Enough is Enough !
Everytime I read an article written by some american or english "analyst" on Iraq, whoever he/she is, I simply cringe inside.
Papa Chomsky, Hajji Mullah Chossudovsky, the Nabob Chris Floyd, the John le Carre Kurt Nimmo, Lawrence of Arabia P.Cockburn, the Romantic Orientalist Troubadour Robert Fisk, the Misinformed Juanito Cole and the Invisible Man, Investigator, Max Fuller ...
These people have got NO clue of what is happening IN Iraq. Or they have a clue and they simply REFUSE to see. Which of course makes matters worse...
I have read the latest two articles by Papa Chomsky. Your Allah and Guru.
One on Counterpunch and the other in the Independent. Same crap, same flavor.
Please tell your Guru on my behalf that it is about high time, he either sticks to linguistics or simply retires to some Kibbutz and grows cabbages instead...and spares us his insights.
Papa Chomsky is one of the most hypocritical "leftists" I have ever come across.
As for Hajji Mullah Chossudovsky, either he simply does not read what is really happening on the Iraqi grounds or he relies solely on the contributors to his website.
The ones that promise us that Muqtada Sadr and the Sadrists ARE the Resistance against the American Occupation and that the Jaysh al Mahdi, the armed wing of that same infamous sectarian bunch is a distinct entity from which sprung "rogue" elements. Crap again. Muqtada al Sadr, the Sadrists and the Jaysh al Mahdi are one and the same and there are no "rogue" elements to them.
Or maybe Mullah Chossudovsky relies solely on the “brilliance”of Max Fuller.
Something that the Brussels Tribunal, supposedly fighting the Occupation does too.
Anyway who the hell is Max Fuller? Has this guy ever been to Iraq? Has he met Iraqis who were not in exile and did not belong to the Dawah party? Or just he simply extrapolates from his Latin American “expertise” in Colombia and juxtaposes it to Iraq willy nilly? Because everyone seems to quote Mr Invisible Investigator.
He asserts with great vehemence the following :
"What we do have is a growing body of eyewitness testimonies from Iraqis asserting the presence of members of one or other militia group. Such assertions are blown out of all proportion within the mainstream western media by writers who have never seriously questioned the role of US military-intelligence advisors in orchestrating the death squads despite a barrage of evidence. The views of journalists who take this line can be discarded as trash, but not those of the Iraqis, who, undoubtedly, genuinely see the involvement of both Badr and Mehdi militiamen. The problem with such testimonies is not in their credibility but in their ability to perceive the structures and follow the chains of command of the various armed groups that are assaulting them."
What Max fuller wants you to believe is that Iraqis do not know who is actually torturing them and drilling holes in their bodies. We were all awaiting Max Fuller to give us the real culprits. What Max Fuller is telling you folks is to discount what Iraqis who have undergone torture know about their torturer. Namely the Shia Death Squads which consist of Jaysh al Mahdi headed by Muqtada Al Sadr, The Badr Brigades of Al Hakim and the Maghawir Brigades from the ministry of Interior who are now part of the local police and so called Iraqi armed Forces.
But oh no, Max Fuller knows better. He knows better than the Iraqis themselves who is in charge and what the game is all about… What a pack of lies Max Fuller.
Let me ask you, what is exactly your agenda? Come on tell me, I promise I won’t utter a word.
Meanwhile, the Brussels Tribunal ought to reconsider whom it is exactly defending!
So when Hajji Mullah Chossudovsky gives publishing space to a highly sectarian Sadrist under the name of some "doctor" from some Kufa university, who not only praises the Sadrist thugs but also assures the lefties of the blogosphere that Iran is a "sophisticated democracy". Or when he allows someone like Mr Invisible Investigator speak on behalf of the Iraqis and tell the whole world that Iraqis "are not able to perceive" who is behind their torture and rape, what Hajji Mullah Chossudovsky is in fact doing is condoning the killing of Iraqis by Iranian backed puppets called the Sadrists and others who are also engaged in killing members of the IRAQI RESISTANCE who are fighting AGAINST the AMERICAN OCCUPATION.
And don't misquote me now, when I say Iraqi Resistance, I do not mean the despicable Qaeda, another lie that is shoved down your throats.
The same applies to Mr.Lawrence of Arabia, P.Cockburn who has become "plus royaliste que le Roi" endorsing those same thugs cited above. And I shall not say more because P.Cockburn simply gives me the hives.
As for the Nabob Chris Floyd and the clueless Juanito Cole, in almost all of their articles, they insist that:
1) Saddam Hussein's regime "oppressed" Shias and favored the Sunnis which is another blatant lie (but very much in line with the Guru's mantra) and it does not matter how many facts and figures one gives to the Nabob and Co, they have an agenda and wish to pursue it come what may. Arguing that the American occupation is the sole responsible factor for the sectarianism today in Iraq with a fertile terrain laboriously cultivated by the "tyrant" Saddam Hussein.
Needless to say by parroting this long regurgitated propaganda against the "dictatorial regime", and by insisting on what is not true, they are in fact contributing to sectarianism.
Partial truths are cause for sectarianism. Just in case you did not know.
If you want to know what Iraqi society in terms of sects was BEFORE the occupation, you need to ask the Iraqis, your excellencies.
See for instance the very valuable series of correspondence between another “ academic expert” Peter Sluglett and several Iraqis concerning so called "sectarianism" is pre-occupied Iraq.
And it is a must read for all those who wish to have an accurate picture.
As for John le Carre, Kurt Nimmo, he is totally obssessed with a strike on Iran.
I mean here are the two snakes meeting face to face in Baghdad and our John le Carre is already shouting that an imminent strike is about to take place. Joining the chorus of the other "luminaries."
As for Monsieur the Orientalist Troubadour, in an outburst of the most pathetic kind, of a mea culpa sort, tinged with British hypocrisy that we are so used to and if you want to know about British hypocrisy, ask the Iraqis.
Robert Fisk has "suddenly" realized that maybe, just maybe, the West and its journalists, writers and "academics" may be fomenting sectarianism particularly in Iraq and in the Middle East. Oh really Monsieur Fisk? After 30 years of living in the Middle East and being considered the expert "par excellence" did this thought just occur to you now?
So you guys are telling us Iraqis that 1)we do not know what regime we had prior to your occupation 2) that we don't know who is torturing, raping and drilling holes in our bodies 3) that those Iraqis who do "complain" about such practices are not "capable" of true knowledge 4) that you know all about Iraqi sectarianism and that Iraqis who have lived all their lives with each other and intermarried don't.
What arrogance and what racism! So tell me do you know better than this Iraqi woman who was forced to leave EVERYTHING behind and who says:
"The Americans caused so many problems by coming. They’ve damaged everything, the society, the human beings, the buildings, everything. When they came they brought with them people who were involved with Iran. Now, everything in our country is damaged. What a pity. What a pity.
"You know, the Americans said 'we come to liberate you from Saddam,’ but instead they destroyed Iraq. When they killed Saddam we lost more hope. All the Iraqi people would wish the time would turn back, even for one moment to when Saddam was in power, just to feel, even for that moment, what life was like. It didn’t matter if you hated Saddam or liked him, all Iraqis wish for a return to those days..."(full article here)
Or do you know better than Omar's mother and father about the identity of his kidnappers and still no news from him. Or you know better than R. who was sacked from his job by his Dawah employer because R is a sunni and his employer is originally an Iranian? Or maybe you know better than the thousands who are rushing to the Iraqi borders running away from the fascist militias? Or surely you know better than A,S,and D who were kidnapped and raped and tortured by the Al Mahdi Squads because they were "sunni whores"? Or maybe you know better than Auntie S. who married a shia 40 years ago even before Saddam Hussein came to power!
That is it...Keep doing that righteous liberal lefties.
So all eyes can be turned to Iran and the Iraqi genocide goes silently into the background.
The same thing you did when the sanctions were imposed for over 12 years...
The silent death of over a million Iraqis and you cried instead "Dictatorship and Oppression" of "kurds and shi'ites" so as not to look at and detract from the real oppression and dictatorship that you kept so cowardly and complicitly silent about - that of the sanctions.
And you are repeating it all over again, but this time around with more self righteousness and more cockiness.
I bet it will look good on your "academic" CV and if you are lucky enough, someone will give you a prize.
What all these "experts" above have in common is one major trait that unifies them. And that trait is part of the package delivered to us by America and Great Britain. These two started the first lie about Iraq and these “respectable” so called progressives have continued very faithfully in the same footsteps. Using the information given to them and to their governments by the likes of Kanan Makiya,Chalabi and the others exiled in Iran working for Teheran.
Then they come and declare themselves the know it all about Iraq.
Fabricating, exaggerating, deforming, projecting, demonizing, making up, misinforming,twisting, disinforming...about the Iraqi reality.
Enough of your collective lies and Bullshit! We are the ones who have not ceased to pay the price. Starting with the blatant lies of your governments and ending with yours.
Have some shame and if you can't have that, have a least a modicum of intellectual integrity.
But then, even that, seems too much to ask.
Now I remember, of course, we are arab Iraqis. How could I have forgotten that!
Painting: Iraqi artist, Dr. A Al Bashir.
Comments
Frankly, I hate Chomsky and all the others. They're spies and propagandists. They hide under a facade to turn the opinions of the "enemies" of the "Right". As such, I don't trust any of their words. In fact, the only person I've really come to trust is myself, because only I can truely know how to feel about anything. After all, I hate being told what to do or how to act.
Speaking of which, alot of the so-called popular TV, including fiction, in the US these days, is propaganda, about people killing for America's freedoms and surviving terrorism. Crap, lies, and more garbage.
But you've actually been there through, at least, most of the hardships of the war. I have no reason to think you're downplaying anything. I wouldn't say I trust you, because I don't actually know you, but I believe you. As far as I go, that's a compliment.
Are there any journalists whose articles you recommend? How about Nir Rosen?
Yet another excellent piece. About time someone exposed these hypocrites and ignoramuses and you are the first to do so. Yours is a classic piece and I wish the likes of Alex Cockburn (Patrick's brother) would have the balls to publish your essay in Counterpunch.
By the way, Juan Cole supported the war in 2003 and now masquerades as an expert in his self serving "informed comment". Here is an excerpt from what Juan Cole wrote in 2003:
Best,
(re Kofi)
"There is no doubt that Saddam launched this chemical
weapons campaign (which was also waged on the
battlefield against Iranian troops, with devastating
results). Persons may argue in good faith about
whether his resort to weapons of mass destruction in
1988 justifies forcible regime change now. My own
knowledge of the horrors Saddam has perpetrated makes
it impossible for me to stand against the coming war,
however worried I am about its aftermath. World order
is not served by unilateral military action, to which
I do object. But world order, human rights and
international law are likewise not served by allowing
a genocidal monster to remain in power."
http://www.juancole.com/2003/02/history-news-network-2-04-03-fact.html
Now, there are other 'experts' who claim to know everything about Iraq, Iraqis, Islam, Arabs and heaven knows what else, including that they know better about how everything should be done. Among these 'experts' are those who have never set foot in Iraq (they wouldn't dare to, the cowards)nor have they met Iraqis or spoken to them; they know nothing of Iraqi culture or society, but they sit in their armchairs across the oceans and want to be 'consultants' for Iraqis - not forgetting that many have no clue about the subject matter nor the intelligence.
Thank you, Layla, for speaking about these hypocrites which many of us recognise.
http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-leaders-rothschild.html
http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html
Those who choose to dance with Satan always reap their reward.
layla , this is the best Article i have read in a long long time. it is a masterpiece . I wish this article was on front of Every western Papers , it would be so good , it would open up so many eyes .. it would make people think
Deep down i have been feeling the same way about Chomsky and Fisk , (fisk whose articles i have been buying i admit on the net if i miss them on paper ) fisk who charges £30 for his lectures across the country about the middle East . Anyway , Bravo layla , Just love your article . I want this piece to be circulating and to be read by many . it is MUST
I can do that.
You think YOU know more about her post topics?
It's called tact and experience you fuck rags.
Hate ME.
I am the one you want.
I am born and raised AMERICAN.
Focus your blind hatered on me.
I am "The great Satan", the evil that makes you show your ass like a fool.
And not only do I do it for free, I am also so good that YOU take YOURSELVES seriously.
You dumbass's along with ANY "professor" or "journalist" can never understand the things you try to pathetically pick apart and analyze because you speak only words drawn from things you read or see via 2nd hand sources(which historically has NEVER proven to be accurate information).
But god knows, with all of your omnipotent opinions you could surely handle the worlds problems and correct any theologies that have been misconstrewed.
Fuck you people, straight up right out of USA.
Keep up your good work Layla.
Your respected for your knowledge as experience is the best teacher.
That must be why so many here are extremely proficient in displaying their profound ignorance.
You be you & god bless.
Ike
Looks like your posts are beginning to hit home as many of these posters are displaying outward hostility and hatred towards Iraq and Iraqis.
These murderers are telling us that the Iraqis are killing each other, that they can't get along, that Iraqis are "savages" by nature who can't be civilized and live together.
Well, this is the same argument your murdering forefathers used to say about the native Americans while murdering millions of them through wars and disease and starvation so that you can steal thei land and claim it as your own (a land without people - America was discovered! - ignore the 25 million human beings, they will be dead soon enought).
Car bombs, sucide bombings, mortars, death squads, etc. anything that is not directly targeting the occupation and its puppet supporters is not an Iraqi act and can be 100% placed at the occupation or its many shady alliances (El-Salvador Option? Negreponte? Operation Pheonix? etc.)
Layth
prop
Very Good!!!
Savage American Warrior
Not all Americans support the atrocities that are happening in Iraq. Personally, I have signed many online petitions opposing the invasion. In doing so, I have been unpopular and even criticised by friends,(most Christians), for doing so. I am responding in this blog in support of Mr. Kurt Nimmo. Kurt Nimmo reports the truth on what is happening in the America and in the world. His website no longer has a blog. On several occasions he was shut down. By whom, nobody know.
Mr. Nimmo speaks against what is happening in Iraq and in different parts of the world where America continues to impose it's will and violence. Unlike most Americans, I disagree with, and oppose the current fascist/dictator like administration. I see an escalation of war in the Middle East.
Mr. Nimmo is but a voice crying out in the wilderness to the deaf ears and hardened hearts in Americans.
America has no business in Iraq. She needs to get out, Now!
Thanks. Actually am downplaying. It is not intentional. Sometimes, one has no words...and I find myself on many occasions staring at my keyboard and screen and saying to myself...what will describe this or that situation...and the words just elude me...
What is a wannabe blogger? A person who wants to be a blogger and is not a blogger? Is that like some existential equation that you have brilliantly put forward - to blog or not to blog?
If I follow your logic. I , from some remote god forsaken corner of the earth, must shut up and swallow it all...You love the mentality of Sheep...and you have just shown us how to become one.
I am terribly enlightened now and ever so grateful..
Best wishes from a wannabe blogger from some godforsaken remote village.
PS. I still maintain that you are a sheep though.
Give me proof that Saddam repressed the shias! then I will debate with you.
again I want proof that Saddam worked for the CIA. and please don't tell me of hand shake picture - that would be most stupid on your part.
Rumsfeld met Saddam in prison and Saddam refused to bow to the american demands and preferred to die instead.
So what do you have to say about that smartie?
I love the way you express yourself.
Be careful though what you are asking for , coz you may get it.
You take care and if you can't be good, well be safe at least.
Many thanks for that quote. I had never seen it before. And it is very important. I bet you have a whole library of them at your finger tips.
the targeting of innocent people in streets and market places is NOT the work of the Resistance and should be firmly condemned.
Yes they know it all don't they?
And we have to submit to that false knowledge and just take it all in and be grateful too. After all they are giving us this great gift- they are defining us . Is that not wonderful?
I have nothing more to add, you described it all too well.
Yes. I am notoriously known for expressing myself.
Even here in my local town and nearest areas...and even as far as the state capitol.
The political officiando's know me.
Well......they know my name.
My grandfather was semi-politically active and my father was/is deeply politically active.
I have degraded MANY a man that my father helped along in their politics.
Some, I destroyed their careers and their career hopes.
But that is what they get for not being good little politicians.
They should do right and not wrong.
And yes, my father holds it all against me but so be it.
He is him and I am me.
I am extreme.
I am radical.
And I am proud of it.
Also, I am not afraid of my own wishes.........nor anything else.
Until they shut my mouth eternally I will never stop voicing MY opinion on what is right and what is wrong.
I still have freedom of speech.
For now....
Ike
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. - Frederick Douglas, 1852
Beautiful quote...
I have no comment to make except that I have befriended the fire dragon...
Read the comments section that follows Kurt Nimmo's email to you in Uruknet. The comment posted by diana9 regarding the BIG LIE and 'the evil Saddam' is especially on the mark. As diana9 implies, unless the anti-war left questions this basic premise their credibilty will remain dubious. I would urge your readers to take a look at diana9's comments.
Best,
(re: Kofi)
"Comment pos ted: by diana9 on 15 Mar 2007 - 08:12
"I am simply bemused by an Arab woman denigrating any attempt made—however fruit less or even naive—to put an end the madness in the Middle East."
All attempts by the American anti-war left to end this madness have been and will continue to be fruitless until they find the cajones to attack the premise that unerlines the whole case for war. The premise being "the evil Saddam." Everyone who claims to be anti-war and continually condemns Saddam is simply validating the main pretext for war. Thus when WMD weren't found, Bush could shrug and say, "Hey, Saddam is an evil tyrant, the world is better off without him," and all heads nodded in agreement, since no one has had the guts to challenge these false assertions.
Let me ask you this, when you say "for me he was yet another sadistic butcher, and one installed by the United States," on what basis did you arrive at your opinion of the man? What is your source? The U.S. government, the stooges in the
media, Judith Miller, Chalabi, the Iranians, the Kurds, the Shia militants? Who? Certainly you have no personal and direct experience. You're not an Iraqi, you've never lived in Iraq as Layla has, what makes your opinion of Saddam more credible and valid than hers? And where do you get the idea that Saddam was installed by the U.S.? He was installed by the Baathists, who ousted our main partners-in-crime, the British, who had occupied Iraq, as we now do.
As heimo has suggested, review your assessments, going back to the Gulf War and even prior, and maybe you'll see that you, along with the entire American public , have been duped into believing the one BIG LIE that underlies all the other
lies.
The truth that everyone is loath to admit is that Americans were preconditioned to accept any and all negative reports about Saddam, without scrutiny, without proof, as part of a massive smear campaign intended to overthrow the leader of a sovereign nation in order to gain access to Iraqi oil. Until you seriously question everything you've ever heard or read about Saddam, and challenge the basic premise for this war, you'll continue to be part of the ineffective anti-war movement.
This whole country still believes the U.S. liberated Iraq from a tyrant. Their main complaint is that the job was botched.
Until the lies against Saddam are exposed, and his name and reputation is restored, the anti-war movement is just whistling in the wind and the war will go on, and on, and so will the tortured excuses for it, ad nauseum..."
As you state, diana9's comments are excellent indeed. What I would add is that many in the West, including in the anti war movement are latent, if not, not-so latent racists. You write about Robert Fisk who is held in high esteem by many in the Left. Fisk repeatedly referred to "Saddam" as the "Beast of Baghdad" and the "Monster". No such terms reserved for Bush, Blair et al. George Monbiot is another example. Even as Mr. Nimmo may be well intentioned, his writings including his email to you also display this underlying racism. Am sure he will vehemently deny this and wave his possible NAACP membership card as proof.
Best,
(re Kofi)
ps On another subject, am sure you will immediately recall the 55 deck of cards that the Pentagon devised for the Baath. If you are ever inclined to come up with your own deck and publish them in an essay, am sure we can easily suprpass the 55 number. Beyond the obvious, I would include such varied personalities as Stephen Dale Green (ref Abeer) and the 'first lady' of international journalism/propaganda Christian Amanpour.
Yes. Exactly.
In early 2004 I was at a local guitar shop and as I was leaving the owner offered me a calendar with pictures of the different washington monuments on each month.
I told him I did not want one as I had problems with Washington.
Issues.
I told him we had (at that point) lost nearly 500 soldiers in a politically made "war" and he immediately jumped up (his wife running to his side as well) and began to preach to me about how the troops were "defending my freedom, religion, Etc..."
Pointing their fingers directly at me.
I have never been back to that store as I do not patronize with individuals who are consumed with their own self rightiousness.
But I often wonder how that stupid prick feels now. Now that NO WMD'S were found and now that the body count (American servicemen) is well over 3,000. As well as the fact that OBVIOUS american liberties have been taken away in the "name of freedom". AND as well as the fact that Bush co. has been caught up in lie after lie after lie.
But I imagine the owner of the store is still very much blind to the truth. Being that he owns his own business and has a nice home and a nice car with all of his bills paid and money in the bank.
And to Anon. who said "you can't pay someone to blow themselves up".
To you I say, the hell you can't!
You have obviously never seen the depths of depression and deprivation to the point of being tired of your own existance.
May as well leave something for mom and the kids besides a call from the morgue.
Learn how to type dumbass...
Ike