Welcome IRAQ!

Last-of-Iraqis

[Baghdad] -- "I thought about this post while I was in the market buying fruits and vegetables. While I was walking in the market looking at the merchandise I noticed something that got my attention: most of the vegetables and fruits are imported! Majority are Syrian! That's really weird; the markets in a country that has two rivers and extremely fertile soil is importing food from neighboring countries! My thoughts and memories started to link to each other for a reason or a conclusion.
Neither climate nor agriculture or economics are my fields of specialty but it doesn't need a specialist to notice the changes in the Iraqi climate and the deteriorations in the agricultural fields during those five years that followed the war, I noticed dramatic changes in the climate and the availability of agricultural products in the Iraqi market," /snap/ [link]

Global Voices

-- … so says Al-Ghad.

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

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

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

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

Catharsis

[Jordan] -- "A newly-discovered blog by Baghdad Kassakhoon [Storyteller], who is a journalist in Baghdad, has a post about the suffering of the Iraqi staff of the Associated Press." -- [link]

Baghdad Treasure

[US] -- "... my landlord’s copy of Time magazine drew my attention. The issue was a special edition that presented the world’s 100 most influential figures. As I was leafing through the magazine, I saw that an Iraqi woman was considered one of those influential figures. Seeing this made my day. It left me with a sense of optimism that despite all the horror Iraqis are going through under occupation and terrorism, there are people like this woman whose efforts are like bricks rebuilding what was destroyed."

Inside Iraq

[Baghdad] -- "How far will corruption – and therefore distrust take us? Has the issue of a student's campus ID card become a national security risk – because of corruption?

Several weeks ago I took my daughter's student ID, issued by her college, to follow up a documentation process in officialdom. I hate handing over original papers because they have a way of disappearing. And it did. Who to ask – who is responsible – who can I vent my anger on – no one. No one is accountable.

In despair, I let it go.

Now the final exams are coming on. We've been told that no student will be allowed to sit the exams without their ID clearly displayed on their desks. And this time for real.

A rush to issue a new one." /snap/ [link]

Thoughts from Baghdad

[US] -- "Not a scientific article, by any means, but I find it increasingly interesting how fast the Facebook phenomenon is spreading worldwide. My (egyptian) cousins in Egypt are avid Facebookers, adding every application and friend they can find. And for me, that was the best thing I've gotten out of joining Facebook, keeping in touch on a 'regular' basis with my kid cousins.
And now, I've noticed that Iraqis are increasingly joining the world of Facebook! It's not as widespread in Iraq as it is in the rest of the Arab world, but it is slowly gaining in popularity. From my husband's account, I see a good number of his colleagues and former co-workers adding him as Facebook friends. And one of my buddies from Iraq added me recently.
What I've noticed is that a number of Iraqi Facebookers are now ex-patriots or 'refugees' to a degree," /snap/ [link]

Catharsis

[Jordan] -- "The hero of this story is a poet called Miskin al-Darmi, who is an Umayyad-era Poet, who died in 90 AH.

SCENE: Medina.
al-Darmi in his house, with an Iraqi friend named Sulayman al-Baghdadi.

Darmi: Good going, dude, we managed to stay the whole night worshiping in the mosque.
Baghdadi: You know man, I wasn't worshiping in sincerity, but I had nothing else to do.
Darmi: What, you sold all your stock?
Baghdadi: Well, yes, except for the black burqaas, which constitute 4/5 of my goods.
Darmi: Why did you buy so much of these?
Baghdadi: Well because women in Iraq have taken it in fashion these days, so I thought it would be fashionable for the women of Medina.
Darmi: So what are you going to do now?
Baghdadi: Man, I'm in such a bad streak, ever since I stopped getting drunk at parties I've never seen anything good come to me. I've put all my money in these veils and now all I got to do is go back to Iraq and declare bankruptcy.
Darmi: Wait, I've got just the thing for you." /snap/ [link]

Skies [was: Colors of Mind]

[Erbil] -- "One of the oldest cities in the world. It had been mentioned in Sumerian writings as Erbilium. Now it is the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan.

I never visited Kurdistan before. Till this April when suddenly I got an unbelievable opportunity to visit it. I was so happy to see all these Kurdish people with their characteristic costumes, music and accent in speech. I even knew some Kurdish psychiatrist and one psychotherapist. Their names weren’t that easy for me to remember at the first time, but after few days I found it so easy and so beautiful. Their names got some musical tone that is really characteristic.
Erbil is called by Kurdish people as Hewler. Hewler means “the place of the sun” as I can remember somebody told me. When I knew its meaning I remembered that this city got a rich heritage full of civilizations and religions. Some old religions in the area worship the sun, or regard it as something holy. From those old believes, I think, came the name." /snap/ [link]

Last-of-Iraqis

[Baghdad] -- "We were getting back from my wife's relative house who invited us over lunch with other relatives (the few ones that are still in Baghdad)… we had a wonderful time and a very delicious food… it was great to be with the distant relatives that we weren't able to meet because of the terrible conditions.
It was just great and we were really happy but as it was getting darker it was time to get back home… we got back in two cars, me and my wife in one and the rest in another car. Everything was good until we reached an Iraqi army checkpoint, there were two soldiers, a tall one and a short one, I almost stopped near them and both of them gestured for me by their hand to go… so I did like I do in the countless checkpoints, as soon as I passed them one of them shouted, I didn't understand what did he say but I was almost sure it wasn't for me; he just gestured for me to go! But my wife shouted "STOP, he is shouting on us" he shouted again and this time I heard him saying "STOP NOW" so I immediately stopped" /snap/ [link]

Secrets in Baghdad

[Jordan] -- "Sami Alhaj, the reporter of Aljazeera who has been in Guantanamo for six years without being charged of anything and was tortured often, has been released finally. I have often prayed for him, and i am very very happy for his release, i feel like i know him, i pray for all those who face injustice to get what they deserve.

Please, it's very important that you read the full piece here... and also, watch the video below..

-- [link]

Healing Iraq

[US] -- "A massacre that you will not see on CNN, perpetrated by the US-backed "Iraqi security forces" or, more accurately, Badr/SIIC/ Da'wa gangs in uniform and out of uniform (many of the armed gangs in the video are dressed in civilian clothes). The scene is reminiscent of images from the south during the 1991 uprising against Saddam's regime, proving that not much has really changed except the roles have been switched again, with American blessings. This took place in Suq al-Shiyukh, south east of Nasiriya, where residents said Iraqi special forces detained 58 suspected Sadrists, executed them and set them on fire after raiding the Sadrists' headquarters in town." /snap/ [link]

Two poets from Iraq and one from Lebanon performed at the Literary Festival FREE WORD in Amsterdam on Thursday 24th of April.

You can listen to streamtime's webradio at http://m2m.streamtime.org

Khazal al Majidi lives in Holland, he reads in Arabic

Al Galidi lives in Holland, reads in Dutch

Amjad Nasser from Lebanon lives in London, reads in Arabic

Before their reading they are introduced in Dutch by Pieter Sjoerd van Koningsveld (Leiden University).

Computerworld reports about troubles at the White House finding an e-mail backup for a Court order investigating on controversial issues such as reasons for starting the war in Iraq, the release of a former CIA operative's name and the US Department of Justice's actions.

The White House has been working for months trying to fend off a lawsuit filed last May in federal court in Washington by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

The White House missing email scandal has been developing for some time now."

I'll be offline for a week to enjoy spring, books and nature. More or less.

-c-

Last-of-Iraqis

[Baghdad] -- "I love this time of the year and we (me and my wife) love the Gardenia flowers so much… I have some kind of a tradition to look for the first gardenia flower that blossoms in my garden and give it to my wife…

I used to do that since we knew each other and I did that yesterday because yesterday I saw the first Gardenia in our garden, it's a bit early this year, I have just taken the above photo in my garden.
As the night falls we decided to sit in the garden and have dinner there despite the hot weather, as we started to eat, a huge explosion was heard and felt, it shook the table and we immediately got inside, I think it's too much for us even to have dinner in our garden, few seconds after the explosion the symphony of bullets started as usual." /snap/ [link]