Welcome IRAQ!

Mahmood's Den

[Bahrain] -- Bahrain has blocked several Web sites for violating a reporting ban in the case of a government adviser who was deported after alleging election irregularities.

Authorities imposed a ban on publishing information about the case of the adviser, British citizen Salah al-Bander, who was sacked and deported to Britain in September for what a minister said was an attempt to foment civil strife in the Gulf state.

The case, known as Bandergate -- [..]

"The story is now on the wires, that means by tomorrow morning hundreds of papers will pick it up?

and I have just been informed that the Ministry of Information has submitted cases against ?websites? with the Public Prosecutor who, in turn, started its investigation over the Ministry?s claims." /snap/ [link]

The New Yorker -- Shouts and murmurs

-- STRATEGIST 1: What?s our message? That?s a rhetorical question to myself. The message is, in broad strokes, ?We know the course, we?ve seen the course, we?ve been on the course many, many times, but the course has changed a little, in part because it?s a very big course and it?s almost impossible to keep an eye on the whole course and this kind of funny thing happened while we looked away for a minute or were out of town, say, or went on vacation for a while, and what happened was someone?unbeknownst to us and, frankly, without the proper permit?built, like, a detour in the course that took people off course and led them, quite by accident, to, like, a huge bomb factory, but we?re working to shut that bomb factory down and reroute the course back to the original course, which, you have to trust us, goes by some wonderful scenery.? We need that in four words.

STRATEGIST 2: Without the literal mention of the words ?bomb,? ?factory,? or ?stay.? --

Treasure of Baghdad

[Philadelphia] -- "By the time the Mahdi army militiamen continue their sectarian killings in the lawless Baghdad City, the situation is still loose and out of control in the western restive Anbar province.

Al-Sabah State newspaper reported that fierce clashes erupted in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, a town were non-combatant local residents were massacred by U.S. Marines in the aftermath of an insurgent attack. The paper added these clashes came a day after insurgents clashed with Iraqi army troops in Ramadi, the capital of the province.

Subsequent insurgent attacks against U.S. forces in the province, the increase of sectarian violence and the continued insurgent control of several cities in Anbar showed that fighting in the region is far from being over.

Fed up with the al-Qaeda foreign and Iraqi fighters in the province, Anbar tribes met early October and decided to combat al-Qaeda fighters especially after the obvious incapability of the US and Iraqi forces in the cleansing of this area from these fighters." /snap/ [link]

Alive in Baghdad

Interviewed by AiB -- "I met Majed in Amman in 2005. He was a bright teen who was equal parts fire and self-righteousness and irresponsible and fun-loving. He helped start the ill-fated Iraq Indymedia, Al Muajaha. He?s had a mixed past dealing with Westerners, Americans, and activists. Majed talks about the interest and exoticness of America and the possibility of Baghdad?s first McDonald?s. He has a strong love for his country and his home. It?s also important to remember, however, that despite Majed?s honest love for his country, he is not indicative of all Iraqi?s upbringing." -- [link]

Sex in Iraq is like snow

[Baghdad] -- "Hello, there! I'm here in Iraq again leaving ma family behind in Syria....
I'm intending to continue ma studies here, although, there are alot of students missing or absent and so are the doctors and lecturers.
I dunno what to say now.... I'm more confused than ever.... I dunno what is best for me?" /snap/ [link]

Where Date Palms Grow

[Baghdad] -- "I feel like a different person, I am now an engulfed by fear & cowardness, I jump at the sound of a squeaking door, I feel like I?m half dead.

I have this feeling of being stalked; it?s like Spiderman when he gets those vibes when danger approaches. Such a terrible feeling, you feel your heart is going to burst out of your chest.

Furthermore this morning, on my way to work I nearly had a car accident, a Black GMC Suburban nearly hit my Car on the Highway, it then swirled towards the pavement and smashed in, I stopped to see what happened, it seems that the driver was shoot seconds earlier while he was driving or something similar, when they pulled him out of the car he was dead due to multiple gun shots.

This is too much?" [link]

[Amsterdam] -- "Last week I produced a MetaMap of Saddam Hussein:
a visual navigator to on-line representations of power & violence in
graphs, maps and ceremony.

http://imaginarymuseum-archive.org/OogWeb/

It was made for the web gallery "Oog" (eye) of the Dutch daily De Volkskrant, that invites artists to react to "the news".

The MetaMap is an attempt to construct a visual narrative of Saddam Hussein and Iraq, that links to one hundred detailed and contextualized links on the Internet.

One of the subject areas is the debate on the number of victims, especially violent death of Iraqi. The metaMap gives a short introduction and several links to both the original documents and sites that a criticizing methods of counting or communicating about the numbers. One such a site has been the UK based group MediaLens.org, with another site Opendemocracy.org trying to reconcile the opposing standpoints.

The MetaMap also points to an earlier influential study on made violence by Gil Elliot in 1972 who was one of the first to point to the "moral significance of scale" in his "Twentieth century book of the dead". As his book may not be readily available anymore I give here the full quotation:

What is the moral context in which we should see those killed by violence?

Thoughts from Baghdad

[Baghdad] -- "On the second day of Eid, we had my husband's maternal family gather at our house for a potluck Eid lunch/dinner. We usually hold this dinner at Aunt W's house at the outskirts of Adhamiya, but because of the security situation there, we decided to have it at our house.
Aunt W was telling us about how a car bomb that exploded right in front of their house shattered all the windows in her house about ten days ago, and destroyed her doors. Her 19 year old son was taking pictures of the damage done with his cell phone, and then decided to go up to their roof to take a picture of the car skeleton. Iraqi army officers saw him and stormed the house, to arrest him. They were afraid that he was trying to get their location on film for a possible attack against them (he had no such plans in mind). They tried to get him to admit right then and there that he was a part of the insurgency.
His poor mother went crazy." /snap/ [link]

The Mesopotamian

[Baghdad] -- "Actually, I think one of the most important developments recently is the situation in the Anbar and the rise of the anti-terrorist movement there in more developed and explicit form. This movement should neither be underestimated nor overestimated. But it is certainly real and a considerable split in the Tribes of the Dulaim. [..]

- ?Turshi? (pickled vegetables) is haram. I am told by some of my Ramadi acquaintances that jars of ?Turshi? are secretly passed around much in the same way that drugs are traded elsewhere.
- Sammoun (bread that is baked in what is considered western style) is haram, and hence the many attacks on bakeries guilty of this practice.
- Last but not least, spoons forks and any such cutlery are haram !!!! The pious Islamic way is to eat with one?s bare hands.

The list can go on and on, with increasing absurdity. It gets to a point when it is clear that they want any excuse to murder people.

Can you imagine what it is like to be living under such regime, adding to that the lack of essential services and the total collapse of almost everything? In addition to that, the terrible murders and aggression against all kinds of ordinary and prominent people alike, including academicians, tribal leaders etc.; all that has resulted finally in the majority of the people of the Anbar reaching the limit and finally realizing the real source of their misery. And thus I can tell you with certainty, and based on personal acquaintances with people from that province, that the anti-terrorist movement there is real and widespread and given the right support and encouragement it could result in totally cleaning the Anbar in its entirety, which would be an important turning point in this war." /snap/ [link]

Healing Iraq

[NY] -- "This video - 40 minutes - filmed by an Iraqi doctor is a must see. I am amazed that someone could actually film the terrible conditions inside one of Iraq's most dangerous hospitals, Al-Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad, in these troubled days." /snap/ [link]

Vertrokken Gezichten - the LEFT WITH NOTHING campaign

Turning point: Schiphol

11 defenseless migrants died, detained, in a calamitous fire at Schiphol Airport deportation centre in the night of 25-26 October 2005.

It is the immediate and shocking cause for denouncing Dutch immigration policies and initiating the LEFT WITH NOTHING campaign (named Vertrokken Gezichten in Dutch).

Join the live stream on Thursday night, October 26, 2006, from 8 pm until Friday 27th 10 a.m CET.

http://streaming.medialab.hva.nl/vertrokkengezichten

A live web stream will be produced tonight to commemorate the people that died at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport (The Netherlands) during the fire at the temporary detention centre in the night of 26-27 October 2005. Eleven irregular migrants were killed, fifteen other were injured as a result of the fire.

Now, one year later, on the night of 26 to 27 October 2006, commemorations will be held all over the Netherlands in remembrance of those who lost their lives in that terrible night one year ago.

In the stream live Beiruti contributions straight from STEIM in Amsterdam

Konfused Kid

[Amman] -- "Happy Eid everyone, here is a tribute for the four friends who were killed in a roadside explosion week before their graduation, I talked about them in the 6/11 post. RIP.

In case you were curious how do I sound like talking English, here is me being interviewed by the BBC regarding my post on the Baghdad Treasure blog, enjoy." [link]

صالح حسن فارس من أمستردام: في بداية الموسم الخريفي لهذا العام أنطلق في أمستردام مهرجان جديد بعنوان (أسبوع الرقص الهولندي) تضمن ستة عروض راقصة، ومن أهم تلك العروض التي قُدمت في المهرجان مسرحية ( كارمن). المُعدة عن أوبرا كارمن للكاتب الروائي الفرنسي" بروبسبير ميريمه" ووضع الموسيقي لها المؤلف الموسيقي الفرنسي "جورج بيزيه". تُعد" كارمن" واحدة من أجمل وأشهر الأعمال الفنية العالمية التي سحرت الناس بمشاهدتها وشغلت الكثير من الفنانين بتقديمها على خشبة المسارح وشاشات السينما والتلفزيون برؤى مغايرة. [link]

Aramaic Carpenter Reel

[Detroit] -- "Beginning November 3, The AANM will feature the work of three Iraqi American painters ? Leila Kubba, Nadwa Qaragholi, and Mohammad Fradi ? this exhibit explores the past, present, and future of a nation in crisis. Common themes found in all three artists? work include the resurrection of memories and hopes, the interruption of dreams by war, and the dissonance of history with the present (both on a national and personal level). [link]

We invite you to enter into these personal meditations filled with longing for, and anxiety about, an Iraq disappeared and an Iraq yet to come.

ARAB AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
13624 Michigan Avenue,
Dearborn, MI 48126
Phone (313) 582-AANM (2266)

Iraqi Screen

[Baghdad] -- "Muahmmed, Ahmed, Ali and Salah are four brothers from a Sunni family, the eldest is in his mid thirties and the others are younger than him, their tribe is Ubaidi. Like most of the fathers in Iraq now, their father left to Syria few weeks ago to rent a house there and take the entire family, the mother and four daughters.

Four days ago, the sisters were sleeping down stairs while the four brothers were upstairs like everyday preparing themselves for another fasting day in Ramadan.

At six am, the house raided by more than fifty militia men, some of them were wearing uniforms of the ministry of Interior, others were civilians carrying RPGS and equipped with different kinds of weapons and ministry of Interior cars.

The house lies in Al-Qahera district, a place dominated by Mahdi army and Bader brigade, they were the only Sunni family in their neighbourhood but they were living there for more than 35 year.

In new Iraq, even the most beautiful neighbouring relations were destroyed by hatred nourished by the new comers who want to have a democratic federal state." /snap/ [link]

:: Electronic Iraq -- Time to sort out this week's events in Amarah--beginning with a little bit of history. [link]

:: The Independent -- Bloody battle for Amarah a glimpse of future

-- The militia headed by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday took over the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, recently vacated by British forces, after a day of heavy fighting which left dozens killed, almost 100 injured and widespread damage to buildings. [..]
The Amarah confrontation is especially worrying for Britain because it threatens to jeopardise the exit strategy under which forces have been withdrawn from a several areas with maintenance of security handed over to Iraqi forces. The threat of violence has increased with plans to devolve the country into a federal structure, a move bitterly opposed by Mr Sadr. --

Where Date Palms Grow

[Baghdad] -- "?They? came in more than ten cars, each car had four Armed men in it, they closed the street from both sides, they entered the house and abducted a young man, they put him in the trunk of a Car, I called 130 six times, continuously the phone rang without any answer.

I was standing on the Roof with my AK-47 and just stared at them." /snap/ [link]

Baghdad Treasure

[Philadelphia] -- "As I was walking in Broad Street in Philadelphia this morning, this book stand attracted my eyes." [link]

Healing Iraq

[NewYork] -- "In other news, if you feel sick of reading my entries on this blog, you can finally listen to me here on this NPR On the Media segment on Iraqi journalists. (Scroll down to Iraq's New Journalism and click listen now.)" [link]

Nabil's blog

[Baghdad] -- "An Innocent life of a young hair styler woman had to end like that... As what Eye witnesses told me...
She was on her way home... after she closed up her shop.. around 5:30 pm.... she hired a taxi... just at the time that she got inside the taxi car...
A civilian car with four young men inside it.. just blocked the way on the taxi.. one of the young men.. (As they said.. they doubt if he is over 18 yo... they meant that the age of those boys is certainly under 18) .. came out of the car.... and headed to the taxi car... brought that woman out of the taxi by force... put a black plastic sack on her face... and he assassinated her.
for what??? why did they kill her??? no one knows.... /snap/ [link]

-- "Two days ago in my street in the morning.. two roadside bombs blew up on an Iraqi army patrol who was passing the street.. there was no casualties.." /snap/ [link]

-- "Yesterday... I witness the most horrible thing since I got here in Baghdad.. I was standing with some friends in the street.. and saw a guy coming out from a house.. his eyes were covered, his mouth was shut.. and his hands were tied.. the house was across the street just about 20 meters away from us.. the guy came across the street without seeing and went to a shop.. he was shouting.. untie me.. open my eyes.. some people ran to help him, his only words were.."please take me to my house... they will kill me".. so the people just helped him.. and hired a taxi for him.. then we heard his story from the people of the house that he came out from.." /snap/ [link]

Konfused Kid

[Amman] -- "I watched the Mecca PR stunt yesterday, a dazzling feast that has plenty of action and romance, with dazzling special effects, I especially loved the way they made them all sit with the holy Kaaba visible from the window with people circling it, the fatwa is supposed to be the religious s be-all end-all viewpoint on the sect-fueled war that is going on between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, it was supported by all the big players - Read about it in details here, if you want:

In the conference that was broadcast live, a table was shown, Ahmed Abdilghaffour al-Samarrie, the Sunni endowment head, in my opinion a nice harmless guy who's just about as clueless about this as any, and a SCIRI representative, approprietly frowny and white-bearded like a Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer fashion fan, sat together and told knock-knock jokes about Sunni-Shiite being as much friendly to each other as teddybears and that their faith is in the essence the same, brilliantly clad in symbolic black & white turbans as a cinematic afterthought, after the blah-blahs faded, they gave space for reporters to ask them questions, this was what they asked them, the actual exchange was much more graceful, but luckily I had my Bullshit Filter on:" /snap/ [link]

Alive in Baghdad

[Baghdad] -- "Aside from death, abduction of a correspondent is just about the last thing anyone involved in a media organization wants to hear. On July 23rd, that is exactly what happened. Kidnappings have now become routine in Baghdad. Luckily Marwan was released approximately three days after his kidnapping. [..]

Today we bring you the first segment of a two part interview about his kidnapping and detention by one of Baghdad?s militias, apparently the Mahdi Army." /snap/ [link]

Baghdad Burning

[Baghdad] -- "This has been the longest time I have been away from blogging. There were several reasons for my disappearance the major one being the fact that every time I felt the urge to write about Iraq, about the situation, I'd be filled with a certain hopelessness that can't be put into words and that I suspect other Iraqis feel also.

It's very difficult at this point to connect to the internet and try to read the articles written by so-called specialists and analysts and politicians. They write about and discuss Iraq as I might write about the Ivory Coast or Cambodia- with a detachment and lack of sentiment that- I suppose- is meant to be impartial. Hearing American politicians is even worse. They fall between idiots like Bush- constantly and totally in denial, and opportunists who want to use the war and ensuing chaos to promote themselves.

The latest horror is the study published in the Lancet Journal concluding that over 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war. Reading about it left me with mixed feelings." /snap/ [link]

Healing Iraq

[NewYork] -- "A storm has been brewing in the Iraqi blogosphere for a while. Most of it was offline in email discussions and many ugly remarks and angry accusations were made. Iraqi Konfused Kollege Kid has posted a roundup. To sum it up, 27 Iraqi bloggers reacted to Iraq the Model's reaction to the Johns Hopkins study published in the Lancet.

Baghdad Treasure also interviews several Iraqi bloggers and asks them whether they think this war was worth the price.

Salam Adil has another roundup of recent Iraqi blog posts, for Global Voices Online.

I should add that the above posts are unprecedented events on many levels in the fragile Iraqi blogosphere." [link]

Konfused Kid

[Amman] -- "Debate summarized by Konfused Kid
In a first-of-its-kind event, a sizable number of Iraqi bloggers sat down together and discussed the recent Lancet study, which states that more than 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion and its ensuing chaos.

However, the event was not a direct discussion of the study itself, what caused the commotion was an especially volatile post of prominent Iraqi blogger IRAQ THE MODEL in response to the Lancet study. ITM called the Lancet: [a bunch of] lies, I'm talking here about those researchers who used the transparency and open doors of the new Iraq to come and count the drops of blood we shed. when they did not find the death they wanted to see on the ground, they faked it on paper! This is an insult to every man, woman and child who lost their lives.Let those fools know that nothing will stop us from walking this road and nothing will stop our friends and allies from helping us reach safe shores."
The discussion started when furious blogger Konfused Kid sent a mass e-mail to a sizable group of Iraqi bloggers, demanding that they give their opinions about the general viewpoint and direction of Iraq The Model in general, outlined in this post. Kid said that: "they [ITM] are just an inbred propaganda machine, if this is not crossing the line, then I don't know what is....", Kid accused Iraq The Model for being "an example of the mentality that currently prevails the Green Zone, nervous Iraqis who just want to make a few bucks by catering to an audience and telling them what they want to hear"

He also posted a more expanded reponse on his blog."/snap/ [link]

MIT - Human Cost of War.pdf

A Mortality Study by
:: Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

:: School of Medicine, Al Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq

:: Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Iraqi bloggers react:

Iraq the Model - "When I read the report I can only feel apathy and inhumanity from those who did the count towards the victims and towards our suffering as a whole. I can tell they were so pleased when the equations their twisted minds designed led to those numbers and nothing can convince me that they did their so called research out of compassion or care."

Konfused Iraqi Kid - "Could you tell me, my dear friends Omar and Mohammed, WHY is this list fake? Do you have a single shred of proof as to why these Lancet documents and statistics are such a 'disgrace to all the women, children and men who died'? Merely calling it fake and disgusting just don't cut it, please stop living the lie, and take a look outside your window. You call them careless for the victims of this country! I cannot believe this! "Using data for own gains." You have just proved your own point."

Neurotic Iraqi Wife - "But a series of emails I received and a post I read on Iraq The Model, tempted me to write. [..]
I am absolutely outraged at the outpour of people disputing these numbers!!! I mean extremely disgusted. I dont care who committed these crimes, but the numbers are correct. [..]
Well do me a favour, and think about this, oh and get a calculator out.
At least a hundred bodies are found decapitated thrown in trashbins daily in Baghdad only. And I say atleast 100. Take into consideration the West, East, South and North of the Country. Add another 100. Oh and by the way these are the ones we hear off. So 100 plus 100 we get 200 daily. ATLEAST. Multiply that by 365, then by 3 since thats three years from March and add 200 * 217 (number of days from March to October). You still with me??? Ok then add all those that died from the bombings of the war, the suicide bombings that take place daily, the so called "friendly fire" oh and the collateral damage. Ofcourse you have to take into consideration the deaths that occured on the markets that killed hundreds, the deaths that took place on the bridge last year, the anonymous deaths that take place. Hmm, where does that put the number at???"

Raed in the Middle - "While bush and his few supporters (less than one third of the US population) are pushing to "stay the course" in Iraq, the official number of coalition soldiers killed in Iraq reached to 3,000 today, and the official number of US NON-MORTAL CASUALTIES in Iraq is aproaching 45,000. This number is still very low comparing to the 185,000 US veterans (nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan) who have been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by a Washington research group.

The same administration that caused the death of and injury of tens of thousands of Americans in Iraq caused the death of more than 600,000 Iraqis according to the latest study published in the Lancet."

Zeyad - "I urge you to carefully read the study first. Very few people seem to have actually done so.
In comparison, the much-criticised Iraq Body Count relies only on media reports (mostly Western and often by conflating 2 different sources) for their maximum body count of 48,639 civilians. I have said and will say again that the media reports only a tiny fraction of deaths in the country, usually the victims of car bombings or other significant violent events.

The collaborative study by the Johns Hopkins University, The School of Medicine at the Mustansiriya University, and the MIT Center for International Studies, published in The Lancet, is not the same. It is not an actual body count. This is an estimate of the total number of excess deaths over the last 3 years."

Healing Iraq

[NYC] -- "The Iraqi Ministry of Immigration recently released figures on the number of internally displaced families in the country. 51,037 families have registered as refugees with the ministry. The breakup of families according to governorates is as follows:

Baghdad: 6,600
Muthanna: 1,677
Wassit: 4,983
Maysan: 3,955
Dhi Qar: 3,100
Basrah: 2,010
Karbala: 6,700
Babel: 3,365
Qadissiya: 1,200
Najaf: 4,000
Anbar: 2,561
Diyala: 4,797
Salah Al-Din: 2,925
Kirkuk: 415
Ninewa: 4,074
Erbil: 7,498

No figures were reported for the Dohuk and Suleimaniya governorates. There are an additional 330 Palestinian refugees stuck at a camp in Tanaf on the Iraqi-Syrian border, 150 others on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, and an undocumented number of Sudanese families.
More here.

There are no known numbers for Christian families that have fled from Basrah and Nasiriya in the south, and from Baghdad to Christian majority areas east of Mosul in northern Iraq, but 35,000 Christians have entered Syria from Iraq this year, compared to 20,000 in 2004. There are sizeable Iraqi Christian communities in both Jordan and Lebanon." /snap/ [link]

Don't Shoot!

[Vancouver] -- "But the young man was polite and seemed eager to chat and so my dad and I were happy to engage him in a discussion. Pretty soon we started talking about Iraqi culture and geography. Then the young man asked "Can you give me the name of a famous Iraqi author?". I paused to think about all the Iraqi novels I have read attempting to pick a good recommendation for this young man, but my dad jumped in and said without hesitation "My daughter, right here" and he pointed a finger at me.

My face turned red, I started to shake my head in denial, "No no no". The young man's eyes widened and he asked in excitement "Are you an author?". "Errrrr, well!, not really, errrr, I have a book coming out in a couple of weeks".

It was the first time that I came close to calling myself an author. Thank you dad for outing me like this. Ok I do have a book, here it is: " /snap/ [link]

Healing Iraq

[NewYork] -- "I urge you to carefully read the study first. Very few people seem to have actually done so. [..]

The survey used 48 cluster samples from 16 governorates (a total of 1,849 households) and extrapolated the findings across the whole country based on the total population. I may be wrong, but I think this is problematic and can be misleading since the level of violence in, say, the Muthanna or the Erbil governorates is hardly even close to that of Baghdad, Diyala or Anbar. The results would have probably been much more accurate if the samples were selected solely from the areas I?ve depicted above in the map, and then to project the findings to the actual population of these areas. This makes more sense to me, but then I have a limited grasp on statistics and I stress that I may be wrong.

Now lets move on to reactions to the study.

One problem is that the people dismissing ? or in some cases, rabidly attacking ? the results of this study, including governmental officials who, arguably, have an interest in doing so, have offered no other alternative or not even a counter estimate. This is called denial. When you have no hard facts to discredit a scientific study, or worse, if you are forced to resort to absurd arguments, such as ?the Iraqis are lying,? or ?they interviewed insurgents,? or ?the timing to publish this study was to affect American elections,? or ?I don't like the results and they don't fit into my world view, therefore they have to be false,? it is better for you to just shut up. From the short time I have been here, I am realising that some Americans have a hard time accepting facts that fly against their political persuasions.

Now I am aware that the study is being used here by both sides of the argument in the context of domestic American politics, and that pains me." /snap/ [link]

Neurotic Iraqi Wife

[Baghdad] -- "As for my Iraqi colleagues, wow. I mean with all whats happening in Baghdad, these people are just amazing. With all whats happening around them, they still manage to survive and most importantly to smile. They say life goes on. We cant just lock ourselves at home. We have to live. I sat with every single one of them, asked them about the situation outside. I got the same answer. Things are bad. Things are beyond control. The government is useless. No one knows why people are getting killed. The militias are everywhere. [..]

Six or seven of my colleagues have moved houses because of threats from different gangs. Some are Sunni and some are Shia. An Iraqi guy who works as security with Aegis, said that some gang came into their street, killed his uncle and told the family to leave the house that night. [..]

As for work, well its like I havent left. Things are still the same. Many of the expats have left though and many more are leaving. As I read the reports to get back into things, I realised that many new projects are on the list. The issues are the same. All the projects that were managed by Parsons, is now suffering. Ceilings are leaking, tiles are cracking, pipes are clogged, generators broke down. The program managers are suffering from the aftermath. So if a project's cost with Parsons, lets say was $1M, now its costing the US Gov, $2M. Because the work has to be redone all over again." /snap/ [link]

Baghdad Chronicles

[Baghdad] -- "My cousin was staying with her parents for the last month preparing for the birth of her first baby. She spent the 9 months of pregnancy in a depression coma. Whenever we talk to her on the phone she speaks normally for few minutes then cannot control the lump down her through she hands over the phone to whoever is close to her.

She and her husband got married very traditionally, she was very stubborn when it came to marriage and she did not like anyone and we were very surprised when she finally said Yes to a suitor. A sparkle danced between them while the two families were visiting and they got married after few months.
They were very eager to have a baby despite the circumstances. She got pregnant with a twin at first and they both died in her womb when she was exposed to a strong shock when a bomb hit their neighborhood. They named the two baby girls and buried them. They both cried like kids and paid a lot of efforts and time until they recovered. When they got pregnant for the second time, my cousin and her husband made sure they act stronger and try hard this time not to be affected by anything around them. [..]

While my other cousin and his mother were rushing her to the hospital after 2am in one of these days, they saw a bunch of civilian armed men. Who else other than the Mehdi Militia!! Surprisingly they did not shoot but they stopped the car from distance shouting and pointing the guns at the man behind the wheel and the two women in the back seat." /snap/ [link]

:: Iraq the Model

[Baghdad] -- "Massive explosions could be heard in Baghdad and actually I'm hearing more of them while I'm typing.
When the first few bangs happened I thought they were just the usual dose of mortars for the night but more and more explosions kept happening!

I went up to the roof to see if anything could be seen from there and I was able to see several flashes coming from the south, south-west side of the city.
Using the simple method of measuring the lag between seeing the flash and hearing the sound I figured out the explosions are taking place somewhere in the area between Karrada and Dora." /snap/ [link]

:: Baghdad Dweller

[NL] -- "More on the Blast this Morning ?? (Update Video Available)." [link]

October 11, 2006

Updated Iraq Survey Affirms Earlier Mortality Estimates

Mortality Trends Comparable to Estimates by Those Using Other Counting Methods

-- As many as 654,965 more Iraqis may have died since hostilities began in Iraq in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. The deaths from all causes - violent and non-violent - are over and above the estimated 143,000 deaths per year that occurred from all causes prior to the March 2003 invasion. --

PR-Watch

-- ... The second email, sent September 19, invited those who "can help play a role in the rebuilding of our region's future, or [who] wish to learn more information on investment or business opportunities" to email "The Other Iraq" campaign. But most of the message focused on, as the subject line described them, "poll numbers on Iraq you haven't seen."

The poll was conducted in January 2006 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), a joint project of the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies and the Center on Policy Attitudes. Most of the poll figures cited in the "other Iraq" email are correct, if lacking context. One, however, is demonstrably false. ... -- [link]

24 Steps to Liberty

[USofA] -- "Badr troops are more dangerous than Mehdi army. The Mehdi army members are thugs and uneducated, hungry and unemployed young men from Sadr city. While the Badr troops members are organized, numbered, Iranian-raised and educated young monsters, who are trained to kill, ONLY. And they are playing the biggest role in the sectarian and civil war Iraq nowadays.

Why isn?t the ?smart? Americans paying attention to Badr troops? Why every raid should target the Mehdi army and never Badr troops offices? What? Badr criminals can operate and kill my people and the Mehdi army can?t? Why?

I cant tell you why: because if Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI and Badr troops, is pissed off, that means Iran will be angry. And when Iran is angry, that?s not good. It is because if the Badr troops people are asked to take off Baghdad, they will. And the Americans cannot risk that." /snap/ [link]

Baghdad Treasure

[Philadelphia] -- "Imprisoned in their houses, young men and women in Iraq have one companion only. Internet is the only thing that makes them feel they are still alive and can communicate with others in their age.

Before I left, the Iraqi youth used to exchange Iraqi jokes. By course of time, the jokes developed from being innocent into being indirect attacks against the Americans, Iraqi government, Iranians, insurgents, militias and of course the collapse of the aspects of life there. But the case has changed. Something other than jokes is being exchanged through the Iraqi Yahoo youth groups. Some of the widely-read messages stress on how Iraqis should unite in these hard times while the others warn Iraqis from the ?imperial plans? of how to divide Iraq and the whole region." /snap/ [link]

Where Date Palms Grow

[Baghdad] -- "If you ever track the news coming out of Iraq, you would probably get a clear Idea of what?s going around, and to narrow things up you would certainly reach to a conclusion that nobody living inside the borders of this country is safe.
Yesterday ?they? even killed the vice presidents brother, a General in the Old army, his house was protected and he had a fair number of security guards.
Every day you hear in the News that between twenty to sixty bodies are found of people tortured and killed execution style.

I have seen things that if I post here even though I post anonymously could get me in trouble." /snap/ [link]

Konfused Kid

[Amman] -- "I chose not to say anything when Mahmood al-Hashimi died, as most of you say I may be biased, and in terms of Iraqi politics a person's best course would be to curse everyone in office and get it over with, but now I feel an obligation.

Today's morning, Amir al-Hashimi, brother of [Sunni] vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi was killed by a dozen of gunmen posing as security officers who broke into his house and killed him after disposing of his bodyguards.

This is the 3rd close relative of Tariq al-Hashimi to be killed in the past year, with his brother and his sister being the 1 and the 2.

and now I would like to talk about my father." /snap/ [link]

Alive in Baghdad

[AiB Editor?s note: Due to the nature of the content of this entry, I?m posting it without the usual grammatical and spelling checks that I usually do for Qasem?s entries. I?ll look it over for content tomorrow and clean this up.]

[Ramadi] -- "At 27 September 2006 US marines get in my house at 2:00 am (2 hours after midnight)? they inspected all the house specially my room. and destroyed furniture? they asked me about my computer? it seems they already know about it? they asked me to operate it and show the hidden files? and details

Then they asked me many questions such when and how I learned English and personal questions also? about me and my life and job.

Then they arrested me and arrested my brother too.

They moved us by walking with fixed hand and folded eyes to civilian house used by them as military base,,,, I know that because they put me inside room and take opened my eyes.
Then they took us to there unit base (C/1-60 N ) it is marines base.

We stayed there for 2 days then they moved us to jail of Ramadi that it is found inside main marines base (Near Blue Diamond Palace).

In jail I found that Military intelligence of US army printed out my blogs from my computer and they read it all and wrote their notes about it, and I received many questions concerning my blogs? they think that they found useful information, and they want more from me?
Generally marines hated my blogs? and they accused me of many things without any evidence. for instance they accused me that I represent threat for security and the evidence that they used is my blogs!!!!

I stayed in jail for 12 days? and I performed peace activities to push them to release me as soon as possible? on of the activities was claiming them for list of my rights? but they did not show me my rights, they just told me what an Occupying power has the right to do in a security theatre.

Inside jail I saw my nephew?.he was put in same conditions as adult prisoners, in the same room and treatment?.I couldn't talk him at all?. Talking is not allowed for all prisoners (NO TALKING).

One of military intelligence officers told me that he like my blogs although he believe that it is show only bad side of US troops." /snap/ [link]

:: Watch: Falsely Arrested and Abused in Ramadi

Healing Iraq

-- "Threat letters and fliers are a common everyday experience in Iraq these days. Below are several samples from different areas of the country, including one that was posted on the door of the health centre I used to work at. Some of them contain shameless spelling and grammatical mistakes, and a few were even pointed out as obvious fakes. I cannot absolutely prove that these are authentic, but they were distributed in areas in which the threatening parties had no qualms about carrying out their threats. The sample letters were collected from various Iraqi message boards. An interesting feature is the common language used in the fliers and the strong religious tone, even though they were issued by different groups, both Sunni and Shi'ite." /snap/ [link]

The Observer

-- Strong anecdotal evidence gathered by organisations such as that of Yanar Mohammed and by the Iraqi Women's Network, run by Hanna Edwar, suggests rape is also being used as a weapon in the sectarian war to humiliate families from rival communities. 'So far what we have been seeing is what you might call "collateral rape",' says Besmia Khatib of the Iraqi Women's Network. 'Rape is being used in the settling of scores in the sectarian war.' Yanar Mohammed describes how a Shia girl was kidnapped, raped and dumped in the Husseiniya area of Baghdad. The retaliation, she says, was the kidnapping and rape of several Sunni girls in the Rashadiya area. Tit for tat.

Similar stories are emerging across Iraq. 'Of course rape is going on,' says Aida Ussayaran, former deputy Human Rights Minister and now one of the women on the Council of Representatives. 'We blame the militias. But when we talk about the militias, many are members of the police. Any family now that has a good-looking young woman in it does not want to send her out to school or university, and does not send her out without a veil. This is the worst time ever in Iraqi women's lives. In the name of religion and sectarian conflict they are being kidnapped and killed and raped. And no one is mentioning it.' -- [link]

 (More)

-- An anonymous source at the Al Jazzera Network has leaked this audio recording of a meeting between Osama bin Laden and his accomplices, showing them planning the 9-11 attacks. A transcript follows. [note: the CIA cannot currently verify the authenticity of the tapes, but will do so when it?s clear the public is going to fall for it.] --

Osama bin Laden: In the name of Allah and the prophet Mohammed, peace be on his name, this meeting will come to order. Brother al-Zawahiri, will you please read the agenda?

Ayman al-Zawahiri: Praise Allah. Here are the items for discussion.

- Item 1: Strike at the heart of the great Satan and bring the wrath of Allah upon all it?s inhabitants.
- Item 2: Unite the entire Islamic world in a jihad against the godless infidels.
- Item 3: Replace the plumbing in the main cave with copper piping.

Osama: What is wrong with the plumbing?

Mohammed Atta: Every time al-Shahri flushes the toilet, the water turns scalding hot in the shower.

Wael al-Shahri: Well, if you wouldn?t hog the shower every night?

Atta: Cleanliness is next to Godliness! A curse upon you!

Al-Shahri: Zionist lackey!!

Osama: Order! Order! Brother al-Shahri, that was a blasphemous comment. For this, you will attend flight school.

Al-Shahri: Huh?

/snap/ [link]

Alive in Baghdad

-- Mhyar Abdullah is one of the tens of thousands of men living in Iraq who have been detained and released without charge over the last 4 years of the war in Iraq.

Mhyar, or Merky, has an especially interesting case, because he is a Palestinian who has lived his entire life in Baghdad, since birth. It seems the Coalition Forces weren?t properly prepared for the circumstances of Iraq?s Palestinian residents. Because Merky is Palestinian, he does not have Iraqi citizenship, and was initially treated as a ?foreign fighter? by the Coalition.

He was detained in 2003 and held for approximately 11 months, in what amounted to a Kafka-esque game of ?pass the buck.? --

Alive in Baghdad brings video-reports from Iraq: 'online video done right', by infrequent video correspondents and long-time blogger contributor/correspondents

The Iraqi Roulette

[Baghdad] -- "Today Abu S.. told me how frightened and worried he is, because of his grandchildren starting school. He walks them to school everyday :-
? I keep on looking behind me and whenever a car parks near us I start pushing the children around like a maniac?, he told me. ?Granddad stop it! the little one said to me after I did it about three times the other day. What can one do! My friend made his children stay at home this year, you know many are doing so, especially girls,? he added.
Great! it took us decades to get girls out of the houses, in order to get some education and stand up for themselves, and now it is back to the stove and sink again.

A rather amusing rumour resonated over last weekend, a coup d'?tat was supposed to happen. And what really made it more ?believable? was the curfew that was announced out of the blue.
I thought it was ridiculous, cause, ok, lets say I wanted to master and carry out a coup d'?tat. First of all I should mark my targets; Who am I supposed to overthrow? For that I need to estimate how many sects and parties are ruling Iraq at the present! Should I over throw the Americans? or the militias? the Iranians? or the Arabs? or may be the Green Zone denizens? i.e. the Iraqi government. By the time I have sorted all that out I would?ve forgotten why I ever started in the first place." /snap/ [link]

Editor: Myself

"Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat, in the past few years, has adopted a clear policy in favour of regime change through non-violent movement."

and:

"Gozaar, a "journal on Democracy and Human Rights in Iran" is a newly launched project by the Freedom House through funding from the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

But contrary to its claim to help Iranian democrats fulfill the universal aspiration for freedom of expression by creating an inclusive and provocative space for the discussion of liberty," in its first issue its content, quite predictably, only focus on rights abuses in Iran among women, workers, students, press, ethnic groups, as well as the way Iran's nuclear program negatively affects them.

It's main editorial article is republished from National Endowment for Democracy's "Journal of Democracy" on how to increase international pressure on "hybrid" states -- or semi democratic ones.

Among their regular contributors are two senior NED fellows, Roya Boroumand from the Boroumand Foundation, Roya Toloui, Abbas Maroufi, and Nikahang Kowsar.

Ironically, Kowsar had previously dismissed those who have had any financial ties with foreign organizations and has labeled them as traitors and businessmen with no moral standard. He also draws editorial cartoons for Rooz, another project financed by a Dutch foundation." [link]

-- The mechanisms of terror in the new Iraq have uprooted families from every community, including Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. But although Christians made up less than four per cent of the population - fewer than one million people - they formed the largest groups of new refugees arriving in Jordan's capital Amman in the first quarter of 2006, according to an unpublished report by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In Syria, which has a longer border with Iraq, 44% of Iraqi asylum-seekers were recorded as Christian since UNHCR began registrations in December 2003, with new registrations hitting a high early this year. Fleeing killings, kidnappings and death threats, they come from Baghdad, from Basra in the zone of British control and, disproportionately, from Mosul in the north. The Catholic bishop of Baghdad, Andreos Abouna, was quoted recently as saying that half of all Iraqi Christians have fled the country since the 2003 US-led invasion. --

Article in The Guardian

A Star from Mosul

[Mosul] -- "Now to the part that I love and hate at the same time; hate because I'm asking you for help, and love because it's really going to help people..

You see there's this 7-month-old girl, with a congenital heart disease, from a poor family.. She needs surgery that can not be done here in Iraq which is why they'll need to take her to Syria. She's going to need about 10 thousand dollars. I wrote the Unicef, the Red Cross, Spirit of America, Operation Give, Operation Blessing yesterday (UPDATE: Gift of life international, Hospital for sick children in Tornoto, and Healing heart campaign PCRF today).

Do you know who else I can contact for help in such case? I can provide you with more details like the X-Rays and the doctors' reports.

Your help is appreciated.

(Update: Waiiiiit, I think I did it.. I think I did it.. Pray this is true)" [link]

:: Electronic Iraq

-- The International Organization on Migration (IOM) has released more data on internal displacement in Iraq reporting that an average of 9,000 people are being displaced weekly, with 190,000 Iraqis displaced in central and southern Iraq since the bombing in Samarra in February. [..]

Anbar governorate has received the largest number of displaced - just over 33,000 people, most of them from Baghdad. Nearly two thirds of them are in Fallujah, Karma and Heet. Movement in all 15 governorates is largely following sectarian lines with Shias moving to the south of the country and Sunnis to the center. [..]

Of course, many Iraqis are also fleeing Iraq altogether. And many are going to Syria. IRIN reports today that "tens of thousands of Iraqi refugee children [in Syria] do not go to school at all." [link]

The Hanoudi Letter

[Baghdad] -- "There is no accepted definition of the region we call the Middle East, history has tended to shift what is meant by the Middle East around to suit its own convenience, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan have sometimes been included sometimes not. Likewise Sudan and Libya, traditionally those countries and the Levant region of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine belonged not to the Middle East but the Near East, a construction that also included neighboring bits of Europe like Greek and the Balkans, elsewhere the Near East and the Middle East overlapped and could be confusing.

Even supposing that a physical definition of the region where possible it would be flatly denied by its human components, the Anthology of the Middle East is as complicated and controversial as one would expect of a continental isthmus, no less heterodox are its belief systems, Jews, Christians and Muslims all account for parts of Middle East and sometimes the same parts as particularly in the holly land.

Islam has long been the prevailing religion and the Arabic the prevailing language, but neither is exclusive to the region." /snap/ [link]

Where date palms grow

[Baghdad] -- "Well rumors go like wildfires in Iraq, especially when the prime minister declares a sudden curfew in his capital, I mean what other cause could it be?

Yesterday at approximately 11:00 P.M. the Secretary of the Iraqi Prime minister announced that Baghdad would be under lockdown from the night of Friday (yesterday) to 6:00 A.M. Sunday, this announcement was not explained, the ?Al Alam? Satellite News Channel (Iranian) called the deputy minister of interior at 1:00 A.M. this Morning live on T.V. and when asked about the Curfew he answered ?Duh? What Curfew??

Now what should a simple average citizen think is going on?" /snap/ [link]

Iraqi Letters

[Amman] -- "It seems that I have reached the end of the line in Iraq. My farm came to a complete standstill some time ago. What little voice of moderation I had to offer was being increasingly overwhelmed (at times even drowned) by the 'forces of darkness'. Now, I have reluctantly left and I feel extremely bad about leaving the place in such difficult times but I had little more to offer and couldn't possible support my family from over there. I went on for a while by selling everything of value on the farm and moved to the next stage of trying to sell part of the farm itself but nobody was interested in buying farmland in the Triangle of Death.

In the area around the farm, the forces of darkness on both sides are prevailing over the others. After some friction with one of those forces, my farm was raided again (by the US army!) ransacked again and my man there was detained for a few days, again with his young son (Good old Captain James, who works at the largest camp in the region, had no idea what unit did that or why! Another coincidence?) One of his other two sons has been released; the other one remains in Bucca. Now the man took his family and fled the farm to the nearest town, itself in considerable turmoil! The farm is totally deserted. So many years of hard work simply going down the drain.

News from our neighborhood in Baghdad is far worse. [..] [#link]

Iraqi Roses

[Baghdad] -- "This message cracked me up and hit me on the head on the same time. Well... if you read it folks, you will understand what it's talking about. Enjoy :)

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

"The person you are trying to reach is not available. They are either dead or they have been abducted. In the former case, we suggest you immediately pay condolences to his/her family. In the latter case, we recommend that you try again in two weeks. If they are still unavailable, we suggest that you try every other week. If the person has been released and is mentally and physically capable of returning your call, they will do so. If after several months, your message is not returned then presume that either the person has been permanently handicapped or is no longer on this earth to return your messages. God bless his/her soul... (Ila Rahmat Allah)" [link]

NEW YORK -- Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer who helped the Associated Press win a Pulitzer Prize last year, is now in his sixth month in a U.S. Army prison in Iraq. He doesn't understand why he's there, and neither do his AP colleagues. [..]

Bilal Hussein is part of the latest generation of Associated Press hires in the Middle East. He was a shopkeeper in Falluja, selling mobile phones and computers. Although he had a degree from the Baghdad Institute of Technology, it was the best opportunity available in the fractured Iraqi economy.

He faces what may be greater dangers now. From prison, he has told his attorneys that he fears he is a marked man among the detainees, who now know he is a journalist working for a Western news service. Meanwhile, agents of the most powerful country on Earth have labeled him an enemy. They say they have evidence to satisfy themselves, and don't need to prove it to anyone else.

As the organization that handed Bilal the camera that helped put him where he is today, the Associated Press cannot turn its back on him. We cannot dismiss Bilal's insistence that he is not an insurgent solely on the strength of the unexamined suspicions offered by the U.S. military.

If Bilal has done something wrong, the Iraqi courts stand ready to try him. Iraqi authorities have asked more than once that he and other Iraqi citizens in prolonged U.S. military custody be turned over to them for due process. We ask the same.

Editor's note: Tom Curley is president and chief executive of the Associated Press. This column first appeared in The Washington Post.

"May god hasten the coming of Mahdi so that Mahdi can relieve us of his army."

Shalash al-Iraqi

First words, first walk, first... in Iraq

[Baghdad] -- "S and I call each other everyday. The fact that her phone was out of the coverage area for four consecutive days made me smell a rat. She hadn't said anything about leaving Baghdad and she had never switched off her handset before. I grew worried and had no other choice but to ring her folks. Her mum was on the other end of the phone, once I said I was S' friend, she started to weep and said, "She's not ok, she's been hit by the last central Baghdad bombing. She survived but her husband hasn't."

The mention of the word bombing hit me like sledgehammer blows. Bombings have now started to take their toll on my friends and acquaintances. They're no longer mere news items on TV. They're real, hitting people I know.

"Let me talk to her," I said pleading.

"No, she can't talk, she's been traumatized," she said.

A few days later, I called again. S seemed to have recovered and went back to her flat, where she belonged. "Just give me your mobile phone number she will call you," her mother said claiming that S' phone was damaged by the blast. It was pretty weird why she would not give me hers. In 10-minutes' time the phone rang, it was the emotionally ruined version of her. "They killed him! They killed him!" were her first frantic words.

I was confused. Who were "they"? Was it not the bombing that killed her husband? [..]

E, S' husband wanted to visit his brother, who lives in a neighbourhood which has been the scene of communal violence following the Samara bombing, which has been seemingly dampened yet the area is apparently still infested with pro-militias policemen. The couple's car was motioned to stop at a real police checkpoint [No, not BOGUS, it was real]. The routine ID check, which has not made any sense to me until the day I heard S' story, has explained why it has been devised in the first place. Only now I could visualize how the usual scenario of the severed heads and bullet-riddled bodies, which are often dumped in abandoned areas, kicks off. It's no mystery now." /snap/ [link]

[Bruchsal / BRD] PREMIERE

RIVERBEND - BAGHDAD BURNING

In German, first play

Sunday, October 1. 2006

BAGDAD BURNING von Riverbend

[In ihrem Internet-Tagebuch bringt uns eine junge Bagdaderin die Wirklichkeit von Krieg und Besatzung best?rzend nahe. Vehement ergreift sie die Partei derjenigen, die sich ? wie sie ? nach Jahren der Angst und Einschr?nkung nach Normalit?t sehnen. BAGDAD BURNING ist ein ber?hrender Bericht: intelligent, leidenschaftlich, sarkastisch und manchmal zuversichtlich.]