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July 03, 2009
20:45
Biden is the wrong person to push ...
» ‎ Raed in the Middle (iraq)

Biden is the wrong person to push for reconciliation in iraq. His name is linked to sectarian and ethnic partitioning. Obama should have picked someone else.
19:44
Okay, it works! The good news is ...
» ‎ Raed in the Middle (iraq)

Okay, it works! The good news is that i can post up 160 characters, which is 20 more than twitting. This will allow more in-depth analysis :-p
19:37
Testing my texting. Or should i call ...
» ‎ Raed in the Middle (iraq)

Testing my texting. Or should i call it tlogging :)
18:44
blog from your phone!
» ‎ Raed in the Middle (iraq)

huh

check this out

16:05
(اختلف اللصوص وبانت الحقيقة) حزب طالباني يقول ان السيارة التي انفجرت في كركوك تحمل لوحة مسجلة في اربيل وليس السليمانية
» ‎ زوايا آشــوريه (iraq)

2009-07-03 5:59:03 PM رد حزب الاتحاد الوطني الذي يتزعمه جلال طالباني على التقارير الذي ذكرت بان السيارة التي استخدمت في التفجير الذي وقع في منطقة الشورجة بكركوك وقيل انها سيارة مرسيدس صالون وتحمل لوحة مسجلة السليمانية وقال المصدر ان السيارة تحمل لوحة مسجلة في اربيل وليس السليمانية وكشفت مصادر في استخبارات كركوك التابعة لحزب طالباني عن لوحة تسجيل... [اقرأ المزيد]
15:49
تقرير صيني : غزو العراق اسقط الامبراطورية الامريكية والانسحاب كشف نقطة ضعفها
» ‎ زوايا آشــوريه (iraq)

يكشف الإنسحاب من العراق نقطة الضعف الأمريكية أمام العالم. وقد دارت الآلة الحربية الأمريكية القوية لسنين عديدة في العراق. وأفقدت الحرب العراقية الولايات المتحدة تأييدا من المجتمع الدولي، وجعلت المنظمات الإرهابية الدولية تستشف نقطة الضعف الأمريكية، وجعلت بعض الدول المتعادية مع الولايات المتحدة تكون أكثر استخفافا بوزن الولايات المتحدة، بينما لا قوة للولايات المتحدة في هذه الحالة. فهنا أكبر مغزى... [اقرأ المزيد]

11:04
Aljazeera goes live in Washington DC
» ‎ Treasure of Baghdad (iraq)

I’ve long been a huge opponent of the Arabic version of the Qatar-based Aljazeera, a channel I call “Fox News of the Arabs” whose propaganda and hatred-filled sentiments are widely obvious. AJ incites the Arabs/Muslims against the West and Fox does the same with the Americans against the Arabs/Muslims.

However, when Al Jazeera English was launched in November 2006 I started following it to see if it is similar to its sister channel, Aljazeera Arabic. Surprisingly, I saw that it was completely different, in a good way. The standards were high and were similar to that of the BBC World.

On July 1st, AJE has finally made its way to the Washington DC area, after signing its first major U.S. cable deal with non-commercial MHz Networks last week. The channel is now available to 2.3 million subscribers, in addition to 140 million worldwide.

While watching it online most of the time, I became more interested in AJE when I noticed the variety of news the channel presented. Their documentaries and reportage are extremely helpful. They opened the window to viewers to see what is happening in the world, unlike U.S. TV news networks that have failed to do this basic journalistic task.

Now that I have AJE 24/7 on my cable TV channel list, I’ll watch the network even more closely and see if it is adhering to the basic ethical element in journalism, objectivity!

6:02
GI Humor
» ‎ Baghdad (iraq)

A year in a war zone requires a sense of humor.

Examples from 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based in northwest Baghdad since last November:

--the army is famous/notorious for the names it gives to what it does. This outfit has deployed on Operations Sniper, Flying Dutchman, Kantana, Tarheels and many others. But somebody politically correct up the food chain thought they'd gone too far when they named one op "Napalm Rain." Change it--might offend our Iraqi allies. The new name: "Operation Campfire Sing-Along."

--soldiers hate phony gung-ho guys. Somebody created a fictitious new "Ribbon of the Day," called the Motto Language Medal. Here's how you win it: "Soldiers who never say your rank and name, but always call you Warrior, Killer, High Speed, Hard-Charger or Motivator. They always end sentences with 'Roger!' or 'Hooah!' and are always Charlie Mikeing [CM--continue to march]."

--one American liaison officer with the Iraqi army and national police in the sector unleashed a steady stream of sardonic one-liners: "The Iraqi economy is run by one giant DMV." About how sloppy the upkeep was around the local Iraqi army base: "It's like the 'Little Rascals' set up an army." On the blue and white Humvees that the national police use: "Chevy trucks with redneck armor." On how Iraqis feel about 130,000 American troops in their midst: "If New England was occupied by Canadians, I'd still want 'em to leave." About the makeup of the present-day Iraqi army--composed of throwbacks regulars from the Saddam Hussein era, those who joined after the 2003 invasion and recent recruits: "It's a Frankenstein army." On the Shilka Russian-made self-propelled guns atop police Humvees: "They can be rusty and never cleaned and they still work--the national police stop at company-level maintenance."

--An American officer leading a patrol became disgusted with the static and breakups on radio communications between Humvees and their base: "The comm sounds like it has the ass today--maybe a bag of ass."

--When they see a pretty Iraqi woman not wearing an abaya or hijab--the long cloaks and veils worn by many Iraqi females--GIs call it "going topless."

And this story, which has made the rounds of some public affairs specialists, is probably apocryphal and certainly didn't happen with the 1st ID battalion. A U.S. patrol, searching a house, found $300 in cash on on a man in the house. A lieutenant, following protocol then in effect, put a hood over his head and questioned him. He then called up the line to report what they'd found--$300 and no weapons. His superior told him to take the guy's picture and let him go. "Sgt. Frye," the officer said. "Take some pics of this guy and let him go." A few minutes later Frye returned with a digital camera and gave it to the lieutenant. As he scrolled through the images, the lieutenant frowned. "Sgt. Frye, what did you do?" "I took his picture and let him go, like you said, sir." Apparently, the lieutenant would have preferred that Frye remove the hood before taking the photos. The patrol's HQ later displayed a frontier-style poster of the hooded guy with "WANTED" across the top.

--Mike Tharp

July 02, 2009
19:51
A Brothel...
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

Have you ever loved ? Like seriously loved someone ?

If you have, do you remember what it felt like ? Do you remember when you were like a tiger/tigress when anyone approached your love and tried harming it ? Do you remember how you were so protective, jealous over the one you really loved ? Do you remember how you cherished it day after day, night after night...Do you remember how you embraced it, watched over it, guarded its best interests ?

It refers to the object of your love and not in a pejorative sense either.

Well, that's the way I feel about Her, about Iraq.

How I hate seeing her beautiful space, her land turned into pass rooms, where every syphilitic visitor enters her, for free...

How I hate seeing her being abused, tormented, pissed and spat upon...

How I hate seeing her submissive, surrendering....

How I hate seeing her powerlessness, her despair, her loss...

How I hate her silence, her silent tears, her silent cries, her silent begging...

How I hate see my Beloved turned into a Brothel.

19:20
More on Stupidity...
» ‎ Uncensored Arabwomanblues (iraq)

In yesterday's post I wrote about the "state of being stupid". Today I will continue in yesterday's footsteps and write about one glaring aspect of human stupidity - the ultimate stupidity - the mother of all stupidities.

It's been a wondrous night. Just the right weather for me. Enough warmth and a starry illuminated sky. Good conversations, shared food, hearty laughter, eyes to see, nose to smell, tongue to taste, ears to hear, hands to touch, legs to dance, walk, and lips to smile and kiss...All those treasures taken for granted.

A wondrous night cloaked in much genuine simplicity, a free flow of words, good music, little simple things, that make up the whole canvas. Small applied stitches in a huge embroidery, dabs of colors in a painting in the making, the seeds of possibilities - the possibilities of a full life.

Nothing exceptional, nothing grand, nothing out of the ordinary...living the ordinary life in a non-ordinary way - from the heart. Savoring each moment, being in the present, being open, being aware without withholding, being yourself...

A wondrous night, pregnant with meanings...

Life is so simple.

So why do people complicate it ? why do they fuck it up so badly, the way they do ?
I never really understood that.

I have studied much, read a thousand books, meditated, contemplated, prayed but I was never able to come to terms with Evil and its flip side - stupidity.

What is this poison called humans ?

Don't you think there is enough misery as is, enough natural disasters, enough diseases, enough poverty, enough global catastrophes ?

Don't you think there is enough abuse, enough pain, enough suffering, enough hopelessness, enough confusion, enough desolation ?

I still can't understand why humans add more, and more and more of the same poison.

What is the matter with us, Homo Sapiens ? What the fuck is the matter with us ?

The way I see it - it's like someone giving you a gift daily, and you arrogantly bundle it up and throw it back in the face of the Giver...

This saddens me much, I have no words...

At the bottom of all of this existential self inflicted misery, lies us...lies the human kind.

It takes so much effort daily to renew that pact of faith...

No one has screwed it up as bad as we have. In fact there is no one else but us who are screwing it up daily...

If that is not stupidity, I don't know what is.

10:23
can you get a restraining order on this guy since
» ‎ shirts vs. skins (iraq)

Obama now officially does not give a shit.

8:04
Biden And The Political Reconciliation
» ‎ Inside Iraq (iraq)

    According to the news agencies, President Obama assigned his deputy Biden to oversee the political reconciliation in Iraq. The man is

    For the first moment, it looks so normal piece of news especially for those who don not have a clear idea about the Iraqi political situation but since the man is going to oversee the most important point that keeps the unity of Iraq, I was really surprised with the news. In fact, I did not know whether to laugh or cry because a deeper look to the whole issue makes many people wondering like me and asking few simple questions like these

1- Does President Obama know that Biden is the politician who adopted seriously the idea of dividing Iraq into three parts (Shiite part, Sunni part and Kurdish part) in order to solve all the problems? This ideology gives one idea. The man has no idea about Iraq and its complicated mixed combination. Biden simply thinks that dividing the country will bring peace which is completely wrong because those people who implement the attacks will never stop killing the innocent people in my country. In fact, dividing the country will encourage them and give them the best excuse for more killing and they will keep saying that they target the occupation and its supporters. If President Obama knows about Biden's ideology, then the question is (why him?) I am sure there are many American politicians who can do this important and dangerous mission.

2- By the way, what does (oversee) really mean? To advise? To suggest? To watch or to interfere?

3- I do not know whether President Obama asked his deputy if he knows how many political parties we have in Iraq and what their demands are.

4- Since we are talking about the iraqi political reconciliation, Is the vice president going to discuss the issue with the Iraqi politicians or he will only depend on the American politicians and military commanders in Iraq?

6:23

The Guys Who Make the Army Work

» ‎ Baghdad (iraq)

'The ‘eathen in ‘is blindness bows down to wood an’ stone;

‘E don’t obey no orders unless they is ‘is own;

The ‘eathen in ‘is blindness must end where ‘e began,

But the backbone of the Army is the non-commissioned man! ' Rudyard Kipling, the grand old British imperialist, wrote that about NCOs.

"The guys who make the army work." That's what techno-thriller writer Tom Clancy called NCOs. They are noncommissioned officers, the soldiers and Marines in pay grades E-5 through E-9: buck sergeants, staff sergeants, sergeants first class, master sergeants and sergeants major.

Northwestern Baghdad is no exception. In the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry (the "Vanguards"), 2nd Brigade ("Dagger" brigade) of the 1st Infantry Division ("The Big Red One"), noncoms make sure the vision and strategy of senior officers get translated into reality and tactics on the ground.

Sgt. 1st Class John Peterson, for example, took blueprints for a mobile command post--a vehicle that looks like a stretch version of a Ford 350 with desert camo, up-armor, radar and a mounted machine gun--and made sure the local Iraqi army unit got to make one of its own. He helped two Iraqis, Sgts. Salaam and Ayid, prepare a 21-page color handout on the "Badger," which the Iraqis wrote "will enchance the command's ability in performing their duties away from the office." Peterson, who's been in Iraq since 2007, with just three 15-day leaves to see his family, often pulls all-nighters because that's when the action happens on the streets. "Hey," he says grinning, "I love what I do."

Sgt. Maj. Jeff Smith, ramrod straight with a brush cut, looks as if he's been sent over by Central Casting to play an NCO like the one in "Full Metal Jacket." And like nearly every sergeant major in the army and Marines, he knows where all the bodies are buried--and whether to dig them up or leave 'em under the ground. During one brief encounter in the so-called Command Post of the Future, the sergeant major takes care of three or four problems in as many minutes. His management style is aided by liberal use of a certain Anglo-Saxon word that he deploys as a verb, noun, adjective and adverb. Then he stalks out to make sure the next mission gets done.

Noncoms pull the same kind of duty in the Iraqi National Police (INP) and army.

Four Iraqi INP NCOs hang out in a sixth-floor office across a dusty courtyard from the U.S. battalion. The INP serve as the security arm of the Iraqi army in the northwest sector of Baghdad. The Americans understand how important NCOs are in the command structure, so they helped start an academy two years ago that features courses like those taught in the U.S.

Someday, the INP are supposed to assume the whole internal security role for Iraq and let the army do what it's supposed to--protect Iraq's borders from outside attack. Meantime, some 40,000 of them work the northwest sector, scene of a huge holy shrine, upscale shops and cafes, as well as garbage dumps, offal piles and slums that have spawned car bombings, IEDs and suicide attacks. Besides staffing checkpoints, the police officers do traffic control on Baghdad's sclerotic streets.

Staff Sgt. Mark Lancaster, Nashville, is a grunt who now liaises with the police to swap information, tell tall tales, hang out and build a bond of trust. "We're all NCOs," Lancaster drawls. "They do all the reports, interrogations, scout patrols and go after very important targets."

After seven months or so with his counterparts, the Tennessean feels right at home. When he walks into their office, they greet one another the Iraqi way--a handshake and kisses on each cheek. One big Iraqi sergeant tells Lancaster, "If you go to war in Afghanistan or Iran, you come and get me. I will hang (Iranian prime minister) Ahmadinejad!"

Another American NCO drops by to leave bags of beef jerky and a chew bone for an Iraqi police officer's pet dog. The chew toy, a foot-long tube of dry leather, immediately prompts a slew of ribald jokes and pantomines from the Iraqis, with Lancaster's interpreter translating it all. They cut the BS only when a line of veiled women enters the office, female officers hired to search women at checkpoints.

Later, after three of the Iraqis eat a lunch of bread, rice and oranges sitting on a silver Mylar first-aid blanket on the floor--Lancaster declines, saying he's already had chow--the big Iraqi gets serious. He describes the slow dance the cops must perform to recruit their sources---whether he asks for money, how much, will he hold "a package" for them. Then they move to "tougher questions--if we send you off to mix with 'special groups' [insurgents], will you give us correct information?" Finally, the police compare and correlate what their source has told them with other bits and pieces of data to see if they can trust their man.

Any American cop worth his or her salt follows the same drill in cultivating informants.

The Iraqi NCOs are worried about the U.S. withdrawal of combat forces from major Iraqi cities scheduled in two days (June 30). But not because they fear for their own safety or that they can't do their job. No, they're worried that people with "wasta," influence, will be able to avoid the warrants they need to make arrests. "If a man belongs to a certain (political) party, when we go arrest him, he can use wasta to avoid it," says one rail-thin NCO.

Adds another Iraqi sergeant: "It will be a hard six months after the Americans go. Then we can show our ability to control the situation."

Lancaster rises to shove off. He kisses each Iraqi noncom on the cheek, who return the farewell the same way. "I'll still be here," he says.

Together, all the NCOs--members of an ancient and honorable brotherhood--say, "Inshallah." If God wills.

Someday Lancaster hopes to write a novel about his two Iraq tours. He's got, it seems, plenty of material.

--By Mike Tharp

July 01, 2009
22:51
US withdrawas from Iraqi cities, towns and villages
» ‎ Raed in the Middle (iraq)

21:31
Summer Wine...
» ‎ Uncensored Arabwomanblues (iraq)

Strawberries, cherries, raspberries...
they trickle
down my cage
red contours
demarcating
Adam's lost rib...

I look for Adam's
lost rib,
I search the red,
the bloody wombs
I see him standing in a corner
smoking a cigar...

Our lips meet,
like they have to,
ordained by Nature
I poke him in one of those
left out ribs...
He jolts
surprised
and sees trickling...
strawberries, cherries and raspberries
trickling
from an unknown tree
in the Summer heat,
pressed grapes
squashed fruits
in the Summer heat
like Summer Wine...

Layla Anwar, July 2nd. 2009. Nowhere. Now-Here.

18:44
This Shame is Yours.
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

So what's with this endless torture business in Iraq ?

Fawziya al-Jashami said she had seen "horrific traces" of torture during a visit to a prison in the southern Province of Babel of which Hilla is the capital.

"I saw types of torture which are so vicious and horrific that I cannot describe them as a woman.

"It is a kind of sexual torture which one is ashamed to talk about and occurs for the first time in Iraq," Jashami, who heads the Human Rights Committee in the province, said.

Following her fact-finding mission to one of the province’s jails, she said she was appalled by what she saw and heard."

Article HERE and HERE.

Hey, I thought the "Tyrant" and his regime were the ones who tortured...Did you not tell us about humans minced in meat machines then? Of course, all came out to be lies.

But now, today, this hour, this minute, is where real torture is taking place in "democratic and free Iraq."

I've written about Torture before, and I did mention Iraq's underworld. Out of sight, out of mind...

Well, thank you Fawzia Al-Jashami, for your courage. As an Iraqi woman, today, in "free Iraq" it must have been very difficult for you to even utter the lines you did...

But please Fawzia, don't be shy, timid, nor ashamed. Call things by their names. Leave aside your "pudeur - your "modesty", erase it from your dictionary of morals. In today's Iraq there are no morals left. So why are you so worried about words ?

Say it like it is. Swallow the indignation, the bitter horror and the tears and say it...like it is.

You are in a "democracy" are you not ?

Never before a word has been able to make me hysterically laugh like this one - democracy. It beats all the comics, all the clowns, all the comedy shows, all the jesters...of this world.

Yalla, ya Fawzia, in the name of "democracy" don't be ashamed...

But I know, I know...You are not ashamed, you are fearful. If you call things by their names, you will no longer have a tongue to name anything anymore...I know.
So am not holding it against you.

This shame is not yours.

This shame is the shame of those Iraqis - like the Jarrars and their mother, like the other Iraqi bloggers on CIA payroll, like the Iraqi idiots empty, stupid and hollow...like the Iraqis who refuse to name things by their names...

This shame is not yours.

This shame is that of those Iraqis who still have the gall to talk about sovereignty, who publish articles and get their pay checks at the end of each month -the pay check of "reconciliation"...

This shame is not yours.

It is that of all the Arabs. It is that of the Palestinians idiots whom we gave up our lives for...and now you see them kissing Iranian Mullahs ass. It is the shame of the silent, sleeping, amnesic Arabs, cowardly hiding behind their newspapers...or linking to newspapers...

This shame is not yours.

This shame is that of the Arab left. But they left, the Arab left. Where did they go to ? I wonder...

They are busy kissing Mullah's ass as well...Busy kissing political Shiitism, until their mouths are full...and not the best of mouthwashes will ever rinse it off, will never rinse off the stench...

Kissing those same sectarian Shiites who are sticking broken bottles up the rectums of the inmates you visited. Those shame Shiites who are nothing but vindictive, mean, sadistic, hysterical sectarian whores, begging to be fucked, by a whip or by a super power...worse than your average Zionist Jew...a 100% times worse.

But don't worry about either. Both your average Jew and your average Shiite will stick and stand up for one another...like Siamese twins.

It is the perversity of their minds and that of Truth that fuels them. And they are both perversely sick.

They are both deeply chauvinistic, deeply racist, deeply sectarian, deeply ignorant. And all different shades of darkness love gathering together.

Fawzia, you may be a Shiite yourself. It doesn't matter really. You know what am talking about... You saw it all.

There is no need to be ashamed, don't take the shame onto yourself. Throw it back in their faces...

And I wish you could provide me a sample of a list of torture "practices" and photos, and also a few names...

I want to print it and wipe the faces of these bastards who are either celebrating with posts or are silent...

Maybe this list will clean those ugly mouths and faces...maybe it will remove the shit, the excrement, the feces stuck on the corners of their lips and in between their teeth... one huge political fellatio.

And maybe, just maybe the faceless ones you visited, will be redeemed.

Painting : Iraqi artist, Ziad Bakury.

18:07
On Stupidity...
» ‎ Uncensored Arabwomanblues (iraq)

Sorry to give it to you straight but a good majority of people are stupid.
Yep, you read me right - stupid.

Now what do I mean by stupidity ?

I am not into IQ's. I personally scored very low in one of them. I must be very dumb myself...

So stupidity for me has got nothing to do with low IQ's. Even though you may beg to differ and not in my favor...

Stupidity has nothing to do with the absence of "emotional intelligence" either.

Nor is Stupidity related to genetic predispositions, environment or level of education or lack thereof...

Stupidity for me is lack of insight. Simple.

And since insight is available to all, stupidity is only a temporary state.

You can decide to become insightful today, if you wish. If you choose that option, I can guarantee you that you will learn everything you need to learn, first about yourself, and secondly about the world around you. But you need to want it first.

I like the word insight. IN-SIGHT.

You will see what you need to see and consequently you will understand what needs to be understood. Because your way of seeing, your vision will be altered...

So stupidity is not a terminal illness. But most people are stuck in that state until the day they die...What a bloody waste and what an insult to the endless possibilities of Insight offered to you, at no cost.

However, to ask for insight, requires apart from willingness -- it requires courage. Because what you will see, will radically change your life but always for the good...ultimately. It also requires openness to receive - allowing.

That's all.

You need no training course, no higher studies, no Phd's, no gurus, no teachers...

You just need the committed, truthful, sincere, daily willingness, the courage and the openness to receive.

We call that state (of non-stupidity) in Arabic - Ayn Al Yaqeen. The State, Vision -- The Eye of Certainty.

15:07
وطنية أم تبعية النفط العراقي؟ـ
» ‎ Free Iraq (iraq)

.
وزير النفط العراقي السابق عصام الجلبي يدق جرس الانذار من عقود نفط تبرمها حكومة الفساد في المنطقة الخضراء والتي تعيد العراق الى التبعية.ـ
مقابلة مع عصام الجلبي على قناة روسيا اليوم ـ 1 تموز 2009.

10:34
All the details of this meeting took ...
» ‎ shirts vs. skins (iraq)

All the details of this meeting took me back to the Saddam's time staring with the speeches that were glorifying Maliki and ending with Maliki's instructions to hold celebrations all over Iraq to show happiness as if Iraqis can not experience happiness without these instructions. Yes, most Iraqis are very happy with the withdrawal of the American forces but they don’t need any instructions that remind them of dark era. Iraqis will be happy if they forget the "Miserable Days".

After six years Iraqis are still waiting for the "Achievement Day" when the successive governments provide them with the necessary services.

Hahaha give this man the ten thousand dollars.

9:12
Grease the palm
» ‎ Inside Iraq (iraq)

Recently, most bombs in Baghdad have been caused by booby-trapped motorcycles.

Blocked roads, congestion and expensive fares are reasons made many Iraqis use motorcycles as an easy means for transportation. But for the same reasons, terrorists use motorcycles to carry out their deadly missions: killing Iraqis in markets and public places.

The Iraqi government took a special measure to protect Iraqis: They banned and confiscated motorcycles on the streets of Baghdad !

And as usual, corrupt people, who are spread everywhere Iraq of today, used this as pretext to make money.

My relative, Sami, returned recently after spending one year in Sweden running from the miserable conditions in his neighborhood. The man returned because he wasn't given refugee status in Sweden . On his long trip he lost all his savings. So, like many Iraqis, he bought a motorcycle to save the money that he was spending on taxi fares.

On the day after the explosion that shook Sadr City , killing at least 65, the government decided to ban and confiscate all motorcycles from the streets because the attack was done by a booby-trapped three-wheeled motorcycle.

Sami hadn't heard of this decision. There was no great effort made to inform people of this decision.

So out he went, happy to bypass all the poor car drivers waiting in long queues at checkpoints. Then a traffic police patrol arrested him with his son in the Karrada neighborhood.

It turns out he wasn't the only one arrested. A lot of people had hit the streets with their motorbikes. They didn't know either.

Sami spent more than two hours trying to convince the officers that he hadn’t heard of the ban. Finally, the top-ranking officer came in and asked his men "Did they grease your palm?" … "No, not yet" the policeman answered with a smile.

Sami paid the wages from his job as a bribe to save his motorcycle. And his family went to bed without supper because the police took all his money..

As usual, it is the poor Iraqis who pay the cost for the on-the-spur-of-the-minute decisions made by the Iraqi government. Innocent Iraqis are the quiet victims of corrupt officials.

8:26
Three Iraqi Officers Will Help Shape Their Nation's Fate
» ‎ Baghdad (iraq)

Meet three Iraqis who will help determine whether this week's handoff of authority and sovereignty to Iraq from the U.S. will succeed.

Two army officers and one National Police general, they are among the hundreds of uniformed men the U.S. must rely on to make Iraqi cities safe. How they do their jobs will signal, in small but telling ways, if six years of American occupation has helped Iraq more than it has harmed it.

They all work in northwest Baghdad. With a major Shia shrine in the sector, it's a draw for pilgrims. Nearly 3 million people live within Its 322 square miles The Iraqi Army, combined with Iraqi National Police units for checkpoint and other security, totals around 106,000.  They outnumber Americans 3:1. Insurgent attacks have dropped to around 1.7 a day from 2.5 a year ago, but residents still fear for their safety. The Ministry of Interior is building a wall around much of the area that includes the shrine to further increase security. These three officers have a lot to do.

                                                                **********

Iraq Army Staff Brig. Gen.Ismail Hamid Hamas Tha'ir has headed the 22nd Brigade of the 6th Iraqi Army Division for less than a month. A 20-year soldier, he commanded artillery units for seven years and more recently ran a base support battalion near Baghdad International Airport.

A few nights before the June 30 withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from major Iraqi cities, the general talked animatedly for an hour. As an aide served heavily sugared lemon-flavored tea, U.S. Lieut. Col. Steve Toohey listened, nodded and answered the general's questions.

The general, waving a two-page Arabic-language document, and sometimes holding a phone to each ear, was confused about whether U.S. combat forces would still be patrolling--on their own--without the Iraqis asking for help.

Toohey repeated the American mantra that they are in Iraq now to 'assist and support," always letting the Iraqis take the lead. If they ask for help, they'll get what the Americans call "enablers"--from sniffer dogs to high-tech weaponry.

Brig Gen. Tha'ir said it was crucial that Americans hold up their end of the bargain. "What do I tell a child if he asks me, 'Why are the Americans still patrolling?' Or a woman? He compared June 30 to 2007 when the Iraq soccer team won the Asia Cup championship. "People celebrated for a week," he recalled. "Maybe this time for a month!"

The general waxed philosophically when he observed that had Saddam Hussein aligned himself with one of two countries, Iraq's fate would have been much different, and better. Those two countries: "America or Japan."

His area of operations includes the famous Kadhim Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Islam. Later this month, two million or more pilgrims--including hundreds of thousands of Shia from Iran--will make their annual visit to the shrine. His soldiers and the National Police officers under him will be responsible for their safety. Earlier this year, suicide bombers, including two women, slaughtered hundreds near the shrine.

The general's voice boomed around the ornate room from behind a highly polished wooden desk. Two sabers hung over one wall, and waist-high vases of artificial flowers sat next to large comfortable chairs. But his voice softened to a whisper when he leaned forward and said: "The Iraqi people have suffered too much. They need to be happy."

Someone had given him a bouquet of fresh yellow roses, real ones. Before his promotion and a move, he grew flowers and other plants in the garden of his home. But it's too dry where he lives now, and as for most Baghdadis, the electric power goes out too often to run a water pump.

When peace comes to his country, he said, he will again grow flowers.

                                                               *********

Capt. Haithum Haidr, operations officer of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Brigade of the Iraqi Army's 6th Division, already has three strikes against him for promotion: 1)he's a Kurd; 2)his wife is a Sunni Arab; 3)he was one of the first former Iraqi Army officers from the Saddam regime to sign up with the Americans in 2003.

In an army that favors Shia, the fact that he is one may not be enough to avoid the political landmines and please the right people that any officer in any army must do to win bars and stars. All he's got going for him is performance. Maj. Scott Nauman, operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, thinks Haithum's battalion is the best of seven Iraqi Army units he works with.

It was in charge of Haifa Street in northwest Baghdad, a breeding ground of insurgency, and cleaned it up. Then it was moved to the Hurriyah district, the heart of sectarian violence in the area, and calmed it down. "If every battalion in the Iraqi Army was like this one, we could have withdrawn a couple years ago," Nauman says.

Haithum graduated from university with a degree in Farsi, one of the six languages he speaks, including guttural but clear English. He entered the army in 1983 as an enlisted man and got out eight years later as a warrant officer. Partly because of his language fluency, he worked in intelligence. He signed on with the Americans after the 2003 invasion.

"I have learned that politics must also come with a rifle," he said over a lunch of rice and lamb in the battalion's new mess hall. He showed a cell phone photo of his three children: one daughter is 14, a son 12 and "the devil," another daughter, is 10. He's still not sure he promised her the golden bracelet she now wears.

The captain advised Nauman, who was to brief all the battalions' operations officers about the withdrawal, to "simplify it when you're explaining the JOC (joint operations center) because a lot of the officers can't comprehend it." But once they understand it, "they will do it."

He grabbed an AK-47 rifle off a shelf. You know why we call this an Osama bin Laden, he asked a visitor. Because in the first pictures of the al Qaeda leader taken after 9/11, the shorter version of the famous weapon rested against a wall in the background.

He told Nauman about a bad guy he's got his sights on--not an insurgent, but a pimp, thief, blackmailer. Once he gets his man, he assured the major, he'll make sure all of his rights are protected. Then with a thin smile, he added, "Of course, we'll follow procedures--he will have to be handcuffed and blindfoldeded." And if, for his own protection, the suspect has to be transported in the trunk of a car, the captain will make sure it finds the bumpiest roads to the jail.

He let out a sigh. "I think after my daughter finishes university and marries"--in around 10 years--"then my country will be normal again."

                                                             *************

    Gen. Dhafir of the Iraqi National Police keeps two small "love birds" in a cage underneath the aquarium in his office in northwest Baghdad Neither the fish nor fowl disguise the man's aggressiveness.

    Operating under the administrative umbrella of the Iraqi Army's 22nd Brigade, 6th Division, he and his men--and a growing number of women who complete the four-month police academy--are responsible for security in a critical part of Baghdad. They man (and woman) the checkpoints, and the female officers are used to search women passing through. (Two female suicide bombers killed at least 66 people and wounded 125 others in April near a mosque in the area.)

    Those checkpoints, despised by ordinary Iraqis for the slowdown in traffic, try to keep out the bombers and other insurgents who have targeted the northwest sector. It includes Karkh, Beladiya, Ghazaliyah and Khadhimiyah--areas of holy shrines, the Tigris River, shops and markets and cafes aching to make a profit and tens of thousands of homes.

    A day before the historic transfer of control over military operations from the Americans to Iraqis, the general spoke of his gratitude to the Americans. "It is a turning point for Iraq and Iraqi history," he said. "For us it is like a serial that started in March 2003, and we will have a happy ending in the last episode. I want to state to the American people that June 30 is a victory for both Americans and Iraqis. The sacrifices that America gave to this country are a part of the American people as a whole. You gave Iraqis freedom and control of our counry. You should be especially proud of the men and women who came here to help us and gave their lives to liberate Iraq and make it a democratic country."

    He turned to his American liaison, Lieut. Col. Drake Jackson. "I am ready," he said. "This is our first important mission. We are going to be in combat providing security. That's why we are very ready. You (gesturing to the officer with a silver retractable pointer) have helped us greatly with our training. The new training will help us change over operations, and that's what benefits us the most."

                                                            **********

Three military men. Now they and their comrades are once again in charge of their own country, of its destiny.

    The world--and their countrymen--will soon find out if they are ready.

                                                         --By Mike Tharp

1:14
Iraqi Oil: the stakes are high
» ‎ Iraqi Mojo (iraq)

'The Iraqi government offered a profit margin of $1.90 per barrel at the West Qurna field. Total ended up bidding without Chevron and asked for a profit margin of $7.50 per barrel. Spanish oil company Repsol also submitted a bid and wanted $19.30 per barrel. No one got the job.

"Maybe there's a little bit of a learning curve on both sides about what's realistic," said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. "Instead of looking at it as a failed tender, people should look at it as the beginning of a negotiation."

The stakes on both sides are high.

Iraq has the world's third-largest reserves of oil - 115 billion barrels. Petroleum exports supply 86 percent of the government's revenue, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But Iraq's state-run oil industry has suffered from years of war, international sanctions and insurgent sabotage.

Before the American-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, the country pumped about 2.8 million barrels per day. Now it's 2.4 million. The Iraqi government wants to expand production, hitting 6 million barrels a day within 10 years. But it will probably need foreign investment and expertise to reach that goal.

For international oil companies, Iraq could be a bonanza. But the country remains unstable, with a fractious government and a simmering insurgency. And the politics surrounding its oil reserves are a minefield.'
June 30, 2009
22:16
US Special Forces have built a powerful force in Iraq
» ‎ Iraqi Mojo (iraq)

What's wrong with killing bad guys?

'The Iraq Special Operations Forces (ISOF) is probably the largest special forces outfit ever built by the United States, and it is free of many of the controls that most governments employ to rein in such lethal forces. The project started in the deserts of Jordan just after the Americans took Baghdad in April 2003. There, the US Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets, trained mostly 18-year-old Iraqis with no prior military experience. The resulting brigade was a Green Beret's dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process.

According to Congressional records, the ISOF has grown into nine battalions, which extend to four regional "commando bases" across Iraq. By December, each will be complete with its own "intelligence infusion cell," which will operate independently of Iraq's other intelligence networks. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army's own Special Forces in Iraq. Congressional records indicate that there are plans to double the ISOF over the next "several years."

According to retired Lt. Col. Roger Carstens, US Special Forces are "building the most powerful force in the region." In 2008 Carstens, then a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, was an adviser to the Iraqi National Counter-Terror Force, where he helped set up the Iraqi counterterrorism laws that govern the ISOF.

"All these guys want to do is go out and kill bad guys all day," he says, laughing. "These guys are shit hot. They are just as good as we are. We trained 'em. They are just like us. They use the same weapons. They walk like Americans."

..."The standards get looser when the Americans aren't with [the local special forces], and they can eventually become death squads, which I believe actually happened in Colombia," says Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo, a book about the hunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar by CIA and US Special Forces. The tactics taught in each country are the same, Bowden says. "They teach the same kind of skills. They use the same equipment." '

20:42
The Sovereignty Day in Iraq ....
» ‎ A Family in Baghdad (iraq)

Today all the occupation troops pulled out from Iraqi cities , to stay in military bases only.Hope it will be the beginning of a real Iraqi sovereignty ,and the right way towards national reconciliation , then the country can have peace and start the reconstruction process soon.Our political Iraqi leaders should act as national leaders , no sectarian no ethnic discourse we want to hear any

19:45
Speaking in New Delhi, India on IRAQ's Order 81 P1 & P2
» ‎ Wafaa' Al-Natheema (iraq)

18:20
Iraqis celebrate US withdrawal from cities
» ‎ Iraqi Mojo (iraq)

It was a day of parades and celebrations in Baghdad, as US forces withdrew from Iraqi cities, but they will remain nearby to support Iraq's security forces.

“The Iraqi people are rightly treating this day as cause for celebration," President Obama said.

Maliki is hailing the US withdrawal as a victory and declared today a national holiday, but I think Maliki and Obama realize that the US will stay in Iraq for years to come.

As Americans withdrew from the cities and Iraqis celebrated, a bombing in Kirkuk has killed dozens of Iraqis. Yesterday 4 US soldiers and 11 Iraqis were killed. Around 350* Iraqis have been killed this month and many more wounded in bombings.

I heard a reporter on BBC World Service today remark on how resilient the Iraqi people have been in the face of these bombings, and wondered how many bombings the Iraqis will withstand before militias launch revenge attacks. The Iraqi Shia withstood two years of bombings before militias began rounding up ordinary Sunni Arab men and killing them. I hope the Iraqis do not allow their enemies to ignite another sectarian war.

Also today Nibras Kazimi reports from Baghdad on his interview with Aljazeera Satellite Channel, who managed to get a representative of the 'Islamic Army in Iraq' on the line. "Anyway, I thought it was funny that I was openly speaking from Baghdad, from Abu Nawwas Street, while the mouth organs for the 'resistance' were in exile or in hiding," Nibras writes.

*Update: 437 Iraqis were killed in June, the highest monthly civilian death toll since July, 2008.

11:50
Appearance on Aljazeera
» ‎ Talisman Gate بـاب الطلــسم (iraq)

iI appeared live on Aljazeera Satellite Channel this morning to comment on the U.S. troop withdrawal from the remaining Iraqi cities along with 'Ibrahim al-Shimmeri', the spokesman for the 'Islamic Army in Iraq' insurgent group, and Liqa' Makki, an Iraqi analyst based in Qatar, who seems sympathetic to the insurgents.

The fourth guest was supposed to be 'Abu Muhammad', the spokesman for the Ba'ath Party, but he pulled out for some reason.

Al-Shimmeri was introduced as speaking from Baghdad, although I doubt it. Together with Makki, the two other guests tried to chalk up the withdrawal to the victory of the 'resistance'. They are even under the impression that the 'resistance' brought President Obama to power.

Whereas I said that the troop withdrawal today is the result of a U.S. and Iraqi victory against the 'mutinous' insurgents (...yeah, it sounds worse in Arabic). I added that groups like the Islamic Army, contrary to groups like Al-Qaeda, didn't have an agenda other than bringing back a system that gives Sunnis unrepresentational power. The violence they unleashed was designed to twist the arm of the Americans so as to negotiate. The end result is that the demands were too unrealistic and the insurgency was militarily depleted, diminished and defeated. The story of the Iraqi insurgency and its end is one of defeat by attrition, more than any other factor such as political reconciliation.

Anyway, I thought it was funny that I was openly speaking from Baghdad, from Abu Nawwas Street, while the mouth organs for the 'resistance' were in exile or in hiding. Oh, and I got a free PhD to boot, 'Dr. Nibras' this and 'Dr. Nibras' that. Grad school is for suckers.

UPDATE: My mom made this point about the four U.S. soldiers who were killed last night: it's extra saddening because they were so close to finishing up their duties in Iraq, and their families were expecting back home soon. I'm not sure whether this is the same event, but there was a 15 minute fire fight yesterday in the Binook area (northeastern Baghdad) after someone opened fire on a congregation of American soldiers. They were there to check out a site where only the day before a car bomb had gone off targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol. I know this place very well. On one side of the street are long established middle class residents, while on the other is an illegal slum built up within half-finished apartment blocks that were supposed to be distributed to academics. The slum is rife with organized crime rings (drugs, kidnappings, prostitution) associated with the Mahdi Army. The Americans had conducted several security sweeps of the area in the past few years, but the only solution is to mass evict the squatters.

UPDATE (Wednesday, July 1, 2009): I received some more information about the incident at Binook and it seems that it was not the spot where the four U.S. soldiers were killed. The incident occurred after an elderly civil servant living in a row of houses opposite the slum spotted some movement on a nearby rooftop which he took for a burglary, so he started shooting in the air to ward off what he believed were thieves. It turned out they were U.S. soldiers who began to shoot back, and this lasted for a while. The man was arrested.

June 29, 2009
20:20
So You Think You Know ...
» ‎ Uncensored Arabwomanblues (iraq)

So you think you know what Love is huh ?

Well think again...because you know nothing.

15:00
Something Fishy is going on :D
» ‎ attawie (iraq)

I loved this piece of news when I read and and I missed looking at the design so I cam to see it on my blog but I discovered this post was never published! so here it is in case you missed it :)

I really admire the artist who designed this beautiful Jellyfish

14:46
Saudi Arabia and the US withdrawal from Iraq
» ‎ Roads to Iraq (iraq)

Head of the Badr Brigade “Hadi Al-Amri” said that Saudi Arabia is the obstacle behind the US forces withdrawal from Iraq by financing the terror in Iraq.
14:41
US troops will not sleep in Iraqi cities anymore.. That is the withdrawal
» ‎ Roads to Iraq (iraq)

Al-Akhbar called the American military withdrawal: “in name only”, which means they will not sleep in the Iraqi cities anymore, but the forces will continue to operate in and out the cities. Nikola Nasir on Al-Arab Al-Youm says: What we see right now is redeployment of the American forces in Iraq, which means the American forces will stop [...]
13:21
Crack inside the Saudi Royal family
» ‎ Roads to Iraq (iraq)

In this interview by Saudi website Lujainiat with Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Talal, he said that his brother Al-Walid Bin Talal is mentally sick and should be punished. This first public crack inside the Saudi royal family is even reached the Western media.

11:11
Special Thanks Go To:
» ‎ Violet for peace (iraq)

Baghdad dentist~~~~Khalid
Micho~~~~ToutaMonalisa~~~~زهرة االراويattawie~~~~moonlightNajma -and sorry if i forgot someone-
For supporting me the hard last period....... God bless you all !

9:57
Lies & Illusions: UPDATE on The Iraqi Charade.
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

This is an update on my previous post " An Iraqi Charade". I may be in a bulimic writing mood, so be it.

This is a detailed update on the Iraqi charade or you may also call it - HOW THE PROPAGANDA DISCOURSE IS CONSTRUCTED.

In that other post I argued the following :

- the puppet government will market 30th of June - day of "withdrawal" of American troops as a victory day for national sovereignty. When there is NO Sovereignty in Iraq.

- I also said the Al-Qaeda/insurgents argument will pop up over and over again

- And I asked the reader to pay notice to the usage of words in this propaganda set up

I now want to illustrate my points in bold red ink and/or in capital letters by cutting and pasting extracts from an article that just appeared and that will confirm the points I tried making.

Title : Baghdad to party as US forces pull out.

Look at the title. Baghdad to PARTY as US forces PULL OUT.

Any lay person reading this will believe - wow fantastic, the Iraqis have regained their country - and they are going to celebrate too.

Iraqis are preparing for a massive party in Baghdad to celebrate the imminent withdrawal of US troops from cities, towns and villages, as the conflict-torn nation takes sole charge of its security.

Now look at that first opening sentence. MASSIVE PARTY to CELEBRATE THE IMMINENT WITHDRAWAL OF US TROOPS FROM CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES AS THE CONFLICT TORN NATION TAKES SOLE CHARGE OF ITS SECURITY.

No mention whatsoever of the troops pulling back to their over 15 American military bases spread over the whole of IRAQ. No mention that US troops will be redeployed around the cities, and that some cities will not see any US pull back of troops. They try giving the impression that there is total withdrawal from every city, village and town..

Now look at the other sentence - takes SOLE charge of its security. With over 150'000 armed americans roaming around, being on call. Yeah right !

Festivities to mark "a day of national sovereignty" will start at 6pm (1500 GMT) in Zawra Park, the biggest in the capital, with singers and poets kicking off proceedings before music groups take to the stage.

MARK A DAY OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY. How can one have national sovereignty when there are over 150'000 american soldiers around and when the Iraqi army cannot even defend its own territory against any external aggression ?
And look at that psychological bit - the word FESTIVITIES/Celebration with poets, singers all gathered in a park. Again the making of an illusion of Joy and Happiness in Iraq, carefully constructed by the Americans and the puppet government to make believe that the Occupation has ended on the 30th of June.
"Baghdad to party" - when not more than 2 days ago, over 350 Iraqis died in a series of blasts blamed on the sectarian parties themselves and on their ministries and their security forces and on Iran exporting its internal conflict to Baghdad.
What an insult to the Iraqis and how cheap their blood has become !
The US pullout, under a bilateral security accord signed last year, will be completed on Tuesday, which has been declared a national holiday.

THE BILATERAL SECURITY ACCORD IS SUPPOSED TO BE VOTED ON IN A NATIONAL REFERENDUM, THIS WAS NOT DONE.

In the wake of several massive bombings that have killed more than 200 people this month, however, security forces are out in force in the capital and motorcycles, favoured by some bombers, have been banned from the streets.

BANNING MOTORCYCLES IS DEFINITELY A SIGN OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

In a measure of the seriousness of the threat, all police and army leave has been cancelled.

THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE THREAT. So who doesn't want a national sovereignty day in Iraq ?

"Our expectation is that maybe some criminals will try to continue their attacks," said Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, the interior ministry's operations director and spokesman.

SOME CRIMINALS ? WHO ARE THESE CRIMINALS ?

"That is why orders came from the highest level of the prime minister that our forces should be 100 percent on the ground until further notice."

100% on the ground until further notice ? Why don't they declare MARTIAL LAW. THAT SHOULD DO THE TRICK TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY DAY

Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militias were likely to step up attacks in the run-up to the June 30 deadline in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces...

insurgents groups and militias - OK. NOW WE KNOW WHO THE REAL CRIMINALS ARE. INSURGENT GROUPS. THAT FAMOUS WORD - INSURGENT GROUPS. Let's see what transpires later in the text...

...Maliki and senior government officials have since insisted that Iraq's 750,000 soldiers and police can defend the nation against attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents and forces loyal to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

OK, now it is clear who the criminals are - AL QAEDA AND SADDAMISTS. (They just happen to be Arab Sunnis , AS PER the U.S admin and Iran's definitions - but that's only a coincidence right ?)

"We assure you of Iraqi forces' readiness for the mission, despite some security violations, and we assure you that we are now more stable and steady," Maliki said after last week's attack in Sadr City...

NO MENTION OF THE MILITIAS REFERRED TO EARLIER ON, BECAUSE SADR CITY IS FULLY MADE OF MILITIAS. But militias are Shiites, hence even though they are mentioned, it stops there. No elaboration on the "criminal" militias. Only the AQ and Saddamists - i.e Arab Sunnis are singled out as the criminals.

This is ONE way of how Sectarianism previously sold " as the oppression of the Shiites under Sunni rule " works -- a lie still bought by the anti -war craps , and by their spokesmen, this what the likes of Cockburn, the Arab leftist shits, the Chomskys disciples ingest daily and this is what they still try to feed you daily...
This is only ONE aspect of how the lie of "liberation" operates...

The recent attacks were part of "a plan that aims to awaken sectarianism, create chaos, abort the political process and prevent Iraqi people from standing on their own feet," he said.

SO IT IS AL-QAEDA AND SADDAMISTS THAT WANT TO AWAKEN SECTARIANISM. NOT IRAN, NOT SHIITE PARTIES MILITIAS, NOT GOVERNMENT MILITIAS/POLICE AND ARMY, NOT THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR OR DEFENSE THAT IS RULED BY IRAN.

Only a small number of US forces in training and advisory roles will remain in urban areas, with the bulk of American troops in Iraq...quartered elsewhere.

"Will remain in urban areas and the bulk of troops in Iraq quartered elsewhere..."

Which urban areas ? quartered elsewhere ? where exactly`? they are still in Iraq.

Again this is trying to induce the belief that american troops will no longer be physically present in Iraq but only in a very limited number. This is a perfect case of how the term WITHDRAWAL has been used for propaganda purposes - to sell the idea of national sovereignty.

The June 30 withdrawal from cities, towns and villages is the prelude to a complete American pullout by the end of 2011.

Pay attention to the above paragraph because it tries to conferr the belief that the Americans are actually leaving Iraq by the end of 2011, and that they have accomplished the set goals. Which they have partly. The removal of Saddam Hussein's regime and the handing it over to parties loyal to Iran. But what will happen to the tens of American bases and the hugest American embassy in the middle east made of more than 5'000 staff ? I suppose these will not withdraw. So "Liberation" meant 3 things then - 1) regime change so 2) a huge American foot is set in Iraq and 3) its partition and handing it over in parts to Iran.

Although the Iraqi police and army remain fledgling forces, they have in recent months steadily taken control of military bases, checkpoints and patrols that used to be manned by Americans.

Oh I see. So, where will the american troops retreat to ? will they vanish into thin air ? Oh no, they will be" quartered elsewhere"...where elsewhere ? in their military bases in Iraq. So how many military bases are they in reality ? Quite a lot if they can be shared with the 750'000 Iraqi police and army. And how many checkpoints and patrols ? Hundreds presumably...

This is how the "security" illusion has been marketed to the public. It takes thousands of checkpoints, military bases and patrols to guarantee security in Iraq. What does that tell you ? It tells me that someone, somewhere has been resisting hard and long... re-read that last sentence, will you ?

Iraq has also set up a joint operations centre -- the Joint Military Operations Coordination Committee, based at Baghdad airport -- which must give its approval before a US unit can intervene.

This paragraph is referring to the Iraqi dirty brigade I mentioned in one my previous posts. The Americans like to call it "elite guards".
This "dirty brigade" as Iraqis like to call it is under direct control of the Americans and operates from Baghdad airport which used to be the HQ for what was called the "dirty gang" - The dirty gang was made of -- American intelligence, Israeli intelligence, high security contractors, mercenaries, Iraqi-Iranian agents... ask Chalabi, he will tell you who the dirty gang is.

Now it is replaced by the dirty brigade which is under direct American control and which is apart from the police and the Iraqi army. It is a cell of "elite guards". Notice how they used the SAME term of the previous regime's special forces - used to be called " elite republican guards".

It this spin, it is referred to not as the dirty brigade or elite guards but as JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS COORDINATION COMMITTEE.

The Status of Forces Agreement, which set the June 30 deadline for a US pullback, says US commanders must gain permission from Iraqi authorities to conduct operations, but American troops retain a unilateral right to "legitimate self-defence".

Oh I love this last bit. The SOFA security agreement has to be voted upon through a national referendum before it takes effect. This has not been done. In other words the SOFA agreement has been IMPOSED upon the Iraqi people by the sectarian Iranian government and by the Americans. .
And now look at this twist -" U.S commanders must gain permission from Iraqi authorities to conduct operations."

MUST GAIN PERMISSION - Again marketing the sovereingty ILLUSION

Now look at the second sentence that immediately follows - TO CONDUCT OPERATIONS.

WHAT OPERATIONS ? WHY DO AMERICANS NEED TO CONDUCT OPERATIONS SINCE IRAQ IS MARKING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY DAY ?

And this last sentence tells you ALL - BUT "AMERICAN TROOPS RETAIN A UNILATERAL RIGHT TO "LEGITIMATE SELF-DEFENCE".

"Legitimate self-defence" against whom ? --- against Al-Qaeda and Saddamists is the official version. The truth is they retain the right to "...self-defence" against attacks from the Legitimate Iraqi Resistance. This is the only legitimate thing in Iraq today. The Iraqi Resistance.

"LEGITIMATE SELF-DEFENCE" IN A COUNTRY THAT IS NOT THEIRS, IN A COUNTRY THAT THEY HAVE ILLEGITIMATELY OCCUPIED.

So what happened to their "WITHDRAWAL" ? There is no withdrawal. They are not going anywhere.

Also look for the psychological feed/twist/ message. It is most important.

The Americans will ask for permission from the Iraqi government to conduct operations in legitimate self defense.

My, they are such a humble nice bunch. You are left with the impression that they really have come to liberate Iraq. In their minds, they did. They "liberated" Iraq from "Saddam Hussein and his regime". Something that the DIRTY, DIRTY LEFT - Western and ARAB, tacitly agreed with.

They are really such a kind, generous people. They liberated Iraq (no mention of millions dead and exiled) and now they have handed the country to the "Iraqi government". Over 150'000 of them nice guys will still hang around for a couple of years as advisors, to train and reconstruct...because they really care for the Iraqis so much.

And being such nice guys - they also need to protect themselves in "legitimate self defence" in Iraq. A country they have occupied by bombing it with the size of 5 Hiroshimas and murdering millions and unleashing the most sectarian racist chauvinistic elements be it Kurdish or of Iranian origins or Iraqis with utmost loyalty to Iran.

BUT THE RESISTANCE, OR ANY RESISTING ELEMENT ARE CRIMINALS, INSURGENTS, AL-QAEDA AND SADDAMISTS. THEY ARE NOT PRACTICING LEGITIMATE SELF-DEFENSE OF THEIR OCCUPIED COUNTRY.

This really is a VERY,VERY, DIRTY Occupation, one of the DIRTIEST IN HISTORY.Vietnam and others are NOTHING in comparison. And it has not stopped stinking to high heavens, since...

GOD DAMN YOU ALL.

9:28
A Night Patrol in Baghdad
» ‎ Baghdad (iraq)

    Lt. Col. Drake Jackson briefed the 10-man, two-interpeter patrol before it left the relative safety of Foward Operating Base Justice in northwest Baghdad. A sandstorm had let up, and the evening sky was clearing. Some sitting on a concrete bench and some standing, the soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 1-18 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division checked their M4 rifles and M9 pistols. Their body armor and Kevlar helmets were on tight.

    "I want to look at the (Tigris) river," the lean 6-foot- 3 Rhode Islander said. "I want to look at Market Street--they're talking about reapportioning forces (at the checkpoints) there." If there was "escalation of force" during the patrol--an attack--he told the soldiers to hunker down. "Charlie Company is our QRF (quick reaction force), but it's easier just to stay down and throw lead."

    Their primary weapon, though, would be the flashlights attached to their rifles. "In all likelihood, there will be people in our formation. The new RoE (rules of engagement) are that we try to keep the vehicles out. Bloods and Crips--a tough guy team--could be there."

    Ham, one of the interpreters, reminded that a soccer game would be played in a nearby stadium. Iraqis sometimes fire their weapons into the air in celebration. "We always pull for ties," the officer said.

    Green and red lasers on their rifle sights would help them line up any target. Two Iraqi National Police officers joined the patrol. "It's good to show we play by the rules," Jackson explained, referring to the June 30 deadline that would mandate combined Coalition Forces and Iraqi operations, unless the brigade was in a "force protection" mode when the op could be only Americans. "They can tell people to do things that we don't get the same response," he said of the Iraqis. "I like having them along."

    A deuce-and-a-half, a two-and-a-half-ton truck, carried the patrol to the base gates. They dismounted the truck and, spaced three to five meters apart, ventured into Khadimiya district, site of a shrine that's one of the holiest in Islam.

      A dog howled as the patrol moved out, and the smell of charcoal, gasoline and dust hung in the darkening air. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians--some women in black abaya, some in skirts and scarves (the GI's call that "going topless") mingled with men and children on the sidewalks, in the street, outside cafes and shops.

    The patrol walked slowly, Staff Sgt. Mark Lancaster at point and Iraqi National Police Pvt. Mushary Bashem right behind. Once the American shined his green laser on a BMW coming toward the patrol too fast. "Slow down," he and Bashem both shouted in Arabic; it did.

    Several soldiers said "Salaam aleikum (Peace be unto you)," and put their palm on their chest as they passed Iraqi civilians. Most returned the greeting. Only one man yelled out, "Too bad you guys are leaving!" referring to the June 30 deadline.

    At the Tigris River, the patrol took up defensive positions along a wall paralelling the water. Jackson checked out a pump house, which turned out to be empty. As he and others looked in the structure, Lancaster told Bashem, "Face this way and stay facing this way." Bashem asked if he could smoke. The sergeant told him no.

    On the way back, a different route, Bashem moved more aggressively than on the way in to stop traffic so the patrol could cross streets. A lemon-slice moon hung in the hazy sky. After about 90 minutes, and five miles in 92-degree heat, the patrol returned, without incident, to the gates of Justice. "Shukran for coming with us," Jackson told the Iraqis.

    After the truck deposited the sweating soldiers back near the base headquarters, he assessed the patrol's mission. His take on the river was that because of blast walls and checkpoints, it now posed the only avenue for someone with a bomb to get close to the shrine. He endorsed the Iraqi police plan to beef up the checkpoints" "One guy on duty, that always gets me alert. Three guys can come up to him, 'Here's $50--look the other way.'"

    The officer said what the patrol learned could be used as a training tool for the Iraqi police. Although he conceded that he and some other members of the patrol had been "skylined" as they looked for possible sniper locations across the Tigris, he didn't see how they could have learned as much as they did had they stayed on the other side of the road.

    "For me, mission accomplished."

    The men gathered their gear and headed off for more water, air conditioning. and a shower.

                                                      --Mike Tharp

8:42
A Tale of Two Trains
» ‎ Wafaa' Al-Natheema (iraq)

The Two Americas
by Mazin Qumsiyeh

In my first week back in North America, I was reminded that there are two Americas: a decent caring one and one of delusion. This is as if there are two trains heading to different destinations. The hypocrisy train has big PR budgets, has a huge lobby that managed to get most of the politicians in its pocket and speaks of constant threats to poor Israel (and "democracy"). Its agents in the media like Wolf Blitzer (who used to be a Zionist lobbyist before he became a CNN anchor) push openly for confrontation with Iran after they pushed for confrontation with Iraq. They now interview protesters in Iran who are opposed to the government but will not present the other side. The same cabal refuses to even interview one Palestinian protester fighting a far more repressive apartheid government of Israel. That is the train that has many starry-eyed passengers, a train in which double standards and contorted logic are used to justify ethnic cleansing and distracts attention from other realities with lies and new conflicts. This is the train whose willing and unwilling soldier passengers marshal on the path of destruction thinking they have no choice.

Subservient/obedient academics on panels in Toronto in the last three days at the conference on mapping models for the future in Israel/Palestine provided excellent examples. Many stated things like this (some with blinking eyes, others apparently sincerely believing this stuff): that refugees have no right to return to their homes and lands, that religion makes a nationality, that Jews are unique and special, that the victims need to assure those who robbed them of their lands that they are safe and guilt free, that if you advocate for equality and justice then you are an anti-Semite (or anti-peace at best), that if you are for a one-state solution then you are advocating endless conflicts, that if you speak for boycotts and won't collaborate with apartheid elites then you are hateful, and much more. What is bizarre is that some of those folks are considered the moderates (there were protesters passing out flyers with even worse attitudes). These people recline onto their train chairs ignoring mountains of evidence and experiences of failure in the past. They lack self-introspection and are unable or unwilling to question where their train is heading even as the warning signs of the approaching cliff are everywhere.

The other train is finally beginning to get its engine revved up and voices of conductors are beginning to speak truth to the powers to be. They invite deluded passengers from the other train to find out what is going on and some do switch trains but others hurl insults. In the conference at York, voices were heard from both trains. Abstracts for the talks are posted at [www.yorku.ca] On the subject of Palestine, it cannot be any clearer despite the valiant attempts by defenders of Zionism to hide it: you are either with morality and justice or you are with apartheid, ethnic cleansing and oppression. In the conference at York, the best speech I heard was by George Bisharat which I hope I can share with you soon (and which should be translated into Arabic). In the meantime, perhaps a taste of the thinking is George's article "Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" [www.bepress.com]

The question that kept coming to my mind is why can't we live together. Why do some believe in "solutions" based on segregation and ghettos in the guises of endless peace process industry which may lead to "two states".

Mazin Qumsiyeh is professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities and author of the book "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle"

4:15
امس .. حين خرجنا من عباءة الملا
» ‎ دربونه (iraq)

Un esprit sage ne condamnera jamais quelqu’un pour avoir usé d’un moyen hors des règles ordinaires pour régler une monarchie ou fonder une république . Machiavel

كثرت في الآونة الأخيرة المقارنة بين نوري السعيد وبين نوري المالكي .. اعتقد ان كل حكم على نوري السعيد لا يستحضر الاطار التاريخي الذي عمل بداخله هو نوع من حكم قيمي قد نتفق معه او لا .. ولكنه لا يعطي التاريخ حقه .. ومقارنة المالكي بنوري السعيد هي ليست فقط اهانه للسعيد ولكنها ايضا ،وهنا الاهم، اهانة لتاريخ العراق المعاصر لانه يغييب سؤال بداياتنا

عندما احكم على نوري السعيد او على اي شخصية سياسية عراقية فالمعيار الواقعي البرغماتي لا المثالي القيمي هو الاتي : هل عمل هذا الشخص لمصلحة العراق ام لا .. هذا هو المعيار الاكثر دقة .. لاننا لو استخدمنا مراجعنا الايديولوجية فسوف يخون نصفنا نصفنا الاخر .. كما كان الحال في اغلب تاريخ العراق المعاصر .. فبعضنا اليساري يعتقد ان نوري السعيد عميل .. وبعضنا الليبرالي يعتبره افضل من حكم العراق .. وفقط سذاجة الحزب الشيوعي العراقي تجعله يعتقد انه لم يكن اداة في يد الاتحاد السوفيتي لمد النفوذ في منطقتنا داخل اطار اللعبة الكبرى .. وهو بهذا المعنى عميل للاتحاد السوفيتي كما كان السعيد عميل لبريطانيا

هناك قول فرنسي معروف في الادبيات البحثية .. تصعب ترجمته من دون خيانة جماليته التعبيرية :
Comparaison n’est pas raison
يمكن ترجمته هكذا: المقارنة ليست برهانا .. اي ان المقارنة ليست دائما دليلا على الصواب او الحقيقة .. وفحوى القول هو ان المقارنة كمنهج او وسيلة توضيح فكرية لاتكفي لفهم المعقد .. المقارنة هي واحدة من وسائل فهم عديدة ..وهي ليست ولن تكون الوسيلة الوحيدة لفهم شيء او حدث ما .. وخصوصا اذا لم تقم المقارنة باستحضار المعقد بكافة ابعاده وتكتفي بوجهة نظر قيميّة

ساضع هنا ثلاثة اسباب تستحضر بعضا من المعقد في التاريخ العراقي .. وهي كافية لاظهار هشاشة وسطحية مقارنة المالكي بنوري السعيد .. اولا ،نعم نوري السعيد تعاون مع بريطانيا .. ولكنه تعاون مع بريطانيا ضد الدولة العثمانية .. اي انه تعاون مع احتلال اجنبي ضد احتلال اجنبي .. اما نوري المالكي فقد تعاون مع احتلال اجنبي ضد حكم وطني عراقي ..مهما اختلفنا في تقييم نظام صدام حسين
ثانيا، ان تعاون نوري السعيد مع بريطانيا قد اعطانا دولة العراق الحديثة .. تعاون نوري السعيد مع بريطانيا انتج دولة لم تكن قائمة وساعد على لم شمل "مجتمع" كان يسوده الاختلاف الطائفي والمناطقي الخ .. اما المالكي في تعاونه مع امريكا فقد دمر دولة العراق واعاد الاختلاف بل الاحتراب الطائفي والمناطقي من جديد كواقع

ثالثا، ان نوري السعيد السني المذهب تعاون مع بريطانيا ضد الدولة العثمانية .. وذلك من اجل قضية العراق والعرب .. اي ان ولاء السعيد للعروبة اكبر من ولاءه لمذهبه السني .. اما المالكي فقد تعاون مع امريكا رافعا شعارات المظلومية المذهبية .. اي ان ولاء المالكي لمذهبه قبل كل شيء .. بمعنى اخر .. نوري السعيد اخرج "تركيا" من العراق .. والمالكي ادخل ايران للعراق

ان مقارنة المالكي بنوري السعيد فيها تغييب ان لم يكن جهل بسؤال بداياتنا .. والعراقيون في العادة لا يحبون التطرق لسؤال البدايات .. سؤال من اين اتينا .. فهذا السؤال يخدش الكبرياء الاسطوري الثمل بسبعة الاف سنة حضارة .. ونحن قد خربنا العراق لاننا لم نفهم هشاشة تراكمنا الحديث العهد .. الرمال على ابواب المدن ونحن ما زلنا نجتر اساطير الجنائن المعلقة .. كيف لمن يعتقد بخضرة ارضه الابدية ان يعمل .. كيف لمن يعتقد بسبعة الاف سنة حضارة ان يطرح سؤال من اين اتى

قليل من التواضع لا يضر .. العراق قبل نوري السعيد والملك فيصل كان ثلاثة ولايات لايعرف بعضها بعضا .. و رغبة البصرة في الانفصال في بداية التأسيس لم تكن استثناء .. والعراق قبل نوري السعيد كان ولاة اتراك يُرسلون للعراق كعقوبة موقتة لهم يقضونها في النهب وابتزاز الناس .. والعراق قبل نوري السعيد كان شيوخ وعشائر تغزو وتسرق بعضها بعضا (انظر مثلا ما يرويه حنا بطاطو عن مدينة السماوة الصغيرة جدا آنذاك وعن شيخيها المتصارعين ابدا ـ ص. 20) .. والعراق قبل نوري السعيد كان محكوما من قبل الملا وخزعبلات الملا .. نعم العراق قبل "دار داران دور" كان يقرأ كتاب "السيف البتار على الكفار الذين يقولون المطر من البخار"

لقد قفز العراقيون من قراءة كتاب "السيف البتار على الكفار ..." الى قراءة كتب كارل ماركس في المادية الديالكتيكة .. من "عباءة الملا" الى "عباءة كارل ماركس" .. ونوري السعيد هو من بين قلائل ممن فهموا خطورة ذلك السلوك الحارق للمراحل .. هل هي مصادفة ان نعود اليوم الى عباءة الملا من جديد !! وهل نستغرب نحيب "ماركس ابو دشداشة" اليوم امام شباك الحسين ؟؟

اما عن موقف نوري السعيد من الانكليز وطبيعة علاقته معهم فالمصادر لا تنحصر بشعارات اليسار العراقي التي قتلت العراق .. ذكرت سابقا ما قاله حنا بطاطو عن موقف نوري السعيد البراغماتي من البريطانيين حين كان يحاجج الضباط الاربعة قبل قيامهم بحركة مايس 1941 قائلا لـ صلاح الدين الصباغ من انه لو كان مقتنعا بتحليلهم السياسي فانه سيكون أول من يرفع المسدس بوجه البريطانيين.. والمؤرخ العراقي مجيد خدوري في احدى مقالاته في الـ "ميدل ايست جورنال" يؤكد براغماتية نوري السعيد في علاقته مع الانكليز .. وساضع اليوم مقطع وجدته مؤخرا في مقال يعطينا فكرة عن طبيعة العلاقة بين نوري السعيد و ساسة بريطانيا

Iraqi nationalist might have been less harsh on Nuri Pasha had they realized the weight his words carried there. Nuri was no mere puppet: if, for example, he learned of the presence of tow junior members of the British government at a pro-Zionist gathering in London he did not hesitate to fire off a letter of protest - and his protest was received with something like deference. “If I want to know what the British are going to do next in the Near East I watch Nuri,” the Turkish Ambassador said. “ Not because they will have told Nuri, but because he will have told them.”

ويقولون عمالة .. هذا المقطع يبين لنا ان نوري السعيد كان اكثر استقلالية في علاقته مع الانكليز من الشيوعيين العراقيين في علاقتهم مع الاتحاد السوفييتي .. وحنا بطاطو قد بين ان اغلب قرارات الشيوعيين العراقيين كانت بتوجيه من موسكو .. بمعنى اخر .. من لم "يزنِ" في موسكو .. فليرمي نوري السعيد بحجر .. كُثر هم الشيوعيون العراقيون اليوم ممن ينعمون بحرية وبامتيازات العيش في البلدان الغربية التي كانوا ينعتونها باقذع الالقاب ..وكُثر هم الضباط وابناء الضباط الذين قتلوا العائلة المالكة ممن يعيشون اليوم في سلم مملكة ابناء عمومتها التي ينعتونها بالعميلة .. هل كنا نحتاج لقتل العراق لنعرف قيمة الدولة ..قيمة الوطن ؟؟

التاريخ ينتقم لنوري السعيد .. رؤيته للصراع بين الكتلتين الشيوعية والرأسمالية وتحالفاته كانت الاقرب لنتائج صراع الكتلتين .. هو سيضحك حين يعرف ان الرئيس الامريكي يلقي اليوم خطابا من قاهرة "صوت العرب" !! وهو سيضحك كثيرا حين يسمع ان الاحتلال الامريكي للعراق هو ما مكن من تشييد تمثال لـ عبد الكريم قاسم !! اسمعه يقول : "السياسة ليست للزعاطيط" .. ترى .. هل استحضر برجنسكي مقولة نوري السعيد هذه حين قال ان "السياسة الدولية هي عمل مخصص للبالغين" ؟؟

باختصار .. مصلحة العراق هي المعيار في الحكم على الفعل السياسي .. والانجازات لا الشعارات هي المعيار في حكمنا على قيمة الاشخاص والاحداث السياسية .. من هنا فلا خير في وطني يدمر العراق معتقدا انه قديس .. ولا خير في شيوعي عراقي يصطف الى جانب ايران في حرب الثمان سنوات ضد العراق معتقدا انه يدافع عن المبادئ !! ومرحى لـ "عمالة" نوري السعيد التي بنت العراق الحديث .. ولولاها لكنا اليوم نتكلم اللغة التركية

من لم "يزنِ" بالعراق فليرمي نوري السعيد بحجر .. ليس هناك عمل اعظم ولا اشرف من بناء وتنظيم دولة والحفاظ على سلمها الداخلي والخارجي .. ويكفي نوري السعيد انه كان المساهم الاكبر في بناء دولة العراق التي حطمتها الشعارات بعد ذلك .. جملة ماكيافلي في بداية المقال تقول : ان عقلا راجحا لن يدين ابدا شخصا ما لانه استخدم وسائل غير "اخلاقية" من اجل تنظيم مملكة او تأسيس جمهورية" .. واعتقد ان نوري السعيد كان سيفرح لو قرأها .. هو الذي حذر من خطر "الزعاطيط" في السياسة وخطر انصاف المتعلمين في الثقافة والمجتمع
~~~~~~~~~

June 28, 2009
21:37
An Iraqi Charade...
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

It's well past midnight here and I am very tired...but I feel this urgency to write this post as I think it is very important.

At first I was torn between writing this post on the Iraqi charade that is due to take place on the 30th of June 09, torn between that and that of writing an equally important post on the current Iranian charade...

But I have learned to get my priorities right and since both are very much interlinked, I will start with the most important one - Iraq.

There are HUGE misconceptions surrounding U.S troop withdrawal on the 30th of June.

Both Iraqi and American/Western media are using the term withdrawal.
This is a propaganda spin and I need the reader to become very aware of the usage of words. There is NO American withdrawal from Iraqi cities.

What there is, is a pull back to the 15 or so American bases AND in parallel a redeployment of American troops on the edges of the cities.

The official Iraqi version wants us to believe that this is victory.

Suddenly the official language of PM Al-Maliki, is full of patriotism with statements like "This is the end of violence and sectarianism in Iraq".

This is BULLSHIT, because only today there has been a massive campaign of arbitrary arrests in two neighborhoods - Adhamyia (sunni) and Shula'a. (I dont know what Shula'a is anymore. It used to be mixed.)

The Iraqi puppet government went as far as declaring 30th of June a national public holiday - the day of victory.

Victory over whom exactly ?

The Americans are not leaving Iraq, they are just pulling back to their bases and redeploying on the outskirts. In the Nineveh province they are staying put. This means there is no pull back. So please stop believing this term withdrawal because it does NOT exist and it is very misleading. This is a ploy to confuse the layperson and make believe that Iraq is now a success case - an American success.

There are other aspects that you need to consider too, and frankly I cannot do all the thinking for the reader. He/she must really use common sense.

Even if the American troops definitely pull out of Iraq, out of the country, in the year 2011 or 2012, I can no longer remember the exact date. Do you really believe they will pack their bases and Embassy and just go ?

There are over 15 American, fully equipped, military bases in Iraq. These are not going to be dismantled, not on the 30th of June nor in 2011/12. As I said, common sense is needed here.

The other thing the reader must be acutely aware of when reading mainstream propaganda about the Iraqi police and army taking over the cities.

There is something very basic that is eluding everyone here - the Iraqi army does NOT have one naval ship, not one fighter jet...

What does that tell you ?

It tells you that this Army will never be able to defend Iraq against ANY future EXTERNAL aggression from any country - in particular Iran.

That means in effect that Iraq will remain a U.S / Iranian colony...until...until God knows what, until the nuclear dossier is settled, until the peace talks with Israel are fully underway between Iraq/Iran and Israel, until the Resistance gets a move, until...This is open to much speculation and depends on the developments within Iran and between Iran, the US, Europe and Israel...

What it means in effect, for the Iraqis, is that Iraq has LOST all claims to Sovereignty. And will become a partitioned version of some Hong Kong. A trade route that happens to have the biggest oil reserve in the world.

The other thing the reader needs to be very aware of is that -- according to the "Iraqi constitution", the American-Iraqi security agreement cannot be put into effect until a national referendum takes place i.e until the Iraqi people vote on it.

However, what we have been witnessing so far is the application of the security agreement, which is not even ratified and agreed upon, and the selling of the first phase of this security agreement i.e the pulling back to bases of the U.S troops as some Iraqi victory.

The coming week(s) will be crucial for Iraq. If the current puppet government fails in its reconciliation and national consensus, then the paving of the way for militias to take over again is highly probable and we will be witnessing another round of sectarian violence that will finish off any resisting elements...

Seeing the sectarian nature of the puppet government and seeing the high level of internal conflicts and interests within the sectarian groups and parties themselves, and seeing the monumental level of corruption, it is highly unlikely that the government of Nouri Al-Maliki will achieve much beyond the marketing of its current victory rhetoric.

Another important factor is to take into account what developments are taking and will take place in Iran. Iran is very good at exporting its internal conflicts to Iraq. We already witnessed such a conflict when the sectarian government of Nouri Al-Maliki had a "victory" on the equally deadly sectarian movement of Muqtada Al-Sadr and its Jaysh Al-Mahdi militia. It was thanks to direct Iranian intervention that things calmed down on that front.

I expect a similar move from Iran in the coming days/weeks, in exporting its own internal conflicts to Iraq -- by reactivating the sleeping militias - which really never slept. And I expect the Americans and their intelligence services to do exactly the same.

So do not be surprised if you hear that they caught and killed Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi of Al-Qaeda for the 100th time or any of the Al-Qaeda terrorists, that seem to spring up whenever sorely needed...

In other words, don't fall for it because it's a fucking joke. Except it was never funny. But for jokes to work in a charade, it requires credulous people.

And I sure hope you have learned better by now...

OK, enough. I need to go and sleep. Nite, Nite.

P.S : Forgot to mention, one brave boy and his humvee bid their farewells today, in Iraq.

19:07
Iraq: reflecting on Iran
» ‎ ⁂ Asterism (iraq)

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.

17:06
Baghdad, Impressions After a Long Absence
» ‎ Talisman Gate بـاب الطلــسم (iraq)

Baghdad, and most other places, experienced its second severe sandstorm today in as many weeks. The dust finds its way into every nook and cranny, the bane of housewives throughout the land. Once the municipality decides to turn the water on, multitudes are prompted to wipe, wash and spray. But only a downpour can really wash out the layer of beige that coats every wall, every pavement, and every leaf. At least face masks are readily available, sold at traffic chokepoints at about 20 cents a piece; a sizable proportion of the population, of every class, dons them on.

The pleasant surprise is that the solar panels that feed street lights with power still work through the coating of dust. Yes, you got that right: we’re environmentally sound in the department of finding alternative power. Al Gore, how about a shout-out?

Even traffic lights, newly in place, are powered by the sun. Yet it still takes a burly and scowling traffic officer to keep the unruly drivers in check. “Put it in reverse and get behind the crosswalk” they warn, and people comply. It’s not the gun that intimidates, but the ticket book. Failure by the driver to buckle up could cost up to 25 dollars, doubling if unpaid within a month. The ticket is posted online within 24 hours. That’s one of the ironies of the new Iraq: park illegally and you’ll get digitally fined, yet a national ID card is still registered on voluminous ledgers by pen. (link to a piece I wrote about Iraq's bureaucracy...)

The Iraqi police and army are everywhere. Security vehicles—Chevy trucks, Korean 4x4s, Humvies—are as ubiquitous as taxis. Many checkpoints are equipped with handheld explosives detection devices that are even sensitive to perfume and deodorant. A common and funny sight to behold is that of soldiers holding purses away from cars to see if the device would still beep. However, a pretty girl riding would also warrant a longer than usual search, perchance for a young buck to strike up a conversation and discreetly pass off a mobile number. To all intents and purposes, the Americans have been out of Baghdad for some time; it is rare to find an American patrol out and about.

The hassle and wait at a checkpoint run smoothly, which is remarkable considering that a car lacking air-conditioning and prone to chock on fumes at every brake can turn an otherwise nice and decent chap like yours truly into a poster child for road rage. The vast majority of vehicles are as broken down as my own, yet the vast majority of people are civil, although sullen. It is all taken in stride, patience being a commodity not lacking in a country that requires tons of it.

Security is fine. Things are safe until they aren’t, which is rare nowadays. The recent spate of bombings feel a lot like late 2003 and early 2004: if you can hear it then you’re still alive, and if you’re still alive then nothing else matters. The violence provokes no more than a shrug for those lucky enough not to be directly touched by it.

Moving around is another matter. The fear is still fresh in most people minds, and it isn’t surprising to hear of people who are making forays from east to west Baghdad, or in reverse, for the first time in years. Going to places like the Jam’ia neighborhood, until recently a ghost town terrorized by Al-Qaeda, manages to draw looks of bewilderment coupled with sincere, unsolicited advice against doing so again. But Rabi’ Street, the main thoroughfare there, has come back to life, and it is remarkable that not a few Shiites never left. I have an elderly relative there from my dad’s side there who is protected, catered for, and driven around by the four young sons of her Sunni neighbor, a family itself displaced from a Shiite neighborhood. For good measure, the relative still displays the name of her late spouse, unmistakably Sunni. It seems to me that a lot of these social links never broke, and counter intuitively got strengthened despite the sectarian battle lines.

Every house in Jami’a bears a mark in bright red spray point. An ‘X’ means that the house has been forcibly taken over. A check sign (…like the Nike logo) with a line through it means that the family now there is legally renting the home. A check sign alone indicates that the owner still lives in the house. In the balance of power, it is clear that the government’s security forces are in control of the main roads and neighborhood entry points. Deeper into the residential areas, one finds Sons of Iraq checkpoints, with armed men who seem bored out of their minds.

Roaming the residential side streets is restricted by immovable road blocks. While some main roads, closed since 2003, are being re-opened around Baghdad, greatly easing traffic, it seems that the concrete barriers will be in place for a long time. It is very disorienting for someone who had been away to find one’s way around this new reality, but like everything else, one’s gets used to it. However, in some places, there is significant popular resentment against the seeming permanence of these barriers since they effectively choke off mercantile activity. The road blocks and the security gates in Kadhimiya are probably the best managed of their kind in the whole country, but it also means that while the suburb had become Baghdad’s primary hub for all sorts of economic activity since the 1970s, now the markets are empty and customers go elsewhere to get their goods.

To say that people have moved beyond sectarianism is inaccurate. One can have a spouse, a business partner, a relative, a friend or a neighbor from the opposite sect, but when it comes to perceived political power as a guarantor for present and future wellbeing, everyone reverts to their sectarian identity. This had been the case for a longtime before and after liberation, and it will continue to be the basic instinctual motivator in how Iraqis arrange their political loyalties. What’s important is that no one thinks that violence can change the balance now in place, and only the last vestiges of the ancien regime and cooks like the jihadists would wield it in a desperate and ultimately futile attempt to turn back the clock.

Iraqis, it seems, have issues in mind far beyond sectarianism and security. Which is why the departure of US troops in a couple of days isn’t a major conversation starter. The heat, the dust, getting things done, petty corruption, and so forth is the stuff that gets their attention.

Among regular people, any social face-to-face interaction that lasts more than 30 seconds must bring up the issue of electricity. Nothing riles up Iraqis, understandably so, than the recurrent cuts in power. Almost everyone runs lines from privately-managed generators to get a few amperes here and there, not enough, except for the super-affluent, to run power-hungry equipment like air-conditioners. When the ‘national’, that is government supplied, electricity comes, there’s a moment of euphoria that never gets old as the legions of the sweat-drenched amble around their homes switching on the ac.

Every phone conversation invariably brings up the word ‘shabaka’, or network. Cell phones are notoriously unreliable. Conversations are held in 10 second increments before voices get scrambled and calls are dropped. That is, if the call gets through in the first place.

Petty corruption seems to have abated to a large extent. There’s a palpable fear, reinforced by anecdote, among state employees that getting a bribe for a signature or a stamp may land one in prison, and to a large extent one would be hard pressed to see the kind of unabashed sleaze so common and in full view just six months ago.
High caliber corruption, the kind that involves millions of dollars, is still in vogue though.

For all their daily woes, Iraqis are lucky enough to be able to vent, and vent they do, vocally and colorfully. The state’s television station is still lacking in sophisticated graphics and able presenters, but two shows caught my attention and truly impressed me. The first one is called ‘A Copy for Archiving’ and the premise is that the host goes around the country and gathers a town-hall audience and faces them off against a representative of the legislature, whether local or national, and a representative of the executive branch. In a rapid-fire exchange, citizens cite specific issues or neglected projects and reforms, and the officials must reply, with brevity, whether it is doable or not. At the end, a representative is elected from the audience who signs a ‘document of honor’ with the officials, witnessed by the TV host, that will be retrieved in six months time to see if the officials had managed to deliver on the issues and projects they said were doable.

The other show is called ‘You Are the Minister’. The host takes a minister along for a walkabout, and hands over the microphone to a citizen who is asked, ‘If you were the minister, what would you do?’ It makes for great television, with some smart and feasible ideas put on the air. The minister is then forced to explain why these ideas haven’t been put into effect yet.

Generally, people are very hopeful. Sure they curse Maliki every time the electricity goes out, and lament the fact that Iraq doesn’t have Istanbul’s weather, but there’s a sense that things have stabilized and will improve, quickly. There’s a lot of money in the country, a direct result of pumping oil profits into salaries. New cars are everywhere despite the needed ‘look’ of frugality that people affect to ward off the attention of organized crime rings and kidnappers for ransom. The nightlife, as has been reported, is back and with force, mostly of the lewd variety. Social clubs like the Hunting Club and Alwiyah provide islands of normality whether upper middle class teenage girls and boys can dress up like their age and class peers anywhere in Amman or Beirut. Leftie intellectuals and artists have found a spiffy oasis at the Dar Al-Mada on Muttanabi Street. Even on weekdays, the main street of Karadeh stays vibrant until 11 PM; compare that to DC that shuts down at 10 PM. Thursdays and Fridays brings the whole city out to the streets, and I even saw families picnicking on rotaries in some of the scariest areas of Old Baghdad, no go areas even in Saddam’s time.

Baghdad is coming back to life, that’s the sum of it.

Well, that’s enough for now. The electricity is out, and you lot should be thankful for technological marvels such as backlit keyboards and internet connections that keep going despite the power cuts, making it possible for me to write something, anything at all. It’s too hot for any more writing tonight, but I’ll put up some more posts over the next few days.

Here's something else I wrote about Baghdad's main library to lay you over.

16:16
Crossroads
» ‎ Last-Of-Iraqis (iraq)

14:30
Presenting Arts on a Tray
» ‎ attawie (iraq)

She spreads her imaginary wings and flies to her own glittery world, where the cause of her effect seems just normal, with a trick of magic of different colours, she flies and takes thee off to her Fairyland.

An Iraqi mom, inspired by the cute smiles of her little ones; Moved by their sweet laughter and paralyzed by their tiny tears. My friend, Nadia, decided to join the blogsphere and present you her arts on an artistic virtual tray. I leave you my friend to take an adventure in her world, to enjoy a taste of The Neverland on her Art Tray.

The sleepy moon goes rounds and rounds
Colored with rainbow; shyly smiles

Burdens with worries yet it hopes
bright your sky and bid you good night

That's all for now

8:46

Naive

» ‎ Inside Iraq (iraq)

7:02
The end of the longest, sweetest ,the full of adventures, the most beautiful year in my life~~
» ‎ Violet for peace (iraq)

Began at 3-2/ November….. before a week I had visited the college for confirming my papers .

I hadn't known anyone at that time…. Like I'm lost in some place I have to spend the rest of my life in it……

Had very hard days at the beginning… with study… with everything…

After 10 days… it was my birthday… no one .. or let me say not more than 4 persons congratulated me ..

Laughed a lot………cried a lot ………..and what I have learned and knew this year is worthier than my entire life!!!!

I won't talk a lot ……..coz I won't make it worthy enough to explain this year. which ended with Michael Jackson's death :D:D:D …and sealed heavenly by" take care , please!"

need to read more about my life in college this year... check my "labels"

God willing I'm going to establish a new blog,, I'm planning not to make it personal... as a diary of everyday life of Iraqi bloggers or even others... I primarily give it this name:" shako mako">>>"what's up"... :D ... waiting ur opinions....

i have just discovered there is a blog carries this name.. so i don't know till now:D

6:16
Iraq, Iran, Shi'ism & "Guardianship of the Jurist"
» ‎ Eye Raki (iraq)

By now most of the world has calmed down after witnessing the chaos that swept the Iranian capital and elsewhere after Ahmadinejad was proclaimed, by his friend the Interior Minister, to have won the Iranian elections by a landslide. Iranian's have stood strong, either in their support of the current President or in support of the challenger Musavi. The louder of the two of course being the latter. After many rounds of violence and bloodshed it is clear that the establishment in Iran has won the battle. Every day they remained in power the opposition weakened. However the protesters have managed to deal the Supreme Leader a heavy blow that he may never fully recover from. The blow itself was not fatal, but the infection could very well be.
Up until recently, no one would have dared shout "Death to Khamanei" on the streets. That would have been considered to be uncouth even for the dissidents because according to the Iranian-version of Shia Islamic Jurisprudence the "rahbar" (leader) acts on behalf of the 12th Imam, the hidden leader who will return to the Shia as a saviour and spread justice and peace to the world.

Khomeini left no one in doubt of the powers that should be granted to the Supreme Leader. The semi-divine status, given to himself, was at complete odds with traditional and mainstream Shia Islam. Shi'ism was not blind to the fact that religion plays an important role in the daily affairs of the Muslims but it had always called for limited interference from the clerics. Khomeini was not the first to dream of a ruling cleric and he was influenced by the ideas of 18th century father and son scholars Mohammed Mehdi and Ahmed Naraqi.

The Naraqi's (pictured) take their name from the village they were born in near Kashan, Iran in 1716 and 1771 respectively. They theorized that the scholar should also have power even in the political sphere and that an able jurist could also become a ruler. This theory was put into practice by Khomeini who expanded on the thesis and became an absolute authority over his subjects in Iran.

For those who are unfamiliar of the lengths Khomeini went in his argument that he should be obeyed as an absolute ruler this is an extract taken from the website of the Supreme Leader - note the constant references and comparisons Khomeini makes with the infallible Prophet and Imams;

"If an eligible person with these two characteristics [knowledge of the law and just] rises and comes to power, he will acquire the same wilāyah (authorities) which were established for the noble Prophet Muhammad (s.) as far as administering the society is concerned. And, therefore, all people are required to obey him."

This revival of Naraqi's thought did not go down too well with the majority of Ayatollahs. One man who did back Khomeini was Hussein Ali Montezeri. He published "Studies in Guardianship of the Jurist" and advocated the rule of the jurist on Islamic grounds. Ironically, after the revolution Montezeri saw the failure of good governance and was silenced after he raised his concerns with Khomeini. He is now still under house arrest in Qum for his opposition to the Islamic government.

Khomeini paved the way for this revival in a series of lectures he gave in Najaf in 1970. His lectures were quickly compiled and published as a book that was distributed to his followers. His main opposition at the time came from Abul-Qasim al-Khoei, who dismissed the idea of unlimited 'wilayat al-faqih' (Guardianship of the Jurist) because it had no legal basis or precedent for the Shia. He bases his argument on a verse of the Quran:

Only Allah is your Wali and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow. [Shakir 5:55]

The meaning of the word "wali" is a major point of debate between the Shia and Sunni schools of thought. Regardless of differences in opinion between the two schools the Shia all agree that this is the verse in the Quran which explains the divine status of the 12 Imams. My grandfather argues that there can never be a jurist who can have the same "wilayah" (guardianship/authority) as the Imams and Prophet because God makes it clear that 'only' a certain few can have this status.

The schism that appeared continues to be relevant today. It is the focal point of everything that is going on in Iran today and it has also affected the future of Iraq. Debates over who was right and how much influence the clerics should have over the daily lives of Shia Muslims continue to this day with both sides passionately disagreeing with each other.

The issue of 'wilayat al-faqih' is still the most obvious difference between the Najaf school in Iraq and the Qum school in Iran.

The ignorance of this issue, or indifference, was a factor that led to the crushing of the 1991 uprising in Iraq. The United States feared, most likely due to resident Arabists, that if the rebels overthrew Saddam they would establish an Iranian-style theocracy in Baghdad. However, the Najaf seminary, and Iraqi's in general, would never have allowed the clerics to have the same powers their counterparts enjoy in Iran. This is even more evident when one looks at Iraq today.

"Wilayat al-Faqih" will be at the heart of the debate in the Middle-East and for Shia's in particular for many more years to come because it is so central to what makes their world tick.

6:10
الي بعبه صخل ينبح
» ‎ شلش العراقي (iraq)

ـ"الوقت و المكان :- بين الصيف والشتاء من عام 2006 في البصرة

بكل فخر اقول انني اول عراقي استمع لنصيحة :- و عمل بها .ـ
وهي بنظري سابقة غريبه فالعراقي يكره النصائح ومن يطلقها ولدينا مثل يقول ـ((العراقي انطحة ولا تنصحة ))ـاعود الى الموضوع وجدت نفسي مرغما على العمل بنصيحة تبرع بها صديق لي بعد ان استمع الى شكاوي من قلة النوم والقلق والخوف من العصابات اليلية التي عاثت في البصرة فسادا فكان كل من يمشي على قدمين هوا هدف محتمل الى هذة العصابات من يمتلك مالا يختطف ويقتل ومن كان لدية راي يخالف راي المتنفذين يقتل ايضا ومن كان لدية زوجة جميلة فهوا مقتول ايضا .ـ
ولقد شملتني حمى الخوف على الرغم من اني لم اكن املك مالا كل ما املكة هوا سيارة عتيقة اعمل بها كسيارة اجرة فكان كل من يركب بها يقسم اغلظ الايمان ان لايركب بها مرة اخرى لانها ببساطة سيارة مصابة بمرض بار كنسن لان كل جزء منها يرتجف على حده اعان الله من ركب بها مرة .ـ
ثم ان زوجتي لا تشبه الممثلة شارون ستون لا من قريب ولا من بعيد وبعد ذلك ليس لدي راي مخالف للكل فالاراء والحمد لله كلها متضاربه.ـ
ومع هذا كنت لا انام في الليل خوفا من غدر عصابات قذرة تسلحت بكل الات القتل .ـ
وتمتطي سيارات مملوكة للدولة و الدولة ليس عليها سلطان ، وتباركها فتاوى مقدسة لرجال مشكوك بولائهم للوطن والدين.ـ
اصبح سهر اليالي عندي ظرورة وعاده ، اما عن كونه ضرورة فاني لا اريد الموت بطريقة خروف العيد . وان عن كونه اصبح عاده فكنت اسهر ليلا وانام نهارا لاني والحمد لله لم يكن لدي عمل ثابت يرغمني على النهوض صباحا .ـ
قال صديقي المحترم : (( اقتني لك كلبا يعينك على الحراسة ليلا وينبهك في حالة غفلتك ))ـ
وجدت ان نصيحته رائعه فعلا تنم عن عبقرية وفهم مدروس للاوضاع الحاليه نادرا مايتفوه بها احد هذة الايام .ـ
واعلنت عن رغبتي باقتناء كلب فقام احدهم وارسل لي كلبا كبيرا جميل المنظر فنظرت الية باحترام لانه منقذي من سهر اليالي .ـ
اطعمت الكلب وربت على راسه وعنقه ( هذا ماخوذ من كتالوج الاستعمال )، بدا الكلب يتعود علي فاذا خرجت ركض الي وهوا يهز ذيلة قافزا حولي فرحا . لكن برزت مشكلة اخرى مع زوجتي التي لا تشبه الممثلة شارون ستون اما المشكلة في موضع نجاسة الكلب فكانت ترغمني على الاستحمام كل ما هز الكلب ذيلة قربي مع هذا رضيت بالوضع لانعدام الخيارات الاخرى كما ان المثل يقول ( ويرضى بالحمى من ذاق الموت ) ، فكان الاستحمام المتكرر اهون من السهر الدائم رغم تحفظي على مسألة نجاسة الكلب واعتبر ان الكلب رغم نجاسته هوا اطهر من بعض الذين اعرفهم .ـ
في خضم هذة الاحداث فاتني وانا في ازمتي مع ضعف قدرتي على التركيز التي ورثها لي السهر المتواصل ان اسئل عن الكلب ، عن اصلة ونوعه ، ولماذا تخلى عنه اهله ، لا يهم كل هذا .ـ
فالمهم (( اصبح عندي الان كلبا .... فإلى النوم خذوني معكم ))ـ
ذهب عنه الخوف قليلا ولوجود الكلب المحترم ، وشعرت ببعض الامان، ولماذا لا والكلب اخذ على نفسة السهر على سلامتي وسلامة بيتي فكان نعم الحارس الامين ، فما ان تقفز قطة الجيران في باحة بيتي حتى تنشب معركة شرسة فيها من النباح والصياح والصراخ وبعثرة محتويات صندوق القمامة، اصوات تجعل الاطفال يهبون من نومهم مذعورين ،
فكنت اسرع لفض الاشتباك لكن بدون جدوى فشراسة الكلب تجعلني اتراجع خوفا منه ، في بعض الاحيان كنت افكر بالاستعانه بقوات التحالف لفض الاشتباك الدائر لكني اتراجع في اللحظة الاخيرة خوفا ان يتهمني البعض بالعمالة للمحتل، وتنهزم القطة وابتسم انا من كل قلبي فرحا بانتصار كلبي الوفي واقول في نفسي (( والله انه كلب ابن كلب))ـ
مع القطة يجعلها معركة فما الذي سيعمله مع اللصوص؟ اكيد سيجعلها ((ام المعارك ))، واشفق في سري على اللصوص وانا اتخيل مواخراتهم الممزقة .ـ
واعود للفراش وانام قرير العين .ـ
مر اسبوع شعرت فية براحة النوم وعاد بدني لسابق عهده وفارقني المزاج العكر الذي صاحبني لفترة ، وعدت لعملي وسيارتي الرعاشة وعاد الركاب يقسمون ان لا يركبوها ثانية ، وعادت علاقتي بزوجتي التي لا تشبة شارون ستون الى طبيعتها السابقة . الحمد لله فالنوم له سحر في حياة الانسان حتى كان في ليلة ان اطفى الصفاء الرومانسي بيني وبين التي لا تشبه شارون ستون وبعد شد وجذب ونقاش مستقبلي غير مثمر استسلمت لنوم عميق وشعور الامان يغطيني بفضل الكلب .ـ
وفي الصباح استيقضت على صوت زوجتي تناديني للافطار ، جلسنا نفطر سوية وخيال رومانسية الليلة الماضية يرفرف علينا.ـ
على المائدة خيرات كثيرة لكنها للاسف كلها مستوردة من البيض الى كل منتجات الالبان , سألت نفسي هل الدجاج العراقي عاقر ام هل الابقار العراقية تتعاطى حبوب منع الحمل . لماذا يغزر انتاج المواشي والدواجن في الدول المجاورة ومواشينا يصبها العقم ، سوال لم اعرف اجابته ، قلت في نفسي : لا سامح الله لو اغلقت الدول المجاورة حدودها ولم تصدر لنا المنتوجات الزراعية ماذا سيحل بنا ؟ـ
اكيد ثم اكيد انها المجاعة ، تعوذت من الشيطان اللعين الرجيم من هذه الافكار السوداء ودعوت الله تعالى ان ييسر حمل دجاجنا بالبيض وابقارنا بالعجول ، وارضنا بالزراعة الوفيرة لكي نتخلص من الذل الاقتصادي الذي يسومه لنا جيراننا بدون استثناء. اتكلت على الله وخرجت للعمل بسيارتي الباركنسونيه ، لكني صدمت بعدم وجود سيارتي امام باب بيتي ، وبعد الاخذ والرد والسوال عرفت ان سيارتي قد سرقت، اقمت شكوى في مركز الشرطة ، حضر افراد الشرطة لمعاينة مكان السرقة. فجأة سألني ضابط الشرطة وهو يقف امام منزلي ( يبدو ان لديك كلبا ) فاجبته بالايجاب وعاد يسئلني ( الم ينبح كلبك اثناء اليل )؟ـ
اجبته بالنفي. اثارت ملاحظة الضابط انتباهي لعدم نباح الكلب على اللصوص واستغربت من تصرف الكلب. سألني الضابط (( هل تربّي هذا الكلب من صغره ))؟ فاخبرته بالقصة كلها وكيفية حصولي على هذا الكلب. اكمل رجال الشرطة اجرائاتهم ورحلوا تاركيني وحيدا مع قهري وحزني بقلب يملؤه الغضب على تلك التي لا تشبة شارون ستون لائماً اياها ولاعناً ليلتها الرومانسية التي جعلتني انام كل هذا النوم العميق.ـ
مر يومان وتم استدعائي من قبل الشرطة فلقد عثرو على سيارتي وعلى سارقها ايضا ، اتعرفون من هو؟ لقد كان شقيق الرجل الطيب الذي اهداني الكلب.ـ
قال لي رجل حكيم (( اياك والكلب ذو الصاحبين اتعرف لماذا ؟ لانك لو ربيت الكلب وهو صغير سيكون انتمائه وولائه لك اما اذا اخذت كلبا وهو كبير فسيكون انتمائة لك وولائه لغيرك فاذا احترق بيتك او سرق سيكون دوما هنالك دار اخرى له ))ـ
لهذا ، ياعزيزي ، ان كلبك الشرس لم ينبح على اللصوص لانهم اهله بكل بساطة .ـ
ملاحظة :ـ
الى كل اخواني العراقيين الذين يحملون جنسيات بلدان اخرى، اقسم لكم اني لا اقصد احد منكم بهذا ابداً انها مجرد قصة قصيرة.ـ
البصرة"ـ
ماجد عبد الحميد عاتي
ـ 6 حزيران 2009

6:03
A Street in Baghdad...
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

Being someone who is interested in landscapes, architecture and streets, I combine this with my love for walking...There is much you can discover when you walk as opposed to drive...Use those legs, they are your best vehicle.

Walking also gives you a glimpse, a feel into the atmosphere of any given place. I use observation and all of my senses. The smells, the noise, the conversations, the expression on the faces, the pace, the state of the buildings, the street itself, its pavement, its ramps, its corners, its alleys, its walls...every single detail is important to complete the experience...of walking and to give it a new dimension...using it as another lesson, another insight...

Those of you out there who are familiar with Baghdad's streets and neighborhoods, and who are of my generation, this is not quite applicable to those born during the sanction years or just a little before, because they would have no recollection whatsoever...and of course this is not applicable to those who never visited Baghdad, or only landed there in 2003 or later...

Those who knew Baghdad of before, will attest to the excellent urban planning, the mapping of the city, the architecture of the houses, the buildings...actually Baghdad was known to have one the best school of Architecture and Urban Planning in the Middle East. Some even called this city, the Paris of the Middle East.

I recall my daily walks by the river's bank...usually in the late afternoon. Stretches of walking paths along the river, adorned with red flowers, trees...am talking of the 80's here. The streets were clean, well kept, but most importantly safe...

During the sanction years, the "dictatorship" exerted much effort to keep things as they were, in terms of maintaining the same levels of order, cleanliness and safety...but with most things being unauthorized by the U.N sanctions committee, keeping that same level was invariably difficult...

But, it was still safe and relatively clean...compared to...compared to today.

As I mentioned before, one of my pass times is watching youtube videos, on Iraq.
Every time I get very homesick, I search for a video, that I hope will bring me some comfort...

I stumbled upon this one, below. But before you rush to watch it, I recommend that you walk with me first...the way I do... As I mentioned right at the beginning of my post...there is more than one way to walk...

You can just quickly and impatiently listen to the main voice, swiftly go through the whole scene and rush to move on onto something else ..

Or, you let me lead you through the experience, the insight , and you take your time to observe just like I do...

So I suggest that you focus on the whole thing -- observe the street, its curves, its ramps, its walls...listen to the conversations, examine the faces, watch out for the details...feel the place.

So, I invite you to walk with me, through some of the streets of Baghdad...

Painting : Iraqi artist, Nadhim Hamed.

Youtube : Hoda Abdel Hamid /Al Jazeera - Residents of a Baghdad afraid to return.
26 June 09.

June 27, 2009
13:52
The US opened a new contact channel with the Ba’ath Party
» ‎ Roads to Iraq (iraq)

Reported by Al-Hayat today: The Americans opened a new contact channel with the Ba’ath Party. The Ba’ath Party is right now split among the Party’s both wings, to join the political process in Iraq and another wing who wants to choose a new leadership for the party.

13:35
There was no Al Qaeda in 1991
» ‎ Iraqi Mojo (iraq)

I just read the below review of Richard Haass's new book by a Geoffrey Wheatcroft, who suggests that the violence seen in Iraq since 2003 would have happened in 1991 if US troops had entered Baghdad and overthrown Saddam's murderous regime. How does he know this? There was no Al Qaeda in 1991. In fact Usama bin Ladin volunteered to assemble an army of mujahideen to fight Saddam's forces. There would have been no sectarian conflict ignited by the Wahhabi scum. There were no Fedayeen Saddam either. Liberating Iraq would have been much easier in 1991. Easier for the US and its allies and much easier for Iraqis.

'Much of the ground Haass covers is all too familiar by now. He goes over the arguments that America should have pressed on to “liberate Iraq” and destroy Hussein the first time round. As he says, the truth is that “there was no interest in going to Baghdad.” Bush the Elder thought he had a deal with the rest of the world that he would break if he extended the war; American troops would have found themselves engaged in dangerous and difficult fighting in cities; and “we would have become an occupying force in a hostile land with no exit strategy.” It would be superfluous for Haass to add “as later happened under that president’s son.” '

I am amazed by the number of "pundits" who think they know what they're writing about.

11:36
From America with Love...
» ‎ An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... (iraq)

The video below is a small tasty sample of American candies generously given to the Children of Iraq.

The video below should be made into compulsory watching for ALL Americans - parents and kids...

This video's short footage will show you the extent of American love for Freedom, Liberty, Democracy and the all American values of the Founding Fathers - the pursuit of happiness...

This video sums it all up. And for generations to come...

On my other blog, I wrote a light post in the form of a short list of things, I liked about America -- which basically consisted of ; my interest for Native American history and culture, a few actors, a few writers and several singers - for the most part Black Americans. I will remove this post now.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Synopsis on youtube : There is widespread contamination with cancer-causing depleted uranium munitions in Afghanistan and Iraq causing dramatically rising birth deformities. This video was censored on you tube...Lets see how long it will stay up this time

Posted by Conflicting Truth, 26 June 2009.

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