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

Thanksgiving and the Muslim Eid Al-Adha have coincided around the same dates. In Eid Al Adha we give thanks to Allah, through a ritual of animal sacrifice, the Americans give thanks to their maker, through a ritual of human sacrifice from the first day the white man landed on native American land, until the present when that same white man, (who unfortunately now includes blacks and native Americans too) landed in Iraq, continuing that exact same 200 years old methodology of arrogance, theft, rape, torture, killing crowned with lies and deception - in short genocide. It has not changed since...not one bit. The first people to suffer the greed, arrogance, racism and criminality of the new world order, 200 years or so ago, were the native Americans. Today they are reduced to poverty, gang crime, alcoholism -- symptoms of total uprootedness and dispossession. So much for your culture of thanksgiving. And to mark the occasion, I'll let you hear what America is all about, from t...

- Puppet President Talabani and Adel Abdel Mahdi and Suleimani arrived in Tehran today. - 15 unidentified bodies found across Diyala, and were buried today in mass grave. Reports say that the terrorism of sectarian violence has not stopped. - Demonstrations in Diwaniya, organised by the Dawa party and Nouri al-Maliki, with slogans accusing Saleh Al-Mutlaq and Allawi of "Baathism", and condemning "return of Baathism in Iraq." Another preparation for the upcoming elections. - Several Iraqi TV stations agree that the mute tape aired by Nouri Al-Maliki government showing 3 alleged "saddamist and baathist" culprits in red jump suits, confessing their role in the October explosions in Baghdad to be a theatrical farce and a bad film, in preparation for the up coming elections. - Kurds are threatening to boycott election laws if they are not allocated more seats. Go figure what they mean by that. - Several wounded and killed across Iraq through explosio...

This is a very rushed post. An article appeared in the Syrian daily Al-Watan, according to Ahmed Al Dulaimi, an Iraqi political researcher for the Babel institute, news have leaked that 1000 Iraqis related to the previous regime will be executed on the Eid Al Adha, to "commemorate" President Saddam Hussein lynching, among them will be 126 Iraqi women. The reader needs to be aware, that the date of the Eid changes yearly according to the Islamic calendar. The Eid is next Thursday, 26th November 2009. Article in Arabic can be found here Furthermore, AP related today that following interrogation by Iraqi security forces, the captured individuals involved in the last deadly explosions of October admitted to being "Saddamists and Baathists". While news circulating in Baghdad point the finger to the ultra sectarian Shiite party of Al-Sagheer. Also on the same subject, the psychopath from the Sadr movement and Jaysh al Mahdi -- Al Deraa, the mastermind of much o...

You don't like the Heat ? Get out of the Kitchen. Yes, it's that simple. I am firm believer in Simplicity. But am no simpleton. Been reading about the deteriorating mental health of your brave boys. Follow the simple piece of advice above... No need to cry wolf and no need for all those PTSDs. Get the fuck out now. That would be a long lasting, proven solution for your mental ills. No need, no more, to worry about suicide and burning your girlfriend alive once you're back home.... Get the fuck out. Out, as in OUT. And we will deal with the rest...Promise. You don't have resilience, you don't have what it takes... I don't want to rub it in, but face it...you don't. We are armed to our teeth.... CIA and others just panicked now with -- armed to our teeth. No need to panic. You are armed, we are armed...different kinds of arms...not found in your war manuals... Besides, you are on our territory... You don't like the heat ? Ge...

Frankly I did not know what to exactly name this post. It all started with me waking up this Friday morning with another dream. More like a nightmare... I dreamt, I landed in Baghdad airport. As I walked out of the main gate, I saw children street vendors, but they did not look very Iraqi to me. All of them had blond hair and blue eyes, then I saw ultra orthodox rabbis scurrying past...so I asked  " Are you sure I landed in Baghdad ? " And a voice replied "Yes this is the new Baghdad. Iraq's face has changed for ever..." I understood from the dream that all these "foreign" looking kids were nothing but products of rape, in other words illegitimate children.  As for the rabbis, this is self explanatory... Of course, this got me thinking about notions of Sovereignty and the pathetic, ludicrous, debates that are currently taking place before the up coming Iraqi elections. These so-called politicians hold discourses as if they are actually running...

Come on people, you really ought to get your heads out of your butts and face the facts. This operation Freedom of yours has been a TOTAL flop. From whichever angle you look at it, it's a TOTAL failure. Article after article, even your mainstream media, your great brainwashing machine, can no longer hide the facts of your FAILURE. Quickly browsing through the headlines and you would see that Iraq is ranked amongst the most corrupt countries in the world. That even your so called sham elections process, require "herculean efforts" as per the UN envoy, in order to reach the minimum standards of transparency and credibility. That Iraq is an environmental disaster area. That fraud and the swindling of contract money is endemic. That till this very day, there are daily killings of innocent civilians. That there is no infrastructure and no services. That till this very day curfews and banning of vehicles are declared every other day in some province. That even a 10000000 barrac...

Sha'aban Abdel Raheem is a popular Egyptian singer, a kind of folk rapper. An eccentric, rather tacky looking dude, with simple songs that are sarcastic with double meanings, hard hitting, funny and politically wise. This song was released when Obama came to power...Every time I listen to it, I crack up laughing...Of course it helps if you understand Arabic and the subtleties of the language. This is one has subtitles in English. Enjoy ! Hahahahahaha This dude who looks stoned 24/7 has another song on Swine Flu with double meanings as usual. You can check it out here. A cracker. It does help if you are stoned as well...but not necessarily.

I have much to write about, it may come across as spamming the reader with too many posts...but I have a new policy for this blog, like the one I had for the other Uncensored blog -- I shall write only for myself. I want all of these posts as witnesses...I write for History. I am no longer writing to inform...I am writing for the record... Yesterday a spokesman for the Iraqi Resistance was shortly interviewed on Al-Jazeera. He said in very simple terms : We don't believe in the political and election process under Occupation. For us this is like Kiosk politics alluding to a vendor's mentality. Now, there are some who are marketing themselves as the Resistance and have joined the political process time and time again (referring to Muqtada Al Sadr and the Sadrists.) They are no Resistance. The truth is that we are all alone, all by ourselves, with no outside support, no external funding, nor external arming, and there is a huge blackout on us. Many attempts and ploys have been ma...

It feels as if the Sun no longer shines over Baghdad...It's a perpetual Maghreb. Maghreb as in Sunset. Daily killings. On good days, around 10 to 15, on bad days, up to 3'000 and on so-so days around 500. Today another 12 killed in one Sunni village on the outskirts of Baghdad, murdered by men in uniforms. And the day has just started...by this evening the toll will be mounting. That's for the killings. Then you have the up coming executions of 126 women, on Eid Al Adha, another set of sacrificial lamb offerings. They worked for the previous regime as professionals serving their country. I am sure Iran is behind these executions. The spirit of sectarian Shiite vengeance is deep and malignant, it bears all the hallmarks of Iran's deep hatred for Iraq. Not just for the previous regime, oh no, but for Iraq and for Arab Iraqis in particular. Iran for me is ten times worse than Israel. Since am on the subject of this racist Shiite entity, I must tell you that Iran has over 1...

This is an urgent appeal regarding a piece of very serious information I have just received. A decision has been taken to execute on the Eid Al Kabeer (in 2 weeks time) -- the Muslim feast marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage the same time that President Saddam Hussein was murdered -- 126 Iraqi women on charges of "terrorism." These Iraqi women all hold higher University degrees and have worked as high cadres in the previous regime. That is their only crime. Among the 126 women to be executed are: are the ex Head of Nuclear Energy Center (who was detained by the US occupying forces) and the ex minister of Work and Social Affairs. This information was published on an Iraqi website called Iraqihurr in Arabic and that same piece of information was published in English by Women Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq. Please circulate this as widely as possible and check the addresses on the Women Solidarity website above -- to send your appeals to.

And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help! (the Koran. Chapter 4 The Women/ An-Nisa: Verse 75) I feel terribly distressed...actually, I've been crying uncontrollably...and the tears don't seem to want to stop... Today has been particularly hard on me. They must provide some kind of support for people who deal with traumatizing material on a daily basis...traumatic lives, traumatic pictures, traumatic stories, wrought with pain, immense suffering, silence, indifference, deep sadness and an anger that coils around itself like a snake about to explode, implode... Assailed from all sides, whichever way I turn my head, I see only destruction and pain, endless pain...endless grief, endless misery...and the sil...

It is so weird this blogging business, well it is in my case... Whenever I think of a topic I may need to deal with and procrastinate over, things start happening around me, from different totally unrelated sources ,nudging me and I must say strongly at times, to get on with it... Take for instance the subject of Arabia Felix - ancient name for Yemen. I remember it was during the month of May 2009, while I was washing the dishes in a most monotonous manner, that Yemeni alarm bells flashed in front of my eyes right above my sink...Believe it or not but it's true. I had that sinking feeling that things were going to get out of hand in Yemen and that was back in May 2009. I left the dishes in the sink and rushed to my computer and researched a little about Yemeni news, since Yemen was not being covered at all by any media outlets...and this is when I wrote on the 20th of May 2009, " Who's next for dinner ? " Call it conspiratorial paranoia, but ever since the right wing ...

I was listening to some Jazz and Blues. Billie Holiday to be precise. The black woman, the black man...as in colored, as in different, as in OTHER. I am black too, very black, with no pigmented skin... I love black...I love being black. The black sheep, the black female, the black witch, the black virgin, the black reality... Black is good. Very good. My favorite color. It gave blues, jazz & reggae...Black is definitely good... and am all black. Of course, am not referring to race, am referring to states of mind...to cultural and political constructs...am referring to the history of being black, of being the Other... Black for me is anyone who is not white. Again, white is not a color, it is a concept. You can be very white in skin but very black...and you can be very black in skin and very white...(think Condi Rice). And I've seen those black whites in Baghdad. Their black is whiter than snow... I don't believe in ganging up against the white man. Allah has created all col...

This is a rushed translation of an important article on Kirkuk written by Wajdi Anwar Mardan. Title : Did you know that the Israeli command and operation center for target assassinations is based in Kirkuk and do the Iraqis know why the Israeli rush for property acquisitions in Kirkuk? This article was written in reply to a question that appeared in the Jordanian daily, Al-Dustur , a few days ago, by the journalist Hayat.H.Attiyah and who started her article with : Israeli Jews of Iraqi origins return en masse to Iraq, and are settling particularly in Kirkuk where they are buying all kinds of property. The journalist Hayat Attiyah asks the question: Why Kirkuk ? The author Wajdi Anwar Mardan says : Before replying to this journalist's question, we need to inform the reader that this is NOT a new piece of information. He then goes on to say : After 9th April 2003, the day of the occupation of Baghdad, a large number of Israeli Mossad agents arrived in Iraq under several pseudo co...

The day started well, until... The day started well, on a good note...listening to Sacred Music, incense burning in the corner, drawing imperceptible smoke patterns, dancing in a whirl...my coffee pot simmering on a low fire and the smell of Cardamon filling the quiet space... The day started well, the sun shining brightly on a November day, the call to Friday prayer filling a spotless blue sky with Hope... Until... Until, I was reminded again...not that I ever forgot. I was hoping for a lull...a temporary respite in between the lines, a full stop in a paragraph. Knowing fully well that other paragraphs will write themselves in this never ending chapter of our lives, writing themselves on the body of my Beloved...raping her again and again. A gang rape of nations, a gang rape of different races, nationalities, religions and sects...a collective incensed, demoniacal grip on my Beloved...a vampire sucking her blood, tearing her limbs, chewing on her skin, munching her flesh, sucking on h...

I was just zapping away, and I fell on a channel I had never bothered to watch before, called Al-Ghadeer. It turned out to be another Iraqi satellite TV, funded by Iran and run by the Shiite Iraqi sectarians sell out and traitors. The program was just the re-run of today's Friday sermon from Baghdad. Two groups, bearded men with silver rings from Qum and women in Iranian style chadors. The sermon was about Saddam Hussein and the Baathists. The fake, corrupt charlatan of a mullah cleric was preaching to his faithful self flagellants, calling for a new Iraq and for solidarity with Iran, praising Larijani, head of the Iranian Shura (religious council) who congratulated Iraqis two days ago on their "new found democracy", calling for support and mobilization in favor of all of the sectarian Shiite parties including Al-Maliki's, calling for strong and loving ties with Iran, praising Larijani again and assuring his sheep listeners that Iran will "quench the thirst"...

Am in no mood for longish posts. I want to be parsimonious with words...adopt a minimalist approach, a bit like those traditional Japanese rooms, holding the bare essentials. Been checking some Iraqi artwork, I am fanatic of Iraqi art...I usually get very excited, almost ecstatic...I surprised myself this time...It felt drab, dull, bland ...lost its luster, lost that quality of gripping me...of taking a hold of me and leaving me breathless... almost lifeless. How come ? A general fatigue no doubt. The artist must be tired too. Painting : Iraqi artist, Shaker Hassan, "Objective Contemplations"

I was once called a black Widow...that's fine with me...I consider my ex-husband as good as dead. And I stopped mourning him on the day of our divorce. Have you ever seen anyone mourn Chernobyl ? Well my ex was the second disaster after Chernobyl or should I say Iraq ? Baghdad's widows on the other hand, don't share the same predicament. They are not "black widows" by choice. I was watching a program the other day, and they interviewed a couple of those "black widows". It's funny, how the black obliterates all sects, all classes, all backgrounds...it's funny how black obliterates it all... There was this woman, very beautiful, living in a slum..slum is too nice of a word..her "home" consisted of a few bricks covered with plastic garbage bags, for a roof top... She was a mother of 4. Her husband was tortured and killed by the death squads/militias. She borrowed money and built a little kiosk selling colored balloons...the puppet governme...

You know how some people are addicted to their lists...they write everything down in lists... They have shopping lists, that they leave behind...how many a times have I picked one of those lonely lists abandoned in some supermarket cart, once they check out...then they have to do lists, and they have invitation lists, and wedding lists, and guests lists, and cooking lists, and music lists, and lovers lists, and web lists, and company lists, and fortune lists and awards lists, and geographical lists, and... All is listed... I have only one list. My freedom list. It's actually a checklist. It has no order of priority, it's chaotic and haphazardly jotted down...I've had it on my wall for some years now...and I keep adding to it...I keep adding... - buildings destroyed (V) - homes in ruins (V) - streets in rubble (V) - mosques and churches destroyed(V) - infrastructure smashed (V) - checkpoints and barracks everywhere (V) - parks turned into cemeteries (V) - libraries burned do...