A sordid Realization...
After everything has been said and done...We find ourselves here, alone...picking up the pieces.
I really believe the "average" Iraqi, frankly no longer gives a damn as to what is whom and who is what...In other words, we've paid our dues in advance...
Truth be told, issues like Lebanon, Palestine or Syria and its honeymoon with Iran is the least of our problems...We are survivors, hanging on...
Hanging on by threads, by thin ropes, to the utter indifference of the world...
We are not sexy enough of a cause...Not romantic enough for the "revolutionaries", not a "turn on" for your average shit headed "combatant" of my ass...This we understood from the very first day. This we knew...
Look at the pictures that depict us - a miserable bunch, a forgotten bunch, amidst ruins and dead corpses...
Everyone else is celebrating "divine victories", and we, we are still in the background, dusting off pictures of our dead...keeping the memories alive in all of this obscurity...
How come ? Am I the abnormal one here ? Am I the only one who can't sleep ?
Am I the only one lamenting like Nimrod ?
Am I the only one counting the stolen bricks from Babylon ?
I look at other Iraqi bloggers and I feel red with shame. They are such an insult to our memory, our collective history.
I see idiotic females going ahhhhh! and ohhhhh! over abysmal trivialities and males still trying to impress in spite of their teenage zits...I see some who have never set foot in my beloved's land and some easily co opted with false promises...
I see nothing, I see everything...I see the new god called a pair of blue jeans...I see the new god of Dunkin Donuts and Mac Donald's...and I cringe.
I cringe at the horror of what I am witnessing.
Let alone the deaths and the black wardrobe...let alone the exile and the nothingness of exile, let alone the lives and time wasted in vain...let alone...
I see and I cringe.
So few voices left. So dim, so stifled, so quelled, so choked, so far away...
Painting: Iraqi artist, Mowafak Abdel Hadi.
I really believe the "average" Iraqi, frankly no longer gives a damn as to what is whom and who is what...In other words, we've paid our dues in advance...
Truth be told, issues like Lebanon, Palestine or Syria and its honeymoon with Iran is the least of our problems...We are survivors, hanging on...
Hanging on by threads, by thin ropes, to the utter indifference of the world...
We are not sexy enough of a cause...Not romantic enough for the "revolutionaries", not a "turn on" for your average shit headed "combatant" of my ass...This we understood from the very first day. This we knew...
Look at the pictures that depict us - a miserable bunch, a forgotten bunch, amidst ruins and dead corpses...
Everyone else is celebrating "divine victories", and we, we are still in the background, dusting off pictures of our dead...keeping the memories alive in all of this obscurity...
How come ? Am I the abnormal one here ? Am I the only one who can't sleep ?
Am I the only one lamenting like Nimrod ?
Am I the only one counting the stolen bricks from Babylon ?
I look at other Iraqi bloggers and I feel red with shame. They are such an insult to our memory, our collective history.
I see idiotic females going ahhhhh! and ohhhhh! over abysmal trivialities and males still trying to impress in spite of their teenage zits...I see some who have never set foot in my beloved's land and some easily co opted with false promises...
I see nothing, I see everything...I see the new god called a pair of blue jeans...I see the new god of Dunkin Donuts and Mac Donald's...and I cringe.
I cringe at the horror of what I am witnessing.
Let alone the deaths and the black wardrobe...let alone the exile and the nothingness of exile, let alone the lives and time wasted in vain...let alone...
I see and I cringe.
So few voices left. So dim, so stifled, so quelled, so choked, so far away...
Painting: Iraqi artist, Mowafak Abdel Hadi.
Comments
to dispose of us as you see fit.
If I thought you were sent by the Creator,
I might be induced to think you had a right to dispose of me.
Do not misunderstand me, but understand fully
with reference to my affection for the land.
I never said the land was mine to do with as I choose.
The one who has a right to dispose of it is the one who has created it.
I claim a right to live on my land and accord you the privilege to return to yours.
Brother, we have listened to your talk coming from the father in Washington,
and my people have called upon me to reply to you.
And in the winds which pass through these aged pines
we hear the moaning of their departed ghosts.
And if the voices of our people could have been heard,
that act would never have been done.
But alas, though they stood around,
they could neither be seen nor heard.
Their tears fell like drops of rain.
I hear my voice in the depths of the forest,
but no answering voice comes back to me.
All is silent around me.
My words must therefore be few. I can say no more.
He is silent, for he has nothing to answer when the sun goes down.
Joseph of the Nez Perce
This come to my mind Layla when you wrote what yer heart was telling you.
:-( I pray it does not happen to Iraq....anymore.
Remember, behind the shameful curtain of denial of both the rightist and leftist Media, the spiritual heirs of al-Ra'is ash-Shaheed are still around, pulling the threads of the modern age Qadissyia in an ingenious attrition game that is slowly but surely correcting the deviated course of history.
Time will have not yet triumphed over your beauty, lady, that you will witness the return of the swallows...
My respects.
Well, in my "humble" feminine opinion I find that turbaned Nasrallah, white bearded Khamenei, Ahmadinejad in Jack the Ripper style miserable raincoat and obese Muqtada floating in pitch black gown all summed don't reach a 1/10 of the virile charisma of Saddam swimming across the Tigris or even smiling defiantly at his death on the gallows.
Would I have some libido deviance, then, should I seek help from some Zionist Freudian shrink ? ;-)
Thank you, again, for such a moving post.
I speak for myself when I humbly say that each one of you, everyone, is deeply loved, respected and cherished. And I know deep down that we will witness a beautiful dawn.
In solidarity.
You are right to cry!
Myself, I cringe often when I read the news or hear our politicians (the people too, but I try to live in solitary). They all talk about "winning in Iraq" "no winning in Iraq", "can't afford the war" (that one is perhaps the more callous), "so many (us) lives lost".... but no one ever talks about WE MURDER A NATION! None of the candidates to the presidency has said "WE INVADED A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND HAVE COMMITTED ACTS OF AGGRESSION THAT CONSTITUTE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND WE STILL DOING IT TO THIS VERY DAY". No one is saying what must be clear to so many of us, that "MORALLY WE ARE DEAD, AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE THAT WITHOUT A COMPLETE CHANGE OF HEART, WITHOUT A INDIVIDUAL APOLOGY TO ALL THE WRONGS WE, AS A NATION, HAVE COMMITTED STARTING WITH THE NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS" "NO ONE IS SAYING, THAT WHAT WE ARE DOING IN IRAQ IS DEFINING US, AS A NATION, FOR THE REST OF GENERATIONS"...
Yes, you have a right to cry for you people and your Nation. I do my share of crying, not for this Nation, but for being a part of this sect of humanity that has no voice and chooses to stay that way, voiceless and condemned!
In solidarity
Very Beautiful, thank you.
And very much in line with my exact feelings and thoughts. Who is is Joseph of Nez?
Greetings,
Beautifully said and uplifting. Many thanks...
Like a spider slowly weaving it's web...Fantastic !
hahahahahahaha - that was very witty...clever !
Thank you, beautifully said as well. My, am blessed with great poets today!
My God, long time no see !!!!
Hope you are well.
Again another thank you goes out to you for another beautifully written comment.
Today is really my day - with all this prose that I've been getting from the replies.
Sheer joy !
Josephg was his 'christian given' name but he never understood Christianity in that the people he saw, acted decent in church, but then lived another tyoe of lifestyle away from the church.
The uS governement made treaties with the Nez Perce but land hungry White settlers were always wanting more and more.Treaties wre always written and then later of course, re-written to benefit 'you-know-who. Kind of like some of the Israelis settling in Palestine.
annie
"Why Didn't We Turn to the Security Council and Demand That They Investigate the Killing of Arafat... [or] the Hanging of Saddam?"
"What is the reason for the invasion and destruction of Iraq and for the killing of one million Iraqis? Let our American friends answer this question: Why Iraq? What is the reason? Is bin Laden an Iraqi? No, he is not. Were those who attacked New York Iraqis? No, they were not. Were those who attacked the Pentagon Iraqis? No, they were not. Were there WMDs in Iraq? No, there were not. Even if Iraq did have WMDs – Pakistan and India have nuclear bombs, and so do China, Russia, Britain, France, and America. Should all these countries be destroyed? Fine, let's destroy all the countries that have WMDs.
"Along comes a foreign power, occupies an Arab country, and hangs its president, and we all sit on the sidelines, laughing. Arafat was in captivity for several years, and we sat on the sidelines, and even convened a summit without him. Why didn't we refuse to convene the summit unless Arafat was released? Eventually, they killed him by poison. Why didn't we turn to the Security Council and demand that they investigate the killing of Arafat? Why didn't they investigate the hanging of Saddam Hussein? How can a POW be hanged – a president of an Arab country and a member of the Arab League no less! I'm not talking about the policies of Saddam Hussein, or the disagreements we had with him. We all had political disagreements with him, and we have such disagreements among ourselves here. We share nothing, beyond this hall.
"Why won't there be an investigation into the killing of Saddam Hussein? An entire Arab leadership was executed by hanging, yet we sit on the sidelines. Why? Any one of you might be next. Yes.
"America fought alongside Saddam Hussein against Khomeini. He was their friend. Cheney was a friend of Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld, the U.S. Defense Secretary at the time Iraq was destroyed, was a close friend of Saddam Hussein. Ultimately, they sold him out and hanged him. You are friends of America – let's say that 'we' are, not 'you' – but one of these days, America may hang us."[...]
"We Are the Enemies of One Another, I'm Sad to Say... If Only We Used Such Ferocity Against the Enemy"
"[Arab League secretary-general] Brother 'Amr Musa has an idea, about which he is enthusiastic. He mentioned it in his report. He says that the Arabs have the right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes, and that there should be an Arab nuclear program. The Arabs have this right. They even have the right to have a nuclear program for other... But Allah prevails... But who are those Arabs whom you say should have a united nuclear program? We are the enemies of one another, I'm sad to say. We all hate one another, we deceive one another, we gloat at the misfortune of one another, and we conspire against one another. Our intelligence agencies conspire against one another, instead of defending us against the enemy. We are the enemies of one another, and an Arab's enemy is another Arab's friend. If only we used such ferocity against the enemy.
[...]
"We meet in Syria, which is an Arab country. But the relations Syria has with Russia, Iran, or Turkey are a thousand times better than its relations with its Arab neighbors. The relations that Libya has with Italy are a thousand times better than its relations with its neighbors, Egypt and Tunisia. This is the situation of the Arabs."
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1731.htm
The poor heroic Iraqi Army never got to see the ultramodern military equipment which the treacherous US government had promised and had to make do with Soviet and French antiquities to fight back Khomeini.
Qadhafi better stick to strutting before his own image in a mirror.
Thank you Layla for all that you do. There are people in Australia who have cried for your people and land that we invaded.In Australia we have not helped the people of Iraq,after all what good did a few demonstrations do five years ago,nothing.I turn on the radio and all I hear are people winging about the cost of petrol,have they forgotten how to walk!
The post re the Nez Pez Tribe is beautiful and applicable.