An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...

Iraq, once famous for its Libraries, Universities and Schools...Once famous for its best educational system in the Middle East, for erasing illiteracy, for producing top notch academics, scientists and doctors, for supporting overseas students in their studies free of charge, and only God knows how many Palestinians, Egyptians, Somalis, Sudanese, Mauritanians, Jordanians...graduated from Iraqi universities... Iraq, the center of knowledge, culture and publishing...Look at it now, just look at its educational system. There is no educational system left, it is in debris, in ruins. This American-Iranian occupation needs, demands, that Iraqis revert to a state of ignorance. And that explains why the American and Iranian secret services with their list of academics, went hunting for them one by one. And most Iraqi academics have fled and over 1000 have been murdered by the CIA, Mossad and the Quds Brigades from Iran. FACT. This Occupation necessitates burned down libraries, empty school ben...

Do you know what Resilience means ? Resilience is not Resignation. It is not Abdication. It is not Submission. It is not Acceptance... Resilience is a very powerful state, an inner state and only those who experienced it know its exact definition. Resilience is under-rated, un-recognized, ill-defined. Social Scientists, psychologists, and your riff raff self proclaimed "analysts" know nothing of it. You probably know nothing of it yourself... Since quite a few of you are so ignorant, it is so shameful, I will give you two definitions of Resilience. Resilience is : 1. the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. 2. ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy Now, I've met a few resilient people. All the Iraqis I meet in exile are resilient. If there is anything at all that this Occupation and its hideous brutality taught us are - endurance, perseverance...

Where else but... HERE

I will not be blogging much the coming days. I am tired and I need a break. Will respond to comments though. Well this is what I am telling myself, for now. Besides, I've had a bad fall. Clumsiness combined with absent mindedness, compounded with a million holes in the pavements and streets. So I fell, bruised my knee, my elbow, my wrist, sprained my ankle, hip and back. I felt nothing at first, except some warm blood oozing down my leg, thought nothing of it, except my fascination with the bright red... Of course, my mind wandered to the tons of barrels of bright red that gushed on the streets of Baghdad and are still gushing elsewhere, covering them like rose petals... It's only now, 24 hours later, that I felt the effects of my fall. A delayed response...and am sure that you and I will be witnessing more "delayed responses" after the "Fall". So I am going to take it easy these days, rocking myself back to a "no bruise" state, until I recuperate ...

Seems that Google is at it again regarding the indexing of Uruknet website. This time round, it's not just Google news that stopped indexing, it's the actual Google search engine that simply deletes the Uruknet articles from its list. I have recopied the text of Uruknet complaint that explains best the manipulation that Google undertakes. "Google must really have a thing against Uruknet. After Google News’ censorship now Uruknet disappears even on Google’s search engine. Google stopped indexing Uruknet the middle of May. After Uruknet wrote (again!) many e-mails to Google (and again! we didn’t receive any reply) Google restarted indexing some (not all!) Uruknet’s article on June 17. However, it seems that these articles have a short life on Google since they keep disappearing immediately after they are indexed. For instance this is a Google’s page saved today, June 19, at 3pm Rome time and this is the same search Google page, the same day at 10 pm Rome time - While the ...

There's a Message for you over here. Yes, right here.

You know something, I still can't get over it... However much I try, however much I twist it, turn it upside down, look at it from a thousand angles, I still can't get over it. I simply can't come to terms with a very simple fact--this Occupation (Zionist American and racist Iranian - and I will never cease repeating it) has managed to turn a modern country, a modern state, a functioning entity, a sovereign nation into a rubble of sectarianism, corruption, theft and murder. Think about it for a minute...In the space of 5 years, this country has been turned into a disfigured entity, a monster. Many of you can't see that. I'll tell you why - because in the recesses of your minds, you have this automatic voice like a tape that keeps playing and which says - "Saddam was a dictator, he was a bad man, so yes, it is unfortunate but..." We really need to get to that voice inside your heads that keeps repeating these injunctions and turns you into parrots, because ...

Who would have thought that these "poor, oppressed, repressed, exploited, gassed..." Kurds, would resort to such a thing as Torture. But yes, they do. And this is NOT the first report on Torture in " Democratic Kurdistan". Two security organs in Suleimaniya are responsible for extracting information through sadistic methods -- the Ass'aich and the Zanaree, security and intelligence bodies. The latter is a branch of the PUK party - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. According to this article, news are circulating in Suleimaniya and elsewhere in the Kurdish regions, and it is the talk of the town, from the street cafés, to family gatherings to the daily press in "Kurdistan", that torture is wide spread in Kurdish prisons. Several detainees were interviewed and they all corroborated that the following methods were used - detainees are stripped naked, severe beatings with metals chairs, metal rods, and water hoses. Rape of the detainee and the female member...

At times, I feel am going insane... There is a well proven theory in systemic psychology, that in a highly dysfunctional family, the ones that are the most lucid of the family dynamics, are the most likely to go insane... A dysfunctional family has many characteristics some of which are - lies, excuses, justification, manipulation, cruelty, violence, rigid thinking, impulsivity, passivity, silence, punishment, repressiveness, authoritarianism, pretense, depersonalization, dissociation, secrecy, shaming, and much more... The main defense mechanism that keeps the family operating in its dysfunction is DENIAL. The greater the dysfunction, the greater the denial. So children coming from such families are always told - it's not happening, you are imagining, this is not true, people shouldn't know, you need to get your head examined, you are crazy....etc. This lack of validation and denial, causes a dissociative disorder in a child or an adult, and can border on psychotic episodes if...

Do you remember this nursery rhyme ? Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock, When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, And down will come baby, cradle and all. I woke up humming it and have not stopped since...I remember humming it to the babies I rocked to sleep. I wished, I was given the time to hum it to my own before he was gone. And now am not so sure anymore... I am not so sure, what is worse -- losing yours or waiting for 9 months, going through the motions, the nausea, the aches, the heaviness, the labour pains, the blood, the tears -- the birth pangs of the new Iraq. Imagine you're an expecting mother in the new Iraq or a father to be. Imagine the anticipation, the preparations, the plans you dream for your child. You dream, there is nothing wrong with dreaming, unless you want to pull these away from us too. So you dream, knowing full well, that a lot of them won't come true. It's difficult, all is difficult. All is survival....

Every time I want to start a new post about Iraq, I am at loss. I simply don't know where to start. And this has been going on since I've started blogging... I want to write about deformed babies in Falluja. I want to write about the sectarian arrests in Ameriya. I want to write about the use of napalm in Mosul. I want to write about the street children of Baghdad and the widows. I want to write about despicable Iran and its militias. I want to write about the never ending criminality of the Americans. I want to write about the disgrace of; the anti-war movement(hahaha), of the journalists, of the media, of the so-called experts on Iraq. I want to write about other Iraqi bloggers, about their stupidity and immorality when it comes to the occupation of their own country. I also want to write about refugees, about our confusion, our hopelessness...I want to write about my memories, my homesickness, my anger, and my grief... And every single topic I want to write about, makes my b...

This article is an absolute MUST READ. And do think with a little depth before spurting your usual nonsense on the comment section. Thank you. Nearly two decades after luring the United States and Israel into selling arms to Iran's ayatollahs in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon, in a deal that became known as Irangate or the Iran-Contra affair, Michael Ledeen and Manouchehr Ghorbanifar are back in the spotlight, starring in a new political and intelligence scandal. This time, however, they are involved not only in an attempt to go behind the backs of the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency and to persuade the Bush Administration to establish secret contacts with the Iranian regime but are also suspected of being manipulated, unwitting, by Iranian intelligence. A new report by the U.S. Senate suggests that Iranian intelligence used Ledeen and Ghorbanifar to feed disinformation to neoconservatives in the administration of Preside...

Two new Uncensored posts, away from politics - not really. Web Traps Women -- the perfect Bitches.

I just love it when am proven right. Not because am pompous or anything, but because it means that what I happen to see is correct and not some figment of my imagination. After all, with all the bullshit I read on blogs and even on my own comment section, I do ask myself questions. But then, an article appears just in time to confirm my initial vision. In my post Surreal Concidences dated May 28th, 08 -- I textually said there will be a breakthrough between Hezbollah and Israel on the Shabaa farms as these are tied in with Syria. And guess what ? Olmert is hoping for talks with Lebanon and ...now the hot piece of news -- Hezbollah willing to negotiate over Shabaa farms . And I can now tell you that Hezbollah and Israel have been secretly negotiating in Germany and the bits of news I just linked above are nothing but the result of their negotiations. I wonder what the mullahs and pro-Iran pundits and vultures have to say now. Ha! Knowing these political midgets, they will likely to re...

I have a lot to do today, but I can't focus on anything. I have to write about this. Have to. Some of you who have been following my blog regularly now (thank you) know of Kamel's story my relative who has been detained by the Americans on false " insurgency/terrorist " charges. He was then transferred from a U.S prison to another Iraqi prison controlled by the racist sectarian Shias. In this last prison, the Shia prison guards asked for extortion money in exchange for his release, since there was no trial and no real charges. The money was gathered and given as asked. They double crossed us and Kamel was not released. Kamel is a frail over 60 years old man. In prison his health deteriorated greatly and visits were hardly allowed. He also contracted scabies and I wrote about that in my post called "Skins in Captivity". (see right at the end for links) Yesterday, we were informed that he has been transferred to an American prison again. And we were also told ...

In some of my previous posts, I tried to teach you a few words in Iraqi dialect. So let's recap. We've already covered the following words: PAPPAZ = STOOGE, PUPPET, CLOWN, JESTER... BOOMA = VERY STUPID/DUMB Today you will learn a new word that might come in very handy on certain occasions. KUNDARA wil be the subject of today's lesson. KUNDARA = SHOE But not any shoe. You need to understand that in most Middle Eastern cultures, the shoe can be considered as an object of disrespect and or pollution/dirt. For instance, in traditional homes, you leave your shoe at the door before entering, just like in a mosque. In other instances, it is very shameful to sit and have your shoe pointing in someone's face. I noticed Americans have this very ugly habit of putting their feet up with their shoes on their desks and the sole of their shoe stares at you. Most impolite really. But then American never had any manners. So building on this natural aversion to shoes, the shoe "con...

This is probably the shortest post you'll read from me. But then Truth is always short and simple. And I tell you this bit of Truth and take it as is. Had it not been for Iran, the Americans and their string of criminals would have been long gone, by now. And anyone, and I mean anyone - regardless of who they are or what they stand for, who tells you otherwise is a deceitful, shameless, lying motherfucker.

While some websites are still crying out about a probable, possible, eventual, likely, hypothetical, US/Israeli attack on Iran, none of these websites reported that : Maliki - the American/Iranian ,puppet, stooge, "prime minister" of Iraq is in Iran, busy signing reconstruction deals. And none of the websites who are waving the Iranian "anti-imperialist" flag, reported that puppet Al-Maliki has assured Iran on its security and he textually said "We will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and neighbours" ( BBC report here ) ( Al-Jazeera report here ) So do you think that Al-Maliki will give guarantees and vows to Iran if he had not cleared it first with the Americans ? Of course not. And do you think that Al-Maliki will pledge security and safety to Iran had he not cleared it with the Israelis via the Kurdish "president" of Iraq, Talabani ? Of course, not. And just as it so happens, a key Israeli " defence o...

As usual, the indefatigable, wonderful, Sinfo Fernandez from Rebelion.org has translated some of my posts into Spanish - making them available to Spanish Readers. Links below. And as usual, I extend to her and everyone in Rebelion.org my appreciation and sincere thanks. http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=68466 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=68245 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=68115 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=67570 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=67108 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=67065 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=66457 http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=66319

My relative N. finally got a post as a geologist in "Kurdistan." He left his family, wife, kids, behind - here...as he lost his home in Baghdad to the sectarian Shias (and I would really like to meet any Shia who is not a sectarian, in vain...) He comes to see his family once every two months or so. He visited us today and this is what he had to tell me , word for word. - In Erbil's airport and in the streets of this city, I frequently came face to face with Israelis. Kippa, curls and all...There is a direct line from Erbil to Israel but it is all kept secret. The Israelis are everywhere in this city. - All the Iraqi Airways planes that were stationed in Jordan were confiscated by the Kurds. They re-painted them in white and use them for their flights, pretending it is their own airline. - The extra 8 oil fields discovered in the North, you would not believe what is taking place there. Kurdish families pull oil out with buckets and sell it on the black market for 40$ a bu...

Spent all afternoon watching the European Football Cup. Mom likes watching football too. We both get very excited, and I am the one who usually shouts the loudest during a football match with an occasional (OK -- more than occasional) "bad" word thrown in when "my team" doesn't score, to the utter and total exasperation of my poor Mom. Of course, today I supported Turkey against Portugal, and Switzerland against the Czechs. You see it's all politics. I prefer Turkey to Portugal due to geographical proximity. I suppose the fact that we have a "shared history" had also something to do with it. And I prefer the Swiss to the Czechs. Again, I suppose I view the Swiss as more "neutral" than the Czechs whom I perceive to be quite racist when it comes to Turks, Arabs and Russians... Besides, I have kept bad memories from my trip to Czechoslovakia when I was a budding teenager. I later, understood why Milan Kundera's writings give this imminen...

The 1920 RB is one of the factions of the valiant IRAQI Resistance. The following is the translation of the article I referred to in my previous post - namely an interview on Al-Jazeera with Dr. Abdallah Suleiman Al-Omaree, spokesman for the 1920 Revolution Brigades. ( original article in Arabic here ) I would first like to sincerely thank AMRE AL-ABYAD for having spontaneously translated this long article without me asking him. I know that he has a very busy schedule and yet he still managed to find the time to do it. So a big THANK YOU Amre. And here comes the translated text - which I believe will dispel many misconceptions and lies and will clarify where the True Iraqi Resistance stands on various issues. Synopsis The spokesman of the 1920 Revolution Brigades asserted that the operation launched by the Iraqi forces in Mosul is ”a major conspiracy rather than a military operation per se ” In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Al-Omaree explained that Resistance has watered down the int...

As I've said before, my Uncensored Blog is regularly updated and I hate to advertise it...and I agree, this is an oxymoron. And no comments are allowed on the latest post either. Another paradox - agreed. But then, I am a paradoxical woman.

I am swamped. I am swamped with emails, I am swamped with articles, I am swamped with ideas, and swamped with posts in draft form and swamped with comments - 75% of which are pure GARBAGE. There is much I want you to know. A lot of it comes from Arabic articles which I simply have no time to translate. You must agree with me, I can't write posts, reply to 1000000 mails, read 100000 articles, reply to comments and translate - all at once...I am not the Goddess Ishtar, not yet. So I kindly ask you and yes I can be very kind at times -- I kindly ask anyone who can read Arabic and has spare time to come forward and contact me. There are articles where I can use some help. Not only me, but also URUKNET is looking for voluntary translators. I promise you, I will not harass you with long articles and will not ask you to translate word for word. Will just ask you to alleviate some of the workload on my back. If you don't want to help me, then help URUKNET who is even a more important...

"Kick ass! - he quotes the president as saying - If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set...There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!" ( article here ) These are the words of your president to Sanchez, general Sanchez, another rabid dog... Some websites called it a "shocking pep talk." But that was no pep talk and it was not shocking coming from you lot. We've always affirmed it, you are nothing but a bunch of rabid dogs. I am not shocked at all. I can even tell you that I am 100% sure that not only your president but you too, think, say and act along the same lines as your president, politics or no politics. What can I say ? It's...