Hey:)

Check the new feature at my blog please:)
secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com
thanks!
me*

Enzo Baldoni

Enzo Baldoni, the kidnapped Italian journalist who i posted about last week, was executed three days ago. I really don't know what to say except that i am just so tired of all this senseless violence.

I really don't care who bombs/shoots/beheads/humiliates who, i just wish you all would stop. Whoever you are, whatever army you own or belong to, whichever uniform you wear or cheer for, where ever you live, no matter who pays you or who you pay, everything is all one big mess and it's crap.

2-0 !!!

Seems to me that AlSadir is alive and kicking, he got extra super popularity, he IS a resistance figure now, a hero, and he walked out smiling. great job USA!
well, they say that these bodies found in the so-called share'a court are killed by Sadr and his people, but i *really* don't believe so, think with me, you are totally surrounded by Iraqi and US troops, you expect that, you have enough food in the shrine fore one month, you have a military defense plan, you have weapons, you have people talking for you on TV, and you just *forgot* to clean the mess behind you?!!
naaaaah.
Sadrists know that this war is the greatest chance fore them to get popularity, there win depends on people's support; there is no way they would leave all these bodies behind if they really were responsible for killing them.
yesterday one of Sadr's people announced that these bodies are for Sadrists killed in the last conflict, but since the Iraqi government cut the water of the city, they couldn't wash their killed people, which is a must in Islam before burying them, so they managed to move them, during the war, to the court building, waiting for this crisis to end (isn't is funny that they were sure it is gonna end and they are walking out?) so they can Barry them.
makes sense to me!
Oh, Sadrist who were in the shrine surrendered their weapons, that few tens of weapons, and after they left their spokesman declared that alMahdi army is not giving up any of its weapons!
See what I mean when I say stupid administration? Now it seems fun to me to go but some guns, make a small army, fight the government, the occupation, and then I walk out smiling, and the government pays for the damages too!:D
GOD they are stupid, stupid stupid.
So, I don’t know about you guys, but seems to me that its like:
Iraq (thugs and insurgents) 2 – 0 occupation and appointed government (the liberators and the national government).
Aw you don’t remember the first goal? It was in Falluja!
Seems to me it's gonna be a looooong game.
Who you think will win?
aw, one mean suggestion from my friend, he said since we are effected by it, shouldnt we be allowed to vote for the elections in USA? he said that maybe Sistani will be the president of the USA and Alsadr will be his deputy:D
well, as horrible as this sounds to american people, its more horrible for u to have their goverment leading us.
thank you for litsenning:)
me*

Neurosis

Neurotic Iraqi Wife, the weblog of an obsessive woman. Nooo she is not obsessed with Iraq, she is obsessed with her husband who left her to go help "rebuild the country" (a phrase she is tiring of) three days after their marriage.

Neurotic_wife writes about her husband, mostly. And about a few other little things, like the KBR food that is injected with anti sex formula, you know, just the stuff a normal abandoned paranoid neurotic iraqi wife writes about while she's pining for her beloved. Neurotic_wife says;

I think I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown and that is why I wanted to start blogging.

Eerm, yes. Well blogging has been known to cause dizzy spells, memory loss and long dull strings of comments. But don't let that stop you, there's plenty of other nervous wrecks online to keep you company.

New today; 1
Total; 73

Hate and Anger

We have a proverb in Arabic, it says: a wet man doesn't fear the rain; it seems that the American administration believes in that a lot, since the world hates us, why care about more hate?
hate hate hate, its the only vibrations coming out of Arabs and Muslims towards America, once it was the land of the dreams, now its the land of injustice, the land of imperialism, the land of murderers, the land of fear and hate;a huge shift, in few years.
Bombing the shrine of Imam Ali, and bombing Falluja at the same time? You are unable to imagine the amounts of hate and anger people have towards America now, all because of stupid mistakes by one cowboy, Bosh.
i remember weeks ago, an unpleasant event put me in the fancy office, of an American personality, i can say that his position comes in the top ten in Iraq, then i had a talk with my poor British friend, who was offered a left by this guy, i will quote:
" he drives his car himself, doesn't allow the body guards to do it, he is always followed by another car carrying few more body guards, he got into the car, and put his machine gun in his lap, and kept his pistol in his right hand while he was holding the wheel with the left, he was pointing his gun on every car in front of him, then to avoid the traffic, he moved and started to drive 40 mi/h on the side walk, pointing his gun to the pedestrians to move, there was this women he was pointing his gun at her, it was terrible, do you call this security? i have never felt insecure in my whole life!"
" i can understand why Iraqis use violence, if i were one of these people he pointed the gun at i would be really angry "
that's among other details you don't want to hear.
anyway, this guy, has exactly the same mentality of Bush, "lets smoke 'em out", and its exactly the same policy that its being applied now, "smoke them out" that's how it works.
know what? In some moments, when i read the number of people killed b the so-called coalition everyday, i think that the occupation is digging its own grave, violence against people will NEVER worked, and NEVER will.
in away i am glad that the occupation is dropping the mask of "liberation" at least no one will be fooled now, they opened the door now, and if they think that by killing those in Najaf it will be closed, they are sadly mistaken.
only time will prove which is stronger: missiles or pride?

Iraq Tattoo

Western influence? Parents all over the world freak out when their teenagers tattoo themselves with home made needles and architects ink.

Miscellanea;

~ Middle eastern tribal tattooists ~ most are traditionally women.
~ Prisoners/criminals ~ a tattoo on the forehead marks some iraqi criminals, especially those who have had amputations, according to a decree issued to distinguish criminal amputees from war veteran amputees.
~ Saddam hussein ~ has a protective charm tattoo'd on one hand.

(And no i have not tattoo'd a map of Iraq upon my breast. Well not yet anyway).

Mohammed, a Pioneer.

Mohammed, an Egyptian senior med school student, takes you in a tour in the Arab - Iraqi relations, that goes deep in the internal Arab politics sometimes, but it's mainly about exchange between arab and iraqis uncensored and non-ideological.
Mohammed has a perfect English, but his site is in Arabic only.
i recommend his forum for readers who have Arabic language cofigration in their PC, and head:)
when he starts a site in english, i will let you know.
enjoy it...
me*

Anybody seen Enzo?

Enzo Baldoni is/was an independent Journalist blogging from Iraq in Italian (if you read no Italian see hastily translated babelfish text here). Anyway, Enzo has been missing for a week now. Enzo's friends are posting updates on his website and are starting to worry about him, as friends are want to do when other friends are kidnapped. Enzo's friends say;

To the men that keep him, we want them to know who is Enzo Baldoni.

He is a person animated by sentiments of humanity for the suffering of the world. He is an independent journalist and absolutely autonomous. He is a collaborator of our magazine 'Diario', a free magazine, confronting the Italian government.

In his brieve journey in Iraq, Enzo Baldoni has been a determinating factor in the organization of two convoys of humanitarian aid of the Italian Red Cross and the Red Halfmoon, arrived in Najaf on August 15 and 19. In both cases he managed to enter into the city, to bring food and medicines, saving women and children, putting his personal life at risk. Some days earlier he had contacted Teresa Sarti, the director of Emergency, asking help for a medical operation for Mohammed, an Iraqi who, while accompanying his wife who was giving birth in an ambulance, had been hit by an american tank. His wife and the baby have died. Enzo has been kidnapped while returning to Baghdad to accompany Mohammed to the hospital of Emergency in Sulaymania.

humming to myself...

This whole world may never change
The way it's always been
I know all the ways of war
Can not change it back again

I've been searching
for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes i wonder
do you ever think of me

I'm not the one to tell this world
How to get along
I only know that peace will come
When all the hate is gone

I've been searching
for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes i wonder
do you ever think of me

Sometimes i think about
Saterday's child
And all about the time
You and me were running wild

I've been searching
for the dolphins in the sea
Sometimes i wonder
do you ever think of me

This whole world may never change
This whole world may never change

Beth Orton & Terry Callier ~ pass in time

Rose Baghdad

Who wanted to bet if we can reach the 100 blogger? Emigre... I think we will soon.

I have a new Iraqi blog, written by a 27-year-old woman... She wrote about her self.

I'm a 27 years old female living in Baghdad, married and have a 3 years old daughter. I'm a civil engineer.

And she said about the blog:

I write about the current events in Iraq in my point of view and as I hear from people living here around me and the way they see things here. Not as you hear from the news, but the way we feel and live with and how it affect us. I might also write a daily dairy of my life according to these events. I will have a false name so I can write more freely about the events here. My nick name will be Rose.

She's started blogging 3 days ago, and she has two post till now, she wrote in a big courage, and I hope that she'll continue that way.

And here's a link to her blog: Diary from Baghdad.
New Today;1
Total;72

Unconfirmed Identity

Okay it is officially 100% unconfirmed. Salam Pax is non-confirmedly back, non-confirmedly online and non-confirmedly in Baghdad/Najaf. Yeah really, with great color coordination and a non-confirmedly sexy flak vest. Okay well i'm biased and i love that shade of orange except that ever since Guantanamo coordinates started producing prison jumpsuits in it i'm starting to wonder if next seasons summer range ought to go pastel instead.

Anyway this post's production credits; to ihath for spooky prescience, to F. in Amsterdam (whoever you are) for the un-confirmed original link, to khalid for not confirming it, and to Jeffrey who loves linking things without verifying his source material and like a dog who can't put down a schtick will probably never let me forget that he posted about this before i did. No credit to me. I deserve a big fat kick up the bum for not confirming things and for not checking my hotmail junk folder. Note; if you use hotmail check what junk it's filtering out, god may be trying to get through to not confirm stuff. Oh, one last little credit to Jeff Jarvis for being hopelessly sceptical. What would the web be without such vigilant cynism.

And remember, you never heard it confirmed here first.

The cat's lover's brother is on and blogging

Maybe most of you know Raghda, who's also known as The cat's lover as Fayrouz called her once. Well, his brother Kais started blogging at last... His blog is Fantacy Wizard. He started blogging after a bomb was found in the shop near their house. I'm sure he'll post more if you encouraged him to.

He didn't write about himself but I'm letting my self do that. He's 16-year-old boy, same age as I am.. He is in love with a computer game named "Final Fantasy"... He started blogging about it but nobody cared.. Stopped for a while, and came back to blog yesterday about normal life.

Give him the support you've given to all of us...

New Today; 1
Total; 71

Pinch me.

New Today; 1
Total; 70

An FSIO in downtown Baghdad says ~ "And yes, we are the greatest army in the world. And no, I have no idea how".

Hi.
I am getting crazy here, trying to follow what is happening in Najaf thru my own connections, besides the regular media, and its all driving me Crazy, for the last few hours i have been jumping on the couch every now and then to see if there is any news. there is a say, i cant recall if its an Arab or foreigner, anyway, it says "no news is good news" and this is one of the times that this say was totally damn wrong, the "no-news" is burning my nerves. the only news i saw are about more killed Iraqis, over 90 Iraqi killed in the last 24 hours in Najaf and Baghdad, hundred wounded in deferent governorates, curfew in Karbala during the night for the next three days, blood blood and more blood everywhere. 1400 years ago, the grandson of prophet Mohammed PBUH, Imam Hussein, who is a extremely very important character for in Shea beliefs, he was killed in Iraq, as i said before more than 1400 years, and till now, Shea still cry and grieve in the day he was killed every year (that's on the Islamic calendar, yes we have a calendar, its deferent, we are now the year 1425) because he was killed in an unfair war (it?s a really long story) but he fought till he was killed, he said a line that has become a proverb, he said "haihat minna ilthilla, it means, there is no way we will be dishonored" and he fought till he was killed, as i said. Al-Sadr today is playing Imam Hussein role, he even said the same line yesterday (i think, or the day before, not sure) he realizes, as the Iraqi government realizes, that in case he was killed, Shea will grieve him and make a BIG hero out of him, a resistance figure that will live FOR EVER, Saddam did all he could to prevent Shea from grieving Imam Hussein for 35 years, he used to send the army to Shea neighbors in the grieve day, close the streets, make a security alert all over the Shea governorates, sometimes even prevented them from distributing food (that's what they do, they cook in quantities and distribute food around the city) sometimes jailed everyone who does that, yet, after 35 years, they all were back in the streets doing the same traditions and ceremonies they did since ever, i was saying, that the government realizes that, so they are going to do everything to insure his safety, they will try instead of stripting him in Abu ghreib, or Swiss-cheesing his body, to offer him terms of agreement that they know, and he knows it would kill him politically, by asking him to go on public and tell people to surrender, the thing that i know, they know, Sadr knows that it would NEVER happen, i know, they know, that he prefers to die and become an all-time hero, these terms they made were only made to justify the killing of all the anti-coalition people by saying : we gave them a chance but they refused it.
question: why don't American army and Iraqi forces pull out immediately from Najaf? What would they lose? There isn't an excuse of "possible war" here right? Sadrist say that they are defending themselves only, why don't the other forces act wise, and just pull out if the goal is the safety of Iraqi people as they claim? Or is it just the normal kill-everyone-that-doesn't-kneel policy?
just a question!

Exercising Democracy

Voter registration in Afghanistan;

Gawhar, a Kabul University student, said her nephew has been approached several times at high school to sell his voter ID card. She also knows a Kabul woman who travelled to Laghman province and in two days obtained 40 cards by wearing a burqa and opting to provide her thumbprint rather than a photo.

A woman in Kabul is going to vote 40 times? I am kind of speechless, an unusual situation for a weblogger i know. There must be some kind of witty joke to tell. When do voter registrations in Iraq begin?

Cheers corey.

Shwing

Is it just me? Or are other people missing Salam as well?

Don't get me wrong, I love the other Iraqi bloggers and read them on a regular basis. Riverbend expresses herself with such eloquence and precision that she puts most native English speakers to shame. Zeyad from Healing Iraq, keeps dazzling us with his sharp intellect and most substantial posts. The brothers from Iraq the Model keep it real by reporting what is going on in real life on the ground and I love it when they post pictures. And many many more.

Salam wasn't the most eloquent, his pictures where ok and lets just say the substantial part was a bit thin on his blog. But he had tons of characters and he was funny. His blog had what I would call "Shwing". Shwing are the things in life that make you want to say barabeembaraboom. They are hard to put your finger on but you know shwing when you see it. Salam has tons of it.

So, here is my plan to get Salam to blog again. I suggest that we start a blog and call it "Where is Salam?". On this blog we will report the most ridiculous conspiracy theories about where Salam is. For example:

Salam abducted by aliens, proof found.
Salam spotted in Nebraska, panhandling on the streets.
Pictures of Salam shaking hands with Elvis Presley found in elderly women's attic.

If the theories get too ridiculous, Salam would be forced to resurface just to stop the rumors. What do you think?

Ali Mohamed, a new Iraqi blogger

The number of Iraqi bloggers is increasing each week, as they discover that they can REALLY practise their freedom on the net.

Another Iraqi blogger is Ali Mohamed, He lives in Baghdad, and he's 20 years old. He has four blogs, and one more to lead to the other four.


He writes about sport, he writes jokes, he links to free programs and softwares, and he also links to cool sites ... I hope you'll enjoy his blogs.
and remember, today is our game with Morocco. Pray for us, cheer for us, and we'll win (Insha'a allah).


New today; 1
Total; 69

The Iraq Pro-democracy Party

I think I'm probably one of the last ppl who heard about this, but just in case there are still people out there that don't know (which makes me look good). The brothers Ali and Mohammed from Iraq the model have announced their candidacy for Iraq's national assembly. Heres the link to their campaign website. This is a relief from all the horrible news coming out of Iraq lately. All the best to them.

Ole' Iraq

Nabil and Ferid between them are providing fantastic commentary and pics of Iraq's Olympic soccer team.

If you're a sports junky, olympic enthusiast or even just a bit curious there's also live weblogged coverage of other events from Stuart Hughes. Oh yes, the Iraq connection - Stuart's the weblogger who lost half of one of his legs last year after stepping on a landmine in Northern Iraq, anyway, he's in Greece right now.

Oh, one more thing, here's what bartleby.com has to say about Ole'...

Etymology ~ Spanish, perhaps from Arabic wa-llah, by God! (used as an expression of admiration) : wa-, and; see w in Appendix II + allah, God; see Allah.

Americans: why do you hate us??:*(

Hi:))
there is onething i have in comon with french people, is that americans ask us all the time: Why do you hate us?
:)
well, i dont know about the french, but i knwo about myself, thats what i intend to talk about, if you have time.
ok, do you want the short answer or the long answer?
ok, lets start with the short and move to the full version after.
the short answer is: i hate americans? that is so not true!
the long answer is:
i hate americans? believe me that is so not true!
oh not long enoug?:)
ok, i will again:

Its very important to me, that you know that i respect American people, if i want to write a list of 50 close friends, at least five of them would be american, and i have so much american friends outside the "close friends: list too, my experience with American people is very good, i find them simple, sincere and caring people, hardworking i may add too.
that applies too on most, if not all of the other nationalities, there always exceptions, but i am talking generally, as i was meant to "be" in this time and place, war time, in Iraq, i had the chance to meet so many foreigneres, probably any person who lives a normal life in a normal country, wont meet half the number of foreigneres i met unless he works in a border center:)
anyway, after this experience with all these people, and the online-people who i know too, i cant say anything like, all people are nice, except those from a certain country, that just cant happen, because every country in the world have the good and the bad, mixed together, that is life.
but as i am acused of hating Americans particulery, i will talk about them particulery:
i know a very nice, very active poletician American woman, who i consider my vertual auntie, i have a very lovely old lady who i consider my vertual grandma, i have a very wonderful friend who i consider my vertual brother, all americans, and i have a list of other people who i open my computer and check my mail hoping to find something form them, all of those are american people, who i love and respect, you check my mail and you would find akkadia, connie, lena, mary, julie so many others, all american, all dear and precious to me.
its the goverments that i a stand against, and that comes from the policy they chose to have towards us, arabs, and you all are seeing what kind of policy it is, and you all are seeing its results.
thank you for your time:)
me*

Iraqi Boy

Iraqi Boy is a blog written by Mahmood from Mosul. He writes stories from the Koran in Arabic.

Hope you enjoy reading his blog.


New today; 1
Total; 68

Promotional Interlude

To quell curiosity about contributors to this site, view blogger profiles by clicking on names in sidebar to right under "Contributors" heading >

The blogger profile provides such interesting orts as the weblogger chooses to reveal, the blogger profile also provides links to contributors' personal weblogs and other group weblogging dalliances (btw ~ some blogger profiles are switched on, but not all).

Enjoy.

An email

Hi, i invite you to read me at my blog, as i discovered that some of you, dear readers, know me from IBC, not from my blog, and for that i thank the great Emigre:)
anyway, my blog is secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com where you can find more articles, and links to my family members' blogs, mom, raed and majid.
as IBC has a comment section, i thought you would be interested in reading this email that i got.
take care...
me*




Hi Khalid,

Many in America share your anger, but the politics in this country is broken. Have you read about Hitler and the rise of Facism ? Well this is American-style facism, there is no other word for it. Things have been building like this for many years. After getting defeated in Vietnam the U.S. facists climbed into a hole and hid for a while, but now they are back and more organized. They are much more organized then the left is willing to admit. It is frightening.

The main thing about American facism is that violence and murder is projected to other countries, like Iraq right now. They can't do it here YET.. but Bush and his gang want to. They despise democracy, freedom... what they worship is money. It's that simple - money.

Americans have protested this war and occupation in hundreds of ways. But the major media won't cover it, or if they do they label us as "extremists", or call us "anarchists and terrorists". Bush and Kerry ignore the anti-occupation movement..

If a tree falls in a forrest and no one hears it, does it make a sound ?

Peaceful protest is ignored, and so what do people turn to ? Well , it seems many in Iraq have chosen violent resistance - who I am to argue with them ?

I hope you mom feels better, and do what you have to do to protect yourself.

America, Najaf, Mom and other things...

Hi: it seems that American goverments, are masters in creating enemies, not only around the world, but also inside every country they "liberate", in a year and a half, this american adminstration managed to get ammounts of hate and anger towards America, more than all the past adminstration all together did in the last 50 years inspite of their foolish policy in the ME, still, this admestration, created in a year and a half, more enimies, more anit-American people, that there was ever there. I keep wondering, is there gonna be a day where the American administration, any administration, will try to understand what Iraqi people want? Will there be a day when they wont think that Iraqis are fools, and that they can play all their games without getting caught? I bet that every single one who makes the decisions there in the white house, have never met an Iraqi person in his life, well except Al-chalaby and Allawi probably. when the occupation came in, all these people, the masses, who are called almahdi army now, didn't do anything! And now they are ready to fight not only the Americans, but the whole Iraqi army and police force too, they are ready to die, and to see their city destroyed, just to get red of the occupation, why? when the occupation came in, no one in Falluja, raised his RPG, but after one year, they made the most terrifying trap that the American forces trapped in, and they exhausted the whole American force to the point that the American army agreed on pulling back their forces, under a stupid condition of handling weapons, where the people of Falluja gave eighty something RPG, most of them broken, that number equals what some kids in the streets have. but sure, after killing the largest number of Iraqis they could kill, they followed the same Saddam policy: if he doesn't agree with you, kill him before he makes more problem, then show how sorry you are. and now, as river bend puts it, de ja vu, another falluja in the south, and as she said, after 20 years from now, who will be responsible for the mass graves that will be found? and the same thing is happening in Samarra, Kut, Amara and other cities too, why? one bright thing, that slatering, and mass killing for civilians, created some kind of Sunna Shea unity, the community of Sunni Muslims are collecting money and aid to people of Najaf, as a way to help reduce the suffer of civilians, the same thing happened during the Falluja disaster, Shea in Najaf collected all kinds of aid and sent it to Falluja, unity is one of our greatest weapon against the occupation. we were happy, that water and electricity dramatically improved in the last few days, till we discovered that Allawi government is following Saddam's policy again, step by step, by implementing mass punishment on the Shea areas in Alsadr city and other Shes places in Baghdad, besides Najaf, that's why we had a bigger share of water and electricity. Riverbend is blogging again, check her site. on the personel manner, mom survived an armed hijacking accident, fortunately, thank God, they didn't kill her, they just took her car, purse, mobile phone, some cash, and few other things, mom is ok, she is recovered psychologically from the accident that happened the day before yesterday, she is getting back to her life. at the point she saw these men coming off their cars carrying MP5 automatic machine guns, she thought that they were there to assassinate her (she has been involved in anti-occupation activities through women organizations) and it was a relief to know that they want the car, "only". hamdilla assalama mom! (thank God for your safety) :)) the government pulled all the Iraqi police out of Baghdad, to use them to fight the shea in Najaf, allowing criminals to do whatever they like in Baghdad. as we reached the police station, and when they knew what happened, one of the policemen put something in my hand, that it turned to be a car key, and then he swared two millions times that I will have to take his personel car to use it until we find our car, he insisted to the point that all my refuses didn't work, I thanked him a lot, but I didn't take his car of course, who garanties that this one wont be hijacked too? the good hearts of Iraqi people, is there any other place in the world you can find like them? dad had to leave to Jordan yesterday in a business trip, now I am in charge, I distributed the weapons we have in deferent places of the house, drawing a sinario for deferent plans could be used to attack our house, and plans to fight back, when they took mom's purse, it had her IDs, visit card, and money in $US, which is the worse part, its an indicator that this family may have more, we expect them to attack again, probably try to kidnap one of us, that's the best way to take money from anyone now, God protect us, we trust him, pray for us. in this situation of security mess, if you shoot a thief that was trying to steal your house, if you shoot him in the leg while he is inside your house, his tribe would come and demand to give them money or otherwise they would kill you or destroy your house, or they sometimes chose to revenge only, without asking for money, therefore, its clear for me, that under any kind of attack, SHOOT TO KILL, shot directly in the head, no mercy. Once they have a reason to revenge from you, no one, NO ONE, not the stupid government that cant protect its own members, not the police, not the army, no one can protect you, those are well armed thugs, who control big neighbors, under the situation we live in, even the most peaceful people like myself, can kill in cold blood to protect their families. kill? Its not a horrible word anymore, we have seen thousands and thousands of dead people, people torn into peaces, arms and legs thrown everywhere, blood covering the ground, all side by side with the sound of American machines, tanks and helicopters, every time. what does death mean to you? a clean body wearing the best clothes in a perfumed coffen? zzzzz, wrong, think again, Want to see how is it really like? Want it to be an easy thing to happen? Just don't join the American club, by not joining, you will sure see a lot of that... BELIEVE ME. me*

Kommercial Break

I love it when psychic osmosi~logging happens. Bloggers are guest posting magically all around the web at the same time. As if by some queer diffusion of thought Rusty Shackleford is guest posting for The Commissar. He has posted a special collectors edition, can you guess which blog stamp is for this site?

I'm not really sure what Rusty is saying. Whatever it is Rusty, is this where i sing now?

*sings...*

Baby just let me be...
Don' wanna be a tiger
'Cause tigers play too rough
Don' wanna be a lion
Cause lions ain't the kind
You'll love enough
'Just wanna be your teddybear...

Yeah, you're right. I should stick to shaking hands.

Good morning:)))

Hey guyz:))
Yesterday was a very nice day, really, I went out to have lunch with a british friend, who is doing a very nice work on the issue of external dept of Iraq, after lunch we moved to the Faqma, the most famous ice creams shop in Baghdad and we had this great Iraqi-size ice cream, that I bet you cant finish half of it, and its just so delicious! With small peaces of pineapples inside it, liquid chocolate on the top, and a big cookie in the bottom of the glass, that you discover after eating everything inside it, that its eatable too, oh God o love food!
Anyway :D
As most of you know, I am Palestinian originally, but I live in Baghdad since 1991, I love this city, before this last war (can you name another country where its not enough to say "the war", you have to specify which war you are talking about?! ) we were in Jordan, in our summer vacation, since we have Jordanian nationalities, and we lived in Jordan, and many other countries, before coming to Iraq.
As we look Iraqi (ya... the mustache, the dark skin, the tummy, you know…) and everything, since my mother is Iraqi, and I talk Iraqi "language" (as I call it) very good to the point that Iraqis who I meet in my daily life, don’t know that I am not Iraqi.
But still of course, inside our house and among the family, we talk Palestinian, we eat Palestinian food most of the time, we go to Jordan every year (more than 60% of the population are Palestinians, and much more that that in Amman), so back to the subject, we were in Amman right before the war, but we took the decision to come back to Baghdad, just few days before the war, we could let Baghdad go through this alone.
As arabs, not Iraqis we had a very difficult life in Saddam's time, we didn’t have the right to invest, we didn’t have the right to buy a house, we didn’t have the right to buy a car, we didn’t have the right to have a deposit account in the bank, we didn’t have the right to buy a telephone line (you can buy a phone line, but only form another arab, don’t ask me why) in a word, everything we have, everything we own, wasnt registered in our names, everything was registered in names of Iraqis, friends and relatives.
What I am trying to say, that our interests were severely damaged by Saddam, I hope this answers one of the questions I read above.
Have I been in jail? No why have you?
But I am surprised actually that I never went to jail, or anyone of my family members, because of our stand of the bath, but thank God, we were never "caught" criticizing anything.
Enough about me, I hate talking about myself, so please stop asking questions and making comments about me, this is a place to discuss Iraq, politics, not my personal life, so lets agree on something: I am tiered of the stupid stories about us benefiting from Saddam, can we get over it, and make questions a bit more relevant to the Irqi issue?
I read some people talking about the debate between me and ladybird, I decline that, there is no debate here, ladybird made some comments, that I found irrelevant, and tried to answer sometimes, but there is no debate going on here, sorry!
As she doesn’t live here, I was interested in showing her what is happening here, as I am in the field, and she is not, but after her funny announcement where she said:
"Believe me, there is not a single Iraqi, I repeat not a single Iraqi and responsible of what I am saying is Anti-coalition from patriotic feelings. They just lost something with the fall of sad dam, they can’t say it in public and they need a mask, so anti-coalition, anti occupation is the name for the mask " after this seinfield-funny annoucement, from ladybird who KNOWS, cause she is HERE and cause she knows each one of the 22 000 000 iraqi, you must believe her guyz! Try to at least, I mean, after all, "she is responsible for what she is saying" :))
I am so out of here!
Namrud is one of he most important kings in the old hesoty of Iraq, (old hestory, know what is that jeff?) and its totally impolite to make such comments on the person who used the name, rudness is the weapon of weak, if I wanted to play your game I would refer to that your name, means in arabic a ******************************, while ladybird, as my dectionary says, means *********, but i wouldnt play that game, totally not my style;)
So, we are done with this, lets move on with our lives:)))
I met a very hi-ranked american officer, a very interesting event, I will talk about it next time, inshalla.
Take care…
Me*
ps: aw aw, remember that Sadr-irani thing? out of the 1200 member of Almahdi army who were caught, 4, yes only four were Iranian, best regards for your theory.

Link Update

Sorry to interrupt, just a quick update;

Ladybird's page has moved, time to update your links. Very nice new decore.

Story of the day

Hey all:))first of all, my apologies to the "nice jeff" :)) i am sorry for the confusion :)this period, i received more mails than i usually get, the majority of my readers were americans (probably 95%, no surveys, but basing on the mails i got)and the majority of my readers, and the very majority of the emails i get, are very nice, very supportive, and i thank everyone of them, and i apologize cause i dont have the time to reply to each one of them, specially for the over-10kb emails, but i certainly read every word and enjoy it, so thank you, and i promise to answer as soon as i can.back to our subject, the very funny thing is that for some people, the reference is Saddam, 35 years of minds-blocking made them think that the reference is Saddam, and thats why i am reading some comments (and with all shame i say i received one of these emails too, from an iraqi) saying: why do yo critisize Allawi, isnt he better than Saddam? or somethign like: whats your problem?? do you want Saddam back?? what would Saddam do to a reporter if he was mad at him??and that is so sad, that is a crack in the manners walls, a crack in the humanity wall, to believe that the reference is Saddam, and compare others to him, to justify their corruption, dictatorship, and arrogance.isnt that just sad? i really want to cry.i wish i was there in that conference, i would stand up on my feet, and ask for permession to talk, and i would say to Allawi in front of the cameras: Mr. president, i demand that you talk to the people in this room in a civilized way, you are an employee, the times of dictatorship are gone, you take your salary from our money, you are responsible in front of us, and we have every right to have all the answers for our questions.am i right or not? wouldnt that be just beautiful? wouldn't it just open a new page of standards that say that the president isnt a God that you should fear, he is an employee that should fear you?i will repeat it again, the president, any president, is an employee, and people are his boss, that is khalidism.as we live in iraq, we see a variety of openions, and its everyone's right, to think what he likes, as long as that doesnt lead to hurting others, that is what democracy is about...right?i want to ask a question!what if, the baathists, re-organized their lines, and came to us with speeches like: finally we got rid of the dictator, Saddam ruined the principles of our party, Sadam killed the good baathists, we will restore the realy baath party, the party that calls for lab lab lab, i think you understood what i mean, and these baathists will run to ellections as a new-old party, now you would say: sure they will fail in the ellections, but i will say: do you know how many millions were hurt by the fall of Saddam, you know, baathists, mokhabarat, whoever, who benifited from the existance of Saddam, those millions, who were marginized after the war, and kept with no jobs (which is a terrible american mistake) they were marginized, the thing that led to the fact that while they are marginized, left out of the community, they were encouraged that way to create their own community, a baathist community, call it whatever you want, and that community is thirsty for power, and want to restore their old lives, dont you think that they will support this new baathy party, and join it repeating the "Saddam changed what baath is about" speech? while i know, you know that they are lying, and that it is only a mean to get to power.what will you do then? ban the baath party? but then we will be no better than Saddam right? ban the parties that we dont like, let them work? you tell me!my point behind all that, is that democracy is a two sided sword, one side provides freedom, good healthy communities, and the other side provides some disturbing people in my comments section:)))) me*

PG13 Comments

Swearing, spam, and other inappropriate commenting behaviour will be deleted.

Some commenters ask why some bloggers choose comment free blog formats, inappropriate commenter behaviour i believe may be the answer. There are many other options available for holding private discussions; email, chat and message boards spring to mind. What you do in your personal exchanges between consenting adults at other venues is your business. Please try to remain civil when commenting here.

Thank you.

Some advice

Read what Khalid said first and then come back... You must have finished? Great subject? I know. Now, my post.

I recieved this message by e-mail and said "This should be posted somewhere". This somewhere appeared to be this blog.... OK, these are some advices from me to you.

1. Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

2. Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can carry easily.

3. Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going.

4. Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

5. Don't be afraid to encounter risk. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

6. Don't be afraid to admit you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us together.

7. Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

8. Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or future. By living our life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

9. Don't take for granted the closest things to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

10. Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

11. Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

I hope you liked them.

Regards
Najma

Allawi, the democracy protector

I REALLY wish that you could see the press conference that Allawi held yesterday, I really wish that you all could speak Arabic, so you can know what a dirty arrogant fascist this man is, besides the Baathist background (yes believe it or not, he was a Baathist) that this man have, besides all the talk that he is the first to import torturing instruments in Saddam's time, beside the talk about him working in an assassination unit for the CIA sometime in the past, (well, people talk you know, but as we say in Arabic, there is no smoke without fire) besides the fact that he came to Iraq in an American tank, beside the fact that he is appointed by the occupation, beside all that, you should have seen the press conference yesterday, to see what kind of people he is.
I will give you just a small example:
Reporter: Mr. President, these operations that are taking place now, and killing of the Iraqi citizens, the arrest of Aldari (the son of the head of the Sunna Muslims community leader) and the attempt of arresting Alsadr that failed because of the resistance of Almahdi army, all these things, does it happen under approval from your government?
Allawi: Iraqi citizens? Which Iraqi citizens? We are the Iraqi government, we are the Iraqi citizens, those you talk about are insurgents, and your question is not an innocent question, you meant it in a bad way, and who is the man you just mentioned?
The reporter: Aldari
(Allawi pretends he doesn’t know the man, who is one of the most important characters in the Suna community, who was in an interview with the LBC, the Lebanese broadcasting corporation, where he explained that the community of Sunna are not going to participate in the so-called National conference that Allawi's government intends to make, and Aldari was arrested just few hours after that.)
So the reporter replies: Aldari, the son of the head of Suna community.
Allawi looks embarrassed and says quickly: he was let go (now it seems that Allawi knows the man at least, great), next question.

Iraqi reporter: Mr. President (its common to call the prime minister a president), the mayor of Alnajaf said that there were 400 people killed in the last two days, is that true?
Allawi looks at the reporter with anger: where were you since the beginning of the conference? Weren’t you listening to me? Weren’t you paying attention?
REPEAT WHAT I SAID EARLIER, DID YOU HEAR ME TALKING ABOUT THAT EARLIER?? REPEAT WHAT I SAID EARLIER.

The reporter: you said that the minister of internal affairs doesn’t have information about that, and that when he gets the information he would let you know.

Allawi: so you know that?????

The reporter shaking: but Mr. President, the mayor said…
Allawi: when we have information we will let you know, next question.

And the conference went on and on, he was extremely rude to the reporters, he just reminds you very much of Saddam, HE IS THE IRAQI CITIZENS, AND EVERYONE ELSE ARE THUGS.
When I was looking at him , remembered Noori il Saeed, the prime minister appointed in Iraq by the British occupation in Iraq, that what we studied in the history books in the school, and we thought at that time, that occupation is something we read about in history only, that happens in old centuries, and doesn’t happen these days be cause of the international law and international community, but here we go, back to my point, I remembered Noori il Saeed, who was acting the same way Allawi is acting, and was called a British agent, like Allawy is called an American agent, you know what happened to him? As soon as the masses caught him, they dragged him in the streets for days, and he was and still, cursed every time he is mentioned, since then, and for ever, I can see that Allawi didn’t learn the lesson, probably he thinks that these things used to happen for people like him in the past centuries, and it doesn’t happen these days, well, lets wait and see…
me*

My heart is bleeding...

Iraq is bleeding, and so is my heart. there are two ways to describe what is happening in Iraq: the first way, is the Allawi-American way: "we are cleaning the country and removing the thugs" which i believe is much easier for many Americans to believe it, because their conscience won't have to worry abouy over 500 Iraqi killed, and thousands injured in the last two days. now, lets hear the other way to describe it: what's happening in Iraq now, is very much the same what happened in Saddam's time: Action: Sunna don't want the occupation: Allawi-Americans reaction: they are thugs, destroy al Fallooja..,"remove them" "lets clean up our country". action: hundreds of thousands of Shea, all Sadr supporters and a lot of other Shea, don't want the occupation. Allawi-American reaction: thugs thugs thugs, kill them all, kill the children so they don't make problems in the future too, kill women so they don't give birth to thugs too. its the same policy, whoever is not with us, he is a criminal, he is a thug, he is a barbarian, he must be killed or sent to hell "as one of the American military police described abo ghreib prison yesterday" its exactly the same as what Saddam did, they all are the same, the new and the old government, they care only about their own interest, and they kill whoever stands in their way. the only important deference is that the Allawi-American government, comes in package of elegant suits, and good English. in the chaos that we live in, no one will know how many Iraqi will be killed by the coalition in these few days, but one thing i know for sure, is that they will kill as many as they can, and as always, the world will watch it on TV, some reporters will make a documentary and sell it to some media network to and make some money, and that's it, and after they finish killing people they will say: we are done with the insurgents, you are "liberated" again, long life justice! each and every one who supported this war is responsible for every drop of blood, every son and mother who was and will be killed, every wife or husband, everyone who supported the war or was involved in it, will be responsible for the blood, and tears, in front of the history, and in front of God. but why do you care? They are thugs and insurgents only, isn't that what you are trying to say? unless one of the elegant suits in the white house, or in the smelly shelters of the green zone, understands that they cant control this country with violence, that they cant follow Saddam steps, that they should litsen to what Iraqis want, not kill them, unless that happens, this country will NEVER rise up again. But God is there watching, and he is greatest, he is the most merciful, and he knows the truth, and you'll see!, actions are measured by the results, as they say, lets wait and see, what are the results of this occupation, and this government, you'll watch it fall, and you will remember my words, but till then, we will keep loosing hundreds and hundreds of souls, and everyone who supported or was involved in this war, is responsible for them, in front of the history, and for ever, in front of God.
me*

What is wrong in Iraq?

The Iraqi stuation becomes very bad last few days, the number of the terrorist is increasing and evreyday the news show us a new gang and a new forgine hostge, WHAT IS WONG WITH US?.
The Iraqis showed the world very bad things like stealing the government bulldings and burn them and other things, do they want to stay away from the world? do they want to stay un ecducated? do they do they? a lot of things. In Iraq the number of un educated is very surprising and those poeple who dont know anything and dont feel anything towards Iraq they are destroyding Iraq they will make Iraq a place of horor and violent. I am wondering of how can we slove this problem. of course we cant educate this big number of people even if we tried I am sure that a lot of them will never come to study how to live and not to be selfish and not to stay out of order. the Sadr's gang are fighting from a side the Sunna are fighting from a side, why are they fighting. why dont they just see what the new government can do to them? do they like this way of living no elctricity because they stole all the cables and they are attacking evrey forgine man who comes to fix the stations. no oil for the cars because they are stealing the cars which brings oil to cities. What do they want to do? just fight until make the worlds country stop helping us and they will fight each other then. what will happen if those forgine troops goes out of Iraq and leave Iraq to those terrorist, I think Iraq will become a place which people die evreyday in. I have a lot of feeling but I cant say it in words because those people are really making our lifes bad. They said Al Sestani has a big effect in the Iraqi shiee Muslims then why did he leave Iraq and in this situation in Najaf. dont you think because this man thought that nothing will change those people so he said I'm out of here, and he left Iraq now. And about this fat man Muqtada al Sadr ( SMS) what dose he think himslef is doing ( he is non Iraqi) I believe in that he is just an agent who work for Iran.. I think nothing will change Iraq until the Iraqi people change their minds.

Radio Stream from Baghdad

Streamtime.org transmits a web~radio stream from Baghdad on Sundays from 12.00 CET, they also transmit on Wednesdays. You can download the streams (on Sunday at 12.00) from their site here and enter the Streamtime Jingle Contest here.

Streamtime say their website is not a blog, but the site is laid out in blog-like format with regular posts giving program details, transmission times, and links to the streams. So i guess this raises the next question; if broadcasters can blog, then can bloggers broadcast? Probably time to see if those el cheapo old speakers still work.

What is the aim of blogging ?

Mind me guys posting this topic here. I just want to get out something from my chest which has puzzled me for quite a while. What is the aim of blogging ?

For me, it is to increase the interactions between the locals, and the outside world. I guess in the west some people (not all) see Iraqis as masked men with RPG s , and suicide bombers, and Sader Militias, etc etc (all the negative images which are shown on TV) ...

For instance, I have never seen the city of Sulaimania on any international television. Fallujah is the most famous Iraqi city after Baghdad. FUNNY !

In the 1990s during the Kurdish civil war, I met some Turkish people in Kurdistan, they said we thought that in Kurdistan they eat people alive. Because what they used to see on their televisions about Kurdistan was men in baggy trousers and a little beard, with a bushy hair, and an AK47, brandishing their guns in the air. They thought all Kurds were like that. FUNNY again !

What we have to do as bloggers, is to show the positive signs of ourselves. We are not terrorist masked men, we don't like guns, we don't like beheading, we don't like killing, we don't like suicide bombings, we don't like torturing prisoners, and some of us prefer our local Beebsi than Coca Cola (but not all) !

I know that the foreign journalists are doing their best to cover all the aspects of our lives. But we also have to do it ourselves.
This is our life in the first place, if we don't improve it ourselves, don't expect anyone to improve it for you.

The Mission

one blog,
two blog,
loud blog,
happy blog

young blog,
old blog,
tired blog,
sad blog

Holy cow!
There are too many Iraqi blogs.

They come in all shapes and sizes
And spawn like fish or more like rabbits.

What is a reader to do
Oh no, oh no.
Too many blogs to read
Keep clicking toe and froe

Don’t worry, don’t worry I say
For Iraq blog count is here to stay.

We will count them
Analyze them
Put them into perspective
And humerize them.

Anyway, all the blogs say the same.
Electricity, on and off
Today and yesterday.

It is too hot in Baghdad
Too hot in Basrah
It is too hot in Mosul
Even in Hathra

We will summarize
Report on new updates
Make you feel all good
With pictures of fuzzies

Oh no, Oh no, you say
I can’t catch up when the Jarrars start to play.

Don’t worry, don’t worry, I know it’s not funny
ihath has kids
And read Dr. Suess, one time too many

How cool is this?

I'm ecstatic to participate in the IBC with such esteemed individuals as each one of you here. I applaud Emigre's marvelous efforts. Only positive things will come from this gathering of minds online.

Liminal :)

Yet Another Iraqi Blog

Harith Kharrufa, an 18-year-old gentleman from Mosul, started his own blog. So far, he posted humorous photos on his blog.

His interests? everything !!!

I found Harith's blog listed under the cat lover's blog.

New today; 1
Total; 67

Another new Iraqi blog

Today, I'm happy to announce that a new Iraqi, who is also my cousin, started blogging...
Till now, he only posted funny pictures. Hasan is from Mosul, he's 15 years old, he refuses to help me writing about him... His blog is HasanIraq.
Hope you're happy now, Hasan?

New today; 1
Total; 66

Thanx emigre

Hello everyone
thank you Emigre for adding me, this is a great idea
I could be a case study for freetime gone bad, and to think i only started reading blogs at the beggining of the year, that soon was followed by extreme commenting and now i occasionally hijack the KBU site with.
Btw Najma as i am typing there is breaking news of fighting in Mosul, hope you are doing ok, take care.

Consensus

I like it when there is consensus in the iraqi blogosphere. This time everybody is agreeing that it is very very hot in Iraq. AYS from Iraq at a glance is threatening to melt away. Riverbend tells us that she can't blog because she is preoccupied with observing the shape, color and movement of the heat. Ladybird posts pictures of Iraqis taking their clothes off. Iraq the model people tell us that the heat makes them curse at themselves but they are still optimistic.

Ok, ok, ok, we got it. It is very very hot in Iraq.

Here is my advice for overheating body situation. Take a sheet or a sarong and dip it in water. I suppose an abaya would do as well. Let the water drip, don't squeeze it out. Wrap yourself with the wet cloth from head to toe. After a while you will feel that you are walking around with your own private air conditioner. Keep it on all day long. You won't look pretty but you will feel cool.

Iraq is bleeding

Hi:me, as a religious Muslim, i am very terrified, and ashamed more than i can describe, and really really sad, because of what happened to the churches in Iraq, it is the most terrible thing that can happen, the criminals who are attacking the houses of God, as we call them, should be given the maximum punishment, that is not enough at all, but i cant find the words or ideas to deal with this, i wish i can apologize to every Christian, i wish i can protect every church, but sadly i say that i can't, i cant protect the mosques or the churches, and i don't know what to do about it :*(the criminals, whoever they are, tried to establish a war between Sunna and She'a by putting bobed cars in holy places, and by assassinating important personalities from both sides hoping that each side would blame the other, but thank God this didn't happen, and both sides were smart enough to understand that game and not put themselves in that position, now the dirty game goes on, but to make a war between Muslims and Christians, i know i cant stop it, i know you cant stop it, but i trust God, he is the only one who can.i am very sorry for each and every drop of blood, i am very sorry for each and every soul, if its in my hand, i would bring to justice anyone who was involved in this for any reason, even if he was my own brother.

Welcome Everybody

Beautiful surprise to see you all here.

Ladybird ~ my condolences to you, and you needn't be sorry about posting sad things. Anything goes, such is life, the good with the bad.

Greetings

Reporting for Iraq Blog Count duty. Ready and willing.

I am glad to be here...

Hey guys:)
glad to join the club:)
i will try to post as much as my time allows me to...
be safe, and take care of yourselves...
me*

The flower of Mosul

Hi, this is my first post here, so I'd like to say hello to every one.

A new Iraqi blog, "The flower of Mosul", written by a 15-year-old girl from Mosul-Iraq. The same place where I'm living :) She recently started blogging.

She's posted a picture of Duhok in her first post, so we can expect some more pictures, I think.

New today; 1
Total; 65

Kia Ora Baghdad

No Pain No Gain; another new blog, published by an Iraqi New Zealander. Sara, posting under web-name Baghdad, left Iraq during a previous Gulf War which she calls "the" Gulf War with the heart warming human tendency we have in claiming wars according to personal impact. I guess she means the one in the early 90's, because when in living memory has there not been a war involving the Gulf? Oop, there i go doing it too, my living memory is probably not really that long. Anyway, encouraged to take up blogging by friends (and Zeyad) Baghdad contributes yet another perspective from her uniquely pacific location.

(Afterall ~ the blogosphere does not revolve around the Northern hemisphere ;)

She came all the way from Seleucia
Had a blind date with destiny
And the sound of Te Awamutu
Had a truly sacred ring...

New Today; 1
Total; 64