A Virus...

I have been feeling lousy for the past two days. Actually am quite sick. Nothing serious, just a nasty strain of the Flu.

And am not good company when am sick. Am grouchy, cranky, and terribly anti-social.
But I had to go out and get some Panadol from a pharmacy nearby.

“Salam Aleikom, I need a box of Panadols please”
“Is the Panadol for you or for your husband?“ asked the inquisitive pharmacist.
“My husband is dead“ I replied in a flat voice and with a straight face.
“Oh am sorry”
“Don’t be. I killed him.”

My, you should have seen the look on his face. He still managed a tiny faint smile and gave me what I needed with no further questions.
And that is the way it should be. He had a wedding ring on, and on top of that, a beard. I guess you all know by now, my “position” vis à vis beards...

Now, before you go around cyber world, spreading homicidal rumors about me being a “man killer,” let me assure you, I did not kill my ex. But he could be dead for all I care.

Mind you, he is not the only one on whom the death sentence should be carried out. The “men” in charge of the ministry of Health in Baghdad deserve the same verdict.


I am lucky, I can still afford a box of Panadols and if things get worse (hopefully not),I can always go to an Iraqi doctor friend of mine – who is not only very competent but who also gives discounts to other Iraqis trapped in the wilderness.

Which reminds me of a “joke” going around in Baghdad. A guy has a tooth ache and needs to have the bad tooth extracted.
-The dentist:"This will cost you 100$"
-The patient:“Can’t you just loosen it up for 10$ and I will pull it out myself ?!”
“Occupation” black humor at its best.
Give it a little more time and you will be witnessing a whole generation of Iraqis smiling at you, toothless. The “Occupation” smile. Pity we will not be featuring in your Colgate toothpaste ads.

As I have mentioned in the past, Iraqis no longer have teeth fillings, they just have them extracted instead. For one it is cheaper. Second it takes less time- security reasons. Three, anesthesia is not always available so I guess one hard pull is less painful than drilling – especially that this latter can bring on terrible reminiscing fears of what awaits every Sunni Iraqi if he/she is not careful in hiding their sect.

Yes, you guessed right, the nefarious, psychopathic militia of the Jaysh al Mahdi. The military wing of the Sadrists whose head is none other than the top notch driller of Baghdad - His Eminence Muqtada al Sadr.

And as it so happens, the Ministry of Health is under his “patronage” and that of his “men.”

Every Baghdadi knows that if you are sick and happen to live in a Sunni area- these categorizations were INEXISTENT prior to our “liberation”- you’re royally screwed.

Not only getting to a doctor outside your area is dangerous, nay impossible, but even the hospitals in the Sunnis areas turn you away.

Radhee is no liar. He swears that they turn away many patients in his Sunni ghetto and only allow “very serious cases.” The reason? Lack of everything.

No hospital beds, no medications, no equipment, no electricity, no nurses and worst of all, no doctors.

The figures, and these are the only ones I could find, state that over 20’000 Iraqi medical doctors have fled the country in 2005 alone. God only knows how many have fled to date.
And God only knows how many dentists, nurses and other paramedical help have also escaped the hell of Iraq.

In 2005 alone, over 250 doctors were kidnapped and killed,65 were reported missing. I leave it to you to calculate how many are killed and/or missing to date.

Today Iraq has 1/3 of the doctors it needs. Those who remained, are daily harassed by armed militias storming into their clinics. Some have closed shop and work from home instead.

The Health Ministry has a DELIBERATE policy of not providing Hospitals in the Sunnis areas with funds, equipment, medicine and staff. This is a deliberate act that falls in perfect line with the overall sectarian nature of the puppet government. Another way of furthering the smaller genocide within the grander genocide. The Iranian genocide against the Sunnis within the grander American genocide against the Iraqis.

The same applies to the Ministries of Works, Transport, Interior, Education, etc...But I will leave those out for the moment as I really want you to focus on the “Health Service” disaster that is now the norm in Iraq.

I will not even start mentioning the rampant diseases that we had ERADICATED before our “Liberation,” now making a comeback.
Cholera, Typhoid, Malaria, T.B, Hepatitis, Dysentery, Polio and AIDS. This latter was virtually unheard of in Iraq.

I will not even go through the cancer cases in particular soft tissues and blood cancer that have been multiplied by 600 thanks to D.U. This alone is a tragedy in itself.
And will not cover other common illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension for which people can’t find adequate treatment and can’t afford the medication either.
Nor will I touch upon the very serious mental health degradation of the majority of Iraqis. An ongoing PTSD with no end in sight.
Nor will I mention the lack of pre-natal and post-natal care. Nor the forced ceasarians before their terms. Nor the increasing number of miscarriages. Nor the infants who do not stand a chance of seeing the light of day. Nor the children dying in loads...No, I will not mention any of that.

The current Health situation in Iraq is a tragedy of monumental proportions. It is yet another crime that both the U.S and the Iranian puppet government in Baghdad have committed.

As I said, the Ministry of Health is run by Muqtada al Sadr’s men. It is one of the ministries that has been affected the most by corruption. See my previous post “Foul Play.”

Under the Sadrists, the Health System has TOTALLY disintegrated. And there is a VERY SEVERE lack of services. Except maybe for their own hospital in Sadr City. Persian sectarianism oblige.

Twenty Billion $ have been allocated for Hospitals and Medical supplies. All of it has gone missing. Some of the equipment and medication are later found being sold on the black market.

The culprits are none other than the Ministry of Health AND foreign “reconstruction” contractors. The Americans, Brits and the rest of the parasites that have infected Iraq.

Out of 150 health projects, only 6 have been completed and not totally.
The Health Ministry along with these foreign contractors have cashed in the money. Again corruption and fraud of the highest order.

And the Iraqis are left with their diseases, amputations, wounds and scars in total indifference. Indifference by both the puppet government, the Americans and the so called International Community.

I have also not touched upon the displaced, inside and outside of Iraq who for the most part have absolutely NO access to any medical care whatsoever.
I have not even spoken of the all too common sight- that of mothers, selling some food they received in charity so they can take their child to a doctor...
I have not even touched upon those who are riddled with cancer and can’t afford morphine and are left to wither away in agony...

My God...I do not know anymore where to start and where to stop...

And when I think back to the days when Iraq according to the WHO (who is doing fuck all by the way, except entertaining the “doctors” of the civilized international community by paying them salaries of 10’000$ ++ a month so they can write reports and watch us die away slowly.) was considered the most advanced country in the Middle East in its health care system.

Not only we had the best doctors, all sent abroad for further studies and specializations. Not only we had the latest equipment. Not only we had some of the best hospitals and medical schools. Not only patients flocked from all over the Middle East to seek treatment in Baghdad...Not only that, but it was also ALL FREE of charge.


Our hospital beds today have no sheets. No covers. No meal is served, you bring your own. No gloves. No syringes. No Hygiene. No equipment. No medication. No nurses. No Doctors. No prenatal care. No post natal care. No nothing but...

A lot of everything that is ugly, evil, hideous...and I have no more words.

Bullets, disease, radioactivity, malnutrition, unemployment, poverty, corruption, sectarianism, chauvinism, fear, grief...

These are the viruses of the dual Occupation USA – Iran. No, triple occupation – let us not forget Israel in the North. But then Israel is right into the heart of Baghdad too, lecherously gnawing away at it.

Yes these are the viruses plaguing the “ New Liberated Iraq.”
Viruses that come from predators attacking, like rabid enraged wild animals...and contaminating everything and everyone.

In short, the virus of Genocide. A Genocide happening in front of your very eyes. And you can’t come later and say you were not told.

My rage is never ending...truly never ending, as I witness the so many levels of crimes you people have committed and the so many levels of lies you people have lied and the so many techniques of murder you people are using...Never ending.
Truly a disgrace to anything called a Human Being.

And I still see some giving support to those genocidal psychopaths like Muqtada al Sadr. And I still see some engaging in preemptive mourning for the equally criminal Iran instead of denouncing its role in the hell which is now Iraq. And I still hear that Iraq has to wait and grill away further, on the back burner. And I still see some totally living in willful denial, cajoling themselves as to how civilized their American/ Western world is.

Now I feel much sicker. Truly sick. This nasty flu is nothing in comparison.
It is a sickness I am unable to get rid of and unable to heal...
The sickness that comes from realizing that my country is very ill, debilitated by a feverish illness, diseased, ailing, crippled, agonizing...gone for ever.
The sickness that comes from realizing that You are that killer virus that is ravaging Her body away...


Painting : Iraqi female artist, Yaqeen Al-Dulaimi.

Surreal indeed.

I just read that Iraq is warning Turkey that an invasion would be disastrous...

Honestly, is this real or am I dreaming things up ?

Iraq is ALREADY invaded by BOTH the U.S.A , IRAN and ISRAEL in the North.

Why is the Iraqi government worried about one extra little invasion huh ?

Yalla, the more the merrier...Ahlan wa Sahlan as we say in Arabic.

Which reminds me of one smelly brave shit standing at the Iraqi -Jordanian frontier right after the U.S invasion, and letting in every single car, truck, bus, donkey, enter into Iraqi territory- no visas, no checks, no nothing and he was saying in that ugly nasal accent of yours: "Welcome to Eye Raq."

I say to Turkey, welcome to Eye Raq too.

Foul Play...

The Iraqi sectarian government is plagued with endemic corruption that totals around 4 Billion dollars per annum. The sectarian ministries, i.e those run by the exported thugs from Iran (M.Al.Sadr, Al Hakeem, Maliki,....) are the worst hit.

This is the government that America is upholding. This is the government we received from Iran. This is the government that the Anti-War greeted with flowers.

You can watch 2 videos from English Al Jazeera about our new "democratic" government by clicking here

Congratulations to the Iraqis with purple, green and red fingers of Liberation.
Ink, Dollars and Blood.

Enjoy.

A Family Tree.

I have spent all day drawing up my family tree i.e my genealogical tree.

I tried assembling all the information together. Souvenirs, memories, faces, locations, names...some sort of a mental compendium of an oral and visual history.

What I heard, whom I met, what was said about who, who married who, where did they come from, their origins, their sect, their religion, where they ended up, their life stories...

I tried to go as far back as I can, gathering all these little pieces and sat down and sketched the family tree, starting with my great grandparents -both maternal and paternal.

It was not easy...

Some of them are already gone for good. Some I never really bothered to find out more about, some I took for granted, some were too distant physically and some emotionally out of reach, and some were a taboo subject...

I spent hours remembering names and faces...They were difficult, painful hours...

My immediate family was just a branch of this tree amongst many other branches but we were all attached to the same trunk. We all belonged to the same trunk.

I got tired after a while and stopped this exercise...But I was curious as to why I had started it in the first place. Why this sudden need to delve into my own personal roots...

I have no clear answers.

Maybe because I have been feeling like a leaf that has fallen, amongst many other leaves, kind of scattered "pêle-mêle."

Maybe because winds blew us away, apart from one another, sometimes ripping whole branches to the ground...

Maybe it my own feeble attempt to hang on to something solid...like an imaginary tree when my own grounds are so shaky, almost non existent.

So I sketch trees instead, family trees...


I remember a long time ago, I lived through an earthquake, everything shook and not knowing what to do, I held on to some wall only to feel the wall wobble and crack...

It is the same now. Everything around me feels like this wall - wobbly, cracked...Fractured.

I console myself with the thought that I, at least, have the memory of a Tree. Something to give me strength, verticality, and a sense of belonging even if it is on some fictional, imaginary level...



I have serious doubts that the increasing number of Iraqi orphans can console themselves with that same thought.

A friend who is closely associated with an International Organization, told me that the unofficial figure for Iraqi orphans is 5 million. I have no way of verifying this figure but it does not surprise me.


Who will remind these orphans of their family tree? Who will tell them stories about their parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives...

Who will feed them? Who will nurse them? Who will hold them? Who will teach them how to draw trees? Who will recount their origins to them?

Thousands are growing up in the streets, in the garbage dumps, sleeping in packs, in some corner, in some rubbly building, in some orphanage, abused, neglected, traumatized for life...

And if they ever make it to adulthood, that is if they do not commit suicide before or fry their brains in drugs or end up incarcerated in some prison for petty theft...or get caught in some pedophile ring, or see their life story written in some brothel at the hands of some perverted adult... What will they tell you?

What Tree will they sketch ?

Do you ever think of them ? Do they ever cross your mind ? Or are you just sadistically pleased with your great Iraqi production ?

I really have to say it - You are a VILE lot. Every single one of you. And that includes you too, impotent, treacherous Arab shits. And that includes you too perverted, sly Iranians you and your supporters. And that includes you too, sectarian heinous, repulsive Iraqis.


There are also hundreds of other Iraqi children rotting away in local prisons, under the pretext of helping the "insurgents."

Prisons run by the sectarian militias from Iran. Militias, that you, anti-war, another category of shits, support.
Militias run by the bastard driller Muqtada al Sadr and the Al Hakeem clan and the Maliki puppet whom you welcomed with flowers in Washington D.C.

And you wonder why I call you VILE? And you wonder why I call you a DISGRACE?


An article appeared yesterday, and it states that these child prisoners show signs of severe torture. Read on.

"The five children showed signs of torture all over their bodies. Three had marks of cigarettes burns over their legs and one couldn't speak as the shock sessions affected his conversation..." (full article here)

It is believed that there are about 220 child prisoners in Iraqi governmental run prisons. I say bullshit to that. Multiply this number by 3 at least, if not more.


It is also common to witness an armed militia man walking into some hospital with some sick child prisoner (sometimes not older than 12) and the doctors have to treat and ask no questions whatsoever. Some of these children are diagnosed with STD.

Would you like to see your own children in a similar state ?


So you have the orphans, the child prisoners and you also have another category, the traumatized for life, beyond help category.

Take this one for instance;

"Salah Hashimy, 14, has lost his parents, sisters and many friends since the US-led invasion in 2003; finally there was no one to look after him. He lacks education, love and support, a combination that, according to doctors, caused his mental health problems. My memory is very weak but I cannot forget when I saw my sister being raped by militants until she died," Hashimy said." (full article here)

And we all know, all of us Iraqis know, who does the "professional" raping in Baghdad.
None but the sectarian militias from Iran and IN PARTICULAR Jaysh Al-Mahdi of your "patriotic" Muqtada al Sadr. And they are ALL "rogue elements."
And this is a FACT.
Congratulations to you, anti-war shits, supporters of Genocide.


So tell me, o'civilized ones, how will these children draw a Family Tree?

What will they say ? Our family tree was bombed, raped, tortured, murdered, imprisoned, broken, exiled in the name of Democracy ?

Or will they just stare at you and point their fingers at your eyes ?

Or having lost it all, will they later join the Resistance, and clean us from your filth...and find a sense of belonging ?

Only then, will they be able not only to create a NEW Family Tree, but also draw One...replacing the one you viciously and violently uprooted them from.
The one you robbed them from ever experiencing.
The one you never allowed them to feel or...remember.


Painting: Iraqi artist, Khaled Al-Qassab, 1999.

Papier Mâché...

An acquaintance approached me the other day and suggested I join the world of media/journalism. Utilize my writing skills and whatever intelligence I have left, to good use...

Good use? Because the media is good news? And am not only talking about mainstream media here...

Besides, becoming part of some media - and that includes some of the “alternative media” also known for its share of blatant lies - means I will no longer be allowed to tell you some basic truths.

And I don’t want to miss out on the fun by being clustered and cooped in some box writing news reports when I can sit here and spill it all out, without having to be so " objective, impartial and fair ” about it.

I know, some may think it is very important to get the Truth out. Big deal.

The Truth is out and knowing the Truth out there is not ENOUGH . ACTING on that truth is what brings results.

And acting on that truth does not consist of signing petitions and joining a protest once a year either.

And acting on that truth does not consist of reading articles and passing them on and filing them in your inbox under the "truth."

All of this remains words on paper...

Daily, you read words and papers. A bulimia of words and papers...So ?
Daily, I read thousands of words and write them too...So?

Has it changed anything? Has it improved anything ? Has it given me and millions of other Iraqis any hope...?

Sadly, the answer is NO.

Why is that?

History shows that words followed by actions moved masses and produced change.

How come you are still asleep when a Genocide is happening in your name?

And repeat that word GENOCIDE, until it sinks in deep, into your thick skulls.

How come you are still asleep when you are regurgitating words daily ?

How come you are so sunk deep into some lethargy unable to move yet you go on babbling away about the intricacies of politically correct definitions ?



So in reply to this acquaintance and his suggestion, my answer is NO. I will not join any media.


I know you will say because the media manipulates, etc...We are not being told the truth, we are fed lies, we have been robbed of what this country - yours - stands for and what our founding fathers - yours - fought for and after all we are suffering too, we are overstressed, overworked, underpaid, riddled with hormones, numbed, etc...etc...etc...

More words again...Delusional words and delusional beliefs.

I have news for you here and they are not good.


You are not only being fed lies, you entertain those lies by constantly lying to yourselves as well.

The ILLEGAL invasion and occupation of Iraq. Its massive, irremediable DESTRUCTION. Its untold suffering. Its deaths in the millions. Its refugees in the millions. Its plundering in the billions of $. Its rape and torture; physical, geographical, psychological, social, spiritual...right down to the individual body. Its contamination with the most lethal chemical weapons in history; DU, phosphorus bombs, Neutron bombs, cluster bombs, Napalm...
Its stripping it away from any identity, from its history, from its roots, from its people...and I can go on and on and on...

ALL of that has failed to MOVE YOU TO ACT.

And that despite your knowing "alternative medias" and reading hundreds of articles, and joining hands in prayers, and participating in conferences and giving speeches and showing up on you tube, and blogging and interviews... and, and, and...


And you want me to believe your lies of how you have been robbed of the ideals of what your nation stood for ? Who are you kidding here ?

You are kidding none but yourselves.

Iraq was the golden opportunity that you have deliberately or stupidly failed to seize. And I call that BAD FAITH.

Iraq was the golden historical opportunity for you to finally put into practice those ”ideals of your founding fathers” that you o' so preach about all the time...

But you did NOT. And that is a FACT!

And I will tell you why you did not. Simple. Because you have no such ideals. You are deluding yourselves.

You have forgotten that your so called "democracy" has been nothing but a SHAM, a travesty from the very beginning.

And you have also conveniently forgotten that your so called "democracy" only gave rights to "african americans" in the late 60's. And that is just 40 years ago.
Until then, you were living segregated lives...preaching “democracy.”

So what ideals are you exactly talking about?

And I can go on and on about your own history but your history does not interest me...anymore. You do not interest me either. Nor you, nor your collective or individual stories...

Words and more words...and more words.

Files of papers filled with words, riddled with words like bullets. And this is exactly what your words ended up as, they ended as...BULLETS.

Bullets that ripped through us, through our being, our psyche, our identity, our culture, our very existence...

So spare me your words, articles, news, analysis, research, theories...papers.

And remember you are not to preach to me, someone whose ancestral fathers invented the letter and the word and taught you how to write.

You are nothing but words on paper. And we have become nothing but a target people riddled with your bullets.

Take your words and your papers and make some papier mâché.

And here is a definiton of what papier mâché means

"...shreds of paper mixed with glue or paste, that can be molded into various shapes when wet and becomes hard...when dry."

They make boxes out of papier mâché. So make boxes out your words and papers...and store more words and paper in them.

Or if you feel terribly charitable and want to give yourselves a good conscience, ship your papier mâché boxes over to Iraq as...coffins.

Only then can you truly pride yourselves by remembering your “founding fathers."
And let it go down the annals of your glorious "history" as - and don't forget to quote me...

"We killed them with bullets, covered them in words and buried them in paper boxes."

Congratulations to you and your founding fathers.


Painting: Iraqi artist, Moed Mohsen (date n/a)

At the Gates...

Insomnia has become a trusted friend.
Sleep steals me away from her, for a couple of hours and she jealously snatches me back...
I used to fight her, now I accept. She asks me “what is on your mind?” and my only reply to her is “Iraq.”

I think, breathe, eat, drink, write, dream, cry, sleep...Iraq.
An addiction, an obsession, a torment...

It is not only a question of longing or nostalgia or anger, like a boiling volcano that will never subside...It is not only a yearning for things past, or a grief for people and things gone...

It is deeper, way deeper than that...

When insomnia is sitting next to me, like some night keeper, like some watchdog, like some guardian...I ask myself and I ask her to hand me, the thread, the lead, the clue...the key to this upheaval I feel inside of me.

It is like a wall, I can’t penetrate. And I try to search for some loophole, some crack...anything, simply anything which will help me see beyond it.

Beyond this wall, this thick steel, brick, curtain that is erected in front of me and that follows me everywhere I go, blocking my vision, my horizon, my sight, my future...
An impasse, a cul de sac, a labyrinthe...

I know there is something I need to reconcile with, and yet cannot bring myself to.
A knowledge, a truth, I willfully deny or circumvent...And with which, I battle and wrestle - refusing to accept. Simply refusing.

And uttering this truth, with Insomnia sitting next to me, is like blaspheming at the ancient Gods, then secretly pleading in hiding, to be spared their wrath.

I do not want to share it with you. I do not want you to partake in it. I do not want you to commiserate in it. I do not want you to rejoice in it...

I shall keep it a well guarded secret. Only Insomnia knows, she is the gate keeper and she buries it every night.
And when the first light of dawn knocks at my window, she retreats tiptoeing, carrying it away with her.

At times she is generous with me, she allows me to linger on, eyeing through those loopholes and cracks...and she hands me the key.

And then I spot Her.

I spot Her at the Gates of the old City.

I see Her carrying a suitcase. I tell Her “Come with me, come...leave them.”
And She, holding a suitcase in one hand and a map in the other, looks over Her shoulder...towards the ruins.
She shakes Her head, and walks back through the gates of the old city.

I want to pull Her out, grab her and take Her with me, but I know She will not succumb.
Sometimes, I see her lying by the gates of the old city and a million daggers in Her body. I want to reach out and drag Her through but She kicks and fights back, refusing to surrender.

She cannot leave them behind. They are Her children too. And I cannot leave Her behind either.

She is my motherland, my mother tongue, my country. She is my Mother.

And as I watch through the gates...As I watch Her in her different states...
Sometimes battling with a million daggers, sometimes carrying a suitcase of exile...

You throw words and wilted flowers attached to a thin transparent string, dangling in mid air...And when you are very generous, you throw a worn out, used blanket, pierced with a million holes.

And you tell me and Her, “Here cover yourselves, with this blanket, and hold on to that thread.”

Leaving us both, fighting the demons, at the gates of this old city.
Leaving us both in the wakefulness brought by your Destruction...


Insomnia has to go now, it is broad day light. She has just walked out the door, carrying your wilted flowers, your words and your worn out blanket. Throwing the whole bundle in a pile of Garbage.

A pile of garbage, soon to be swept away like dust...
Like dust from the Gates of this old city. This old city in ruins.


Painting: Iraqi artist, Moed Mohsen (date n/a)

A Short Lesson...

Do you want to know what am doing right now ?

Of course, you will think to yourself, this woman is a bit of a moron, really- asking such a question. It is so damn obvious what she is doing, she’s typing away on her keyboard.

Wow ! You really guessed right, here.
So, you do still have some common sense and you can spot the obvious. Hats off to you. Am impressed.

Now let’s see if you spot that one.

" U.S. working to stop Turkey from invading Iraq."

How does that strike you ?

I know it's difficult but think again, after all you guessed right about my typing away at some keyboard…

Too difficult ? Ok, let me give you a simpler one.

Iran to the U.S - stop meddling in Iraq. U.S. to Iran - stop meddling in Iraq.

Is this one any simpler for you ?

Nope? Elusive huh? Complicated equation ? No common sense ? Can’t figure out the logic ?

Ok we give it one more try...

No, wait, wait...

Maybe I should start with an elementary lesson in Politics 101 -

"Definitions of Sovereignty."

How about you go and study that a little and then come and reply to some obvious questions.

Thank you. End of Class. See you tomorrow.


Painting : Iraqi artist, Muhammed Muhradin

A perfect Baby formula

I have often wondered if Americans are breast fed criminality...or maybe some especially made, designed baby formula only available in the U.S.

And exported to Great Britain, Israel and other corners of the world where you have your trusted allies.

Or maybe it is the other way round, an Israeli baby formula injected into your own infants, or maybe a British baby formula patent that you took over and refined...

Whatever it is that you were given as children has proved to be very effective.
You have indeed grown up into the perfect strong adults, into the perfect "master" race, of...criminality. Of this, I have absolutely no doubt.

As a matter of fact, your breast feeding has not stopped in childhood, it continues right into your advanced years, ensuring that you remain an orally voracious group, sublimating raw cannibalism through murder.

A series of pictures, or should I call them your trophies, or maybe the remains of your today's meal, have appeared following your aerial bombardment of Madinat Al Thawra now baptized Sadr city.

Many toddlers in these pictures, blown to pieces...and a few youngsters, blown to pieces too and a few adults blown to pieces, as well...

Charred and barbequed, just the way you like 'em.

So what was it, rare to medium rare or well done ?


I also could not help but notice, how very thin, wasted and washed out these bodies both alive and dead are...How emaciated they are...Rags dolls for your brave, healthy children.

Poverty, hunger, unemployement, disease... must be your preferred spices.
Your preferred condiments, the accompanying sauces that go with your grill parties...

For those who still need to wet their carnivorous appetites, you can see more of your trophies here.


I honestly have no more words. All the insults, slurs in the world are not enough for you...Nothing is enough for you. Nothing at all.

Everyday, under the pretext of either Al Qaeda, insurgents, militants, or whatever imaginary name you coined, you have not ceased, not even for one day, slaughtering our innocents.

For 4 years, you have not ceased for one single day. Not during holiday periods, not during religious celebrations, not even during the day your so called God was born...if you have a God that is.

I think Jesus is weeping blood. Our blood.

Shameless, primitive, repugnant, monstruous, abject things that you are.


These pictures were made available because the so called "Iraqi" sectarian government that you put into power found it necessary to make them available precisely because of its sectarianism.

However, many other air raids of yours have gone unreported with no pictures, because they fell in non shia areas. I can give you the names of Sayediya, Amel, Fadil, Adhamiya, Almeriya....where the air raids were not even mentioned...and where the dead were silently buried without even a sound...

Your air raids on sunnis are considered halal by our sectarian fascist government but are considered haram when it comes to its sect...

And of course, our sectarian Iraqi government from Iran, will never publish the pictures of those who have been drilled to death by its own militias. Militias for the most part, formed in madinat Al Thawra i.e Sadr City...

Of course, you did not go after these militias who tortured and burned to death.
No, you and the Iraqi government helped them...they served your purpose of ethnic cleansing...for the partition to take place with not too much fuss....

In any event, whoever you target and by which ever means, does not make you less of a criminal. Quite the contrary, it enhances your criminality to higher forms of perfection...

I have one wish for you, one prayer, is that your criminality gets even better...
I want you to raise it to the point of a perfect art, heighten it to an almost "divine" level...Till you rapture, a good, once and for all rapture...

Do continue slaughtering us the way you do...and let your future mothers keep on feeding that same formula, or breast feed, depending on what tickles your fancies and your gustative palates...

Am sure they too, have it circulating in their system like blood....have it in their veins, their breasts and even in their ovaries and wombs...

They must do, otherwise how else can they produce such perfect criminals like you.

Blind Dates...

I have a "friend" let's call her Mona...

Mona is supposedly a friend, or pretends to be, or at least we have this tacit agreement to pretend that we are indeed "friends."

Mona wants to be my friend.
My heart tells me, beware...
But I play along, the social game of "friendship," female friendships.

Feminine Solidarity ? Please do not make me laugh...
And if you add, femin(ist) to it, you will be cracking me up in giggles...

You must be wondering why all of this ? Wait till you hear my latest.

Mona calls me. She says:

- Hiiiiiiii, why don't you ever pick your phone?

Mona has a "strange way" of extending, stretching her words...

- Mona, hello, I hate phones. You know me.(or so I assumed)

- Listen, I want you to meet him.

- Him, who is him ?

- Listen, he is a grrrrreat guy. He is a man of this world?

- Man of this world? You mean a playboy, an Arab Don Juan, an Arab Casanova ?

- oufffff Laylaaaa. Why do you have to complicate things. He is divorced, and has been around...I think you should meet him.-

- Been around ? What do you mean?

- Ya'aani, you know what I mean. He has been around...

Of course, I did not know what she meant by "been around"...

What was this guy? Some kind of Marco Polo on some discovery expedition of "new territory" ?

- Mona, if he is so swell, why don't you date him yourself ?

- Laylaaaaaaaa, you know how much am into X.

X. happens to be some guy who dates every air head in town... Mona loves X and hopes she will "land" him soon...

I have often wondered why some women use the word "land."

Are they fighter pilots, about to land some airplane in stormy weathers?

Like " please fasten your seat belts, put your life saving jacket and head to the nearest exit" kind of landing ?

and Mona goes on...

- Yalla, enough. Your ass is full of cellulite from too much sitting around computers...

- How do you know Mona, have you seen my ass ?

- Noooooooo, but you are always sitting around some computer...

- My ass is in perfect shape, despite occupations and what have you...

- efffff, Layla. Yallaaaaa meet him, forget about politics.

Frankly, I had my cell phone in one hand, and my eyes on some report on Iraqi women, and to shut her up...I said:

- Ok, Mona, I shall meet him, Next ?

- Grrrrreat. I will give him your phone number, and wear a dress plzzz.

- Okkkkkay Mona, I shall...byeeeee


A few hours later , my "beau" calls me. We arrange for a very blind date, late afternoon.

Late afternoon is not early evening, is not early dinner, is not late night drinks.
Late afternoon is late afternoon.

To cut a long story short, I wear a dress, black, of course. And for a change, pick a pair of high heel shoes...put some lipstick and dab some perfume and am all set...for the emergency exit.

The place where I live is filled with holes...
What I mean is that the pavements are covered with huge cracks.
Of course, "Layla on a date," had to step into one of them and trip with her high heels.

And here I was, landing on my face and ending up with a sprained ankle and a bruised elbow, thinking of my "beau" waiting for me...

What a bad omen, I thought to myself...

I picked myself up and hailed a cab. They would stop and stare, honk and drive away...

As you know, there a theee things you really don't want to mess with in the Arab world. The three sh's...

1) Shurta (police). 2) Shofarieh (taxi drivers) and 3) sharameet (hookers).


What the fuck is going on here?

Last time I felt so jinxed was during my brother's wedding when his wife threw her wedding bouquet my way...

Ever since, I have known no peace. And we got invaded soon after...Not that am blaming my sister in law for that.


To cut a long story short, I finally made it to our "rendez vous."

I looked around, searching and "my beau" was nowhere to be seen.

I finally spotted some guy in a dark suit, sitting in a corner holding a cigar...

I secretly prayed "God, please don't let it be him..."

Again, God did not listen to my prayers... For it was him indeed.

I waved in a Mona style,"hiiiiiii", and introduced myself...

Oh Mama ! What a moment of truth...

Finally seated, I faced Marco Polo or should I call him Robinson Crusoe?

- Sorry am late, I...(of course I could not tell him I fell on my face, sprained my ankle, and bruised my elbow).

-It's okay, he waved, sucking on his cigar...

Oh Mama! I had one look at his face and all I could see was some horizontal mustache spread from ear to ear like some Antar.

You know Antar? He is the guy from the fable of Antar and Abla. The stud who saves Abla. And I was no Abla for sure...

I was just a Layla with an excruciating pain in my ankle and high heels shoes too tight for my poor feet.

But,I was not the only one with "tight" around.
He, too had a tie so tightly knotted around his neck, I felt he was about to die, from self strangulation any minute now...

His face took on red colors and he looked as if he was gasping for air...from the tie.

I nearly fainted...

I was polite despite my fainting bouts...too polite if you ask me. I tried "Western Christian" tolerance...

After all, it is not his fault for having such a long mustache and only God knows how much I hate facial hair. Maybe a reaction to seeing too many bearded ones suddenly sprouting out of nowhere...

I did what I do best, let the other talk, except this one would not stop...

My listening skills consisted of monosyllables, like " hmmm, ohhh, ahh, emmm..."

But the "tournure", the turning point came about when Marco Polo asked, sucking on his cigar :

- So what do you do for fun?

- Fun?...(I had lost the meaning of the word fun for quite some time. What is fun ?)

I know your brave boys shooting for fun, or raping for fun...Someone give me a new definition of fun. NOW please.

Of course, Mr. Marco Polo did not even bother to hear my reply, he continued...

- Entertainment has become so available and cheap these days.

- Oh really ? What kind ?

- You know...

And I saw that twinkling smile in the corner of his eyes, overshadowing his horizontal mustache...giving it some brightness, some light...some force...some male power...

- No I don't (playing dumb as usual)

- You know, ever since...

- Ever since ?

- Ever since, you know, Iraq ...

- What do you mean ?

- Ever since...there are so many "poor" Iraqi women around...


He needed say no more...I understood. Perfectly, understood.


If there is one aspect of the Occupation that I detest most...
If there is one consequence of the American Occupation that I loathe the most, it is that one...

Of course, I hate all of its aspects, but this one is the hardest to swallow...

That of seeing young and old Iraqi women, selling themselves...

Never mind your Adam Smith theories of supply and demand. Never mind, your old adage of it being the oldest trade around. I simply don't buy it.

My question is thus, how many horizontal mustaches "sin frontera" did it take?


Ok, let me try again.

How many motherfuckers, Americans and various other nationalities did it take to turn our women into forced " prostitutes" ?


Are you shocked by the words "motherfucker" ?

Everytime you "fuck" with one of us, you are a motherfucker...

You are indeed fucking your own mother.

Does not matter if she is 16 or 60.

We are holders of that "essential knowledge" being the first and most likely the last around...

And no, you know nothing about civilizations. You are too busy with "it".

But our women do...They know everything about it. They saw it. They saw civilization in pieces, reflected in your eyes, whilst you were doing your thing... and whilst they thought of their kids and the bare, empty, rotting, dining tables...


Despite their heavy make-up.
Despite their dancing around some cigar smoker, horizontally mustached Antar.
Despite waiting for those 5 dollars bills falling in their lap after some "motherfucker" like yourself, has thrown it their way...

WE hold that knowledge.

And we fuck you, you don't fuck us... Do remember that one.

Since you could not get us through sanctions and bombs, you try to get us through our bodies...

Oh! That body, how many a times it was violently exposed to your lust.

Reality is crude and I am Reality.

How you lusted after those virgin breasts, those virgin thighs, those well preserved openings...

You did everything in your power to make sure the gates would open...

Forcibly open, for some horizontally mustached guy or some clean cut brave boy, or some impotent cigar smoker motherfucker handing out his dollar bills...

A 5 or 10 dollar bill that will feed a baby's suckling mouth. A 5 or 10 dollar bill
that will buy some bread, finally delivered on some rotting table...

And you can go on sucking on your cigars, slogans, theories or whatever the fuck that turns you on...

And you spend the rest of your time filling in gaps...

Finding the right words, the right sentence, the right political theory that "fits."

That fits the holes...that fits..."the sociological" anaylsis...of cause and effect....and you produce your articles.

So well thought out, so well structured, so well balanced...
Articles, statistics, reportage, documentaries, films...
And you celebrate great achievements. You stroke your shoulder, in moments of nostalgia, remembering that pat on the back...for being o'so humane...

And you lay back, smoking your cigar or your slogan, like some brave hero, figuring out what to say next...


And I sit here, on a blind date, searching...
Searching for some hand that will save me...save me from words, from perceptions...from theories, from a reality that you created and are too busy analyzing, explaining, defining...or fucking...

And I sit here, across some horizontally mustached man...
And I see in his eyes hundreds of horizontal women, waiting, in the blindness of the night, waiting...for it to be over, for it to cease, for it to turn around...


And I can't help think, of them, of me, of us...And I see your faces, turned away, theorizing, cashing in, or shooting...

All blindly...shooting away words, shoooting away bullets, shooting away...some virility...

Sucking on cigars, or sucking on guns...

And I look around and see nothing but blind faces, blind eyes, blind souls...and wonder with all this blindness, when will the final date come.



Painting: Iraqi artist, Raed Farhan.

The Silence of Sheep...

I really, really, had no inclination to write anything tonight.

Iraq leaves me drained, tired, exhausted, and most of the time depressed...
I thought to myself, I will just read a few articles and head to bed. Fight the insomnia and head to a bed. Not my bed, but a bed nonetheless...

I have a ritual. I check my mail, publish comments on my blog, respond, then surf the sites...

On three occasions I checked uruknet.info. for any "fresh" news, that might have escaped my attention and on these three occasions, I saw the picture of Ali Hassan al Majeed staring back at me.

I thought to myself, maybe Uruknet.website has made it a point to "fix" the picture of Ali Hassan Al-Majeed, a cousin of the late Saddam Hussein.
But that was not the case. It was just a "coincidence."

I intuitively understood that Hassan Ali Al-Majeed was either being executed, about to be executed or already dead.

I checked newswires but could not find anything except an article on al-Jazeerah stating that Al Hassan Al Majeed is to be executed soon, in the coming days...

Why do I have a feeling it's already a done job? Maybe it is those eyes staring at me...

The puppet government waited for after the Eid period...so as not to "fumble" it like they did the first, second, third and fourth time...

Another Iraqi hanged. Another true Iraq hanged. And not one word...

They called him "chemical" Ali.

Should I call you "criminal" Americans, or "depleted uranium" Americans and Brits ? Or maybe I should call you "torturer, driller" Iranians, or maybe "cluster, phosphorus bombs" Israelis...

The one with no sin should cast the first stone...

Come forward if you can, if you dare.

That includes you too, so called "Iraqis."
Show me your innocent hands. Show me the hands who were not dipped in ink. Not tainted in any blood and above all show me your pockets...

As for the Kurds, honestly, do you still believe you have any credibility?

I for one, have not ceased denouncing you. Honestly now, does your fat buffoon, everyone's pimp and agent, Talabani, or his wife Horo, or Zebbari, the university drop-out and relative of the kurdish ruling clan, or the drug dealer Barazani hold any credibility? Did they ever have any credibility ?

I am fortunate to be old enough and to know your histories, your resumés, one by one...And I smile because I know what a corrupt lot, what a murderous lot you are.

I know how you sold your asses not only to Israel, Iran and America, but how you sell your asses to each other...in the name of "Kurdistan."

As for the sectarian Shi'as. I roll on the floor laughing...

Every single Iraqi knows the Al-Hakeem family, the al-Sadr family, whence they came from, how they amassed money, how they killed, murdered, raped...WE all know you.

We know your hatred for Iraq and Iraqis. We know your hatred for Arabs. We know your hatred for Sunnis and Arab Shia's alike. We know you inside out...

Is there anything new you want to teach me, you motherfuckers ?

So you gang up on "chemical" Ali ? Ha! Your hands are dripping with blood you motherfuckers. With blood of innocents...And now you talk of Justice?

So what was the exact number? 100'000, 180'000, 2 million, 5'000 or 500 ?
Make up your fucking minds, because all I see are different quotes and different figures...

But you can't make up your minds, you want the plot to thicken don't you?
Got news for you, it is transparent. Your plot is transparent, lucid, limpid...

You sold us in the process of selling yourselves.
You turned us into prostitutes, beggars, scavengers...and you still latch onto our bodies, grabbing the last morsels of what is left of us...grabbing it, and sinking your ugly yellowed vampire teeth along with your ugly beards, into our flesh...

And those of us who are already dead, you sucked them dry, sucking every single drop from them, and left them lying for the dogs to eat their remains...


As for you, International Community of my Ass, Human Rights organizations of my Butt, Consciousness raising groups of my Bottom, Anti-War movements of my Farts...

Where are you?
Where were you?


And you bloggers, the "sophisticated" ones, with the right jargon, with the right terminology, with the right sentences... Where the fuck are you?

And you alternative websites, how come this silence?
Did you finish snoring? Did you finish mind fucking one another? Or are you waiting for the final revelation to descend upon you? Or maybe waiting to check...your final bank account balance?

O' "bearers" of human rights and justice, how come this silence ?
What happened to your torchs ? Did they suddenly die out and you are too busy fumbling in the dark ? Groping each other in one final outcry of an orgasm ?

And you wankers, called Iraqi bloggers and other Arab shits.
Are you good at anything - except gossip and slandering ? And checking your site meters to see how many hits you reached today ? Displaying your international flags like some medals...
Or writing your boring, tedious activities of the day pretending you are so o' revolutionary ?

Wankers is what you are. Masturbators is what you are.
The eternal narcissistic masturbators in front of your cyber mirrors, hoping to get some interview somewhere from some white fat old ass...and make a name in the process.

Sheep. The Sheep of Silence, the Sheep of Cowardice, the Sheep of Hypocrisy, the Sheep of Complicity, the Sheep of Ass Leasing...and Ass Licking.

No wonder you are silent...the silence of sheeps grazing...munching away, on dried up, rotten, decayed, putrid, foul smelling pastures of dead bodies...

Pastures made of us.


Painting : Iraqi artist, Moed Mohsen, (date n/a)

Bad Pawns

So, America has finally woken up to the Armenian Genocide in a perfect timing that just haphazardly coincides with:

a) matter of fact talks in D.C about the partition plan of Iraq.

b) with incursions by Turkey into Northern Iraq to fight off another brand of potential Kurdish warlords the PKK backed by our own warlords Talabani and Barazani.
This latter fled to Najaf, hiding behind the skirts of Ammar al Hakeem of the SIIC or maybe behind Muqtada al Sadr's – Go figure.

And Turkey,the other day, said through its military spokesman “ties with the U.S might be irreversibly damaged.” A combo of the bill on the Armenian Genocide and this headache of the PKK.

Now you really don’t want to mess with the Turks...A humble piece of advice from me.

And, last but not least

c) a full backing by Ammar Al Hakeem, head of SIIC, member of the puppet government in Baghdad, in support of the partition plan. His sick father, Abdel Aziz al Hakeem, urged his son not to forget the “regions.” Since daddy's plea, Ammar has visited the Anbar provinces and met with Abu Risha, a Sunni joker just like the other Sunni joker/puppet Tariq al Hashemi who seems to equally flirt with the Biden idea.

(see my post "True Colors" and for those with a strong stomach, check also “New map of Iraq”)

Interesting developments, don’t you think?

Is someone trying to isolate Turkey by any chance ? Is someone wanting to inflame the Turkish Kurds as this Turkish PKK militant said to a journalist.

“ Murat Karayilan, head of the armed wing of the PKK, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Turkey could expect to meet tough resistance if its forces crossed the border. Iraq's Kurds will not support the Turkish army," he said. If Turkey starts its attack, we will swing the Turkish public opinion by political, civil and military struggle."

Is someone preparing another “Turkish repression against the Kurds” litany of woes ?

Is someone trying to deepen the fabricated Sunni–Shia divide by nastily teasing Turkey ?

Or maybe someone is simply not happy with an Islamic Turkish party being the dominant player and wants to eradicate this whole idea of Islamic parties even if they happen to be part of a secular system ?

Or maybe it is a preparation for an “independent Kurdistan” that will include parts of Turkey or at least force it into accepting one in Northern Iraq?


I say a bit of all the above, with the predominant feature being that of Kurdish independence and by correlation the partition of Iraq...
Yes that is no.1 on the Agenda. It has been decided so in D.C. by the Zionist-Jewish Lobby.

I have already covered Kurdish historical relations with Israel and Iran.
(see one my earlier post-“Our Brothers the Kurds”)

Since the Americans and their lapdogs, the Brits, designated no-fly zones in 1991, the ties between the Kurds,Israel and Iran, have deepened and they have become soul mates, so to speak.

A few reminders and examples (and I have a nice pack) of the Kurdish - Israeli -American - Iranian love affair.

1) Friday Dec.6, 1996. Kurds aided by Mossad says writer from the Jerusalem Post. “Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad operated for 10 years in Iraq. The book “Broken Hope” by Shlomo Nakdimon, published by the daily newspaper, Yediot Aharanot, said the book was based on interviews with 70 people most of whom were Mossad agents and Israeli soldiers. Some described how the Mossad organized the Kurds into units that attacked Iraqi troops in the North, killing 10’000 Iraqi soldiers."

2) On 15.3.2002. The Turkish daily Hurriet said: "...quoting a report prepared recently by the Turkish intelligence units that the Kurdistani Democratic party led by Masoud al-Barazani and the Kurdistani National Federation led by Jalal Talibani are establishing close relations with Syria and Iran."
The report said that al-Barazani started to develop his relations with both Syria and Iran in order to minimize the Turkish influence, noting that in light of this fact, al-Barazani is making intensive efforts to open new border gates like the two gates "Haj Omran" and "Fais Khabour," with the aim of making a link up to other countries, instead of the border Khabour gate between Turkey and the Northern Iraq area.

The report unveiled that the al-Barazani administration intensified its work to found an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq area and that in collaboration with the Kurdistani National Federation, held secret talks recently in Germany in order to prevent any obstruction act by the Turkish side, before the founding of this state, which is expected to be declared following a possible American strike in Iraq.

The report remarked that the two administration of al-Talibani and al-Barazani expect the return back of the Turkish security forces in North Iraq to Turkey very shortly, and therefore they are planning for the imposition of an UN forces at the site, to replace these forces, noting that al-Barazani has prepared also the Iraqi federal state constitution in order to convert it into an independent state in the future, stressing that the Kurdish language is the official Language for Kurdistan area.”

3) On 19.3.2003 the BBC Arabic news service quotes Talabani saying in Teheran:
”We are in dire need of Iran’s help in establishing security and stability in Iraq" (Teheran nov.27)

4)On Monday June 21, 2004, a Guardian article bearing the title of “ Israelis using Kurds to build power base” says: “Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way - a balance against Saddam," one former Israeli intelligence officer told the New Yorker."

5) On August 3rd 2005, the Washington Post reports that the CIA created a para military group called the “Scorpions” (The CIA would not discuss it), made of exiled Iraqis, trained them in counter insurgency tactics. Those who helped recruit them were Kurds and they infiltrated Iraq in 2002.

“Authorized by a presidential finding signed by President Bush in February or March 2002, the Scorpions were part of a policy of "regime change" in Iraq. The covert members, many of whom were exiles recruited by the Kurds, were trained in target identification, explosives and small arms at two secret bases in Jordan, according to one US government official.
They were sent surreptitiously into Iraq before the war and were in cities such as Baghdad, Fallujah and Qaim to give the impression that a rebellion was underway and to conduct light sabotage, according to the two defense sources and the three former and current intelligence officials. "They painted X's [for targeting] on buildings and things like that," said one former intelligence officer….After the initial combat phase of the war, the CIA used the paramilitary units as translators and to fetch supplies and retrieve informants in an increasingly dangerous Iraq where CIA officers largely stayed within the protected Green Zone, according to the officials….When they entered Iraq after the invasion, because they wore civilian clothes and traveled in civilian vehicles…”

6) On 9.12.2005, Kurd.net website quotes from Kasrat Rasoul, a former prime minister of Kurdistan and a senior figure in Talabani's PUK party. "If an Islamic party becomes the government in Iraq or if there is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shi'ites, then we will separate” and the article continues “But at heart secession remains a dream, and for the meantime the Kurds, long-time allies of Washington, are sticking to the line that Iraq is united -- unless civil war forces it to collapse, or future stability makes a secession vote possible” and the article continues: “Were they ever to do so, they also have a well-disciplined, 250,000-strong militia force, known as the peshmerga, to defend their territory -- a corner of northeastern Iraq where business is booming…”

7) On the 20th of September 2006, the BBC reports that Israelis are training Kurdish forces and I quote : “The BBC has obtained evidence that Israelis have been giving military training to Kurds in northern Iraq. A report on the BBC TV program Newsnight showed Israeli experts in northern Iraq, drilling Kurdish militias in shooting techniques..."

Patience, am not finished yet...

And Iran, your darling Iran, where the SIIC party of Al Hakeem, The Dawa’a guys like Maliki, Al Jaafari, Jawad Solaghr, and Muqtada Al Sadr...amongst others have been hiding for years preparing alongside the Kurds - the partition of Iraq. And I quote:

“2002 In June, the SCIRI (now SIIC) met with US State Department officials in Washington to discuss cooperation in a potential war against the Iraqi regime. The US offered military funding to the group. In December, the SCIRI(SIIC) met with other Iraqi opposition groups in London to discuss options for a post-Saddam Iraq.
"The sources said the US had started a ‘flurry of contacts with various forces among the Iraqi opposition... Intensive contacts are being held with both the Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition in order to establish springboards for potential operations..." [The Australian, July 1, 2002].

Am still not done...

I have also mentioned the evil necessity of ethnic and sectarian cleansing to prepare the demographic grounds for Partition. (see my post "Persian for Dummies" - entre autres)

At the risk of repeating myself for the 100th time, I reiterate. The South and parts of the Center of Iraq have been totally cleansed from Sunnis. Sabeans, and Christians by the sectarian Militias from Iran and Jaysh al Mahdi is one of the militias involved.

The North, and again I repeat, has been ethnically cleansed from Arabs, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, and Turkmens...in preparation for the Kurdish Independent State that a lot of you applauded and that a lot of you helped contribute to its establishment by fabricating grotesque lies about Kurdish "oppression"...not to mention Shia "repression". I will never forgive you for this one.

Bref, let me continue...

Sulaimaniyah, Erbil, Dohuk (both of which were majority Assyrian by the way), Mosul (which was majority Arab Sunnis and Chaldeans) and Kirkuk which was majority Turkmen, then Arab and a minority of Kurds have now become and are becoming, in the case of Mosul, full Kurdish regions.

Take Kirkuk, for example.

Massive ethnic cleansing and displacement is taking place before the Referendum on Kirkuk is due towards the end of this year.

Now read on...

“Since 10th April 2003 – the day after the fall of Baghdad – a real Kurdish invasion took place in Kerkuk: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, respectively leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) organized militarily a massive immigration of Kurds to the territories they wanted to conquer. The newly arrived Kurds registered on the election lists and are waiting for the referendum which is to take place before next December 31st. The aim of the operation: to give a democratic varnish to the annexation of Kerkuk and its surrounding region by the Kurds and hand over to the Americans the petrol fields of Baba Gurgur, situated near Kerkuk.

The International Crisis Group (ISG) has received the testimony of a - Turkmen - member of the Governorate which summarizes the situation: “In 2003, Kerkuk had 800.000 inhabitants. Today it has 1.150.000 inhabitants. Where do these 300.000 additional inhabitants come from? They correspond to at least 50.000 families. One knows that 10.000 families were expelled; where do these 40.000 additional families come from?” Since then the population has reached 1.500.000 inhabitants, mainly Kurds who are in favour of the annexation.

The practical application of the operation is not simple because article 140 of the new Iraqi “constitution” states that the referendum must be preceded by the “normalisation” of the situation in the region, and by a “census”. The “normalisation” is under way. It means the return of the displaced Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians and – in parallel – the departure of the Arabs who replaced them. Pressures are being put on the Kurds who refuse to return because they have remade their life somewhere else or fear that the annexation will turn into a blood bath. In order to make them change their minds, the “Kurdish Regional Government” no longer delivers administrative documents to them and deprive them of social aid.
The methods utilized against the non-Kurds are more radical. If they refuse the 15.000 dollars compensation, they risk being assassinated or disappearing in the prisons of the autonomous Region. The attack of 7th July 2007 in Amirli – 150 dead, 250 wounded – reminds us of the savagery of the Irgoun in Palestine . On the spot, the Kurdish secret services are accused and the answer was not slow in coming: on 16th July a vehicle exploded in Kerkuk in front of the UPK headquarters, making many victims.

The newly arrived Kurds (in Kerkuk) do not all live there. Many remain in Suleymaniya or in Erbil , because of the lack of housing or for security reasons. They only go to Kerkuk during the week-ends to justify their “relocation”. To become an elector in Kerkuk, it is sufficient to dig foundations of a house or to reserve an apartment in a building that has yet to be constructed … The “census”, however, is not easy to organize. It must carry out the ethnic and religious tally of the inhabitants of the Kerkuk region, and that of the “contested territories”, that is to say those which are claimed by the Kurds. The problem is that these ‘contested territories’ stretch from Mount Sinjar at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border… and to about 20 kilometres South of Baghdad. For the Arabs, Turkmens, Yezidis, Shabaks and Assyrians who have been living in these regions for a considerable period of time and who are all hostile to the partition of Iraq , it is a declaration of war.“
(for more on Turkmen, see European Turkmen Friendship Association blog)

All the above is some background literature for you.

Now listen to what an Arab Iraqi relative who arrived from Erbil told me.
I still can’t believe I have to qualify for you, each time, the ethnicity and/or the sect.

“I needed to process some official documents. I could not find the building. All the signposts were in Kurdish. I stopped a Kurdish man and asked him to translate for me. I was lost. We started talking and he asked me if I was an Arab. Well obviously I replied. I need translations.
So the Kurd said to me. “You Arabs are idiots. You will never learn. Why do you consider Israel an enemy? Israel has done nothing to you...Embrace them as friends and see what a wonderful people they are...”

I am glad that two days ago, an IRIN article appeared confirming the total de-Arabization of the North , in particular Kirkuk.

Not only that, but Patrick Cockburn in some rare moment of lucidity, wrote a good piece on the squalid conditions and vile kurdish treatment of Arab Iraqi refugees in Sulaymaniah. (search the Independent newspaper)

And do not forget what I have mentioned in several previous posts namely, that Arab Iraqis needs visas to Kurdistan plus two Kurdish sponsors. And that the Iraqi flag is FORBIDDEN in “ Kurdistan.” Only Kurdish flags are allowed and only the Kurdish militias - peshmergas. This latter is now considered the official "Army of Kurdistan"

And I need to remind our “Kurdish brothers”:

- They were the only group in the M.E region who were given autonomy in the 70's.
- That the previous Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein built the Sulaimaniyah University for them, teaching in Kurdish only.
- That the Kurdish language was forced down our throats in secondary schools in Baghdad.
- That I personally met several Kurds from Iraq, who did not speak ONE word of Arabic and am talking the 80’s here. We had to converse in English....

So when some deceitful son of a bitch comes and talks to me about forced Arabization of the Kurds, all I want to do is smack him right in the face.

I have much more to say but this is proving to be a long post and I am tired.

But then, the list of lies concocted by the Kurds, the Americans, the anti-war movement, the left including the Arab left and the so called Human rights agencies was much longer and way more dangerous...
They led to Today. A country in pieces. A country that is raped, plundered, destroyed, and about to be partitioned...

My rage is truly infinite.

My father (bless his soul) and my mother kept reminding me. They said:
”Layla, Iraq is the Backbone of the Arab World.”
To be honest, I did not quite understand the full implications of such a statement, then. Today, I do.

Iraq was not only the Cradle of Civilization, it was indeed the Pillar, the Column, The Spinal Vertebrae, the Backbone of the Arab world. Now that it has crumbled, now that it has broken up, the rest will follow...

One by one...the other countries will come tumbling down...one by one, a ripple effect from Baghdad...to the rest of the World.

And if God decides to grant me long life, I shall sit, laid back, arms folded and observe...with the same “polite indifference” (to use one of Jabotinsky’s expressions) that I witnessed on your faces when my country came tumbling down...

I shall observe, quietly, with no fuss, the snakes, the invertebrates, the worms, the termites, the spineless crawlers, of geopolitics, crawl on that same Chess board only to be eventually crushed... like pawns...one by one.

And I shall observe that Chess board, covered in blood and wonder amused, what will you have to say now ? Now, that the game is over.

Checkmate to You !


Nota Bene: A special thanks to A.S and "Woman who loves Iraq" for the added information on the Kurds.

Painting: Iraqi artist, Mohammed Fahmi.(date.n/a)

A Bag of Second Hand Memoirs...

Do you remember your teen-age years ?

Memories of this period of my life are terribly vivid, still...

I consider teen-age years as the most difficult, in any case that was true for me.
One is not really an adult, not a child, just a someone, hovering somewhere in between.
Rejecting authority yet seeking its safety...
Not a woman but not a girl either. A body that changes, an identity that emerges, pulsations that manifest themselves and you don’t know what to do with them and where they will lead you...

I sublimated mine in books, "causes" and the search after the "perfect love."

The only thing that really lasted were the books. And I don’t even remember half of them...

As for "causes," they have not only remained unresolved but have worsened...
As for "love," I smile–laugh when I look back...How could I have been so bloody naive, I keep repeating to myself.

But then, those were the teen-age years and everything was possible. Change, revolutions and eternal love...

But a rebel, I was. I think it is genetic in my case.

I simply could not accept the given status quo. I had to question which I still do...A problematic attitude if you want to get on in life “smoothly.”

But then my life has not exactly been a smooth ride either. War after war after war after war...And my name is Layla Anwar.

These wars have shaped me more than I care to admit, intimately shaped me...leaving marks inside, like the foot-prints of some soldier's boot on wet mud, that eventually dry up in the sun and become like some old totem that one carries around one's neck...

And with each “war” and there has been so many of them, the totem becomes alive again and that rebellious spirit against the madness that injustice engenders, re-emerges...as if it has just woken up from some temporary hibernation.

A lost cause? Maybe...But I told you, in my case it's genetic.

Which reminds of a saying by some “good old feminists” who used to repeat,
“If I am determined by my biological make-up, do me a favor, do not tell me how to behave.”
So I guess, am determined by my “biological make-up.” So kindly spare me your comments.

A few had difficulty dealing with my “biological make-up.” In particular my mother and some of my "eternal loves". I guess I was not obedient enough and was not easily molded the way she/they would have liked me to be.

My mother for instance, one of the things that used to literally drive her up the wall, was my love for second hand clothes. She could not understand why on earth I would go out of my way and buy second hand clothes when I could buy something brand new.
She would flip when she saw me sneak in old, worn out army shirts, jackets and trousers...made in the USA.

She would go ballistic and say: “Do you have to be dressed like a soldier and like an American soldier for that matter?"
To which I would reply: “ All soldiers look alike – I, on the other hand, am a rebel, a guerilla fighter.”
And she would go even crazier and say: “ Guerilla fighters don’t wear shirts with the U.S. flags on them and they are not called Tom either...” referring to one of my favorite army shirts which had the name Tom sewn on it.

I guess she had a point there. But that was the closest I could get to look like a guerilla fighter...then.

Of course, today, am laughing my head off as am typing this...

"L’habit ne fait pas le moine” goes an old French proverb – the “uniform” does not make the monk. But I did not know it then. I was full of good intentions and...lousy discernment.

I think one other reason for my “love” for second hand clothes, was the fact that I could escape to the souk downtown called “al Balat.”
A souk where you can rummage for hours, amidst the tumult and noise...And escape, I did.

It all felt so alive for me. Finally real people, I’d say to myself. Nothing like my class mates, all fake and disjointed from the reality that surrounded them.
That was real life for me - the souk for second hand clothes.

I witnessed with my own eyes, some of the deprivation and that was like fuel for my rebelliousness...my “eternal” revolt. But I was nothing but a teenager then...


Three decades have elapsed since and I still remember these second hand stalls. Strange don’t you think ?

In fact, I remembered them yesterday, when I opened my closet and chose a look alike khaki army trouser (made in China.)
Okay, I agree, some things never change. I admit to that. But how do you explain the following part?

“Hit by war, unemployment, sectarian violence and the flight of capital, beleaguered residents of the Iraqi capital have taken to rummaging through piles of imported second hand clothing..."
It is more important to buy new things for the kids. We can manage ourselves from the second hand shops," said the 53-year-old father of five.
"Life has changed a lot in the past few years. It is a problem for badly paid state employees and those with limited incomes," he said.
"I try to pool my resources to buy what the boys and girls need. As for me, I will buy second hand items...said Jabbar...”

The owner of this second hand shop is jubilant: “Due to increased demand, Abu Hussein has set up agents in other parts of the country. “I now have many outlets to sell my goods," he said. (full article here)


Little did I know then, that the second hand souks I loved, would turn as the only outlets for clothing...
Little did I know then, that the majority of Iraqis would be wearing second hand clothes...
And, little did I know then, that the majority of Iraqi teenagers would be working to support their families, forsaking their studies and future...
While yours are sitting around TV screens getting pissed and smashed out of their brains...and whilst you arm with them weapons to carry to school, as if these were some lunch bag...encouraging them to become a new Tom...
And surely, I did not know then, that some Tom in an American army shirt was responsible for all of that.


Over three decades have elapsed, my love for second hand clothes has disappeared, but the “guerilla” fighter’s spirit in me has not died...
How can it, when there are so many Iraqis carrying bags of second hand clothes, when Iraqi teenagers have been robbed of their youth...and when American Toms in army clothes are roaming around?

Mother, hope you understood by now...All of my past revolt was nothing but a preparation for...today.
Oh, and you were so right about those Toms in army clothes.

I will no longer buy second hand, promise. It's all brand new and untouched from now on...
Virgin like some undiscovered territory, clean and fresh like some morning dew, and as ardent as a budding desert flowery cactus...
No second hand here, Mother. Its a daily, new surprise...in every souk, behind each house, in every alley way, around every corner...


Painting : Abdel Ameer Alwan, 1992.

A Few Good Ones Left...

I want to share with you two other true Solidarity mails I have received.

They are important for me. They tell me that I am not talking to the walls, or "pissing in the wind." (to use one of your expressions.)

They tell me, that there is an echo out there, and that means a lot to me and am sure to other Iraqis as well...

One such mail comes from a German lady M.R.
I am taking the liberty to publish it nearly in its entirety. Read it and you will know why, yourself.


" Thank you so much for every single word you have written up to this very day.
Your essays should be part of the curriculum at the high schools of our so-called "civilised" Western countries.
I share your true feelings, your grief, your fury, your uncensored anger, your despondency, your hope, your heartfelt compassion, your passion for Iraq.

Germany did not send troops to Iraq in 2003 but we are guilty like the rest of all European countries. Our governments supported the criminal sanctions against your country.
Our people watched all this crimes live on TV. We should stop talking about Auschwitz without mentioning the Iraqi Holocaust.
The indifference of the world towards the genocide committed in Iraq, our silence is a crime against humanity. Nobody of us can say: "we didn't know"....

I am almost 50 years old, I remember the solidarity campaigns against the war in Vietnam we have organised in Germany. Regarding our solidarity(?) with Iraq, the so called anti-war movement continues parrotting the fabricated lies of the mainstream media.
"We are against this war, but Saddam Hussein is / was a brutal dictator..."

Can you imagine that the so called German left, is still discussing the legitimacy of the Iraqi Resistance?!!! On the other hand they are "celebrating" the 40th anniversary of Che Guevara's death, organising a folckloristic spectacle. Hypocrites!

It is the duty of all honest human beings to do what is in their possibilities to stop this criminal neo colonialistic war, to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people, to support the Iraqi Resistance!...

I know how proud the Iraqi people are, and I know that your country was the envy of the Middle East. One of my collegues, he comes from France, lived in Baghdad in the 80's. He often tells me how beautiful the Iraqi capital was. "Baghdad was like Paris" he said...

I will always remember the example of dignity and honour, embodied by the hero and martyr President Saddam Hussein, the symbol of the independent, united and free Iraq. May his blessed soul enjoy the glory of eternity!

I believe in the unity of the Iraqi Resistance and I believe that Iraq will be free again. "United and one, like the fingers of one hand" your heroic people will expel the invaders. Just remember the history of your country, the cradle of human civilisation.

Keep on writing! People like you are the conscience of the world!...

May next Eid see us congratulating each other for the liberation of Iraq and Palestine..."

and, M.R continues, in another mail, by saying:

"The "civilised world" has committed the biggest crime against humanity in modern history: The criminal sanctions, the fabricated lies demonising President Saddam Hussein, the daily atrocities of the occupation...
The world community must pay compensation to the Iraqi people!
Here in Germany we are still paying to the "State of Israel" for the crimes committed during World War II and the generations following me will continue paying...

I have run out of words to express my sentiments.
The indifference of the world, the silence of the anti-war movement has caused more destruction in Iraq than an atomic bomb.
The clowns of the German left are lost in discussions about the LEGITIMACY of the armed Iraqi Resistance. Was there ever a discussion if the French Resistance against Nazi Germay was legitimate or not?

Let us never loose our optimism:
I am sure you have read this: (quote): The puppet Iraqi "National Security Adviser," Muwafaq al-Rubaie confirmed in his recent Washington visit that "Saddam has planted an incurable virus" in the minds of Iraqis.
That "virus" is non-acceptance of the occupation and refusal of its puppet government. In the same breath, al-Rubaie affirmed that he and his associates have "chosen once and for all its strategic ally and that is the United States of America."...

My solidarity and my prayers for the Heroic Iraqi Resistance! I believe that Iraq's National Liberation Front will free your country of the US/Zionist/Iranian invaders! Inshaallah!..."


And this is another touching e.mail I received from the U.S from someone called Ironhead. And this is what he has to say :


"Everyday I raise hell and forward as much truth as I can find to try to make these people here understand the magnitude of the horrors we have brought to the noble gracious People of Iraq, Afghanistan...and Palestine.

I am fortunate that I have learned to live way below what is considered the 'poverty line' in America. For me, my key to happiness was to have less instead of more, more and more. Consequently, because I do not waste my time chasing worthless dollars, unlike most Americans, I have much more time for fuss and disruption...

I will not rest until these horrors are stopped and the perpretrators...all of them are brought to justice.

Next week I will stand with friends of mine who are charged with a variety of federal offenses from when they disrupted a company that provided planes to the CIA for torture flights...One of them (my friend) is well into his eighties and may very well die in jail if convicted...

We all feel that as we are all going to die one day anyway, one's life must amount to something.
If our miniscule disruptions can help bring Peace back to the People of the Middle East, then, for me, my life will have been worth something.

I cannot describe the magnitude of the shame and sorrow I feel daily for what we have done to your People. My rage against these Greedy Criminals grows with each heartbeat...In solidarity and with deepest respect."


I am in no position to thank on behalf of the people of Iraq, as I do not consider myself their "official" representative, however...

Thank you M.R, Ironhead and the several others who keep sending me their words of Solidarity. A heartfelt thanks from me and...the true people of Iraq.


Painting : Iraqi artist, Amer Al-Obaidi.

An Allergy...

Do you know anything about Allergies ?

I remember a friend of mine who was highly allergic to dust and pollen.
The mere mention of the word dust, or an allusion to Spring and pollen, was enough to make her sneeze and bring on an asthma attack... The mere thought of some particle of dust or a tiny grain of pollen, would have her break out in hives...

Her immune system had a bank memory of itself. It had saved all those previous cellular images of her first reaction to these foreign bodies, at some DNA level...
And just one imaginary thought of their possible presence, and her system would fabricate a thousand anti-bodies, gear itself, backed by a formidable army and start a whole process of self defense, of survival...

Am also developing this curious symptom, very similar to my friend's. If there is a Doctor in the house, maybe you can help too.

The other day, a friend knowing my love for Cuban Salsa music, passed on the latest CD by Gloria Estefan. I am not a fan of Gloria but I like some of her remixes.

One track is called "Esperando. Cuando Cuba sea Libre."
Which in my limited understanding of Spanish means "Hoping. When Cuba will be Free"
Now when an American or an Americanized utters the word FREE, I freeze...

I freeze for a few seconds...I become immobilized, tetanized...
As if my reptilian limbic system is preparing itself for a flight/fight response...

I hyperventilate, gasp for air...
My pupils dilate, my heart palpitates like a thousand drums, my muscles tense up, my neurons work at full speed, my cortisol level antes up, my adrenaline pumps in...and my immune system calls on its soldiers for the ultimate battle...The final battle against the enemy...

I try to calm myself, take in a few deep breaths only to see my skin erupt in red patches, like a hundred little red hills made of prickly thorns...like stings from a thousand wasps...covering my body...
Urticaria, I say to myself - Relax it's nothing but urticaria...

Do you think I have become allergic to the word "Free", by any chance ?


Painting : Iraqi artist, Mohammed Sami.

Flying Kites....

I really don't know what is going on here...
The other day was Pink and today it is Pastel colors.
Not a fitting time of the year for pastel colors. After all, it is the beginning of Autumn, with its golden brown, rusty red and dying green...

But pastel colors have been obsessing me...ever since those pink and red taints.
Maybe because it is the Eid, the feast that marks the celebration of the end of our fasting month, Ramadan.

I remember the Eid in Baghdad, what used to be the Eid...
We have a tradition for the Eid, we must wear something new. I remember young and old saving that new piece, that untouched garment, for the Eid.

I remember the little boys and girls dressed in their new clothes, laughing as they rock on their swings, as they cry with joy on their merry-go-rounds...
Eating "shaar al Banat" or "ghazl al Banat" as some may call it.
You know, that fluffy hair-like sugar, dyed in pastel colors, that feels like cotton in your mouth, wrappped around a wooden stick and glues all over your face and leaves your tongue colored in pastel...pink, green, blue, yellow and...white.

I also remember the conversations...

"Baba, baba, shoof, anee helwa?" - Daddy, daddy look, am I pretty? would ask a little one raising her eyes to her dad. Showing off her new pastel colored dress and the pastel ribbons in her hair...

"Mama, mama, shofee shlon atayerhom"- Mom, mom, look how I can make it fly! would shout a little one to his mother, pointing his finger to his brand new kite made of pastel colored paper...

And the father would respond "Hadha shlon Jamal" - What beauty you are. Or,
the mother would say "Shater, ibnee, enta shater" - Clever my son, you are clever.

I can still hear their giggles, their laughs and their shouts of excitement...
I can still see the joy in their shining innocent eyes, their funny faces, their tender smile...
I can still feel their hugs, their wet kisses smelling of candies and their warm little heads on my shoulder, when tired from too much running around...tired from too much play.


I am lucky to have such memories. I am lucky to have witnessed them.
Today's children in Iraq are either too scarred or will not live to remember or... are already dead.

Only two days ago, 11 little ones were severly wounded by a mortar attack. Yesterday, 9 little ones were killed in a so called counter-insurgency attack by your brave boys. Today, at least 2 little ones were blasted away when a bomb placed in a toy cart exploded in their curious little faces...on the day of the Eid.

Our little ones are nothing but appetizers for you. Your anti-pasti, your hors d'oeuvres...The more, the merrier...

In the name of Liberty. In the name of Democracy. In the name of Freedom. In the name of the o' so civilized West that you are.

For 13 years, our little ones suffered, our little martyrs...Over half a million died as a result of your o' so civilized sanctions, while you were watching...

Thirteen fucking years and you watched, in silence, tasting your hors d'oeuvres in front of your TV screens.

Thirteen years of a deafening, utter silence.

Silence from the so called left and anti-war clowns. Silence from the international community. Silence from the so-called Islamic Ummah.

So silent, that the silence turned into a lullaby of agonies that you can still hear in the mass graves of our little ones. So silent, that they have slept, never to wake up again...A murderous lullaby.

The little ones who survived, experienced their final liberation in 2003.

God damn you. God damn you. That is all I can repeat for now. I will have to stop.
I need to regain my composure. Recompose what you have decomposed...


Am back...
The composed, rational, polite Arab woman...I am now wearing my satin gloves, lest your sensitivities get ruffled...

But let me ask you something, are you as ruffled by an average of 40'000 little ones killed each year because of an occupation carried out in your name, with your money, under your "benevolent" eyes ?

40'000 is the conservative estimate figure from the 2006 U.N Human rights report.
The real figure for 2006 is much higher. Way higher. And am not counting the orphans in the thousands...

Only yesterday, a new report warns of an ever-deepening humanitarian crisis, never seen before, since World War II...And I say, it is much worse than what this report states.

Come and see our overflowing morgues and find our little ones for us...
You may find them in this corner or the other, a little hand poking out, pointing out at you...
Come and search for them in the rubbles of your "surgical" air raids, you may find a little leg or a little head...pleading for your attention.
Come and see them amassed in the garbage dumps, scavenging morsels of food...

Well over half of our little ones are under nourished or dying from disease. Cholera, disentery, infections of all sorts....
Under nourished does not mean on a diet like your fat little kids. It means not having food to eat. It means cannot find food to eat. It means starved.

Come and see, come....

See them being trafficked, raped, sold and "finally" killed by your brave boys. The "final solution." Remember that one ? It was not so long ago...Except this time it is carried out by the "greatest Democracy on earth."

And if you are too sensitive to such scenes, and your stomach can't take it, even though your hands and pockets contribute daily to it, come and search for them in the alley ways of Damascus, Amman or Cairo...

Search for them, hiding behind walls. Find them selling or begging in street corners.
Look for them behaving like a 40 year old adult, fending for a whole family...

Come and see...

The other day, I overheard a 6 years old saying to her mother, "I want to die."
Just in case one of your bullets does not get to her, you have ensured that she will finish it off herself...

Come and see them stutter, hear them shout at night during their sleep and see their wet beds...

This is no lost innocence. This is a raped innocence, a murdered innocence...
Raped and murdered by you. I will net let you off the hook that easily. I guess you know me by now.

As for the little assholes (I guess am losing my composure again) who call me a whining Arab bitch, let me not wish the same on your children...
Because by God, if I did, you would strangle yourselves in grief and...remorse.


An article in Haaretz states that the Holocaust is still affecting the granchildren of the survivors...and that is well over 60 years, later.

How many decades, centuries would it take our surviving little ones to get over being freed by "Democracy" ?


In the meantime, the little survivors of your Holocaust, those who were born under your bombs, under your occupation, under your destruction, in your ghettoes, in your prisons, in your new Iraq, and who have known nothing else but you, their primal "caretaker", if they ever make it to adulthood, will bear witness on the day of Eid...

They, who have not known the Spring, Summer, of their lives. They who have witnessed nothing but the cold of the Winter. The coldness of Death...

They will remember, as I am doing now, the blown up cart of toys, the overflowing morgues, the rubbles of their homes, the mortars falling on their heads, the noise of explosions squatting their ears, their sisters and brothers in pieces, in front of their very eyes...
They will remember it, like some ugly melody, like some ugly lullaby...you lulled to them during their "liberated" childhood...

And those who have not and will not survive your "Liberation", will be flying high above like the pastel colored balloons of the Eid, like the kites made of pastel colored paper, like some white feather plucked from an innocent Dove...
Only to fall on the ground like dying, dried up, Autumn leaves...


Painting: Iraqi artist, Mohanad Al-Hayali.

Pink and Red Clouds...

I honestly don’t know why I entitled this post “Pink and Red Clouds..."

For starters, Pink is not one of my favorite colors. I am not anti-Pink, it’s just that Pink reminds me of Barbie dolls, praline candies “à la rose bonbon", girlie-girl romance novels...You know which ones I mean, don’t you?
The knight rescued her and swept her off her feet novels...and they always forget to add that 9 times out of 10, she lands flat on her face.

Or maybe it reminds me of Nancy Pelosi. I remember once seeing her dressed in a pink suit. Incidentally, I heard that she was hospitalized in California following an overdose of Botox Injections.

What wouldn’t women do to stay attractive to the opposite sex. I just wish the opposite or opposing sex (depending where you live), invests as much energy to remain pleasing to the female eyes, andropause and all...

Maybe pink reminds me of Code Pink, another anti-war female group. They promoted at one point, the selling of female pink peace panties and pink peace nail polish...to oppose the war effort. War effort? You mean illegal occupation, right?

Or maybe it is a reminder of other liberals and lefties on the pink-orange-red political spectrum...or maybe the pink clouds of denial,where a lot of you are safely tucked away in a rosy la la land...

In any case, I will soon find out myself why the pink and...the red.

One of the nice things about not being a journalist, is that you really never know where the writing takes you...This is one of the pay-offs of not having a private agenda, like most journalists do. And consequently not having to cower to any editor’s political and ideological authority...I guess you can call it Freedom of Thought.

Freedom of thought. I love that sentence. It must be a wonderful feeling to think without censorship. Like floating on a pink cloud...

It must feel great to be allowed to be free in your person, make decisions, assume responsibilities for them, grow into some form of true self-hood, unhampered and untainted by dictates from others...
I am not taking about personal anarchy here...Anarchy, I know it all too well...
This is not the kind of space am referring to. I am not talking about destructive chaos...I am talking about personal freedom. A measured, wise, centered, grounded... personal freedom. Away from “Authority” and sometimes in the face of “Authority."

Take for example Iraq.

What used to be the opposite sex has become the opposing sex. The Authority per se, the Editor, the Censurer, The Controller, the Janitor, the Oppressor, the Killer... of Women.

From being one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East in gender matters, Iraq has been turned in the space of 4 years into one of the most oppressive countries for women.

From being a secular state that allowed and encouraged women in all walks of life, it has become a sectarian prison state that targets and murders women...

From being a country that respected its women and their contributions to society in arts, politics, literature, poetry, music, science...it has become a country that tortures, imprisons, rapes, mutilates its women and send them to the gallows.

From what used to be a civil society, emerged the monsters of Freedom and Democracy, destroying our families, our parents, our children, our lovers, our husbands, our friends...and us.

Look at the current ideological atmosphere that reigns over Iraq. It is a disaster of monumental proportions.

All the laws pertaining to gender equality have been changed. Everything that Iraqi women struggled for since the 1920’s, everything that the previous governments tried to establish in matters of gender equality, has been ripped apart.

Now there is talk of the Sharia’a becoming the legal corpus of the State.
And what kind of Shari’a! The most repressive interpretation of it.

What do we need the Sharia’a for? Weren’t we Muslims before ? Weren’t we religious enough before ? Or maybe you think you have monopoly over the Truth, or maybe you think you have monopoly over God himself ?

And why should a non-Muslim be forced to live under a Sharia’a imported from Iran?

They tell me, don’t rock the boat. Why should I not rock the boat?
By God if I had the power, I would overturn that cursed boat and let all those on board sink right into the bottomless pits of the ocean.

Why should I and other Iraqi women be forced to live under mullah rule? Has anyone asked for our permission? And who are these mullahs anyways?

Don’t think you can fool us with your robes, turbans, and silver rings from Qum.
We know who you are and what your backgrounds were. We know how you all rushed to buy that robe and buy that turban. We know how you were eager to grow that beard and we know at what price you were given the Masonic ring from Qum.

And we also know about your militias and your men. We know how much they pocket, and what they do after evening prayers. We know their secret vices, their whiskeys and their heroin, preferably in capsule forms...and their muta’a girls...Yes we know.

Now you come and impose on us your brand of religiosity ? You pimps for Teheran.
In the numerous cities over which you have full control, women are massacred daily in broad day light.
What crime have they committed ? You statue devotees, you idol worshippers of dead Ayatollahs and senile corrupt ones.
To hell with you and your Ayatollahs. To hell with you and your Sistani.
To hell, to the raging pits of hell.

Every month, an average of 15 dead female corpses are found littering the streets of Basra like some discarded refuse, like some garbage...murdered.
One because she did not wear the veil, the other because she had pink lipstick, the third because she did not look like a walking tent...

Every day in Baghdad, there are stories of women being kidnapped, raped, mutilated in their genitals by your militias. Every single day...

Every day there are stories of women being burned by acid for not covering up properly. Every single day...These are the practices you brought from Iran you bastards.

So what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that a bit of hair or a bit of pink lipstick will deviate you from the path of the so-called God you worship?
Are you afraid that a bit of hair or a bit of lipstick will detour you from your piety and bring back your sexual depravity and perversity to the forefront...
What a depraved, perfidious, perverse bunch you are. What a hideous criminal bunch you are.

As for the women, so called members of Parliament. You are a disgrace to your gender. You are disgrace to Iraq. And you are disgrace to Islam.
First, you have accepted working for this government. Secondly, you have silenced your voices in favor of your so-called sects. Thirdly, you have pocketed unlawful money. Fourthly you are part and parcel of this prison edifice brought with the occupation and which you call a government. And you dare talk about Islam ?

Why are you afraid to challenge article 41? You know it will mean taking us back to the medieval ages. But you fear that if you talk against article 41, you are indirectly praising the old regime.

Yes the old regime, which had the most progressive laws for women in the Middle East.
Well, I am not afraid to praise the old regime. I say bring back Saddam Hussein’s family law.
I wish I can bring back Saddam Hussein himself and be done with you and with your rotten laws drafted under the supervision of your masters the Americans and the Iranians. To hell, to the raging pits of Hell.

And what about your prisons where thousands of Iraqi women have been lingering for years with no charges. Some of them as young as 13 years old.
What about those fucking prisons? You tell me, "God fearing, pious ones."

What about their bodies covered with scabs, in filthy conditions, with no medical care, giving birth on floors covered with urine and excrements, with infections and diseases killing them before you kill them by hanging.

I will not even mention those women who are displaced, exiled, pauperized, abandoned, begging, sleeping on pavements, forced into prostitution and some of them as young as 13, to feed their families. All in the name of Democracy.

And you ask me why I am so angry? If my anger could turn into a blazing fire that will consume all of you, I will not hesitate one moment to spit that fire right on your faces.

And what about you Salafists Jihadists? Another bunch of hypocritical Takferees. Who are you to judge and by which authority, who is a Muslim and who is not ?
Who are you to decree who should follow your invented rules and laws?
Who are you to push women around, force them to cover up, beat them, humiliate them, insult them ? Who are you?

I will tell you who you are . You are nothing but another bunch of perverted misogynists, only able to flex your muscles on us instead of the occupier. Covering your political impotence with brute force. You are cowards, you are the idol worshippers of your little selves, of your male egos...

And to both of you murderers, since when in Iraq, does a Muslim ever kill a non-Muslim ? Since when does a Muslim ever displace a Christian, or any one else because of their sect or religion?

You are not from us. You are a strange body, a tumor, that needs to be surgically removed. All of you and your followers. To hell, to the raging pits of Hell.

And in the North, more cases are emerging of stoning to death in both the Yazidi community and the Kurdish clans. In this latter, there are also some reported cases of female excision.

Since when do we lapidate our women? Since when do we stone them to death? Since when do we have honor killings? Since when do we practice excision on our girls ? Since when ? Have you got no conscience ? Have you got no morals ? Another bunch of criminals. To hell, to the raging pits of Hell.

Is it not enough that we are occupied and plundered by the most barbaric nation on earth.
Is it not enough that we lost our children, our families, our loved ones, our homes, our belongings, our lives through this occupation.
Is it not enough that Iraqi women are imprisoned, raped, tortured, burnt, slaughtered by the Americans.

Only today, was the funeral of two Armenian Christian women. One of them was driving her car, using it as a taxi to raise income to feed her family, risking her life as a taxi driver through checkpoints, militias, barricades, to feed her family.
She was randomly shot at. Just like that.
A Mother gone, just like that. And so many other mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers...

Is that not enough for you? Is that not enough?


This is no Religion. This is no Islam. This is the Jahiliya. The age of Ignorance. The age of Darkness...
The period when girls were buried alive as a sacrifice, as an offering to the tribal Gods of the Pagans.

You are these Pagans today. You are the Kuffars today, You are the Unbelievers today. You are the Hypocrites that the Koran warns us about. You are the ones in whose heart there is a disease...Yes, you are the sick ones. The ones that will err forever and ever and will not see the Light. To hell, to the raging pits of Hell.

And these dead female bodies will face you on the day of Reckoning.
Each single one of them and will ask you for what sin they were murdered and your faces will turn red with shame.

Red as the fog of thick clouds in which you will grope, red as the roaring flames you will find yourselves in...In hell, in the raging pits of Hell.


Painting : Iraqi artist, Thamer Al-Nasry.

Unplugged...

I remember an old joke, I heard sometime ago...It goes like this.
"How many Californians does it take to change a light bulb ?"
"10. One to change it and 9 to share the experience."

I guess this joke was invented, because Californians are known to be into sharing and caring experiences. You know, burn some incense, light a candle, and talk about your chakras...Candle meditation kind of gatherings. Deep, very deep.

In Iraq, we have candle meditation gatherings too. It's called NO electricity.

A popular joke going around in Baghdad.

"Child: Mother, mother! Daddy was electrocuted!
"Mother: "We have power?"


Radhee yells daily his favorite mantra, "For God sake unplug it."

Radhee in Adhamiya gets a total of 3 hours of electricity per day.
1 in the morning, 2 in the early evening. These are considered lucky days.

In the morning, his wife unplugs the fridge so they can plug in the air cooler. And in the evening, she plugs in the fridge, before all the food thaws, and unplugs the air cooler...

Radhee was also a "member" of a "neighborhood" generator.
He paid around 175 dollars a month to get a few extra hours of electricity. But the guy who runs this very lucrative business swindled them. He would cash in the money and not provide the electricity.
So Radhee collected some money from relatives and bought his own generator.
But then there is the problem of diesel for the generator to function.
So Radhee ventures every other day to buy a few gallons of diesel. That costs him an extra 200+ dollars a month if he wants at least 7 hours of electricity.

I did say venture, tentatively venture outside his home.
Adhamiya is known for its snipers, sectarian militia infiltrators, 1000 checkpoints, and frankly Radhee is getting quite traumatized from constantly stumbling on cadavers lying around the neighborhood. Wouldn't you ?
So venturing out to buy diesel is a whole undertaking that needs careful and meticulous planning.

Besides, Radhee is unemployed and can't continue borrowing money left, right and center.

Last time we spoke, he told me they simply can't afford this personal generator anymore. So him and his wife have become professionals in electrical matters. They know everything about watts, bulbs, circuits, wires, and how much each appliance consumes when plugged. They have become experts in saving electricity.

Someone should give them the nobel prize in Ecology. You know Greenpeace, Save the Planet, WWF...

As for auntie Sameera, who lives in Karrada, the situation is slightly more complex.
Karrada is now divided into two parts. The upper and the lower.
The upper is controlled by the Badr Brigades of Al-Hakeem SCII party. A nasty vile bunch. They have their own checkpoints and search methods.

The lower part, on the other hand, is controlled, by the psychopathic bunch, the Mahdi Army. They too have their own checkpoints and search methods. The drill is the preferred one.

Now catch this. If for instance, auntie Sameera wants to go to upper Karrada, she must take a WRITTEN authorization from the Mahdi and present it to the Badr militias. And vice versa.
Auntie Sameera's misfortune is that she lives right in the middle of Karrada. So she is never sure to whom she must report - The Badr or the Mahdi.

Now the plot thickens...if any member of her family needs to go and buy diesel, they need two written authorizations. One from each militia.
If any member of her family needs some official paper work done in any ministry, then they need 4 written authorizations...

Or take the example of Nadia in Ameriya. Nadia has to go, and am not exaggerating, through 7 checkpoints inside her own neighborhood. And every time she undergoes a body search. She queues for hours in the sun, and she is fasting since it's Ramadan, waiting for her turn for the body search.

A few days ago, she needed some kerosene and diesel, and of course no taxi would take her inside the neighborhood...
You know what she did? She took a wooden cart on wheels, and pushed it for 2 hours before reaching her home. You know those old wooden carts with two wheels, from the Middle Ages ? Yes these ones...

She also told me that her cart came in quite handy. The neighbors borrowed it the other day to tranport an emergency patient to the hospital.

I think they should start developing hospitals on wheels as well. And houses on wheels. And electrical generators on wheels...It will just make it faster at checkpoints.

Before the invasion and during the draconian sanction years, the above neighborhoods and the whole of Baghdad were getting from 6 to 24 hours of electricity per day.
And that, despite lack of spare parts for grinds which were again forbidden by the sanctions committee. You can trust the ingenious Iraqi mind when it comes to matters in repairing things.

When the "liberators" landed, the electricity has gone down to 2 hours, if you are lucky. No wonder it takes 10 Americans to change a lightbulb !

But the official figure for electricity is 6 hours a day according to some study conducted in America. Now, how the hell would the Brooking institute know ?

And as one resident exclaimed: "Six hours, even that, would be mercy from God."

But hey, we have good news : "The Iraqi ministry of electricity has a plan...to give the whole country full power by 2010."

Promises, promises...

"That is a distant dream, I think," Hussein said. "That is so far in the future, at that time we will be old; I will retire - Hussein is 18."

A distant dream indeed...


Everything has become all very complicated for the ordinary Baghdadi citizen in the Red Zone ghettoes. Dangerously complicated.

Going to work is complicated, going to school is complicated, visiting a doctor is complicated, shopping is complicated, social gatherings are complicated, everything is complicated, everything is dangerous...so complicated and so dangerous, that nearly everyone has given up from venturing outside their homes unless absolutely necessary.

So to kill time and fight the darkness, Iraqis are perfecting their skills in Electrical Engineering - by candlelight, waiting for the year 2010.



P.S : Do read the full article. Radhee, Auntie Sameera and Nadia corroborate its accuracy.

Painting : Iraqi female artist, Yaqeen Al-Dulaimi.

Charitable Hands...

I have received a few mails, asking to make contributions to Iraqis in need.
I thank you all for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

I, personally, cannot take responsibility to receive any money transfers for several reasons.
First, this would require my divulging personal information. Something am unwilling to do.

Seeing the current "security" situation in Iraq, I will not put any member of my family or myself at risk, especially that my blog is considered "fiery."

However, I know of someone, who has established a small pool of funds for internally displaced Iraqi families who are in dire need and he is currently supporting 6 families by sending a little money each month. This money goes a long way for them.

I trust this man and it is rare for me to trust people on the net. But he is worthy of my trust. Hence, am mentioning him.

So for those of you, who wish to help an Iraqi family, with whatever you can contribute, please contact me and I will forward his address to you.

And please do remember, Iraqis were never into mendicity before their "Liberation".

True Colors...

Did you know that in the Arabic language there is no such thing as "How are you."
In classical Arabic the phrase is " Kayfa al Hal " meaning how is your state- of being or mind.

In colloquial Iraqi it is "shlonak." I suppose "shlonak" comes from "sheenoo lonak" meaning what is your color. And again, I suppose that "color" means state. The color of your being.

I assume the above linguistics turns, were derived from Islamic medicine, which classified "humors or states" and "colors" for the diagnosis of illnesses.

Well, yesterday, had someone asked me "shloonak" or "kayf al hal", I would have responded "Bright Red."

Yesterday's program on al-Jazeera made me really angry.
The program titled "Al Ray wa Ray al Akhar" - roughly translated as Differing Opinions.
First of all Sami Haddad, the moderator, was abysmal. I never really liked him. He comes across as smug and pompous. But yesterday, his performance was nil.

First, he was terribly rude to one Iraqi guest, Haroon Mohamed. He literally told him: "You should not argue like a waiter in the street." But he was very courteous to the American, the Kurd and the sectarian Shia from Iran.

I do not know what these pedantic Arab presenters have against waiters. He used the word "garçonieh" from the French "Garçon".
And of course Sami Haddad believes he is above a "garçon."

I used to have esteem for al-Jazeera and I must say it is dwindling...
Still, I prefer it to Al-Arabyia. I will get back to Sami Haddad later. He had me fuming that night.

The program was on the Partition or Federalism of Iraq following J.Biden's proposal and the so called “non binding” vote in the U.S congress.
The invited guests were Edward Joseph from the not-so-great USA, “ Dr” J.Kandil, representing SCCI of the Al-Hakim mafia from Iran. Haroon Mohamed, a patriotic independent Iraqi, and finally “Dr” Fouad Hussein, representing “Iqlim Kurdistan.”

Everytime I hear that word “Iqlim Kurdistan” I crack up laughing. The Kurds never had a state in their whole entire history, except for one year in Iran in the 40’s. An artificially constructed state that went down the drains within 12 months. And so it shall be again...

And notice how many “Doctors” of political science we now have in Iraq. Masha'Allah. Iraqis who voted for those criminals must stand very proud and tall today for electing such specimens. Sorry, no sympathy for you guys.

Edward Josef's position was the usual American bullshit. Iraqis can’t get along... the only rational thing to do is to split them up. It is up to them if they want a "loose federation" or "independent statelets." Ex-Yugoslavia style.

Haroon Mohamed, who was nastily castigated by pompous Sami Haddad, argued and rightly so, that Iraq since the 20’s had a strong national centralized state with its modern institutions. And that since the 90’s there has been a Zionist design to split up Iraq. And now they are going according to the said plan.

Of course Sami Haddad spilled the same crap that the Americans and their cohorts have been spilling for decades, “Is it not better, that Iraq splits since the previous government was brutal on the Shias and Kurds ?”
“Exaggerated, fabricated lies" responded Haroon Mohamed.
Exaggerated, fabricated lies indeed. Lies precisely concocted for the invasion, occupation, regime change, fake elections, and ultimate division of Iraq.

“Dr” Kandil of the Iranian Mafia in Baghdad argued that the official SCII stance is against partition, that Maliki himself was against it and that Ammar al-Hakeem was against it, even though and check this out as it is very important – Ammar al Hakeem was engaged in several private talks with J.Biden before this resolution passed in Congress and agreed in principle to the idea.
“Dr” Kandil added that there are clauses in the non final draft of the Iraqi constitution that does mention federalism for the nine Southern provinces.

Basically, some hair splitting on terminology and how much they will be getting out of the partition deal.
They – the sectarian shias - really want their 9 provinces on an independent basis. Do not forget that oil is concentrated there.
But it seems there are tugs between the Shias and the Kurds over Kirkuk. I think these will be resolved soon. The sectarian Shias do not care for a unified Iraq.
It is in the interest of IRAN to have a decentralized Iraqi state. And this is what they will be aiming for and it is in the process of becoming so with Baghdad as a weak administrative center.

The South is already under the full control of the Mahdi – SCII mafia. It is a question of percentages and who gets exactly what. Furthermore, only a few days ago, the Mahdi and SCII signed an agreement on the Southern and Center provinces. Et voila !

Also note, that the so-called “Iraqi opposition” i.e the Iraqi sell outs agreed with the Kurds, before the invasion, to accept Federalism as the only viable option for the New Iraq. And this agreement was included in the new Iraqi “constitution” that was drafted by the Americans still to be finally ratified. And when I say Federalism read Balkanization, read Partition.

As for the honorable Kurdish Doctor, of Iqlim Kurdistan (hahahaha), in his typical chauvinist, Zionist, deceitful manner, argued that the Kurds were very eager to see "democracy" in Iraq (as in Kurdistan!)and that they were very "concerned" about the civil strife between Arab shias and sunnis.
And since they(the Kurds) have been so "cruelly oppressed" by the previous regime, it is only right for them to have their full independence. The Peshmerga militias are now considered the official army of "Iqlim" Kurdistan and no official Iraqi army is allowed to enter their "Iqlim."

I am preparing another post on the Zionist Kurds and I will leave it to you to see how “oppressed“ they were and how "democratic" they have become...

Basically what Dr.Zion was arguing is that a partitioned Iraq is a must. Undoubtedly so, since the Kurds have already signed 5 new oil contracts without Baghdad’s approval. And so far, the Maliki mafia does not seem to mind it all that much.
Moreover, I did mention in a previous post that Mosul’s turn in ethnic cleansing was approaching. And what I predicted came to pass. Mosul is being ethnically cleansed after Kirkuk and Erbil...Arabs are being driven out and Christians or what is left of them in Mosul, are now considered Kurdish Christians. Ditto for the other minorities like the Sabeans and Yazidis.

I can’t give you the full transcript of the program. But grosso modo, these were the arguments put forward.

Sami Haddad concluded his program in the typical English fashion – and he is located in England, so I guess English hypocrisy must have rubbed off after all these years -by quoting the late King Faysal of Iraq who said in 1931 to the effect “ Iraqis do not know what patriotism to a nation is, they have no sense of unity, they will remain as tribes and clans...”
Need I remind Sami Haddad what happened to King Faysal or to Nouri al-Said or to the English for that matter? Shame on you, pompous, English, Sami Haddad.

Am not finished yet...

Now what amazes me most, is why is everyone suddenly “surprised” or “shocked” by the Biden Resolution ? Any true Iraqi knew it all along. And as Haroon Mohamed above, pointed out, that was the plan all along, ever since 1990.

I would go even further, and assert that this was the plan all along, prior to Desert Storm in 1991 and I would add, prior to the Iran-Iraq war.
As a matter of fact, these wars were nothing but a preparation for this resolution. And this is where Iran was a very useful ally with its retrograde Khomeinism and political shi’ism. And Iran, the hypocritical dog of sectarianism, obliges till this very day.

So why is everyone so shocked ?

My grandmother who could not read and write used to tell me that the enemies of Iraq will never cease before they divide it and steal its resources. My grandfather recounting Britannia in Iraq used to say the same thing. My late father in the 80’s affirmed the same thing. My mother in her typical motherly fashion keeps repeating it today “See, I told you so, 20 years ago.”

So why are you so surprised or shocked?

When the Americans decided to invade and occupy Iraq and split it on ethnic and sectarian grounds, (kurds, shias, sunnis) were they not preparing for that day ?

When they declared “Iqlim Kurdistan” a safe, protected area in the 90’s, where they not preparing for that day ?

When the anti-war (another hahahahaha) sell outs, with Chomsky at their head, cried about the oppression of the Shias and the Kurds, were they not preparing for that day ?
Go and refresh your memories and read your darling Chomsky in the Independent of February 2007. You dig it out, I have no time to do your research for you.

When I wrote, article after article, affirming that the sectarian Shia militias from IRAN were ethnically cleansing Baghdad and its provinces in preparation for that day, I was the one who was accused of sectarianism.

When I repeated, article after article that the thug Muqtada al Sadr, that some of you still consider a "patriotic anti-American" was/is an accomplice in the ethnic cleansing along with the Badr Brigades of al-Hakeem, in preparation for that day, I was accused of being a partisan of the U.S.

When I wrote that the Kurdish militias also called the Peshmergas have not ceased ethnically cleansing the North, and were/are trained by Israel in preparation for that day, I was called a Fascist.


What will it exactly take ?
Well what you, hypocritical, intellectual perverts of the zionist left, and that includes a good deal of the so called Arab ”left“- wanted all along, took place and will continue - Partition, Federalism call it what you like.


Iraq, and I have said it many a times, is the fig leaf that fell on the ground and exposed all of your true colors. And what colors they are !

Next time you see an Iraqi refugee begging on some street corner, or one that is on his death bed from some bullet, drill or bomb, in the Red zone, ask him “Kayf al hal?” - how is your state ? or ask him which statelet he comes from.
Or better ask him “Shlonak ?” - What is your color.
And you will see yours reflected back at you.


P.S. If you want to laugh a little, read what our buffoon Kurdish president Talabani had to say today – click here for some good laughs.
And do you know why he expects a troop withdrawal soon in 2008? Because the partition would be in full effect by then..But he re-assures you that American military bases will still be needed and that Maliki is a clean guy.
So do keep him on board - Democrats and other "liberal, progressive, lefties."(hahahaha)

Painting: Iraqi female artist, Hana Mal Allah. "New Baghdad city map - U.S Map,2007"

Here is, True Solidarity for you.

Yesterday, I received the following e.mail from an American.
I was pleased to read it. In fact I read it many times. It is what I call an uplifting e.mail.
I salute this person's honesty, integrity and courage. And these three qualities are uplifting to me. A piece of crystal in a pool of mud.
And as token of thanks, I am publishing his/her response for all to see.
Since I have not asked for prior consent, the name will be withheld.


" Thank you for your hard-hitting, passionate writings.
They may not be what we want to read, but they are what we need to read.

I read your essays..and found them to be excellent...
I expect "A reminder... just in case you forgot" will spark some controversy...
Nearly everyone...is constantly blithering about a US military attack on Iran any minute now.

The entire US "antiwar" movement has been embarrassing themselves by predicting the same thing for at least four years now. I tell them it won't happen, at least not during the remainder of the George W. Bush presidency, which comes to an end in January of 2009...

Of course, I am sometimes regarded as a heretic for dissenting from the "party line."

I suspect most of the "antiwar" crowd in this country will continue embarrassing themselves with predictions of imminent war against Iran which will not come to pass. They seem completely oblivious to the fact that together Iran and the Washington-Tel Aviv axis have destroyed Iraq.

You sometimes bring up in your essays the lies told about Saddam Hussein and the Baathist government of Iraq. Sadly, the majority of the US "antiwar" gang, during the periods before the 1991 and 2003 attacks against Iraq parroted all of these propaganda stories, and were full collaborators in the demonization of Saddam Hussein and his government.

Often, "antiwar" speeches I heard would begin with something along the lines of
" I do not support the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein who has..."

The speaker would then launch into the same atrocity propaganda stories being spread by the US government and media before saying that even though Saddam was Satan incarnate, he or she still did not support the war and thought we should give sanctions more time to work. Of course, there were and continue to be exceptions to this general rule.

Far too many of the "antiwarriors" here also refuse to ever mention the crimes of the Zionist entity, or its role in pushing for US action against its enemies. Sometimes it is out of fear of being labeled antisemitic (a real enough fear, by the way), and other times it is because of the involvement of a fairly large number of "liberal Zionists" in the "antiwar" movement.

I recall one "liberal zionist" woman who was speaking at a meeting in 1991 while the brutal assault on Iraq was taking place. She was literally crying. Her words were something to the effect of "I don't like this war, but Saddam Hussein is so horrible, and he is attacking Israel. He has to be stopped!"

Is it any wonder the "antiwar" movement here is so ineffective?

In closing, I wish you well...and my hope is that soon Iraq will again be united and independent. "

Now this is what I call TRUE SOLIDARITY !

" I did not look away "

" Hospitals specialising in cancer treatment have urged the Iraq authorities to replenish supplies because they say a shortage of essential medicines is putting the lives of thousands of patients at risk.

“Patients are dying from cancer because of a lack of medicines in public hospitals. Private pharmacies are selling the products but at very high prices, which cannot be afforded by poor families,” said Ibraheem Muhammad, a senior official at the Cancer Research Centre at the Ministry of Health.

“Indispensable drugs like methotrexate, largely used in breast [cancer], bone [cancer] and in certain cases of leukaemia; cyclophosphamide used in lung and breast cancer and lymphomas, as well as vindesine, used in all those cases, are seriously short in all hospitals in Iraq,” Muhammad added. “To make the situation worse for patients, some machines used for radiotherapy are broken, waiting for repairs.”

According to Muhammad, some wealthier patients are going abroad for treatment when they can get the visas but poor families are desperate as they cannot afford to be treated privately.
“Based on information received at our centre, at least 60 people have died from cancer in Iraq due to a lack of medicines in the past two months. Cancer in some patients can develop very fast if treatment isn’t available and if the situation continues, more cases are going to be reported in the coming weeks,” he noted.

Black-market dealers

Fua’ad Abdel-Razaq, an oncologist at Cancer Studies Hospital, in the capital, Baghdad, said black-market dealers can be found at hospital doors selling drugs for cancer treatment.

“In addition to the high prices, many of the drugs [sold illicitly] have already expired and desperate families buy them in an attempt to save the lives of their loved ones but thereby put the patients at high risk,” Abdel-Razaq added.
Based on information received at our centre, at least 60 people have died from cancer in Iraq due to a lack of medicines in the past two months.

The oncologist went on to say that in the past few months some local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) delivered many medicines to his hospital but none was suitable for cancer treatment.

"We were forced to send all the drugs to other public hospitals because they are not for treating cancer. For example, paracetamol cannot treat the pain of a cancer patient but morphine can, but it isn’t available,” said Abdel-Razaq.

Doctors at Basra’s Maternity and Child Hospital said about 20 new cancer and leukaemia cases are reported among children each month. “It pains us to see so many children appearing in our clinics suffering from cancer and especially as we know they will die because they’ll not be treated,” said Dr Ali Hashimy, an oncologist at the hospital. “If medicines are available we could save at least 70 percent of them.”



I bet you thought that was an article from the sanctions years. Wrong.
This IRIN article appeared yesterday and is dated 4th october 2007.

Every single Iraqi I meet tells me that the sanctions years appear like the "golden years" compared to what is now. The golden years. Can you imagine !?

The sanctions years were horrible years, but today's reality in Iraq is even more horrific. The above article attests to it. And this is nothing. The reality is far uglier than what is stated in the IRIN report.

Talking about the "golden years" of the sanctions, I remember how I lost an uncle because the hospital had no ink for the ECG and no X rays. Forbidden by the sanctions committee. He passed away from a lung and heart condition at age 54.
And how I lost another uncle due to cancer and there was no available medication and no morphine. Forbidden by the sanctions committee.

I also remember seeing little children with leukemia and other diseases queuing for days in the hope of getting treatment. Many of them died while waiting. I will never forget their faces nor their eyes. The despair, the fear and the eternal question marked all over them with WHY ? WHAT HAVE WE DONE ?

I will never forget the doctors, trying to be brave about it all and privately breaking down in tears...

How can I forget the " golden years "?

But today, hospital patients are dragged out of their beds and shot. Or they are left to die for lack of medication and treatment. If they are lucky to make it to a functional hospital that is and if they are lucky to find a doctor, the majority of which have fled the country. Do remember the brain drain of the Iraqi intelligentsia.

Who is to blame this time around ? Saddam Hussein and his WMD's ?

I can understand why the sanctions years are considered the "golden years" in comparison to today's Iraq.

But just to refresh your "collective memory" or should I say your "collective conscience ", assuming you have one of course. I want to share with you a wonderful piece of writing from someone who visited Iraq several times during those "golden years." His name is George Capaccio and this is what he had to say.

I Did Not Look Away

No, I did not look away

from the things I went there to see.

In a land where hunger had become rare

until sanctions and war joined hands in prayer,

I saw women in black begging at street corners

and boys too poor for school

hawking cigarettes and kerosene

to keep their families afloat.

I saw parents rushing into hospitals

with children in their arms,

and emergency rooms flooded with patients

holding in pain on bleeding floors.

I saw ambulances on cinder blocks

rotting away in a parking lot

because ambulances are weapons of war

and can't be repaired in Iraq.

I saw oxygen tanks standing in line,

waiting for valves that never come,

and hospital hallways stripped to the bone.

Everything gone, lugged off and sold

for even the simplest supplies --

a light bulb, a pail, a bag of diapers.

I saw an infant named Amani Kasim

curled up on a filthy blanket,

her face confined to an oxygen mask,

her body shriveled and discolored

from severe malnutrition.

I saw a fourteen-year old girl named Amira

who could not stand and could not speak

and was dying from cancer.

"Two maybe three days more," the doctor said.

"We do not have the proper drugs

so we give supportive care only."

She was so thin, so weak

she could not lift her head off the pillow.

I caressed her brow and cheek

and the damp ringlets of hair

fallen about her face.

A collapsed blood bag froze above her.

Mother and grandmother softly wept

and prayed to God for mercy.

I saw other mothers tending incubators,

that didn't have thermostats

and might overheat.

I saw the blood and urine

on beds without sheets,

the nimbus of flies around bottles of formula,

the sadness in the doctors' eyes

as they told me which infants

would live or die.

No, I didn't look away.

I caressed each brow,

whispered through my touch,

"Your life is a part of me and when you go,

I shall weep."

I saw a generation of mothers

keeping watch on their children.

I heard them ask me for medicine

and felt their hands open then meet

the emptiness of mine


This is only one piece. George has more to share about his experiences in Iraq. I just wish there were more people like George around. You can contact him at Georgecapaccio@verizon.net

Painting : Iraqi artist, AbdelAmeer Alwan.

A reminder...just in case you forgot.

Just heard an interesting program.
Bush is ready and willing to face Iran tête à tête and NEGOTIATE on the nuclear issue.

Thank you Iraq. Thank you Iraqi Resistance. Thank you the 2 million Iraqis killed. Thank you the 5 million exiled...Thank you Iraq the everlasting sacrificial lamb.

The "anti- imperialistic " Iran on the other hand, urges the international community to support Karzai, the Afghani puppet. Just as it has urged the international community to support the other puppet Maliki. Re-read that sentence will you. Or are you deaf and blind at the same time ?

So "dear" anti-war movement and other pre-emptive wailers, when will the strike take place ? Tomorrow, next month, or next year? Maybe next century ?

Is this why Scott Ritter said let us put Iraq on the back burner ?
Of course, why should you give a fuck about Iraq.

You did not during Desert Storm also known as Gulf War I- when 700 tons of bombs fell on our heads. You certainly did not give a fuck when 13 years of sanctions killed 1.5 million Iraqis - half of them children under your DEMOCRATIC government auspices.
And you certainly do not give a fuck about the current genocide.

All you had to say and you keep repeating till this very day, was that Saddam Hussein was a dictator and that he oppressed the shias and the kurds. Lies you have FABRICATED.

Now we have a divided, partitioned "country". If you can still call it a country that is. (your zionist Chomsky must be very proud).
And all you do is defend Iran against an improbable attack USING Iraqi suffering, pain and destruction. And Iraq ? To hell with Iraq.

You have no scruples, no political ethics and no shame.
What a bunch of ...

Now what should I call you ? Sell outs ? Hypocrites ? Bastards ? Sons of bitches ?
Or maybe all of the above ?
Please choose which term you prefer best and I shall oblige.

At least with your neocons, we know where we stand. They are as clear as daylight.
But you, you are the worst of the worse.

A New Map of Iraq.

This is " Iraq al Jadeed ", the New Iraq of the sectarian Iranian Government, with its militias and thugs and "Islamic" revolutionary Guards...who landed with the Occupation

This is the New Iraq of the "Islamic" fundamentalists, the pious ones, the " God fearing ones." ...who arrived with the Occupation.

This is the New Iraq that America brought to us. This is American Freedom and Democracy. This is American Liberation.

This is my Dear Raouf. This is the gentle, kind, Raouf.
This is his body. These are the marks of the New Iraq. These are the hands and arms that embrace us daily in the New Iraq.

This is the Iraqi body. With its streams, mountains, rivers and skies...Look at it well. Scan it well like you scan our irises. Make prints out of it, like you take our digital fingerprints....Look well, very well.

Contemplate the colors.

The deep black, the color of the new map. The Southern part is all black. The color of the chadors. The color of the turbaned mullahs. The color of perpetual mourning for something that happened 7 centuries ago. The color of political shi'ism from Iran. The color of oil, shiny black.
You absolutely adore, worship shiny black. Don't you?
So take it now. Contemplate it now.

And what about the red ? Admire the red for me.
Red, the color of your valiant peshmergas in the North. The Northern part of the map is all red. It covers Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Sulaymaniya, Dohuk...
Your leftists love red. The color of independence, revolution and blood ....
Your leftists loved the Independence of the Kurds. They did everything to beef up numbers and sold it to your rightists. Now applaud the red you see. Drink it and quench your thirst with it.

And have you noticed the white patch in the Center ?
This is Baghdad - the destroyed, vanquished city. With its 2 million livid white dead bodies waving like white flags in the air, like birds of "Freedom" in the winds... White the color of sunni robes. White the color of Death.
Snow white. Yes it is. It is bandaged in snow white. Revel in white now. Purify yourselves with it.

Observe the blue. Blue is the color of the sky. Blue is the rivers...
Why has this blue turned brown ? Scorched brown, burned brown, putrefied blue brown.
Observe the blues, turning brown...
You love it when everything takes on the colors of feces. A reflection of yourselves. Admire yourselves now.


And the new map has green writing in the middle. "Allah Akbar" it says. God is Great.
If you look close enough you will find it.
It is written with human hands, with fingers, with nails, engraved, etched, scratched, deep into the skin of the Iraqi Body.
Search for it, in between the marks of the chains, rods, sticks, rubber hose...
Search for it well, in between the scars, amidst the wounds, in between the mutilated cracks, inside the infected sores...Search well.


This is the new Iraqi body, the partitioned body, the divided body...
This is the new Iraqi body, the raped, violated, tortured, mutilated Iraqi body...
This is the new Iraqi body, the invaded, occupied, Iraqi body...

The new Iraqi body, the piece of meat of Liberation...
The kingdom within, the temple, that has been spoiled and broken without, losing its sacredness, its integrity, its identity...

This is the spirit made flesh, that you spit on, insult, scar, wound, stab, piss on, behead, chop, drill, amputate and murder.

This is your doing. Your Violence. Your Brutality. Your Greed. Your Evilnesss. Your Silence. Your Apathy. Your Indifference. Your Negligence. Your Irresponsibility. Your Immorality. Your Cowardice. Your Selling out...

Yes You, Right and Left.
Yes You. Americans and Westerners alike.
Yes You, Iranians
Yes You, Israelis
Yes You, Arabs.

This is the New Iraq. This is You.



For those of you who are new to this blog, and want to find out more about Raouf's story - Read my previous articles : "A postcard from Iraq" followed by "On the edge and Unwanted."

A Misanthrope in Ramadan - Act II

An Oral Fixation

Ah, the Spirit of Ramadan in the “modern” Arab world. The Arab world of globalization. The tiny members of the “ Global Village ".
The Arab world of Coca Cola, Mc Donalds, Burger King, KFC and plastic Dunkin Donuts...America’s best.

The Arab dumping grounds for obsolete Western technology. Expired or prohibited drugs in the West - known for their deadly side effects. Processed food forbidden in the West due to its cancerogenic long term effects but sold here as a luxury item...

A pack of butter has a 2 years shelf life here. Two whole years. And the label reads Fresh Butter made in Denmark. As for the famous English Cheddar cheese, it's expiry date is one year from production, a whole year. And it is made in the U.S.
( Congratulations not-so great Britain - you are so down the drains, you are incapable of exporting your own cheddar !) And these are only two small examples.

Ah, the Spirit of Ramadan. People are so generous during this period of the year. Supermarkets and grocery stores greedily cash in the extra profits since people buy and buy some more...Food.
They buy and cook food as if there is no tomorrow. Food is also packed and distributed to charity organizations and to poor families who can’t afford a decent meal. But, what about the rest of the year ? Oh well, let them wait for next Ramadan.


All flows and circulates during Ramadan, including the cash but not the traffic.
Try crossing a street and the likelihood of your being run over is ten fold. Bad times for pedestrians like myself.

But then, we are re-assured by the sudden pious zeal that we witness around us...how comforting indeed.


Another characteristic of Ramadan is the famous Ramadan tent. These tents are heavily frequented after Iftar (breaking of the fast).
People sit there for hours, eat and drink some more... Endless teas, coffees, herbal mixtures, and endless trays of dates, sweets and pastries...and of course the famous “Narghileh” or water pipe, the hubbly bubblies of Ramadan. Plus the backgammon and card games.
Nearly everyone plays cards except me. I have no joker left.

An acquaintance invited me to join her in one of those Ramadan tents.
The place was stuffy with honeyed tobacco and we sat at a table where a group of her friends were already playing cards. And as usual, I sat and watched, and watched, and watched some more...

A tumultuous noise, impossible to hold a conversation. Besides, everyone was terribly and seriously engrossed in their card game. It looked like a matter of life and death...A Russian roulette.

I was getting bored and restless as I usually do in big gatherings. I am not much of a group person. So to kill time, I observed and took mental notes...

A plate of dates was served. One of the women, with perfectly manicured nails picked one and ate it. “ Mmmm, these dates are wonderful... Are they made in Iraq ? ”
The guy sitting opposite, without even lifting his head from his deck of cards replied. “ No. Iraqi dates and carps are forbidden these days. ”
The woman trying to pick her best card and without flinching said: “Ohhh...yalla ma’alech. ” (nevermind). She did not even bother to ask why.
She placed her “narghileh” pipe in the corner of her mouth, pursing her equally perfectly painted lips around it and inhaled deeply, thinking ever so intensely of her next move...

Indeed, it does not matter. Why should it matter to anyone that the import of Iraqi dates and carps is forbidden. The ban came after it was finally decided that Iraqi dates and carps are doubly contaminated with depleted Uranium and Cholera.

Not that you really care, but cholera outbreaks have infected over 15’000 individuals in Iraq and have spread from " Kurdistan" to Baghdad, Basra and the Anbar.
As for the depleted Uranium, well if the dates are filled with them, what about Iraqi bodies ?

Yalla, nevermind. Nevermind the occupation, the exodus, the destruction, the annihilation, the prison and torture camps. Nevermind the starved, the undernourished, the begging for food, Iraqi adults and children alike...
Nevermind the genocide. Why should you mind ?
"Yalla ma'alech" - nevermind...keep on sucking...on the "narghileh".


Next to "our" table, was sitting a big man and I mean big, like very big, accompanied by two heavily made up women.
Plate after plate of sweets fell on his table, a huge teapot, and of course the famous " narghilehs ".

They were talking about the economy. The two women sounded like some Lebanese entrepreneurs and the man some important business personality.
I overheard him talk about the new oil deal " package " between Jordan and Iraq (Kirkuk to be more precise). The Kingdom will be getting oil at " very preferential rates as in the past " - read 1 dollar a barrel. In exchange for what? I wondered...

The big man was dexterous indeed. His mouth was full of baklavas, and in one hand he held his tea glass and in the other, the pipe and was intensely sucking too...with no breaks in between....compulsively sucking in one long continuous motion, mouthful motion...And the two women joined him in a chorus like fashion.

I looked at the other tables and realized everyone was sucking...on their water pipes.
The noise was that of something boiling, as if you were sitting in the middle of a boiling pot of water. It was a long stretch of " blublublublublublub..."
Not less than 75 water pipes were going " blublublublublublublub..." and those on my table were going " blublublublublub..."
A symphony of hot air bubbles.

There were also a few tables occupied by foreigners. Most likely Brits or Americans...trying hard to suck on their water pipes too. Except, I bet you anything, the real purpose of their visit was the oil pipes and smoking guns next door.

And as they collectively sucked, the fog of smoke was getting denser and denser...
A thick wall of clouds separated me from the rest...

And of course, my mind wandered far away, all the way to Guantanamo where another form of sucking was forced down the throats of the prisoners. It is called forced feeding. Every day, twice a day. Day in, day out, for months, and for some, it has been 365 days and more of forced sucking.
And I remembered what I heard on that Al Jazeera program, about the Holy Book being ripped to pieces by the Americans and flushed down the toilet along with the excrements of Guantanamo Bay...And of course I had to remember the detailed descriptions of the torture scenes and how in the end, a lot of the detainees were offered "Freedom" in exchange for working for Uncle Sam...
But this is only one parenthesis. I forced myself to come back to this foggy place and continued observing...

Floating in this surreal environment of huffing and puffing, I also noticed another interesting phenomena.
The minute, the men held the narghileh pipe to their lips, they all seemed to slightly slide in their chairs, tilting their bodies to one side as if to recline on one elbow. A position that denotes a sense of "relaxation".
However, this word "relaxation" does not quite fit.
The Arabic version " Istirkha'a " is more accurate to describe this change of posture.
" Istirkha'a " implies relaxation after severe contraction. It conjures up an image of loosened, slackened, lax...muscles.
And equally interesting, is the very close phonetic connotation between "Istirkha'a" and "Istikhra'a."
If you do not know what "Istikhra'a" means, do ask one of your Arab friends. I am sure they will be more than happy to explain it to you.


In fact, the whole scene reminded me of Sultans or Pashas, reclining on some satin cushions...you know, the familiar portraits depicted in the old Orientalist paintings...sucking on their narghilehs.

But if you look closer, you will notice that these men were in fact sucking on some invisible umbilical cord...drawing nourishment, liquid sustenance, from an equally invisible huge placenta...

As for the women suckers...water pipe suckers, they took on the allure of some carefree, seductive, vamp, temptresses straight out of the 1001 nights...affirming their own umbilical cords, their wombs, for a matter of hours, behind a screen of smoke...

The embryonic fetuses of the New World Order, of the New Middle East, about to be born again and again into a "laissez-faire" infantilism.

Please, do not read much into it. There are no political implications to all this sucking. It's just an oral fixation in Ramadan.
Yalla, ma'alech. Nevermind. Enjoy your own.

Painting : Iraqi artist, Said Shnin.