IBN_ALRAFIDAIN

De-Baathification (IV)

2007-06-25T17:28:00.000+03:00

As an example of ignorance of the high ranks Baathists, there was a story recited by the Iraqis as a joke. It shows the kind of people was leading the state and their ignorance. Hussein Kamil was Saddam’s cousin & son in law. The man was of elementary school education; Saddam granted him the rank of five stars general and assigned him the minister of defense & the supervisor of military industrialization ministry. On visiting a military research institution he came across a machine which had been facing a problem. He asked the researcher about the problem. The answer was ‘It needs steam. I need lot of steam to make it work, sir’. The researcher with complete unawareness used the English word ‘steam’. Kamil immediately issued an order to collect all the ‘steam’ available in the markets to solve the problem. The attendants were about to burst into laughing, which they couldn’t because it might cause them death.

Speaking of death, let’s take a look at some resolutions issued by the Revolution Command Council (RCC) impose the death penalty. These resolutions had the force of law. By the way, the RCC was consisting of 10-20 members, mainly of the Baath central leadership. It represented the legislative & executive branches in Iraq.

1- The Revolution Command Council Resolution (RCCR) No. 865 dated August 12, 1974 states: Any individual joins the Baath party without revealing his/her ex-relations with any other political parties or maintaining such relations, will be executed.

2- RCCR No. 1244 dated November 20, 1976 states: Any individual quits the Baath party and joins another or champions another party (even after quitting the Baath), will be executed.

3- RCCR No. 1357 dated November 10, 1971 bans any political activity inside the armed forces; amended in 1976 stating that any person who would be politically active inside the armed forces, except for the Baath party, will be executed.

4- RCCR No. 734 on May 30, 1978 imposes death penalty on any Iraqi or foreigner lives in Iraq, if it became obvious that he/she has any kind of relation with non-Iraqi intelligence services (inside or outside Iraq) without the permission of the Iraqi authorities.

5- RCCR No. 784 on June 7, 1978 imposes death penalty on any individual who tries to organize a person, who had relation with the Baath party, to work for another political party or group.

6- RCCR No. 884 on July 3, 1978 states: any individual who was a member of the army or police will be executed if he/she joins or works for a political party or group (except the Baath) after being discharged from the service or retired.

7- RCCR No. 1447 on October 30, 1979 imposes death on any person reverts to Baha’eia (a minority Muslim sect in Iraq).

8- RCCR No. 461 on March 31, 1980 imposes death on any individual joins Al-Da’waa Islamic Party or was a member of it and quit the party before issuing this resolution (retroactive law).

9- RCCR No. 1140 dated August 26, 1981 which imposes death on deserter; amended by RCCR No. 1540 on November 17, 1981 to include deserters of the Public Army (the Baath Party militia) and the Border Guards.

10- RCCR No. 877 on July 7, 1982 imposes death on any absentee soldier from his military unit for more than five days.

11- RCCR No. 1133 on September 2, 1982 imposes death penalty on any individual who commits robbery during war.

12- RCCR No. 1370 in 1983 imposes death on any individual of an age more than 18, who might escape to the enemy’s lines, conspire against the state security, join Al-Da’waa party, or be a deserter.

13- RCCR No. 313 on March 13, 1984 imposes death on any person smuggles currency, gold or uses them to deal with the ‘persian’ enemy.

14- RCCR No. 384 on March 31, 1984 issued the law No. 32/1984 of the penal code in the Public Army (the Baath militia). It stated in some of its articles that persons who show cowardice & defeatism will be executed. The law did not define what is meant by ‘cowardice’ & ‘defeatism’ or which side is to set the standards to be followed of these terms.

15- RCCR No. 458 dated April 21, 1984 imposes death on any person joins a party, group, or association works to change the Baath government by armed force or by collaboration with foreign party.

16- RCCR No. 960 on August 23, 1984 imposes death penalty on any person works for the interests of a foreign country or collaborates with someone who works for the interests of that country.

17- RCCR No. 120 on January 29, 1986 imposes death on any body forges a passport issued from any country, or forges Iraqi documents.

18- RCCR No. 840 on November 4, 1986 imposes life imprisonment and confiscation of movable & immovable properties on any person insults the president, vice president, RCC, the Baath party, the national assembly, or the government. The punishment will be execution if the insult was clear and intends to provoke the public opinion against the authorities.

It seemed that all these resolutions were useless; especially of punishing the deserters. In the 1990s the punishment for a deserter became cutting his ear & branding his forehead with heated metal.

Many other resolutions were issued which I do not recall now, but one of them, in the mid 1990s, issued a law called “Anger Martyr” which gives the right to Saddam to kill any person in case of anger. The deceased might come out that he/she did not deserve death then Saddam compensates his/her family.

The punishment for telling a joke about Saddam or his family was cutting one’s tongue.

Special courts were normal practice by the Baath regime. A special court was to be formed for special incident. The judgment of such court was executing all those on trial. For example, in 1977 a bunch of protesters in Kerbala & Najaf were sentenced to death within four hours session.

De-Baathification (III)

2007-05-31T06:26:00.000+03:00

The secret organization brought forth leaders of weird characteristics. They are rude, ignorant persons. Most of them could barely read & write. Still, some of the early Baathists were educated. They had been charmed by the bright motto of Arab unity, freedom, and socialism. One of those is Dr. Jawad Hashim, who had a PhD from London School of Economic & Political Science in the year 1966. He became the minister of planning several times during the era of President Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakir (1968-1979).

Dr. Hashim wrote a book 'An Iraqi Minister Dairy with Al-Bakir & Saddam'. I’ll quote some extracts from this book here. In the year 1967 Dr. Hashim was the secretary of the Iraqi National Board for Education & Social Development. It was before the Baathists could seize power in 1968. The man was assigned by the then Prime Minister Tahir Yahya to prepare a review of the governmental vacancies and to fill them with unemployed high school graduates of that year. He managed to find vacancies more than the number of the graduates. A call was issued for those who would like to be employed. Now, let's read what he wrote about a visit paid to him at work by Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakir (It’s my translation, not an official one):

“Al-Bakir handed me a bunch of applications. I promised him that they would be employed if they met the required qualifications. Al-Bakir assured me that they meet the conditions, but he had a request that these youths to be employed at petrol stations which are located in Karkh (the western part of Baghdad), especially those near to the presidential palace & other main governmental headquarters.”

The reason for such request was to keep an eye on the officials’ movements & to report them to the Baath leaders. The Baathists were preparing a coup to seize power, which took place on 17th July 1968.

This is one of the Baathists’ features which had been developed, later, over 35 years of ruling Iraq. Very sophisticated secret institutions were nurtured introducing a complicated web which can work underground efficiently. It is quite logical that they are using, nowadays, such way to creep into various governmental administrations. Senior Baathist émigrés intimidate those of less ranks, who still live in Iraq, forcing them to do certain dirty tasks. For example, informing the Baath leadership about any new infrastructure projects. And if one of these lower ranks Baathists refused to cooperate, his family could be targeted. It is a mafia work style.

The main mission to be pursued by the Baathist, in the mean time, is to paralyze life in Iraq. It is carried out expertly by an elite of secret service men who had been trained in different countries during the Baath era. But one can notice that the term ‘Baath’ is not used by any group claiming resistance in Iraq. It seems that the mass killings taking place in Iraq should not be connected to the ‘Baath’, so that the Baath could take the role of the savior of the Iraqi people in case of regaining power.

With a very huge amount of money made out of billions of dollars, it becomes so easy to fund sabotage and killings. Let’s read again in Dr. Hashim’s book about the source of these billions:

“A Portuguese company, Colbankian, owned 5% of the Iraqi oil concession. In the years 1972 & 1973, Iraq nationalized its petroleum industry. Saddam decided to keep this 5% revenue to the Baath party in a special bank account outside Iraq. According to Saddam, this amount of money is to be used to regain power in case of a counter coup took place against the Baath regime or a foreign power invaded Iraq.
I recall a private meeting with Saddam attended by Ameen Abdul Kareem (the then minister of finance), Dr. Fawzee Al-Kaisee (the then governor of the central bank) and me, when Saddam said to us:
‘The Baath party seized power in Iraq to rule for 300 years. To maintain ruling Iraq or regaining power in case of counter coup, a huge source of money should be available abroad. We won’t let same mistakes of the experience of 1963 happen again (referring to the ten bloody months the Baath ruled Iraq) when we fell and faced lot of difficulties in finance. So, think, men of economics, how we can make use of the Colbankian nationalized share for the benefit of the party.’
In deed, the Revolution Command Council issued a resolution allocating 5% of Iraq’s oil revenue to the Baath party and to be deposited in special account outside Iraq controlled by Saddam.
According to my estimation, the accumulated revenue of this percentage by the end of 1989 is about $10 billion. Assuming that this amount had been invested in bank accounts of 8-18% interest, then the accumulated amount would be $30 billion by the end of 1990.”

De-Baathification (II)

2007-04-27T21:34:00.000+03:00

To get promoted in the party, one should write as much as possible secret reports. Promotion means that one is evolving into a Baathist. Secret reports were used by plotters to get rid of rivals. It became the suitable mean way for a wife to get rid of a husband & vice versa; to get rid of a competitor in work; to harm an annoying neighbor…etc. Many filthy stories were known to the Iraqis about people who did so, and many others were discovered after the fall of Saddam's regime.

Unforgettable incident was an occasion on which Saddam rewarded a man for killing his son who was a conscientious objector during the Iraqi-Iranian war. Secret cassette recorders were the most deadly weapon in this system. One might find himself accused for saying words while he was drunk. More guilt and pricking of the conscience might be felt on finding oneself a witness in a recorder case, especially when the investigators do not tell the witness about the recorded tape. A famous Iraqi singer, Sabah As'sahil, was executed because of something he said, against Saddam, while he was drunk. His wife was the one who set the trap for him and taped his words.

One category of active writers of secret reports was those who have one of their family or relatives had been executed or fled the country. They did so to protect themselves by showing loyalty. Another was the opportunists who had no morality. In general, one can imagine what kind of organization the Baath party was.

The vast majority of the Baath party members were just like me. They wanted, and still, to live in peace. To avoid this mafia which is called Baath, they join the party and remain in the lowest levels. The Baath hierarchy consists of more than eleven levels. It begins with 'Moayeed' which means 'supporter'. Promotion means less work and more privileges. A privilege is not leading a luxurious life; it could be staying alive.

Depriving the people of their basic rights changes any kind of gesture from the ascending chain of comrades to a privilege. The gesture could be as trivial as several packets of cigarettes.

Hassan Alawee is a journalist, who was of the first generation of Iraqi Baathists (early 1950s), wrote many books about his experience for more than 25 years as a member of the Baath party. By the late 1970s he became Saddam's press secretary. He fled the country after executing his cousin (Saddam's minister of planning) in 1979. One of the books he wrote is 'Iraq the State of the Secret Organization' (1990). Let's quote some extracts from it. These extracts are translated by me, so it is not official one and I hope it conveys the essence of the Arabic text.

"The comrades in charge are usually individuals with no responsibilities (in practical life) assigned to run the party affairs. These comrades are helped by partially devoted members who could be employees, students, military personnel, doctors, workers, farmers…etc. The secret dedication does not let the latter to have sufficient time to develop their skill and be successful in the fields of their specialty. They are not active in their firms. The sluggish & indolent in the society are the ones who are active & influential in the party.

So, the party cadres in charge do not contain a notable sociologist, historian, surgeon…etc. inconsistency between the party cadres and experts or specialists had its profound effect on the governmental administration. One of the secret organization traditions is to treat intellectuals & scientists as inferiors since they can't carry out the party tasks efficiently. On the other hand, indolent people & losers represented the leading cadre of the organization which became later the leading cadre of the nation.

Here is one story 'Professor Khalid Mohammed Sa'eid, a friend of mine, was a university lecturer in brain surgery at the college of medicine. He and I were members of the same party cell. The comrade in charge of our cell was Abdul Kadir Hummadee Al-Anee. The man was a ticket seller at the governmental public transport company. The comrade enjoyed annoying Dr. Sa'eid by ordering him to tour the streets carrying a ladder and a bunch of pieces of cloth, on which the party slogans were written, to post them in public places. If Dr. Sa'eid refused to undertake the assignment, he would be considered a disobedient or undisciplined in the better. Dr. Sa'eid wished that he could be accompanied by his younger brother, who was a loser, to help him with this task!

Suddenly, Dr. Sa'eid disappeared. I think he fled Iraq. Years later, his younger brother, the loser, Salam Mohammed Sa'eid became the minister of health and to be the first Iraqi minister of health with no medicine degree. The party rejects the brain surgeon and prefers his brother, the loser, as a minister of health. This is not a special case or a paradoxical one; it is the essential body in the governmental working rules under the domination of the secret organization.'

From the above, it becomes obvious that the membership of the central leadership of the party is exclusionary. Only those who are unqualified (scientifically & intellectually) & of limited qualifications could promote and join the central leadership. Because of the secretive life & seclusion of the secret organization, it becomes plain that it turns out to be an excellent place for introverts, recluses, and uneducated people. Indolent people, who come from remote secluded villages of deteriorated agricultural and commercial production, will become the best social class to get along with the secret organization.

While normal persons, outside the organization, feel disgust & restlessness for the life of seclusion & conspiracy inside the organization; the party cadres feel great psychological joy in secret work between the walls of their hidey-hole.

A hidey-hole which is engulfed by mystery, fear, and terror from the milieu; a hidey-hole which is filled with aggressive feelings against the state institutions, unexpectedly changes into a state!"

To be continued…

De-Baathification (I)

2007-03-26T17:14:00.000+03:00

The US administration and its Iraqi allies seem to have dissimilar approaches to the de-baathification law. The Americans want to go much further than the Iraqis in easing rules barring former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from government service.

I was a member of the Baath party till overthrowing Saddam. My story is similar to those of the vast majority of Iraqis who were members of the party. Bear in mind the difference between two terms, I'm going to use here, 'Baathist' and 'Member of the Baath party'. Rereading a previous post (Rambling Post) could be helpful; from which I'll continue.

The Baath party was exploited by the US during the cold war. The communists became very active in Iraq after the coup of 1958 and they represented a real threat to the west interests in this country. The Baathists managed to seize power on the 8th of February 1963. The general secretary of the Baath party at that time, Ali Salih As'sadee, said literally in a famous statement 'We came to power on an American train', as a figurative reference. They ruled for ten bloody months ended by another coup.

On the 17th of July 1968, they regained power. A new policy started to emerge beginning with a famous declaration made by Saddam in 1970, stating that "Iraqis who are not members of the Baath party are barred from joining the army". This exclusion was expanding year after another. It included the police, security forces, the judiciary, educational system…etc. In general, it was very difficult to get a governmental job without being a member of the Baath party. Iraq was ruled through a very centralized totalitarian regime, so no many jobs were available out of the government grip. Day after another it became a firm rule absorbed by the community which says "To achieve one's goals in life, it is obligatory to join the Baath party".

The Baath party represented a security buffer body through which loyalty of people could be verified. Certain individuals are chosen to certain positions according to rules of validation. For example, allowing a young man to join the Iraqi air force as a fighter pilot requires him to be of Arab ethnicity, Muslim, Sunni, of certain bunch of tribes. Moreover, his relatives and friends must not have anti-Baath ideologies or feelings! All this could be probed through the security buffer body, mentioned above.

Baathists keep on putting pressure on the members of the party, through its hierarchy, to force more Iraqis to join the party. Such conduct on the ground begins with teasing and goes as far as detention, torture, and may be execution for those who insist not to join the party.

On joining the Baath party, one must sign many forms. One of these forms states that you have not been a member of any political party, not a member currently and you won't join a one in the future even if you would manage to quit the Baath. If one breaks any of these 'vows' he/she will be executed (according to the signed form).

Another form states that non of your relatives and friends has any kind of relation with other political or religious parties, and one must report to the comrade in charge of the party cell on noticing a member of the family, relatives, neighbors, friends, colleagues who might have such relation. Information forms are to be filled periodically (every six months or annually) to confirm the previous. One has to declare the position of his/her parents, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, brothers & sisters in law, father & mother in law, friends. Their position means whether any of them had been detained or executed for political reasons, fled the country without informing the authorities, had any non-Baathist political activity, been a deserter…etc.

Depriving the people of their basic rights made many of them ready to stoop to nose out information about their families, relatives, friends, colleagues. The regime encouraged people to do such vile practice by rewarding them. 'Secret report' is a well known term for the Iraqis. 'Break one's neck' a famous reference to the act of writing secret report against somebody.

To be continued…

Intelligence Estimate

2007-02-21T23:09:00.000+03:00

An intelligence estimate issued by the National Intelligence Council says that Iraqi society’s growing polarization, the persistent weakness of the security forces and the state in general, and all sides’ ready recourse to violence are collectively driving an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism.

It is essential to make the Iraqi political leaders convinced that no use of violence. I keep on saying that the Iraqi society needs 'educational rehabilitation'. I wrote many posts about the Bedouin culture which dominates the Iraqi society. The society sharply retrograded during Saddam time toward tribal values. The village mentality ruled Iraq. Such conduct diminished the role of state institutions.

One outcome of village style government was the vanishing of political parties & NGOs in Iraq. For example, the communists once had had a significant 'cultural' influence on the society, but later they had been brutally hunted by the baathists causing them to disappear.

By the year 2003 the Iraqi political arena became a desolate one. Between the years 1979-2003 the Iraqis gradually, and unconsciously, changed there loyalty away from the state institutions. The homeland, the state and the government were integrated into one person; that is Saddam. Tribal traditions have been renewed. It is so weird to be asked by others 'Which tribe are you from?' One's tribe decides his/her social estimation. So someone like Hitler could be considered better than Einstein, if the latter has no tribe to attribute him to.

The roles of the tribe & religious sects are the most influential factors in Iraq because of "the persistent weakness of the security forces and the state in general"
Acting as a 'politician' means the necessity to have a tribe or a sect to which the politician can resort for protection. Introducing oneself as an 'Iraqi' means that no one will protect you. The structure of modern state has been eroded by Saddam tribal hierarchical system. One of the stark features of the tribal traditions, nowadays, is taking vengeance on Iraqi security men by tribal leaders for doing their job of pursuing criminals & terrorists.

The tribe or sect offers protection by its members who are ready to use guns to kill. These are, in reality, groups of criminals. So we have a circle which begins with unqualified security forces, criminals who might partially protect their people, tribal leaders who offer protection to criminals just for being members of their tribes, and political leaders who feel that their safety can not guaranteed by the state so they should show gratitude to the militants (criminals). Moreover, some Iraqi politicians are mainly criminals, like this one.

The majority of nowadays politicians have grown up under dictatorship. They are very narrow minded persons and do have no experience in state affairs. As a result of being ignorant about governance they resort to violence thinking that it is the way to impose their perspectives on opponents. The estimate says:
"The absence of unifying leaders among the Arab Sunni or Shia with the capacity to speak for or exert control over their confessional groups limits prospects for reconciliation."
To some extent this is true. But even those who tried to be unifying leaders were intimidated. An example is Dr. Ahmed Al-Kubaisee who founded The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. The man started good work, but those who have different goals threatened him and he left Iraq to UAE, and a bunch of former baathists took over the association.

Iraqi leaders are much closer to tribal or religious Sheikh than contemporary politician. Even those who might be considered secular leaders can not do much because they have no tools to achieve something. The tools are law enforcement & security forces not infiltrated by tribal or sectarian values. The estimate says:
"Sectarian divisions erode the dependability of many units, many are hampered by personnel and equipment shortfalls, and a number of Iraqi units have refused to serve outside of the areas where they were recruited."

So:
"…the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)—particularly the Iraqi police—will be hard pressed in the next 12-18 months to execute significantly increased security responsibilities, and particularly to operate independently against Shia militias with success."
Similar pressure should be on Iraqi leaders to make them understand that violence leads to nothing. Ordinary people are fed up with violence and 'politicians' must be driven to the same position.

Once again, the huge baathist intelligence services, acting underground, are working hard to maintain instability. Many former baathists have put on turbans & worn cleric's garments, making use of the power of religion to goad on the mob. It is crucial to sift out pseudo-politicians who infiltrate into the Iraqi political process.

The estimate rightly states:
"The Intelligence Community judges that the term “civil war” does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq"
Ordinary Iraqis have no inner bad feelings toward each other as an outcome of their diversity. A derelict political field made the ignorant 'neo-politicians' resort to sectarian & ethnic matters to put forth as a ground for their movements.

It is true that:
"Coalition capabilities, including force levels, resources, and operations, remain an essential stabilizing element in Iraq."

New Strategy

2007-01-22T17:14:00.000+03:00

New strategy has been announced by President Bush. Mr. Bush said in his address to the nation:
"The elections of 2005 were a stunning achievement. We thought that these elections would bring the Iraqis together, and that as we trained Iraqi security forces we could accomplish our mission with fewer American troops."
It is not a felicitous opening since Mr. Bush referred to what really happened:
"But in 2006, the opposite happened. The violence in Iraq -- particularly in Baghdad -- overwhelmed the political gains the Iraqis had made."
The above invokes a query whether the new strategy will succeed or not since:
"Al Qaeda terrorists and Sunni insurgents recognized the mortal danger that Iraq's elections posed for their cause, and they responded with outrageous acts of murder aimed at innocent Iraqis."
What makes the President sure that these adversaries won't go any further to harm more innocents using much filthy ways? They have no morality, so nothing would restrain their atrocities.

It seems that the US administration does not comprehend what it means to be a baathist or saddamist. The Baath party, especially the saddamist wing, represents the most suitable way for losers and criminals to seize power. And through more than four decades in power, a very sophisticated system of security and intelligence services was established. Many of theses services' personnel were trained in the former soviet bloc countries, Cuba, and many other eastern & western European countries.

These services, working underground and undercover, are exploiting Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents to keep Iraq unstable. They are ready to make use of every opportunity to infiltrate their followers into the governmental institutions to undermine the whole political process. Take the national assembly as an example; it has been unable to hold an official session for the last two months since the majority of the representatives are outside Iraq. It is one way to cripple the political process. They are even thought to exploit Al Mahdee army of Muqtada. They are ready to go as far as cooperating with Iran and even the devil to achieve their goals.

President Bush said:
"The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me."
And for the vast majority of the Iraqi people. The Iraqis are the main victims of all what's going on in Iraq.

Asking Iraqis about their opinion about President Bush's new strategy, they shrug saying 'It won't differ from the previous ones', and we will listen to Mr. Bush again saying:
"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me."
And:
"It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq."
The Iraqis are so fatigued of more than a quarter century of wars and unfulfilled promises. Quite majority of them consider the new strategy an additional promise which will be piled up with previous ones made by the Americans and Saddam before them. Even Mr. Bush himself is not sure of what he is doing:
"…we all agreed that there is no magic formula for success in Iraq."
President Bush discovers after about four years that:
"The most urgent priority for success in Iraq is security, especially in Baghdad. Eighty percent of Iraq's sectarian violence occurs within 30 miles of the capital."
President Bush has committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq. These troops will have a well-defined mission:
"…to help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."
The latter sentence of the above is the most difficult matter since Iraqis, as individuals, need a very large amount of 'collective mentality rehabilitation'. They are easy to be seduced into schemes against their own interests and to be intimidated by criminals especially the baathists.

Good news for the saddamists is:
"America's commitment is not open-ended."
Another good one is that the US grip might wane by November. If this grip would become so firm in the coming days, then the saddamists will withdraw and wait till November.
"To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November."
Moreover, the Democrats' opposition sounds promising for the baathists; even if they don't manage to achieve something for the time being, they would wait for the Democrats to regain power two years ahead.

The main commodity for the baathists to market is bloodshed, and Mr. Bush defined it clearly:
"Our enemies in Iraq will make every effort to ensure that our television screens are filled with images of death and suffering."
Then what? It has been years (since 2003); all what we hear are promises. On ground the situation is deteriorating day after another. The baathists are taking over neighborhoods one by one. People are fed up and not showing much interest in who is ruling. The problem is the baathists, working undercover of Islamists, do hurt the citizens. In my neighborhood the schools have been closed, because of threats, as the recent deteriorating step. Add to it the whole collapse of services and the absence of any power of the Iraqi government. The government is not capable of protecting schools and their staffs. Still, Mr. President says:
"Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities."
Another point of view one could hear says that there is no use of the American project and the Iraqis have to line up with the extremist to start:
"…building a radical Islamic empire, and launching new attacks on the United States at home and abroad."
This point of view calls for new Islamic era which should reign over the world. It is an expected outcome because of frustration people feel here.

President Bush asks an excellent question:
"Will America withdraw and yield the future of that country to the extremists, or will we stand with the Iraqis who have made the choice for freedom?"
Choosing freedom needs back up. The state of law must be enforced, but Mr. Bush introduces a discouraging description:
"The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue -- and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties. The question is whether our new strategy will bring us closer to success. I believe that it will."
But lots of people doubt it. The last words of President's address sounds like a hope more than a decisive decision to abolish terror in Iraq.
"We can, and we will, prevail."
Finally, President Bush said in his radio address on January 13:

"To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible"
It is applicable to this post. I have no idea how to get out of all this mess. And even if I have one, it won't be the ultimate one. The most pleasing thing is no one listens to my prattle.

The Iraq Study Group (I)

2007-01-07T12:49:00.000+03:00

The Iraq Study Group issued its report. In the opening section of the report titled 'Letter from the Co-Chairs' there is a good paragraph says:
"Because of the role and responsibility of the United States in Iraq, and the commitments our government has made, the United States has special obligations. Our country must address as best it can Iraq’s many problems. The United States has long-term relationships and interests at stake in the Middle East, and needs to stay engaged."
I agree with the above. It is not right to quit unfinished job in Iraq with catastrophic consequences.

Speaking about Iraq's neighbors, it says:
"Yet Iraq’s neighbors are not doing enough to help Iraq achieve stability."
The report refers to Syria & Iran by:
"Given the ability of Iran and Syria to influence events within Iraq and their interest in avoiding chaos in Iraq, the United States should try to engage them constructively."
And suggests a way to influence the behavior of both countries by using disincentives and incentives the United States has. It is obvious that using disincentives with both countries means confrontation with the US. Needless to say, Iraq will be the suitable field for such conflict.

It is much better for the US to make Iraq as a political buffer between Iran & Syria at one side and the US at the other. There are important issues in the Middle East represent vital interests for the US. Some of them, especially concerning Iran, could be tackled through the Iraqi ally. It could be a kind of continuous check of the Iraqi government loyalty. Moreover, it would help Iraq in regaining its regional political position.
"The Iraqi government needs to show its own citizens—and the citizens of the United States and other countries—that it deserves continued support."
The report says:
"By the end of 2006, the Multi-National Security Transition Command–Iraq under American leadership is expected to have trained and equipped a target number of approximately 326,000 Iraqi security services."
Still, there is lot of danger that might emerge from the Iraqi security units. The main threat is a military coup. A matter which is most of Iraqis, and Arabs, are obsessed by. Another issue is that they might make use of skill they gain through training to fight the Americans. It is important to emphasize that improving Iraqi collective mentality should be given much attention, so that training and equipments are used in the right way.

The report recounts several challenges confronted by the Iraqi army; units' lack of leadership; lack of equipment; lack of personnel; lack of logistics & support.
A good pool of Iraqi security personnel is available now (326,000), and choosing those who meet certain criteria is possible. So, constructing elite units is preferable.

Speaking about the Iraqi police, the report says:
"It has neither the training nor legal authority to conduct criminal investigations, nor the firepower to take on organized crime, insurgents, or militias."
Such deficiency makes the Iraqis do not resort to the police since there is no use of it. Collecting bodies from the streets is the only thing the policemen are good in. Moreover, Police personnel are:
"…participating in training in order to obtain a weapon, uniform, and ammunition for use in sectarian violence."
There is another force which guards the institutions of different ministries. The Facilities Protection Service (FPS) represents 145,000 uniformed armed Iraqis. The report describes them:
"These units have questionable loyalties and capabilities. In the ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Transportation controlled by Moqtada al-Sadr the Facilities Protection Service is a source of funding and jobs for the Mahdi Army."
The security situation in Baghdad is described:
"Perpetrators of violence leave neighborhoods in advance of security sweeps, only to filter back later."
"U.S. forces can “clear” any neighborhood, but there are neither enough U.S. troops present nor enough support from Iraqi security forces to “hold” neighborhoods so cleared."
A review of "politics" introduced in the report, under the section "Assessment of the Current Situation in Iraq", one can read:
"Yet many of Iraq’s most powerful and well-positioned leaders are not working toward a united Iraq."
That is because:
"Though Prime Minister Maliki has said he will address the problem of militias, he has taken little meaningful action to curb their influence. He owes his office in large part to Sadr and has shown little willingness to take on him or his Mahdi Army."
And:
"Sunni Arabs have not made the strategic decision to abandon violent insurgency in favor of the political process. Sunni politicians within the government have a limited level of support and influence among their own population, and questionable influence over the insurgency."
The following is not fair:
"The government sometimes provides services on a sectarian basis. For example, in one Sunni neighborhood of Shia-governed Baghdad, there is less than two hours of electricity each day and trash piles are waist-high."
Servicemen do not guarantee their safety in many neighborhoods. As an example, garbage men have been brutally shot dead in one neighborhood, though the very same individuals had been serving the neighborhood for more than fifteen years. On the same rhythm, propane gas cylinder and kerosene distributors, postmen, official employees who deliver electricity and water consumption receipts, all of them are targeted by anonymous killers. As a result, no one is ready to collect garbage from such neighborhoods. The report introduces a justification for the lack of electricity in the very following paragraph:
For instance, electricity transmission towers are downed by explosives, and then sniper attacks prevent repairs from being made."

I'll try to continue…

Quickened Industry

2006-12-12T21:34:00.001+03:00

A classified United States government report has concluded that the insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially. The report, obtained by The New York Times, estimates that groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities. As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid for hundreds of kidnap victims, the report says.

Kidnapping is a flourishing industry nowadays in Iraq. It includes different classes of Iraqis. Head of Iraq's Olympic Committee & other sport officials were kidnapped on 15th July, and till now nothing has leaked about the case. Last May, 15 members of Iraq's taekwondo team were kidnapped between Falluja and Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The kidnappers have demanded $100,000 for their release. The under secretary of health ministry was kidnapped few weeks ago.

As one may notice, it is a good way to make living under the cover of 'resistance' or 'jihad'. All these incidents might be classified as a struggle between an old regime and a new one. Still, there are these kidnaps taking place on backstage. Ordinary citizens are dragged to perturbing circumstances and used as some kind of commodity for gangs of different kinds. One could not be continuously alerted about what he is doing or where he is going.

A college instructor or a school teacher could be targeted for many reasons. A word he/she might say; a low degree to some lazy student; being of a different sect; somebody who wants to replace him/her; not complying with the students' demands; a briefcase in his/her hand…etc.

An example is one of my acquaintances. He is an architect supervising several construction sites in the countryside surrounding Baghdad. The buildings are medical centers. For some problem, nobody aware of, between two militias he has been kidnapped. Resorting to police is completely of no use. So, one has to look for a tribal sheik, a turbaned cleric, or a gangster to be a mediator. The kidnapped has been dealt with as a person of certain sect; a matter which he does not pay much attention to.

Nowadays I hear many bizarre stories about incidents which I had never dreamt of being acquainted with in my life. One of the kidnapped architect's relatives was a high rank officer in the dissolved army. He managed to make some contacts with former colleagues who joined the new Iraqi army. He said that these colleagues had told him so much information about the area where the architect had been kidnapped. They told him which false checkpoint stopped the kidnapped and when. What kind of cars the kidnappers had used and their colors. But he could not understand why the security forces are not ready to make any move.

Baathists are working hard on hampering the immerging crippled democracy. One of their sinister ways is to make sectarian difference contrasts sharply. There are other different parties who find a sectarian conflict is the most suitable bazaar to merchandise their extreme ideologies.

As an observer, I can say that reining in the Shiite militants could be implemented, but the Sunni's is not that easy. It is not because of ordinary people, but leaders adopting a baathi-islamic-tribal perspective won't be able to make benefit out of a democratic system.

The Iraqi society is a tribal oriented one. Tribes are spreading all over Iraq and most of them consist of a mixture of Shiites and Sunnis. Even inside families & among relatives one might find a Sunni and a Shiite. There are no facial features that distinguish one from the other.

Saddam changed the political life in Iraq into desolation. No outstanding political leader or ideology was active inside Iraq before Saddam's downfall. The expected result of getting rid of him was the people resort to tribal & religious institutions. Saddam was aware of it, so he issued an order to the members of his secret agencies, few months before the invasion, to establish their own political & religious parties and to join the other ones. Some secret service men and well known baathists changed to sanctimonious Muslim clerics. These very people are inciting sectarianism. It is important for them and for the neighboring countries that the new Iraqi political process to be eroded by continuous chaos.

The NYT says:

"Mr. Hussein’s erstwhile loyalists, realizing that “it is increasingly obvious that a Baathist regime will not regain power in Iraq,”have turned increasingly to spending the money on their own living expenses. The trail to these assets “has grown cold,” the report adds."

Putting more pressure on Saddam's followers will make them jump off the boat. Most of them are profiteers. By setting an abroad judicial campaign to pursuit them, they would try to keep the money for their own interests and to distance themselves to somewhere away from the Middle East.

The most dangerous funding party is 'sympathetic donors':

"One section of the report is dedicated to the role played by “sympathetic donors,” including Islamic charities and nongovernmental organizations."

There is lot of funding comes from Islamic and Arab world. The main motive for 'sympathetic donors' is fighting the US. It is enough to tell many people that the money he/she donating is going to militants who fight against the US. The US attitude toward the Israeli-Arab conflict (though it is another issue) plays a great role in charging hatred against the US.

The US misapprehension of the real nature of insurgency makes more people change their view of the invulnerable super power. It raises many questions about the real capabilities of the US intelligence service.

"Several security and intelligence consultants said…that the vagueness of the estimates reflected how little American intelligence agencies knew about the opaque and complex world of Iraq’s militant groups."

On ground the tangible result is:

"Several American security consultants, all former members of government intelligence agencies that deal with terrorism, said in interviews that the ineffectiveness of efforts to impede the revenues to the insurgents was reflected in the continuing, if not growing, strength of Iraq’s militants."

Comments

2006-11-13T15:08:00.000+03:00

President Bush held a press conference on October 25, 2006. I'd like to make comments about some of what he said.

"… They've cleared (American and Iraqi forces)neighborhoods of terrorists and death squads"

I don't go with this since terrorists turned to new tactics. Assassins are touring Baghdad's neighborhoods, kidnapping and killing people blatantly. Cold blood killers are patrolling Baghdad streets in their cars fearing nobody. One could witness and hear many incidents of killing innocent people. More than five killing incidents took place at the same spot (in front of an elementary school) on different days within the past month with the same scenario. A car stops; one or two victims dragged blindfolded & handcuffed out of the car; shot dead at the spot; the car flees the place. Time of execution: 9-11 am!! The killers are anonymous; the victims are anonymous (they are left with no IDs).

Twelve persons were killed within eight hours in a neighborhood of about 300 houses. One was killed in front of a heavy guarded bank. One of another three, who have been killed, ran away from the killers, but they chased him into a grocery filled with customers and shot him dead. Again none of the two sides is known.

The terrorists are training new generation of thugs. Teenagers on motor scooters tour the streets looking for victims. The victim is nominated by elder thugs escorting the teens in two cars (the cars are for watching, protecting and intervening in case of emergency). Another neighborhood witnessed the killing of five victims within one hour. A woman driving her daughter from school was shot dead & the daughter was injured.

A plumber in his store was chatting with two of his friends when a teenager entered asking for a monkey wrench to buy. The plumber answered him 'These are my working tools, but you can buy one from that store' pointing at a nearby one. The killer left the store, but after few meters he turned back, entered the plumber's store again, dragged a gun and shot the man dead. Then he left to a motor scooter which was waiting for him and fled the location.

It is the same policy of Saddam. A stark example was adding his son Qusay to the execution squad which shot Saddam's comrades in 1979. Qusay was around twelve years old. The comrades were sentenced to death by Saddam because they opposed him to be the president. It is training of new killers. Another example was firing five shots of an AK-47 gun weekly in every school during the flag salutation ceremony on Thursdays. One would imagine what kind of psychological effects could appear on a child of six years old.

People are astonished how bunches of thugs could pass through check points without being noticed, especially those who are accompanied by their handcuffed blindfolded victims. Some suggestions say that the police officers or army soldiers do not want to risk their lives by confronting the thugs or being killed by a suicide bomber who might detonate his car at the check point. On the other hand one can come across many police convoys parading in the streets, showing off by shouting at people and shooting their guns in the air to make their way through the busy streets.

Iraq has been invaded by the most advanced nation in the world. Still, the ways used to deal with security problems do not reveal innovation. No advanced technology is used in surveillance, tracing criminal evidence, reconstruction…etc. Dealing with the Americans on the ground made the Iraqis change the way they had perceived them. This goes for the insurgents.

I recall stories of the terrified Iraqi soldiers, members of the republican guards and Saddam's special guards speaking about the impenetrable American troops and armors. They fled the battle field reciting unbelievable stories about the American troops that can not be defied or confronted. These stories go back to the 'shock & awe' time in the early days of Iraq War. Day after day, the Iraqis have changed their perception of the Americans by realizing that they are vulnerable.

President Bush said:
"We learned some key lessons from that early phase in the war. We saw how quickly al Qaeda and other extremist groups would come to Iraq to fight and try to drive us out…As the enemy shifts tactics, we are shifting our tactics, as well."

It is strange to hear such words from the leader of the supreme power. President Bush is drawing a sketch of the way to deal with insurgency based on striking back not taking the lead in action by the MNF.

Call to Bloggers

2006-10-29T08:02:00.000+03:00

Amnesty International issued a ‘Call to Bloggers’, asking them to get online and stand up for freedom of expression on the internet. The call comes as the online world prepares to meet at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF, Athens 30/10 – 2/11). Amnesty international is sending a delegation to ensure that human rights are not sidelined and remain at the heart of the forum’s discussions.

Steve Ballinger, part of Amnesty International’s delegation to the IGF, said:

"… some governments have sought to curtail this freedom. People have been locked up just for expressing their views in an email or a website. Sites and blogs have been shut down and firewalls built to prevent access to information."

I had the experience, during Saddam reign, of being blocked out of accessing even email service. A heavy firewall was preventing Iraqi internet users from a wide range of websites. It was like a kind of secret activity to pass information to friends & relatives about newly discovered websites; especially email service. One would change his/her email frequently making it not guaranteed to receive a reply, since one's email could be blocked at any time. Thanks to Arizona State official website which offered me, at that time, an email box for over a year without being discovered by Iraqi watch. So, I can understand the difficulties people are going through to access internet & to pass their words to the world.

Moreover, activists who use the internet to express their thoughts peacefully are being detained in some countries. Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Yahoo! provided information to the government that was used in his prosecution.

"Today, our chance to fight a new hi-tech tyranny" as Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, says in The Observer:

"The internet is big business, but in the search for profits some companies have encroached on their own principles and those on which the internet was founded: free access to information. The results of searches using China-based search engines run by Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and local firms are censored, limiting the information users can access. Microsoft pulled down the work of one of China's most popular bloggers who had made politically sensitive comments. Yahoo gave information to the authorities that led to people being jailed for sending emails with political content. We do not accept these firms' arguments that it is better to have a censored Google, Yahoo or Microsoft in China than none at all."

Tunisian lawyer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou is serving a three and a half year prison sentence for publishing articles critical of the Tunisian authorities on the Internet.
Vietnamese political dissident Truong Quoc Huy was first arrested in October 2005 with two other young people after chatting on a democracy and human rights website. On 18 August 2006, he was rearrested in an Internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. His whereabouts remain unknown and no charges have been publicized.
Iranian student activist and blogger Kianoosh Sanjari, aged 24, was arrested on 7 October whilst reporting on clashes between security forces and supporters of a Shi'a cleric. Kianoosh Sanjari is being held incommunicado at an unknown location and Amnesty International fears that he may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

Steve Ballinger said:

“Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege – but it’s a right that needs defending. We’re asking bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with web users in countries where they can face jail just for criticizing the government."

“The Internet Governance Forum needs to know that the online community is bothered about free expression online and willing to stand up for it.”

If you are concerned about free expression online and willing to stand up for it, try to sign this pledge on Internet freedom called (Irrepressible.info). Moreover, try to spread the word to others; put a link to the pledge on your website, if you have one.

Ramadan & Eid

2006-10-24T21:50:00.000+03:00

Ramadan has just finished in Iraq & the Muslim world. The last day of Ramadan, which is a month, was on sunday 22nd of October. Fasting according to Islam includes not eating or drinking or smoking from sunrise till sunset, not to have sexual intercourse with the husband/wife in the same period of the day, to try to do good deeds as much as one can do, to practice good habits…etc. In general, Ramadan is a month for focusing on training oneself soul to get closer to God by enhancing the good qualities of ones conduct. Lying, tittle-tattle, using bad language, false promises, hurting people…etc are forbidden in Islam. Many people find it not easy to quit such bad qualities. By creating an environment of watching each others behavior, it helps some people to quit them.

Ramadan has its cultural traditions and folklore activities. One of the famous folklore games is (Al-Mih’haibis). It is a game which needs nothing more than a finger ring and two teams of unlimited members. Each team tries to regain the ring which is hidden in one of the closed hands of the whole members of the opponent team. One member of the team who seeks for the ring goes through the players of the team which has the ring. Every player in the team with the ring should raise his hands in front of him so that the seeker, and his team, can see them clearly. The seeker should be of good ability to control the opponents psychologically and has predictability about where the ring might be hidden. He keeps on opening hand after another by pointing to each and saying his prediction. He has the right to consult his team players about their predictions. If he points to a certain hand and announce a wrong gesture then the one who has the ring shouts (Bat).

When the shout is heard that means the ring is going to remain with the same team for another round and another point is to be added to their score. Here a short break is made to sing traditional songs, mainly (Murab'aa), praising the victory of the team. Such game is played at night after breaking fast. There are famous ring seekers in every city and town. In Baghdad, for example, one may find these famous seekers in the old parts of the city. The old parts of Baghdad consist of alleys, and till now great games are held between the alleys teams.The trophy of the game is a big tray or more of (Baklawa). It is a kind of sweets well known in the Mideast countries. These trays of baklawa are to be eaten by the two teams when the game is over.

Nowadays such public gatherings are unsafe because of the bad security conditions, especially in Baghdad. Some Iraqi TV satellite channels organized championships for the game to keep it alive in the minds of new generations.

Ramadan is followed by Eid Al-Fitr (Less Bairam). First day of Eid, of three days, was on 23rd of October. Eid Al-Fitr represents a celebration of fasting after Ramadan. An Islamic ritual at the end of Ramadan is to pay little amount of money by every Muslim who has sufficient income. This amount is called (Zakah El-Fitr). It should be paid, by those who like to, on the last day of Ramadan. It is one kind of the social insurance in Islam. This (Zakah El-Fitr) is to be paid to poor people so that they can celebrate (Eid El-fitr).The amount differs from one year to another. This year it is about $1.5 for each person. That is to pay $1.5 for each member of the family by the paterfamilias. One may pay it directly to poor people whom he/she knows. Otherwise is to give it to a trustee.People visit and greet each other on Eid. In Iraq the most common greetings is (Ayamkum Sa’eida) which means (wishing you happy days).

A friend of mine insists on changing this greeting to (wishing you normal days). Of course he jokes about our abnormal days since 1990. He explains that we live under the line of normal days, so we should achieve normal life and then to think about happiness.Finally (Ayamkum Sa’eida) to all readers of this post.

Do we need the Americans? (II)

2006-10-19T02:14:00.000+03:00

Since 1920 Iraq witnessed a significant growth in urban society. Baghdad was resembled to a large village by the British soldiers who entered the city in March 1917. They had heard a lot a bout (1001 nights) stories but they were astounded by the miserable town they conquered. The dominant lifestyle in Iraq was a mixture of tribal-religious traditions. These traditions did not evolve with the development of people's urbanization. People migrated from rural communities, for different reasons, could not cope with the constraints of cities.

Pacing toward state of law & civilization was taking place when it was interrupted by a series of coups. This series took place between 1958 and 1968. The final caused the bathists to gain power. Waves of villagers claimed possession of power since they were participants in implementing those coups. By the year 1979, in which Saddam seized power, the influence of tribal traditions started to regain dominance over the Iraqi society. The grip of law began to wane and people had to disclaim their rights, or to look for alternatives to help them in solving their everyday life's problems.

Nowadays, not resorting to law is a clear feature of the Iraqi society. Take a look at this article which recites how political and militant Islam is clashing with tribal customs and a shared Arab and Muslim identity that have bonded Sunnis and Shiites for decades. The events are taking place in still-mixed neighborhood called Tobji, nestled in north-central Baghdad. One can notice, through the photo accompanying the article, the pastoral feature of the neighborhood (keep in mind it is in north-central Baghdad).

It is the rural and tribal values that prevailed over urban ones. It is expected, under global transition that this image would replicate in a world which is turning into a universal village. One of the unavoidable results of such globalized world is migration of people, and as a consequence their values, from the poor countryside of the world to the wealthy urban one. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements programme says:

"International migration, just like urbanisation, cannot be stopped in any sustainable or humane manner. It has to be managed. One can argue that in a globalised world, where we have unrestricted movement of money, goods and information, restrictions on the movement of people remains a major contradiction."
It has to be managed. One way of managing migration is to develop the 'countryside' of the world to reduce the number of emigrants looking for better life situations. Developing poor regions does not mean to impose certain values on other societies. It means to back up shared human values; Mr. Tony Blair put it like this:

"…we must fashion an international community that both embodies, and acts in pursuit of global values: liberty, democracy, tolerance, justice."
It is either developing those 'countryside' regions of the world or accepting what comes out from there. I refer always to what I call 'educational rehabilitation' of communities like the Iraqi one. Otherwise, incidents like this one or killing the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh should be expected to intimidate western societies. It is the nowadays methods of communications, as one feature of globalization, which made it possible for radical Islamists to rally mob behind them protesting against cartoons satirizing Muhammad. And it is the airplanes which are mainly made to serve people and bring them closer to each other. This means of transport was used to attack the twin towers on 9/11.

It is not only a matter of military confrontation or security procedures. On 26 Feb, 1993 there was an attempt to blow up the world trade center and the US reaction was built on the idea that the states are immune and invulnerable, so did not retaliate.

Launching campaigns against Afghanistan and Iraq, after 9/11, is not a matter of argument under the status quo. It is either to cut and run accepting all the consequences, or to persist on completing the mission. Leaving Iraq without arranging things would, more likely, turn it into the most suitable incubator to hatch terrorists much faster than they do now. Iraq represents a magnet which drains those who are ready to commit aggressive deeds from all over the world. Is Iraq helping by draining these 'martyrs'? Yes it is.

Now the question becomes 'Does the US need the Iraqis?'

That’s another topic.

Do we need the Americans?(I)

2006-10-01T23:19:00.000+03:00

In an interview in the Washington Post, Iraqi President Jalal Talibani said Iraq still needs foreign troops and would like a small U.S. presence of 10,000 troops and two airbases for the long term.

Does Iraq, or some other countries, really need foreign existence on its soil? What criterion is to decide it? Is it Iraq sovereignty? And what is it meant by 'sovereignty' in the new globalized world. Would such U.S. troops presence violate Iraq sovereignty?

I recall a Sudanese, on the BBC radio, called for 'benign occupation' of countries like Iraq & Sudan. His perspective was that such countries need to be rehabilitated and they need a foreign rational power to do it.

President Talabani views this presence as a deterrent to non-Iraqis from interfering in Iraq's affairs.

"The presence of American forces -- even a symbolic one -- will frighten those who are trying to interfere in our affairs."

This is good, but what about the internal policy of any future Iraqi government. Will this presence observe the US & Iraqi government interests only? What about the Iraqi people. On November 12, 2004 Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a joint press conference with President Bush:

"We have to complete our mission in Iraq, make sure that Iraq is a stable and a democratic country."

Mr. Blair emphasized on making sure of stable and "democratic" Iraq. But the words of Mr. Talabani sounds like as if he does not reject the idea of having only "stable" Iraq or as Mr. Blair put it:

“…when I was first a member of Parliament and making my way up the greasy pole and all the rest of it, there was a view in foreign policy that you dealt with countries on the basis of whatever attitude they had towards you, but really whatever they did within their own countries, that was up to them, and didn't really make a difference to your long-term relationship…”

Mr. Blair added:

"I think what we are learning today is that there is not stability of any true, long-term kind without democratic rights for free people to decide their government."

And that what people of Iraq is looking for. To keep a close eye on the Iraqi political elite performance is very important. The US has to patronize the new Iraqi political process for many coming years. This does not mean to keep a large number of troops in Iraq, but a number like what Mr. Talabani referred to might be sufficient.

These troops should be intended to keep any future Iraqi government on the rail of democracy. I believe these troops should have another mission. That is to prevent any kind of coups which derail the political life in Iraq.

The Americans have to keep on watching the adherence of any Iraqi government to the basic human rights. The most important among these, as I believe, is the freedom of opinion & expression. Being free to speak & criticize would help a lot in making improvements in different sectors of life.

Though the heavy existence of the Americans in Iraq, stark images of oppressing free speech are taking place. So what would happen if the Americans paid no attention to the political and human rights aspects and focused on their interests, assuming human rights are not included, according to the old method described above by Mr. Blair?

Ali Fadhil wrote in the New York Times:

"With American encouragement, Iraq produced a generation of young journalists who are decades ahead of their counterparts elsewhere in the region."

But:

"In the last year, however, as successive short-term governments have taken power in Baghdad, American support for the Iraqi news media has waned."

This led to:

"In mid-July, the Iraqi prime minister threatened to close any news media outlet that insufficiently supports the Iraqi government in its fight against sectarian violence. I fear that if this government survives, the press in Iraq will become similar to that in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Syria. This is bad news at a time when the Iraqi press needs protection more than ever."

Aljazeera TV office in Baghdad had been banned from working by Alawi government and recently Alarabya TV office has been suspended from reporting for a month for some blur reason. No regulations are clear for media work in Iraq. Aljazeera & Alarabya are still reporting from the US. Though there were several occasions of criticism by American officials to their conduct, but no one could stop them from working in the States. It shows the difference between a civilized community (the US) and an uncivilized one (Iraq).
Among many parties, recounted by Ali Fadhil, which target Iraqi journalists is:

"The American soldiers who were so helpful to us in the early days of the occupation now have a different attitude. By 2005, if an Iraqi journalist aimed a camera at a United States Army convoy, the soldiers’ rules of engagement allowed them to shoot. American soldiers have been responsible for the deaths of about 14 journalists in Iraq, the majority of them Iraqis."

His speculation is:

"The Iraqi people, however, will continue to suffer. There will be new mass murders, committed or encouraged by the very same people who denounced the killings under Saddam Hussein. And just as back then, there will be no news media to inform the world."

To prevent this, Iraq needs American existence (a military one or another). And the symbolic American presence asked for by Mr. Talabani is to be in favor of the Iraqi people & not a non-democratic government which maintains the US interests.

The question is "What makes the US work hard to create new civilized society in Iraq?" Is the US a charitable institution to help Iraq for nothing?

To be continued…

Fragments & Bullets

2006-09-16T16:26:00.000+03:00

There is some kind of, what I may call, tradition in our family to collect bullets that fall on our house. It goes back to some twenty years ago or more. In fact, it is nothing more than a small plastic box in which one finds bomb fragments and bullets of different kinds & shapes. The other day I decided to weight this collection. Its weight was more than half a kilogram (I think it is something around one pound).

It is quite normal for the Iraqis to fire their arms into air in most of their occasions. It is a tribal heritage especially in the rural & desert areas. Since 1968 Iraq cities retrograded in their values toward tribal traditions.

I can recall a Ukrainian soldier, in the early days of invasion, who was speaking on the radio about what he had been doing in Hilla (a city about 100 Km south to Baghdad) and his impression about the community in that city. He spoke about different issues but he replied sarcastically to a question 'What makes the locals fire at you?':

"Well, I noticed that the Iraqis shoot their arms when they have a funeral, wedding, demonstration, dispute, football game…etc and they find coming across us as another occasion to be added to their list."

At midnight of 8/9 August 1988 a ceasefire was declared as an end of an eight years war between Iraq & Iran. People kept on firing their guns for three days as a sign of celebration. It caused casualties of more than 300 people killed and more than 3000 injured in Baghdad only.

Nowadays the Iraqi security forces convoys use the same way I referred to in a previous post (Novel Horn). It is shooting guns in the air. This does not mean that one might hear shooting once or twice a day; it means to hear shooting once or twice per hour. Each consists of chains of shots causing lot of nervous tension. Another factor may be added to increase the tension which is the US military helicopters. The pilots fly them very low (about 100 foot) causing lot of noise and terror especially when they pass directly over one's head. One could see more than 50 helicopters per day from one fixed location.

The other day I was watching through a window my nephew (less than 3) playing in the garden when two US helicopters flew over our house. The little boy put his hands on his ears and started to run aimlessly crying & shouting for his mother. The same happens to him whenever he hears gunfire.

Till now it is so hot in Iraq and with no sufficient electricity power, Iraqis resort to sleep at night over their housetop. I do the same; still, it is uncomfortable. Even at night it is hot. One can hear gunfire every now and then, and he/she might take the risk (if he/she is sleepy & lazy) by remaining on mattress, or jump to take shelter to avoid some straying bullets. Many times when I decide to remain in bed because I'm so lazy and considering the fire shots are far away; within seconds I hear buzzing objects flying over my head which makes me jump immediately to take shelter in the stairs entrance. Moreover, military helicopters don't stop their tours even at night. Sometimes mortar shells might be added as a 'flavor' to make the condition much worse. So, one could imagine what kind of conditions we are surrounded with.

Our house is in a backstreet in the neighborhood, but the main streets are not far. The distant between our house and one of these main streets (as a direct line) is about 100 meter. It is a street of less than 400 meter long. In a time interval of about three months five side-road-bombs exploded in it. The strange thing is that four of the SRB were placed in the very same hole. One of them went off at 7 am and after few seconds something hit the roof of our house. It sounded like some heavy piece of metal. Thanks god, nobody was sleeping there, and we went upstairs to discover a very hot piece of metal of about 15 cm length with very sharp edges.

Some stories are funny. I can recall one happened during the desert storm operation 1991 to liberate Kuwait. It was the fifth or sixth day since the military operations began, and there were continual air raids and lot of news about using chemical weapons. It was one hour after sunset and electricity power was cut off, so the house was in total darkness except for few oil lamps. Suddenly we heard a glass smash noise with some other unrecognizable sounds. At once I ran toward the source of the noise carrying torch in my hand followed by my two brothers. It was from the kitchen. We rushed in quickly to see what caused that smash; shockingly we smelled a smell of apple. Startlingly, one of us shouted 'CHEMICAL GAS'; it caused us to retreat in stampede to flee from the kitchen. Again we stopped in the corridor and one of us said 'No it is not; otherwise we should be asphyxiating'. On returning back we discovered one of the window glasses in the kitchen had a big hole, but we could not find what caused the hole or that apple smell since it was dark.

The other day we realized that an antiaircraft bullet hit the window punching a spray detergent container used for cleaning dishes. The bullet was added to the collection in the plastic box and so is the bomb fragment.

The Battle of Baghdad

2006-09-02T09:25:00.000+03:00

I'm borrowing the title of a column written by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in the Wall Street Journal. It has been well known that the party which takes control of Baghdad would rule Iraq. For that whenever there was a coup, the target of the implementers was Baghdad. There are many examples of failure of those who tried to seize power by setting out their work far from Baghdad. One is a coup attempt by Col. Shaw'waf in March 1959 against Gen. Qassim government. He declared disobedience in Mosul (about 400 Km north to Baghdad). That declaration in a remote city from Baghdad made it easy for Gen. Qassim to crush the attempt.

Another example is the uprising of March 1991 in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Saddam crushed it within two weeks because it had not targeted Baghdad, though the rebels had managed to take control of the southern part of Iraq. Nowadays the former regime leaders, working underground, consider Baghdad as the most vital prize. One of them, Mohammed Younis Al-Ahmed (settler in Syria), gave orders to his followers to intensify their operations in Baghdad. He said that a year ago or more.

It is true what Ambassador Khalilzad wrote:
"Iraq faces an urgent crisis in securing its capital, Baghdad."
But shouldn't it be something expected according to many calls said by terrorists and Saddamists. Sometimes I feel puzzled about the way of work and decisions made by the Americans.

Saddam realized that Baghdad should appear in the most polished image to give unreal impression of stability. He worked hard on that; especially in the last 13 years under the UN sanctions against Iraq. So, one could not feel power shortage or insecure environment in Baghdad. Municipality services seemed good; markets were opened till midnight. Generally, he held Baghdad with a firm grip. Saddam was a man of propaganda and media represented a very essential means for him to reflect a fake image to the Iraqis & the world.

It was expected that the Saddamists would concentrate there effort on Baghdad by causing as much chaos as possible to show unreal image of what's going on in Iraq. Ambassador Khalilzad indicates:
"Baghdad is also Iraq's financial and media center, the latter of which is especially important given that the declared strategy of the terrorists and violent sectarian groups in Iraq revolves around creating a perception of growing chaos in an effort to persuade Americans that the effort in Iraq has failed. Therefore, violence in Baghdad has a disproportionate psychological and strategic effect."
The result would be as Amir Taheri says:
"It would be hard indeed for the average interested citizen to find out on his own just how grossly this image distorts the realities of present-day Iraq."
It is Baghdad which creates the perception for people around the world since most of the media agencies are located in it. And by inciting violence, a distorted image would be conveyed:
"…by reporters, cocooned in hotels in Baghdad, explaining the “carnage” and “chaos” in the streets as signs of the country’s “impending” or “undeclared” civil war."
Mr. Khalilzad says:
"It is understandable that when the American people hear of new U.S. casualties and witness the images of bloodshed from the streets of Baghdad, they conclude that our plans for stemming sectarian violence in Iraq have failed."
I expect the insurgents will increase their operations against US troops in the coming days trying to increase the casualties. It is essential for the Saddamists to turn the public opinion in the US against the Republicans in the coming elections. Though it is not necessary that the Democrats would make a radical change in the US policy toward Iraq, still the reactionary parties in Iraq believe that they consider it one step to victory. A victory which would make the US administration changes its priorities in Iraq by putting a 'stable Iraq' instead of a 'democratic Iraq' as the first priority.

The Saddamists are eager to regain power. But it should be according to their conditions. So, if they manage to retrograde the US goals in Iraq to 'maintain stability', then they might step forward and say we are here to help.

I have not been to the 'green zone' in Baghdad, but I hear a lot about the security measures on entering it. Every car or pedestrian is to be checked carefully using very sophisticated equipment. I wonder why not extending such measures to the districts neighboring the green zone according to some kind of step-by-step schedule. Many other technical devices, like surveillance cameras & balloons, could be used to watch the streets. The Iraqis can not understand what makes the super power unable to tackle the security situation. According to Khalilzad:
"In July, a poll by the International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to democracy promotion, found that 94% of Iraqis said they support a "unity" government representing all sects and ethnic communities"
Which gives an indication that these who endeavor to undermine 'new Iraq' represent a minority; still they have the determination to frustrate the Americans. Frustration can be provoked through television footage showing the charred remains of vehicles used in suicide attacks, surrounded by wailing women in black and grim-looking men carrying coffins. As Taheri says:
"To make matters worse, many of the newsmen, pundits, and commentators on whom American viewers and readers rely to describe the situation have been contaminated by the increasing bitterness of American politics. Clearly there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for George W. Bush."

A Memo & an Article (III)

2006-08-21T15:20:00.000+03:00

First of all, there isn't sufficient electricity power in my neighborhood to sit to the PC. For the past days, we have had a complete electricity cutoff, so the reliance is on the neighborhood generator. This means priority is to refrigerators and air-coolers; there is no power for PCs. Under such circumstances a PC is a luxury. I'm trying to maneuver to snatch short times in between to start my PC. Now, back to the post.
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Amir Taheri says:
"In 1973, for example, when Saddam Hussein decided to expel all those whose ancestors had not been Ottoman citizens before Iraq’s creation as a state, some 1.2 million Iraqis left their homes in the space of just six weeks… it was a scene regularly repeated under Saddam Hussein."
At that time, many people displacements took place. The implementers of that policy were mainly the baathists, and many of them were greedy for the possessions & properties of certain people. Others used their authority of adding people to the expulsion lists for blackmailing, since every one who had been sent out of Iraq was deprived of citizenship & all his/her properties were confiscated.

Processions of trucks pulling trailers filled with Kurds jamming the streets of Baghdad was a repeated event in the mid of the 1970s. Thousands of Kurds were displaced from their domicile in northern Iraq to the southern parts. On the other hand, Arabs were encouraged to move northward, especially to Kirkuk, granting each Arab settler $30000.

The policy of changing Iraq demography was a permanent feature of the Baath regime. Another example was a decision issued by Saddam in the mid of the 1990s which prevented any person, who had not been registered in Baghdad province in the census of 1957, from possessing a real-estate in Baghdad. The decision was designed to prevent Shiite & Kurd newcomers from owning real-estate in the city. Moreover, campaigns were organized to kick out of Baghdad those who had not owned residential units in the city. Those who were renting houses were included in driving out of Baghdad.

Astonishingly, Mr. Taheri notes:
"Since the toppling of Saddam in 2003, this is one highly damaging image we have not seen… To the contrary, Iraqis, far from fleeing, have been returning home. By the end of 2005, in the most conservative estimate, the number of returnees topped the 1.2-million mark."
The second sign which the writer refers to as a sign of improvement in Iraq is:
"…the flow of religious pilgrims to the Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf. Whenever things start to go badly in Iraq, this stream is reduced to a trickle and then it dries up completely… In 2005, the holy sites received an estimated 12 million pilgrims, making them the most visited spots in the entire Muslim world, ahead of both Mecca and Medina."
It is true that visiting the Shiite shrines, during Saddam's era, could stain one's reputation (according to Saddam's criterion) and cause him/her lot of troubles with the government.

Then he speaks about some features of Iraq economy:
"Since liberation, however, Iraq has witnessed a private-sector boom, especially among small and medium-sized businesses."
I go with the above. A merchant who works in toy business whose main stores are located in Shurja (the most important trade center in Baghdad) compares the number of lorries freighting goods to Nasirya (a southern city) before and after the 2003 war. He says that a transportation agency he deals with used to send one lorry every three or four days before the war to Nasirya. After the war, at least three lorries are to be sent daily to that city. It gives an indication of how many times the economic standard improved.

I may add the level of depending on the rations distributed by the United Nations under Oil-for-Food. Till the war, people were so dependent on the ration. Nowadays the number of the dependents declined.

The sophisticated Baath institutions, working nowadays underground, noticed the importance of crippling Iraq economy to undermine the whole new political process. One of their methods in doing so is launching a campaign to assassinate every store owner they can reach. And to double the outcome, they try to target Shiites in neighborhoods of Sunni majority and vice versa. The result is closing businesses and provocation of sectarianism. Still, businesses are flourishing in southern parts of Iraq but not to the level expected, since stability there is fragile.

Mr. Taheri says:
"Finally, one of the surest indices of the health of Iraqi society has always been its readiness to talk to the outside world. Iraqis are a verbalizing people… Today, again by way of dramatic contrast, Iraqis are voluble to a fault. Talk radio, television talk-shows, and Internet blogs are all the rage… To anyone familiar with the state of the media in the Arab world, it is a truism that Iraq today is the place where freedom of expression is most effectively exercised."
I might doubt the last statement in the above since speaking freely nowadays in Iraq might cause one's death. The difference between Saddam's days and nowadays is that repression was practiced by the government, while nowadays it is practiced by the community, especially by clerics and terrorists. It is safe to criticize or use bad language to describe any member of the government, but one should be completely aware that such deed is dangerous to be against clerics, militias, Saddam, and terrorists.

Mr. Taheri argues for fostering the new born democracy in Iraq:
"A related argument used to condemn Iraq’s democratic prospects is that it is an “artificial” country, one that can be held together only by a dictator. But did any nation-state fall from the heavens wholly made? All are to some extent artificial creations, and the U.S. is preeminently so...Two-thirds of the 122 countries regarded as democracies by Freedom House came into being after Iraq’s appearance on the map."
Mr. Taheri makes a significant point by saying:
"But one thing is certain: without the use of force to remove the Baathist regime, the people of Iraq would not have had the opportunity even to contemplate a democratic future."
That's right since Saddam and his regime represented a real obstacle in the way of a normal social development. It is so obvious through observing the new Iraqi generation, especially those who were born after 1970; a generation which has been brought up amidst a series of wars and chaos.

The writer refers to certain principle which is deep rooted in old democracies, considering the Iraqi one likewise:
"…all parties and personalities currently engaged in the democratic process have committed themselves to the principle that power should be sought, won, and lost only through free and fair elections."
A principle which I doubt that it would be sustained in Iraq without keeping close eye on the political elite, and the whole society in general, by some rational power for equilibrium. Once again, I am completely convinced that our society must be educationally rehabilitated. Much work needed to change the collective mentality from admiring coup schemers to freely elected leaders. The majority of 'parties and personalities' are viewing the democratic process as a one-time-use method to seize power. So, one can hear rumors about a coup which is prepared by certain parties in collaboration with the Americans. Mr. Taheri rephrases it:
"Democratic success still requires a great deal of patience, determination, and luck... if the military mission has been so successful, the U.S. still needs to maintain a military presence in Iraq for at least another two years. There are three reasons for this:
The first is to discourage Iraq’s predatory neighbors, notably Iran and Syria.
The second reason is political. The U.S. is acting as an arbiter among Iraq’s various ethnic and religious communities and political factions.
Finally, the U.S. and its allies have a key role to play in training and testing Iraq’s new army and police."

'But will the U.S. stay the course? Many are betting against it.' as Mr. Taheri says. It is believed that the party which rules in Iraq is the one which can maintain the US interests. So, the Iraqi groups work hard to abort each other achievements, just to tell the Americans that the party you are allying with is of no use. These political groups:
"…have now pinned their hopes on creating enough chaos and death to persuade Washington of the futility of its endeavors. In this, they have the tacit support not only of local Arab and Muslim despots rightly fearful of the democratic genie but of all those in the West whose own incessant theme has been the certainty of American failure."
I find the closure paragraph, of Mr. Taheri's article, inspirational and represent a hope for those who are steadfast in their determination to help Iraq to be a beacon of democracy in the Middle East:
"Is Iraq a quagmire, a disaster, a failure? Certainly not; none of the above. Of all the adjectives used by skeptics and critics to describe today’s Iraq, the only one that has a ring of truth is “messy.” Yes, the situation in Iraq today is messy. Births always are. Since when is that a reason to declare a baby unworthy of life?"

Maliki

2006-08-05T04:43:00.000+03:00

Last week, the Iraqi prime Minister, Nuri al-Mliki, visited London & Washington. He had the chance to address the Congress. The man has been to these cities looking for help to his country. There are some points drew my attention in his tour. First is the focus of Mr. Maliki on showing gratitude to the US people, something which Iraqis reluctantly refer to. Mr. Maliki said, addressing Military Personnel and Families at Fort Belvoir, Virginia:
"I appreciate your colleagues who offered their lives on the land of Iraq, and I tell you that Iraqis will never forget these sacrifices because they have really participated in ridding Iraq of dictatorship… But once again, we give you all the salute -- we salute you and we thank you very much for all that you've offered to Iraq. "
One of my previous posts was about not being grateful to the Americans.

Second is the fear that the US would abandon the Iraqis. Mr. Maliki said in his speech:
"Let 1991 never be repeated, for history will be most unforgiving,"
Iraqis of different political intentions are preoccupied with this idea. Insurgents are looking enthusiastically to a day on which the US declares her failure. On the other hand the ordinary Iraqi citizen fears to be handled to another dictator.
I posted something contains the same idea:
"… in the year 1991 operation Desert Storm kicked Saddam out of Kuwait. A popular uprising, against Saddam, spread all over Iraq the very day on which president Bush, the father, declared the end of the military operations. The Iraqi people thought that the Americans would not stop at that point and they should help the uprising of March 1991. Leaving the Iraqis alone to be torn apart by Saddam still resides in their hearts."

Third is the conflict between Israel & Hezbollah. A good deal of pressure was put on Mr. Maliki to denounce Hezbollah. Now, in the midst of peoples of the Middle East and the Islamic world which view the conflict like this:

It is so uneasy for Mr. Maliki to denounce Hezbollah.I picture the matter as asking a man to get on his soapbox praising black people amidst a Ku Klux Klan group. Congressmen who insisted on Mr. Maliki to do so are asking him to fire at his political future.

In a country like Iraq, words like the following to be said by an Iraqi official are considered an amazing step:

"Who could possibly watch the pictures of innocent civilians being killed, or incidentally innocent civilians killed in Israel too, without wanting this to stop now?"
(Innocent civilians Killed in Israel!!) That's what I might call a real change in the political speech in Iraq; a country which its leaders used to call Israel the (Zionist Régime). Change, sometimes, needs time. An Iraqi politician attended a conference in Israel (I think in 2004) and he was very frank in declaring it. The visit caused him lot of condemnation and he was kicked out of the Iraqi Congress Party of Ahmed Chalabi. Personally, I thought the man had politically finished. The surprise was that Mithal Alusi, the politician speaking about, managed to be a member of the Iraqi Parliament, while Ahmed Chalabi couldn't. It means that 1/275 of the Iraqis do not oppose normal relations with Israel (the Iraqi Parliament consists of 275 members).

White House spokesman Tony Snow made a good point, concerning the speech of Mr. Maliki, by saying:
"Let me try to explain democracy to people on Capitol Hill. It involves such rights as free speech and freedom of opinion."
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean called Maliki:
"…an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel."
I do not understand what is meant by 'anti-Semite'. Is it used as a term refers to those who are against Israel? According to my knowledge, Arabs are Semite, so how come a Semite hates his race. I need some explanation in this point.

Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer, said:
"I'm far from thrilled with Nouri al-Maliki's comments, but I think we have to keep two things in mind:
One, the Iraqis picked him as the head of their elected government, and he's not going to agree with the U.S. on everything.
Two, al-Maliki has his own domestic pressures to deal with as he tries to hold that government together, and chastising Israel may be the Baghdad version of playing to the base."
And:
"If al-Maliki suddenly took a pro-Israel stance, wouldn't much of his country view his as an American puppet?"

James Taranto argued:
"Well, what exactly did al-Maliki say? Here are some quotes:
"We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."
"[Israel's] excessive use of force is to be condemned."
"What is happening is an operation of mass destruction and mass punishment and an operation using great force that Israel has--and Lebanon does not."
"While Israel has stated its military objective is to hit Hezbollah's infrastructure and physical strength, it has, in the words of the Lebanese prime minister, torn the country to shreds."
In fairness to al-Maliki, we should note that he didn't say all these things. Only the first and third quotes are from him; the second and fourth are from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
We'll agree with Reid, Schumer and Durbin, then, that al-Maliki is as bad as Annan, and we look forward to their condemnation of Annan."
Another thoughtful perspective comes from Marshall Wittmann:
"The Moose harbors no illusions about a dramatic transformation of Muslim attitudes toward the Jewish state. But, it is a dramatic improvement when words cannot kill."

A Memo & an Article (II)

2006-07-23T23:05:00.000+03:00

The memo says:
"… it is now dangerous for men to wear shorts in public…People who wear jeans in public have come under attack."

It is not a new offensive campaign. There were many. One which was led by Khairlah Tulfah, Saddam's uncle & father in law, took place about thirty years ago. At that time, girls fashion was short skirts & the beetles' hair cut was for boys. Tulfah used to send groups of his bodyguard to tour the streets painting girls' legs & cutting boys' hair (beating them in many occasions).

It is not some kind of formal regulations. It is a way of showing power over people of a certain community. It spreads since the government can not implement law. So, it is either to be changed into a law or it will vanish along with enforcing law.

The memo says about power shortage:
"Temperatures in Baghdad have already reached 115 degrees. Employees all confirm that, by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without."
And it is still the same in my neighborhood.

"Areas near hospitals, political party headquarters and the green zone have the best supply. One staff member reported a friend lives in a building that houses the new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day."

And some eastern parts of Baghdad (Sadr city) have good supply of city power. That is because of kidnapping the under secretary of Ministry of Electricity (by Almahdi militia) and threatening him that he will pay his life for power shortage.

With such kind of heat, people are:
"contracted with neighborhood generator hookups that they pay for monthly. One employee pays 7500 Iraqi dinars (ID) per ampere to get 10 amperes"
People in my neighborhood pay 12000 ID per ampere. Most people in Iraq makes an income of 150,000-200,000 ID per month. So to get 10 amperes, one has to pay more than half of his/her salary. The solution is corruption to earn more money.

Likewise is the shortage of oil products. Gasoline:
"prices on the black market in much of Baghdad were now above 1,000 ID per liter (the official, subsidized price is 250 ID)"
This means about $3 per gallon.

The memo speaks about kidnapping and threats, which are things most of Iraqis have not witnessed before. People who kidnap and kill were fully monopolized by Saddam's government. After ousting Saddam, they found themselves out of their jobs. So, they started their own business by establishing NGOs (kidding) for kidnapping & killing people. And it seems that they are making good money out of the business.

An Iraqi employee works at the US embassy told them:
"… in mid-June that most of her family believes the US - which is widely perceived as fully controlling the country and tolerating the malaise - is punishing the population as Saddam did (but with Sunnis and very poor Shia now at the bottom of the list). Otherwise, she says, the allocation of power and security would not be so arbitrary."
It is widely believed here that the Americans follow the same policy of Saddam toward the Iraqi people in the field of public services.

A good comment is made by the embassy:
"Employees are apprehensive enough that we fear they may exaggerate developments or steer us towards news that comports with their own world view."
Listening to a stream of eerie stories from different persons requires lot of sanity to be able to examine their credibility. For example, I heard many strange stories about the Iraqi soldiers' bad manners. I came across Iraqi soldiers twice; one at a check point and the other when they searched the houses in our neighborhood; I noticed they are nice and polite people.

Now, the article which I refer to it in the head was published in the Commentary Magazine (June 2006) by Amir Taheri. It sounds so optimistic. The writer surveys what make the American people feel that they have been embroiled in Iraq:
"It would be hard indeed for the average interested citizen to find out on his own just how grossly this image distorts the realities of present-day Iraq."

The writer introduces his own way of assessing the condition in Iraq:
"Since my first encounter with Iraq almost 40 years ago, I have relied on several broad measures of social and economic health to assess the country’s condition. Through good times and bad, these signs have proved remarkably accurate…"

To be continued…

A Memo & an Article (I)

2006-07-12T22:32:00.000+03:00

A memo from the US embassy in Baghdad to the State Department was leaked out. Is it normal to leak out cables between US embassies and Washington? I have no idea. What kind of message to be conveyed by leaking it out?

Anyway, an article by Patrick Cockburn in The Independent UK written as introductory to the memo says:

" The US and Britain have said they would withdraw their troops as the security situation improved, though the embassy memo suggests that it was, in fact, deteriorating. Britain said yesterday that it was to pull out 170 soldiers from Muthana province in southern Iraq when the Iraqi government took over security there next month."

This implies a negative subtext that America & Britain are ready to flee from Iraq at any time.

The memo says that an Iraqi female employee in the embassy:

"… was advised by an unknown woman in her Baghdad neighbourhood to wear a veil and not to drive her own car."

Another said:

"… people in her neighbourhood are harassing women and telling them to cover up and stop using cell phones."

These stories remind me of a female colleague who approached me asking "What do you think? Should I wear a hijab (veil)?" and my answer was "It's up to you". That was about six years ago, when Saddam was in power. I wondered what made her think about wearing a veil since she had lived her whole life without wearing one (she was approaching her forties). She told me that the surrounding feminine community was keeping on harassing her for not wearing a veil. I asked about her point of view about wearing (or not wearing) a veil. Her answer was that Iraq climate is so hot which makes a veil unbearable. The conversation went like this, I said:
- Good point, then don't wear a veil.
- But Allah (God) ordered us to wear a veil.
- If you are convinced, then put a veil on.
- I'm asking you. What do you think?
- It's not me who will put on the veil, and you are the one to make a trade off between your religious belief and practical life.

Finally she was subdued by social pressure and she put on a veil.

I visit campuses from time to time, and I enjoy counting female students with veils and those without. On entering any campus (there are several in Baghdad), I start to count the number of girls whom I come across, categorizing them into (veiled & non-veiled). I played this game for more than twenty times and each time I find the ratio of females with no veils represents 25%-30%. Women feel it safer inside campuses to wear fashionable clothes than outside. On leaving the campus they jump directly into their family's cars or taxis which the families choose their drivers carefully to take the girls, in groups, to schools and colleges and back home. In the street, one can see unveiled women, but they wear very decent clothes and avoid any kind of make up. I'm talking about the center of Baghdad not some suburban neighbors.

It is not a new trend, in our society, to oppress women. It is usual to give vent to one's anger in the conduct of oppressing the weakest group. For that I believe a rational power is needed to maintain order to protect the weak people and minorities in Iraq. I doubt that an Iraqi party can play such a role, at least for the time being.

Women in Iraq are oppressed on several levels. A woman could bring disgrace to her family. So a close eye should be kept on her, watching every gesture she makes by the whole members of the family. Even the youngest male member in a family could oppress female members. The same woman could be criticized by the neighbors for a salute, a smile, a laugh, a way of walk, a kind of clothes…etc. This close watch would double if she is divorced or a widow. Another party which oppresses women is the clerics. They believe that they should force people to act, eat, walk, behave…etc in certain way. They do not persuade people, they compel them. And one of their favorite targets is women which represent the motive for devilish deeds according to their point of view.

Paradoxically, women in Iraq oppress themselves. About a year ago when the draft of the new constitution was under study, a group of Iraqi female members of the Shiite coalition organized a demonstration refusing equality with men. Iraqi extremists perceive women's rights as the beginning of ethical deterioration.

Away from this shallow way of viewing women's rights, many Iraqi women are denied their rights even according to Sharia (Islamic law). Inheriting is one of the basic rights granted to women in Islam, but it is normal to hear stories about denying women this particular right. Male partners in the inheritance may deprive the females of their shares.

So it is very normal practice in our society to target women since they can not defend themselves by using arms or protected by effective laws. And these same people who create the nowadays terrifying environment here in Iraq are completely ready to turn 180 degrees if they have the chance to live in western societies. I have heard many stories about the kind of life they lead in Europe & US. A member of the Ikhwan Muslmeen (Islamic Brethren) told me how his old comrades, who migrated to the UK, behave towards him when he visits that country. "They would never invite an Arab or Muslim visitor to their homes." he says, and the reason for not doing so is "The guest might reveal the kind of life the host's family leads; especially the female members who wear fashionable clothes and have their boyfriends." Still, they oppress their native societies through media.

There is a lot to be said about women's rights. To be continued…

Blair

2006-06-30T17:02:00.000+03:00

First of all, it is football (soccer) that keeps me away from the PC. It is so nice to have some thing as entertainment in the mid of all the chaos we, here in Iraq, live daily which makes it impossible to change one's routine. The FIFA World Cup competition is taking place nowadays in Germany. It occupies, for me, the time between 5:00 PM and 1:00 AM. It keeps my attention away from bloodshed news.

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I cannot say that I read all what Mr. Tony Blair says, but I follow some of his speeches. Reading some, I can say that he is a man of vision who tries to keep on the track of what he says. Comparing many western leaders to those of Arab world, one may discover the contrast between men who keep their word & those who don't. A very recent example is President Ali Abdullah Salih of Yemen who has been saying for the last ten months that he wouldn't nominate for presidency, but he changed his mind and he will run for presidency though he has been in the post for more than quarter a century.

I wish we, Arabs, had leaders like the forefathers in the states or philosophers like those of Europe who introduced lot of ideas which served humanity and had a great role in fighting against cruel governments. The concept of "state" in the Arab world was and still vague. It is a combination of the authority of the tribe & religion which represents a parental system.

One of Mr. Blair speeches was at Georgetown University on 26 May 2006. He presents a global vision for a world which can not escape globalization. The man tries to call people all over the planet to be practical and think collectively about the future:

"…we must fashion an international community that both embodies, and acts in pursuit of global values: liberty, democracy, tolerance, justice."

He can perceive what peoples of the Mideast yearn for:

"Yet in every country of the region there are people, probably the majority, who are desperate for change."

He describes the new political system in Iraq:

"This is a child of democracy struggling to be born. They and we, the international community, are the midwives."

Therefore:

"I believe success in Iraq has an importance far beyond the borders of Iraq."

So it is very essential to succeed in Iraq and:

"An arbitrary timetable ie without conditions being right, would be seen for what it would be: weakness."

Still the question why the peoples of this region can not trust what western leaders say. Mr. Blair puts a finger on the most important issue. That is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which:

"Under its cover, global terrorism recruits. Because of its darkness, moderate Muslim opinion is put on the defensive. And shut out is any enlightened sensible view of what we in the West really stand for and believe in."

It seems that Mr. Blair propagates a new concept which I may call "Global Contract" in accordance with the "Social Contract" (Le Contract Social):

"Today, after all the turmoil and disagreement of the past few years, there is a real opportunity to bring us together. We all of us face the common security threat of global terrorism; we all of us depend on a healthy global financial system; all of us, at least in time, will feel the consequences of the poverty of millions living in a world of plenty; we all of us know that secure and clean energy is a common priority. All of us have an interest in stability and a fear of chaos. That's the impact of interdependence."

But:

"What's the obstacle? It is that in creating more effective multilateral institutions, individual nations yield up some of their own independence. This is a hard thing to swallow. Let me be blunt. Powerful nations want more effective multilateral institutions - when they think those institutions will do their will. What they fear is effective multilateral institutions that do their own will."

And:

"The Governments of the world do not all believe in freedom. But the people of the world do."

Back to Iraq, people here are not so sure that the coalition will finish its work before pulling out. A great propagandist effort is made by reactionary forces to seed and foster suspicion in the collective mentality of the Muslim & Arab peoples. Mr. Bush phrased it in a good statement:

"…they have made it clear that it's just a matter of time for countries like Great Britain and the United States to leave. In other words, if they make life miserable enough, we'll leave."

Words like these of Mr. Blair:

"I'm more than ever convinced that what is important for them in Iraq is to know that we will stand firm with them in defeating these forces of reaction."

Do not reach Iraqis' minds. It is a case which Shmeem Rassam, an Iraqi-American lady, described to President Bush as the ‘big gap that crosses that ocean’.

Mr. Blair said in a Joint Press Availability with Mr. Bush on May 25, 2006:

"there are still issues to do with the capability of the Iraqi forces, but all the time they are building up, both in number and in capability, and we've got to support that all the way through."

I may add that building up must include mentality of the individuals in the Iraqi forces, since the concept of 'coup d'état' dominates every Iraqi person. This domination is either fearful for moderate people or attractive for opportunists. The history of modern Iraq is still present in minds. After 38 years of semi-democratic political system in Iraq, a bloody military coup took place on July 14, 1958 toppling the Royal Family. A coup which opened the door wide for thugs, gangsters, and criminals to think seriously about seizing power by making use of the military forces.

Moreover, it is this idea which resides in every Arab's mind and taken for granted that says "The enemy No. 1 and the most dangerous one is the US" (recall Khomeini's description of the US as the greatest Satan). An Iraqi army officer told me a story which might depict the mentality of the new Iraqi army individuals. The man says that he was a member of a committee of three Iraqi officers which held meetings with the American side. It was his first time to meet with the Americans. At the end of the first meeting he shook hands with the American representatives exchanging courtesies with them. On leaving the meeting room, one of his Iraqi colleagues said to him "How dare you show courtesy to the Americans?" He continued:

"Frankly, I was really terrified when I heard these words. I thought that this man is going to pass my name to the terrorists (such person called in Iraq "Alaas"). Afterward, we went to the self-service restaurant in the American military camp we were in. Sitting on the table, my two colleagues started to chat about the similarity between this restaurant and one in another American camp who they had worked in for a time. I understood that the American side had showed lot of courtesy toward them. The Americans had even allotted them additional monthly payments. They managed to build new houses and bought new cars. My relation was so formal with the one who made the remark about being polite with the Americans. On hearing their conversation, I couldn't hold my self from saying to him 'Are you an asshole?' He was totally astonished and I continued 'Since you have such strong ties with the Americans, why did you condemn my polite behavior with them?' He tried to change the atmosphere into a humorous one, but it was not easy for me to cool down."

I go with what Mr. Blair said:

"…now this directly-elected Iraqi government has said they want us to stay until the job is done."

But I don't know what Mr. Blair means by 'until the job is done'. The military existence might be lowered, but the job won't be done (as I view the matter) without cultural and educational rehabilitation of the Iraqi society. It is a job which needs guardians. Guardians like Mr. Blair whom was described by Mr. Bush:
"…the amazing thing about dealing with Prime Minister Blair is never once has he said to me on the phone, we better change our tactics because of the political opinion polls. And I appreciate that steadfast leadership. And I appreciate somebody who has got a vision, a shared vision, for how to not only protect ourselves in the war on terror, but how to make the world a better place."

Human rights (III)

2006-06-13T14:04:00.000+03:00

A clamor for the truth about what happened in Haditha is growing louder. First, I want to draw your attention to the number of parties slaying the Iraqis. But the best among them is the MNF. What I mean by 'the best' is the transparency of the American system. The American press plays an excellent role in tracing and revealing faults of different institutions in the society, keeps pressure to extract the truth. The world outside Haditha would never learn about what happened there if the American press didn't reveal it. Still, the same Iraqis who made use of the western media to publish the incident of Haditha, ironically, are the same people who kidnap and kill western journalists.

About four weeks ago one of my acquaintances and his son were killed by Americans. The man was in his early sixties and the son was in his early twenties. It was a raid on their home around 4:30 AM. The man was a retired and his interest was in hunting and barbecuing. His son was studying engineer at University of Technology. The man led a life of some kind of luxury since his wife works in Oman making good income. One of their two sons lives with his mother in Oman and they have three daughters. The eldest daughter is a senior dentistry student. According to her story, the American soldiers broke into the house after heavy knocking on the doors with shouts ordering them to open the door. The girl's storey says:

"It was completely dark (because of power shortage in Iraq) and we were asleep. The noise awoke us in alarm. My father hurried to open the door. As soon as he passed by the window he was shot in the abdomen and fell on the ground, which made my brother to follow him distracted between helping my father and opening the door. They gave him no time to decide and they shot my brother too. The doors blasted and a bunch of flashlights rushed into the house. I could not see faces or any sign that might reveal who were those men. My father and brother were bleeding and I asked the invaders to take them to hospital. One of them, I think he was the leader, asked me with complete frigidity 'Where did you learn to speak English?' I was in complete anger trying to make these rude men help my father and brother. The leader put a gum in his mouth and said to me 'We have our own doctor with us and he will help them'.

The soldiers dragged me and my two sisters out of the house to the street. The neighbors were helpless since laser dots were very clear in the darkness inside their houses. We heard several shots in our house then the soldiers brought out two bodies in sacks. They detained my cousin who were sleeping over the roof of the house (sleeping over roofs in summer is an old Iraqi custom). The home was turned upside down, our IDs, my collage papers, a computer, photos…and many other personal things were taken."

Hours later the man's relatives went to the police station in the district, in which there is a coordination office to organize work between Iraqi and American forces. They asked for the bodies and the astonishing answer was "There wasn't such activity in the district by the Americans" which left them in a state of confusion.

As a result they launched a campaign to look for the bodies in hospitals & morgues. Family representatives were assigned at police stations. After three days they found the bodies at a hospital. A shot in the forehead was clear on both bodies, which raised questions about killing them in cold blood. On asking the hospital about where from the bodies were received, the answer was from a police station. And the police station said that they had received the bodies from the Americans who said that they had found these two anonymous bodies in the countryside of Al-Dijail (a town 60Km. north to Baghdad).

In such milieu many people are ready to tell you different stories and rumors, among which one feels confused and unable to find answers to irrefutable details. So in the ceremony of condolence one could find many people who volunteer to tell you incredible stories which can not be verified, since the storey of the other side (the Americans) is unknown. Someone asked 'Were the raiders accompanied by Humvees and helicopters?' and the answer was 'NO', another question 'Had they used wheeled armored vehicles?' and the answer 'YES', then this 'someone' said 'These are the American death squads established by Ambassadors Bremer & Negroponte!!'

The whole event made me feel dizzy and left me with many unanswered questions. What about the cousin who had been detained? Were there any traces which led to him? Did his uncle's family know any thing about his activities? Assuming that he was wanted, why did the raiders kill the other two? And if the other two persons were wanted, what caused the raiders to kill them after injuring them? The more reasonable conclusion was to detain them and make use of the information they had.

I feel that there are obscured parties trying to cause lot of confusion, and confusion leads to suspicion & ineffective communication.

Human rights (II)

2006-05-30T18:10:00.000+03:00

The Washington Post says:

"The U.S. official involved in the inspections, who would not be identified by name, described in an e-mail the abuse found during some of the visits since the Nov. 13 raid: "Numerous bruises on the arms, legs and feet. A lot of the Iraqis had separated shoulders and problems with their hands and fingers too. You could also see strap marks on some of their backs."

A neighbor of mine was, nine months ago, detained for about a week. Till now he shows strap marks on his back. He is an engineer, in early thirties, newly married and had just had his first child when he was detained. Because of the bad economic conditions in Iraq, he does simple works to make his living. He was painting a house gate when a group of Iraqi commandos raided the street he was working at. He describes what happened: "I couldn't understand what was going on. A soldier ordered me to go inside the house. There was lot of gunfire hitting a palm under which I was hiding. Several soldiers broke into the house dragged me and took me to their officer who slapped me on my face. A soldier kept on hitting me with the rare part of his machine gun; another searched me taking away my keys, cell phone, and wallet. Someone thrust his hand under my overall quickly tearing my flannel shirt, using it to fold my eyes. They handcuffed my hands and put me in a pickup with several other persons, whom I managed to recognize some of them as they were store owners and some neighbors of the house I was working at. They took us to their unit headquarters detaining us in a small room which was mainly crowded before our arrival. Fortunately, one of the detainees managed to keep his cell phone with him, so we started to call our families. The investigation performed by people whom we couldn't see their faces. It was either to put us on the floor facing a wall with our hands backward handcuffed, or the investigators put on masks. There, one can discover the sectarian discrimination which the Iraqi society does not suffer from.

On knowing my full name, they discovered that I'm a Shiite and "Sayed" (A Sayed is claimed to be a descendant of Prophet Mohammed). They scolded me for living in, what they called, a Sunni neighborhood, which looked very weird language for me. People with IDs of towns west to Baghdad were treated badly. The essential matters needed by every man (food, rest rooms, bed…etc.) were very miserable. There was no place to sleep, no mattress to sleep on except a blanket; though it was very cold days."

He remained in detention for about a week. His way of viewing the 'New Iraq' has changed completely. Each time he hears news of detaining a group of terrorists, he comments "Don't believe it. They are not terrorists; they are nothing but people like me". He quitted his work, closed the small workshop he had saying "From now on I'm a suspect for the terrorists who would consider me as a cooperator with MNF, ING, IP…etc which makes me a nominee to be killed"

A Sudanese, who has been living in our district for more than 15 years, is another example of inhuman treatment. An explosion took place in the street where he lives and he was immediately dragged from home to detention. In detention, one has to know that he must not ask about his cell phone, wallet or any other things in his pockets after being set free. He remained in detention for five days. His family provided him with meals during detention in the police station. Each meal has to be sufficient for at least three people since the guard at the main gate takes one part, the warden takes the other, and the third is supposed to reach him.

He suffers a lot because of the color of his complexion. Wherever he goes, he is asked the same question "Sudanese?" and a series of investigations begins. Every check point asks him to get out of the car and treats him as a suspect. The man uses the public transportation and when he gets out of the car, the men in the check point order the car to move on and leave him to be checked. In Baghdad one might face a check point every 2Km, so for our Sudanese friend 'How many cars he has to change to move for, say, 10Km' and 'How much unpredictable time he has to add to get on time to his target'.

To be continued…

Human rights (I)

2006-05-18T18:45:00.000+03:00

I believe that Iraqis are lucky to have the Americans in their country. One of the benefits of having them in Iraq is to enforce human rights. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference Nov. 29 with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld,

"It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it."
Turning to Pace, Rumsfeld responded:
"I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it."

For me, as an Iraqi looking forward to a better future, whether the Americans intervene directly or keep a continuous pressure on the Iraqi authorities to adhere to human rights regulations, the most important thing is to maintain an atmosphere of protecting creative Iraqis. These will boost new way of thinking. One of the stark images of oppression, nowadays, is the almost daily killing of journalists. For this, our media is not completely free to say everything. Any journalist has to create his own self censorship to avoid saying a word that might irritate an influential figure or a terrorist.

Iraqi media is still unqualified to take its assumed role of monitoring and pinpointing faults in different fields. Till it happens, I think that international media of free world have to intervene in the Iraqi live and reveal issues that Iraqi media cannot speak about. Every Iraqi is a death nominee, so a journalist has to take the risk of doubling his nomination. Not every journalist is ready to do so and if there is any, hush-hush money can keep them silent.

Even those, who are working to institute a new era of respecting human rights, are vulnerable. The Iraqi official familiar with the joint U.S.-Iraqi inspections of detention centers is described by the Washington Post as:

“the Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because, he said, he and other Iraqis involved with inspections had received death threats.”

The Americans seem to be intimidated by Iraqi officials as the Washington Post states:

"After the Nov. 13 disclosures, the highest-ranking U.S. officials in Iraq -- Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. -- issued rare public rebukes to their Iraqi government allies."

And

"Khalilzad's calls to rein in Shiite security forces and militias have put him on increasingly prickly terms with some members of Iraq's governing coalition of Shiite religious parties."

After Ambassador Khalilzad had made notes about the ING & IP performance, and the necessity to nominate nonsectarian ministers to the defense & interior ministries, lot of offensive banners could be seen in different places of Baghdad describing Khalilzad as a Taliban sympathizer.

I go with:

"I want them to do what General Pace said," the Iraqi official said. Interior Ministry forces and allied Shiite militias have become more adept at hiding detainees and they kidnap victims from inspectors, he said. Iraqis "are looking for some of the Americans to do the right thing," he added. "Don't be intimidated by the Iraqi politicians."

As for becoming "more adept at hiding detainees", I heard once such a story from an Iraqi police officer who is, ironically, a Sunni. He was complaining of the Americans who keep on releasing detainees from the Iraqi's custody. To avoid releasing the most dangerous detainees, they put them in police cars under their feet so the Americans won't notice them and send these cars to tour the streets till the American inspectors end their raid. I argued for the American inspection. I told him it is a good way to urge you, Iraqi investigators, to follow lawful procedure. It is the best way to protect innocents from being detained for endless time. He confirmed that they gather each day at the judge office to issue warrants for the detainees to avoid releasing them by the Americans.

To be continued…

Mutual Understanding

2006-05-05T22:56:00.002+03:00

Mainly, this was to be a reply to a comment made by Original_Jeff about the previous post. On second thought, I decided to post it here. First, I’m not considering any of my ideas an ultimate one. Sometimes, it is not nice to keep on criticizing without introducing an idea. What I’m trying to do in this blog is ‘Thinking Loudly’, introducing a perspective and, the most important thing, to learn something about the world.

A good point made by Original_Jeff, that’s

“some of the leaders of radical Islam and of al-Quaeda spent quite a bit of time in western countries”.

But one should question the number of these radicals compared to more than a billion Muslims in the world. Should all Muslims be viewed through a bunch of deafening radical Islamists or several criminals who committed one of the most aggravated crimes on 9/11? Would it be fair to view all Americans through what happened in Abu Ghraib or through an irritated soldier kicking Iraqi civilian cars or shooting at them?

Another point by Jeff says

“Almost all Americans have the belief “that if they only knew us better, then they would not hate us”—which is what you are suggesting.”

Yes, and I would counter back the belief. What we need is mutual understanding. It is essential, as an American president once said (I think JFK), since we share the same planet.

Having first-hand experience of oppression, I can say that terrorists work hard on impairing the social ties which is the same policy of Saddam. Broadening the concept leads to impairing the ties between different societies. It helps in sowing fear, mistrust, uncertainty, hatred, confusion…etc. These elements are the most suitable tools for terrorists and Saddamists to create the appropriate environment for their activities. So, suspicion and mistrust should be stirred up every where and every time.

To break this closed circle of continuous bilateral misunderstanding, something should be done. It is not necessarily what I’m suggesting; others may have brilliant ideas better than (the naïve of) mine.

Mtnyogi made good remarks, but a direct human experience is much more beneficial than seeing people on screens or chatting with them through internet or phone. Al-Hurra TV (sponsored by the US gov.) introduces a program called (Americans) which shows some aspects of the American people’s life. Still, the American individual looks ostentatious and has nothing in common with Iraqi or Arab individuals. An Arab proverb says “To truly know someone; travel with him/her” which means to live with him/her round-the-clock. So, it is either Iraqi tourists to visit the states (which is impossible because most of Iraqis live on the edge of poverty & tight US security regulations), or American tourists to visit Iraq (which is also impossible for the known circumstances).

As for writing a book, I don’t know how to do it since I have no idea about how books are written or published. And if I manage in doing so, I’m sure no one would read it. A book is the last thing an Iraqi thinks about because of low personal income which makes buying a book a matter of luxury. The new Iraqi generations were brought up in a society adores weapons not books. Even the most needed books are not easy to buy. The other day, a cousin of mine was telling me how a book of anatomy is expensive. It costs $49 which may give you an idea about the world of books in Iraq.

My (naïve) suggestion is built on the idea that although few Iraqis have the experience of traveling abroad, one can still listen to their repeated stories about the vast world filled with amazing people. Stories about how Jordan or UAE, whose peoples the Iraqis used to look at as inferiors, have made an enormous achievements are passed from mouth to mouth with a sense of criticism and comparison to the bad situation of Iraqis for more than a quarter century. So, I believe this “just a small group coming to the U.S.” as described by mtnyogi would have a greater influence on the Iraqis than a book or a TV station.

Finally, I am not suggesting that other ideas won’t be helpful, but I am trying to say let different peoples know each other. Don’t put barriers with media holes which don’t show the whole story.

One last word: Thanks to Noah & Louise for commenting.

Ineffective Communication (III)

2006-04-25T18:49:00.000+03:00

First of all it should be clear that Iraqis, just like many communities in the globe, are fascinated by the American society. Still, they know very little about how the US became a super power. The US for the Iraqis is a spectrum ranges between the troops touring our streets and Hollywood productions, and the first image of America evoked by Iraqi unconscious is the ugly Yankee. It is the product of an Arab-nationalism, religious, tribal, totalitarian society. A society which is governed by illogical way of reasoning.

Personally, I had a vague image about American individuals, since I had never had a real experience of interaction with non-Iraqis till March 2003. Saddam’s regime considered it a matter of espionage and treason. In addition, heavy security regulations and poor income per capita made it impossible for the Iraqis to go abroad. The result was, and maybe still, a segregated society symbolized by an Iraqi skeptic character filled with mistrust of strangers.

It was my transistor radio, before March 2003, which helped me to discover what was going on in the abroad world. It was a real struggle trying to listen to abroad radio stations with all kinds of Iraqi jamming frequencies. As an example, which I had posted about once, is hearing about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but I was not able to lay an eye on a copy of it before 2003.

Thanks to the internet for making it possible to gain American pen pals and through them I learned something about Americans as individuals. I discovered that Americans do not differ from us as persons who have their own family problems and everyday life matters. One of my American pen pals grows vegetables in the backyard, just like me, putting extra product in boxes to be sold by her kids in front of the house. But the Americans have wonderful humanitarian feelings which we lack; another American pen pal has an adopted girl of Indian origin. The little girl has some defect in her arms (handicapped) which made me to highly praise the lady. I learned from this lady many lessons; first is tolerance towards people of different complexion, second is willingness to serve handicapped persons, third is the quantity of love this lady has…etc. What I am trying to say is:

“Show the Iraqis another face of America. The face of the average American citizen. Try to establish contact with the average Iraqi citizen. Don’t tell me it’s the Iraqis duty, since the Iraqis are mentally and economically exhausted for which they are unable to take the initiative”.

It is important to work on a long term-program to establish a pro-liberalism class in the Iraqi society.

In the short term, the US administration have to support an (anti) anti-Americanism media campaign led by Arab liberal figures. Liberal Arab writers, thinkers, journalists, academicians, clerics…etc have to confront and undermine the Arab’s way of thinking. Such work needs means. The US should provide them with these means. One of these means is Al-Hurra satellite channel sponsored by the US government. Still, the kind of programs introduced by this channel is not sufficient.

Few Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims know something about the US history or that of England & Europe. There is a total ignorance about the struggle of these nations to achieve what they have achieved. Making the history of Man available to the Arabs & Iraqis may help in changing their way of viewing the West. Uttering (US) provokes words like Red Indians, Vietnam, Israel, imperialism…etc in any Iraqi mind. Very few Iraqis can make an association between the US and League of Nations, UN, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, peoples self determination…etc.

Another project could be a scheduled visits (educational) for Iraqi students to the US & UK (something similar to Fulbright Program). Iraqi students (excellent in English for example) may compete to win a visit to the states. A visit of one month to learn about the US history, branches of the government, judicial system, scientific achievements…etc. In addition, Iraqi students may meet American students, American Muslims, visit mosques, churches, synagogues, libraries, museums, hospitals, universities, theaters…etc. and listen to lectures about how all this civilization has been built.

The number of Iraqi students to join such trip and its repetition may depend on the funds could be raised. Choosing these students from different Iraqi districts will help in spreading a new way of thinking among the Iraqis. It will help in reconnecting Iraq with the world after three decades of being besieged.

American political, religious & social research centers may invite Iraqi tribal leaders and clerics to change the way they view the American people. Iraqi civil community activists might be trained in some other ways.

It is an American-Iraqi joined effort to make positive change. And the US has to go to the end of the road; otherwise it would be a catastrophe for the region and the world. Much more endeavor has to be made to accelerate work and to fill up or to bridge the ‘big gap that crosses that ocean’ between the US and our society.

A Call

2006-04-18T03:35:00.000+03:00

I received the following Email. And by posting it, I hope that it would contribute in calling for an end to the suffering of Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich:
Dear Bloggers,
we would like to ask you for your help. We are the friends and colleagues of Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich from Germany. Thomas and Rene are held hostage in Iraq since January 24th. For a long time already we have no sign of life from them. We would like to spread our appeal in Iraq for the release of our friends. If you want to know more please visit www.wehope.de.
At the weekend native football teams have shown their solidarity with Thomas and Rene. Every Monday and Thursday we meet in Leipzig to hold a peace prayer and a solemn vigil.
Please write about our friends and the website www.wehope.de in your blogs. You will also find pictures from the event with the football team and the solemn vigils on this website.
Thanks a lot!
Karin Berndt and Peter Bienert on behalf of the friends of Thomas and Rene.

Try to pass on the call.

Ineffective Communication (II)

2006-04-14T17:10:00.000+03:00

The opinion article about the BBC/Arabic spotlights a sense of bias could be felt in the editing policy of the Arabic staff. The writer says: “The tendency and philosophy of the BBC implies an intended idea which introduces the US as the axis of evil, sin, and wrongdoing…Such policy provides the old pattern of Arab culture with an excuse for its failure and incompetence.This perspective put the blame for the failure on ‘The Other’ shoulders. The other in the present-day is the US.”

On the other hand, the Americans keep on introducing raw material for the anti-American propagandists. Regardless the matter of transparency, revealing stories like Abu Ghraib pictures or giving statements like the one by Secretary Condoleezza Rice at Chatham House on March 31, 2006 when she said:

“So my point to you is that yes, I know we've made tactical errors -- thousands of them, I'm sure.”

The sentence is extracted from the whole text so that it gives another meaning. No Arab propagandist referred to other ideas said by Secretary Rice in the same lecture, like:

“The criticism assumes that human beings are slaves to their culture, not the authors of it. Liberal democracy is unique because it is both principle and process…And we must support the millions of Iraqi patriots who are striving nobly to redeem their country.”

Abu Ghraib, Secretary Rice statement, and many other issues debated in democratic societies like of the US, represent good material for the Arab nationalists to harp on. Dr. Shaker Nabulsi, a liberal Jordanian writer, says that the American-Iraqi project of democracy is confronted by the Egyptian media machine and Saudi funds.

Drawing a devilish portrait of the US is so easy in the Middle East, since the governing conflict is the Palestinian cause. The following cartoon, by Moayad Nimma, may summarize how the peoples of the region view the US attitude toward the Palestinians in particular and the Arabs in general:

The group of people which works hard to regain power in Iraq is free to move in every direction, since there are no moral or ethical principles limit their deeds. They follow the same policies of Saddam era by terrifying the majority. It makes use of the rules enforced by the Americans in Iraq of being free to speak. Recruiting every Arab nationalist medium to exaggerate every mistake made by the US is the pivot around which this propaganda rotates. On the other hand they threaten anybody who tries to say a word in favor of democracy or the US. It is not easy, or impossible, to say publicly a word of thank to the US people for their contribution in overthrowing Saddam. I can say that the majority of the Iraqis feel grateful to the US, but no one can express it openly.

What I’m trying to say that these speeches delivered by President Bush have no effect on our societies compared to the Arab nationalism propaganda. Mr. Bush effort alone is not sufficient to bridge the ‘big gap that crosses that ocean’ as described by Shmeem Rassam to President Bush. One may ask: any idea?

To be continued…

Ineffective Communication (I)

2006-04-07T18:02:00.000+03:00

President Bush discussed (Democracy in Iraq with Freedom House) on March 29, 2006. An Iraqi-American lady, attending the speech, pinpointed what she called a ‘big gap that crosses that ocean’. Shmeem Rassam, the lady’s name, is a significant figure in Iraq. She is one of the Iraqi intelligentsia. I can recall when she was a very active TV producer and a sophisticated journalist before she went into exile. Such persons were unwanted in a society which Saddam was working hard to create. A society which rejects liberals like Shmeem Rassam. She is a real Iraqi patriot since she had never abandoned, in exile, the Iraqi people’s cause. She came back to Iraq after 2003 and participated in establishing the Iraqi governmental TV (Iraqi Media Network). There is a lot to be said about this wonderful lady, but let’s go back to what she called the big gap.

Addressing Mr. Bush, she said:

“These are beautiful messages (referring to the president’s speeches), yet there's a big gap that crosses that ocean. It never gets to the Iraqi, to the simple man, Iraqis facing despair, disillusionments, all kinds of things. I speak to Iraqi friends and families on daily basis. This is what their message is. We hear of these things, but we don't see it. It doesn't get to us… It doesn't reach them in any kind of media, unfortunately. So how can we do that? I've been wondering about this, and you are the only person, I think, who can maybe do something… Talk to someone, talk to the Iraqi, relay that message that we are honest, we have great beliefs, and we want to do something.”

Very sincere words, asking the President to fill this gap. A gap which I can describe as a ‘media space’ for which two different ways of thinking are struggling. The first is the American one; the second is the Mideastern.

In the Mideast, we are obsessed by ‘conspiracy theory’. I do not know how it became a dominating way of thinking, but it is there in every Iraqi mind. So it is easier for the anti-Americanism to take control of this media space, since it knows how to address Iraqis, Arabs & Muslims. This space is just like no-man’s-land in which one side works hard on placing mines. This side consists of different media means which insinuate anti-American terms. It is the Arab nationalism lingo which we have heard for decades. A demagogic language based on an idea of hating and eliminating ‘the other’. The other is the cause of every unpleasant event descended upon our nations.

When Ayatollah Khomeini says that US is the ‘great Satan’ it demolishes all what the US achieved of many years of work to win minds & hearts of the Iranians. And it is a matter of pride, for peoples of this region, when President Bush calls (Iraq-Iran-N.Korea) the axis of evil. In the same way, Saddam or insurgents should be respected and glorified since they can harm the Americans (the other); no matter how more times they harm their own people.

This anti-American ideology focuses on harming rather than serving, to be feared rather than respected. An Iraqi columnist, Al-Sabah newspaper, wrote:

“It seems that all what we yearn for is to defeat the US, no matter what would happen to our people. So we are talking about the US being defeated in Lebanon & Somalia, but no one ever asked about what happened in those countries after the ‘US defeat’…”

The writer scorns the perverted way of our thinking. Words of such journalist and hundreds like him could be easily wiped out by a half literate cleric delivering a vehement religious sermon. Any opportunist adopting a radical Arab nationalism speech can blow up lot of hard work.

I try to trace the language used in Arab media, and I can say that there is lots of offensive terms are used. As an example, when Jill Carroll released she said, in the first hours, that her kidnappers had treated her in a good way. This catchphrase kept on rolling in the news bar of Al-jazeera TV for hours as if someone trying to say that we, the kidnappers, are good people. Nobody paid attention to the fact that detaining an innocent human is against any religious, humanitarian, moral values. The image of good slayers is being reinforced deep in the unconscious of the Iraqis, Arabs, and Muslims.

Another TV channel, Al-nahrain, broadcasted something about a discussion taking place, in Japan, dealing with the Japanese troops role in Iraq. The astonishing matter was the news film, from the TV station archive, accompanying the script. It showed a bunch of demonstrators in Samawa, where the Japanese are posted, throwing stones at the Japanese and angered individuals punching, kicking Japanese armored vehicles.

Baghdad TV of the Iraqi Islamic Party edits its news like this: “Now to another issue, the armed operations against the American occupying troops of today caused the death of (xx) Iraqis….” though the editors know that large numbers of Iraqis are killed by insurgents and ordinary criminals.

Even the BBC/Arabic editors, one can smell their bias. I had several questions about their work. An opinion article about the BBC/Arabic policy, of two parts published in Al-Sabah newspaper recently, drew my attention to other matters. The article entitled “Mounting Trojan horse, Lawrence of Arabia is a general manager of the BBC” was written by Jumaa Abdullah Mutlak.

To be continued…

Of Old

2006-03-29T19:17:00.000+03:00

My posts became monotonous recently. So, I’ll try to write about something else though it is not far from Iraq. I chose some old pictures showing different places in Iraq about 100 years ago. An Iraqi author, or an English one (I don’t recall), once wrote that the British soldiers were shocked by the appearance of Baghdad when they entered to it in 1917. They had heard a lot about Baghdad the scene of Arabian Nights. On entering Baghdad they discovered that it was a small town which was closer to a village than to a city.
The following one shows a place which is nowadays downtown. It is some kind of quay or a wharf. In Iraqi such a place is called (Sheri’aa). It shows means of transport used in rivers at that time. One of these (appears in the center) was the (Kelek or Chelech) which is made of sheep or cow inflated skins tied together tightly to form a float. Keleks were used to transport agricultural products from places north to Baghdad since the Tigris direction of flow is toward south. The skins, to be sold later in Baghdad, form the float and, for example, a cargo of watermelon is put on the float. Not much effort is needed to row since the stream would push it to Baghdad. Needless to say on reaching Baghdad the Kelek was to be dismantled and the skins are to be sold, and one could return back home on foot.

The picture shows another means of transport. It is the (Quffa) or, as it sounds in the Iraqi dialect, (Guffa). It is clearer in the following picture:

Guffa is made of stem of rice plant. After harvest these stems are interwoven to form the shape of Guffa and then to be coated with tar. The picture title is (Home of some wealthy Jewish citizen). It is amazing to learn that more than one third of Baghdad citizens, in 1908, were Jews (Hanna Batato, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978). It shows that the Iraqi society was much more tolerant than nowadays.
Another means of transport is some kind of boat called (Mash’hoof). The following picture shows the Mash’hoof:

Mash’hoof is used, till nowadays, in the marshes or (Al’Ahwaar) in the southern parts of Iraq. Al’Ahwaar were so many in Iraq, starting from the southern outskirts of Baghdad heading toward Basra. Marshes began to disappear as a result of building more dams on Tigris & Euphrates in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The outskirts of Baghdad looked like this:

Confusion Leads to Suspicion (III)

2006-03-21T13:43:00.000+03:00

Suspicion reached hearts & minds of the US people as an ABC poll, released on March 6, says. About Iraq, the poll shows that “…eight in 10 Americans see civil war as likely and a record 65 percent say the administration lacks a clear plan to resolve the conflict;” I find the record, of those who say the administration lacks a clear plan to resolve the conflict, astonishing. It means that something is going wrong. On reading ‘National Strategy For Victory in Iraq’ issued by the National Security Council in Nov. 2005, one can find in part I (Strategic Overview/ THE STRATEGY OF OUR ENEMIES -P.7) a section titled (Enemy Lines of Action). The section states:

“The enemy seeks to …
• Weaken the Coalition’s resolve, and our resolve at home, through barbaric mass-casualty attacks, public slaughter of Iraqi civilians and hostages, infliction of casualties on Coalition forces, and use of the media to spread propaganda and intimidate adversaries.
• Destroy confidence in the Iraqi government by sabotaging key essential service (oil and electricity) nodes and by derailing the political process.
• Damage trust in Iraqi Security Forces through propaganda, infiltration, and barbaric attacks on the weak and the innocent.
• Sabotage Iraqi unity through propaganda against the Shi’a majority punctuated with attacks intended to spark sectarian conflict and civil war.
• Establish safe havens to plan attacks and conduct intimidation campaigns.
• Expand the fight to neighboring states and beyond.”

The strategy shows that every thing was taken into consideration. Still, things need more efforts. I believe that improving the sector of economy in Iraq is a vital factor in dragging young men away from being recruited, because of privation, by the terrorists.

Improving the way of handling the reconstruction in Iraq by re-evaluation through reports, like the one released by the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and listening to American field commanders & their Iraqi colleagues is very important. Jonathan Finer said in the Washington Post:

“Iraqis routinely describe the lack of basic services such as clean water and a steady supply of electricity as perhaps the biggest problem facing the war-ravaged country, ranking it alongside insecurity and persistent insurgent violence.”

Mr. Bowen says that while steady progress had been made, the "reconstruction gap" presents a "significant and growing threat" to American efforts to rebuild Iraq. Bowen's office ascribes ‘the gap’ to cases involving US citizens and allegations of “bribery, fraud, and kickbacks”. The report said investigators had gathered "an enormous amount of evidence" but contained no details on any possible indictments. Another news says that the Justice Department was looking at possible indictments linked to Iraqi reconstruction. Such news about bureaucracy are not perceivable for the poor unemployed homeless Iraqis who have been under oppression and war environment for decades, and are targeted daily by lunatic suicide bombers.

President Bush said on March 13,:

“Americans were inspired by the images of Iraqis bringing elderly relatives to the polls, holding up purple ink-stained fingers, dancing in the streets and celebrating their freedom. By their courage, the Iraqi people have spoken and made their intentions clear: they want to live in democracy -- and they are determined to shape their own destiny.”

That’s OK Sir, but hard work is needed to achieve something tangible. The other day, a colleague made a comparison between the era of Gen. Kassim (1958-63) and nowadays. After three years of ruling Iraq as a prime minister, Kassim made a tremendous change in the life of every Iraqi.
Prime minister of Iraq, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Jafari, wrote:

“The other major challenge my government will face is reviving Iraq's economy. Iraq has been drowned by decades of Baathist socialist policies that have made millions reliant on government handouts.”

Another OK, come on do something. Iraqis just hear words; the only real deeds are their daily killings for a reason or another by a bunch of brutal criminals. Still, they believe in a better future. Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, phrased it accurately:

“What we need to understand is that the vast majority of the Iraqi people want the coalition to succeed. They want better futures for themselves and their families. They do not want the extremists to win. And they are risking their lives every day to secure their country.”

Mr. Bush said:

“We saw the restraint of the Iraqi people in the face of massive provocation. Most Iraqis did not turn to violence, and many chose to show their solidarity…”

, but for how long one can guarantee this solidarity. An alternative for sects, tribes, religious leaders, sheiks…, which is effective state institutions, should be developed. On the absence of an influential government people would be coerced to resort to their sects, tribes and so on, asking for safety.

I believe in what Mr. Bush once said:

“…I believe that freedom is universal. I believe that deep in everybody's soul is the desire to be free. That's what I believe.”

And what Mr. Jafari said:

“The road ahead will be tough, but the Iraqi people have demonstrated their bravery, determination and resolve. The world should not falter at such a crucial stage in history.”

To attain these goals means is needed, and Iraqis need to be taught more about modern state, justice, and liberty. It is what I referred to in many previous posts as (EDUCATIONAL REHABILITATION).

Frankly speaking, I have learned in the past three years to trust some politicians. I never believed a word of what Saddam had said when he was in power, and likewise the Arab leaders. But when I hear Mr. Bush speeches, I feel relieved. Each time he assures me, as an Iraqi, that he is a persistent leader as in these words: “I make this promise to Debbie, and all the families of the fallen heroes: We will not let your loved ones dying be in vain. We will finish what we started in Iraq. We will complete the mission. We will leave behind a democracy that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself. And a free Iraq, in the heart of the Middle East, will make the American people more secure for generations to come.”

Lazy

2006-03-17T22:52:00.001+03:00

I feel too lazy. Unbelievable pain in my arm and shoulder kept me for the past days away from using the PC (as I wrote in the comment section of my last post). Moreover, the kind of events sequenced recently in Iraq, makes one feel unsettled & restless. The ghoul of a sectarian war is loitering about. One can hear different points of view and feel unseen hand spreading rumors.

My mind is filled with jumbled thoughts. I could not concentrate on one idea to write a new post. Imagine your self trying to cope with awkward circumstances. First is your everyday needs, each of them is a story. There is energy shortage (electricity, cooking gas, gasoline), and the shortage may include the grocery since there are continual cases of curfew which mean no vegetables or fruits; it means a dramatic price jumps.

Second, you can not stop worrying about every member of the family when he/she leaves home. Have they come across a car bomb or a suicidal lunatic? Are the kids safe at school? Is there any assassin touring the district to kill somebody? What about ordinary criminals who might steal any thing or kidnap anybody?

To leave home means to suspect every thing. Any car could be a bomb; any person with strange features could be a suicidal bomber; any heap of trash could hide a bomb; any queue or crowd could be attacked. You have to mind your language and don’t express yourself openly. You have to be aware of pickpockets, avoid any police, army, MNF patrol and VIP motorcades which could be lethal without forewarning.

In addition, a stream of news about acquaintances being killed, injured and detained keeps on coming daily. All the above put lot of stress on one’s mind. And what ever mental mechanism you develop to protect your sanity, sometimes you feel things go beyond expectations. I feel that I need any kind of recreation, but I do not know what kind and how.

Confusion Leads to Suspicion (II)

2006-03-03T17:10:00.000+03:00

It is important not to let down people who believe in the US as the defender of liberty and human rights. For this, new methods should be developed to communicate with the hearts of Muslims rather than their minds. Considering matters logically by people, in our part of the world, needs more time and hard work on education. So it is heart to be addressed not mind (take the shrine in Samara as an example).

One of these methods is to show progress on ground to the Iraqis. Some people mock the reconstruction process in Iraq by saying ‘Three years have passed under the administration of the super power No.1 in the world but nothing moving forward. God forbid, what would happen if it was some other less developed country?’ US is the economic leader, but look at the Iraqi situation. One may understand the time needed for transition from totalitarian state to something else; let’s hope it will be a democratic one. Though, it is not clear what prevents efforts from reconstructing certain sectors in Iraq.

I believe energy sector is the most vital one to motivate other fields. Setting aside electric power, oil production and export has gone down below that before 2003. Reconstructing oil fields and export facilities reduces the burden on the US budget. One of the richest fields in Iraq is near Basra. The production and exporting facilities are well protected. Still, after three years no progress in the level of production has been made. Someone might say ‘It is the Iraqi government to make the decision’. But one should be realistic; the Americans dominate the whole matters in Iraq, which is good to form equilibrium between different parties.

The disturbing news come from reports like this one. I do not have much knowledge about economy, but numbers like the following are so much for Iraq to make difference on ground:
"The Coalition Provisional Authority, which existed from shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 until June 2004, was allocated more than $38 billion in U.S. and Iraqi funds. It spent $19.7 billion of U.N.-administered Iraqi oil money."

Comparing these numbers to that of Iran budget of 2004, which was less than $20 billion, it presumes that a small difference in reconstruction sector should be noticeable. Iran’s area and population is about triple that of Iraq (I’m not sure whether such comparison suitable or not).
A report by Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction says:

"Much of the discrepancy stems from higher-than-expected costs to provide security for projects. The audit said roughly 16 percent to 22 percent of each project's budget went toward security…"

OK, let’s go higher, to 40 or 50 percent of each project’s budget to be allocated to security. Still, the remaining fund represents a number which can achieve wonderful things on ground for the given period of time.
The mission in Iraq is at a crossroads, either to quit it and accept the whole consequences or to go on. Outcome of the first choice is clear for the US people and nothing can be added. President Bush made it obvious:

"In my State of the Union, I said, we've got to reject isolationism. Isolationism is the tendency for a nation to withdraw and not feel an obligation to be involved in the world. And we cannot defend ourselves if we're isolationist."

Quitting the mission means failure. And failure is not an option as the National Strategy For Victory In Iraq, released by the National Security Council in November 2005, says:

"Failure is Not an Option:
• Iraq would become a safe haven from which terrorists could plan attacks against America, American interests abroad, and our allies.
• Middle East reformers would never again fully trust American assurances of support for democracy and human rights in the region – a historic opportunity lost.
• The resultant tribal and sectarian chaos would have major consequences for American security and interests in the region."

And:
"If we retreat from Iraq, the terrorists will pursue us and our allies, expanding the fight to the rest of the region and to our own shores."

I believe that the second choice, not quitting, is the right one to make. At least, to respect and honor those who gave their lives for the sake of better future. It needs sacrifices of different kinds, and to minimize these sacrifices speeding up reconstruction is vital. Work & good per capita income yield stability; it needs more money to invest in reconstructing Iraq. Some people might say ‘Enough, no more US money to be spent in Iraq’, and they are absolutely right. Still, it means to keep bleeding of souls and money for a longer time than that of speeding up the process.

To be continued…

Confusion Leads to Suspicion (I)

2006-02-21T14:53:00.000+03:00

Several matters dealing with Iraq surfaced recently. They added more tension and confusion to the way the Iraqis, Arabs & Muslims view the US, UK & West in general. Many questions are raised. Ordinary people in Iraq, Arab & Muslim world are so confused about the real intentions of the West, represented by US, UK, Denmark…etc.

A video showed a group of British soldiers beating a bunch of teenagers in Basra. Another release deals again with the abuses at Abu-Ghraib prison. The British government is dealing with the matter firmly. Regarding the British official attitude, one may look for an excuse which makes it understandable, since immediate decision is made to pursue the wrongdoers.

On the other hand, the second release of Iraqi detainees’ pictures & videos in Abu-Ghraib, which may have more issues in the future, represents a flaw in the way the US administration dealt with this dossier. Mr. Rumsfeld said in a previous session to the Congress that there would be more of these pictures. He said that he had seen much more than those released in April 2004. The question is “Why the Pentagon did not publish the whole bunch of them at the same time?” On doing so it wouldn’t take the sequence of rubbing salt into the wound every now and then. Moreover, it seems that the martial court did not put much effort to root out the whole story, since many big heads would roll. One may wonder whether the US administration wants to attract more terrorists to Iraq. And if it is so, more American soldiers could be harmed.

It becomes more complicated day after another to defend the decision to invade Iraq. The only tangible thing is kicking Saddam out of power which I think the most important event to make the Iraqis show gratitude to the coalition forces. President Bush said:

“Removing Saddam Hussein has made America safer and the world a better place.”

Especially Iraq Sir, and thank you for removing him.

Lot of my friends, acquaintances and colleagues are frustrated. They consider me one of the last optimistic Iraqis. Frankly, I can not find more concrete evidence to convince others of my point of view. The political process moves slowly and people are not ready to hear any more about it. They want deeds not words.

Another matter is the Guantanamo bay. It’s not clear under which law or convention people are detained there. What I mean is that US should keep the reputation of the leading nation in the world intact. US have to keep in mind that it represents an exemplar and for that it should take righteous decisions. It is the leader in the world as President Bush said:

“So to make sure America remains the leader in the world, we're going to stay on the leading edge of research and development,…”

And I may add “and morality”. Mr. Bush phrased it like this:
“We say, people matter, every human life is precious.Then those human lives apply not just here at home, but on the continent of Africa, or in Muslim countries.”

To be continued…

Ashura

2006-02-10T18:04:00.000+03:00

It is the new year of Hegira. This year, which started on 31January, has the number 1427. Muslim Shias have certain rituals during the first ten days of the year. They commemorate the death of their third Imam, Hussein bin Ali bin Abi-Talib, who was killed in the year 61 Hegira (683 A.D.). By the way, bin & ibn have the same meaning in Arabic which is ‘son’. Hussein bin Ali is the grandson of Prophet Mohammed of Islam. He is the son of Fatima, daughter of Prophet Mohammed.

Ali is a cousin & son in law of Prophet Mohammed. He ruled as the forth caliph of the Prophet. His period was unstable because of a struggle between him and the governor of Syria, appointed by the second caliph (Omar). Mu’auyah bin Abi-Sufyan, governor of Syria, was a very ambitious man. He wanted so hard to be the caliph, so he used the tragedy of killing the third caliph, by the mob, as a pretext to declare disobedience to the forth caliph. After exchanging many letters, skirmishes & a battle, Ali was assassinated. Ali’s son Hassan was to be chosen as the fifth caliph. Mu’auyah would not let Hassan be the new caliph, so he caused lot of trouble again. After negotiation between the two rivals, Hassan consented to renounce the caliph position & to declare Mu’auyah as the caliph. Hassan, the 2nd Shias’ Imam, made an agreement with Mu’auyah that he would be the successor of Mu’auyah.

Later on, Hassan was poisoned according to the Shias’ story, and Mu’auyah declared his son, Ye’zeed, as his heir to the caliphate. When Ye’zeed became the caliph, Hussein, brother of Hassan, was pledged allegiance by the Iraqis through a series of letters sent to him in Mecca. Hussein was uninterested in the matter of caliphate, since he was a devout Muslim. But the continuous letters from Iraq, and Ye’zeed’s playfulness as a caliph, awakened the reformer in Hussein. So he traveled to Iraq to join his supporters in a town called (Kuffa, about 160Km south to Baghdad). At the same time Ye’zeed appointed a tough man as his representative in Iraq & as the ruler of Kuffa. Amazingly, this man managed to change the standpoint of the Kuffis to be against Imam Hussein.

The events reached the peak on the 10th day of the year 61 Hegira. On that day Imam Hussein, and more than seventy persons of his family & escorts, were killed after a quick unequal battle. The Umayyads, from which Mu’auyah & Ye’zeed descend, is the cousin family of Mohammed’s. Both families descend from a tribe called Quraish, but the Umayyads might be described as power seekers and had a pragmatic perspective. The Umayyads adopted repression as a way of ruling, since the killing of the grandson of Prophet Mohammed caused to them lot of uprisings.

‘Shiaa’ literally means partisans or devotees; it is the name used to refer to Ali & his descendants’ followers. The Shias believes that Ali should be the caliph after Prophet Mohammed, and his sons later. Such demand represented a continuous threat to every muslim ruler. As a result the Shias day after another has become a kind of unorganized political opposition. Each year they try to express themselves through the Ashura rituals. These rituals have no relation to the main Islam doctrine. Because of these rituals, the muslim radical extremists view the Shias as polytheist and deserve death. Repression has its deep roots in the Arab & Islamic culture, which continued till 2003 here in Iraq. The Shias since then are free to practice their rituals. Still, they are a preferable target to the suicide bombers sent to them by the muslim extremists.

The Shias’ rituals are some kind of repentance for not championing Imam Hussein on that historical day. Moreover, the rituals represent a way of spiritual purification from daily wrongdoings. On the other hand, some people view the days of Ashura as a recreation, since many activities take place. Free food is available everywhere; parade-like processions organized; poetry depicting the tragedy of Hussein is recited; characterization of the events of that historical day is presented in streets; processions of people lashing their backs with chains can be seen; others gather in groups listening to poems recited in certain rhythm hitting their chests by hands; clergymen give ceremonial speeches & recite the epic of the tragedy; and many other activities which I may not recall.

Saddam’s Trial

2006-01-30T04:22:00.000+03:00

Saddam’s trial is to hold its eighth session on Sunday 29 January. A new chief judge has been appointed after the resignation of the former (Rizgar Mohamed Ameen). Most of the Iraqis considered Mr. Ameen a weak judge through his way in managing the previous sessions.

The majority of Iraqis, including me, have never seen similar trials before. The most famous trial in Iraq is (The Court of People). It is publicly known as (Court of Mahdawee) after the name of Colonel Mahdawee head of the court. This court had been held between the years (1958-63) to try senior officials of the monarchical regime ruled Iraq before 1958. Through what I heard about (Mahdawee Court) and reading 22 volumes telling the events of that court, I can tell that it was some kind of a circus. I think it was a tool to absorb the public anger to protect the accused from being slaughtered by the mob.

To judge any matter one should have sufficient knowledge about it. For that, it is unfair to carp at Mr. Ameen for his conduct in running the courtroom. The man was very calm and understanding in listening to the whole sides. Such way of behavior is unfamiliar to the Iraqi society. One may pick randomly an Iraqi and ask him (What would you have done, if you were the judge to try Saddam?), and the immediate answer would be (I’ll hang him publicly).

I don’t agree with the perspective of executing Saddam. I believe that Saddam should be used as an illustrative example to educate the Iraqi society and Arab world to respect law, to learn lessons about their reality, and the kind of people were leading them & still leading in other Arab countries. The Iraqis have a very volatile memory. Executing Saddam will cause the Iraqis to forget all the atrocities they had witnessed during his era. Many Iraqis had role in those atrocities, as the regime’s tools, by a way or another. Nowadays, the same former regime’s tools are trying to practice the same role under new religious slogans. So, Saddam should be kept as a concrete evidence to show what the Iraqis could do to themselves, if the international community let them alone.

Moreover, executing Saddam may make him a martyr. I’m resuming writing this post while the court is in session. Saddam seems to believe, through his conduct in the court, that he is above law. He is so arrogant and pompous. Still, he is the same person who can amuse the audience when he was in power.

Novel Horn

2006-01-20T20:05:00.000+03:00

Iraqis adore guns. It appears in every field of their legacy, culture, everyday life and so on. Most of the Iraqis use guns to express their joy, grief, anger…etc. Shooting guns in air is a regular daily incident. I can recall long ago, when I was a kid, a funeral procession of a tribe leader (Sheik). Hundreds of men were shooting their guns in air, and I can recollect the fear & horror I felt then.

Saddam era, through several wars, made the relation between Iraqis and arms much closer, and the society have been militarized. On the 8th of August 1988, Iraq-Iran war came to an end. And to celebrate ceasing fire in a war which seemed to be an endless one, the Iraqis kept on firing their guns for three days! It caused death to more than 300 people and injured more than 3000 in Baghdad only. One of my acquaintances lost his pregnant wife at that time. She was killed by a bullet falling back to ground hit her head.

The common way to warn people of a moving car is to honk the horn, and of the emergency vehicles is to use siren. A brand new way of warning people of a coming procession is used nowadays in Iraq, that’s shooting guns in air. So a driver may be totally taken by surprise by an IP or National Guard vehicle shooting in the air to make their way. The American troops use a developed method by shooting directly at cars to draw attention of other drivers.

What makes such conduct dangerous, dealing with a chosen sample, is the repetition of it. As an example, in the past month two of my neighbors witnessed such incident. One of them died and the other barely escaped being killed. I’m speaking about a neighborhood of less than 35 houses and a period of time less than month.

The first was killed by a stray bullet hit him in the neck down to the lungs. He was sitting by the window in a minibus of the kind used in public transportation in Baghdad. No one knew where from the bullet came, but mostly it is of that kind used as horn. The other was driving his car; he was sidetracked by a chat with a friend when two bullets hit the car. The first hit the trunk and the second turned the glass of the rear window into pieces.

To be fair, two weeks ago I saw a Humvee convoy downtown. The nice thing was a head of a young woman in uniform appearing from the roof of the first vehicle. She was blowing a whistle to draw attention to the convoy. It is a civilized way of behavior, but it needs powerful lungs.

ABC News Poll (II)

2006-01-06T16:59:00.000+03:00

Back to the poll, another question:

- How effective or ineffective have the reconstruction efforts in the area where you live been since the war of spring 2003?

The rate of those who consider it effective is 36%, while 52% consider it ineffective. The most important matter for Iraqis is electricity. Iraq has been in a continuous case of electricity shortage since decades, and none of the contemporary generations can recall a period of time when electricity was sufficient. During the few months before the invasion, the Iraqis dreamed about how their life would change on the hands of the most developed nation in the world, I mean the US. But till nowadays, as we approach the third anniversary of the invasion, nothing tangible in the reconstruction efforts has taken place. As I’m writing these lines, we have electricity for less than three hours per day here in Baghdad. The irony is that people compare the situation with that of days after 1991 war. At that time, Iraqi specialists managed to restore electricity within three months, though there was a blockade which prevented any maintenance materials, and lot of damage caused to the power stations. Some people consider it a matter of conspiracy to keep Iraq deteriorating.
This question could be related to another in the poll which says:

- Since the war, how do you feel about the way in which the United States and other coalition forces have carried out their responsibilities in Iraq? Have they done a very good job, quite a good job, quite a bad job or a very bad job?

The highest rate (59%) goes for bad way in carrying their responsibilities in Iraq.

Two questions which I recognize as amusing ones are:

- Which national leader in Iraq, if any, do you trust the most?
- And, if any, which one do you not trust at all?

It is astonishing to find that Saddam Hussein has got more trust than that of Ahmed Chalabi or Al-Sistani.

Answers to another question reveal that the Iraqi collective mentality still obsessed by the paternalistic state. A rate of 91% agrees that Iraq needs (A (single) strong Iraqi leader).

A remarkable question (How long do you think U.S. and other coalition forces should remain in Iraq?); its answers show that Iraqis are aware of the challenges they have to face ahead. The highest rate 31% goes for (They should remain until security is restored).

If I had been asked the following question I’d choose the whole bunch of answers:

- In order to avoid trouble, how often if ever have you done any of the following over the past year? Is it very often, quite often, not so often, never?

The (more often) choice rates are as follows (%):

a. Avoiding going out of your home 73
b. Not sending your children to school 55
c. Avoiding passing/driving by police stations and other public buildings 74
d. Avoiding markets and other crowded areas 69
e. Avoiding checkpoints 77
f. Avoiding US and other coalition forces 86
g. Avoiding travel 68
h. Being careful about what you say about yourself to others 74

But the highest rate goes for (f); the US & coalition processions still represent a real nightmare for the Iraqis in the streets. Personally, I turn back 180 degree to avoid any military force.

A promising future could be awaited for women rights. The last question in the poll asks (Do you think that women should…), those who say (YES) are as follows for each item (%):

Vote…99
Be able to stand for public office such as local council…77
Be able to stand for public office such as national assembly…80
Be able to be governor…51
Be able to be president…46
Be able to instruct men in their work…78
Be a medical doctor…99
Drive a car…84

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

I believe that freedom of speech and human rights are the most important factors in making any society moves forward. A person who has a novel idea won’t be able to declare it. And if he/she does, then he/she must be protected from the social repression. A repression which has no limits in our retrograded societies. Reactionary forces are very effective in Iraq. A wide spectrum of religious doctrines, traditions, accumulated sufferings, fear…etc, represents a useful pool of reactionaries for any opportunist. An opportunist could be an individual, a group of people, a political party, a sect, foreign intelligence, international interests, and the most important opportunist is the Saddamists.

ABC News Poll (I)

2005-12-31T12:09:00.000+03:00

An ABC News poll in Iraq, conducted with Time magazine, the BBC, NHK and Der Spiegel by Oxford Research International includes some remarkable results. It was released early this month. The poll is compared to two previous ones; the first conducted by ABC News released on February 28 2004 and the other is a survey conducted by Oxford Research International for Oxford University on June 14 2004.

The poll consists of several questions which I find some of them interesting. These questions are:

- Compared to the time before the war in Spring 2003, are things overall in your life much better now, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse or much worse?

The percentage of those (who think that things are better) goes down five numbers, in comparison with Feb 2004 poll, to 51%. On the other hand, the percentage of those (who think that things are worse) goes up ten numbers to 29%.

- What is your expectation for how things will be for Iraq as a country overall a year from now? Will they be much better, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse or much worse?

Those who expect things to get better one year from now represent 69%, while those who expect them to get worse represent 11%.

- I would like to ask you about today’s conditions in the village/neighborhood where you live. How would you rate the following using very good, quite good, quite bad or very bad?

The highest rate goes for the item (Your freedom of speech). Those who say it is good represent 78%, while who say it is bad represent 19%. Another two questions ask:

- Compared to the time before the war in Spring 2003, would you say (item) is much better now, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse or much worse?

- What is your expectation for (item) a year from now, do you expect it to be much better, somewhat better, about the same, somewhat worse or much worse?

The (item) refers to (Your freedom of speech) which scores 47% better & 25% worse for the first question, 76% better & 3% worse for the second question.

Well, I don’t think that much freedom of speech is available, since arms still the best way to settle arguments, not immediately, but through assassins. Organized crime is forming its structures in the Iraqi society. A person could spread a rumor about his rival being a member of one of the militias, the IP, the Iraqi army, a political party, a humanitarian organization, an insurgency group…etc. Such rumor is enough to cause the rival death. For example, a dentist had been killed by a bunch of assassins. They broke into the dentist’s killing him and fleeing within minutes. Later, they were caught and the investigation revealed that this bunch had killed more than fifty persons. On asking them about the reason for killing the dentist, they said that they had been “told” that the dentist was a member of (Badr Corps) militia, and they had been paid to kill him.

Another example is the anonymity of BBC Arabic radio correspondents in Iraq. After the invasion of Iraq, BBC established a very active bureau in Baghdad with a studio for live programs. Their correspondents covered many Iraqi cities. They used their names at the end of reports they prepared. But later, I noticed that their main introducer of live programs, Dr. Saffa As’Salih, disappeared for few months and resumed his good work, and again he disappeared. The BBC Baghdad bureau shrank from doing their work with the same activity they started with. Dr. As’Salih reappeared as the BBC correspondent in Sudan with no one to replace him in Baghdad. No more live programs is broadcast from Baghdad.
The BBC correspondent in Basra, Isam Al-Ainachee, had his father killed. He also disappeared and reappeared as the BBC correspondent in Qatar. Now, when the BBC Arabic put their correspondents in Baghdad on air or broadcast their reports, no names are mentioned to keep them anonymous. So, a report is ended with (BBC Baghdad bureau) and the presenters, at the main studios in London, never address Baghdad correspondent by his/her name.

And look at my blog; I’m using a nom de plume to avoid annoyance, though some of my close friends, whom I trust, know about it. I feel I’m freer to address people outside Iraq than inside.

A question asked at the end of the poll could be related to the matter of (Your freedom of speech), it says:

- Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you have to be very careful in dealing with people?

An 85% goes for (have to be very careful in dealing with people). It is so dangerous to express one’s thoughts, especially about the current events, to other people. For example, one can not speak publicly at Al-Sadr district or Najaf city about Ayad Alawee or Communists. Alawee went to Najaf days before the recent election and he could barely escape an attempt to kill him by an angry crowed. One can not ask for the protection of security forces since they have the same loyalty of the locals. Ayad Al- Izee, a leader in the Iraqi Islamic Party, had been killed before the election at the same province, Anbar, at which his political party has the vast majority of champions. He was attending an electoral conference in which he said something which a group of persons didn’t like, so they just killed him.

To avoid turning this post to a tedious one, I’ll make it in two parts. So, it is to be continued…

Wishing you a happy NEW YEAR.

Many Thanks

2005-12-16T21:26:00.000+03:00

I think I have to say something about the comments you made on the previous post.

Thanks Jan for wishing my people & me luck.
What Jan says about “meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq”, or any other state, should no longer be accepted, since human rights do not differ from one part of the globe to another. I believe that human beings must support each other without looking at race, ethnic, sex, color…etc to improve the culture of respecting mankind.
*****************
Many thanks to G Money & Eric.
What AGA said blew my mind; believe me I’m just an ordinary Iraqi citizen who adores his homeland. Thanks for the nice words.
*****************
I think that I should thank Mr. Bush for his nice words, he said on receiving out-of-country Iraqi voters Thursday in the Oval Office of the White House, addressing the Iraqi people. The man is able to see my inside feelings of joy and relief on saying:
“I was struck by how joyous they were to be able to vote for a government -- a permanent government under a new constitution.”

Moreover, he shares joy with us:
“And there's a lot of -- lot of joy, as far as I'm concerned, in seeing the Iraqi people accomplish this major milestone in the march to democracy.”

President Bush said:
“I want to congratulate the Iraqi citizens for being courageous and in defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting. I believe freedom is universal. I believe the Iraqi citizen cares just as much about freedom and living a free life as the American citizen does.”

Well, thank you Mr. President for these nice words; allow me to say without the help of the US people and their brave men & women in uniform, nothing of this would have been achieved.

It is great relief to hear Mr. Bush making it clear:
“I've assured these good Iraqi citizens that the United States will stay with them and complete this -- complete this job. They've expressed concern about listening to the commentary that we'll leave before the job is done -- they don't have to worry. We're doing the right thing. And we've got partners in peace with the Iraqi citizens.”

Frankly, the Americans left a deep scar in every Iraqi's heart when they withdrew from Iraq in 1991. Many Iraqis, till now, believe that the Americans may pull out without any forewarning, leaving them to face their destiny with terrorists & Saddamists. Personally, on listening to Mr. Bush’s speeches, I’m accumulating trust in US day after another.
For example he said, addressing troops at Osan Air Base in Osan, Korea on November 19, 2005:
“The terrorists are mistaken; America will never run. We will stand and fight, and we will win the war on terror”…”We will never back down, and we will never give in, and we'll never accept anything less than complete victory.”

In his series of speeches outlining strategy for victory in Iraq, he said at United States Naval Academy Annapolis, Maryland on November 30, 2005: “America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief”…”America will not abandon Iraq. We will not turn that country over to the terrorists and put the American people at risk. Iraq will be a free nation and a strong ally in the Middle East.”

Another speech is at Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington, D.C. addressing the Council on Foreign Relations on December 7, 2005:
“Our goal is victory -- and victory will be achieved when the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy”…“And now the terrorists think they can make America run in Iraq, and that is not going to happen so long as I'm the Commander-in-Chief.”

Finally, Mr. Bush said on receiving the Iraqi voters:
“I want to thank you all again for coming. May God bless your citizens. May God bless a free Iraq. I appreciate you being here.”
And may God bless America, Amen. Thank you Mr. President, people of the United States, US troops and every individual of the Multi-National Force for helping Iraq. I pray to God to protect these men & women.

Miscellany

2005-12-14T17:39:00.000+03:00

-1-
Different issues are crowding in my mind. The most important one, for now, is the parliamentary election to take place tomorrow. It is the most significant milestone to reach in the long march of achieving peaceful democratic New Iraq. Though the picture of the future seems to be dim, but frankly I get lot of encouragement from what Mr. Bush said in his speech at World Affairs Council on December 12:

“The eight years from the end of the Revolutionary War to the election of a constitutional government were a time of disorder and upheaval. There were uprisings, with mobs attacking courthouses and government buildings. There was a planned military coup that was defused only by the personal intervention of General Washington.”

This wonderful man, as I view him from abroad, is helping the Iraqi people to recover their real identity. He is trying to raise the Iraqi's spirits by sharing his nation’s experiences with them and to show that man history is similar. I’m looking at the past (approximately) three years and the political liveliness spreading in the Iraqi society since invading Iraq which was a dream before that. I believe that the year 2005 will represent a significant one in the history of Iraq or as Mr. Bush says:
“…the year 2005 will be recorded as a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East, and the history of freedom.”

Still, the whole process needs to be supervised by a rational power to prevent it from backsliding; that power is the US. As an example of it:
“We encouraged Iraq's leaders to reach out to Sunni leaders, and bring them into the governing process.”
And “Recently, U.S. and Iraqi troops have discovered prisons in Iraq where mostly Sunni men were held, some of whom have appeared to have been beaten and tortured. This conduct is unacceptable…"
And“Slowly but surely, with the help of our coalition, Iraqis are replacing the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law, and ensuring equal justice for all their citizens.”

Mr. Bush, as a man of insight, is aware of it and he succeeds in pointing to what tasks are waiting ahead:
“…ensuring Iraqi security, forming an inclusive Iraqi government, encouraging Iraqi reconciliation, and maintaining Iraqi democracy in a tough neighborhood.”

In which I find the last one is the most important, since democracy can improve or correct what goes wrong.

The president is reading my mind. I’m an ordinary Iraqi citizen who suffered not much as other Iraqis, but I look forward to decent peaceful way of life for me, for other people and for the coming generations. US is playing the main role in making my dreams become true:
“… 160,000 of America's finest are putting their lives on the line so Iraqis can succeed. The American and Iraqi people share the same interests and the same enemies -- and by helping democracy succeed in Iraq, we bring greater security to our citizens here at home.”.... “Yet Iraqis are showing they have the patience and the courage to make democracy work-- and Americans have the patience and courage to help them succeed.”

Such words and deeds on ground makes people, in the Mideast, regain confidence and trust in brotherhood that crosses borders & seas to embrace all mankind. We’ve been taught for decades not to trust non-Muslims, non-Arabs, non-Iraqis, non-one’s sect, non-one’s family and none but one’s self.

But let me tell you that election culture has just started to take root in the Iraqi society and needs to be looked after.

-2-
Another issue I wanted to write about is an ABC NEWS POLL but I’ll postpone it for now, though Mr. Bush mentioned something similar by saying “Democracy is only going to succeed if people say, my life is going to be better.”

The poll says that more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from 40 percent in a June 2004 survey.

-3-
Back to human rights violations. Another case revealed, on Sunday December 11, when U.S. and Iraqi officials said they had discovered at least 12 cases of what an Iraq official called "severe torture" at a prison run by the Interior Ministry's special police commandos.

Human Rights Violation

2005-12-02T18:11:00.000+03:00

A bunker in Al-Jadriya district in Baghdad is apparently used as a detention place by Interior Ministry. The Iraqi minister of interior, Bayan Jabr, claimed that using such buildings, like the bunker, because the country lacked adequate prisons. He claimed at a news conference that the detainees were some of the most dangerous criminal terrorists of various Arab nationalities. It is a pretext which takes different names to repress opponents and to tame people to accept such practices violating human rights.

What raises concerns is that disclosure of this bunker, and what takes place in it, came from the American troops. Jabr said that Gen. Casey visited him at his office to tell him about an information leak that torture acts are used in investigation by the Iraqi officers.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari said that he had been informed about the bunker by Undersecretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed bin Hili. In both statements a third side intervened to make the Iraqi government take on its responsibility to protect its own people. The Iraqi society, like the Mideast ones, does not perceive how tolerating human rights violation may rebound on its members. The civil community institutions run by Iraqis still do not understand their role in enhancing the standards of life in Iraq; and if there is any, there are lots of bedouin-tribal and religious traditions which hinder their work.

I believe that letting go of the Iraqis to meet human rights standards, will cause lot of chaos. Any Iraqi sectarian, political or religious party takes control of power oppresses its opponents. Later, the concept of opponents extends to include the whole people. For that, I'm totally convinced the international community must keep a close eye on the Iraqi government to protect the Iraqi people.

As an example is the promise made by Prime Minister Jafari to announce the results of an investigation he ordered in the case, of the bunker, within two weeks, but nothing is declared. For that I'd like to ask you, if you can, to write or email this post to any person or group which could put pressure on the Iraqi government to enforce human rights. As the 57th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights approaches, try to participate in backing human rights by telling someone to keep pressure on the Iraqi government.

The urge made by the High Commissioner for Human Rights should be backed. It seems that the MNF have to stay in Iraq for some time to help in creating new collective mentality which respects human beings.

As a person belongs to the middle class, I can say that it is a class which has no means to seize power, at least in Iraq, since the Iraqi society glorifies guns and submits to any party which is militarily powerful. What we need for some time is a non-Iraqi rational, civilized, democratic power to support formation of new culture which respects man, helping this culture to take root in Iraq. The middle class has been crushed by Saddam regime and it is very essential to help it to grow again.

Family

2005-11-25T21:36:00.000+03:00

A friend sent me beautiful lines, which I find them suitable for the coming holidays. Try to seize it and get closer to your family.

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.

" By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?
" He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.

" I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

FAMILY Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?

Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

Pass this message to 7 people except you and me.

I hope that I manage to pass it to more than that, wishing you nice holidays.

Terrorists hit in Amman

2005-11-14T22:38:00.000+03:00

Terrorists hit another city on Wednesday 9th of November evening; the theater is three hotels in Amman-Jordan. The victims are more than 57 totally innocent people. The most tragic story is the death of 17 individuals of the same family. They were attending a wedding; a very plain, natural, human activity which would not harm any body. I can not understand what kind of motive could make a human being detonate a bomb among such group of people. I think that he/she must have a heart made of stone to be able to ignore joy & innocence in the eyes of children in the wedding.

A notable figure is one of the victims. Mustapha Akkad, the American film director of Syrian origin, and his daughter, Reem, have been killed in one of the explosions. Mr. Akkad became a famous person in the Arab & Islamic world after producing a film about the story of Islam, in 1976, which the regional film industry has not succeeded to produce a similar one. The film name is The Message, with two versions (Arabic & English), starring Anthony Quinn & Irene Papas in the English version. Years later, he produced another film about a Libyan revolutionist (Omar Mukhtar) who fought the Italian occupation of Libya. Globally, he is known for his film series (Halloween).

The Iraqi government, as I believe, started a campaign to make use of the unpleasant incident. Sadoon Ad'dulaimee, minister of defense, arrived in Amman. Muafak Al-Rubaee, national security adviser, arrived in Cairo. It seems that the Iraqi government is trying to take the opportunity to cut off the logistic backup the insurgents receive from neighboring countries.

Some Iraqis consider it a good shock to the Jordanians. A shock that would keep their feet on the ground, forces them to face the fact of what's going on in Iraq. The Arabs romanticize the events in Iraq by describing insurgents as patriots. An Arabic proverb says "The one whose hand in water is not like the one whose hand in fire", so the Iraqis want the Arabs to put their hands in fire and taste, what they call, the Iraqi resistance.

An Iraqi woman was detained after the crime, Sajida Mubarak, by the Jordanian security forces. The woman revealed that her brother was one of Saddam's secret service officers and later a major assistant of Al-Zarqauee. The man had been killed in April 2004 at Fallujah. This gives a good indication that the individuals, who claim being national resisters, are a bunch of former Baathists & Saddam's Mukhabrat. Zarqauee & Saddam's henchmen can not retreat or ask for forgiveness, since they are "lawfully expired", as I may say. These people are convinced that even if the Iraqi government issued collective pardon, their victims' families won't forgive them and will take revenge on them. And since death is their fate, they find it better to end their lives as martyrs (according to their point of view).

The problem is to prevent more people from joining the insurgents. Zarqauee & Saddam's followers are working hard to get more people, especially youth, involved in committing a crime which makes it not easy to turn back.

Finally, when the explosions took place, in Amman, I remembered the September 11th events. And once again I imagined myself on one of the planes hit the two towers or inside one of the towers. The question is "what have I done to be killed in such cruel way?" The same question goes for the whole similar crimes all over the world. Here in Iraq, the question is asked by tens of innocent victims daily.

Ramadan & Eid

2005-11-05T20:06:00.000+03:00

Ramadan has just finished in Iraq & the Muslim world. The first day of Ramadan, which is a month, was on Tuesday 4th of October. Fasting according to Islam includes not eating or drinking or smoking from sunrise till sunset, not to have sexual intercourse with the husband/wife in the same period of the day, to try to do good deeds as much as one can do, to practice good habits…etc. In general, Ramadan is a month for focusing on training oneself soul to get closer to God by enhancing the good qualities of ones conduct. Lying, tittle-tattle, using bad language, false promises…etc are forbidden in Islam. Many people find it not easy to quit such bad qualities. By creating an environment of watching each others behavior, it helps some people to quit them.

Ramadan has its cultural traditions and folklore activities. One of the famous folklore games is (Al-Mih’haibis). It is a game which needs nothing more than a finger ring and two teams of unlimited members. Each team tries to regain the ring which is hidden in one of the closed hands of the whole members of the opponent team. One member of the team who seeks for the ring goes through the players of the team which has the ring. Every player in the team with the ring should raise his hands in front of him so that the seeker, and his team, can see them clearly. The seeker should be of good ability to control the opponents psychologically and has predictability about where the ring might be hidden. He keeps on opening hand after another by pointing to each and saying his prediction. He has the right to consult his team players about their predictions. If he points to a certain hand and announce a wrong gesture then the one who has the ring shouts (Bat). When the shout is heard that means the ring is going to remain with the same team for another round and another point to be added to their score. Here a short break is made to sing traditional songs, mainly (Murab'aa), praising the victory of the team. Such game is played at night after breaking fast. There are famous ring seekers in every city and town. In Baghdad, for example, one may find these famous seekers in the old parts of the city. The old part of Baghdad consists of alleys, and till now great games are held between the alleys teams.

The trophy of the game is a big tray or more of (Baklawa). It is a kind of sweets well known in the Mideast countries. These trays of baklawa are to be eaten by the two teams when the game is over. This year one, of many, Iraqi TV satellite channel (Sumaria) organized a championship for the game which concluded with a cup delivered to Al-Kadimya team.

Ramadan is followed by Eid Al-Fitr (Less Bairam). First day of Eid was on 3 November which represents a celebration of fasting after Ramadan. An Islamic ritual at the end of Ramadan is to pay little amount of money by every Muslim who has sufficient income. This amount is called (Zakah El-Fitr). It should be paid, by those who like to, on the last day of Ramadan. It is one kind of the social insurance in Islam. This (Zakah El-Fitr) is to be paid to poor people so that they can celebrate (Eid El-fitr).

The amount differs from one year to another. This year it is about $1 for each person. That is to pay $1 for each member of the family by the paterfamilias. One may pay it directly to poor people whom he/she knows. Otherwise is to give it to a trustee.

People visit and greet each other on Eid. In Iraq the most common greetings is (Ayamkum Sa’eida) which means (wishing you happy days).

A friend of mine insists to change this greeting to (wishing you normal days). Of course he jokes about our abnormal days since 1990. He explains that we live under the line of normal days, so we should achieve normal life and then to think about happiness.

Finally (Ayamkum Sa’eida) to all readers of this post and to the whole world.

Belligerents

2005-10-31T16:46:00.000+03:00

A report published in the New York Times is the incentive for this post. I read, last week, an Arabic version of it. It is about the lethal enemy which the marines face in Ramady city, about 100 Km west to Baghdad. A translated quotation says:
"In Ramady, the Sunni militants are fighting their fiercest war against the American soldiers. These militants launch their attacks from distances which are not so far from the positions controlled by the marines, and move back without serious causalities. Everyday, the American soldiers fight to hold on their positions, in a war against an enemy which seems to be existing everywhere, but not obvious most of the time."

For the people in the northwest parts of Iraq, Ramady part of it, in their everyday channel of communication, it is very normal to use guns between even the members of one family. There is lot of stories well known by the Iraqis about people of that side of the country. One story which I can recall is a quarrel over crossing a small bridge of one truck way. Two trucks met on the opposite sides of the bridge; each driver insisted that he is the first to go over the bridge. The quarrel evolved into a big fight; more relatives involved. Guns were used and the fight ended with a dead person & three injured. Keep in mind that the whole individuals are kinsmen. I tried to choose a believable story, since there are much sillier ones. For example someone tries to split a bomb with a cousin by cutting it into two pieces, using a hammer & a chisel; the result is clear after the bomb detonation. They quarreled over the bomb which they were intending to use it in catching fish. Even when Saddam was in power people of the western sides of Iraq were a pain in the neck for Saddam. It was well known their continuous raids on the government & military warehouses.

Another story of 85 years old is about what happened between Sheikh Dharee, head of Zo'baa tribe, and Colonel Girard A. Liegeman (not sure of the spelling), a British officer. It was the early days of the British occupation of Iraq. The British were trying to set order & laying the foundations for a new state called Iraq. Sheik Dharee had a very good relation with Colonel Liegeman. The colonel made use of him to guard the main desert road along Euphrates, leading to Syria. The sheik was benefiting from that task by illegally taxing people who travel on that way. As the new state institutions started to function, Colonel Liegeman told Sheik Dharee to stop guarding & taxing, since the new government was to take the role. Sheik Dharee raged against the decision which led to a serious conflict between the two men ended by the killing of Colonel Liegeman on 14 August 1920. The later Iraqi generations, I'm one of them, have read about Sheik Dharee as a patriot.

Bedouinism & tribalism, till nowadays, have great role in the Iraqi society. A pioneer in the modern Iraqi sociology, Dr. Ali Wardi (1913-96), said answering his critics "I'm not criticizing or condemning the bedouin & tribal way of life. All what I'm saying is that bedouin way of life is suitable for desert not for urban or rural communities." His assertion is to examine the distorted way of life the Iraqi society follows.

Anyhow, taming a bedouin community seems not to be easy. Saddam tried to calm down the people in western sides of Iraq by money & recruiting them in his secret services. Such policy made people of these parts of country abandon schools, with very low level of learning, to join Saddam's institutions which present to them money & authority. Nevertheless, they continued to represent real annoyance to Saddam till his last days in power.

Now, how the Americans are going to deal with this matter; I have no answer.

Two days with the same date

2005-10-22T14:36:00.000+03:00

The date is 15th October; a three years time is between the two days. The first was in 2002; the second is this year.

On 15th October 2002, there was a faked referendum on Saddam's presidency. At that time, one could hear so many stories about how the government would treat people who wouldn't go to the polling places.

I decided, three years ago, to boycott the referendum. As day was moving toward sunset time, my nervousness increased. I kept on thinking about the kinds of problems would be caused to me & my family by the baathists on boycotting. I recall that I felt uneasy and, frankly speaking, terrified. I was sure, and the whole Iraqis, that the result to be announced was 100%. So, boycotting wouldn't make difference but harming oneself. As we were approaching the referendum deadline, I asked my brother to go to the polling place & vote for the family.

My brother was received by the senior Baathist in our district, who led him to receive the ballots. They gave him the ballots of the whole family; instructed & watched him closely to be sure that he chose (YES). The most important thing for me and the whole Iraqis was to put a sign against their names in the voting lists, to avoid the baathists harassment. Within two hours the result was announced by Saddam's deputy, Izat Al-Do'ri, which was 100% YES to Saddam.

This year, on the same date, a significant public change can be noticed in the political awareness. Two major events took place this year; first the election on 30th January; second the referendum on 15th October; expecting another on 15th December. No one fears the government or thinks about being harassed by officials. But fear comes from the side which claims it represents the Iraqi patriotism (I mean the baathists & the insurgents). For me, looking back at three years ago, my way of thinking, considering and judging public matters has changed amazingly.

I believe that the Iraqis should show gratitude to the coalition, especially the US & GB, for helping them to start a brand new way of political life. Still, lot of work is needed to establish rigid foundation for the new Iraq. Iraqi self protection institutions are very important to secure what achieved till now, and to develop it toward a brighter peaceful future.

In the short term, Iraqi economical sector must be activated to fight unemployment which causes depression, providing a huge pool to recruit insurgents & terrorist. What I'm saying is well known, but the question is what holds up starting the reconstruction process. Secretary Condoleezza Rice said something like that in her Opening Remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

"To execute our strategy we will restructure a portion of the U.S. mission in Iraq. Learning from successful precedents used in Afghanistan, we will deploy Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in key parts of the country. These will be civil-military teams, working in concert with each of the major subordinate commands, training police, setting up courts, and helping local governments with essential services like sewage treatment or irrigation. The first of these new PRTs will take the field next month."

Let's hope what she said Will be carried out seriously.

The New Constitution

2005-10-12T21:20:00.000+03:00

The Iraqi people is about to witness a historic day. It is the referendum on the proposed constitution on Saturday 15 October. I'll try to make a general review of some articles of the constitution, introducing my perspective about some of them. I'm not versed in jurisprudence, so I'm referring to the TEXT OF THE DRAFT IRAQI CONSTITUTION (Translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press).

Article (2-1a) states:

"Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:
(a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."

What bothers is the possibility of using Islamic rules by the clerics to tyrannize the society, repressing the spirit of modernization & creativeness.

Article (9-1a) states:

"(a) The Iraqi armed forces and security apparatuses consist of the components of the Iraqi people, keeping in consideration their balance and representation without discrimination or exclusion. They fall under the command of the civil authority, defend Iraq, don't act as a tool of oppression of the Iraqi people, don't intervene in political affairs and they play no role in the rotation of power."

It is strange wording to say "… consist of the components of the Iraqi people, keeping in consideration their balance and representation…" which, as I believe, contains some kind of sectarianism & what if the people of a certain component have no interest in joining the armed forces. How could the balance be achieved?

Another article seems to be a sectarian one & redundant (Article 10), since there is another one (Article 41) guarantees religious rights. But it is clear that there are persecution complexes dominating the minds of the persons who wrote the draft.

Compare:

"Article (10): The holy shrines and religious sites in Iraq are religious and cultural entities. The state is committed to maintain and protect their sanctity and ensure the exercising of (religious) rites freely in them."

"Article (41): 1st - The followers of every religion and sect are free in:
(a) the practice of their religious rites, including the (Shiite) Husseiniya Rites.
(b) the administration of religious endowments and their affairs and their religious institutions, and this will be organized by law.
2nd - The state guarantees freedom of worship and the protection of its places."

The persecution complexes appear plainly in the second part of article (41-1a) by adding (…including the (Shiite) Husseiniya Rites.). The second part is needless, since it is said in the first part (the practice of their religious rites…). It just adds a trace of sectarianism to the constitution.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights does appear in the constitution with slight differences. For example article (18) of the Universal Declaration which states:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

Has been contracted to:

Article (40): Every individual has freedom of thought and conscience.

Where the word (religion) is deleted, since the matter of changing religion in Islam is a red line which may cause death to any muslim who converts from Islam. Though the main rules of Islam insist that (Compulsion on people to follow certain religion is totally forbidden), but it seems to be perceived in many perverted ways.

As for women, the main achievements are:
1. A baby born for an Iraqi woman & non Iraqi man has the right to take the nationality of its mother (Iraqi). It caused lot of objections which emerge from a tribal-bedouin legacy. Article (18-1) states:

"An Iraqi is anyone who has been born to an Iraqi father or an Iraqi mother."

2. An assertion is made in article (20) that women have the right to be candidates to any public position. The article states:

"Citizens, male and female, have the right to participate in public matters and enjoy political rights, including the right to vote and run as candidates."

I think this confirmation helps to avoid cases like the one happened in Iran last presidential election when a woman tried to be one of the nominees. Her request was refused since the Iranian constitution does not state that women are allowed to run for presidency.

3. The best is what stated in article (47-4):

"A proportion of no less than 25 percent of the seats in the Council of Representatives is specified for the participation of women."

It keeps an influential participation for women in the council. The question is whether this quota will cause incompetent female-members to take the place of more efficient male-members or not.

Another issue was handled inadequately. It is an article which stated:

"All individuals have the right to enjoy the rights stated in international human rights agreements and treaties endorsed by Iraq that don't run contrary to the principles and rules of this constitution."

It had the serial number (44). Secularist members of the committee of the draft debated that the international treaties have the upper hand over the national laws. This means that lot of contradictions will appear and to be settled in favor of the international ones. It caused the Islamic members to say that they'll stand against putting into practice any international treaty which opposes Islamic rules. As a result the article was deleted and the Iraqi people lost a broader space of liberty.

As I'm writing this post the Iraqi political parties, participants in the political process, have reached a compromise to comply with the Sunnis demands to review the constitution within four months after the elections of 15 December 2005.

Most of the Iraqis know very little about the details of the new constitution. So, they are going to vote according to what the clerics & the tribes' leaders would say.

For me, I'll say (YES) for the constitution since it represents a milestone in the long journey to achieve better life to the coming Iraqi generations.

God bless Iraq.

Consistency & Integrity

2005-10-08T22:34:00.000+03:00

I believe that the US influence has predominated over Iraq since 1963. The most important thing for the US administrations was to maintain their interests, regardless the way it was achieved. The period (1963-1990) witnessed a firm alliance between those administrations & the baathists. The baathists were useful during the cold war to fight communism & later Islamism. It seems that invading Kuwait in 1990 caused that alliance to end. It took 13 years time to get rid of the previous allies.

Anyhow, the US & the British administrations are changing their beliefs. Mr. Blair, the British PM, introduced a new perspective, about one year ago, by saying:

"In the politics -- when I was first a member of Parliament and making my way up the greasy pole and all the rest of it, there was a view in foreign policy that you dealt with countries on the basis of whatever attitude they had towards you, but really whatever they did within their own countries, that was up to them, and didn't really make a difference to your long-term relationship."

So:

"I think what we are learning today is that there is not stability of any true, long-term kind without democratic rights for free people to decide their government."

For that:

"We actually had to go there and say, no, we must replace that with a democratic form of government -- because, in the end, if we replace it simply with another dictator, then we'll get the same instability back.That's why in Iraq we decided when Saddam was removed, we didn't want another hard man coming in, another dictator."

Making such decision means to work your way through the whole process, not quitting it before finishing the mission. Mr. Blair is a man of vision when he says:

"The pace of change can either overwhelm us, or make our lives better and our country stronger.What we can’t do is pretend it is not happening."

Or:

"The character of this changing world is indifferent to tradition.Unforgiving of frailty.No respecter of past reputations.It has no custom and practice.It is replete with opportunities, but they only go to those swift to adapt, slow to complain, open, willing and able to change."

The majority of people in the Mideast are not willing to change. It is the legacy of centuries of darkness. A perverted perception of religion, dominated by tribal traditions, controls the mind hindering creativity. To join the moving forward world, one should not pretend that change is not taking place. Here, in this region, we are not ready, till now, to seize the opportunity, to be swift to adapt, to stop complain (as I'm doing now), to be open, willing & able to change. We are overwhelmed by the pace of the changing world.

Again, he proves that he is an inelligent man by differentiating between Muslims & terrorists:

"These terrorists do not, never have and never will represent the decent, humane and principled faith of Islam."

And by stating a fact:

"Muslims, like all of us, abhor terrorism. Like all of us, are its victims.It is, as ever, only fringe fanatics we face."

I think there are mutual interests between Iraqis & the coalition nations. One of these is to prepare a killing zone for the global terrorists here in Iraq which causes innocents to die. In return, the coalition nations must sustain backing the Iraqi people in their struggle to build stable democracy. So, calling for withdrawal means to let the Iraqis down and:

"… the way to stop the innocent dying is not to retreat,to withdraw, to hand these people over to the mercy of religious fanatics or relics of Saddam, but to stand up for their right to decide their Government in the same democratic way the British people do."

Another outstanding figure with a marvelous diagnosis is Secretary Condoleezza Rice on her speech at Princeton University. She says:

"… that the root cause of September 11th was the violent expression of a global extremist ideology, an ideology rooted in the oppression and despair of the modern Middle East, then we must speak to remove the source of this terror by transforming that troubled region."

She agrees with what Mr. Blair said a year ago in the following words:

"For 60 years, we often thought that we could achieve stability without liberty in the Middle East. And ultimately, we got neither. Now, we must recognize, as we do in every other region of the world, that liberty and democracy are the only guarantees of true stability and lasting security."

Mideast regimes have tried to establish and maintain an idea which says 'Liberty & democracy means that extremists will rule'. It is the idea used by the Saudis to persuade the west that they are the best choice to rule Arabia. Ms Rice refutes this idea:

"There are those who worry that greater freedom of choice in the Middle East will only liberate and empower extremism. In fact, the opposite is true: A political culture of transparency and openness is not one in which extremist beliefs can ultimately thrive."

To impose democratic principles may need military backing:

"In a world where evil is still very real, democratic principles must be backed with power in all its forms: political, and economic,and cultural, and moral, and yes, sometimes, military. Any champion of democracy who promotes principle without power can make no real difference in the lives of oppressed people."

The world, especially the Arabs, showed indifference to the sufferings of the Iraqi people for many years. Only the US finally stepped forward to end it:
"The United States and a large coalition of nations finally removed Saddam Hussein. By any moral standards, the liberation of the Iraqi people was long overdue."

Letting the Iraqis down now means to hand Iraq over to the terrorists. Eventually, these terrorists should be faced by the free world. So, withdrawal from Iraq means:
"We will embolden every enemy of liberty and democracy across the Middle East. We will destroy any chance that the people of this region have of building a future of hope and opportunity. And we will make America more vulnerable. If we abandon future generations in the Middle East to despair and terror, we also condemn future generations in the United States to insecurity and fear."

Basra

2005-09-27T15:21:00.000+03:00

It is an ambiguous situation in Basra. Contradictory stories are introduced by the different sides involved in what happened on September 19. Several questions or issues are raised.

If the two British soldiers had a mission requires working undercover, can't the British commanders in Basra inform the Iraqi police commanders to coordinate their work. A joint operation room is vital to avoid such situation.

The Iraqi police force in Basra, recruited & trained by the British, is not trustworthy by the British themselves. It seems that something went wrong in choosing, organizing & training the cadets.

The British's conduct to retrieve the two soldiers reflects a predisposition to violate law & order if it oppose their interests. It is obvious through storming the jail causing dozens of Iraqi prisoners to flee in the confusion. Mr. John Reid, the British defense secretary, said

"We remain committed to helping the Iraqi government for as long as they judge that a coalition presence is necessary to provide security."

But what kind of model of enforcing law & order they are representing to the Iraqis to follow.

An environment of threat, congestion, and tension makes people totally alerted & suspect every body. And amid such environment, two Britons put on Arab headdress touring the city using a civil car expecting that no one would notice them. Moreover, they shot policemen:

"The soldiers, who were said to have been wearing Arab headdress, were accused of firing at Iraqi police when stopped at a road block."

The circumstances under which the disguised soldiers were detained, storming the prison and its consequences:

"…suggest that British commanders on the spot still cannot trust the Iraqis they trained - not just the police, but the judges as well." And "The use of force, rather than waiting for the men to go before an Iraqi court, could also undermine the US and British attempts to build up the authority of and respect for the Iraqi courts and police."

This could disturb the image of the British people as one of the oldest nations which adore law & order.

Still, the British could be blamed for the kind of personnel chosen to form the Basran police force:

"…the Badr brigades are the more disciplined fighting force among the Iraqis. In theory, they were supposed to have disbanded. In reality, like Mr Sadr's people, they have infiltrated the police force. Although the police force is nominally British-trained, the British have had to stand aside as this infiltration has taken place. The commander of the Basra force admitted in a Guardian interview in May that he only controlled 25% of this force."

Surprisingly, Mr. John Reid approved the way of storming the jail:

"The defence secretary, John Reid, said the army had been "absolutely right" to break into Basra's Jamiat jail to help free the British soldiers, who were later found in the custody of militia forces."

In stead of destroying the jail, crushing cars & causing Iraqi detainees to flee, the British troops could besiege the jail and search it for their colleagues.

It is obvious that the Basran police force is infiltrated by different militias. Steven Vincent wrote before his death

"…security sector reform is failing the very people it is intended to serve: average Iraqis who simply want to go about their lives."

And

"Recruited from the same population of undereducated, underemployed men who swell these organizations' ranks, many of Basra's rank-and-file police officers maintain dual loyalties to mosque and state."

It seems that the British are trying to finish a work of hodgepodge. Vincent said:

"When I asked British troops if the security sector reform strategy included measures to encourage cadets to identify with the national government rather than their neighborhood mosque, I received polite shrugs: not our job, mate."

And

"The fact that the British are in effect strengthening the hand of Shiite organizations is not lost on Basra's residents."

Strengthening the hand of Shiite had been noticed by Vincent in several fields, but he referred to the police force saying

"In my time with them (the British), not once did I see an instructor explain such basics of democracy as the politically neutral role of the police in a civil society. Nor did I see anyone question the alarming number of religious posters on the walls of Basran police stations."

A call from the Conservative leader Michael Howard is an admirable one when he said:

"I think it has got to be made clear to the interim government that this state of affairs is completely incompatible with the kind of peaceful, stable, sustainable Iraq we want to see, and they say they want to see, and these militias must be confronted".

And

"The government came under pressure to change course when Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, called on coalition forces to attack the independent militias in the country. Mr Howard said the current strategy was not working but he opposed setting a date for withdrawal."

I agree with Mr. Howard, but "Is the shadow of Iran away from what's going on in Iraq?" Some people say that Iran is trying to use the Shiite militias as a card in the dispute with the western countries about its nuclear program.

Hitting Saddam's Record

2005-09-17T21:54:00.000+03:00

During Saddam era lot of Iraqis were killed just to carry out Saddam's psychopathic desires. It is estimated more than 750,000 Iraqis were killed in the Iraqi-Iranian war (1980-1988). According to the official number, declared by Saddam's government, about one million Iraqis died because of blockade sanctions by the UN against Iraq (1990-2003). It is guesstimated that more than 250,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed during the 1980s through consecutive military campaigns, and a similar number as an outcome of invading Kuwait in 1990 & the Iraqi people's uprising against Saddam's regime in march 1991. Executing & mass graving opponents was an ordinary feature of Saddam's regime which increases the final number, of the Iraqis who lost their lives, to more than two million. Now, let's be on Saddam's side & decrease the number to one million. Dividing one million by 8659 days (the days Saddam ruled), the result is more than 115 persons per day.

Since 9 April 2003 the former regime secret services are trying to maintain the record but they couldn't. Members of the former intelligence service, republican guards, Saddam's personal guards, presidential Special Forces, & so forth are working under the cover of clerics using Al-Zarqawee as a façade.

I can estimate a number of (35-40) Iraqis, as an average, were killed daily since the invasion of Iraq. A special report published by the Guardian on July 20, 2005 refers to something similar. The question is 'What makes the situation a horrifying one more than that of Saddam's period?'

During Saddam's period, gangstas were organized under the control of Saddam's henchmen. Here is a quote from a previous post of mine (Rambling post 5):
"… Saddam worked hard on making contacts to gather as much as possible number of gangstas and organizing them under his command. He managed to create a group of them, which was called (Hunain group), to represent the armed wing of the Baath party. The gangstas who refused to join Hunain group were killed in mysterious circumstances. One of those gangsta groups, which refused to obey Saddam, was (We'ild As'safra) which means (sons of the yellow woman). They had been killed publicly in a café at Ad'damyah district in Baghdad."

Controlling these gangstas made the killing operations more organized. No media coverage was allowed, since there was no transparency in Iraq. Nowadays pressmen can tour the country freely and convey what's going on ground. 'Saddam's regime had no influence on people without media' is an idea said by Saddam himself, adding 'People must see their president picture everywhere'. So the previous regime is demonstrating its cruel atrocities publicly making use of free media and transparency.
Sacking the gangstas from work made them transfer their killings from hush-hush places to the public. Still, they couldn't maintain Saddam's record, but they broke it every now & then. One of these occasions was last Wednesday by hitting a score of killing more than 150 Iraqis

Zakariya

2005-09-11T22:39:00.000+03:00

Today (11/9) is (Zakariya Day) in Iraq. It is a kind of religious-folk ceremony, based on the story of a Jewish prophet called Zakariya (Zecharias). His story is mentioned in Qur'an (the holly book of Islam). It says that prophet Zakariya was a very old man (over 90) who had no children, with a very old barren wife. He was the high priest of the Holy of Holies ("Kodesh" in Hebrew), and the one to care for Mary (mother of Jesus, later). Mary was the only female allowed to have access to the Temple (Holy of Holies), since she was totally consecrated to serve God. Zakariya was the only person who visits her at the secluded place specified for her. Each visit he finds food & fruits not of the season (summer ones in winter & vice versa) available at her dwelling. Zakariya asked Mary about it & from where she had got it. Her reply was: it is the blessing of God.

After what he saw at Mary's residence, Zakariya prayed to God asking HIM for a son to be his successor in serving & guarding the Temple. Later on, Zakariya was praying when he heard an angelic voice telling him: God accepted your request & you will be fulfilled by a son. According to God's wish, the son was to be named Yahya (John), a name which nobody had before.

Zakariya asked God to mark a sign for him through which he could thank God & inform his people about this miracle. And God ordered him not to speak to any human for three days as the sign.

Mythological stories relate that prophet Yahya (John) was a man of chastity, justice, and honor. He declared his strong opposition to the marriage of Herod the Great (King of Judaea) to his niece. The niece wanted to marry her uncle so she asked Herod for the head of Yahya as her dowry. So Yahya was beheaded.

Back to the present time, Zakariya Day is on the first Sunday in the eighth month (Shabban) of the year according to the Hegira calendar. On this day some people, especially women, fast and pray asking God for a baby or a husband/wife. People prepare a variety of dishes & sweets exchanged between them. They believe that eating from these dishes & asking God for a request is the most suitable time to be accepted. Another practice is to prepare a tray filled with lit candles and branches of olive tree or something similar. The candles are to be lit at sunset & to be kept lit till they finish. Other people go to rivers, after sunset, to float light pieces on which they put lit candles. The river reflects a nice scene with the numerous floating candles.

Let us pray to God for peace to spread all over the globe. Wishing you merry Zakariya.

Catastrophe

2005-09-03T14:25:00.000+03:00

Around 1000 Iraqis were killed in a catastrophic incident. The government members & the religious leaders made use of different reasons to describe what happened. I can say that the first to be held responsible for what happened are the governmental officials & the clerics. The clerics are trying to make use of their followers in political matters. The Guardian said:

"Shia leaders routinely encourage huge turnouts as a demonstration of their community's power."

This is true. Each cleric tries to show how many people will comply with his call to head for religious occasions. Muqtada Al-Sadr called his followers to attend this Shia celebration causing, according to some reports, up to 1 million people converged on Kadhimiya, a Shia district in northern Baghdad. These clerics are not ready to admit their fault. Anyhow, Muqtada issued a statement addressing his followers that it is not an obligation to attend such occasions during the coming days, to avoid any probability of a future disaster. He didn't admit a fault, but at least he is trying to avoid another one. Another cleric, Ammar al-Hakim, a leader of one of the Shia parties in government, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq said:

"We hold the terrorists, Saddamists and radical extremists, responsible for what happened,"

He is trying not to confront his responsibility, and of the clerics like him, by blaming others. It can be noticed in people's words:

"Survivors interviewed by the Guardian said they heard no shout about a suicide bomber, and that the stampede seemed to be the result of too many people swarming into a confined space, with no effort to control the flow by police, soldiers or marshals."

It is the acceptable story by Iraqis because:

"There was no immediate sign of a sectarian backlash and few people expected an impact on next month's referendum on a draft constitution."

And

"Despite sectarian tensions in the area, residents from the Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya rushed to help, pulling people from the water, providing drinks and donating blood, said one Shia, Ali Naji, 37."

An earlier incident on that day can be attributed to terrorists:

"Mortars had landed near the shrine at about 8am local time, killing seven people and wounding dozens, but two hours later huge throngs continued tramping towards the two gilded domes."

What happened on the bridge no one would be blamed for it but the governmental officials, since:

"Not in doubt was the woeful organisation of the commemoration. It had been known for months that a vast crowd - some put it as large as a million strong - was due to descend on the 16th-century shrine, and that it would struggle to pass the narrow alleys and souks. Yet police and soldiers were thinly spread and focused on intercepting suicide bombers. No one appeared to be in control, said the survivors who spoke to the Guardian."

Iraqis learned several lessons as an outcome of the disaster:

"Slumped in hospital beds, they watched government officials pass the blame to insurgents, and some shook their heads. They felt that incompetence, not sectarianism, was the cause. The only gleam in a day
of darkness, said Mr Naji, the civil servant, was that Sunnis from Adhamiya district, which faces the shrine, rushed to help. "They rescued people. They gave us water, food. They donated their blood."
If there is to be a Shia backlash it is likely to be directed at a Shia-led government already blamed for shortages of electricity, fuel and clean water."

One of the security measures was to block the bridge at its end by establishing a checkpoint there, causing thousands of people to be wedged on the bridge. Huge masses of people need, always, to be controlled and ordered, since it is natural, in the sense that panicking human beings tend to stampede, whether at football matches in secure western countries or during mass religious ceremonies.

I can not put aside my suspicion that a bunch of yobs, amid the crowds on the bridge, were trying to make fun by shouting "there is a suicide bomber".

Step by Step

2005-08-26T23:49:00.000+03:00

La Bona made a comment on my previous post which represents a point of view. His attitude is to prevent circumcision. For me, circumcision (of males) seems to be effective in reducing sexually transmitted diseases (STD). I don't have a concrete scientific proof, but observing the Iraqi society through its past history makes me accept the idea. The Iraqi society till fifty years ago followed very strict rules in separating between males & females. Nowadays it witnesses a regression toward those rules. As a result, sodomy has been dealt with as an accepted social feature.

Dr. Ali Wardi, an Iraqi sociologist, wrote about (sodomy in Iraqi towns) in his book titled (A Study in the Society of Iraq). He says:
"Sodomy was so spread during Ottoman era in Iraq. It could be ascribed to several factors. The most important are:
1- The education of alleys. Where kids acquire this concept as a way of showing off their mates.
2- Putting heavy veils on women. This results in homosexuality,especially between males, as compensation.
3- The traditions of the Ottoman's army (Inkisharee)."

The contemporary Iraqi society makes use of sodomy, since women and men are mixing nowadays in everyday activities. Intimate relations can not be avoided. These may develop into sexual ones. According to our conservative legacy, a woman must not lose her virginity before marriage. So, any unmarried couple who have sexual affair should pay attention not to remove the girl's hymen, since it proofs her virginity to the future husband (This is one aspect, of many, of hypocrisy in our society). And one can imagine the alternative.

What I want to focus on is that such wide spread of sodomy has not caused much spread of STD. As an unproven conclusion, it seems that circumcision has a great role in preventing the spread of STD. I hope that some of you have points of view with/against circumcision that will appear on the comments section. Maybe, a Jewish friend would like to add some thing about it, since circumcision is practiced in Judaism.

Now, let's refer to another issue. It is the urge of UN envoy in Iraq to the Iraqi government to desist from carrying out executions. I'm not sure whether the death penalty would deter more crimes or not, but it may help in calming the public. Our tribal legacy considers law & judicial system as the means of weak & coward people. During Saddam era, law completely lost its role in Iraq and it is so important to retrieve the public trust in it. It is not easy to control the people's emotions, especially of those who lost a family member by kidnapping, killing and rape. As a step toward this task, it is important to make people believe that the government will seek revenge for the murder of their relatives.

It seems that death penalty still exists in 64 countries, according to Amnesty International. Here in Iraq, the humanitarian level outside prison, for criminals, is far below that inside prison. To be sentenced means to go to a better place. Moreover, prison became the most suitable place for the extremists to spread their ideologies. Preaching ordinary criminals is the most favorite issue for the imprisoned islamists. It is one of the major methods to recruit new members. As an example, Al-Zarqawee was recruited in prison by a man called Al-Maqdis'see. Zarqawee, mainly, was an ordinary gangsta at Al-Zarqa (a town in Jordan).

The above two issues, circumcision & death penalty, might be dealt with in a developed stable society by the public with much interest. The Iraqi society has so many issues of importance much more than these two. Our society needs lot of educational rehabilitation. The dominating issue of nowadays, the new constitution, reflects the amount of ignorance between Iraqis. Radio& TV programs ask the public about any note they have which help in writing a good constitution. Listening to what callers say, one can hear a caller asking to include the infrastructure reconstruction in the constitution items. A woman complains about not accepting her son's application to a governmental agency. Another person demands to establish a college in his town and so on. The most astonishing matter is a bunch of Iraqi women demonstrate against women's rights.

To jump or burn stages is illogical. But by determination on a continuous process of educational rehabilitation one might dream about a bunch of Iraqi women, in the future, demanding for animals' rights.

Powers of Darkness

2005-08-19T12:23:00.000+03:00

One of my acquaintances trades in toys. After the recent war his work flourished & he decided to import toys from China. One of the toys he ordered is a dancing boy. It is mainly some kind of mechanism which can be dressed any thing. The different dresses, and the characters they represent, are printed on the packet of each toy. One of the characters is Saddam (another is Bin Ladin). The guy, who imported the toy, was taken by surprise by four good looking young men paying him a quick visit at home. They asked him:

- Are you the one who imported the dancing toy?
- Yes, it's me.
- How dare you import a dancing Saddam toy?
- Wait a minute…wait a minute, who said that?
- We saw the toy at stores and when we asked, they led us to you.

He says "I couldn't stop the wave of fear which overwhelmed my mind & body, believing that they were going to kill me. I tried to collect myself and said:

- I'm ready to open the ware house where I store the toys immediately and you may search it for such a toy. Moreover, I'm ready to relinquish the whole consignment to you.
- No thanks, but we want you to wipe out the cartoon, represents (president) Saddam, printed on each packet. Otherwise you can imagine what will happen to you & family.

After this short conversation the four guys disappeared. So he hired several persons just to erase the cartoon. I asked him "Have you ever seen them before?" He replied "No I haven't".

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine brought me a leaflet distributed at the entrance of a mosque nearby his home. It contains a statement issued by a group calling itself (the media dept. of Al-Qaida organization in Mesopotamia). This organization is assumed to be led by Al-Zarqawee. The statement threatens everybody not to take part in the political process. It is a prolonged statement. In general it considers any kind of referendum, election, people representation, constitution…etc as an apostasy of Islam.

Who had distributed the statement? I asked my friend. He told me that someone had been standing at the main gate of the mosque without covering his face but no one ever had seen him before; he vanished within no time.

What I want to say is that the baathists is still moving in a very stealthy way. The intelligence services of Saddam's regime are still working underground, providing a logistic back up for any kind of work that keeps the situation in Iraq unsettled. Huge secret institutions, like Mukhabrat, which received very sophisticated training for 35 years, are not easy to be dismantled. They can be felt wandering among us but no one can point them out. The age of such institutions goes back even before the baathists reign which started in 1968. You may grasp an idea about the baathists way of ruling this country by reading a previous post of mine (Rambling Post (5)):

Saddam worked hard on making contacts to gather as much as possible number of gangstas, and organizing them under his command. He managed to create a group of them, which was called (Hunain group), to represent the armed wing of the Baath party. The gangstas who refused to join Hunain group were killed in mysterious circumstances. One of those gangsta groups, which refused to obey Saddam, was (We'ild As'safra) which means (sons of the yellow woman). They had been killed publicly in a café at Ad'damyah district in Baghdad.

Going back to the time before seizing power in 1968, a baathist with a PHD narrates in a book he wrote examples of the methods used by the baathists to infiltrate into the government. The simplest example was when this man, Dr Jawad Hashim, appointed by the prime minister as a head of a committee to employ the high school graduates who did not manage to join college. It was a recession time in Iraq. The baathists moved and gave him restricted instructions about where to appoint the baathist youths. In this example they were employed at gas stations, especially close to important governmental agencies, to watch and report to the superior baathists.

Saddam's regime doesn't want to let go of power. For that it tries to make use of any ideology, group, movement, criminal, gangster, politician…etc. One of the steps which Saddam made, about five months before the war, was setting free the whole prisoners, regardless their crimes. This step provided a good pool of tools to implement criminal deeds taking place now in Iraq. Another underground activity of (Mukhabrat) is spreading rumors. You can read some examples in my previous post (Rumors).

There are so many stories about this mafia called (Baath party)…

Iraqi Women's Rights

2005-08-10T11:06:00.000+03:00

Kat is launching on her blog a campaign to support the Iraqi women in their struggle to oppose adopting Shari'ah as the sole source of law or as a major source of law.

Now, let me speak about some other features of dealing with Iraqi women as an inferior creature. It is the Bedouin tribal legacy which represents the frame governing men's attitude toward women. One of these features is awarding women as compensation when killings happen between tribes. It is called "Fasli'ya". The compensated side tries to humiliate the woman which is awarded as "Fasli'ya" by marrying her to a very old man, since she represents the foe.

I can remember a work colleague, of tribal background, used to say "I'm trying to hasten the marriage of any one of my sisters". I asked him "Is any of them engaged?" and his reply was "No, but I'll force any of them to marry the first man who would propose". The reason he gave was that he could marry using the money which he receives as a dowry for his sister. Woman is dealt with as a commodity.

Another feature is to use a relative woman, mostly a sister, as a dowry to be exchanged with another man's sister. Each marries the other's sister. It is called "Qusa bi Qusa". Each one of the two women will be continuously threatened to lose her home & family. According to this way of marriage, if one of the two women, for example, is divorced then the other must be divorced regardless whether she lives happily with her husband or not.

A fourth feature is "Al-Nahwa". It means that a man can prevent the marriage of any of his female cousins. The man might be married to another woman or so old for the bride, still, he can stop the marriage. Declaring "Al-Nahwa" by a man allows him to kill any one would propose to his female cousin. And he might never marry her but just to harm her by keeping her unmarried for lifetime.

In other cases women are deprived of their rights even according to Shari'ah. A woman may be excluded from inheritance.

The above features do not represent the dominating way in dealing with women, but it still exists in some Iraqi communities especially the rural ones.

Iraqi women need help to achieve their human rights and constitutional rights. So if any of you can help, even by a word, then please don't hesitate. For me, I encourage you to sign this petition. Thanks to Kat and to all of those who will make a step in supporting the Iraqi women's rights. By the way, the referendum on the constitution is on 15th October, so there is time to put pressure & make a difference.

Heat & Electricity

2005-08-04T13:43:00.000+03:00

It is so hot, since it is summer. Here in Iraq, temperature reaches degrees which non-Iraqis could not imagine. Yesterday I took a thermometer and put it in the direct sun. It astonishingly rose passing the scale marks. It seems that the manufacturer do not imagine heat on the globe my go up more than fifty degrees centigrade (122 Fahrenheit), so the scale ends at 52 C. I think no one of you believe that the thermometer went up above 60 C (140 F). Such heat drives human being to insanity. Water & electricity become essential, but there is a tragic shortage in both. Nowadays, electricity is supplied less than four hours per day. One can imagine life without cold water or air-conditioning systems.

Electricity plays great role in everyday life, especially in work. Thousands of workers have nothing to do but waiting for electricity to run their businesses for an hour. Local generators spread widely as an alternative. Still, these generators, causing lot of noise, can not substitute the national grid. Using local generators means a significant increment in fuel demand, which causes very long queues at gas stations. Queuing up for hours under the burning sun turns any person crazy. Fuel shortage leads to black market. Owners of local generators increase the charges, which leads to many quarrels between them and the consumers. It is normal to use guns in such incidents. In one of these quarrels a son of the generator owner was killed, in another a grenade was used to blow up the generator and so forth. Even the local generators can not run endless time under hot temperature, so the owners switch them off to cool the engines. This requires small generators in every house to fill the gap. And more fuel, engine oil, maintenance is required; more noise is produced.

A "Report to Congress Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" (pdf) issued by the Pentagon says:

"The number of monthly attacks on Iraq’s infrastructure, such as electricity generation and oil facilities, has decreased since the election, but continue to have an adverse impact on electricity transmission and oil exports. The Iraqi Government, with Coalition support, is leading an increased effort to enhance infrastructure security, such as hardening key nodes and expanding the number and capabilities of personnel guarding pipelines."

It is a report which few Iraqis know about, and even those who know pay little attention to it since on the ground, tangibly, nothing moves forward. The most important things for Iraqis in a boiling summer are water supplies & electricity. These two services are targeted by the insurgents to increase grumblings among Iraqis. People here in Iraq drew a very optimistic image, before the American invasion, about what kind of revolutionary changes in their live they were expecting by the Americans. A question is asked by the majority of people "What kind of super power is US, since it failed to reconstruct the electricity sector after about two and half year of occupation". US is viewed as the most scientifically & technically developed nation, still it can not build an electricity power station within two years.

Suspicion

2005-07-27T19:28:00.000+03:00

It was the 1980s, during the Iraqi-Iranian war; a father killed his own son claiming that he was a draft dodger. The crime shocked the Iraqi society. On the other hand Saddam praised the father's conduct and awarded him a medal. Saddam's regime encouraged people, through many wicked methods, to report secretly their family members, relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances…etc to the secret police, baathists, intelligence services and so forth. As a 'secret organization' government, Saddam's regime worked hard to change the Iraqis into informants. It resulted in lot of suspicion between members of the community. People did not find it easy to trust each other. Such policy created a climate of mistrust and fear. Only Saddam & his henchmen were authentic (sarcastic).

Few months ago I was in a minibus (public transportation). The traffic was totally stopped because a group of soldiers were dismantling a roadside bomb. The commuters started to chat, through which I discovered that one of the passengers was an Arab student from Yemen. Frankly, I was frightened, since the suicide bombers are mainly Arabs and I couldn't stop thinking that he was probably wearing a coat filled with explosives. Moreover, I started to imagine him blowing the bomb. So I jumped out of the minibus and completed my way on foot. Here in Baghdad, walking in the street means to keep on looking at every car as a bomb which is going to blow up and kill you. I believe that illusions of the kind above were the main reason for shooting Jean Charles de Menezes. Once again it is mistrust & fear.

Mistrust & Fear is the preferable method, for the terrorists, to debilitate the community civilized relations. I believe what the terrorists trying to do is to make the Muslim communities feel alienated in their own western countries, in which they were born and bred. A special report in the Guardian spotlights some of the issues that may participate in alienating Muslims:

'There are bigots out there who are reading some media reports and deciding to take the law into their own hands,' he said (Tahir Butt of the MSF). 'The message from everyone is zero tolerance, but we need action. We need to hear about people being arrested for these attacks on Muslims who are threefold victims. They are targets of terrorists, targets of the Islamophobic backlash and they will be targets of anti-terror legislation.'

As for being targets of terrorists, some of the 7/7 blasts victims are Muslims (Behnaz Mokakka, Slimane Ihab, and Shahara Islam). And what kind of targets of Islamphobic backlash they would be:

Amar Singh, editor of the Eastern Eye newspaper, said Muslim communities were on tenterhooks. 'There is genuine fear. At worst it is assault and abuse, at best it is strange looks or people moving away from you on the train. After 11 September we looked at Americans and thought they were so ignorant ... They didn't know the difference between a Muslim and a Sikh. I can't believe parts of Britain are just as bad. Just as
xenophobic.'

Shahid Malik is MP for Dewsbury wrote in the Observer:
"There is a feeling of alienation, often isolation; a feeling that somehow you don't belong;"

His point of view is:
"Those of us in leadership roles must make it clear to our young people that in a democracy the way we express such feelings is by debate and through democratic institutions, not through violence. We must drag them into the political mainstream."
And:
"We must confront head-on those few who preach violence and hatred in the name of Islam and, in doing so, poison the minds of vulnerable young men."

This is a critical issue. But they are not 'few' since they are spawning in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and even in Iraq which became the newest nest for teaching & training terrorists. The difference between British Muslims and those of the Islamic countries is that the British have much more acts of bravery to stand against extremists as Mr. Malik says:
"We will no longer pretend not to see or hear the fanatical few who stand outside our mosques, polluting young minds. The events of 7 July have changed that. The choices are stark yet clear - we either confront the enemy within, or are seen to condone."

Still, there is some fear for the future:
A Leeds city council member, Mohammed Iqbal, told worshipers at the Kashmir Muslim Welfare Association, also known as the Hardy street mosque, in Leeds. "It should be clear to us all that these kinds of events are a threat to our freedom."

This young man expresses what he and people who look like him may undergo:

But Nakib Islam, 19, a Muslim high school student who was speaking after a bomb alert at an East London mosque turned out to have been a hoax, said, "I am afraid of a stronger backlash" against Muslims."

"We all have to use the Tube and people who look like me all became suspicious," he said. "I even don't wear my rucksack anymore when I use the Tube because of that."

I believe that British people should stand by the British Muslim community to protect them from the extremists to prevail as one can sense from the words of this man:

"We can only stop all this when we are able to find the people who brainwashed the kids," said Abu Mumin, a worshiper at the mosque, who would not disclose his last name for fear of reprisal. He said the community was working diligently to cooperate with the police, and the latest incidents were likely to increase that cooperation. But ultimately, the road ahead may be difficult."

Finally, someone put it as follows:
"It's clear, everybody's worried and stunned," he said."This is a continuing attempt at endangering democracy and our freedom. We are part of this society, and what damages it, damages us."

It is one of the terrorists' goals to damage the society, or as I said above to debilitate the ties between the members of community. Weak ties help the terrorists in recruiting more persons to work with them. Here in Iraq, terrorists (consisting mainly of the saddamists) work hard toward this goal, so they try to alienate the Sunnis community.

Paying Tribute

2005-07-20T01:05:00.000+03:00

The Iraqi national assembly is calling for three minutes of silent halt at midday (8:00 GMT) today to pay tribute to the Iraqi victims who lost their lives in the bloody blasts on last Wednesday 13th July in Baghdad & on Saturday 16th July in Musayyib.

Many international condemnations came from the non-Arab world, but no Arab government or the Arab league said a word about it. The Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a press release condemning the killing of large number of children in Baghdad. A statement (on the 15th July) made by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson condemned in the strongest terms the attack which claimed the lives of 32 children and teenagers in Baghdad on July 13. Even a spokesman for the Iranian government condemned the attacks.

It hurts a lot to hear nothing from the Arab peoples who claim there are many ties of brotherhood relate them to the Iraqis.

The suicide bomb attacks remind the Iraqis, especially the Baghdadis, of the s/s missile blitzes exchanged with Iran during the war between the two countries (1980-1988) & the allies' air raids (1991-2003). The Iraqis have represented the fuel for the struggles in the region, still gained nothing but more & more deterioration. Many Iraqis believe that it is a curse by a prophet or a saint to suffer all this time.

Bad timing

2005-07-14T12:26:00.000+03:00

The Mail on Sunday newspaper published what it called a (Secret plan to quit Iraq) written by Defense Secretary John Reid for Tony Blair. Leaking it out two days after the explosions happened in London may give an impression, to the terrorists, that they achieved something through their criminal deed.

It is normal to have debates on different issues in democratic societies, like the British. But narrow minded terrorists will view it as a victory. The question is "Wasn't it better to prevent or delay publishing this paper?" Since Mr. Reid said:

"This is but one of a number of papers produced over recent months covering various scenarios. We have made it plain we will stay in Iraq for as long as is needed. No decisions on the future of UK forces have been taken."

So there were several other papers which nobody heard about. Again, why leaking out this one now?

No clue should be given to the terrorists about the future plans. They are looking for any kind of information to use in their propaganda. Good information in the same article drew my attention which says:

"According to a BPIX survey for The Mail on Sunday, 52 per cent of Britons think UK troops should return home only when Iraq is a peaceful democracy, which could take years. Eighteen per cent said our soldiers should return immediately and 23 per cent said they should withdraw in six months."

But the terrorists are not ready to deal with these results & simply ignore them.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said in his first Commons statement after the bomb attacks in London:

"We are united in our determination that our country will not be defeated by such terror but will defeat it and emerge from this horror with our values, our way of life, our tolerance and respect for others, undiminished."

This loses its authenticity when put together with the paper above.

Publishing this paper could be viewed as an indication, to the planners & implementers of the bomb attacks, that the British government complies with their devilish will.

President Bush is more decisive when he said:

"We will continue to take the fight to the enemy, and we will fight until this enemy is defeated."

And

"…together with our allies, we're on the offense, and we will stay on the offense."

Additional consideration should be paid to the ideological foundations which nurture this destructive conduct. It is not enough to deal with the suicidal bombers, but dealing with the nest which spawns their ideology is more important. This takes me back to what I called "Educational Rehabilitation" which the people in the Mid East needs a lot. For example, the US administration is still hesitant in dealing toughly with the Saudis.

It seems that it is Iraq's bad luck to be a theatre of struggles for the last quarter century. The most recent is choosing it to be the central front in the war on terror, as President Bush said:

"In the war on terror, Iraq is now a central front. The terrorists fight in Iraq because they know that the survival of their hateful -- hateful ideology is at stake. They know that as freedom takes root in Iraq, it will inspire millions across the Middle East to claim their liberty, as well."

So Iraqis should pay for the liberty of Mid East people. Other nations in the region would not face radical changes like the one taking place now in Iraq. They will go through peaceful changes by learning the Iraqi lesson (It is disgusting!!!)

Mr. Bush said: "To help Iraqis build a free nation, we have a clear plan with both a military track and a political track."
But what about the economic track Mr. President!

Criminal Deeds

2005-07-07T21:43:00.000+03:00

It is horrible to harm other people. What took place in London this morning is a cowardly action. No one could ever give any reason or justification for what a bunch of ruthless terrorists did. There is no morality in terrifying & killing peaceful people. I can imagine the disturbance, chaos & fear caused by the incident since we live this situation here in Iraq daily.

The Prime Minister Tony Blair said

"…We know that these people act in the name of Islam, but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims, here and abroad, are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism every bit as much as we do."

, which is true. These people are nothing more than criminals who use Islam as a cover. I can understand the general impression among westerners who can not discriminate easily between Islam & terrorism. Still, it should be emphasized that

"… We continue to resist all attempts to associate our communities with the hateful acts of any minority who claim falsely to represent us."

, as it is said in the statement issued by The Muslim Council of Britain today.

This minority is practicing lot of atrocities here in Iraq. The latest is killing the ambassador of Egypt to Iraq by Al-Zarqawee gang. These gangs, especially the Baathists, will take over if the American troops pull out.

Mr. Bush said

"… The war on terror goes on. I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve."

, but what is more important is to take tougher measures by the European leaders, especially the French & the German, against terrorists. France & Germany try to show courtesy in dealing with the insurgents in Iraq, believing that such conduct may keep terrorists away from their soil. By inference, terrorism, if prevails, will spare no land to invade.

Terrorism must be traced to its sources & not to be dealt with superficially. I believe one of the main ideology sources for terrorism is Saudi Arabia. Finally, I'd like to express my condolences to the victims' families & the British people.

4th of July

2005-07-05T10:30:00.000+03:00

It is the Independence Day. A day represents the birth of a great nation. I esteem America forefathers who founded this nation. I keep on asking myself, why we don't have leaders like Washington or Jefferson. Leaders who did not cling on power and they believed deep in their hearts that democracy should be the only way to rule.

Now, after more than 200 years we are, the Iraqis, still lacking such kind of leaders. I wonder what the real reason is for this (phenomenon). Maybe, it is the Bedouin legacy which has so much influence on our way of thinking. I believe it needs lot of work and more than a generation to bring our nation into modern age.

Greetings to the American nation on this occasion.

Friendship

2005-06-29T19:48:00.000+03:00

It is strange to use friendly expressions, like (the American-Iraqi friendship), to describe the bilateral relations between the Iraqis & other peoples. For more than four decades, the Iraqis have been exposed continuously to education of hatred which resulted in a very suspicious personality. All the adjacent countries represent, according to this way of thinking, an inimical environment & the Iraqi relations with these countries are based on aggression.

It is really amazing to see the Iraqi Prime Minister & the American President, standing side by side, in the White House. Mr. Bush referred to the hard task that the PM is facing when he said

"… you are helping to lift your country from decades of fear and oppression."

Till few years ago no one would ever believe, here in Iraq, that one day an Iraqi person could be described as

"… a strong partner for peace and freedom."

by the President. I believe it is true saying

"… By securing Iraqi democracy, we will make America and our friends and allies around the world safer."

I referred to something similar in a previous post (Security & Freedom). I am relieved to hear the President's words

"… The enemy's goal is to drive us out of Iraq before the Iraqis have established a secure, democratic government. They will not succeed. Our goal is clear: a democratic and peaceful Iraq that represents all Iraqis. Our troops will continue to train Iraqi security forces so these forces can defend their country and to protect their people from terror. And as Iraqis become more capable in defending their nation, our troops will eventually return home with the honor they have earned."

Rosebuds commented on my previous post

"… America has a lot of State Representatives in in our Congress and there are quite a few "wacky illiterate nitwits" in it. Similare to your wacky
fundamentalist clerics like Sadr. They make a lot of noise(bloviate) and get alot of meda attention but nobody ever takes them seriously."

There are lot of nitwits in the Arab world who make, these days, noise about the MNF existence in Iraq. Their motives are understood since many of them receive good payments from the former regime henchmen, especially Raghad Saddam's eldest daughter who lives in Jordan. But the attitude of 83 members of the Iraqi national assembly, which calls for the MNF pull out, is inconceivable. The noisiest one among them is the Sadrist who made several problems with the American troops.

Now, patience is not endless. Iraqis are trying to be optimistic, but without tangible achievements on the ground a backlash from the ordinary Iraqi people may start to appear. Mr. Bush said

"…Earlier this week, more than 80 countries and international organizations came together in Brussels to discuss how to help Iraq provide for its security and rebuild its country. And next month, donor countries will meet in Jordan to discuss Iraqi reconstruction."

which is true but the commitments should be fulfilled. The American administration has to put pressure on the donors to meet their promises. It is not enough to keep on chasing insurgents. It is essential to activate the economic sector. The delayed reconstruction process causes much frustration to the Iraqis. Moreover, work will divert the youth attention away from the violent operations to something more inspiring. About 75%-80% of the Iraqi cities & towns are calm, & lot of work can be started there.

Let me borrow Mr.Jaafari's words to thank the American people, when he said in the press conference

"…I would also like to thank the American people for standing beside the Iraqi people, going through these difficult times. No doubt our people will never forget those who stand beside Iraq, particularly at these terrible times."

And

"…You have given us something more than money -- you have given us a lot of your sons, your children that were killed beside our own children in Iraq. Of course this is more precious than any other kind of support we receive."

These words represent the rational Iraqi attitude.

Wrong Message

2005-06-19T20:16:00.001+03:00

Some Congressmen are calling for a timetable to pull out from Iraq. I believe it is a wrong message in a wrong time to be sent to the insurgents. Logically, the insurgents have no chance to win the struggle with the MNF on the ground, but they could if they sought humbug. For that they are working hard to obtain support from anyone. The insurgents are trying to gain aid from the Arab League, Islamic states, EU, UN, neighboring countries, media, clerics, organizations, individuals…etc. President Bush once said that if his homeland was invaded, he would resist the invaders fiercely. The insurgents & their mouthpieces are tenaciously clinging to what Mr. Bush said to justify their crimes. The insurgency consists of several factions. The baathists & saddamians embody themselves in these factions. The baathists & saddamians are the most powerful group among them. Pulling out from Iraq will cause these groups to appear on the ground & regain power. The baathists are good in deception, so they are expected to turn against their allies, of the present time, and wipe them out.

The first consequence of such wrong message is telling the insurgents that they are doing well by killing American soldiers. You (the insurgents) are hurting us (the Americans). This will encourage the insurgents to put more pressure on the Americans by killing more soldiers. Is it worth killing soldiers to achieve an electoral aim? I don't know what the real intention of declaring such a statement is, but I'm trying to show an Iraqi perspective. Someone, whom I spoke to, viewed it as another let down by the Americans just like the one of 1991 when they pulled out leaving the Iraqis alone to be torn apart by Saddam after the popular uprising of March 1991. Pulling out now may leave the Iraqis alone facing the fundamentalists, insurgents, terrorists, baathists, saddamians…etc.

I agree completely with President Bush in his persistence to fulfill the mission when he insisted in his State of the Union Address on February 2, 2005 when he said:

"We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out…"

and "… all Iraqis can be certain: While our military strategy is adapting to circumstances, our commitment remains firm and unchanging. We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends…"

He confirmed it again in his Radio Address of this week It seems that Iraqis should trust President Bush since he speaks honestly about what should be done in Iraq. May God bless him. I hope that the American citizens won't stop backing President Bush in his policy in Iraq.

Cultural Contrast (3)

2005-06-08T18:08:00.000+03:00

First of all, I'd like to thank Craig for his comment on my previous post. He introduced a balanced perspective. He said

"I know from my Peacekeeping deployments that just saying "US Troops are not policemen" doesn't cut it. If they are used as policemen, they should know what their responsibilties in such a role are."

Craig concluded his comment with

"I don't really have a solution. But somebody needs to find one, because just saying "that's the way it is, move on" isn't working for me."

I agree with his conclusion.

Many comments say "don't generalize". One should discriminate between personal behavior & the military policy. I believe it is not easy, just like an American soldier who can't discriminate between an ordinary peaceful Iraqi & a terrorist. For an ordinary Iraqi, American soldiers' behavior is unpredictable.

The majority of Iraqis (I'm one of them) don't know how & where to make complaints against improper soldiers' behavior. It is not easy for the Iraqis to get over the physical outcomes of unpleasant incidents with the American soldiers, since they live on the edge of poverty & there is no effective insurance system.

"American police are taught to treat every person they encounter as a potential threat"

is acomment made on a previous post. I think it is not right to consider any person as an accused just because he/she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. What about the shock caused to that person & other results, like causing high blood pressure to my brother in law as I had mentioned in "Feelings are universal (2)".

Last week Dr. Muhsin Abdul-Hameed, head of the Iraqi Islamic party, was detained by the American troops. He is a well known public figure even by the Americans, at least at some level of the chain of command. He was a member of the governing council created by the American authority at the early time of occupation, and he was one of the few persons who headed that council. Anyway, according to law, no one is untouchable. The procedure of detaining the man gives very clear evidence of the unnecessary violence used by the American troops. The man, and his house guards, showed no resistance. Still, the American soldiers destroyed doors & furniture, put a sack on his head and lay him brutally on ground. I wonder if it is the same way to be used in the US to detain a public figure like Michael Jackson for example. Dr. Abdul-Hameed released after few hours of detention. This is what happened to an Iraqi public person who proved to be innocent. So, the question that raises "If such a person is treated in such way, what about an ordinary Iraqi and how the American soldiers would treat him".

To be continued…

Cultural Contrast (2)

2005-05-31T13:21:00.000+03:00

About a year ago, Mr. Al Gore (The former vice president of the US) said on a TV show something which he phrased as a joke. He said "I used to travel on 'Air Force Two' when I was the vice president, but now I have to take my shoes off to get on a plane". It is a wonderful demonstration of obedience to the regulations. Now, consider the behavior of the Iraqi assembly member which described by Lisa, NY in a comment" …what I read was that the assembly member (one of Sadr's former men) moved his car quickly out of the line at the checkpoint and into a different lane because he didn't want to wait." One may notice the cultural difference in perceiving the concept of law & order between two men of two cultures.

Jordon Golson said in another comment:

"American police are taught to treat every person they encounter as a potential threat, and prepare accordingly."

Another commenter said:

"In this kind of atmosphere, the reality that they're (referring to the American troops) here to protect and serve Iraqi people becomes instead a theory, and the first reality becomes to stay alive." Another said" Well, everyone in Iraq is under suspicion to the soldiers. Everyone in Iraq or anyone in Iraq could kill or cripple them. Iraq is a WAR ZONE and they are NOT policemen. They are trained to kill and complete the mission they are given."

So it turned into an aggressive bilateral relation. Its main elements are fear, suspicion, mistrust, keeping Iraqis away from Americans & vice versa, etc. And this is the main idea which was adopted by Saddam's regime to keep Iraqis isolated from the world. It depends on showing any person as a possible threat starting from one's family members. It is horrible to live in a hostile environment with a continuous condition of alert. Such situation, for more than quarter century, led the Iraqis to be fed up with Saddam's regime and to let it down.

There are incidents which happen by chance, once or twice during one's life like this one by another commenter

"…it was police men and not soldiers. I was with a friend and suddenly a bunch of police cars surrounded my car. They had their guns pointed at us and made us lie on the ground, some of the officers kicked us and cursed us. Other officers tore through my car searching it. I was angered at my treatment but then I later found out that a grocery store had been robbed and the criminals killed a man just so they could get $40 from the cash register. They had a car that was like mine."

Here in Iraq, especially Baghdad, such annoyance is daily or in the better weekly.

This one says

"I do not think the main motivation behind these sorts of actions is malice,
cruelty or even fear. Unfortunately, it is just the best way at this time to get
the job done."

If we agree with this description then we need to modify 'the best way at this time to get the job done' of both sides, the Iraqis & the Americans.

To be continued…

Cultural Contrast (1)

2005-05-19T19:27:00.000+03:00

A comment by Gadfly on a previous post "Gratitude" drew my attention to cultural differences between Iraq or Mideast & US or West. Scrutinizing comments on my posts reveals some differences. Emails which I exchange with American pen pals spotlight others.

First of all, one can not make other people of different culture change their way of thinking. Moreover, trying to change it by force won't be easy and may cause undesirable result.

As for the American troops touring the Iraqi streets which I mentioned in "Behavior makes difference", there are number of different points of view on this issue. From mine it represents one kind of annoyances which are numerous in the Iraqi everyday life.

One of the comments puts blame of the traffic jam on the Iraqi driver whose car had been kicked by the American soldier. It is obvious that most of the readers do not imagine the number of cars imported into Iraq in the last two years. The number of cars in the streets doubled or tripled. Many main streets & bridges are blocked and checkpoints slow down the flow of traffic. Policemen can't do much, since they could be harmed by angry drivers.

Try to imagine the disorder & your car is in a complete traffic jam. Suddenly, a soldier appears, starts to kick your car pointing his gun at you, and yelling at you to get your car out of his way as if you could carry the car with your hands or put it in your pocket. Even when you manage to pull the car aside, you can't guarantee not being annoyed. I had referred to many incidents in previous posts & I'm quoting one here:

… my same brother was in a traffic jam when he noticed in the car mirror a bunch
of Humvee cars. So he managed to step aside near the sidewalk to avoid annoyance
usually caused by the Americans when they pass through streets. What astonished
him is that the Humvees' drivers chose to force their cars through a very narrow
space beside his car scratching his car and breaking the radio aerial. My
brother says that the soldiers in the Humvee looked at him in the same way of
Saddam's henchmen and bodyguards.

Maybe someone will tell me to appeal or to file complaints and seek redress. I'm not asking for advice, but I think it is very important to reach a compromise about several issues since the American troops are going to stay in Iraq for a very long time.

A program on Al-Hurra TV (funded by the US government), introduces a weekly review of the main US newspapers, referred to an article published in the NY TIMES on the 2nd of May. It speaks about an American soldier who had spent his childhood in Egypt with his father who was a diplomat. He can speak Arabic & he sympathizes with the Iraqis. According to his claims Some American soldiers insult Iraqis intentionally since they got bored of their existence in Iraq. So if they could turn the public opinion against the Americans they may go back home sooner. I don't have the full details of the article since I can't access the NY TIMES website.

To be objective, comparing the American soldiers conduct to that of the Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait during the invasion of 1990, one can notice a sharp contrast.

To be continued…

Another Lesson

2005-05-12T18:46:00.000+03:00

My phone line is still out of order. The whole phones in the district are out of order since 11th March. And for that I do not interact with my blog regularly. Generally speaking, there wasn't any tangible development deal with the infrastructure within the past two years.
-------------------------------------------

Another lesson comes from Britain. A demonstration of genuine democracy. It is a result of long history of struggle. Thousands of British people gave their lives to achieve this level of democracy. Democracy in such society is deep-rooted and it is an essential feature of its culture.

This leads me to several questions:

-Are we ready, the Iraqis, to accept & integrate democracy into our culture?
-Could it be possible to burn stages of social & political development?
-And, would it result in stable society or state?

The Iraqis could not look after the state which the British established for them in 1921. They ate it away so the Americans had nothing to do but blowing out the rotten state. It has been dismantled so easily in 2003. It seems that something, maybe many things, is wrong with our collective conscious.

Behavior Makes Difference

2005-05-04T14:04:00.000+03:00

The editor in chief of Al-Sabah Iraqi newspaper guided me back to an issue which I mentioned in several previous posts, as a first hand experience and as incidents that encountered other people whom I know. Mr. Mohammed Abdul Jabbar, the editor, wrote yesterday in his daily column about an incident that he had witnessed. I translated what he wrote, hoping that the idea will be clear enough to be understood. Al-Sabah newspaper has the highest number of distributed copies among the Iraqi newspapers.
Mr. Abdul Jabbar wrote:

"Impermissible, impermissible, impermissible for an American soldier to kick the car of an Iraqi civilian. The soldier kicked the car because the Iraqi car driver could not get out of the way of an American convoy of trucks. There was a traffic jam in which the Iraqi driver was stuck. It was out of his hand. The incident happened yesterday and I witnessed it. I was on my way to Al-Iraqia TV studio, descending from Al-Jumhuryah Bridge. The traffic was crawling toward Karadat Mariam (a district in Baghdad) because of barricades, checkpoints and disorganized traffic control. The military convoy was protecting several civilian cars. It stopped at a point where the traffic was jammed. One of the American soldiers, in the convoy, lost his patience and rushed the car driven by the Iraqi civilian who had his family with him in the car. The American soldier kicked the car bravely like a lion (sarcastic), pointing his gun at the family. It is impermissible. It is not courageous & it is not a civilized way to solve the matter.

The American troops, together with the foreign ones, are no longer called occupation forces; they are called, now, the multinational forces. And their personnel are guests for the coming time.
Viewing the situation either side, occupiers or guests, it is assumed that these soldiers, whatever their nationality is, should respect the country they occupy & its citizens. The behavior of the soldier annoyed me since it is improper & unacceptable. Moreover, it is denounced & censured.
It is presumed that the MNF strive to win the hearts & minds of Iraqis. It can not be accomplished by improper, unacceptable behavior & insulting Iraqis. A guest should observe his/her behavior. I wish an interpreter could translate our old Arabic proverb which says "Hey stranger, be polite" for the commanding officers in the MNF, so they can explain it for the soldiers. And in turn these soldiers stop terrifying the Iraqis & their families and stop kicking their cars. This will help the MNF to be more polite with the most polite, generous and hospitable people in the world."

A member of the Iraqi national assembly had encountered a similar incident two weeks ago, when an American checkpoint insulted him intentionally.
Maybe, I can understand the behavior of a nervous soldier who is under stress, but I don't understand the behavior of a soldier who knows that he is dealing with members of the national assembly.

War Memories

2005-04-26T17:54:00.000+03:00

Since it is the 2nd anniversary, let me tell you some memories which go back two years, to those days of war. A time of total darkness, little water to drink, gunfire & explosions, total stoppage of any kind of communication & wrestling with the transistor radio to grasp any information…etc. Moreover, jetfighters & helicopters touring the sky, tanks wheels screeching at night add fear.

Times of sufferings make people feel closer to each other. We have been living in the district since 1962 & most of our neighbors have been here for the same time. So one can imagine how much memories we share. During nights of war, we used to gather, persons of different ages, in the street and chat till very late time.

It's nice to recall old memories. Recalling old memories shared together was one of the dominating subjects, especially funny events. Each one brings a chair with him; others sit on the ground, and after looting had spread a gun may be brought also. Everyone tells the others the latest news he gained, new ideas to deal with the problems arises in such circumstances. It was very normal that one of us suddenly runs away, because of fear, to take shelter from an approaching jet-fighter or missile voice.

Iraqis have been living constant fears of war since 1980. So one can imagine what kind of stress people here have been living under. And one is to be considered lucky to keep his/her sanity.

Gratitude

2005-04-14T18:33:00.000+03:00

In last June, France, joined by other nations, commemorated the 60th anniversary of the D day which led to end WWII. President Chirac of France said in his speech "Thank you USA", and for this I admired him highly. President Chirac set aside many controversial issues between France & US, and showed gratitude for the American help to liberate his country.

Nowadays, it is the 2nd anniversary of kicking Saddam out of power. Still, the Iraqis are not ready to show gratitude to the Americans. I can recall many Iraqis saying, during the last years of Saddam's era, that they would welcome any force who might remove Saddam out of power. Words like "We are ready to accept even the Israelis to free Iraq" are still fresh in my mind.

And suddenly, one can notice some kind of rage against the Americans who freed us, the Iraqis, from Saddam's dictatorship. It is well phrased by Eleanor Roosevelt "Patients are pleased on seeing a doctor, but on recovery they throw stones at him". It seems that the Iraqi patient is going to start throwing stones at his doctor, though it is a very long way to achieve recovery.

Anyhow, I think that we, the Iraqis, should show gratitude to US. As for me, I want to express my condolences to the families of more than 1500 American soldiers who gave their lives to free Iraq, and my admiration to those who were badly injured. Finally, I must thank the American & the British, people & government, for backing the campaign against Saddam. I hope that the impetus to achieve democracy, justice & freedom will increase.

Rumors

2005-04-04T17:06:00.000+03:00

"He is my neighbor; we were raised &went to
school together. And now we
work together at Baghdad airport. After the 9th
April 2003, Baghdad airport
administration was transferred to a downtown
building. In our daily paperwork we
need lot of files which were left in the
main building at the airport. So my
friend, mentioned above, was given an ID
card by the Americans who control
Baghdad airport zone. The ID permits him
to use his private car to shuttle the
files back & forth from the
airport to the downtown building.One day on his
way back to Baghdad, he
noticed that the car engine was not functioning
properly. He pulled off
& left the car to fetch a mechanic. As he walked
tens of meters away
from the car, it exploded. He returned back to the scene,
shouting &
wailing, declaring that the car was his. He was jailed by the
Americans and,
later, transferred to an Iraqi police station. And I'm ready to
take you to
meet him so you can hear the full story."

I was listening to the storyteller carefully & many questions started to accumulate in my mind. I asked:
-Was the car working properly when he went to the airport?
-Yes, of course.
-Where did he park it?
-At a car park.
-What kind of car park?
-A park prepared & guarded by the American troops.
-Is there any possibility that somebody sneaked to the park & put a bomb in the car?
-No, impossible, since the park is well fenced & guarded by the Americans.

The story leads the hearer to a conclusion says that the Americans put the bomb in the car. For me, it is a very strange story & it reminded me of lot of such stories during Saddam's period. But referring to the car owner as 'my neighbor' & ' raised &went to school together', kept me puzzled. So I asked more questions to assure myself that the Americans did such deed. Additional information, I got from the speaker, says that the place where the car exploded was a Shia party. Strange!!!

Later on, I was retelling the story to a friend, showing my doubt about it, when he surprised me "Oh, don't pay attention to such rumors. There are many others about the same idea. Do you want to hear another one?"
"Yes, please" I replied anxiously.
"Two farmers were driving their pickup truck to the market. It was loaded with lettuce. An American checkpoint stopped them; the soldiers asked them to leave the truck & detained them for an hour. After that the Americans released them & the two men took their truck. Little while after leaving the checkpoint, the following conversation took place between them:
-The lettuce is not arranged properly.
-Yes, I think the soldiers searched the truck.
-Pull over, I don't trust the Americans.

So they stopped & started to rearrange the lettuce. On unloading the truck, they discovered two time bombs had been set up to explode. They hurried to the Iraqi police who dismantled the bombs."

The second rumor relieved me!! Because it assured my hunch that these stories are the same silly ones of Saddam's secret service. On many occasions, during Saddam's time, we heard such ridiculous stories which tried to justify the crimes Saddam used to do. One of those occasions was to justify killing the minister of health by Saddam. The story said that the minister had given his approval for a deadly drug. The truth was that the minister had asked Saddam to resign to stop the war with Iran. Another incident when he ordered to cut the hands of several currency dealers whom President Bush received recently at the white house.

It seems that Saddam's secret service (Mukhabrat) is still active nowadays & trying to launch a propaganda campaign to push away from them the accusations of killing Iraqis in large numbers. But accusing the Americans is inexplicable.