From the Shadows...
When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender
this I could not do...
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends
and some of them are with me.
An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden...
And the soldiers came
She died without a whisper.
There were three of us of this morning
am the only one this evening,
but I must go on
the frontiers are my prison...
Oh, the wind is blowing. Through the graves the wind is blowing.
Freedom will soon come,
and will come from the shadows...
Lyrics from the Partisan by Albert Cohen. Depicting the anti-Nazi Resistance.
World War II with its ghettos, its camps, its bombs, its rapes...The Reich all over again...
The names have changed though.
They are called Mohamed, Hassan, Khalid and Muntasir-the Victorious.
It is no Aushwitz, its called Adhamiya, Ameriya, Adil...and Gaza.
There are no 6 pointed stars, just a scan of irises and a badge...
And maybe a tattoo so you can be recognized, if you ever get lost, or if you are found lying with the dead decomposing stray dogs in a garbage dump...
There is no Gestapo, only GI’s roaming around, obsessed with the dark faces whose names they can’t even pronounce.
The American obsession with Eye Raq. With Iraq. What a strange obsession. What a fixation. Who would have thought that some American, who can’t even spell his own name will be here, polluting this land with his arsenal, with his semen, with his name, with his presence...
Who would have thought that the land of Ur, the sacred land of the prophets will be soiled by some smelly rubber boot made in China?
Who would have believed that those with no history, no persona and no identity, will come and invade those who hold so many historical masks, from the Sumerians, to the Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians...through the Abbassids, until today, until this very minute as am typing...
Names they’ve never heard of before in their whole lives...Names that don’t rhyme with John, Paul and Dick...
Who are those barbarians? Who are those pale faced skinned idiots with nasal twangs, who speak from their butt holes? Who drink beer by the gallons, burp and fart and are only good when holding a gun?
Why they are so ugly, why are they so smelly, why are they so stupid?
Only the ancient Gods know.
Who are these mediocre, shallow, hollow, idiots, running around with greasy fingers... Whose only exclamation is oh yeah or Jesus...
Jesus is spitting on them...
I don’t want to blaspheme but Jesus is also pissing on them...
Let them meet him at the fountain where he will be showering them with his glad tidings...
Who the fuck is Jose, Santos and Antonio? Who the hell is Steve, Jason and Ron?
Who are these “people”? What is their background? What are their credentials? What are they here for?
I suddenly feel am immersed in a wave of disgust...I need to wash it all off.
Ever since, I have developed this compulsion to wash things...As if to erase traces, names and memories...
It’s epidermal, it’s visceral, it’s from the depth of my guts, from the depth of my insides...You really disgust me.
Your men, your women, your administration, your soldiers, your technocrats, your academics, your politicians...All of you disgust me.
Just being reminded of you, makes me queasy. What a horrible nation, what a horrible country, what a horrible people.
I would like to join Jesus in his urinating on you...In other words I piss on you.
I also have another fantasy- but maybe it’s not a fantasy after all- that of the Universe, the Cosmos, having a big dump on all of you... One great,huge dump, and here you are wallowing in one hell of a pool.
And here you are shouting, screaming, hollering and all you get is more of the same...
A tsunami of one hell of a big shit from the heavens...
You gasp, grab each other, plead and suffocate and the Universe hearing your call, just dishes out more...of the same.
One huge, humongous dump that falls on your heads...your collective heads.
Until you all become browned faced yourselves...Until the Divine excrement fills up your nostrils and you start speaking in tongues...and finally become audible and understandable...
Until your names change from John, Paul and Dick to something slightly more bearable to the ears.
Oh yeah!
You are a failure of a people. A collective failure. Right and Left, you have failed. Not once, not twice, not thrice...but so many times, too many times to count.
You are a people incapable, constitutionally incapable of moving beyond your little worthless selves to something other.
You are a lost cause, you are a hopeless cause.
Let the Universe shit on you, that is the only thing you deserve but even then, that is too generous of It. You will be graced with shit. What a pity!
What a pity, when in fact you deserve nothing...
I see your faces in every alley way, in every corner...
In every child’s eyes.
I see your faces in every elderly, in every abandoned one, in every rubble, in every ruin...
I see your collective faces. I hear your names like some bad melody that harasses my ears...
I see your names overwritten on the bloody pavements. I see your names etched by human nails on every wall, in every cell, I see it...see them...see you.
I smell you in the streets, in the empty homes, in the empty beds...
I smell you everywhere, behind every wall. I smell you in the morgue, in the hospital, in the mud hut and in the tent...
And I hear you.
Hear your denigrations, your giggles, your humiliations, your ugly voices, your ugly accents, your ugly language...
And I recoil,
I hide in the shadows...
Shadows that you will never find.
Places you have never dreamed of.
I hide there, waiting.
Waiting for the right wind to blow my way.
Waiting for the right moment.
Waiting to be visited by the innocent souls you have banished from existence.
Waiting in the shadows...
I wear many skins...change colors, change names...
Now you see me. Now you don’t.
I love it when you are so lost and am so Here. ¨
I love it when I hear you panic, when I hear you scream “shoot the motherfucker…”
And I am here standing in the shadows.
On my territory, on my land...
I am the owner and you are nothing but an unwanted visitor.
I am rooted in the language, in the soil, in the alphabet,
You are an invading, cruel, illiterate, stranger.
When will you get the message?
A message from the shadows...
Painting: Iraqi artist, Fahmi Al-Qayssi
I was cautioned to surrender
this I could not do...
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends
and some of them are with me.
An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden...
And the soldiers came
She died without a whisper.
There were three of us of this morning
am the only one this evening,
but I must go on
the frontiers are my prison...
Oh, the wind is blowing. Through the graves the wind is blowing.
Freedom will soon come,
and will come from the shadows...
Lyrics from the Partisan by Albert Cohen. Depicting the anti-Nazi Resistance.
World War II with its ghettos, its camps, its bombs, its rapes...The Reich all over again...
The names have changed though.
They are called Mohamed, Hassan, Khalid and Muntasir-the Victorious.
It is no Aushwitz, its called Adhamiya, Ameriya, Adil...and Gaza.
There are no 6 pointed stars, just a scan of irises and a badge...
And maybe a tattoo so you can be recognized, if you ever get lost, or if you are found lying with the dead decomposing stray dogs in a garbage dump...
There is no Gestapo, only GI’s roaming around, obsessed with the dark faces whose names they can’t even pronounce.
The American obsession with Eye Raq. With Iraq. What a strange obsession. What a fixation. Who would have thought that some American, who can’t even spell his own name will be here, polluting this land with his arsenal, with his semen, with his name, with his presence...
Who would have thought that the land of Ur, the sacred land of the prophets will be soiled by some smelly rubber boot made in China?
Who would have believed that those with no history, no persona and no identity, will come and invade those who hold so many historical masks, from the Sumerians, to the Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians...through the Abbassids, until today, until this very minute as am typing...
Names they’ve never heard of before in their whole lives...Names that don’t rhyme with John, Paul and Dick...
Who are those barbarians? Who are those pale faced skinned idiots with nasal twangs, who speak from their butt holes? Who drink beer by the gallons, burp and fart and are only good when holding a gun?
Why they are so ugly, why are they so smelly, why are they so stupid?
Only the ancient Gods know.
Who are these mediocre, shallow, hollow, idiots, running around with greasy fingers... Whose only exclamation is oh yeah or Jesus...
Jesus is spitting on them...
I don’t want to blaspheme but Jesus is also pissing on them...
Let them meet him at the fountain where he will be showering them with his glad tidings...
Who the fuck is Jose, Santos and Antonio? Who the hell is Steve, Jason and Ron?
Who are these “people”? What is their background? What are their credentials? What are they here for?
I suddenly feel am immersed in a wave of disgust...I need to wash it all off.
Ever since, I have developed this compulsion to wash things...As if to erase traces, names and memories...
It’s epidermal, it’s visceral, it’s from the depth of my guts, from the depth of my insides...You really disgust me.
Your men, your women, your administration, your soldiers, your technocrats, your academics, your politicians...All of you disgust me.
Just being reminded of you, makes me queasy. What a horrible nation, what a horrible country, what a horrible people.
I would like to join Jesus in his urinating on you...In other words I piss on you.
I also have another fantasy- but maybe it’s not a fantasy after all- that of the Universe, the Cosmos, having a big dump on all of you... One great,huge dump, and here you are wallowing in one hell of a pool.
And here you are shouting, screaming, hollering and all you get is more of the same...
A tsunami of one hell of a big shit from the heavens...
You gasp, grab each other, plead and suffocate and the Universe hearing your call, just dishes out more...of the same.
One huge, humongous dump that falls on your heads...your collective heads.
Until you all become browned faced yourselves...Until the Divine excrement fills up your nostrils and you start speaking in tongues...and finally become audible and understandable...
Until your names change from John, Paul and Dick to something slightly more bearable to the ears.
Oh yeah!
You are a failure of a people. A collective failure. Right and Left, you have failed. Not once, not twice, not thrice...but so many times, too many times to count.
You are a people incapable, constitutionally incapable of moving beyond your little worthless selves to something other.
You are a lost cause, you are a hopeless cause.
Let the Universe shit on you, that is the only thing you deserve but even then, that is too generous of It. You will be graced with shit. What a pity!
What a pity, when in fact you deserve nothing...
I see your faces in every alley way, in every corner...
In every child’s eyes.
I see your faces in every elderly, in every abandoned one, in every rubble, in every ruin...
I see your collective faces. I hear your names like some bad melody that harasses my ears...
I see your names overwritten on the bloody pavements. I see your names etched by human nails on every wall, in every cell, I see it...see them...see you.
I smell you in the streets, in the empty homes, in the empty beds...
I smell you everywhere, behind every wall. I smell you in the morgue, in the hospital, in the mud hut and in the tent...
And I hear you.
Hear your denigrations, your giggles, your humiliations, your ugly voices, your ugly accents, your ugly language...
And I recoil,
I hide in the shadows...
Shadows that you will never find.
Places you have never dreamed of.
I hide there, waiting.
Waiting for the right wind to blow my way.
Waiting for the right moment.
Waiting to be visited by the innocent souls you have banished from existence.
Waiting in the shadows...
I wear many skins...change colors, change names...
Now you see me. Now you don’t.
I love it when you are so lost and am so Here. ¨
I love it when I hear you panic, when I hear you scream “shoot the motherfucker…”
And I am here standing in the shadows.
On my territory, on my land...
I am the owner and you are nothing but an unwanted visitor.
I am rooted in the language, in the soil, in the alphabet,
You are an invading, cruel, illiterate, stranger.
When will you get the message?
A message from the shadows...
Painting: Iraqi artist, Fahmi Al-Qayssi
Comments
were you born and raised in America and just stuck in Iraq because your parents moved back or something?
you are very talented
is your Arabic as good as your english?
can you share with us some Arabic writing of yours?
if i knew how to write like you do then i would be a free man
lol, what a racist. can you hear yourself you idiot. because she is brilliant you think she must have been raised in america. you fool.
when we will get the message? when every soul turns against our ugliness. when no one in the universe will defend our evil. when we suffer and starve for our greed. still there will be many amongst us who will not ever see. i would gladly wallow in the shit of jesus or satan to rid myself of the curse of this cancer hosting off my nation.
whatever we go thru, whatever we endure, i don't care. i just don't want to be responsible for genocide anymore. just don't take my son, anything, but not my sweet beautiful innocent son.
annie
I am the owner and you are nothing but an unwanted visitor.
no, we are much more than that. iraqis stand on the precipice of our civilization. you are the finger in the dike of world domination. think about that. this isn't just a battle, it is the battle. if the beast is victorious, it will have all it needs to completely dominate the world. we are much much more than an unwanted visitor. americans can't stop the beast, we aren't strong enough. can iraqis? i sure hope so. karma, who else is up to the task?
a
Is this poetic language or do you actually have to lead such a clandestine life of hiding and lying ?
I just hope you're being your true self at least on this blog...
Stay safe and keep fighting.
Wakey-wakey, you're just an exile blogging from the safety of some peaceful Middle-Eastern "statelet", not a guerrilla fighter !!!
Is someone named John or Paul supposed to be ashamed of their name? They were names of Apostles you know.
I truly don't mean to antagonize you or anything. I mean, If I were in your position I would hate Americans in general too. It's just seems you HATE every single American on the face of the earth.
God Bless you Layla
and those brainwashed ignorant Ami shabbes-scumbags must never celebrate their vague X-mas and better think whom do they serve and how immoral they are...
Spit, piss and shit on the enemy as much as you like, but keep the poison for the traitors, for they are the worse lot.
Long live Iraq.
Salam.
Have you ever read anything on Iraq by the Lebanese-American "anal-yst" Maher Osseiran ?
If Chomsky and Cockburn make one vomit, this one just voids the bowels.
Thank you for speaking the Truth.
Regards.
They have no history, they think they do but it is all lies. Their never was an American war of independence, and the Declaration of independence was just a bankruptcy Document. They never fought of beat the British. It is all lies that every America child believes, is the Gospel truth from the 1st year at school.
Hey Layla- are you going to cry if Ali Hassan Majid gets his neck stretched?
The dictionary defines a humanist as: "a person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity." Thats what Layla represents and more...
Nice to know you are on the same site as "last of iraqis" and gideon. Good girl.
You must feel very proud. Take a bow sell out. TFOU on such filth.
It is not my place or your place to judge their final place in life, whatever their wrongs or sins.
The names Paul and John have been around at least 2 thousand years in the Middle East, as there are Biblical writers by those names.
Your anger is justified, but your hatred is a danger to your own soul.
seb
you are and remain one of the most ignorant, idiotic, parroting, troll on the whole of blogosphere.
You are not only a puerile, infantile, addicted, abusive, thing but the little internet knowledge you try to gather, from the web, since I bet you have not held a book in your hands since primary school, has done you more harm than good.
You are a ludicrous, laugheable fool...But the sad part, is that you are not even amusing.
Poor thing.
Hello and thank you. Finally, someone with Intelligence.
Where was I? I was not conceived yet dear. Unless of course, your Ottoman pride requests that I support another occupation, even before my birth, when I was still a thought somewhere...
My historical knowledge tells me that it was someone in Jerusalem that stopped the crusading hordes. When the degenerate Sultan Abdel Hameed and the self hating muslim Attaturk were pissing on anything Arabic.
And yes, Italian shoes remain the best. Sue me...
Hello. I have heard of Maher Osseiran but have not read anything by him. I will take your word though.
I might shed some tears yes..but see me how I will giggle when more body bags will be shipped to good old USA.
There is Paul Wolfowitz, John Mc Carthy and John Wayne, Dick Cheney, were they apostles too?
Do I owe you anything?
I can understand that If you hear the name John the first thing that comes to you your mind is "Wolfowitz - scumbag". When I hear the name John the first thing I think of is "My brother - maybe I should give him a call"
You see what I mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u68hvTGyYvY
Are you tired of all this blog stuff yet? Lets leave Iraq, get married and live in a real country. Why waste time in a country in shambles? No shower, no money, no women. You know it’s bad when you have to go online for a spouse. I’m desperate now. You’re my only hope. I don’t care if you’re in your 40’s, you can still have 5 kids. Your eggs are still good!
Whaddaya say? You can return to blogging in 6 years (after the kids). The only request I have is that you stop seeing American savage warrior; he really annoys me with his tribal chants, plus his voodoo dance is a little weird too.
jr returns for glory
I listen to you sister and you touched my soul, siempre !
The dictionary defines a humanist as: "a person having a strong interest in or concern for human welfare, values, and dignity." Thats what Layla represents and more...
I agree with Kofi, more.. much more. Gracias !!
Anon... great link !
history
Layla who said
Dont give pearls to the pigs ?
My memory ?
Here is a link.....for those jeffreys, cheneys... bullshits,
the judges, the puritans and the
nonesense and stupid comments .... all of you!
To the thieves,the cowards, the bastards, the traitors, the criminals !!! the pigs !
if you have the courage to watch it
???? ( ba....) english or arab
Powerful song !... tears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcy73JpH5ak
**It is a SURE thing that IRAQ
(THE SUN) will raise AGAIN and it is SURE that we will be strong AGAIN.. and our voices will be loud again to END THE SILENCE.
Get out you *stranger*, this land is OURS. Its pure, we dont want your feet to defile it.**
Long live our Beloved Iraq !
Thank you Layla
Much love !
Salaam
Why so harsh ?
I don't think I offended you by any means - nor would I ever.
Get urself an in vitro uterus...scam that you are.
my little J.R writes differently, you muppet, dimwit,sod.
I suggest you re-read your first comment.
Layla, the reason I was asking you where you are now, was because I havenot heard from you concerning children with leukemia, and I thought it was a matter of importance and urgency. Obviously you are hurt now and have no room for other people's hurt and you think everybody else is on a luxury cruise. Well, that really isn't the case.
History will reveal itself one day, and it will come clearer who and where did what. Obviously history is written by different authors and we haven't read the same books.
But I hope you will be sorry for your words for Atatürk one day and come to the level of comprehending his intelligence and his work. Atatürk was a gentleman.
I have spent more than enough time here. You can carry on with your verbal diarrea.
Take care.
I hope you find peace within your soul one day.
I think you are losing it...Or have lost it...Never mind, am used to that.
Had I known that the mention of Attaturk will bring on your true colors and your nastiness...I would have mentioned him before. A good revelation tactic.
Let me add, had it not been for the Koran to preserve the Arabic language - your attaturk would have wiped it all out.
Of course, a besoted kemalist like yourself will never admit to that...again false pride.
And if you think I have verbal diahrea surely that is better than having it turned into hard shitty rocks in my brains like in your case.
Good luck with the rest of your life.
There is nothing to be ashamed of, in my true colors.
Atatürk decided that Turkish Republic will be secular. The religion is Islam, and the holly book is Kuran. To understand his work, maybe you should understand why you're not happy with Iran, mullahs, and anyone who hides behind holly books and religion for their atrocities.
As you should know, in Islam one relates to Allah in a sacred manner, doesn't brag about it and religion isnot an outfit, it is an understanding of your very being.
I really do believe you have to do some more reading, cause this cannot be your true face.
'Peace at home, peace in the world.' Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
I did, and still found nothing offensive.
As a reader, I asked for clarification on some obscure points of the text so as to be able to appreciate it fully.
Maybe my mistake was assuming that you write for a public and not just for yourself...
Good luck.
Regards.
"I did, and still found nothing offensive."
Oh, you insinuate Layla is a liar and do not expect her to find that offensive? Some people perennially
delude themselves.
Our science, our culture, our art, our history, our techology, our liberties - turn green with envy, baby, and enjoy living in the filthy barbaric society you have wished upon yourselves. Talk to you later, babe!
Much thanks for your usual "aha insights" please hang around.
your science, your culture, your art, your history?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I was speaking to Mrs. Anwar, not to you twat.
Kindly go back to sleep.
There are people in blogs who
dont pay attention ? to what they
write and the adjetives they use
when they try to **innocently** ask
questions. Of course those questions show the real meaning and hidden game, using adjetives that obviously show the intention.
Thank you so much for your blog
kindness and patience !!!
Bless you
Lots of love
,-)))
Take care of yourself and keep trying. You may eventually succeed and become less deluded.
You are not Kofi Annan, I KNOW who you are just as you KNOW who I am.
I am the one who could have grown into a decent human being with a little GUIDANCE, and you are the one who DENIED it to me and left me ALONE for NO reason in the world.
Now if you see me wasting whatever I have of intellect and integrity on silly destructive rantings out of ANGER, you have only YOURSELF to blame.
I keep hoping that God will have mercy on me, though, and give me the strength I LACK to make something better out of myself.
When this happens, I SWEAR I shall make wonders for the resisting people of Iraq - and HELL for you, heart of stone.
Goodbye.
I am deeply moved by your note and am also deeply sorry for causing you so much pain. Its a burden I will carry for a long time. But hey, you can gain "the strength you LACK and make something better out of yourself." And you can start by not calling Mrs. Anwar a liar. While you will never match Mrs. Anwar's intellect and integrity there is hope for self-improvement even for one so deluded. Meditation is one way and you may wish to join Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Foundation. Here is the link. Sri Sri, himself deluded, was recently in EyeRaq preaching the ways of opportunistic, self-motivated rewards. As the link will show, he is seen hanging out with Maliki and Chalabi. Self- motivation is the key to making "wonders for the resisting people of Iraq".
My apologies again and warmest wishes for the season and for a less delusional year ahead.
Kofi Annan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Sstlp1u7Y
That was hilarious. My God!
I have heard of Shri Shri and the Art of Living, they pollute the statelet - if you see what I mean. And you have to pay around 400 dollars to learn how to breath and look at the picture of Shri Shri.
And it's true, they took a whole group of "young up coming Iraqis" from the Quisling govt and taught them the art of living...they just added next to shri shri, the pictures of the Mullahs, a nice one of Sistani and the other degenerate bunch of Iranian shits....hahahahahhahaha.
It's called peaceful coexistence the hindu way- american-iranian (add israeli just in case) way.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram Pandit, Fareed Zakaria are among the rewards India is reaping from its recent love affair with America. You will be surprised(I am) by how many prominent Indians and others around the world have fallen for this yet another con-man-guru from India
The depth to which this disturbing ideology has infected the American political consumer cannot be overstated.
The degree to which this informs their opinions about the world and themselves, despite all the evidence to the contrary, cannot be comprehended from afar.
"America", if one truly understands what it is, is a disease upon the planet.