with Turkey breathing down their necks the Kurds have realised they only have two choices. Be a part of a united Iraq or a poor suburb of greater Turkey. They desperately needed a standard that they could hoist to warn off the Turkish army that is massed on the Northern border. Hence the compromise on the new flag. But what a compromise. Gone is any sign of the Kurdish symbol, the yellow sun, but instead they agreed to a flag that bore the Arab and Islamic colours. Oh dear.

And Finally...

Iraqi bloggers had their own fiery discussion on the design of the new flag. Konfused Kid was pleased to report that the discussion ended in a consensus:

we all came to the conclusion that the best Iraqi flag is this:

After all, Good old Greendizer is really loved by all Iraqis, even the fake ones, mu baba?

Iraqi Flag - oh dear

2008-01-24T01:22:00.000Z

I recently went to a talk by a professor from Baghdad University who has been in Iraq under Saddam and under the occupation. He compared times then to now. And what was a recurring theme was just how like Saddam in tactics and all the new sectarian parties are. The only difference is that they are more corrupt and more illiterate.

And in a way this sums up the new flag - the parliament removed a symbol that pre-dated Saddam and simply moulded the bit he did add in their own image. So instead of the "Allahu Akbar" phrase being in Saddam's handwriting it is now in the governing council's collective illiterate handwriting. I mean, for goodness sake, Iraq is home to the best calligraphers in the Arab world, and they made the text look like it an amature scrawl.

But that is not the significant point. This flag represents a humilliating defeat for Kurdish chauvinism - with Turkey breathing down their necks the Kurds have realised they only have two choices. Be a part of a united Iraq or a poor suburb of greater Turkey. They desperately needed a standard that they could hoist to warn off the Turkish army that is massed on the Northern border. Hence the compromise on the new flag. But what a compromise. Gone is any sign of the Kurdish symbol, the yellow sun, but instead they agreed to a flag that bore the Arab and Islamic colours. Oh dear.

Iraq: Another new flag?

2008-01-21T10:32:00.000Z

A proposal by the Iraqi Parliament to change the flag has started a heated debate among Iraqi bloggers this week. And there is more.. hear news from the front line of the Iraqi resistance, remembering the 1991 war, what happened when the army tried to demolish a bridge in Mosul and the low down on Iraqi satellite TV.

If you read no other post this week read this one:

Last of Iraqis has a chance meeting with members of the Iraqi resistance and reports an original view of recent events in Iraq that you will never read anywhere else. He says "It's strange how a man can know so many things in few hours that he couldn't know through searching and asking for years." Find out how Al-Qaeda rules the prisons, who are in the Awakening movement and what really going on. Before parting Last of Iraqi asks the question on everybody's mind:

"let's imagine that the occupation is gone and you have given the chance to select a president or the members of the government? Do you have someone in mind? Do you have someone that you really trust to take control?"

My two friends laughed and said" that's the sad truth….there is no one" but O answered "there are, they are the leaders of the clean and true resistance" ….. I laughed and said" don't imagine that they will keep their words, look at the history….no politician keeps his words after he wins… majority of them cares about their profit and benefits, so the true solution is in real democracy….which is something so close to impossible in Iraq"

Or this one:

A&E Iraq remembers 17th of January 1991:

oh God, that date, it took me back, to my third year in the primary school, when my mother rushed into our room, and took us in hers.
It was the first time I hear those sounds; those explosions which were enough to rack our small house, I still remember how scared my mother was and how my father tried to calm her down.

Those weeks never left my mind, the horror, the bad news, the color of the sky, the rockets and the darkness.

It was the start of the first Gulf War and A&E Iraq reflects on all the times and events that has gone on since then. He writes:

I can’t forgive the arrogant stupid leader who never thought of the consequences, I can’t forgive all the brothers who never tried to tap on our shoulders, or probably who were pleased that our country was destroyed.

And of course I will never forgive the savages cowboys who never showed mercy, never hesitate killing civilians and tried to respect humanity.

After 17 years, the world has been changed; the ones who were planning to wipe Baghdad from the map are talking about humanity, democracy and rebuilding Iraq!

All the Arabs who paid the bill to destroy the Iraq and kill as much as possible of its people are now against the invasion, and crying for the “assassination” of Saddam.

Breaking Bridges in Mosul:

Winter in Iraq's northern city of Mosul is hard at the best of times but with no fuel, no electricity and temperatures dropping to minus 9 Celsius it can be unbearable. But to make matters worse the army had decided to explode the remains of a damaged bridge one night. Mama and her family had to spend the evening huddled together in one room with all the windows open so that they are not smashed by the shockwaves of the explosion. She writes:

we waited from 8:20 pm till 10 pm and nothing happened... I decided to take a risk and put my boy in his bed( it’s besides mine), “we can’t bear the cold for ever “I said... at 11pm a very loud explosion opened the bedroom’s windows ,we also heard the windows breaking down ,the very cold bluster carried dusts into inside.
Miriam who was just falling asleep started screaming. ...we decided to go back to bed ... But a louder explosion at 12 in the midnight terrified us and caused more damages to the windows and doors leaving the house so cold, dirty and leaving us astonished.

...Next day my daughters had to go to attend their exams after a horrible night ,my husband had to go to work too, but I took the day off and stayed home to try to clean in spite of the frostiness and the tiredness. When my husband returned home he told me that those soldiers were not experts and nothing happened to the bridge residue, only the neighborhood houses were damaged!!!!!!!!!!.

Changing Flags:

The proposed Iraqi flag by the Iraqi Parliament.

A new debate among Iraqi parliamentarians about modifying the Iraqi flag has sprung a heated exchange among bloggers.

Mix Max reports the details:

Today the parliament discussed ... the recommendations (from the Kurds) to change the font to Kufi (Arabic font) and the color of the word “Allah Akbar” from green to yellow. The parliament also discussed a new legislation to make each star of the three centered in the Iraqi flag to represents Peace, Tolerance and Justice, instead of what has been perceived for decades as the three principles of Ba’ath party: Unity, Freedom and Socialism.

Konfused Kid considers the reasons for changing the flag:

I read the history of the Iraqi flag, it is apparently the most unstable flag of the Arab world, changing for four times, and each time, the change coincided with the installation of a new, radically different political system. I... With the realization that the Iraqi flag is not a sacred symbol as I expected it to be, I rationally concluded that, in order to entirely proclaim the beginning of a new chapter, then a new flag reflecting that change in Iraq must also be set in order.

and his own reasons against:

MOST IMPORTANTLY, Any flag, regardless of how beautiful or reflective it is, born under those miserable circumstances Iraq is passing through, will be first and foremost a representation of those conditions before anything else, and thus will be reviled, detached and despised by the very people it is supposed to rally.

And then goes on to propose his own alternatives:

since our envisioning for a new, better chapter of Iraq would be a better representation of its more overlooked constituents, we might tolerate a reflection of [the Kurds] 17% presence on the flag, but not, of course, in the center, what do you think this is? I think a better idea is to put you as footnotes, or margins

One of the interesting symbols I've seen in that site is the 'Babylonian Sun', this might be a good thing to put instead of the three stars... Look a bit too much like Egypt, but then again they all look alike, when I was in Syria I kept thinking why the hell are they hoisting our flag everywhere?!

Over on the Iraqi Blogodrome forum several bloggers had a heated discussion. Following are some chose quotes..

Marshmallow26:

It gets on my nerve every time I remember that the phrase "God is
great" will be yellow!!!

Chikitita:

I'm not so attached to the Iraqi flag actually, I've always thought the colours are way too tasteless, and I could not help smelling a rat when Allah Akbar was forcibly worked into it, but I agree yellow makes it even
tackier.

Laith:

Having the words "Allah Akbar" in the flag make it worthless to me.
the flag is a symbol that should represent the country, not represent
the beleives of the country. Most Iraqis Like "Grendizer", dont you think we should have his picture in the flag too.

Khalid Jarrar:

a statement of [Allah Akbar] that doesnt belong to any religion in particular but to all religions, and its a beautiful sign that this country actually cares enough about God to at least, at least have his name in their flag, as a symbol, and the statement itself is very humbling

Konfused Kid:

I have no problem with Allahu Akbar, [but] it's not 7aram to
remove it from the flag, ... all those things that I mentioned are
practical matters (Linda already said something about soccer fans not
stepping on it) which should be kept in consideration that's what I
meant. A good flag must be practical too

And Finally:

Mix Max gives us the the essential guide to Iraqi satellite TV. at the last count there were 28 channels out there. He writes:

One might ask the question: does such channels feed the separation of Iraqis taking into the consideration the ethnic and political crisis we have in Iraq? Some argue that this is the consequences of decades of dictatorship, which resulted now in a chaotic atmosphere, even in the media. Others argue that this democracy and every Iraqi have the right to express his opinion and point of view the way he or she sees suitable. But would that enlarge the gap between anarchy and freedom?

Snow in Baghdad

2008-01-20T15:00:00.000Z

Sunshine photographs a Christmas tree at her neighbour's house.

Yes, seriously. For the first time in living memory it actually snowed in Baghdad. And for one Iraqi whose blog is titled: "In Iraq, sex is like snow" the irony is not lost on him. Caesar of Pentra writes:

It's cold over here in Baghdad these days. The electric power is off since the beginning of this year, the tap water is available in days unavailable in others, the mobile network coverage is very bad over my nieghborhood & the landphones are out of reach since only god knows when. But the important thing is the security stituation, which is kinda stabled. But I think as a human being, I have the right to enjoy a comortable lifestyle by providing the main civil services like (electric power, feul, water, land phones... etc.). Anyway, let's enjoy the view of snow and hope that the sex part comes later! ;)

The snow even melted the heart of one of the more hardened Iraqi political bloggers. Iraq Pundit takes time off his usual subjects to write:

Iraqis welcomed this week's rare snowfall in Baghdad with smiles and optimism. It might sound funny, but we do believe it's a good sign. To us, it's like manna from Heaven. Because while it does snow in the north of Iraq, nobody had seen it snow in Baghdad for perhaps 100 years. It's only natural for us to ask what message the skies are sending....

Before you start laughing, let me remind you that we are a superstitious people. And we look for signs in everything.

Even Fayrouz was happy:

Mother Nature looked at Baghdad early Friday morning and said, "Let it snow in Baghdad. Let the faces of the tired and the wary shine with big smiles. Let the skies bring calmness and joy where it's desperately needed."

So, it snowed in Baghdad yesterday morning.

But not all residents of Baghdad were impressed. Shaggy wrote: "I peeked outside and it was indeed snowing. Unfortunately, the snow melted once it touched the ground. Well after that I was so excited that I went back to sleep."

UM ALI by ZZ:

There were dreams for a house

scratched on paper …

at odd moments when the corner

of an available room was free

and the light sufficient.

Dreams for a home

while on the run

from dream-killers

and home-destroyers.

Thoughts of reunion

under a roof

when blood mattered

and distance had drawn too long…

Her scratches as emblematic as

sunshine on sunflowers;

groping for a reality

loudly passing away.

Silently scratched on scrap paper

supported by thick books of thought

that were very different

filled with skeleton letters that danced to

a homesick tune…

Hiding from the moonlight

under eroding bus stop signs

escaping the end

though it loomed

as close as the following second…

Then suddenly out of a sunflower second

the dream-killers

seized the scratches

and ripped the paper house to lonely pieces

shredded all dreams of homecoming

and shot the last 'different' thoughts

back into the skulls of snoozing sunflowers

before the sun could

even dream of a horizon…

Um Ali was an Iraqi communist who was hunted down, detained, tortured and eventually murdered by Saddam’s regime, in the early Eighties. In her run from one hideout to another, escaping Saddams 'gestapo', she dreamed of building a family home.

Peace in Baghdad

The good news is from Baghdad. There is a certain impression of peace and goodwill settling in city that has taken the brunt of the violence that beset Iraq in the past years. I wish I could say the same for Iraq's second city, Mosul. Sunshine writes about her journey to school last week:

I got ready to go to school in such cold weather with no electricity just like everyday, I was waiting for the driver in the hall when HEAVY shooting started, the driver came with 3 girls, grandma didn’t allow me to go out , when shooting almost calmed down, I ran to the car, and the driver drove fast , we drove among so many tanks, the national guards didn’t allow any car to pass the bridge except ours because they saw we were students and we wouldn’t attack them ... as soon as I reached school (at exactly 7:37 pm) a loud explosion happened followed by another few minutes later!! What a great way to start school .. the situation is not good, and many car bombs entered Mosul today, they didn’t explode yet and I hope they won’t, so please don’t forget to pray for us, 2 weeks ago a car exploded at 10 pm, many Iraqis died, poor people they were in their houses, asleep, or having showers, maybe studying, or having dinner, and for no reason an idiot put a car there, killed and injured tens of citizens..

But back in Baghdad, where Sunshine spent her Eid holiday, things were more peaceful:

One of the things that made me happy, is the streets in Baghdad were clean, and in the road junctions there were beautiful gardens with roses and some of them had fountains..

it’s strange, how people in Baghdad slept on one day feeling afraid from the unknown future, and had no idea what’s happening, then in the next day suddenly the killing stopped, the situation calmed down, and the sun shone after long time of darkness, no one knows how nor why .. is it a Truce? or it is a bargain?!!!.

Many shops were destroyed , we saw the shop owners cleaning their shops and fixing them. I felt happy to see how they were re-building their shops and I am looking for the day we’ll re-build Iraq.

And the new peace in Baghdad helps Sahar take stock of the situation:

all the deliberate chaos and violence was like a curtain, keeping everyone so distressed there're incapable of seeing the real issues - the ones for which the war was fought in the first place. ... They should begin to ask questions and demand answers of those whom they elected. Have many lost faith in their religious leaders? Have they had enough of being manipulated by them in the name of their brand of Islam? ... But the government still feels safe, in spite of that. For who will do the serious questioning? The greater majority of the middle class has fled, and the government still has a strong hold upon their own people because of the sectarian fears - the evil seed that was sown after the occupation.

And FInally...

The Muslim Eid al-Ahda celebration came on December 18th. You cannot find a better description of how Iraqis celebrate this holiday than Sunshine's two posts here and here. Most of this can be summed up in one picture:

Mmmm!

Iraq: What is going on?

2007-12-11T00:47:00.000Z

Today I continue from my last post trying to make sense of he latest developments in Iraq. Is Iraq still getting safer or are there cracks appearing in the new security situation? Also, read about the latest developments in Mosul and what one blogger said to a Arab taxi driver.

There are few images that can relate the true human impact of the violence in Iraq. MixMax found just such an image. Designer, Zahraa812graphic posts on DeviantArt a touching tribute to her dead cousin.

MixMode writes:

I thought I share this tribute with her and put the picture on my blog. God Bless her soul and of all innocent Iraqis, and may god protect Iraq and the Iraqis from any harm.

Today I continue from my last post trying to make sense of he latest developments in Iraq, but first my deepest condolences goes to Alive in Baghdad reporter Hayder Fahad whose sister was killed when American soldiers opened fire on a minibus carrying bank employees on their way to work.

If you read no other blogs this week read this one

Sunshine gives another of her lifetime-in-a-month posts. Covering everything from the violence in Mosul to her relatives engagement party. Here is an excerpt:

It was Tuesday night, when suddenly I had sense of optimism, I don’t know why!!! But I felt that the situation will get better!! in that day grandma phoned and said the situation is much better in Baghdad. And kept talking about the improvements, I just felt that it’ll happen to us in mosul too, because the capital of Iraq is witnessing progress...

[On Wednesday], after school, the girls and I started discussing matters about the party we were planning to have on the next day at school, what food to bring and what to wear, and in my way home I was talking with my friend who’s 2 years younger than me about the party, music, etc... the driver suddenly asked us not to look at the right side, before he finish his sentence I saw murdered man thrown in the middle of the street, with A lot of blood round him. I came home with my face red and trying to hold my tears.. in the next day I was feeling better, and I got through that.. the party was good, but many girl couldn’t attend

Sunshine concludes:

As they say the darkest part of the night comes just before sunrise, and now we reached the darkest point

Awakening Sours

I reported recently on a new movement called Awakening which was credited with bringing order back to the more violent parts of Baghdad. And how reports are filtering through of a marked reduction of violence in the capital. Last of Iraqis looks at recent events and sees them as part of a big plan.

in 2 weeks, things have really improved in what used to be called "Hot zones" like Adhamyia, Alamria and Aljamiaa after more than a year and a half while other areas are the same, the situation improved in less than two weeks??! While no one even dreamed that it can improve! How could that be? If it's that simple why didn't they do it long time ago? It wasn't that hard, just big cash to give and that's it.

They didn't do it because it wasn't the right time... I think it is related to the US elections, it is so related to the US economy that is greatly affected by this war, it's time to begin with the projects in Iraq that will bring the US economy unlimited benefits but needs stable security situations at the same time... and also I'd like to think about the relation with the recent oil and gas law, and this law is the best thing that can happen to the US economy if it got approved, I believe there are many other reasons that is beyond my (and many others) knowledge but these are the most obvious...

I must say that the awakening movements and the improvements is a really great thing and I'm so happy with it, and I wish the security situation improves much more so we can be as near to normal as possible, but I have one question in mind; who pays the salaries for the awakening members? When you know the answer you will know that all what I have said is true, you will know that they could do this long time ago but they didn't because it wasn't the right time yet and you will finally know that it's all part of the big plan, and few who knows what are the coming chapters in it.

And after this post his dreams of a more secure future were shattered when a car bomb blew up a clinic where many of his friends work. This, after a huge explosion near his house and another that killed many at a market. He writes:

What I feared from has occurred, the relative peace and quietness that we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks was just for terrorist's re-evaluation, it seems that the terrorists from all the sides were just planning what to do next, they were planning how to overcome the current changes and achievements, I don't know why but they always seem to succeed, why can't we have peace for at least a month?

A friend of 24 Steps to Liberty 2 recently returned home to one of the areas "liberated" by Awakening. He recounts what he heard:

“When we arrived to the house, five men came to us and asked what we are doing in the house and if we were Sunnis. When we confirmed that we were, they were OK us coming back to our house,” my friend said. “But Shiites cannot come back, although they can get permission to rent their house to other Sunni families for 80 dollars a month.”

The Awakening forces will kill Shiites if they find them in the neighborhood. “Americans know about it but they don’t do anything,” he said.

Americans provide weapons for these men and support them, and pay them the salary of a soldier in the Iraqi army.

24 Steps to Liberty 2 wonders if Iraq is really safer:

These [Awakening] are people who killed my friends, my teachers, and my loved ones and now they get the power. And who is supporting them? The same people who has liberated me from Saddam!...

What I’m trying to say is that although some people are saying that Baghdad seems a bit “safer”, that doesn’t mean that the Iraqi or the American forces have done a great job of chasing down these terrorists. Rather, it is because now both, the Iraqi and the American governments are sponsoring them.

Instead, I believe all these terrorists, who have left scars of their crimes all over the country, should all be tracked down and arrested and at least be put in jail.

Other wise, Baghdad should not be described as safe.

In Conclusion

There are very few who consider the drop in violence in Baghdad a positive development as it is based on shaky foundations. And some have their own theories for the causes.

Ladybird considers if there is a connection between the recent drop in violence and the agreement announced by the Iraqi government to allow a long-term American presence. She finds a copy of the agreement she writes: "the document was prepared and agreed on since 27 August 2007 and there is another point says that American government will help the Iraqi government to fight terrorism such as Al-Qaeda and the former regime members."

While Al-Ghad points to a new agreement between the Iraqi government and Iran:

The [AP] report also said: “Earlier this month, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Iranians had apparently assured Iraq’s government they would stop the flow of weaponry. ‘We believe that the commitments … appear to hold up,’ Simmons said yesterday.”

So, after all, the drop in U.S. military losses was not so much the “success” of the surge in American forces, but thanks to Iraq’s government and Iran’s “cooperation”.

And Finally

Chikitita has finally left Iraq. This gives her a first-hand impression of her new country of residence. She discusses the differences in a taxi...

A cab driver once told me, oh I'm sure you have fled your ravaged country and wanted a peaceful place. Our country is beautiful [not like yours]. This is when the evil aggressive me shows up. First off, I didn't flee, had it not been my job I'd take the first plane and fly back home and would not be any happier. Secondly, trash-strewn or spotless, lush or arid, my country is more beautiful in my eyes than yours, because there in my country we spoke the same language, we all talked petrol, ration cards, car bombs, power outages, tomato prices, the greedy generator keeper, the scary commandos, the wretched phone company, water cuts, new killings, those stupid Humvees lurking nearby.

Awakening

2007-11-19T10:38:00.000Z

Can it really be true? Dare I say it? Iraq is actually getting safer? What with a new movement called 'Awakening' throwing Al-Qaeda out of Baghdad suburbs; Reports that violence is markedly down; Iraqis returning in droves; could George Bush's surge really be working? Iraqi bloggers investigate and give the real word from the street.

Adhamiya Awakening

A big story in the blogs is about a new militia called "Awakening" (Al-Sahwa) that has taken over the streets of the Baghdad suburb of Adhamiya that was formerly controlled by Al-Qaeda and, with the help of US Troops, brought some sense of normalcy to the streets. Now, to understand how bad life is in areas controlled by Al-Qaeda, here is a description by Last of Iraqis:

I took a vow on myself not to go Adhamyia unless it was a matter of life and death because of the situations that deteriorates more and more every day there, specially after Al-Qaida has stopped a doctor's car that I know with his wife, dragged him out and killed him and his wife in the middle of the street in cold blood and no one could do anything for them. After Al-Qaida entered a house of newly wed couple, locked the husband in the bathroom and they raped his wife one after the other and finally killed her while the husband couldn't do anything other than screaming in the bathroom, things were getting really dangerous out there.

Alive in Baghdad had a reporter on the ground when Awakening took over. In his first report Alaa describes how the militia took control:

Today, November 11th, Al-Sahwa forces started arresting some people who work like criminals before. Those arrested were given to the custody of US troops. As well, they arrested two persons who have been killing people and committing some robberies and kidnappings.

Later he reported even more progress:

Al-Sahwa forces start arrested anyone who has worked with Al-Qa’eda before, because some Al-Qa’eda members began to work with Al-Sahwa and they arrested more than 20 of them. After these arrests, the members who joined from Al-Qa’eda guided the US Troops to some roadside bombs and helped the US troops to destroy it and they destroyed more than six bomb in diferent places in Adhamiya, and also destroyed one of the carbombs yesterday night.

And with the new militia beginning to assert its authority Alaa reports that some normalcy is returning to the streets:

With this plan there is no way for anyone or any insurgents to bring a bomb or put the bomb in the streets so that make a kind of security for now in Adhamiya, and some of the shops have begun to open again and normal life is returning, step by step.

Never one to miss new events, Last of Iraqis decides to go to Adhamiya and find out for himself and came out with mixed feelings. He writes:

I was relived by the great number of cars roaming the streets, the walking people, the shops which are getting ready to re-open and the feeling of settlement, kids playing soccer in the street till late hours, men and women walking in the streets and the fixing campaign for the lights and gardens; workers are taking care of the gardens and squares which hadn't been taken care of for more than a year.

I was worried because the majority of the awakening members are just kids, 14-16 years old carrying AK's and wearing vests(not all of them) and also because what the residents say about the background of these kids and men! ... many of them aren't good members of the society and many of them were with Alqaeda till a recent time. ...

Awakening got good control over the area, they were helped by [American] troops to achieve that, it seems that they want to do good ... Well, I should be more specific in my words; they were ordered and directed to be good, because they are for money, and that's very obvious, Alqaeda didn't pay the ex-members like the awakening did specially if we knew that they were low ranked members ...

the payment of the awakening as what I have heard is like this: from 14-16 years old $250 a month, older than 16, $450, the payment of the officers starts from $600 and up.

Baghdad Connect is somewhat more cynical:

the flip ‘flop’ Surge .. has been replaced with the rad Sahwa (a few resistance & Al Qaeda units awakening) as they have finally realized that it’s worth working for the invaders as it holds profitable future (Oil@USD 95) rather than wasting their lives on some wretched Shiites. ...

As one Sahwa dude told BC “we’ve done our own part and stopped attacking them (the invaders), now they have to fulfill their promise and get rid of the Iranians”!!

Word from the Street

Still a drop in violence, however fragile, is what the media reports. So Neurotic Wife, who works in the Green Zone, asks a colleague what he thinks:

He pondered for awhile before answering then said, well it depends what you mean when you say “normal”. I said well, Im reading that shops are opening late, people are staying later than usual, there is life basically. M smiled, then said, well, yes its abit more quieter than before, but that doesn’t mean situation is good.

Her opinion is that the drop in violence is more due to the 6-month ceasefire ordered by Muqtada Al-Sadr than any efforts of the Iraqi government and US troops.

Baghdad Connect considers that what is gained on one hand is lost on the other. He writes:

The western hot-spots ... have over night become safe nocturnal exploits for their native neighbors ... The east of Baghdad, however, has deteriorated a bit for a change.

Over in Mosul, HNK reports that the situation is still deteriorating:

Before two weeks, our neighbor’s brother who is about 30 years old, married and having a kid did’t return to home. ... And two days later he was found in the postmortem room. Today, our neighbor called and said that he is leaving Iraq to Armenia .

The basic is: We are still insecure and in danger even when we are in our own house. But life goes on.

While WorkingForIraq cannot see any political solution to create any lasting peace. He writes:

I believe it will take a new generation of people who can get past their sectarian differences and look for the good of the country. The reality is now all are vying to shape the new Iraq... Sunnis feel they can reverse some of the damage that the Shia Ideologues have done and Shia want to cement the system where they rule as religious ideologues and not as platform politicians and the Kurds are content to see the instability continue so that they can continue to build Kurdistan at the expense of the rest of Iraq. The United States probably wants political disarray so that it can gain the best arrangement for long term agreements in Iraq and Iran continues to play the political groups against one another in a grotesque divide and conquer strategy.

What can you make of all this? There is a noticeable improvement in general security, yet the bombs keep exploding around what should be the most secure area of the Green Zone. Nobody has a feeling that this new lull will last. And what can one make of Al-Qaeda? How easily its foot soldiers can be bought off for a little more money. At best this makes them no better than hired mercenaries. At worst another facet of a brutal occupation. Paid to be good and if the Iraqis do not behave, then they are left to do their worst. But the truth is that there are so many conflicting interests that no one state, not least America, can claim even a small sway on the processes affecting Iraq.

Biden Backfires

2007-10-12T02:27:00.000Z

Or so says Al-Ghad. In an analysis by the Iraqi Communist Party (Central Leadeship) published in the blog Al-Ghad, they said, "Senator Biden’s motion [in congress calling for the partitioning of Iraq] has already backfired. It was condemned by the great majority of the Iraqi people and the political personalities, including high-ranking officials of the US installed government."

And given the universal criticism in Iraqi blogs, they may have a point.

Before the senate voted on this bill, Iraq the Model was suggesting that, given the political conditions in Iraq, the American administration should move to promote unity. They wrote:

This would be a good opportunity for the administration to convince the Sunni, Shia and Kurds that it’s time to accept one another and that there’s no other choice but to learn to coexist and work together. And, most importantly, to tell them that America doesn’t want to meet Sunni, Shia or Kurdish leaders defined as such; that it’s more interested in speaking to leaders who identify themselves as Iraqis first and foremost.

And then along came Senator Joseph Biden's resolution which instead suggested that Iraqi should be split into three sectarian regions. Here is a selection from blogs that cover a spectrum of Iraqi political opinion.

Criticism

Wafaa' was outraged:

We, Iraqis, have invented the wheel, the alphabet and the law, we began lavish construction of hospitals and libraries, and have made endless scientific discoveries and inventions through the millenniums... Collectively, we refuse intimidation and occupation and so we are willing, able and ready to prevent IRAQ from being divided.

Let us read this as a reminder and act upon it. We, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmans and other ethnic groups must work together and not allow the division of IRAQ to take place, ever.

And so was Hammorabi:

It is not up to the others like the American Congress to decide about the fate of Iraq or to vote to divide it into states. The division is nothing but one of the ugly outcomes of the war and the imperialist occupiers of the 21 century.

Only the Iraqis will decide for themselves and they got history going back to more than 6000 years as one state. Death to those who got ill intention to divide Iraq.

Fayrouz reminded us of past racist comments of Senator Biden and wrote:

I wasn't really surprised when the Senator from Delaware proposed a bill to divide Iraq into three regions. Again, I wasn't surprised when the bill passed the Senate. Always remember, Washington is run by politicians who voted for the war in Iraq, want to get re-elected and/or are running for President. Senator Biden matches the whole criteria. ...

What amazes me most about this plan is the ignorance of Senate. Theoretically, Iraq is a sovereign country -- at least on paper. But when it comes to what's wrong and right for Iraqis, the American politicians suddenly become the most knowledgeable folks in town.

A&E Iraq wonders what right congress has to legislate on dividing Iraq and suggested the resolution will focus Iraqi anger against America. He writes:

who gave the Congress members the right to discuss our future and the future of our country like we’re their slaves. Who gave them the right to suggest dividing a land they claimed that they’re doing a mission in it and will be leaving soon. I wonder if the American government will apologize for such stupid attitude of its Congress.

Those people believe that they’re masters and they’re teaching us something, and whenever we disagree with that we’re just in denial.

... This kind of thinking helps Iraqis cope with the madness, I think. It helps them focus their rage on an enemy they have hated all their lives: the US and UK.

Fatmia agrees: "Who gave them that right? As my sister in law said, 'didn't know that the U.S. had added a 51st state.'"

And Raed suggests that congress has some strange bedfellows in its wish to partition Iraq:

Bush administration, with the support of Congress, has taken the same side as Iran's hardliners and the same side as the Sunni fundamentalist group called al-Qaida in Iraq.

And Analysis

But criticism alone is not enough without some counter argument. One must also look to the causes of the internal strife in Iraq. And here also there is much in the blogs.

Ali does not believe the sectarian war is from the Iraq people but from a combination of lack of security and "a government that is full of thieves, racists, extremists, and murderers." He writes:

They are not loyal to Iraq, but to neighboring countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. None of them is passionate about Iraq but they are still in power.

Four years went by and people with education, passion, plans for Iraq have not been listened to and have not been protected. Many of them have been killed and the rest have fled the country and what is the result? The result is the Iraq that we see today.

While 24 Steps to Liberty thinks that the parties in power are at fault and should have never been allowed to stand for election. He explains why:

The political leaders in Iraq now are Shiites by name only, but they don’t care about Iraq or Iraqis, obviously. They are all traumatized; they were forced to leave the country decades ago, many of their family members were killed by the baathist regime in Iraq. Hakim alone lost more than 60 relatives to the baathist government....

How can someone with a history of sorrows and agonies like Hakim be trusted to govern Iraq? He has all this hatred in his heart, understandably, and the only thought he has in mind is to take revenge. Not only by ordering his Badr “organization” to kill Sunnis everywhere and for no guilt of theirs, but also by turning a deaf ear and blind eye on the corruption of the government. Why should he care? This is the country that killed his relatives and sent him to exile for years and years.

Raed on the other hand says the violence is all political. He writes: "those defining the civil war within Iraq as a religious conflict alone miss the point. Iraq's war is over control of the country and its energy supplies, not over Allah."

Free Iraq sees an insidous link to the partiton plan in a leaked document on corruption from the American Embassy in Baghdad. He writes:

Note, in pages 14 and 15 [of the above U.S. Embassy report] how Corruption cases are divided into Shia/Sunni/Kurd. Since when do belief and ethnic background make a difference when it comes to stealing? Perhaps this demonstrates how the State Dept is preparing for partitioning Iraq?

And Al-Ghad considers this a sign that war has reached a dead-end. It wrote:

the motives behind the Senate’s motion is the realisation that the war on Iraq has reached a dead end. US forces in Iraq are exhausted and are facing un-glorious defeat, and the US might end up [quoting Senator Biden] “having to go to a draft”.

All this just reminds me of my favourite quote from a Financial Times editorial. Which said, 'given a series of bad options in Iraq, the American administration usually chooses something even worse'.

Repugnant Black Water

2007-09-22T23:20:00.000Z

So says Imad Khadduri.

This post marks the beginning of, hopefully, more frequent and shorter posts around specific subjects that affect Iraqi bloggers. My choice of topic today is the banning of the private security firm Blackwater for killing at least eight Iraqi civilians while driving American diplomats through the streets of Baghdad.

Free Iraq provides a the essential background information to the whole debate on private security firms in Iraq. Imad publishes a translation of an eyewitness account, the law that gave such security firms, basically, a license to kill, links to current articles and his previous posts on the behaviour of private security companies. And his opinion on Blackwater? "war profiteering criminals" he says.

Baghdad Treasure was less diplomatic with his choice of words, "You can’t imagine how happy I am to read the mercenary murderers of Blackwater USA are going to be kicked out of the country" He writes. And he speaks from firsthand experience:

Watching Blackwater’s mercenary actions in Iraq, I grew not only angry but disgusted with their actions that never respect any human being they come across. When they race in the streets of Baghdad, they behave like beasts even in the calmest areas, terrifying people with their SUVs and machine guns and firing without restraint at anyone

Baghdad Treasure sees companies like Blackwater as part of the problem facing American troops in Iraq because,

Some people there link these criminals to the US army and to the US itself. That’s how sentiments against American troops themselves increased. Of course, I differentiate who’s who, but there are uneducated people who think that these mercenaries are basically the same as any soldier or marine who “came to kill, take oil, and then leave.”

Raed sees signs that the US State Department is trying to find ways to keep Blackwater in Iraq despite clear orders from the Iraqi government to leave. He calls for people to write emails to the the Department of State and to Blackwater's media relations. He writes:

Mercenaries who go around killing civilians without any accountability are being paid with billions of U.S. tax-payer dollars. It is time to get all private contractors out of Iraq, but let's start by bringing Blackwater first.

Zappy reminds us of Blackwater's mission statement which is, I quote:

To support national and international security policies that protect those who are defenseless and provide a free voice for all with a dedication to providing ethical, efficient, and effective turnkey solutions that positively impact the lives of those still caught in desperate times.

He recalls a story of a drunken Blackwater guy who shot an Iraqi security guard for no apparent reason and was only sent back to America without any punishment. He concludes:

Blackwater has done more damage in Iraq than Al Qaeda would ever dream of an American company would do.

Good Job Blackwater! Continue your Vision ... your doin' a hell'ava Job!

From my reading of the news there seems little to explain why the Iraqi government acted only now and so decisively, which is a stark contrast to their usual silence on such matters. I have reported too many times in the past stories from bloggers who have lost or nearly lost relatives to similar incidents involving American soldiers.

As this video from Alive in Baghdad shows, public anger in parts of Baghdad over killings of civilians by American troops have boiled over into large demonstrations without a peep of protest from the Iraqi government.

A possible explanation comes from Al-Ghad which reports:

The deal between the Bush-linked “Hunt Oil Company” and the Kurdish Regional Government has uncovered a major crisis between the Maliki Government and the US, according to well-informed sources. ...

It ... means that the US has decided to by-pass the Iraqi Central Government, ignoring the constitution and even encroaching on disputed major oilfields outside the Kurdish Region. Because of this, the Iraqi Government finds itself forced to take symbolic and unusual measures to express its anger. This seems already reflected in its vocal reaction to the Blackwater massacre in Baghdad, in contrast to the usual official silence with regards the daily attacks and bombing of civilian targets.

Like Greenspan says, maybe, at the end, it is all about oil.

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-09-15T09:54:00.000Z

With a major report to congress by America's top general in Iraq and the British withdrawal from Basra, politics is my main course for today. But there much more - and if you read to the end - I present Aboosi the Iraqi Human Beatbox.

Marshmallow26 makes her design for an Iraqi flag. She explains her design:

I've seen so many designs of the Iraqi flag and they all impressed me and inspired me to create another one...

Frankly, the flag Idea represents a nation in a simple but strong way simultaneously.
So here is my new design for the Iraqi flag...I LOVE IRAQ

So this essence of her Iraq - Oil, Love and some pretty trees in between. I love the design :)

Wishing you Ramadhan Karem

Sunshine gives the essential guide to Ramadhan. She says:

To all of my friends and readers, specially the Muslims, blessed Ramadan (Ramadan Karim), may all of your dreams come true.

And for my Iraqi friends and readers, may this Ramadan be peaceful, and we'll all live a peaceful life, without killing, explosions, and shootings...
In Ramadan god answer the prayers , let's all pray for a new shining and peaceful day for Iraq, may the terrorists vanish and we have a developed country, I am writing this post feeling positive and full of hope..

If you read no other blog posts this week read these

Riverbend graces the blogodrome with one of her ever so rare posts. Although rare, you still realise why she is one of the great Iraqi bloggers. Her moving depiction of her experience as an Iraqi who decides to become a refugee is something that not only other Iraqis can relate to but also anyone around the world. Here is an extract...

It was a tearful farewell as we left the house. One of my other aunts and an uncle came to say goodbye the morning of the trip. It was a solemn morning and I’d been preparing myself for the last two days not to cry. You won’t cry, I kept saying, because you’re coming back. You won’t cry because it’s just a little trip like the ones you used to take to Mosul or Basrah before the war. In spite of my assurances to myself of a safe and happy return, I spent several hours before leaving with a huge lump lodged firmly in my throat. My eyes burned and my nose ran in spite of me. I told myself it was an allergy.

Iraqi Mojo was, however, not so impressed...

I started thinking about our own escape from Iraq in 1982 ... I am an Iraqi American who escaped Saddam's horrors in 1982... We didn't have the luxury of taking whatever we wanted with us (one suitcase for 4 kids), and we couldn't tell the world about it - our parents didn't tell us kids we were leaving the country until the day we left, because they didn't want anybody to know - they were afraid the Baathists in our neighborhood (one particular family, really) might suspect...

I'm sorry that Riverbend and her family have to leave Iraq, but they are very very lucky compared to most Iraqis.

How I really wish I could summarise Sunshine's posts in a few sentences, but, it is simply impossible. You must find a quiet moment, open up your browser and read it in full. it ranges from friends to parties to the murder of innocents. She concludes:

I pray for my family's safety and all the innocents and people I love, hoping one day god will answer my prayer..
The situation in REALLY bad, everyday a mine, car bomb, or shooting awake me. I want to start my day with something nice, like the peg top's sound not a horrifying sound, not a loud explosions and shrapnels' sound falling on my house, I want to wake up and stay few minutes in my bed stretching and yawing not running and hitting the furniture ! (that's a dream I am not sure if it'll come true soon, sometimes I feel it is like Lucifer's dream to enter the paradise :D)

The Week in Politics

Electricity cables by Last of Iraqis

Electricity: Last of Iraqis takes the Iraqi Minister of Electricity to task on his recent statements. The minister said that the ministry needs about $50 Billion to fix the electricity supply and 36-48 months to finish the work. He also said that the national grid is producing 5000 megawatts while it should produce 9000 megawatts. Last of Iraqis responds:

I don't know much about electricity... but I think what the national grid is producing is more than half of what it should produce , that means the electricity should be available at least for 8 or 10 hours! ... then I would like to ask him why the electricity didn't came to my block for 5 days now? 5 days without electricity and he is saying that it produces more than half of what should it produce . Well , I know the answer , because they are not being fair in giving the electricity.for example ; the neighboring block has electricity almost all day long... wherever there is a house for someone in the government the electricity never outages in his neighborhood....

another thing about the time to finish the power plants , he said it takes 36-48 months , we have heard this thing before , we heard that the electricity will be excellent by the year 2007 , that's what they said in 2003. If it takes so much time how did Saddam finish the rebuilding of the power plants in less than a year ? was he a wizard or something? it was in a worst condition after the gulf war , it was totally destroyed .it's true that it wasn't very good right after the war , but the outages were much less than now.it was according to a schedule.and before the beginning of the war we used to have electricity at least 20 hours a day, that's the ultimate dream now.

General Betray-us: Oops let my bias show. I mean General Petraeus of course. Several bloggers had something to say about his report on progress in Iraq. Even before Petraeus reported to congress Neurotic Iraqi Wife had something to say about it:

that much awaited report from Crocker and Petraues means nothing. A big fat nothing. Im not holding my breath and I dont think any wise person should. The real stories are here, here with the Iraqis. I dont need a top notch General to lie to me anymore. I dont need to read a report that is so full of spin and prepared by arrogant people to contradict everything I know. Everything I need I hear from the real people who live not in the GZ but out there, out there in the red zone. No I dont need a report that is prepared by people who wear armoured vests and carry guns and have about 30 security guards watching their every step. Nope, I dont need that, because I have the simple Iraqis who risk their lives on a daily basis just by coming to work.

Iraqi Pundit cheers Petraeus' report and jeers at the media. He writes:

t's been apparent for some time that Petraeus has achieved enough success in Iraq to blunt attempts by the Democratic leadership and its fans at the NYT to force an early troop withdrawal.

But, 24 Steps to Liberty is not so convinced:

For months now we’ve been hearing about the “success” and “stability” some parts of central Iraq are enjoying due to the “successful” surge that Bush tasked earlier this year... Although any human being with the smallest working brain would know that this is not true...

“We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq,” Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack said.... They went to Iraq and spent eight days only, shuttled in armored vehicles when they weren’t flying in black hocks. Eight days… and did they meet Iraqis? NO...

"Last week we strolled down its streets without body armor,” they said about Ramadi. But did they tell us that it was ONE street only? No. they said “streets.” Did they tell us that this street was blocked four years ago and no car is allowed to move on it? Did they tell us that the street only leads to the US troops barracks, which means average Iraqis don’t use it anymore?...

I don’t get it. How can the Americans be so foolish? Why don’t they ask questions? Why don’t they check the information that is being fed to them? ...

If it is such a success in Anbar, where are the construction projects? Why don’t we see one factory back to working there?... And why we don’t see one single street being cleaned up of the rubble of four years of destruction? And why do we still see cement barriers and barbed wires everywhere?

Last of Iraqis looked at the statistics in Petraeus' report. he was surprised to say the least:

am I living in Iraq or what? I'm not saying that the graphs and statistics are fake, but they are inaccurate

And he takes each statistic apart:

first of all in this time of the year most Iraqis leave Iraq for a vacation... Iraq is almost empty at this time of the year , so there are fewer numbers to die... [also] twice the number of the dead are missing civilians and this is something every Iraqi knows...

Now let's see about the explosions , attacks and sectarian violence how could they count that? every day I hear explosions but they don't mention it , then sure they wouldn't count it , just like today , there were two loud explosions which I heard but no one said anything about it!

How could they count the attacks ? no one can do that ? and the sectarian violence is something that can't be counted no matter what the effort is , for example as the case of my family when they were threatened by Al-Qaeda first and then by Al-Mahdi Army , my father didn't go to police because they are corrupted , and they might be in the Mahdy-Army so he will jeopardise our lives if he did that.What my father did is what all the Iraqis do , this is the smartest thing to do , even in my case that I talked in my earliest post "I shouldn't be alive" I didn't report it , ... what I want to say is that sectarian violence can't be measured and even if I believed that the explosions and car bombs are less than before as the report said , I wouldn't believe that sectarian violence decreased no matter what graphs they show me , I live in Baghdad and I know it , it's the same if not getting higher.

But he adds, " the withdrawal of the US troops specially in this time is not a good idea , that's what I think."

British leave Basra: Fayrouz wonders about the British withdrawal from Basra. She writes:

My first reaction was: there were British troops in Basra?

What's the point of having the troops in Basra when they watch the militias fighting each others for turf without stopping the madness. They also watched the Iranians replace the Iraqi face of Basra with an Iranian one. From what I can tell, the British troops were having a picnic in Basra. The Medal of Shame goes to you all. ...

I say to the British troops, "Leave and don't let the door hit you." Most of my Basrawi AND American friends share my opinion.

As for Basrawis, they'll survive the next round of violence like they've done for the last 27 years. For them, it's another day in hell.

Baghdad Connect says all they want in one line:

Brown: British forces withdrawal was pre-planned and not an act of Defe(c)at(e)

And Finally:

Marshmallow26 has found the Iraqi equivalent of the human beatbox.

For me this is a very small part of the true wealth of the Iraqi people. Even with the deepest poverty, and worst of violence, iraq can still produce gems like this.

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-09-06T09:11:00.000Z

It has been a while since I last wrote my roundup but today I will only write about three blogs. There is so much to report and, yet, at the same time I feel there is so little. You hear a lot about Iraq in the news, about military surges and oil laws, benchmarks and statistics, political disagreements and security. There is a whole maze of paths and blind alleys that one can travel down considering the situation in Iraq. But all this boils down to one thing and that is the everyday life and hopes of the people living in Iraq.

Maybe none better can explain what I mean than a post in Inside Iraq. Sahar quotes the story of a cousin returning home in Baghdad one day:

"We turned the corner and all of a sudden all hell broke loose. We were a target! WHY?? What is happening?? We ducked as far as we could, but the fire wouldn't stop! Who was shooing at us??

"A thin scream! Oh my God!

TARA!!

"She went limp in my arms! I started screaming and screaming. My husband tried to move and was shot too. Twice. But he didn't pass out.

"I opened the door. Cradling Tara in my arms and shouting for Dima to stick by me, I crawled out of the car, and continued to crawl the few meters to the gate of the nearest house. Too terrified to raise my voice, I banged and banged with all my strength – and miraculously – the door opened.

"Arms came to my assistance, we were half dragged into the house...

"A few minutes passed.

"Miraculously, I saw my husband's twisted face peep through the half open gate at ground level! They ran to him and pulled him in. We found that he was shot in the shoulder and in the arm. He was loosing blood fast.

"I tried to stop the bleeding but wasn't skilled enough to do it. I was losing them – they were dying in front of my eyes!

"Suddenly the door was kicked in. American troops poured into the house ... Looking at us – at the blood – at my broken family..

"They said they were sorry. They had set up an ambush for somebody and we had walked into it. "They thought he had taken refuge in this house, and followed him in.

"They said they were sorry, again and again...

"My daughter lost two fingers. My husband has a punctured lung and a steel sliver embedded in his arm, still to be seen to.

Sahar finishes, with more than a hint of irony,on the major news of the day:

Parliament resumes its sessions tomorrow to discuss important things like Oil Law, maybe, or new ministers.

Security in Baghdad is better.

Much better.

Normal life among the car bombs

Sunshine photographs the aftermath of the carbomb near her house.

Sunshine describes the routine when a car bomb is discovered in her neighbourhood:

dad come running and saying "OPEN ALL THE WINDOWS AND DOORS THERE IS A CAR BOMB IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR THE HOUSE" I was shocked and didn't think about anything I opened my room's windows and called our neighbor S to tell them about the car, so that they open the windows and doors and hide in a safe place , their dad replied

- hello?

- hello uncle , if you don't mind , please, if it is ok

(then I thought what am I saying?!!) There is a car in our neighborhood and will explode in a sec, thought I would tell you to ..

- he interrupted me saying , oh yea I knew about that, thanks , and stay safe..

I went downstairs with my family members and we stayed in a safe room, I forgot all the prayers, I was trying to remember simple says in Quran but I forgot every word, and started to think about 100 things in the same time, I felt scared from the stressed situation, there were policemen in our neighborhood and in front of our house, suddenly I started to laugh, I said " people change their clothes and wait for guests, or relatives, but I am waiting for the car to explode" ...

After an hour of waiting, and I think it was the longest hour in my life, we heard VERY HEAVY shooting, dad and grandpa asked us to go to the corridor and wait, after 30 minutes I felt tired, I took of my shoes, and kept walking in the corridor, I was standing near the stairs and the kitchen's door, BOOOOOOOOOOOOM the ground started to shake under our feet and the other door of the kitchen was opened from the bluster with so much dust, Mariam was screaming , and mama was saying " it is over now, it is over now" I said "thank god"

Now is the shocking fact that car bombs still target residential areas or that people already have developed routines to cope with them?

A fishing trip among the bombs and bullets

Fishing in the Tigris by Sunshine

A few days later Sunshine and family decide to go on a fishing trip. Sunshine's mother, mama, describes the event:

I took my kids to a picnic ,to a casino [resort] near the Tigris river with some relatives, Sunshine enjoyed fishing there ,my other two kids ,Miriam and yoyo, had fun too swimming and playing, although we heard many many explosions but the kids did not care, I supposed to have fun there, the weather was great, the company was nice , the view of the river was so much relieving , my kids happiness was the most important thing to me, but suddenly I burst into tears ....Then as I was close to one of the trees I heard a far away shooting and few moments latter the tree wicker near my head was smashed by an aimless bullet…the fear I felt was beyond discretion…

Sunshine took all the explosions in her stride. She writes:

we heard sooooooo many explosions but we were in a safe place, we were able to see the smoke in the other side, one of the explosions was near my house, grandma was alone, but she is ok, now we don't care about the material thing, the money come and go, but the soul doesn't.

but after hearing her mother's story she later adds:

I had a great time fishing, & thought everyone was happy, I didn't know that my mom burst in tears nor about the bullet that hit the tree few centimeters away from my mom, she hide that and didn't mention it. When she told me my heart began to beat fast and I felt horrible, and started to think what if my mom was a little bit to the right or to the left, I wouldn't forgive myself because I wanted to go fishing and they agreed because they wanted me to be happy.

Sunshine recounts some of the tragedies that happened in her neighbourhood and admits her fears:

I do feel scared, from everything, even if I try to hide it, but there's a horrifying feeling inside me. Everyday I hear a shocking news, my neighborhood is more dangerous than before, about 4 car bombs were found this week, beside the so many mines. Every street leads to my house is closed, no one can enter/leave my neighborhood, we are stuck!!!! How will I be able to go to school? Hospital? We can't even go to the other side from the neighborhood.

These are just stories from two families that were written in the last couple of weeks. How many times have such stories been repeated for the millions of Iraqis over the last four years.

It seems to me no amount of congressional benchmarks or American military surges will bring normal life back to ordinary Iraqis. It may succeed in temporarily propping up an increasingly unpopular government. But, after one year, two years, then what?

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-08-11T09:13:00.000Z

Humiliation at the hands of the Jordanian border police; belief restored in Iraq; a report from the Iraqi city of Arbil and a life in the week of one Iraqi blogger are some of the esential tales I bring you today. Also find out what is really happening in the world of Iraqi politics.

If you read no other blog posts this week read this:

I have read - several - times of the humilliation and ill treatment of Iraqis at the Jordanian border, but none has described the details of this more eloquently than Last of Iraqis. Having begged, borrowed and risked his life to get time off work, Last of Iraqis decided to take a well-earned holiday with his wife in Jordan. But he was refused entry at Queen Alia airport in Amman, Jordan and what followed serves as a testimony that should shame the whole of the Jordanian state:

After an hour of my wife crying , her eyes are so swelled now , then another humiliating officer talked to us like we were dogs :"get the hell out of here , and go to that room" he pointed , we walked and we saw a dirty corridor with blankets and 3 small rooms , you will sleep the night here , he said. He pushed all of us and locked the door, at this time I wish I could kill one of them for the humiliation we received from them. all of us were so scared from the idea that we will sleep in a jail for the first time in our lives for no crime we did , just because we are Iraqis , why does everyone treat Iraqis like this , we are humans , we aren't aliens , we are not animals to be put in jail for no crime , I walked and I saw another man in one of the rooms , he was very classy , he smiled kindly when I entered . I asked, did they return you also? How long have you been here? He said , yes they did and this is the fifth time they return me , I don't want to enter the land of dogs "he meant Jordan" all I want is my money , all my money is there , and I want to draw it , but the dogs didn't let me in , tell your wife that there is no need to cry like this for the land of the dogs , and if she continues crying they might tell her some words that she will not like and will never forget , this happened before and I have seen it.

But this was only the beginning of an ordeal which lasted three days. Other passengers were in a worse condition. One mother was refused nappies for her baby, another, escaping kidnappers in Iraq, was not allowed to fly on to another country. And when Last of Iraqis finally managed to return home:

I was ready to pay million bucks just to let me sleep on my bed and at last I have reached there, I jumped to the bed but it was like a frying pan, I had to go and look for fuel for the generator, I tried to have a shower but there was no water, not a drop, it has been 2 days with no water or electricity as my neighbor said. What is happening to me? Am I cursed? Then I remembered that I'm Iraqi!!! All Iraqis are cursed!

Read on here for the full story.

Word from the streets:

After having given up Iraq as a lost cause and moving to Jordan, Konfused Kid has had his faith restored. As he writes:

I am as optimistic about Iraq as a dead skunk on the side-road, ... all the things I see and hear everyday... all serves to confirm my deductions about the future of the country-to-have-been.

You could only imagine my own shock as I found myself trying hard as a I can to resist swelling tears as I was watching the Iraqi team win the semifinal on a penalty shot against South Korea ...

Yes, I do realize that probably it may have no effect on the bloodbath back home, and things could be darker than one would ever imagine, but what this thing did for me, and hopefully for many other Iraqis, is that it reminded us that there is indeed something that is common between all of us that is real and genuine, a deep chord that is resonating still inside, whether it was already present and we lost it, or whether we are all hoping for that could transpire practically in the future, in any case, for the first time in my life, I believe in Iraq with conviction, and that is certainly enough.

Sunshine brings us another post where you feel a lifetime could have passed for all the events that happened in a week. She writes: "It has been a messy week , full of events , some were good , some were bad, in addition to tragic events mentioned in the media..." but there is way to much to do it justice here you just have to read it for yourselves.

Aunt Najma goes by car from Syria to Mosul and comments on the towns she passes:

The road to Mosul and the first few neighborhoods are devastating, ruins all over, the walls of the houses have way too many holes caused by the bullets, there were remains of bomb cars and the street was very damaged.

If you read in the press that things are getting better in Iraq, well that has bypassed Iraqiya. She apologises for not writing for a long time and gives her reasons:

I guess its because so much has been going on in the past period, I just cant bring myself to write , I feel so discouraged, so broken, and above all so sad , things here in Baghdad at this time are not getting better ,on the contrary they are getting worse !!!! when is this going to be over ? when will we live like normal human beings ? I find myself asking the same question day in and day out,
I try to find some good things here in Baghdad but I just cant, even if there are some exceptions, there is always something that will ruin it for me, like a kidnapped relative, or a sick family member that cant find the proper medical treatment ….and so on …..How ever hard I try, there is always something that will bring me down!!!

M.H.Z. is in the Kurdish-Iraqi city of Arbil and gives us the definitive guide, from its origins to its modern history. From its people:

Most of the people here are so great, they always say that we are dear guests, they always say how sorry they are for Baghdad, and how beautiful it was, and how they wish that we all go back home someday so that they could come visit us in Baghdad.

to its contradictions:

When the Iraqi soccer team got the Asian cup, celebrations were all over the world, the Iraqi flag was seen everywhere, except in Arbil, it was banned, and the police prevented the partying people from raising the Iraqi flag!!. Well, it’s too simple, if it’s not Iraq here, it’s OK for foreigners to hold their flag, and If it was Iraq, it’s also OK for natives to hold their flag, can you decide? It’s just like the roaming mobile devices, they work all over the world except in Arbil, it’s a fact, may be that’s it?

The Week in Politics

Baghdad Treasure sees members of parliament resigning from the government and others taking a month long holiday and feel nothing but bitterness:

We all know that the current Iraqi government is nothing but a piece of rock thrown at people to hurt them. ... What kind of democracy is this when every now and then we see one of the “political blocs” announcing boycott without paying attention to the hundreds of innocents killed by day, the hundreds of thousands being displaced, and the millions who fled the atrocities of the war...

Have all the political blocs seen how seventy people were killed just in Baghdad today? Aren’t they supposed to sit down and try to find a way to help stop this mayhem? Aren’t they supposed to unite instead of divide? Oh I forgot. They don’t have to, because they are on vacation! What a bump! Hundreds are dying and millions are being displaced and the “democratic” parliament members take a 30-day vacation...

Hopefully, none of the Paradise-seekers-vacationists come back to their seats. If that happened, I would be more than happy to not to look back. I would look straight for the future and for the right people to run the country, and tell those behind me: GOOD RIDDANCE.

While Omar sees the same events as a huge setback for American policy in Iraq. He writes:

The withdrawal of the Accord Front from Maliki's cabinet and the persistence of the parliament on taking a month long recess is a major embarrassment for Baghdad and Washington alike and for anyone who was looking forward to seeing some political progress in Iraq before the September milestone...

These developments show that a majority in our parliament care only about themselves and their blocs' interests much more than they do about the country's in such difficult time and their attitude tells that the blocs don't want to work together and don’t want to reconcile their differences.

And he speculates about the possibility of a coup:

One thing makes me worried these days and I'm afraid that someone is planning a different bad solution. The rift between the minister of defense and the senior commanders including chief of staff of the army which led to a group resignation is an ominous sign that indicates a deep dispute between the two leaderships ... It would be too early to speculate that someone is planning a coup-or preparing to crush one-at this point but the mere thought of it remains a little bit scary.

But Nibras Kazimi pours cold water over any notion that a coup is possible or that Iyad Allawi could be at its head. He gives his reasons:

-No one can pull-off a military coup in Iraq.

-Parliament is out for another three weeks, so Maliki is not facing an immediate no-confidence vote.

-Adel Abdel-Mahdi, the current Vice-President, cannot deliver SCIRI’s parliamentary votes for the Allawi camp.

-The Sadrists won’t vote for Allawi.

-The Da’awa Party won’t follow former PM Ibrahim Jaafari if he moves against Maliki.

-Anyone seen as “Saudi Arabia’s guy”—as Allawi projects himself, although that may not really be the case as far as the Saudi leadership is concerned—is not likely to get Sistani & Co. to go along with this plan.

-The Iranians won’t let this happen, and they have far more political cards to play in Iraq than the Americans—and they can play those cards smarter than O’Sullivan.

-Why would the Kurds substitute their strong alliance with the Shiites, who are going to run the country for a very long time to come, in return for the fleeting favor of the defeated Sunnis (their rivals on Kirkuk) and a politician such as Allawi whose word really doesn’t go that far?

-Qasim Daoud, a favorite of the Emirati leadership and another PM candidate as far as the Americans are concerned, has too many corruption scandals hovering around his head.

-My sources tell me the following: one of the principal actors who was attempting to bring down Maliki has left Iraq for an extended vacation, telling anyone who’d listen that it can’t be done.

Enough said really so that leaves the other major policy - Oil - and the passing a new law that is one of the American benchmarks for success in Iraq. Well Al-Ghad sees that a declaration by Ali Al-Adeeb, a senior member in the Iraqi prime minister's party, against passing the law as a sign of its possible demise. Al-Ghad writes:

Al-Adeeb’s stand and opinion carry a great weight in the Dawa party, some observers consider him as the most important force in that current, which is much wider and more powerful than the official organisation. In the present precarious political situation in Iraq, it could be no exaggeration to say, his declaration would fatally affect the destiny of the Oil Law and with it the fate of Maliki’s Prime Ministry...

One is tempted to see in this episode a possible connection with the sudden bitter attacks by prominent US officials on Maliki’s Government.

And finally...

After Raed was (in)famously stopped from boarding a plane for the crime of looking like an Arab having Arabic words on his T-Shirt, the American Civil Liberties Union finally took up his case a year later. Read more about it here.

WE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-31T08:38:00.000Z

(3adma announcing the victory of the Iraqi football team in the Asian Cup) With Iraq, very much the underdog, winning the Asian Cup I have another football special today.

(Baghdad Connect suggests a new Iraqi Flag)

You know, a few years back an Israeli, seeing that I was reading a book about Palestine, pointed out to me that the Palestinians never once created a national basketball team, how could they claim to be a nation? Well, by his benchmark, Iraq is the greatest country in the world this week. And here are the bloggers words to prove it...

Nabil:

The feeling we had today will never be forgotten, Iraqis here were all united, there weren't sunni or shiite or kurdish people, they were all iraqis just iraqis.
We all had great moments today, where laughter was mixed with the clean tears of joy of the true iraqs who love their country and do not care about being sunni or shiite or whatever. ...

CONGRATULATIONS IRAQ......
LONG LIVE IRAQ....
WE WILL HAVE PEACE ONE DAY AND WE WILL ALL RETURN TO OUR HOME AND WE WILL BE UNITED IRAQIS AGAIN, WHERE THE SUNNI IS A SHIITE AND THE SHIITE IS A SUNNI, THE KURDI IS ARABI AND THE ARABI IS KURDI OR TURKOMANI, THE MUSLIM IS A CHRISTIAN AND THE CHRISTIAN IS MUSLIM. THIS DAY WON'T TAKE TOO LONG TO COME, ALL THESE CRIMINALS IN POWER NOW WILL BE REMOVED AND THE REAL IRAQIS WILL LEAD THE COUNTRY AGAIN TO PEACE.
LONG LIVE IRAQ...

Ole' Ole' Ole' Iraq.
Elyoum yomak ya iraqi.

Neurotic Wife:

The GREAT LIONS OF BABYLON WON!!! You should have been there. YOu should have seen the happiness on everyones faces. You should have seen the tears on everyones cheeks. This surely is one of the greatest days and times for Iraq. For the Great Iraq. ... THE GREAT LIONS OF BABYLON WON!!!

Omar:

Today is definitely the happiest day for Iraqis in years. Tears of joy mixed with prayers for hope on the faces of millions of Iraqis…Words truly fail me and I can't describe the feeling so please pardon me if the post doesn't sound coherent; I hear the cheering and music outside although the bullets of celebration keep falling on the ground and roofs here and there. But no one seems to worry about that, the moment is so great that fear has no place in the hearts of the millions of fans, neither from bullets nor from crazy suicide bombers who tried to kill our joy last week.

Caesar of Pentra:

In my wildest dreams, I didn't imagine that Iraq could win the Asian cup.

.... As soon as the refree ended the match. hundreds of thousands of Iraqi all over the globe were out in the street partying the joy of the victory. As for me, I couldn't control myself and I went on crying like a baby. It was a great moment not for my own life only, but for millions of Iraqis I'm sure.

Baghdad Treasure :

Congratulations to the Lions of Mesopotamia for winning the Asian Cup. You did not let us down. You brought a smile and joy to our hearts, and took the pain out of our chests even if it was for one day.

A Tale of Hero's and Zeros...

According to Nabil, blogging from Jordan, sporting hero's award goes to the Saudi fans in, the capital, Amman:

Saudi people are the best people, they proved that they care about iraqis and that they are brothers to the iraqis... I really respected them today, they went out in their cars carrying iraqi flags an said "Iraqi....Iraqi... you deserve it".

And zero's of the day goes to the Jordanian Police. Neurotic Wife reports:

Yet even with this joy and happiness, some countries didn’t allow the Iraqis to share their rare celebrations. In Amman and Dimashq, police started beating up the Iraqi fans, and tearing up Iraqi flags. Funny how one anonymous reader asked me to be grateful to Jordan. Oh really??? Look at what theyre doing!!! Even in those rare and short moments of laughter, they kill it. Their hatred is so overwhelming. And when I talk about countries, I don’t mean the people, I mean the governments and their policies, so don’t take me wrong.

and Nabil, again:

it was really a very happy day but the bad thing was the response of the Jordanian authorities, they started to stop the cars and take the iraqi flags from the people and they arrested several people and beated several guys.

Shame on you, Jordan.

A new unity...

Last of Iraqis goes for a walk through the streets of Baghdad:

I was so amazed and happy for what I have seen , I've seen the streets busy as before the war , people every where walking and in cars celebrating and cheering , I was so delighted for this , I've seen the unity at last , for whatever reason it's still a unity , people coming from Adhamiya and from Al-Sa`ab and Al-Kahira and meeting in Al-Nidaa mosque intersection , they met to celebrate at the same spot where everyday confrontations happen , they met to celebrate there country victory in the same spot where conflicts and terrorists attacks takes place , I was very happy to see this , and I laughed my guts out when I saw a National Guards convoy , with the soldiers on the Humvees dancing and cheering in a very funny way , I saw the happiness everywhere , I felt it in the air , I felt safe for the first time since I got back to Baghdad.

Great Baghdad:

Every Body said that the Iraqi Team united the Iraqi people behind them and did what the politicians failed to do which is bringing the Iraqis together. I think the Correct statement is that the Iraqi National team fixed what the politicians are trying to do which is dividing the already United Iraqi people.

Hammorabi:

Let the victims of the terrorists and wars celebrate tonight!

The football team will unite the Iraqis irrespective of their differences.

Millions of Congratulations for all the Iraqis.

24 Steps to Liberty gets emails from around the world:

I actually got emails from friends overseas congratulating me. For once, I felt like a normal citizen of this globe. People emailed me not to talk about the last casualty number or the last development in the idle political process in Iraq, but to say congratulations. Oh people how much I miss this word.

“Hi Champion - Congratulations from Jerusalem!” said one of my friends and professors.

“IRAQ WINS IRAQ WINS IRAQ WINS!!” said the subject of another email from my American friend in Cairo. “Mabruk alayhom!!” the message said, congratulations to them, "it's the best news ever. I hope they are celebrating in the streets again!”

... old divisions ...

Neurotic Wife on the Saudi's:

One guy, N, said with great excitement, this was far more than a game, we beat the Wahhabis, he said. We beat them and showed them what Iraq is. We broke their noses (An Iraqi expression). I smiled, for it seems everyone took the football as a war. Just like I did. Everyone wanted to prove a point, everyone wanted to throw the Saudi noses to the floor, and oh yes we did. The Lions of Babylon did this so gracefully. What a team

But Great Baghdad sees a negative side to this attitude:

as the the Saudi people started to congratulate the Iraqi people for their win and achievement, the sectarian minded people in Iraq started to chant that " against the Wahabists ( the sonni sect in Saudi) this cup is a shiat". And they say that the others are sectarian!.

... the dead remembered ...

On the day of that most Iraqi's celebrated Baghdad Treasure's cousin was collecting her dead son from the morgue. He died while saving injured neighbours from the aftermath of a car bomb, caught in the crossfire between Iraqi troops and angry residents. He writes:

A 17-year-old teenager, Sameer died doing a noble thing, helping his wounded neighbors and friends to ambulances after a massive car bomb ...

I thought about Sameer a lot. He was a huge fan of soccer. I thought of him when our team won, and never forgot how his body was still at the morgue when the referee announced the end of the game. While many Iraqis rejoiced the triumph, there were many mothers crying for their dead children. My cousin was one of them.

Goodbye Sameer. We’ll miss you a lot. We’ll miss your smiling face when always won backgammon. We’ll always remember your earlier struggle and your heroism that will pave the road of martyrdom and the greatness of all Iraqis who sacrificed themselves to help our country.

Great Baghdad remembers the celebrating fans that were killed by a car bomb after the match against South Korea:

But the fiends of death were not pleased to see the Iraqis gathering in big crowds with no difference or discrimination between Sunni, Shiite or Kurds, so, they tried to kill the joy and turn off the flame of unity and the result was a bombed car and 50 innocent people killed. To be quite honest, I couldn't sleep that night!

One of the poor women has lost her son in that brutal blast decided not to set up the funeral because she believed that the Iraqi team would win the cup. So, the Iraqi players made a promise to do the impossible to grab the victory in the final. And they didn't disappoint that poor mother and other 25 millions of Iraqi ppl.

... and the politicians warned

No Pain No Gain:

If Iraqis cannot unite on a simple soccer match, then how could they agree on a unified government? There will be no way out of it, if this is so.
It is not worth to wait for lives being lost or for a weak government to reach a decision. We now know that Iraqis can no longer trust their next door neighbors. However, this can change if Iraqis want to attain their peace without the necessity of the government. People from all nations should realize that what goes on within the government can only create more chaos among the local society and to save the people is to encourage an understanding that at certain ocassions like the Asian Cup, Iraqis must do their best to protect their people from any danger against any certain faction of Iraq.

And Laith asks the politicians if they have learned a lesson:

The most important thing our national team did is giving you an important lesson about the most important subject in the school of life. The lesson was (how to be A Real Iraqi). They worked together. We didn’t have 11 players in the field, we had only one player but with 11 bodies. .... This is the lesson I talk about and I hope that you (our politicians) who watched the match and rewarded the knight, I hope you understand the lesson very well and try to pass the exams you have. The political crisis is not more than an exam and you are failures until this moment. I hope you study the lesson of the Iraqi national team again and try hard to pass this final exam.

Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal !!!!!

2007-07-29T23:44:00.000Z

... or Kicking off at the Iraqi Blogodrome.

----

DISCLAIMER,,, This post was written before Sunday. Congratulations Iraq. A roundup of post-victory blogs coming soon.

----

A lonely street

a hungry song

battered words

don't get me wrong

a silent plea

a plate of sand

orange winds

and a human brand

a happy sink

a dirty heart

a playful leaf

the soul of art

: ) ( :

poem by April Girl

It's a football special today. With Iraq through to the finals of the Asian Cup bloggers are alight with comment on the national team. And there's more, read about how one Iraqi blogger has had enough of blogging; how to survive a trip through Baghdad International Airport; what it is like to have the Iraqi army move in next door; Why Iraqi oil is so critical to the world and much,much more. And, if you read to the end, why one blogger got banned from YouTube. Today's side quotes are from Iraqi poet and blogger April Girl.

a pack of arms

a spot of rust

a doubtful truth

this world: distrust

all sparks happy

all sparks sad

nothing makes sense

and nothing is bad

i write for nothing

and nothing i write

to please my soul

or satisfy my mind

to tear my heart

or tear do my eyes

sigh-filled lungs

and restless beats

of a pump of tongues

poem by April Girl

If you read no other blog post this week read this one...

Marshmallow26 has had enough of blogging and signs off with spite and vitriol:

I know the fact that “Bloggin” is something to vent and express your ways and thoughts and come up with something new every time you write, but since my thoughts keep reoccurring in my posts like an echo and tells no story about life and experience except for: death, killing, boring, bombs, terror, surviving as if the terrorism becomes something we should bow for when it comes to talk about it…as if we will lose our taste of writing and visitors to the site if we don’t mention that we are the most Dog on poor nation on earth! And yet, we are!!

What will I gain if I still talk and blab about the Iraqi prime vampire and his entourage? Nothing but a pointless drivel!!

What difference will my articles make? Nothing!! Who cares if I say that I spent 30 consecutive hours at home begging God with my prayers to get the power back on?? Not much!

What is my goal in this shitty life after I lost so many opportunities of studying abroad? Bewail my bad luck and try the same shit again! What am I doing trying to encourage those who lost hope and faith while I’m acting worse?? Mocking them!! ...

The chaos and violence escalation affect my daily basis life big time, I can’t digest all that and keep going in this life…what have I done to live in the war and experience the difference between the sound of explosions whether its and IED or VBIED??? What? HUH?? What is my fault to have such a heart, a heart that melts and aches for its beloved folks, or for any bloody scene in reality or on TV?? Why should I care that much?

I need a break from my blog, ... until there will be something new, fun, real and exciting to write about I will get back with Iraqi Roses…

Until then…peace be with you all.

And its for rants like this that I really want her to come back :(

a moment with the self

a dance with the bugs

the truth of trees

the addiction potential of hugs

will render me free

of my responsibility

to breathe and be

to be and breathe

to waste my time

and yours along mine

we might discover

or we might not

the truth of time

and that of the dot

be with me

or be not

be to be

and for nothing else

it might matter

when we rot

an easy ending

a bright red rock

a hardened smile

on an old maidens frock

show me the way

to disengage

and free this thought

poem by April Girl

Football crazy

This is the first time that Iraq has made it this far in the Asian Cup. For Neurotic Iraqi Wife the significance of this means more to her than (to quote Muqtada Al-Sadr) watching grown men running after a ball:

The game on Sunday is crucial. Especially because its against the Saudis. God, I hope and pray we will win, I really do. I wanna bring their noses down for once. I know I shouldnt be judgemental and I know I shouldnt generalize for many of my friends are Lebanese, Jordanians and Palestinians but in general the Arabs did nothing but hurt us. They hate us, they hate us because they dont want to see a beautiful unified flourishing Iraq....

Iraqis were always respected in the Arab world, before and during Saddam's time. People from Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Jordan begged to come here to get the Iraqi nationality. Ofcourse with their benevolent leader, they were always treated better than the Iraqis themselves. I remember when I used to travel with my parents and say we are Iraqis, its like we've just said we are royalty. But now, now being an Iraqi means nothing but a destitute poor country. ... This is the reality that we live in. We have become like some disease that everyone runs away from.

No Pain No Gain adds:

Seeing Iraq win in soccer is one of the most cherished sensations for an Iraqi. To see the team play soccer has become reality and it is a reality many yearn for... It is the success not to win the cup but to reminiscence the identity of Iraq and what it stood and will continue to stand for as long as there will be something valuable to remember Iraq by

The Iraqi team has won a new supporter from Sunshine who admits that she never watched a football match in her life but now is a devoted fan. She writes:

Today was a different day , really nice day , we achieved a great success , won the football game and reached the [finals] ... Our football players won today .. and that made Iraqis extremely happy , our streets are full of young men celebrating , it was a day that all Iraqis united , I am so glad not only because we won ,but , because all the Iraqis today were feeling the same way , when we achieve a goal or miss one , we all jumped when we won , and prayed while the players were playing to win the game ..
The Iraqi football team and the match bring together all the Iraqis , regardless on our religions or castes , whether they are , Arabs , Turkmen , Kurds , Muslims ( Sunnis , Shiites ) , Christians , etc ...

I know our country news are in every where ... BUT this time (for the first time) It will be good news.. I want Iraq’s name to be high and it’s flag fluttering so high .

Laith thanks the team...

Our forward star Younis Mahmoud ... took us to a new world where no politicians could ever take us too because Younis Mahmoud is a real Iraqi man while our politicians ... having two citizenships, they are never pure Iraqis and they will never be ones. I just wanted to say thank you very much our young men, thank you for pleasing all the Iraqis, thank you for unifying all the Iraqis, thank you for being so loyal Iraqis. Thank you Younis for your great efforts, Thank you Karrar, Thank you Nash'at, thank you Abbas and thank you all. GOD Bless Iraq, GOD Bless you young men, GO Forward men and get the golden cup to return smile back to the drooping lips of your people.

Nibras Kazimi sees the Western media failing Iraq:

The celebrations of Iraqis ... have been truly remarkable. But it seems that most foreign news agencies, which cover every nitty gritty about Iraq, are not interested in the jubilant spectacle.

The images are amazing, Al-Iraqiya TV has been doing a good job reporting on the happy, spontaneous carnival, and from around Iraq, including Mosul.

Everyone who grabs the microphone is shouting out a positive message, and the recurring theme is that all Iraqis are united on this day.

Civil war? Despair? "Iraq is lost" ?

I think not but spoilsports-of-the-match go to two political blogger from the left and right wings of the field. Iraqi Pundit saw politics inside sports during the last match between Iraq and Iran at the WAFF championship:

I couldn't help but notice striking similarites between their football and politics (with regards to Iraq). After they scored the first two goals, which I admit were excellent, they seemed to have only one thing on their minds. It was almost as if they were subconsciously telling each other 'when ever an Iraqi has the ball, break his legs'...

Iraq started to gain momentum and were playing brilliant attacking football, nice moves, nice passes, but just as they go near the goal they slow down and lose the ball. That is also how Iraqi politics is, all the hype, all the hard work, all the effort...but just no results.

and Truth About Iraqis goes looking for disunity among the Iraqi football team and finds it. He writes:

hoopla over how united the Iraqi team is and how the country is united in celebration.

B***s***. The team itself is highly divided.

In the first half of the Iraq-Thailand game, two Iraqi players headbutted each other. The referee had to restrain both. In the Iraq-Vietnam game, the players were simply not communicating with one another. But when they did, it was usually with strife. ... Sharqiya commentators even noticed this and said the Iraqi players were performing with anger and selfishness. And this is for a team that was leading at half-time 1:0.

But, the last word goes to Dulaimy who writes:

Today, we danced for like 30 minutes or maybe an hour. i don't know i lost sense of time while we where dancing. it felt so good. We did not have such a good time for a long time. i have to say the place look different; shiny.

I am so happy for what happened today.

I miss normal life... I miss it so much.

moments are rare

and they're all i am

this one, and this one,

: )

too swift to let in the self

too miserly to provide truth

too afraid to hold hands

too long a few lines

too easy an ending

to reiterate

that rain finds no place

that thoughts leave no trace

my brother, agree with me

coals are chemicalized

to their religion

ay ay i hear you say

stop

dot

.

or period?

no, a speck, a molecule, an iota, and an atom, all at random

stop~pots

...

..

.

.

..

...

: ) ( :

poem by April Girl

Word from the streets

An Iraqi Army Battalion moving in next door brought back painful childhood memories to Chikitita of the dreaded "Pink House", which she describes as "a perfect set for scary movies." A house her family rented for a time which over looked a building run by the notorious Iraq Intelligence Agency and where they were warned not to be seen looking out of the windows for fear of getting into "big trouble ". A house where she used to have "nightmares ... of men in uniform breaking into our residence and huge rats nibbling at my toes." But her fears turned out be completely unfounded. She writes:

As the days went by I noticed that we were making their job more difficult than they did our lives, mum noticed that in the mornings, they never faced our house until we’re all downstairs. ... They seemed to do whatever it takes to gain our trust.

What I like the most about their presence is the fact that our neighbourhood is getting cleaner. It takes an army uniform and a rifle to stop people from throwing trash in front of our house. Of course they’re only doing it to avert any IED emplacing attempts, but it was for our own good.

Their presence might entail more mortar attacks and shootouts but our house has not been searched in months, now that’s something!

Sheko Mako recalls his life as an Iraqi doctor, from graduating with top marks at school to practising medicine in Iraq during the sanctions making a monthly salary of $2, to years of exile as an "illegal immigrant" in the UK and finally gaining the right to live and work as a doctor in Britain just one day after another Iraqi doctor decided to attempt blowing himself up at Glasgow airport. He wonders:

But most importantly shall I be able to cope with the restrictions, policies and demands of the medical authorities here. In the “good doctor guide” sent along with my GMC registration license, the words “you must” were mentioned nearly 75 times. And if eighteen years ago I did not know whether I would like to be a doctor or not, now the question that buzzes in my head “do I still have the energy, physically and mentally, to carry on with the profession? The answer is simply again: I don’t know.

Staying on the medical theme A&Eiraqi compares the way infirm elderly people are treated in the UK compared to Iraq:

I remember an elderly man was admitted to the hospital when I was working in Northern England; he was depressed as his wife had died and he had no one but a son who visits him 10 minutes a year, the poor man kept saying he doesn’t want to live anymore.

For a while I thought this is the worst thing could happen to a person who lives here, yet, while working in the casualty unit, I received a 69 year old lady who presented unconscious and no one knew what happened to her, as no one had phoned her since a week before she presented to us. No one of her sons had bothered himself to ask about his mother, their mother was dying silently; probably they were busy with things more important than her!

I was always impressed that there is a great system in [the UK] for looking after elderly and disabled people ... Yet, being in touch with those old people made me get an entirely different view. Everyday I see many old people who are dirty, smelly, depressed and in a bad health condition, they’re being left in their houses visited once a day by their carers ... who are receiving money from the government to look after their parents, however, they don’t really do their duties in a complete way. ...

I know that there are many people who are neglected back home but end of the day there is someone who care about them, I’ve never seen someone who was left for a week without asking about him ... I also noticed that the ones of Eastern origin (Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis) are in much better condition than the English ones, as they’re always surrounded by their relatives.

I know it is variable but I think elderly people back home live shorter, with poorer health but they feel better. ... Despite all the horror we lived, we still care about the family relationships and we insist on tightening them.

And Neurotic Iraqi Wife gives the essential guide for flying to Baghdad International Airport. How to pass through passport control quickly when you're desperate for the toilet; why you should never use the toilets at the airport; and the essential difference between luxury hotels in Dubai and accommodation in the Green Zone. Read more about her journey back to Iraq here.

eye lie

the vow of silence is not yet in place

it has not been uttered

these moments have no choice but to be

and in my moments here

i leave you

i don't leave you

i leave you a part of the disenfranchised self

the one, not in search, but in still mode

to extend moments in which it exists

to find some truth and then some peace

in that moment, or in this one

so be here, in this moment, and this one too

to see and hear and touch and taste and then maybe smell

and beyond this limitation if you can go, take me along

i try and try and i laugh at boundaries and shells

at misunderstandings and misconceptions

at hateful glances and fake smiles

at soulless hugs and bored shrugs

i side with illusions and smile

it takes my mind and hops away

to the ultimate non-place un-place placeless place

: )

: )

: )

( :

( :

( :

poem by April Girl

The Political World

Great Baghdad gets a letter from a friend talking about unity and Iraqi oil:

...there are No problems among Iraqis ( as people) whither they are Sunnis, Shia, Kurds or Turkmmen. the problem is that the Iraqi politics after 9/4/2003 was built on sectarian and ethnic bases. When you bring Kurdish parties and Shia parties and Sunni Parties you are building politics on sectarian and ethnic bases. They are not social parties or liberal democrat parties. So it became a matter of Rivalry between sects and when there are elections there would be winners and losers.
The Bases on which the whole political process is wrong. Iraqis were not at each other's throat before the war, but they became like that when sectarian polarizations started and each sect felt threatened by the other.

The American administration is the one who laid those bases and after the structure came up they discovered the grave mistake they made and now they have to put down that Ugly structure that they have been building and supporting for 4 years and start from the scratch.
...

The Importance of the Iraqi oil lies in 3 crucial facts.1st, ... Iraq is the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world ...( which means it could easily be number one, once we really figure out how much oil we actually got)... 2nd the Iraqi oil is cheap and easy to get out from the ground. 3rd, and most importantly, is that the Iraqi oil does not have to be exported through the Gulf. It could be exported to Europe and the rest of the western world through the Mediterranean...

Why all that is important?? because if any gulf country fell in the hand of Extremists or for example Iran wanted to stop all the oil Tankers from getting out of the region by closing the Gulf ... there would be a global fuel crisis, and then Iraq would be the Safety valve with its abundant, easy to get out and deliverable oil that dose not have to go through the Gulf.

This is the strategic importance of Iraq's oil and that is why the whole world would not mind, not only thousands but even hundred of thousands die to keep that safety valve under control. but the question is HOW??!! and on what expense??

And talking about oil, Al-Ghad gets yet another draft of the Iraqi Oil Law. It picks through some of the changes and concludes:

It is not clear whether this was a jumbled proposal, or to trick Iraqi MPs into passing the latest Draft Oil Law. What is becoming obvious, however, is that this continuous stream of amended drafts is more like the twisting story of a con-man trying to swindle an unsuspecting person out of his income than the sober proceedings of a constitutional government.

Baghdad Connect deconstructs the War on Terror:

The world citizens are once again fighting a proxy war and paying the price dearly for the vile and terrorizing works [of] Reagan’s Takfiri Freedom Fighters and Suicide Bombers... {editor's note: this a reference to the fact that Al-Qaida grew from Islamic forces that were trained and equipped by America to defeat the USSR in Afghanistan].

Iraqis may have to get a grip to their reality and comprehend that War on Terror is a war against all the vice and havoc done by both the invaders and ex-Soviet Union to control global resources...

It is a choice that we need to make; do we carry on with this war on terror and keep on cleaning up the feces behind the superpowers or to heed to reasoning and become a self-determined, Mesopotamian-constitutionalized nation?

And, 24 Steps to Liberty looks at the actions of the Iraqi government and sees a new dictatorship:

When did the dictatorship return to Iraq? Why no one is writing about it? ... Listen to this: The Iraqi Parliament, after long discussions and several days of debates, decided to issue diplomatic passports to its members and their families! Is this what the rest of the 20 million Iraqis inside Iraq and the three to four million displaced citizens are waiting for? ...

because of the constitution, even if there are Sunnis or Kurds or Christians or any other minorities, who are more qualified for the position, we cannot vote for them to lead our government because the constitution states clearly that the poisonous Mullahs ... get to choose...

The politicians in Iraq think that they inherited their positions from the years “of struggle” against Hussein’s government. ... They do believe that the president should be Talbani and the president of Kurdistan should be Masoud Barzani, because they fought against Saddam Hussein, even if Barzani did call Hussein’s republican guards to murder Talbani’s people, fellow Kurds, in the 1990s...

Are there no other Iraqis who struggled under Hussein’s regime that are qualified to lead Iraq? When did it become a family issue to appoint ministers and leaders in the government?

Is not this what Saddam Hussein did for 25 years or am I mistaken?

And Finally...

Veteran blogger Zeyad had his YouTube account permanently suspended and all his videos deleted. He writes:

The reason they gave me was "repeated attempts to upload inappropriate videos." I have been receiving several angry messages from Iraqis who did not like the videos I had published of Mahdi Army militiamen blowing up Sunni mosques in Baghdad and Basrah, and from some Kurds who objected to [a video of Kurdish soldiers assassinating a man in Mousul], which I had uploaded two days ago before my account was blocked.

Is YouTube right for censoring like this? What do you think?

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-07-17T11:42:00.000Z

Politics is the order of the day this week. Events in Iraq can be confusing at the best of times - so why not let Iraqi bloggers put things straight. But it is not all dry subjects, I also have snipers in Baghdad, two weddings and a funeral. And, if read to the end, the kittens are back!

A poem by ZZ

Dead House

In the hallows of my soul
the brown birds sing
One tried to build a nest of stone
and broke a wing
The windows of my eyes are shattered
a dead house I stand
and all of God’s sun will not bring in
enlightenment…

Too long the ghosts of tomorrow have wandered
unabated
through these aging walls
too long
they have made this arid structure
their home

They walk this soul in silence
for them the brown birds sing
hating transition
unlike me
they already know
there will never be spring…

If you read no other blog post this week read this one...

Mohammed recounts the harrowing story of being targeted by a sniper:

At 9:00 we were at Antar Square and as soon as we got down from the taxi and walked a few steps near the Olympic club , I heard a gun shot !! It was loud with echo!! ... Then there was another shot …..It was so scary , so close and so loud , my wife was in panic , she was so scared I pushed her from the side-walk to the building wall (so that we would be a harder target) there was no one in the street but us .We stood there for a few seconds , then there was silence , we decided to continue , we walked and just before the concrete ex-checkpoint there was a gunshot and I saw the impact of the bullet beside me , another one in front of me , I pushed my wife to the nearest building and we hided there

He concludes:

The sniper thing isn't new , but it's the first time that I've been in the situation. It's a very difficult situation; I don't know when will death get me!!! I have cheated him many times now.

The Week in Politics

Zappy gives his definition of progress in Iraq. Bottom arrow reads "Target to be reached scheduled as of 09 April 03 04 05 06 07 2105"

There is another war rumbling - this time over water. Baghdad Connect explains:

Baghdad has become the first modern capital in the world to actually experience the Water War which is widely thought to be the future world war III

There wasn't any fresh drinking water in large parts of Baghdad and for 4 days. We had a mere of 5 liters of water a day in our house of 4 bedrooms.

In some areas the water trickled down to zero since last week. The invaders had cut off the water in Al-Khadimiya area since morning as a retribution for Al-Khadimiya’s residents’ support for the Sadrists.

The Water War commenced since the confrontation between the Sadrists and the invaders backed armed forces escalated in El-Shula, Al-Biya, Al-Thawra and Al-Ammel – all have been isolated separately.

The Shaqawa looks to an Iraq after America leaves:

I do not think Baghdad would be better. Right now the Sunni terrorists will attack the Americans and the Shi'a, so only the Shi'a will be attacked. Also the Americans try to stop some of the Shi'a from attacking Sunnis (sometimes innocent ones and sometimes terrorists) so without the Americans the Shi'ite fighters will be more powerful. What does that mean?

In Baghdad it means more fighting but also some areas can be safer if the Shi'ite militias can act like they want. In other areas like last year in February probably some groups like the Mahdi Army will commit crimes against innocent Sunnis and more violence will be there. In the south of Iraq I think that the Shi'ite groups should take over security and be very tough. ...

When the USA leaves also I think other countries will try to be stronger in Iraq. This means especially Iran and Saudi Arabia and Arabs. ... Iraq is a site of battle for everyone unfortunately... None of them care about Iraq or Iraqis, and usually they hate Iraqis or at least hate the Shi'a....

Iraq is a country with rivers and holy places and deserts and mountains and history and many kinds of different people. But it is surrounded by bastards and criminals.

Omar sees signs of a shift in policy of the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki against the Sadrist Movement. He writes, "You probably heard about the message Maliki sent yesterday to the Sadr movement demanding they clarify their position from the violent elements among their followers. It wasn't as tough a message as we were hoping but it's still an interesting step that broke the fear barrier that Maliki put between himself and Sadr." but Baghdad Connect puts the rift more blatantly:

Al-Maliki has, for the first time and unintentionally, uncovered the big game behind the myth of the Shia crescent, when he coined some Sadrtists elements as Baathists in disguise!! Which triggered the ancient struggle within the Shia sect between one faction that supports the Ayatollah state (in favor: Maliki, Hakim, Iran, the invaders, and the Baathists) and the counter faction that supports Ahl El-Bayt state - which stipulates a future emergent Imam that will rule the nation (in favor: Sardrists and Ahl El-Sahan)

When the invaders wage propaganda warfare by insinuating Muqtada’s escape to Iran, they are in fact playing the internecine deep-rooted faith differences between the Iranians and the Shia culture of Iraq. If Sadr is in Iran it means his large number of his followers are left without a divine providence and will be under the merci of Ayatollahs. Bear in mind, more than 70% of Iraqi soldiers that fought the Iran-Iraq war were Shiites!

The draft Oil Law is being given a rocky ride by Hammorabi:

[George Bush] and his Generals inside Iraq are trying to glue the rips but not to cure the whole situation. On the other hand they want the oil new system to be agreed and signed by the government and the parliament so quickly to control the oil of Iraq. Almost all Iraqis are opposing the new system about the oil. It is going to create more chaos and resistance. Indeed some of the resistance groups threatened to kill any one who is going to sign the new law about Iraq oil. George W Bush and Dick Cheney are trying to get their own companies to control and steal the Iraqi oil.

And he hints at frustrations within the Iraqi Shia community against Iran:

Indeed we do not know how and Iranian origin person like Dr. Shahrastani who is the present Oil minister became and oil minister in spite of many other Iraqis who are more experienced in this field?

A new anti terrorism advertisement in Iraq gets reviewed. Iraqi Mojo links to a YouTube clip and adds, "I find it strange that Al Arabiya is funded by the Saudi government, and yet they continue to broadcast these ads, while Al Jazeera no longer airs them" while Truth About Iraqis is somewhat taken aback by the obviously non-Iraqi accents of the actors:

a man is being beaten and asked whether he is Shia or Sunni. After being beaten to a pulp he manages to say "I am Iragi". The letter G (pronounced ghee) is used.

No Iraqi would EVER EVER EVER say Iragi. They would say I R A Q Q Q Q I.

Pffffffffffffft.

Meanwhile, the American army are efficiently losing hearts and minds bombing a busy shopping street in Mosul. Aunt Najma posts photos and writes:

What the reason was, I do not know.. but the American forces did a horrible thing when they threw missiles from their plane on Al-Majmo3a street (the most active street in Mosul just in front of the university, full of computer, mobile, clothes and other shops).

Two Weddings and a Funeral

Even at one of the poshest Iraqi weddings in Jordan (they can afford Adel Ogla as the entertainment), Iraqis find a reason to cry, writes Yasamine:

Iraqi women bumping into each other started the common conversation, one asks the other are you residing here or visiting?” Um Hussam answered “just visiting, and how about you?” the other replied “I have decided finally to stay in Amman.”

“What about your house did you sell it or rent it?” asked Um Hussam. “Neither” answered the lady, “we left with barely the shirts on our backs, following a death threat.” Then with a sigh the lady asked “we haven’t met for such a long time, remember our weekly gatherings, God our lives have been turned upside down?” Um Hussam , responded idly “I only see people when I come to Amman , as for Baghdad I do not go out. Every once in a while I go to the doctor and that’s it or to see my sick mother.”

Aunt Najma attends her cousin's wedding. But being in Iraq has its own problems:

There were some Iraqi soldiers close by the house, they knew there was a wedding because of all the beeping. They usually get too excited and fire their arms when the cars pass by. My aunt opened the window and specifically asked them not to. My cousin's car arrived before us, and me, being the one in charge of videoing as usual, had to get there before they entered the house.. I left our car and ran towards the house, and the soldiers decided it was time to fire.. I was so ANGRY I really wanted to turn and shout at them but I was sane enough and decided to go on. I'm sure for few moments after the shooting the video would be all shaky!

And 24 Steps to Liberty writes a eulogy to a fellow journalist who was murdered recently in Iraq:

He was amazing. I never saw him without the beautiful smile on his face. When we reported on news conferences, we joked about the government and what it had to say. We were always sure that there was nothing in the conference that would help the Iraqis. We always thought the conferences were made to fill our newspapers only.

Although he worked for another newspaper, a competition to the one I work for, we never felt competing with each other. He called me to check quotes, he asked me to send him transcriptions. And I did. ...

When I told him what “Feeh” meant, he didn’t get it. But that’s how we ended our phone calls. Even the one a few weeks ago, when he called to talk about something private, he said “feeh” at the end. He said “I didn’t forget.”

He was a brave, professional journalist and a human being. That’s why they killed him...

Iraqi will always miss you Khalid. You won’t miss anything. But we will miss you.
Feeh Khalid. Feeh

And finally...

Baghdad Girl is back! And cat bloggers every where can breath a sigh of relief. With titles like "I just want to carry them..." and "Happy and sad" you know you will be getting a regular dose of cuteness. Now everyone join in with me... aaah!

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-07-06T23:10:00.000Z

There is a lot on the menu in my post today. Reactions to the Iraqi bomber in London, the siege of Adhamiya, stories of exile, a little politics. And Chikitita borrowed a camera this week and took some snapshots of her daily life. I'll be dotting these around my post for added colour.

By Chikitita:
"No this is not spaghetti! Thanks to this clutter of wires, I’m able to have cold water, access to the internet, charge my mobile phone, and maybe a nap under the noisy fan."

If you read no other post this week read this one:

Laith saw a sight that he found really funny.

I was in the car waiting for our turn to be searched... when we heard sound of explosions...

The funny things was watching the Iraqi and other foreign officials running towards the bunkers while their bodyguards trying to protect them... I really felt I want to laugh and cry at the same time.

He explains his mixed emotions:

I wanted to laugh because I saw their majesties the officials running away and afraid. Their guards were following them... I wanted to cry because I remembered the poor Iraqis who died only three days ago in one of Baghdad intersections. 78 poor civilians were killed, most of them were burnt to death. They didn’t have the chance to go to any close bunker...

I wish the officials taste the pains of the poor civilians. I wish they drink from the same glass of pain that we drink from everyday. I wish they live in fear just like we do. I wish them the worst and may God make my wishes true.

By Chikitita:
"The most treasured item of the lot. It was a big challenge for me to learn how to run one of these and thank goodness I don’t have to listen to stepdad complain about his backache, I can do it nice and easy."

An Iraqi Doctor in London

It turns out that one of the people who smashed a burning car into an airport in the UK was an Iraqi and a doctor. Naturally, this shocked a few Iraqi bloggers. Not least of which is one who is also living in exile in the UK, and just happens to be a doctor. A&E Iraq gives us his unique perspective. He remembers Nada, another young Iraqi doctor who failed to get asylum in Britain:

Like many others, Nada thought about seeking asylum here, and like many others also, she was informed that, they’ll not accept her as that means, they failed in Iraq!

Thinking about Nada; I just remembered a group of Hijackers ten years ago who kidnapped an airplane from Sudan and brought it to London; two years later they all were released from prisons as they claimed being oppressed by Saddam! Before the war, they tried to show the whole world how human they are, and how horrible Saddam was. Nowadays, they’re also human, so they have to protect Iraqis from each other by staying in their country.

What hypocrisy is this, could any stupid believe this? Did they care about us when were suffering the Embargo?

He concludes:

Yesterday they arrested two Arabic doctors, should we believe that they’re terrorists...

The only fact is the game is over; Iraqis are no more useful so they don’t want them, and the ones who are already here are enough to be arrested by the name of fighting terrorism. They have the right to invade and destroy our country but we don’t have the right to live in their countries!

like Iraq and every Iraqi, Nada has to choose the way she wants to die, she can stay here and wait to starve or to be arrested by their police or she can go back to be killed by their solders or by someone supported by their intelligence system.

They’re always nice, always democratic, even when they kill!

Dreamer, another Iraqi living in the UK, is despondent:

With the updates of today that there were Iraqi and Jordanian doctors suspected of their involvement in this mess, our hearts reached the low of the lows. These people have completely tarnished our reputation. They perform these acts out of desperation, thinking that this will bring them satisfaction and rivalry over whoever has sabotaged their life. Do they once think of all those others that will be put under scrutiny and be undermined due to their selfishness? The media will most definitely exploit the fact that they are from Middle East and Muslims.

It was inevitable that something like this would come out of Iraqis, considering the state Iraq has turned into. However, neither I, nor do I think anyone else has expected it of highly educated, most likely from a mannerly and modest families, to commit such a deed...

What future awaits me and hundred others? Should we still be hopeful?

And Neurotic Wife, who happens to be in London, is appalled:

Its pretty upsetting to find out that an Iraqi would get involved in such horrid events. That just invigorated me more, because it means that the countries that were willing to take on the Iraqis who really are innocent and who really are suffering in Iraq, will back out. Thats it, all those coworkers of mine who are dreaming of a better live, of a second chance will no longer get their dream. Its gone, gone forever because of a stupid, selfish man.

As an Iraqi, Im appalled. Appalled at what these doctors were thinking. Why??? Why do this to the country that gave you a chance? Why do this to the people that extended their hands out to you and opened their arms and took you in??? WHY? What for???To hurt the government? Or to make a change in foreign policy??? I dont get it, I really dont. You cant achieve a thing by violence. Instead you are creating more havoc, more havoc and more hatred. And hatred, thats the last thing we need at the moment.

By Chikitita:
" Looks messy and dusty, but I love them when they’re full of petrol. "

The siege of Adhamiya

Two bloggers gave accounts of the day that the wall around Adhamiya was completed. Something that has been poorly reported in the media. Nabil posts photos and a video of his walk to the border of Adhamiya. He gives a day-by-day account of a battle with American soldiers:

Day 1:

Thursday 10 am, an American tank gets bombed by a roadside bomb and 9 soldiers were dead, then huge battle starts between American soldiers and unknown (or as I may say no one), ending up on destroying the main underground water pipe which supplies the whole street, and destroying high tension electricity wires which went down laying on the street and electrifying the drowned street.After the shootings from the American side, while the American tank was still burning, two patrols of ING comes to back the American patrol against again "no one", and continue to shoot with them randomly and destroying more stuff and ruining the surrounding houses.

Then after about 30 continueous minutes of shooting arrives a fire
fighters team of the civil defense and extinguishs the burning tank.then shooting stops and silence finally is reached, two hours later the ING leaves, and the American patrol remains, I assumed they were still gathering the pieces of the blown up soldiers. finally at around 6 pm,
the American patrol leaves and the street was opened again, people went out and headed to the explosion scene to check out the damages. Some of the remaining piece of the dead soldiers were still there, Alqa`eda members diffuse to the street and gather around the scene and start to take pictures of their achievement.

10 minutes later a huge number of American heavy tanks and hummers come back to the scene again and arrest all the people who were standing in the scene but bad luck as I heared alqa`eda members has already left the scene, as I heared the arrested individuals were driven to an unknown destination and never been seen after the arressment.

Read on here.

Mohammed of Last-of-Iraqis lives near Adhamiya and posted his own account of the events. He concludes:

They blocked all the streets about and I mean all the streets , some of my relatives were at work and couldn't get back home , it was impossible for any one to walk a single yard in the street , my wife's uncle was trapped two blocks from his home and couldn't reach it!!!this terrible situation continued till 6 p.m when my relatives reached their homes , and I don't think they will be able to leave there homes any time soon to go to work or college , what a situation , no water , no shops , no food supplies , no medications , it's obvious they want NO LIFE in Adhamyia . Why didn't the media cover these acts? why did they build the Adhamyia wall? the simple short answer is to mask the crimes they do , it's a big new Abu-Gharib where a new torture and killing methods will be used......

By Chikitita:
"“A bald girl brags about her sister’s hair.”
–Iraqi Saying –

All the trees in our garden, though functional for cooking, look ugly. The gardener who used to take care of them was displaced and they were all abandoned, because none of my family is so keen on taxing chores. So I have no tree to show off but this marvelous palm tree next door. I just love it!"

Internally Displaced

Its one of those tame-sounding terms, like "collateral damage" that covers the true horror of life in a war-torn country. People are forced to leave their homes at the threat of one criminal gang or another. Many times without time or ability to even gather some basic belongings. This phenomenon is is certainly on the rise in Iraq and here are some of the bloggers stories about this.

Chikitita is still in Baghdad and talks of good-byes and being forgotten by young nephews. She writes:

I could hear the tears she was trying to stifle on my end of the phone. I had nothing to say but we will meet someday, not so sure of course, but I had to say something. My friend is one of those people, to whom the idea of leaving has always been out of the question... The last straw was the attempt on her dad’s life, only then she realized this is no longer home and it was about time to leave.

I have always hated goodbyes. All the friends and family members who knew every detail of my life seem to be trickling out of the country. On my sister’s last day in Iraq, she begged me not to cry... It dawned on me that my nephew and I will no longer be friends and my predictions have become reality. Yesterday I bowed and scraped for His Majesty to talk to me on the phone, he was too shy to do it. I felt so crestfallen; I’ve become the faceless stranger who sends him presents, not the “Tita” who used to watch animated movies with him, or the ugly auntie who’d yell at him whenever he came near my textbooks and pens. I have become just a voice from a place called Baghdad, whatever that means.

When my favourite aunt was forced out of her house and chose to leave Baghdad for good I told her it was too risky for me to come say goodbye. It was not the risks I was trying to fend off, I didn’t want to tell her that I missed her already...

...places may wax an awful lot of nostalgia, but it is the people around that make the places we are attached to what they are.

Ali talks of a neighbourhood lost:

I remember my days back home. I remember my neighborhood, the school that I went to. I remember my friends often... Zaid and Fadi, who are Christians, Haider who is a Shiite, and Hamad who is a Sunni....

Now that I’ve left the country, all I can do is to keep in touch with them. Hamad is in Syria because he and his family didn’t feel secure enough to live in that neighborhood. Fadi fled to Syria too with his family, but he went back to Baghdad to go to school and he is living with his grandmother now. Haider is still living in Baghdad but he is not going to school anymore because it is dangerous to drive all the way from where he lives to school.

I was talking with Zaid on the phone the other day and he told me that the neighborhoods where we lived and went to school fall in the territory of what is called “The Islamic State.” His family was threatened to leave their house within 30 minutes or they’d be killed. They couldn’t take anything out, not even his books that he was reading to prepare for the finals. He said that there are no more Christians or Shiites that can live Amiriya, Ghazaliya, Khadraa and Jamiya.

It was very hard to listen to Zaid talking about what had happened to my city. In those neighborhoods there were Shiite and Sunni mosques and there were Christian Churches. We all lived with each other. We all were friends. I was mad when I heard the news. I was mad because that is what I loved about Baghdad; that we all lived with each other and sects were not an issue . Sect wasn’t an issue when I made friends.

Now I look at the pictures from my neighborhood and remember all the people who lived there and I cry because now I can’t have the same days that I had. I know that my neighborhood is not the same place it used to be. I know that Baghdad is not the same Baghdad. I know that Iraq is not the same Iraq.

But I know that this is not the way my family and my friends and most Iraqis want Iraq to be. And I know that one day we will all tell the world that we are not Shiites, not Sunnis, not Christians, and not Kurds, but we are all Iraqis and we all will live on the land of peace.

And Sunshines writes about the displaced doctors who have no where else to sleep but in the hospital in her city, Mosul:

Mama suggested a great suggestion to prepare lunch for the doctors who had to leave their governorates and stay in mosul ,they live in the hospital, grandma and I liked the idea but dad didn’t !, so it was canceled.
I went with my mom to her work last Wednesday , to have another night-guard (I have bruxism ), I had so much fun there, they thought mama and I were sisters , no one believed that I am her daughter!!! And one of the doctors thought I am the new dentist !!!.
There were doctors from Baghdad , Faluja , Hadeetha , and other cities, they had to leave their cities because of the bad situation

By Chikitita:
"There’s nothing I like more than a royal breakfast, instant coffee and cheese, in the front yard, life without workplaces is good after all."

A little politics

Iraqi Pundit tells us a joke going around between Iraqis:

Saddam Hussein orders some men to dig up the grave of his mother. Once they do, Saddam spits in what remains of her face. He then orders the men to bury the dead woman again. The men, of course, follow his orders. They also very meekly ask why he would violate religious rules and disrespect his mother in such a way. He tells them he's just following her wishes. He said that before she died, his mother told Saddam: "If you ever turn out to be a good man, dig me up and spit in my face."

He explains:

To Iraqis, this makes a lot of sense. Even Saddam's mother knew how unlikely it was for her son to turn out to be a good man. Unfortnately, with the way things have been in Iraq, more and more people are saying life under Saddam was better. To Saddam's mother, that means her son has finally turned out to be a good man.

Iraq the Model looks beyond the current US military surge in Iraq and calls for wide ranging political reforms:

from holding local elections to choose new and representative district and city councils to amending the general elections law to allow voters to choose their representatives directly instead of the current slate system. It might be also a good idea to adjust the federalism law to allow turning each province into an individual region within the federal state to avoid the sensitivities that could arise from forming regions on sectarian and/or ethnic basis.

A US congressional group, last week, produced a report that said the Pentagon "cannot report in detail how many of the 346,500 Iraqi military and police personnel that the coalition trained are operational today," and that they "have no idea what our $19 billion [spent on training and equiping the Iraqi Army] has gotten us." Well, 24 Steps to Liberty has an idea:

Do we know what the Iraqi army is equipped with? I do:
AK47 rifles, pistols, 7.62 mm PKMS (BKC) Machine Gun, M16 [recently given to some soldiers] and less than a 100 humvees.

Do Iraqi soldiers have armored vehicles? No.
Do they have flack jackets? No.
Do they have night vision goggles? No.

The report also said that the US has spent $19 billion in recruiting, training, equipping and building training facilities.

What training? This is the army that fought eight years with Iran, invaded Kuwait, oppressed the Shiites in the south, killed the Kurds in the north, failed coups in the west and protected a dictatorship for more than 30 years. Train it to do what?

And who got the money? American contractors, right? [in Iraqi we say Hasna Jabata… Hasna Akhthata, roughly translated: Hasna brought it and Hasna took it back.]

While Hammorabi sees the weakness of the Iraqi army as a deliberate policy:

America under [George W Bush] not only weakened the Iraqi forces and left the country without army and security but they imposed a fragile and weak government though by kind of election but based on sectarian and ethnic divisions. Moreover the USA interferes with every thing in Iraq including the protection they offer for the criminals, the terrorists and the corruptors... It started of course from Paul Bremer who dissolved the Iraqi army and left the country to struggle in weakness.

One of the most important thing is the so weak Iraqi government that can not do anything for the country and this may suite the GWB policies in Iraq, at least this is what most of the Iraqis believe.

We think that the Iraqi government should be a strong one whether it is elected or not and it should have a strong army or at least to call the Iraqi army to get back and armed without interferences from the USA. In fact if the USA would like to achieve a better relation with the Iraqis for the future they should help in building up this army as soon as possible as it took long time just to create few weak and inefficient units.

And Finally...

Now that Hometown Baghdad has finished their project to document daily life in Iraq one of their member has gone on to use his video skills for greater good. Mike writes:

Hometown Baghdad viewers should know that when Saif isn’t booby-trapping his house with barbwire, smoking shisha, or talking about his beautiful wife Noor, he is playing guitar. And so he has decided to make a series of instructional videos for people wanting to learn how to play in a variety of styles... subscribe to his youtube channel.

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-06-21T22:45:00.000Z

Photo of Moon and Planet over Baghdad by Marshmallow26

“To light a candle is much better than cursing the darkness.”
So signed off Ausama on his last video for Hometown Baghdad.

Today I will concentrate my post on reactions to the second bombing of the shrine in Samarra. An event that has provoked much speculation among Iraqi bloggers. The first bombing proved to be a juncture in the ongoing war in Iraq and the second may prove just as critical, so it important to record responses here. That is not all, there is also Iraqi food and if you read to the end, which is the most sectarian blog ever? But first..

If you watch no other video-blog this week watch this one...

My heartfelt condolences goes goes to Ausama for the loss of his uncle. Killed by American soldiers while returning home from the market. We hear of so many accidental killings by American soldiers of Iraqis but no news report ever lets you feel the devastation and anger at such a needless loss. Which is why video blogs like Hometown Baghdad are so critical to understanding the true meaning and pointlessness of the American military presence in Iraq. Ausama's mother says:

We used to like the American people we used to believe they are good people but by force, by military action, not the best will come.

Samarra revisited

The last time the the Askariya Shrine was attacked it heralded a wave of reprisals across the country along with a wave of comment from Iraqi blogs. This time around the blogs are still buzzing.

New blogger Mohammed of Last-of-Iraqis reports the ensuing violence giving details that you simply do not hear in the media:

I was in the dental office when I heard about this from my senior, he said that I should go home now because the streets are so troubled, so I decided to go home, when I was in the street I realized that the streets are really troubled and scary, I took a cab and went straight home and as I reached, the sounds of explosions didn't stop, I think they were mortars falling everywhere mixed with the sounds of ambulances and police patrols, it's really scary in Baghdad now. I wish it will settle down soon with the minimum casualties.

He provides updated reports and the whole post and its following post on the reprisal attacks against Shia and Sunni Mosques make essential reading.

Eye Raki is almost losing hope with the Americans and the Iraqi Government:

I have always said that removing Saddam Hussein was the best option for Iraq... It's just the manner of both the US and Iraqi government that worries me... they are making mistakes and they should learn from them. When one of the holiest shrines in Iraq gets blown to bits, if you can't re-build it ... the very least you can do is make sure things like that don't happen again. The terrorists simply came back over a year later and finished the job.

Shaqawa echoes the same sentiment. He quotes Ayatollah Sistani, "If the government cannot protect the shrine then someone else should." He also explains his view on the mentality of the bombers:

the terrorists want to tell the Shi’a “We hate you, we hate your religion and your imams.” They want to kill all Shi’a. They want to tell us that nothing good will ever happen for the Shi’a.

And Hammorabi goes two steps further. While blaming the bombing on the failure of the occupation forces, he suggests that they should leave and a military government should replace the current democracy:

Democracy like the one in Iraq is more dangerous than military roles for the country. Iraq may need a strong leader to withhold it rather than weak chaotic politicians.

Several bloggers vent their anger at those behind the bombing of the Shrine. Iraq Mojo cannot believe those people call themselves Muslims. April Girl asks angry questions:

There are 6,601,676,326 ways to God. (Right now.) That many ways to worship, to think, to talk, to act, to take in this world. Has that not been realized? ...

What is going on? Do you not believe you are walking on the One True Path? Is that not enough? Does your path force you to hurt, rape, murder and destroy this planet?

What is going on? Isn't your faith beautiful? Isn't that enough? Why bother other people who don't believe in the things you do? What is your problem? What do you want from them?

What is going on? Are you not right?! Aren't you satisfied with that? Let people be! As long as we don't harm each other then why don't people just let people be?!?!

Why do you bomb a Holy site that has been there since the 10th century? Do you think we care about bricks and mortar and gold? Do you think it is the physical building that is the cause of people's faith? Destroy that and you've crumbled the Shias of Mohammad? The Shias of God? Is your gray matter that atrophied?? In what state of Soul are you??? Sorry, do you even have one is the question. Nasty human beings.

And, Neurotic Wife saves her loathing for all the parties that "have ruined this once historic and divine place" and blames the neighbouring countries:

This war is about Iraqis themselves. This war is about destroying Iraq and everything it represents. The so called friendly neighbours, who keep promising to help out are themselves the criminals. They are supplying the militias and the gangs with deadly weapons. Not one of them wants Iraq to be stable, not one of them wants Iraq to prosper. This war is no longer about the occupation. This war is a deadly war, A Deadly War of the Devils....

But I will not end on a sour note. After emerging from the inevitable curfew following the bombing, Chikitita was surprised by what she saw:

On the trip back home, we dropped by the drugstore and kind of liked what we saw. Baghdadis strangely wore smiles on their faces, I thought I’d never see those again. Shops were bustling. People are reverting to their Iraqi manners, mum noted, referring to a policeman who helped a woman get into a minibus. This too was non-existent few weeks ago.

Mum’s words reminded me of what she once told me, you’ll never know which people are good and which ones are bad until you’re struck by a crippling crisis.

Food, Glorious Food!

Ah, a couple of posts on my (and probably every Iraqi's) favourite subject. I have spent many dinner parties discussing the intricacies of Iraqi dates or the Noomi Heloo (an Iraqi citrus fruit) or finding the English name for Iraqi foods (anyone know the nearest thing to 'botnich'?). Fatima is in America and tries hard to make the food she likes but:

after trying to make that perfect cup of tea after cup of tea, and after a few attempts at making a yummy dish of eggs, I have finally come to the conclusion that it just tastes better over there!

Hala_S talks about Iraqi food starting with the Pomegranate:

For me the sight of pomegranates takes me years and years back to my childhood when these fruits would stay in the basket untouched till my dear mother wash them, take the seeds out and put them in a large bowl in the fridge. ...

Poor Brits, they think they are eating pomegranates, while in fact they are eating something that looks like them, but far from the real taste, I wish they can try the ones grown in Baqouba or Karbala, they will know then that they’ve been cheated out of their money and taste!

This goes for nearly every other fruit or vegetable. Tomatoes are the best example, you find cherry tomatoes, beef tomatoes, plum tomatoes and tomatoes on vine leaves, and really they should be called cherry plastics or plum plastics. Where are they from our shapeless, disfigured, dented and full of spots ones? Our ugly tomatoes full of juice and flavour will put all others in shame!

I once paid a fortune in an Italian restaurant to eat samples of few truffles brought all the way from Tuscany in Italy, and were served to me in such a fuss as if I was about to eat pieces of gold!
Oh my dear Iraq, if only they’ve tasted your muddy truffles that we used to buy in big sacs and spent ages to clean.

We the people of Iraq are exactly like our crops! Rough, tough, harsh and scarred, but once you open them up, you see the real flavour of kindness, generosity and genuineness.

And Finally, The Most Sectarian Blog Ever Award goes to...

After Konfused Kid labelled The Shaqawa as the 'Most Sectarian Blog Ever', Shaqawa has been wearing it as a badge of pride. He even made his own logo (pictured left).

Salam Adil (that's me) reviewed another contender. On his qualification points of reverence for the sect's leaders and pathological hatred of the opposition, Salam passes the award to Layla Anwar. He writes:

After Layla's fawning letter to Saddam and labelling of Basra as an Iranian enclave; I am sorry Shaqawa you are going to have to hand over your award!

But Shaqawa is having none of it. He writes:

I will have to say that I will never give my award to this Layla. Of course you know that the Saddam lovers and Ba’thists stole everything in Iraq and made Iraq into a big prison. They took everything and still were cheered by so many people and even today many Arabs and Sunnis will praise Saddam. Well after stealing so much now their hero Saddam is dead and buried in his dirty village. And the stealing days of the Ba’thists are almost done. Ba’thists in Iraq are almost done. May all of them see Saddam’s end as a warning. Iraq is for Iraqis, not Ba’thists. Even an online award, I will not give it to a dirty Ba’thist and lover of Saddam.

So, no contest then. But I do not see why we should stop at Iraq. What other blogs would qualify for this award?

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-06-12T15:12:00.000Z

Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God...

Marshmallow26 after narrowly missing a roadside bomb this week

What can I say? Another week full of essential reads. There is no need for an introduction they are all important and worth reading so let's begin...

If you read no other blogs ever read this one:

I give up I may as well stop and leave at this point. Sunshine's latest post has a little bit for everyone - there is just no need to read anything else. Converting olive oil covers into candelabras or turning her kid brother's slipper into a mobile phone cover (I kid you not); the banal minutiae of daily life; taking exams in a hurry while her father was waiting outside in 46C heat and shooting and shelling happening near her neighbourhood; and answering reader questions. Mr Bennett asked her, "How do you remain so "Sunny" in the face of such terrible things happening around you?" and her answer is one so full of wisdom it should be a lesson to us all:

I don’t remain "sunny" all the time believe me , I have times of desperation (or days of desperation!) specially when bad things happen one after the other, like when I hear 3 or 4 bad news everyday for few days continuously , like 3 weeks ago , my mom’s uncle was killed , my relative was kidnapped , the us soldiers took our friends , and the policemen took my friend’s dad... those events happened in less than a week for people I know and care about , that made me very scared and depressed ,beside the stories I heard about killing two families..., those events made me so close to lose my mind , I felt like I was living in a horror movie !! but I felt better and returned “Sunny” after few days .

I can’t live with desperation, I like to laugh , joke ,I won’t allow the war to effect my daily life and routine , I try to be as positive as possible, for me and for people around me .

No matter what happen to me in my way to school (the delay , mines , explosions, etc) I open the door with a big smile on my face, that makes my mom happy as well as my family , no one like to see a sulky face..

I made my decision that I should accept the reality I live in a war zone and I can’t change that , I didn’t choose to live in a war zone, I am not responsible for what is happening , I can choose whether I live optimistic or not.

Sometimes people live in great areas , have wonderful life, and have almost everything , but they are not satisfied ,in the same time people live in misery and still have hope , and do their best to have a good life, it’s all about decisions.

No matter what happen , I’ll do my best to live a normal life and won’t let the situation and the terrorists have a great effect on my life and education, The terrorists want us to be depressed and miserable , they want us to lose the hope which is a basic thing for the life to continue , if there is no hope , there is no life. I don’t want the terrorists to win and achieve their goal, I don’t think it is impossible to have a peaceful life “impossible is nothing” .

we don’t hear in the stories that the devil wins, right? We hear the virtuous always win , I believe it is the same thing in reality. It is a matter of time. ...

Never Ever Give Up

Sunshine ..

Well, I wont stop there as there are more great posts to report.

Chikitita has house-search no. 10, This time by the Iraqi army. Although nervous about an army that had beaten her brother she sees the human side. She writes:

This time I saw the fellow humans within, whose eyes beamed at the fresh tea mum offered and shy smiles were drawn at the mention of cold water, which they haven’t tasted in days. I didn’t feel guilty for stereotyping them as the evil robots, who beat the lives out of unarmed civilians without qualms and take away free men’s freedom and sometimes last breaths, but I wished they could give their humanity a chance and treat people like flesh and blood. I also wondered about the insurgents who attack them, if only they both had a chance to talk to each other, the whole country would have been different, so would our wretched Iraqi type of life.

Marshmallow26 writes her 100th post. She survived a roadside bomb, but her cousin was killed by a car bomb. She finishes with:

For one moment I thought of how I survived that morning but that cousin didn't!! what is the philosophy behind this? I have no idea.
I hate to start my number 100 post with sad story but would like to end it with some happy stuff...I am still alive and to me, living in Iraq to see the next day is such a miracle from God...

Saif's story on Hometown Baghdad comes to a close and, after watching this month's episode, he was moved to quota an email from a viewer that he received:

“When I thought of Iraq 4 hours ago, I thought of militants with guns and veiled woman kept indoors. I didn’t think of rock music, video games, college classes, family dinners and days spent just fooling around with friends. When I thought of Iraqis, I didn’t think of kids just like me–kids who just want to laugh and date, play rock-n-roll, tease their siblings and hang around with their friends in the park.”

Maura, Viewer

Saif writes:

This is what we achieved in our show, Hometown Baghdad, ... Thanks to all the people who worked on this powerful reality show. ... We risked our lives and did our best to transfer the truth to the minds of our viewers. We filmed with the background sound of bullets and choppers. We filmed while the power was off. But we filmed and continued filming to the last moment when we were forced to leave our country. This has all been for you, Baghdad. The city of Sinbad, the city of Shehrazad, the city where we belong.

It was a great honor to share my life with all of you. I made many friendships with people who were ready to help. They are really great people by any standard. It has been an honor working with the Iraqi crew who were very brave, and the American crew who did a great a job of making the series as you see it now. It has been a unique experience in my life, and I am proud to have done this for my country. It was a patriotic job. And in the future, I hope I can do more to help my wounded country.

Word from the street ... in Basrah

Fayrouz posts a letter from Queen Amidala on the Sadr effect in Basrah:

Al-Sadr continues to get stronger. I mean look at the events he created this past month in the Southern cities of Iraq and Baghdad. Since the start of the new security plan in Baghdad, it's rumored that he fled to Iran. But, why would he leave to Iran? Nobody can touch him anyway, with or without a security plan.

In return, what have the U.S. or U.K. forces done? The answer is only one word, NOTHING. They have troubles staying in Iraq and they would have more troubles leaving Iraq. ...

Al-Sadr has become a very important man and can play with the situation in Iraq. A lot of people believe in him and in his powerful Army, and he is getting more powerful by the day.

Let me tell you an incident that took place a few days ago.

As usual, we were out of electricity. Because of the heat, the electricity lines in our neighborhood were sparking very badly. So, we had to use our own generators while the national electricity was available for the whole day. IMAGINE!!!!.

One of our neighbors went to the electricity department and asked them to fix the electricity lines. They told him they will fix them the next morning. The next morning, they didn't send any crew to fix the lines. So, he went back to the electricity department. He even bribed them. They took the money and still didn't come to fix the lines.

Finally, he went to a nearby Al-Sadr office. He explained the the situation to them. Al-Mehdi office acted promptly. They arranged for a small force to go to the electricity department and they forced the department to fix the lines right away that night.

The next day we had another small problem with the electricity. This time, the electricity department came right away and fixed it.

Now tell me, why wouldn't a lot of people believe in them or join them?

And in Baghdad

Nabil reports from the ghost town that is his neighbourhood. He also posts a video and some photos:

So we walked in that entrance street and it was like walking into a street in like a resident evil movie or old cow-boys movies.It was like walking into an abandoned city, the street was completely empty, there were no signs of life in that street, the street was messed up and destroyed, the shops were all closed and broken, there was no single human being in that street, smoke clouds were coming out from a bombed or destroyed buildings, birds were flying high and it was completely quiet. ... I was so sad to see that my neighbourhood which was one of the most famous neighbourhoods of baghdad of being so crowdy and never sleeps neighbourhood to end up like this.

Sectarianism

Several bloggers took on the issue of the sectarian divide that is causing so much strife in Iraq. Iraqi Mojo heard of a family friend who was dragged from his home and murdered for no reason other than being Shia. He writes: "the people who murder Shi'a just for being Shi'a must be the Wahhabi scum from outside Iraq ... but even if the murderers are non-Iraqi Wahhabis, they could not have known where the Shi'a live in Baghdad without the help of locals, so the Iraqi Ba'thists are at least accomplices in these crimes. I cannot fathom how the Iraqi Shi'a can reconcile with Iraqis who have aided Al Qaeda in their pursuit to murder Shi'a ... Even after the Wahhabi murderous scum are driven out of Iraq, I cannot imagine how the Iraqi Shi'a can live peacefully with the hardcore Ba'thists - I'm afraid it's impossible after all that's happened."

The Shaqawa writes about the Shia identity in Iraqi and why people hold so strongly on to it:

Before the Shi’a were persecuted for being Shi’a. They were told that they were not Iraqi, not Arab, and did not belong in Iraq, where the majority of people are Shi’ite. Even if you did not care that much about your sect of Islam, you would be aware of it when you were told that you were an enemy because of your sect.

And Konfused Kid writes three - epic - posts translating a book written in the 1950's by Iraqi social historian Ali Al-Wardi which explains much of the sectarian strife today. The real fascination, however, is in the comments section where the Kid draws out some thoughtful criticism.

And Finally...

Zappy has been watching the biggest reality TV show in Britain. And in 9 words sums up the feelings of many...

Let me be brief.

10 minutes watching this and I'm about to vomit...

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

2007-05-29T08:53:00.000Z

Everything is here this week... from going to schools in a war zone, review of the latest political scene in Iraq, must-see video blogs, stories of extreme bravery and extreme pathos, a $1000 KFC meal, and if you read to the end, how gays cruise in Amman.

If you read no other blog post this week read these two:

My deepest condolences goes out to Sunshine whose uncle, "M", was murdered on Wednesday for nothing more than a few papers. She writes:

uncle M's dream was to see his daughter graduation , she is determined to accomplish her dream and her father's dream , after the funeral , she stayed in my grandparents' house to study , she couldn't concentrate in her house , her exams will start soon . I also heard about another relative , who was kidnapped but freed versus money.. Try to concentrate in such circumstances?! In addition to a hot weather with out electricity (46 C. ), Can you ?? the Iraqis are the bravest human being , we absolutely deserve Guinness World Records for tolerance and patience

But that is not all... Sunshine also had to endure walking through a virtual war zone to get to an exam at school:

"we walked , me and dad alone among the damaged stores and buildings, with police cars everywhere , on burned ground full of windows' glass , shrapnels, what a good way to start your morning?!"

And tells of her friends experience after American soldiers raided her house and arrested all the men. She asks:

Can any teen in this world bear our life? Just going to school is a challenge, living each day is hard , specially when you lose the people you love. And feel afraid about the others .

Inspired by the story of Samantha Larson, the youngest person ever to climb to the top of Mt. Everest Marshmallow26 tells us the story of a brave Iraqi woman who dared to meet one of the kidnappers that bedevil the lives of ordinary families in Iraq and out wit him. Here is her story:

She is not armored with climbing mountains hobby, not with scuba dive or jumping professionally on the trampoline ... She is a simple and more than simple house wife living by herself after losing her husband...

Her daughter's brother-in-law was threatened to leave his governorate job, his house, and leave the city for good, he was getting phone calls all day long on his cellphone, unknown people who kept calling him kept teasing him, threatening to kill him and his family, ... they asked him to pay $100,000 as a ransom, he doesn't and will never be able to have that amount as long as he works as a governmental employee..

The brave woman "B" that is how I'm gonna call her, knew about this story and asked her daughter to get the guy's cellphone and leave it with her mom (the brave woman),

"MOM??? Are you serious? why do you wanna answer this phone while there is so much going on with its owner?" daughter said.

"It is none of your business, I know those guys are playing games only, so I will be the one who will take it..." the mother replied.

Read on here to find out what she does.

The Week in Politics

With America's surge of troops in Baghdad in full swing, historic talks with Iran underway and major laws being considered by parliament, politics is again coming to the foreground in Iraq.

Security? What Security?

While much is made in the media of America's security plan for Baghdad little time is given to how this affects ordinary people in Baghdad. These stories come out in the blogs. Last week I had the lament of Baghdad Connect of a city being torn apart by military operations. Today I have two more stories. Neurotic Wife gives her view from inside the Green Zone.

Things are pretty bad here. No wait, bad is an understatement. Things are pretty darn bloody. The so called security crack down has not worked its magic. Its way past that. I doubt there is any solution to whats happening at the moment here. I think its beyond repairable. And please dont tell me that thats impossible...

Electricity, a source of energy that we all take for granted has been scarce for millions of Baghdadi residents for over a month now. Scarce in this intolerable heat. ... Water, a vital source of keeping us alive has now become a major target for infections. Security, oh whats that again? A word that almost everyone here forgot how it felt or what it really means. The dead bodies you read about being found on a daily basis scattered around the Baghdad neighbourhoods, have now become a normalcy. If people dont see them, they think there must be something wrong. ... Money doesnt mean anything to them anymore because the truth of the matter is, inflation has hit them hard. All the prices soared to a degree where the $1800-$3000 they make here per month disappears. They save nothing. Not a single cent. So imagine those who dont work in the GZ, or those who dont even work. How are they surviving??

And she is impressed by the survival powers of the Iraqi people:

Every Iraqi, every single one, that is living under these stark conditions have struggled to keep their sanity. If it was me living these dire conditions, there is no doubt I would be roaming the streets aimlessly pulling my hair out, literally going nuts. But no, these people, the Iraqi people should enter the Guiness book of records. Oh yes, most definitely. They are truly my heroes. No matter how much I say this statement, I can never do justice to them. Never.

Omar gives his colleague Hussain space to tell his story of what happened when the security crackdown visited his neighbourhood :

Tuesday morning was a disaster for me , my family , relatives and friends.

At nine o'clock of Tuesday 22nd of May , the American forces had a raid on Amel neighborhood ( west Baghdad) ,the place where I live with my family which is few miles from Baghdad airport. ... Three armoured vehicles came to our alley ( street)carrying dozens of soldiers to search the houses looking for terrorists leaving at least 50 other vehicles in the area to do the same thing with other blocks . Father .. was the first to receive the unwanted guests. There were at least twenty soldiers who entered the house and forced my father to sit on his knees with his head towards the wall with no consideration to his age ( 65 years old) and sickness ( he has blood pressure with his left eye on recovery from a new operation ). They refused giving any kind of mercy or time to let the interpreter explain what my mother want to say to them about my father's condition ...

At the end his father was taken away without any word to his family about his whereabouts.

Iran and America

Some bloggers had their own view on the first ever talks between the Iranian and American ambassadors in Baghdad on Monday. Omar of Iraq the Model is not impressed with Iran's performance. He writes, "Iran's attitude didn't only make the meeting unproductive, it made it insulting... Ignore the meaningless diplomatic pleasantries ... Iran mocked Iraq and America today, their ambassador was here just to laugh at us and buy time for his regime. ... All in All, I see that the regime in Iran doesn't want to limit its interference in Iraq, it's simply hoping to give this interference a cover of legitimacy."

While Hammorabi views these talks as the opening shots of an imminent war:

The US and Iranian meeting today ... is nothing other than throwing dust in the eyes. Both Iran and USA has interests and the Iraqis are paying the heavy price since the revolution of Khomeini in 1979 until now.

We know that if America is going to attack Iran this will not happen from Iraq but from other parts of the Gulf and from its own aircraft carriers however Iran is alarmed from the USA existence in Iraq. From today meeting we feel that the conflict between Iran and the USA is of no doubt coming and may be imminent.

But Baghdad Connect sees this meeting as no more than a huge garage sale. He writes, "Congress nods to Bush, Bush nods to ‘anyone’! You break it you own it, and then you dump it in a garage sale!"

In other Comment

Al-Ghad tracks the rise of oil workers’ movement and sees this as a welcome sign:

The voice of the most advanced, and best organized, sector of the Iraqi working class, has started to join forces with other mass non-violent popular resistance against the occupation, marking a new welcome shift in dire situation in the country, away from the docile and corrupt administration, and the blood thirsty sectarian gangs that occupation had set-up.

And Wissam congratulates Iraq's brave leaders:

We mustn't forget the freedom and the respect that we've gained as individuals from the Iraqi leaders and the leaders of other countries. The President of Iraq has left to the United States of America for medical treatment while my wife has cancer and I can't take her even to Syria for treatment like many other Iraqis do.

The Chairman of the United Iraqi Alliance made a trip to the United States of America to undergo medical treatment for his cancer; but he didn't like their hospitality so he made his decision to go to his mother's country (Iran) at least they will treat him better; but still, the choice is his to go anywhere because he's "the man" in Iraq, but my wife like so many other women do not have the choice, because they are not the "madams".

The Deputy Prime Minister is the bravest. When he was injured during an assassination attempt, the government took him immediately to the green zone hospital (which is under the American doctors' supervision). Then, he flew to Jordan for medical treatment. So, as he is a leader in the Iraqi government, they took care of him but it doesn't matter if other Iraqis are injured by an IED or VBIED (car bomb) , understandably ….there are a lot of Iraqi's but there is only one PM deputy.

Word from the street

Electricity is scarce and the temperatures are soaring, forcing many Iraqis to sleep on their roofs at night. But rumours of US soldiers shooting from their helicopters on sleeping people at night gave Chikitita an interesting mind game to lull herself to slumber:

Not sure on which side I should lie, back seems to be a lesser evil, one shot to the head or stomach I’d be painlessly dead in no time, front means I could get a bullet in my spinal cord and end up like mum’s friend - vegetable because of one tiny metal chunk fired in the late ‘80s to celebrate Iraq’s so-called victory. But what if my legs or arms get shot, do people shot in the extremities live with disabilities?

And, oddly, it works.

hala_s calls her brother on his birthday and asked him to make a wish:

“I wish I never grew up” he said “It is against nature that I lived a better life than my kids. They don’t know how to cycle, swim or even swing. When I manage to take them out, I tell them about imaginary places and events that took place on this spot or that. I could see their jaws drop in disbelief, and my youngest insists that I repeat those fairy tales at bedtime!”

And Zappy describes a $1000 KFC meal that cured his friends back problem. Click here for the explanation.

From the Video blogs:

My honorary Iraqis and bloggers for the week are VBS who give us the story Iraq's only Heavy Metal Band.

Hometown Baghdad videos the story of Saif leaving Baghdad for the last time.

And Alive in Baghdad covers the challenges facing a Girl's school in Adhamiya, Baghdad.

And Finally:

Konfused Kid gets propositioned as the object of what I can only describe as "Gay Cruising" in Jordan:

I was waiting at the bus stop the other day for a bus at 7:30 PM in a cloudy cold evening with another man. After 10 minutes the dude, who was dressed neatly and had shaved his head, started pacing to and fro around me, in the end he offered me a cigarette and then said politely in an Iraqi accent: 'Want a job?'

I paused. 'What kind of job, friend?'

He paused. 'Come up to my appartment with me and I will tell you everything in an hour's time.'

Huh? What the hell? 'Why don't u you just tell me here friend.'

at this point some white car drove up to him, and he was prepared to get inside it, polite and slender as only non-heterosexual Iraqis can be, he continued 'but you won't understand what I am talking about and why I can't tell you right here until you meet my supervisor.'

It dawned fairly quickly on the Kid just what was planned at the apartment and he came up with the ultimate put-down: "Hey, I got a CCNA [computing qualification], maybe I can be your orgy's IT manager." The answer was a polite, 'No thank you'.