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

I am dreading writing this post. Seriously. Even though I know the whole picture, I don't wish to complete it. Not that it will make a difference to you, but it does make a difference to me. My secret pathetic attempt to hold on to a peg of an illusion. Stark facts spoil the picture. That's why romance films have no stark facts- or let's say, the story has a happy ending. This is what the Western press likes us to believe, in particular the American press. Reporters are all too happy to wire stories of a pink Baghdad - lo and behold, they exclaim - things have improved - weddings are taking place, people walk the streets, it can't be all that bad...we did do a good job after all - is the implicit message. You see because in the American mind, a wedding taking place or someone walking the street is a favor bestowed upon another country. Like - hey what are you complaining about - you had a wedding in your neighborhood, or we filmed you going to the market, and we a...

When you destroy, when you ravage, when you pillage, when you annihilate, you are in fact cleansing...and Iraq is being cleansed of Itself . Most people are very stupid. When one talks about the cleansing of Iraq, they immediately think - physical liquidation - as in killings. Well you must be quite pleased to know that the above is ongoing, since 2003. The bulk of that form of cleansing has already been undertaken. Thousands have been killed, over 200 "fresh" mass graves have been unearthed, ethnic/sectarian cleansing of "minorities" has been achieved. Another form of cleansing of Iraq is the massive exodus, with thousands of refugees that no one hears about anymore. Add to the above the thousands of maimed, handicapped by the occupation and what ensued. Add the missing in the hundreds and add the psychologically traumatized for life debilitated by memories of torture, rape and loss and also add...yet another form of cleansing -- the ever lasting effect of D...

The carcass is Iraq, the vultures are you. I will NEVER swallow what you have done to Iraq. NEVER. And it has nothing to do with patriotism, nationalism or any of the concepts you keep regurgitating like idiotic parrots. What has happened to Iraq, through your contributions; your efforts, your silence, your apathy, your indifference, your political correctness, your...your...your filth...this can never be swallowed. NEVER. For I know...I know and I have seen, I have witnessed...what was before and what is now. You can't take that away from me. You can't take that truth away from me. And I shall post it, plaster it on every wall...because I will not let go. I will not let go of you and your crimes. I will pursue you, by whatever means available...and I will keep hammering it, as long as it takes... I will never ever forget that first premonitory dream I had about Iraq and what was going to happen to us, to our children. It was a message from God. A message showing me in ...

Iraq - a bad place for children. Before you accuse me of propaganda, this is not my title, this is the title of a UNICEF report which states : "Decades of war and international sanctions have turned Iraq into one of the worst places for children in the Middle East and North Africa , with around 3.5 million living in poverty, 1.5 million under the age of five undernourished and 100 infants dying every day , the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns " (bear in mind that UN data is based on conservative estimates, politics oblige) The report then goes on to say : " To achieve the MDGs, (millennium development goals) over 400,000 undernourished Iraqi children would have to receive adequate food, while nearly 700,000 would have to be enrolled in schools. Child mortality would also have to be reduced by 100,000, while about three million others need decent sanitation...." “These are not just statistics, behind every figure there is a child suffering in silence. Ach...