-I just found this interesting site that I think is worth visiting for the material it offers and the dedication of its author to show the truth about Iraq and help the Iraqi people. Please check it out.
-A heart felt message from an Iraqi woman to the anti-war camp in England.
(Thanks to reader Kathleen for both links).

-Ferid has some memories from the 9th of April that he wants to share.

-Chrenkoff has an interesting post about the policy of the French government towards terrorists, with other good stuff.

It’s another sad day here in Iraq..
The terrorists have resumed their evil plans as we expected before and their bloody attack today targeted both, Iraqi civilians and American soldiers and unfortunately this is not going to end soon.

Today’s attack was the ugliest and most coward one; the butchers murdered children with cold blood and then attacked the brave soldiers who came to rescue the injured...I can’t imagine something crueler. It seems like they used Iraqi children to get to the American soldiers although I believe that killing Iraqis civilians, even children, is one of their primary goals, at least in this phase prior to the elections.

Those murderers who slaughtered tens of kids this morning in Baghdad will keep attacking Iraqi civilians from now until the elections day to terrorize them, prevent them from building their country, having a normal life and to stop this country from being a democracy. Iraqis should be too terrorized to vote.
On the other hand, they will also keep trying to kill as many American soldiers as they can and they will concentrate their operations in the coming two months in an attempt to affect the course of the American elections.

God bless the souls of the Iraqis and Americans who fell today and may God help their families.
We are so sad today but we will not despair.

Many of you probably already know about this, but anyway I'd like to announce that this blog has been nominated by the Washington Post for the best international blog contest. You can vote here after you register.
We really feel honoured to know that our blog is considered as one of the best in the world.

You can find here some interesting "untold stories from Iraq" that you can't find everywhere for some 'untold' reason!

Najma has a nice post in which she ask her uncle, who seems to be living in Baghdad and was visiting them, to list his observations about Baghdad and Mosul and the differences between the two cities.

I received an e-mail from one of our dear readers who’s a father of a marine serving in Najaf now.
The marine sent his father the message below in which he provides some interesting observations from there. He’s also asked for some help in providing stationery for kids in Najaf.
If you want to contribute, you can contact his father at this address.

Dear Dad:
1. Not much to report on here in Najaf. Its been quite but we have heard about things being hot in other parts of Iraq so we are still being vigilant. Just recently the Mosques here in Najaf have re-opened and people are returning to them for prayer for the first time in almost a year. When the militia came into the city they took over the Mosques and used them as hideouts, even though it's against their own religious beliefs to use a holy site in such a way, but they did so because they knew that we wouldn't bomb there. The people kept asking us to just go in and get them, but we didn't want to destroy their Mosque, and some of my friends died as a result of sniper fire from inside, but we know it was the right thing to do.
As we were driving through the city on a security patrol the other day we drove by the newly re-opened Mosque. As we drove by many people came out and waved at us and some parents even held up their children and said "thank you America." I remember thinking that how lucky I was to be able to be from a country where I don't have to worry about someone using my church as a battle position, or that someone might shoot me and my family for trying to go to church. Some times I forget how lucky I am and I can't ever believe that I thought of going to church as being a "chore" We should feel blessed to be able to go in and pray as we choose. And I thank God every day that you and my family are safe and sound in the U.S. I love you guys so much that I would gladly lay down my life so that you never loose a single freedom that you enjoy today. And if anything should happen to me, don't worry there are a lot of guys like me out there who will never let that happen.
Lately we have been doing public affairs stuff, going around to different schools and seeing what kinds of stuff they need to be fixed. Things like desks and chalkboards and stuff. The hard part is dealing with all the little kids that come out to see us and they all think that we are going to be giving away food and candy. And it's not like it's just a couple of kids, we get mobbed by like a hundred kids. Instead of more candy or chocolate or stuff me , if you could send some basic school supply stuff to me we can get it right to the school kids. Things like pens, pencils, protractors, rulers, etc and we will get it out. I will also get some pictures of the kids for you that I will send. Oh, and don't forget those little hand held pencil sharpeners. Apparently they need some of those too......
Love,
David Jr

:: Now you can read the 11th part of Chrenkoff’s great series of “Good news from Iraq”.
This part is also available from Opinion Journal and Winds of Change.

Who's lying?

I’ve been surfing the net yesterday and I found a post on Riverbend’s blog via another blog that I can’t remember now that was really interesting. I never wanted to criticize my fellow Iraqi bloggers but there are things that I just can’t ignore; telling lies. The blogger noted that our perspectives and those of Riverbend’s were always extremely contradicting each other and he seems more inclined to believe Riverbend than us, and I’m just fine with that, as there are many people who have the opposite attitude and this is all just normal. The problem is that they are believing ‘poetry’ not realities and facts. The scarce amount of “observations from the ground” you can find in all Riverbend’s post and especially the last one are actually frank lies, and I wish there was a polite way to put that, but lies are lies and it’s ironic that she chooses “liar, liar” as a title for her post.
She says about Allwi’s speech in the congress:

My favorite part was when he claimed, "Electricity has been restored above pre-war levels..." Even E. had to laugh at that one. A few days ago, most of Baghdad was in the dark for over 24 hours and lately, on our better days, we get about 12 hours of electricity. Bush got it wrong (or Allawi explained it to incorrectly)- the electricity is drastically less than pre-war levels, but the electricity BILL is way above pre-war levels. Congratulations Iraqis on THAT!! Our electricity bill was painful last month. Before the war, Iraqis might pay an average of around 5,000 Iraqi Dinars a month for electricity (the equivalent back then of $2.50) - summer or winter. Now, it's quite common to get bills above 70,000 Iraqi Dinars... for half-time electricity.

Let me show you where the lies are:
“On our better days, we get about 12 hours of electricity”.
A straight out lie, as we get 16-18 hours of electricity per day on our worst days, while on our best days we get 20 hours per day, lately.
I want to explain that I don’t give all the credit in that for the Iraqi government efforts only, as it’s simply the fact that during this time of the year the consumption of electric power is at it’s lowest rates. Much less air conditioners as it’s not that hot anymore, no heaters and also no schools are opening yet.

“Before the war, Iraqis might pay an average of around 5,000 Iraqi Dinars a month for electricity”.

Another terrible lie unless she lived in a house void of any electric devices apart from lights and fans. The bills we had before the war were at least 20 thousand Dinars a month.

“equivalent back then of $2.50".
One of the very rare facts in her post (still not accurate. The right number is 2.27$ as the exchange rate was 2200 ID/$), which she ‘forgets’ to repeat or correct in the end of the paragraph. Maybe because it’s a good thing that the Iraqi Dinar exchange rate jumped from 2200 ID/US$ to around 1460 ID/US$? And the fact that it has been stable for a very long time now which never happened at uncle Saddam’s time, may be should be forgotten as it may lead some people to think (God forbid) that actually something good turned out from this war?

The most important fact that was ‘forgotten’ in her post and that is so obvious that even many people in the west already know about it is that prior to the war we, in Baghdad had a better electric supply in the last 2 years before the war only, while cities like Basra, Samawa, Diwanyia and in short most of the Iraqi governerates had to settle with much less than what they have now; meaning something between 4-8 hours per day for many years, and in some cities it was down to two hours per day with many days during the year virtually without any electricity. The just redistribution that took place after the war certainly must've upset the privileged ones.

“Now, it's quite common to get bills above 70,000 Iraqi Dinars... for half-time electricity”.

Another tremendous lie. The last bill we got was 3650 Dinars and I’ve asked all the people I met today about this from the cab driver, the shopkeeper that I get my cigarettes from to the senior doctors in our ward, and the highest number I got was 350 thousand Dinars for 18 months ( 19440 Dinar/month)and that was for a shop, and shops are charged higher than homes. Besides, 5 thousand dinars was more than my salary before the war, for instance, while now I and most Iraqis get paid at least 20 times that amount of money. Here’s a photo I took for the bill we got. It’s in Arabic but it won’t be impossible to figure out the numbers, and I wish she could show us her bill.

I must admit that she/he (since we never got to know who’s Riverbend) has got one gift for sure. She must be intelligent, otherwise she couldn’t have managed to fool such number of people by presenting such rude lies almost all the time.

Finally I’d like to answer a question from the blogger who quoted us both but I just can’t find the link again and I’ll keep trying:

“I read "Ali" and his compatriots fairly regularly, and I don't quite know what to make of them. I'm prepared to believe that many Iraqis feel the same commitment to a pluralistic, democratic future for Iraq, but find myself put off by their easy acceptance of so much misery being visited on their countrymen, their soaring rhetoric which mirrors so perfectly Bush and the American right wing, and most of all, I question his readiness to claim that anyone who is currently resisting the occupation is nothing more nor less than a terrorist. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the portrait painted in the Guardian/Observer of at least one insurgent strongly suggested that he is anything but a hater of either democratic governance, or Americans as a people, and that if the Bush administration had made good on any of its promises, they would have won the patient support of more Iraqis than they've managed to. My question about Ali is why its so difficult for him to imagine that there were other ways of deposing Saddam, and other ways to help the Iraqis toward a democratic future other than a full scale primarily American invasion whose purpose was not merely to get rid of Saddam, but even more importantly, to deliver all of Iraq into the hands of Bush & co?”

We may sound sometimes like the American government but that’s simply because we do share a common goal, and believe it or not, I do have my own opinions and I had them long before the war. You see I don’t get it; if a western guy agrees with the American administration then he’s just taking a stand while if an Iraqi or anyone from the ME does that then he’s either a CIA agent or a fool! Does it sound like they are looking at us as minors or what?! I guess if instead I shifted to parroting Al Jazeerah or people like Michael Moore or Juan Cole, I’d be having a an independent voice?

We’ve tried the sanctions and it only increased the suffer of the Iraqi people as a result of the dirty tricks of Saddam and his friends in the so-honest, so- pure UN.
There was an uprising that most of Iraqis took part in and it ended in them being slaughtered in hundreds of thousands without anyone of you, humanists rising a single fucking sign of protest.

How many Iraqis should’ve died, how many innocent children should’ve got crippled in their first year and how many Iraqi women should’ve been raped so that we could get our freedom? Only now the pacifists have become so generous with your tears about the “poor Iraqi men and women getting abused in Abu Gharib”. Please, just try and show a tiny bit of the honesty you claim we lack.

I didn’t want to comment on Bush and Allawi’s speech in the congress because I don’t like to praise politicians generally and I thought from what I read that most people liked the speech just as I did, but when I read stuff like this I just can’t remain silent.

Bush was telling the exact truth about the electricity, while what Allawi said about security cannot be proved or contradicted that easily. Still there’s a lot of truth in his statement, and I mean when was the last time you heard in the news about Duhok, Samawa, Diwanyia, Kerbela, Irbil, Ammarah, Kut, Hilla and generally governerates out of the so-called Sunni triangle? Even in that area it’s not as gloomy as it’s portrayed by the MSM, as there are of course few towns that suffer terrible security situation, but even in governerates like Anbar, have you heard the words Rawa, Haditha, Ana, Rutba or Heet lately? Well these are all large cities in Anbar that seem to be not having any serious problems regarding security otherwise we’d hear them mentioned at least once a week as the MSM is not missing to report even ordinary crimes that have no political meaning what so ever! Still Allawi wasn’t painting a rosy picture, as he made it clear that the task is a very difficult one and Iraq need all the help she can get to succeed in it.

Allawi’s speech was articulate, impressive and honest and most Iraqis I talked to lately share the same opinion with me, but much more impressive was the reaction of all members of the congress who were there. That was the American people there, the whole American nation not just republicans, standing and cheering not Allawi but what he stood for; IRAQ. They were showing support and friendship to Iraq not Allawi and that was a rare moment in history where the two nations Iraq and America stood as equal friends, no actually it was more like family as one American friend described. Insulting Allawi and Bush and the whole speech, speaking so harshly of that unique moment is an insult not to Bush or Allawi but to both the Iraqi and American nations, and yes that goes for everyone did that.

Riverbend is disgusted with Allawi’s 9 “thank you” to America, and I want to say that you and I should thank God and America 9 million times and we would still be in debt. Just think whether you could’ve happened to you had you posted similar thoughts about any Iraq politician before the war. Oh but you weren’t posting before the war, nor did any other Iraqi, and I wonder why!

I’ll never stop telling what I believe is the truth and won’t stop fighting for that regardless of all the silly accusations and even threats sometimes. I’m not pro-Bush and I’m not pro-Allawi but I stand firmly with the new Iraq and with America. Iraq has run out of “historical leaders” and I guess there must be some people who still miss that time but they shouldn’t feel that bitter, as one can always visit one of our brother Arab and Muslim nations to remember the “good old days” that we, the vast majority of Iraqis are ready to give our lives to make sure they won’t be repeated.


-By Ali.
Update: Here's the link to the blog I was looking for.

I’ve seen this before..

The problem is the same and the regime under question is much like the previous one, actually they’re always alike with only few exceptions regarding the outfit and the disguise they use.
They all treat their people with much neglect and violence. They’re all sources of troubles for their neighbors with ambitions to initiate troubles in distant places but probably the most distinctive common factor among those regimes is their hysterical pursue for WMD’s which is usually accompanied by their lousy attempts to fool their people and the world to hide their past crimes and their evil future plans.
Well...we must admit that they can fool some governments and a sizable part of the public opinion; to be more accurate I have to say that governments are more likely to adopt certain attitudes after being paid or intimidated rather than fooled whereas the public opinion is unfortunately more liable to be fooled by its own government, and the media in many cases.

So, as a person who had been watching a similar ‘movie’ from inside, I guess I may have a more clear vision than people following the events from outside.
The IAEA resolution was a good step for this stage but I’m concerned about the next stage.
The world must keep the course and exert more pressure in the future because the mullahs will try their best to override this ‘obstacle’.
The situation is serious and there’s no reason to think that it’s not and no one should take the risk of underestimating the threat; nukes in the hands of the mullahs would be the worst thing that threatens the world’s peace in the 21st century.
There’s no way to think that the mullahs are showing all this determination in keeping their nuclear program and risking their existence for the sake of their country’s progress because they (the mullahs) just like all other oppressive regimes, don’t care a bit for the welfare of their people.

What worries me here is that so far there’s a relatively strong international agreement and a united attitude against the Iranian nuclear projects but it doesn’t seem to be strong enough to face the persistent efforts by the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons. Efforts that clearly will not be stopped by mere diplomatic efforts unless backed up by real and expressed determination from the international community to reply effectively in case of failure of peaceful means.
Will Europe (you know which part of Europe I mean) do something to protect the world if the Mullahs in Iran decided to continue defying the world’s demands?

We’ve seen Europe standing with the US in the beginning of the last conflict with Saddam in 2001-2002 and the Europeans agreed with the 1441 resolution or at least remained silent but unfortunately they quit their responsibilities when Saddam violated the Security Council resolutions. They agreed in the beginning that Saddam had to be disarmed but they shoed that they would do nothing to make this happen when Saddam responded with deceptive maneuvers that were clearly leading no where. They even stood strongly against the coalition efforts to carry out a decision they had already agreed on.

Talking about peaceful utilization of nuclear power while they show off their military power is totally unconvincing. More over, this new 1700 km missile is definitely not a message of reassurance to Iran’s neighbors because improving such long-range missiles suggest that a sophisticated war head is to be loaded on this missile because it’s illogical to supply such missile that must have cost a lot to develop, with conventional war heads.
Now that the mullahs are pushing their luck and decided to resume Uranium processing, challenging the world’s will, what shall be next? Send some UN inspectors and place some surveillance cameras?
I really don’t think of this as a good choice because the mullahs are able to deceive them just like Saddam did before. Also we should keep in mind that totalitarian regimes like that of the mullahs will not hesitate to exploit any amount of their country’s fortune to bribe UN officials, media and even governments in order to hide facts and hinder justice.

Don’t think that I’m suggesting immediate preemptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities (that would be useful though) but I urge the decision makers in the world to unite their efforts to confront this threat.
The mullahs are desperately trying to win time, which may not be on our side this time if we allowed them to drag the world to their game.

Arthur Chrenkoff has a great post about the "The Post-Totalitarian Stress Disorder" which I think that everyone interested in the Iraqi issue should read. I tend to agree with him fully regarding the psychological state of most Iraqis today and also the effect free market can have on the intricate tribal and sectarian relations in Iraq. I never felt I need to say "Read the whole thing" as I do now.

KOFI ANNAN'S POORLY TIMED CRITICISMS

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Mr.Joseph Ghougassian, a former ambassador of the USA to Qatar who also worked as a CPA advisor in Iraq. He had wrote an article about Kofi Annan's latest statement that the war on Saddam was illegal. He asked me to post his essay in our blog. I read it and I found myself agreeing with everything in it, so I decided to post it and share it with our readers. Here is the essay:


KOFI ANNAN'S POORLY TIMED CRITICISMS


On Wednesday, September 15, 2004, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed for the first time his views on the war in Iraq: "I have indicated it is not in conformity with the U.N. Charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal."

From May 1, 2003 to August 31, 2004 I was involved with Iraq reconstruction efforts in several capacities. First, I was sent to Kirkuk to look into the property disputes between the Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen and Christians; in my last assignment I served as a high ranking Advisor to Iraq Ministry of Higher Education and the 68 institutions of higher learning.

I lived and worked in the Green Zone in Saddam Palace along with 3000 military and civilian personnel. I traveled extensively all over Iraq, visiting college and university campuses. When in Baghdad I drove myself almost on a daily basis to my meetings with Iraqis.

Annan calling the war "illegal" at this point in time has many significant and troubling consequences. The logical inferences are such that if I was to defend Saddam Hussein or for that matter any of the 60 held prisoners belonging to his regime, I would quote Annan and argue that the removal from power of these individuals was illegal; the holding them in custody is illegal; the formation of the tribunal looking into their prior activities is illegal. The declarations made by Saddam that he is currently the legitimate President of Iraq would be considered valid. In brief, I would list Annan as my star witness in defense of Saddam.

The ensuing inference from the previous inference is that the government of Iyad Allawi is illegitimate; the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) drafted by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and ratified by the former Iraq Governing Council is void and null. In conclusion there should not be a national election in January 2005.

The reverse side of Annan’s value judgement on the illegality of the war is that the USA, U.K., Italy, Australia, and the other partners in the coalition were thugs and violators of the U.N. Charter and international law. Under Annan’s point of view, a good defense lawyer would argue not only for the release of Saddam and his criminal goons, but also ask for reparations from the coalition nations.

In philosophical parlance, if a war is deemed "illegal" it is also deemed to be "immora"l. This does not bode well on the psychic of our young men and women in uniforms fighting the terrorists in Iraq. Could Annan's definition of the US led war in Iraq as "illegal" and by extension "immoral" has any psychological and moral effects on the coalition forces in Iraq? Does Annan's claim that the US led war in Iraq was "illegal" emboldens and encourages the insurgents, terrorists and mercenaries operating in Iraq? Does Annan's statement increases the security problems for the coalition forces and the civilians involved in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq? Does Annan's position helps the Iraqi police, politicians and government in their discharge of duties and efforts to stabilize the nation under the rule of law?

Kofi Annan's declaration of the war in Iraq by the US led coalition and its logical consequence of occupation as "illegal" is ill timed and no more useful in bringing peace than Senator John Kerry's assertions that the US should have not prosecuted the war against Saddam Hussein. Annan and Kerry are playing with the life of million of Iraqi people and with the life of thousands of Americans and that of others in Iraq. This is not the time to demoralize our forces, nor is it prudent to make statements that will be interpreted by the terrorists as a justification to pursue their criminal ends in Iraq as the case happened when the President of the Philippines caved in to the demands of the terrorists by withdrawing her troops from Iraq.

If I was still in Baghdad, I would feel uneasy and unsafe to conduct outside the Green Zone my usual daily official business given the high rhetoric of Kofi Annan and Senator John Kerry about the war in Iraq. I feel for my colleagues who are still toiling in Iraq; they are caught in the web of politicians making irresponsible assertions that empower the terrorists to continue and expand their evil doings against the Iraqis and foreigners.

Zarkawi, Bin Ladden and the countless terrorist groups operating inside Iraq, listen to American and British media. The criticisms levied by Annan and Kerry play well in the hands of the terrorists and provide the latter the added fuel to brainwash suicide bombers or to incite criminals to behead Americans and civilians of other nations.

At this juncture of time, Annan should become sensitized to the real pains and losses the Iraqi Kurds, Shias, Turkomen and Christians suffered in the hands of Saddam. May be he should apologize to Iyad Allawi, the Interim Prime Minister, for making the undiplomatic faux pas in declaring the war in Iraq as "illegal".

After all, had Kofi Annan been an effective U.N. Secretary General and had he succeeded in persuading Saddam to comply with all the UN security council resolutions, the US and its allies would not be in Iraq.

The US has vital, national and security interests in the region of the Arabian Gulf dating back to 1947. These interests are not subject to U.N. review or approval. Iraq is part of the Arabian Gulf.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Joseph Ghougassian served as US Ambassador to Qatar and CPA Advisor in Iraq.
His email is zena92029@yahoo.com

Some good news!

A group of Iraqi citizens in Al Karkh/ Khidr Al Yas arrested 6 Syrian terrorists who placed a land mine at the gate of Bab Al Mu’a dam bridge from Al Karkh side.

According to New Sabah newspaper, after a road side bomb exploded missing an American convoy that was patrolling in the area, a group of citizens who happened to be there noticed a bunch of young men who looked foreigners (turned out to be Syrians) that were gathering near the place and that looked suspicious. The citizens found their atittude very suspicious and they were not from the area, so they jumped on them and kicked them until some of them started to bleed and then turned them on to the American forces. Eyewitnesses said that the citizens were shouting “Terrorists. You are targeting our children and families. You are killing our youths”

This incident that took place near Haifa street comes after many attacks that terrorist Arabs were accused of carrying against American forces and Iraqi police stations.

The Iraqi adventure.

What does Mr. Novak know about Iraq and the decision makers in the USA? If his information about how decision makers in America are thinking, is similar to his information about Iraq, then I guess we are safe and there’s no need to worry.

I couldn’t help wondering after reading this article that he wrote recently, could it be true? Can the American administration be this stupid?! Or is it that some people in the white house are worried about their political future and do not want to invest too much in the Iraqi issue? Are the terrorist really winning? they don’t seem to be the majority to us, Iraqis! Should we forget everything about freedom and democracy? Was Iraq just an adventure?? Or is this man just blinded by wishful thinking?

It’s not just that I do not want to believe Mr. Novak, but I seriously question if he understands how serious the war against terrorists and extremists in Iraq is. He seems to think that it was a nice dream and an adventure that America can walk out on just like that to avoid more losses. He, as well as many "anti-war" people, do not understand how the war to topple Saddam and establish democracy in Iraq can be a part of the war on terror. I do believe, however, that the American official are not that stupid to deal so lightly with such a critical issue.

Iraq is not an adventure. Toppling Saddam was never the main reason for the war and should never be thought of as this. Removing Saddam could’ve been done 13 years ago by just preventing him from using his helicopters in the uprising. It could’ve been done also by deploying the Iraqi opposition groups into the north, which together with the Peshmerga and with air support from the coalition could’ve done the job. It could’ve been done through a military coup planned by the CIA or the M.I.6. After all, Saddam regime proved to be much weaker than it looked. It certainly didn’t need hundreds of thousands of coalition soldiers and all this massive power. Besides, if it was the main reason, then why didn’t the American troops pull out of Iraq soon after doing it?

The task of liberating Iraq and establishing democracy in it is nothing like any limited war America had fought before. It’s as serious as WW1 and WW2, and even more serious than the cold war. Anyone who thinks that America can pull out and be settled with toppling Saddam and stopping his WMDs project proves to be shortsighted, the least to say.

But I’m not going to discus the shallowness of such pattern of thinking here. I’ll just try to explore the psychology behind it. It seems that Mr. Novak says what most of the MSM and the people who oppose the American presence in Iraq are saying lately as a new approach to the Iraqi issue by stating that it was not all wrong but the expectations were higher than what they should’ve been, and therefore we should pull out now. It seems that they see it this way:

We have a country ruled by a mad dictator who keep trying to produce WMDs, so our government should move and remove him. We can try while we are there to establish a democracy, as it seems like a nice idea and worth trying. First because fanatic Muslims may try to fill the power gap, and second to make the war on terror more easy to win by depriving the terrorists of what used to be a safe heaven for them once and a source of funds, and to form a model for democracy in Iraq that attracts the people of other Muslim and Arab nations and encourage them to topple dictatorships in their countries or at least change their ways of thinking in a way that makes them reject terrorism and dictatorship, and prefer the western model for a state.

Alas, it was a beautiful dream but it remains just a dream. The possibility of success in establishing democracy in Iraq or anywhere in the ME is almost negligible.

This is of course not the administration fault directly (although they are mistaken in their previous judgment) otherwise it could be corrected. It’s the fault of the Iraqi people, or let’s say it’s just their nature. These people do not believe in democracy and freedom. They want a dictator like Saddam and they already miss him. That’s what many of them have said on TV. They are also mainly extremist religious people who prefer a theocracy to a democracy. We should be reasonable and respect their wishes. They are stupid ignorant fanatics and we should respect that! Anyone who tries to argue this and help these people to change their lives prove that he doesn’t respect their stupid sick culture. Who are we to decide what the others want, as obviously Muslims and Arabs are different from the rest of human beings? How stupid it is to believe that they are like us; peaceful and reasonable people! They are Arabs and Muslims for God’s sake! When were Arab or Muslims ever civilized people?

We should pull out now. As for how to combat terrorism, how to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons or any future government in Iraq from doing exactly what Saddam was doing, for how to face the terrorist-funding organizations in Saudi Arabia and the ME . . . well, it seems very difficult after pulling out from Iraq, but let’s not worry about that now!

I look at such theory and then I watch TV and it seems convincing. Only I want freedom and democracy and so do most of my friends and relatives, and the vast majority of Iraqis I’ve known all my life. So do hundreds of thousands of IP, ING members, hundreds of political organizations and millions of Iraqis who are defending the American administration’s dream (you know, because we can’t have a dream!), and who wait anxiously for the upcoming elections. Are we not Arabs and Muslims? Or were we brainwashed by the American propaganda to believe that their dream was ours?

NO Mr. Novak, you are WRONG and I’m being very nice here. This is not an adventure and this is not a neo-conservative dream. This is OUR dream. The dream of millions of oppressed Iraqis who saw what dictatorship can do and who were dying to witness a moment of freedom, to live a peaceful life, a life that carries hope and make dreams not that impossible, a life similar to yours, or is it too much to hope for? We had this dream before anyone heard about neo -conservatives.

I don’t believe what you say about the American administration Mr. Novak, but even if you were right, you can give up on your dream. We won’t give up on ours, and may God help us.


-By Ali.

We don’t hear lots of news about Afghanistan which means at least that things are rather quite there and this make it good news. As one journalist once noted that “No news is good news”. However there are lots of good things that has happened lately, and these are brought to us as usual by the dedicated blogger Arthur Chrenkoff in his 4th round-up of good news from Afghanistan. (This article is also available from the “Opinion Journal” and the “Winds of Change”).

Removing the Caliphate.

There has been a considerable association between Islam and terrorism, which gave rise to an opinion that Islam is a religion that promotes violence and intolerance. Some people took it farther than that while others, more moderate, started to question (righteously) if there wasn’t something deeply wrong in Islam. The leaders of the coalition took every effort to show that this war is not against Islam and that they believe Islam is a peaceful religion. I, not only understand why some people doubt the truth in such announcements but I do have my doubts if they actually meant it, because it’s getting so difficult to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion for non Muslims, and the only thing that keep Muslims from having the same doubts is that...they are Muslims!

Some people are sure that it's Islam that need to be destroyed not just terrorist organizations, and Muslims should convert. Others think that Islam is capable of being reformed and that dictators and clergy are making this impossible, so we need to remove them or weaken their effect on their people to combat terrorism.

I’m a Muslim, but I truly do not want to defend Islam here. I just want to find some answers about the origin of terrorism and why it’s almost always limited to Muslims. It seems that almost all terrorists are Muslims, but not most Muslims are terrorists. Still we have to question, “why”? If we want to fight terrorism, we definitely need to understand the reasons that push people to extremism. This is extremely important now, as if we believe that it’s dictatorships and the allying clergy, and it appeared wasn’t, then we’ll be wasting lives, efforts and money in the wrong direction. While if we believed it’s Islam, and it appeared it was the dictators, then we’ll be risking a lot in fighting the wrong battle and making unnecessary enemies.

I’m not going to discuss the whole issue, as it takes more than what my time and brain can afford, but I want to focus on one difference between Islam and other religions that may have contributed to the fact that Muslims are more prone to become terrorists or extremist than others.

At least most religions were incorporated in one way or another to power and authority at a certain time, and in most case if not all, such power was abused by clerics and it took wars or strong conflicts to separate ‘church’ from the state each time. The difference with Islam is that it didn’t acquire power later as with Christianity for example. From the first beginning the state was founded on a religious base. The ruler was the leader regarding politics, daily life issues and spiritual affairs. The power was concentrated in one hand; the caliphate. Some Muslim thinkers tend to believe now that this was not only unnecessary, but it was wrong. Those are still minority of course.

Anyway, since the caliphate derived his power from religion, he had to make a strong alliance with the most known pious men in the nation, as there was still no clergy at that time. And when conflicts started among different men, all claiming the right to be the successor of the prophet Mohammed, their campaigns were naturally base on how religious or how close to the prophet they were. Each part gathered all the respected religious men they could. Men who knew Mohammed and spent some time in his company. These conflicts were very bitter and included bloody battles between Muslims in a short time after Mohammed’s death, and with such hard struggle, every candidate needed all the support he could get.

From that time Islam was politicalized and was corrupted but it was not very easy to notice that. Things went crazy and after some time principles didn’t matter, lives didn’t matter. All that mattered was to get to power and to be the caliphate. ‘Campaign managers’ started to dig in the Koran to find something that can support their boss or that can be used against his rival, and when they couldn’t find that in the Koran, they resorted to another effective method that was forbidden for some time after Mohammed’s death; quoting Mohammed.

That was a very dangerous development in the history of Islam. One of these clerics would go out to the people and say that what his boss did was the right thing because he heard Mohammed saying this or that, and since he accompanied Mohammed for some time people would believe him and all he had to do to make it ‘documented’ was to bring another man who would swear that he was there when it was said.

Things from that time on got much more complicated, but the main idea is that rulers with the help of clerics were able to change many things in Islam that did not fit them and come up with some new stuff too, and their main weapon was quoting Mohammed. When life started to look ugly for Muslims and poverty and injustice became too much to tolerate, the clerics had to come up with something that divert the attention of people from their misery (this was done by focusing on the other life) and convince them that these hardships are caused by an outside power not their government (infidels and their conspiracy against Islam). I believe through what I read about Muslim history that the strong belief in conspiracy theories and their prevalence date back that much.

But what should Muslims do about the “infidels' conspiracies”? Actually nothing. Jihad was limited to the caliphate to deal with. He was the only one who had the power to decide that “infidels” should be fought because they are “infidels”, or just avoid the issue totally when it’s not the right time. To understand this more one should acknowledge that the average Muslim believes that all non Muslims are heretics and should be taught Islam and if refuse they should pay a tax or it’s war. However this rule is not strict at all and most Muslims, although think it is what God said, they don’t think they should carry it out! This can be explained by the effect of the clerics. The She’at have the “Taqyia” and the Sunni had multiple similar legislation that make jihad similarly out of the question until the ‘caliphate’ or the “Mufti” decides. This was needed to keep things under control, as Jihad can turn out to have dangerous consequences on the rulers themselves.

But the question is still the same! Why would a religion provoke violence and demand submission from others!? Unless it’s not from God.

The answer to this ‘difficult’ question is to read the Koran and when did it authorize the use of power against non Muslims. The first verse that allowed Muslims to fight back the infidels in Mecca was this one:
“it’s permitted to those who were fought, to fight back because they were subjected to injustice” the verse was, first not an order but an authorization, second as a response to injustice carried against Muslims. You should not fight someone because you think he’s an inifel but you fight back when you are hurt or your rights get violated. This can be explained in another verse that clearly says, “ No one should be forced to change his belief. It’s become obvious what’s right and what’s wrong” It’s worth mentioning that the last verse is one of the last verses regarding dealing with non Muslims. Clerics resorted to quoting Mohammed to combat such verses. Of course they said they were explaining them to the average Muslim. You know, because they were written in Chinese.

There are of course some verses that deal with this issue a little bit differently, but the first authorization should’ve been generalized while the others should’ve been looked at as “special cases” related to time and circumstances, but the clerics and their sponsors had a different opinion. They told people that the words of Koran are eternal, holy and that they are the words of God written in heaven. How can you argue with such words, and you shouldn’t, because you’d be questioning the legitimacy of the caliphate himself! Now that should NEVER be allowed.

It may be new to some, but many Muslims questioned that at that time, and naturally they were tortured, oppressed and burned sometimes. Their name is the Moa’atazila and they are a group of thinkers and philosophers who thought that the Koran verses came as a response to particular events and that they were inspired to Mohammed and they were only important because our minds gave them such importance and because we believe in them, and thus the higher authority is for the human mind and not the script.

Unfortunately, this group was oppressed and when they finally got to power, they avenged their rivals in similar way and that was their greater mistake and what made their ideas disappear very rapidly. However nowadays there are many Muslim thinkers and writers who adapt a similar pattern of thinking to that of the Moa’atazilla and they are oppressed too. They look at the words of Koran as a beginning not a limit. They are just broad lines that we can start from without fear and without restrictions, and they believe so also because the most frequent command in the Koran is, “THINK”; think and look around you and question everything.

I believe that these thinkers are the hope to reform Islam, to save it and get it back from the hands of those evil and ignorant Mullahs and clerics. Such pattern of thinking can open all closed gates between Muslims and the rest of the world. We really believe that all religions are one and that they all come from the same source, so why fight and why quarrel? And I don’t mean this in the same superficial way we always hear from clerics who just want to sound moderate. It’s that we can, and should, have our own ways in praying and communicating with our creator and it’s not anyone else’s business.

But how are we going to reform Islam if we can’t guarantee some minimum level of safety for thinkers? How are we going to do this without freedom of speech?
I’m not talking about the danger from a conservative society, as I believe that you can communicate with people and present new ideas in tactful ways without a very serious risk, but I’m talking about the danger that comes from dictators who do not want anyone to think for himself and come up with some new ideas that may disrupt the ‘peace’ they worked so hard to create in their kingdoms. We need to at least remove these tyrants before any reform could be even possible. They won’t accept any change in the curriculum, for instance, that would endanger their positions, and the changes we think about definitely will do that. We have all seen their reaction to the change in Iraq; how terrified they are and how desperately they try to stop the change in Iraq. That should give us an idea of how they are going to deal with it in their own lands.

-By Ali.

I’ve recently discovered this site and they have very interesting and promising programs regarding Iraq. I’ve been told that there is a democratic institute performing a similar job in Iraq. There are some polls there that I think are more close to what the majority of Iraqis think than other polls I’ve read. 'Strangely' their recent poll show increase optimism among Iraqis. Take a look at it if you haven’t seen it before.

Hearts and minds.

I guess we all agree that hatred is probably the main precursor of violence, so a full understanding for this unpleasant feeling is needed if we we’re looking for a way to end the violence, and finding answers for questions like: why hatred appeared? when did it begin for the first time? what are the related factors? and who contributed in provoking hatred? Is a key step in curing hatred.

As the world is living the 3rd memorial of the 9/11 attacks, the BBC opened a forum for Arab readers to allow them to voice their feelings about the “hatred wave against America”. This time the forum has a special significance because Arabs are directly related to this topic and the largest part of this “wave” comes from Arab countries.
I’ve found that all Iraqi participants (except for two) carry no hatred for America, not to mention the admiration and gratitude for America that were clear in some Iraqis’ comments.

Anyway, I decided to translate most of the comments posted by Iraqis along with some of the Arabs’ comments that caught my attention so that you can view some opinions that can rarely be seen in the media and I decided not to translate any of the offensive comments which you can find almost everywhere. I must add that most of these posters with offensive comments said that their comments were directed “against the American government, not the people”.


“America is not an enemy of Arabs and Muslims, on the contrary, on many occasions she backed Muslims when other Muslims did nothing like in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. America helped us get rid of the worst dictatorship in history and despite the unstable security situation now in Iraq we breath freely and say whatever we want to say without fear from Saddam and his dogs
I was-and still-working as a teacher and Saddam was paying me 2 dollars a month, can you imagine that? while he paid thousands and thousands to his followers. Things now are much better for me and I feel grateful for America and the coalition for what they did to save us”
Amjad Al Ubaidy -Baghdad/Iraq.

“The Americans are peaceful and smart people. Unfortunately, this hatred was created by some clerics who try to brain-wash the youth every Friday after the prayers so many would go out with hatred in their hearts and anger toward America”
Reemon A’adil Sammi-Iraq.

“The truth is that people who encourage the dialogue and call for friendship with the US are the people who have reached a conclusion that the era of arrogance, fake heroism, ridiculous Baáthist
slogans and Arab stubbornness that made Arabs the most backward among nations, has come to an end. It’s enough to acknowledge that the economy of a European country such as Spain is stronger than the economy of the Arab countries collectively. The pro-American youth are the best and the most educated while those who consider them traitors can bring only death and doom.”
Yugene-Baghdad/Iraq.

“First of all I’d like to send my condolences to our American friends on the third memorial day for the terrorist attacks. And I send my condolences too to my Iraqi fellow citizens who have been suffering from terrorism every day and every hour for nearly two years on the hands of people who hide behind slogans of religion and patriotism.
I call all Iraqis to build strong relations with the Americans. Hatred has to be eradicated especially between Iraq and USA (if ever existed) and between Arabs and USA in general.
The false slogans of Arab nationalism that emerge here and there calling people to hate America are all against the interests of our people. We followed these slogans for decades and look what we’ve ended up with; poor countries ruled by dictators. We must head to the other side and hopefully we can find our goal there and put an end to the poverty and oppression that are ruining our nation”
Mohammed Abu kelel-Najaf/Iraq.

“The Arab youths are living under cultural, religious and even sexual repression while people in the West enjoy all aspects of freedom and this motivates the Arabs to immigrate to the US or Europe to be able to live in a civilized environment but unfortunately most immigrants fail to merge with the western communities because of the effect of the religious heritage they accumulated since childhood therefore they tend to establish a closed Islamic-Arab community in America or Europe and this will eventually lead to a conflict between the two cultures”
Mohammed Othman-Syria.

“I had finished my studies in America and lived there for years and I sensed how advanced is that country but I was shocked when I returned back to my country to see how the governments are humiliating our people. I chanted anti-American slogans against my will and I long for living there again and I’m sure that some of those who have spoke against America on this forum wouldn’t mind living in America in spite of all the hatred their words contained”
Hisham-Cairo.

“I believe the West has a lot of good qualities for which we should show respect and love and perhaps its being a shelter for runaways from oppression and poverty in our Arab countries is the most admirable thing.
Arabs’ hatred towards America is primarily attributed to the political and religious system in Arab countries which is feeding this hatred because of the belief that any proximity between Arab and American people would weaken its (the system’s) position among its people. The losing party from this hatred remains the Arab people that needs the West’s help in many fields while the West needs us in very few ones and that’s why who opposes the West is in fact opposing his own interests.
The question remains: shall we let the hatred provokers use us?”
Mohammed-Baghdad.

“The problem lies inside us, the Arabs; whether governors or citizens. We’re still living the era of backwardness, ignorance and crying for the past. We don’t understand how decisions are made in America and the defect is within ourselves.
I’m a big admirer of America and the progress that America had achieved in such a short period.
One more thing, those who offend America must not forget that it was America who helped the Muslims in Albania, Bosnia, Kuwait and Sudan. Where is the Arab civilization? We never saw the Arabs offer help but we all saw the food packages and flour sacks carrying the letters USA.
The problem with Arabs is that they always have find someone to put the blame on.”
Fadi-Libya.
“America should not be blamed for the hatred that grew against her. If an Arab country (with powers similar to those of America) have suffered what America had suffered from terrorism and if it was some Americans who carried out the attacks on that Arab country. The Arabs would’ve terminated America and slaughtered every American woman and child just like what the Islamists are doing now in Iraq”
Yusuf Al Muhandis-Iraq.

“America is the leader of the world and she represents the tip of the pyramid in economy, science, sports, military power and many other fields and if someone is looking for progress, justice and freedom then America is his destination while those who want to bring back the dark ages consider America their enemy.
It’s true that America and her society have some negative points but these look tiny when compared with the positive ones.
America’s success is a success for the civilized world and her failure is a failure for the whole world. If you don’t trust my words take a look at America’s allies and friends and see how they live and then take a look at America’s enemies, they’re living in poverty under oppressive tyrannies. Just make a comparison between the two Koreas to have a closer view”
Mohammed Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.


“America offers freedom for free. It’s true that I’ve never been there and I don’t have friends living there either but I keep America in my mind and sole. Hatred was brought to us by the extremists; the enemies of mankind.
I and every true Iraqi love America because to us she represents freedom and liberation. America untied us from Saddam’s chains and also liberated Yugoslavia from her dictator and liberated Germany before that. History is full of events that support my feelings”
Hazim Al Shammari-Bafgdad/Iraq.

I have a secret to share with you; we (my brothers and I) used to hate America some years ago, just like the vast majority of Iraqis and that was the result of being isolated from the rest of the world by the thick walls Saddam built around us. We used to be reading one newspaper, watching one channel and hearing one voice; the voice of the “mighty leader” that looked eternal but those feelings gradually changed after we started to see more clearly who was actually responsible for Iraq’s misery and began to open our eyes, ears and minds to other points of view and to other sources of information in a seriously dangerous search for the truth.

Later, the uncertain feeling changed to a more positive one when we realized that our only chance to get rid of the tyrant was in America’s hands especially after 9/11 and the events that followed that day as we saw that America is determined to fight terrorism and terrorism-supporting criminal regimes.

During the eighteen months that followed 9/11 we were dreaming of the day when the “zero hour” finally comes and nothing will ever match what we felt when we saw the first missile strike Saddam’s palace.
After we started this blog, we had the chance to meet many Americans, both civilians and soldiers and we discovered the noble feelings and the warm wishes they have for Iraq and Iraqis and that made me believe more than ever that we’ve put our trust in the right place.
Yes, I love America and I’m a friend of all American, and I’m truly proud of that, and so are many, many Iraqis who owe their freedom to the great sacrifices made by American people.

One of my friends asked me to post his thoughts about the "Fahrenheit 9/11" film.
He'd be glad to read your e-mails in responce to it.
*This post represents its author only.


Fahrenheit 9/11

Maybe it’s a little bit late to write about Fahrenheit 9/11 but I couldn’t put my hand on a good copy of the movie to watch and to write about before now. I don’t know where to start but I think I'll let the film guide the way. I think that Mr. Moore tried in every possible way to show that there was some kind of conspiracy or at least manipulation behind Bush winning the presidency, well if the man had won the electoral votes and (all) the members of the senate were supporting or at least didn’t sign any objection to be raised against him so as the supreme court (the people who decided the result of the elections) then I guess that’s more than enough for anyone to be a president and I believe that if there is something wrong then it might be the system and we shouldn't blame the candidate for it.

Criticizing the men in power is something the whole free world does but it should be in reasonable way not by saying that the president is taking long vacations!! Or he sat doing nothing when they told him about the attacks on the world trade center anyway it's better than getting panic in front of them or leaving them disappointed by getting out at once coz they are children after all. I don’t know about the domestic policy of Mr. Bush and its up to the American people to say whether they are good or not but I'll give my opinion just like Mr. Moore did in the president world wide policy and lets start with the relationship with the Saudis, what the hell is wrong in attracting the capitals to the country!! This is something the whole world dream about and Mr. Moore found it wrong! I know he tried to picture it in a different way and to raise question about Mr. Bush's loyalty to his country but the fact remain the same nobody can deny how the American economy benefit from that same money Mr. Moore didn’t like.

Well the best part goes when he suspected that the war against Taliban was to build a pipeline through Afghanistan!! With this level of assessment I won't be surprised if future wars will happen for building a bridge or maybe paving a road!! And I really was shocked when he pictured Iraq like peaceful country where children play and people laugh happily, guess what Mr. Moore you are wrong coz I live in Iraq and children weren't playing they were working to live and people weren’t smiling they were either afraid of getting killed or arrested for no reason or just because they don’t like Saddam and they dared to say so.

I really don’t know why you have to cheat to make the people believe you coz the whole world knew how the Iraqi people suffered from Saddam and you try to show that they were happy with him! In the same superficial manner you used to show that Iraq was a happy place, one could use the pictures of children singing around Stalin celebrating his birthday to show that people loved Stalin and they were happy. Now that was one real documentary shot you took from Iraqis' life prior to the war! And I liked your idea when you said" A nation that never attacked the united states a nation that never threatened to attack the united states a nation that have never murdered a single American citizen" well a (nation) like Iraq started a war with Iran for 8 years with casualties of 1000000 dead people on both sides and killed his own (nation) with toxic gas and then invade another country and killing its people (Kuwait) and threatened to burn all the oil fields if they tried to kick him out
Don’t you think Mr. Moore that burning the oil is a threat to the whole world not only to the united states and in your opinion how long this (nation) will need to burn whole America. No Mr. Moore Iraq wasn’t a (nation) it was a movie just like yours but it was written, produced and directed by Saddam Hussein. Still I have too many things to say but I think the article will be too long to read so last to say to Mr. Moore being a writer doesn't mean that you write lies and being a producer doesn't mean that you cheat people for their money and being a director doesn't mean that you have to be silly and for the best of all please find another job!!.

By: I. Adnan

:: Arthur Chrenkoff had posted the 10th. part of his wonderful series "Good news from Iraq".
I'm truely impresseed by the fact that this fine Polish Australian blogger is paying more attention to the positive events in Iraq, that followed the liberation of this country from tyranny, than most if not all Arab media and websites and I admire the efforts and dedication he's showing in spreading the missing part of the truth.

What do Fallujans think?

It looks like there’s determination to solve the crisis in tension foci in Iraq as a key step before holding the elections. It’s become more than clear that the terrorists are an obstacle created by known external powers to delay the desired political process in Iraq and the public opinion here agrees with the measures taken by the government to destroy the strongholds of crime and terror. There’s a pole at the popular “ New Sabah” newspaper that demonstrate this clearly as about 93.65% voted as agreeing with the government policy in Iraq. (Link in Arabic)
Of course everyone knows that asking for back up from the multinational forces is unquestionable.
Anyway, what I want to say here is that yesterday I received some information from a reliable source, that I’ll refrain from mentioning his name or position, about what’s going on in two of the hottest, probably most dangerous spots in the mean time; Talla’far and Fallujah.

Talla’far’s name has been repeated more often recently and the news I heard confirm that the town has become an exclusive haven for the Baáth party where the party’s members gained full control of the streets to the degree that no one would dare to say a word against Saddam in public.

The Baáth formation there reminded me of Saddam’s days; the same old pyramid structure of units and ranks has been reformed but the most important is that the command center for this structure lies in the Syrian city of Al-Hasaka and the chief commander is, “Ahmed Younis Al-Ahmed”, a member in the former “Revolution Command Council”, and who’s believed now to be the secretary of the reformed organization in Iraq and this man is well supported by the Syrian government who provided shelter for a whole lot of mid-ranking party officials who escaped Iraq and still ranting with slogans of making a come back and re-controlling the country.
In Fallujah the situation is totally different where control is in the hands of the radical Islamic groups together with Arab fighters from across the borders. The latest information I received indicate that seven major “armies” have united their efforts; the “armies” are: Mohammed’s army, Al-Farouq’s battalions, the Salafies, Ansar Al-Sunna and three other groups I couldn’t get their names.

There was a dispute about who should lead the “army” and whether this commander should be a cleric or a military expert. Abdullah Al-Janabi, one of the significant Sunni clerics there was a candidate for that position but the dispute was settled and an agreement was reached to assign a military professional as the chief commander because the war is against a well organized and highly trained army, so they chose an ex-colonel in Saddam’s army to lead the fighters. The new commander began organizing the “army” and planned a redeployment for the units and gave orders that ammunition must be used only according to the “102 rule” which was a protocol used in the old Iraqi army. Also, many of the concrete walls that were constructed to protect some facilities were dragged and used by the fighters to construct safe positions and they painted the roofs of the position with pitch and ground glass which are supposed to distract surveillance aircrafts and in addition to that, new weapons were introduced including some anti-aircraft batteries (including SAM 6 missiles) were reportedly assembled and prepared in positions.

The “army” commanders know for sure that these preparations will never grant them victory but the primary objective they’ve agreed on is to level Fallujah with the ground as part of a plan to ruin the reputation of the government and the multinational forces by forcing them to enter a bloody and destructive battle that will end with negative consequences even for the winner in a critical time where events and news have a strong impact on political field in both Iraq and America.
This subject however, cannot be resolved by talks, the terrorists have made up their mind to confront the legitimate authorities.

I want to point out that the citizens of Fallujah have had enough of those fighters who lost a great deal of their support, if they had any, but the problem is that they still have the power and they still get support from the clerics and the extremists.

We will always be faced with this problem, as it has been clear that it is a basic tactic used by the terrorists to hide among innocents and use them as shields. Saddam used it, Taliban and Sadr and all the other terrorists and dictators. However, I believe that this sick tactic has become rather useless lately and cannot fool all people anymore, and not even the majority.

We in Iraq accepted the sacrifices needed to remove Saddam, in Afghanistan we didn’t see any real demonstrations protesting against the American Army for the accidental death of civilians when targeting Taliban fighters and the same applies for Iraq lately. Isn’t it amazing that many people in the west and some Americans blame the American army and administration for the life losses and mess in Najaf, while Najafies are strongly blaming Sadr in their latest demonstration without a word to condemn the American army!? Aren’t people, even seemingly simple people, smarter than what some media elite thinkers and reporters want us to believe!?
It’s also worth mentioning that the news I heard from inside Fallujah confirm that the bombarded targets we hear about in the news every now and then did belong to Zarqawi followers and those targets were identified and chosen according to reports from the Fallujans most of the times.

This does not, by any means, mean that the military power should be set free without any monitoring or questioning, but we simply should not overestimate the danger because we’ll be underestimating the people’s lust for freedom and how much they are ready to give to have it, and this will be an insult to them. I’ve always felt insulted by the anti-war and human shields who came to Iraq before the war telling me that they were here to protect me! That was very insulting to my intelligence, my dignity and humanity. Protect me from what? Freedom and having a dignified and honorable life?!
I think there is no other choice but to confront them and this is the choice they want to impose on the government, so this is going to be a tough challenge but unfortunately, there’s no other way.

By Mohammed.

Changing priorities.

Where is Zargawi and why is he silent? Many people were asking this question and I was one of these people although I think I may have a different answer. I think all these people and I’m one of them were talking about suicide attacks that targeted Iraqis frankly without even an American presence near the places where these attacks took place.

Before the revolt of Sadr and his militia there was more suicide attacks in Iraq everyday than what takes place allover the world and from that time only two suicide and one of them targeted an Iraqi official not civilians. This simply cannot be a coincidence and that was our opinion from the first time Sadr revolted, and although I had other possibilities but one particular possibility seemed more logical than the rest.

But why would Sadr’s revolt has such a decisive effect on suicide attacks? If Sadr revolt, suicide bombs stop, and when he stops suicide attacks resume!
Before trying to explain my ‘theory’, I think we might well review other possible reasons.

There are some who believe that this is due to the shortage in volunteers, and I think that this is (sadly) far from being true. The people who are behind such attacks can provide thousands and thousands of volunteers, and I think this is something they considered a long time ago. They have preachers allover the world trying to hunt foolish and bitter desperate young people. The process may have become more difficult for them now but it’s still going faster than their needs, and the day the Islamofascists can’t find someone to carry a suicide attack will announce the end of war on terror. If we just look back a month ago we’ll find that there were ten times more suicide attacks in Iraq than in the whole world, the least to say. Besides, how come they can find people to carry attacks in Indonesia And Saudi Arabia and cannot manage to find someone to do their most important job, destroying Iraq?!

The other possibility is that the American siege on Fallujah and other terrorists strongholds in Iraq have minimized their abilities to carry such attacks, and while they certainly had an effect on them, it’s still not enough to reduce the terrorists activities that much. They are still performing many attacks in different parts of Iraq, but not suicidal, which are in fact easier to carry from the practical point of view.
Did Zargawi leave Iraq? Most experts believe not. Then were is his ‘touch’?

To understand the situation in Iraq now, one has to take a closer look at the component of the Iraqi “resistance” and who finance it and who organize it (if it’s organized).

Most of the arab and Muslim government were against toppling Saddam, and that was certainly not because they liked him or his regime. They were afraid and still are of the consequences of this regime change in Iraq. They tried their best to prevent it by diplomatic ways and they made it easy for fighters from different places to go to Iraq through their borders, but that was not enough. After the regime fall, they were waiting for Iraqi resistance to start and make Iraq a hell for Americans. Days and weeks passed without a single resisting act. After Baghdad’s liberation most of the governerates surrendered with their troops not even engaged in a battle no matter how small. That was more than what Arab rulers could take; an “Arab Muslim” country being invaded and the regime being changed without the people putting an effort to resist it? What should this mean? That Iraqis wanted the change? This could give really insane thoughts to Arabs and Muslims anywhere who didn’t like their governments, and many of these are not much better than Saddam’s regime.
It’s as simple as that; there was no resistance but there should’ve been one, so the Iraqi resistance was ‘invented’.

This started with foreign fighters crossing the intentionally left open borders with finance from outside. These fighters joined the remnants of the Baáthists who although were defeated, were still alive and had huge amounts of money and many supporters who just ran away when faced with the overwhelming American power, but couldn’t find a job or a life for months. Another way to make the opposition to the American presence look like a real resistance is by using many names for the same organization. For example we could see a bunch of masked men on TV claiming they are part of “Ansar Al Sunna” or whatever, and few days later, we see other bunch of masked men calling themselves “Mohammed’s army” and it’s not just a guess but I believe that these are the same people; meaning they are ex-Baáthists united with Salafies mainly from outside picking a different name for illusionary organizations so the one power that represent one very small segment of Iraqis and one that is much hated inside and outside Iraq, looks like many parties representing different segments of Iraqis. One incident that support this is when one of those Mujahideen took his mask of his face to show that he’s not afraid of showing his face anymore, and all Baghdadees who were watching recognized the man. He was a well known Baáthist and a security agent at Saddam days and now he’s a member of an Islamist group!

Of course all this couldn’t fool Iraqis and not even arabs for a long time, as we know these people and we have memorized their ways and attitude and even the tone they speak with; their masks couldn’t really hide their ugly faces. There was an urgent need for a resistance that looks more Iraqi and can give a booster to the deteriorating image of the resistance that was killing Iraqis by suicide attacks that even most Arabs and Muslims couldn’t approve of, and Sadr was the best candidate, as although most of his army is formed of thieves, they are still Iraqis and are not Baáthists. Besides one must admit that there are few mislead Sheát Iraqis who are carried away by the emotions they have for Sadr’s father.

When Sadr joined the ‘resistance’ it gained an Iraqi ‘face’ in the eyes of some Iraqis and many Arabs and westerns, thus it was unwise to smear this image with suicide attacks that have only resulted in Iraqis getting more united but not against the American, it made them more united against terrorism. The minds behind the “resistance” decided that suicide attacks should stop, and they only resumed when Sadr went silent and was not doing his job, simply because they had no other option. The march towards democracy should be stopped and Iraq must be destroyed; at the hands of Iraqis if possible but if not then by any means.

It happened twice till now. When Sadr revolt suicide attacks stop and when Sadr stops suicide attacks resume. The only two suicide attacks that were carried during this period was soon after a peace agreement was reached and when clashes broke up again they stopped. I think that when the Mehdi militia issue will be settled, we will witness again another horrible series of suicide attacks. This whole theory depends on assuming that the relation between the “resistance” and its supporters is much stronger than it looks. The people who support the “resistance” finance it and thus can dictate to a considerable extent its strategy.

There is however another factor *this time* that will have an influence on this from now on. It’s the American’s elections and their effect on the Iraqi issue. I don’t think there are plans for a terrorist attack on America, because they ( the enemies of America’s plans in Iraq) know this will further increase the support for Bush, while killing Iraqis will probably enhance the American support for Iraqis, but killing Americans will promote different emotions and I expect that we’ll see more frequent attacks on Americans in Iraq from now till the election time. This can be seen in today’s attacks for instance, as although there were civilian casualties, it was very obvious that the main target was the American soldiers unlike what happened before when the terrorists openly targeted Iraqis whether in mosques, churches, police stations or training centers for ING.

Most people supporting the resistance think that if Kerry wins he will pull the troops out of Iraq, or that’s what they wish. They know that the decisive factor in this is the American’s casualty, and that shifts their priorities now. They are betting that if they can inflict more losses among American soldiers, American public opinion will favor getting out of Iraq soon and will vote for John Kerry because they (Americans) probably think that too, and that with such public pressure he would find himself more committed to promises he never even made, but gave some impression that he’s at least considering it. The assumption that Americans would pull out of Iraq if they receive heavy casualties is an old one that had stopped looking possible for quite a time, but now with the strong coverage by the media for the losses in Iraq and with the figure 1000 coming up every now and then together with unclear messages from the Kerry camp, the theory has been revived. The bottom line is that with Kerry they think they have a chance but with Bush there is none.

I don’t want to predict anything here but I want to say that if America decided to get out of Iraq before the job is finished, that will be not only disastrous but will be (in my opinion) the worst thing America ever did. Freeing Iraq (again in my opinion) was the best thing America ever did. It gave oppressed people everywhere a hope and a belief that the mightiest power on earth, the symbols of freedom is on their side and that it will help them in one way or another to get their freedom. Their misery has stopped looking eternal. Retreating now will prove some people’s theory that America is an imperialistic power that only care for its interests, and although there’s nothing wrong with caring about one’s own interests, most Iraqis and millions of oppressed people in Darfur, Iran, Syria...etc. like to think more than that of America. Keeping the course will turn this thought into a firm belief.

We understand perfectly that sacrificing lives and hard earned money for the sake of others (although there IS a personal interest here but it maybe not so clear) is a very difficult thing to do, and we know that it’s too much to ask, but tens of Millions of oppressed people around the world with brutal sadistic regimes laying their heave boots on their chests preventing them from even breathing freely, not to mention speaking out or doing something about it, all these people have no one else but you, Americans, to turn to. You are our/their only hope.


-By Ali.

On a day like yesterday, three years ago the tragedies of New York and Washington shook the world and they were the alarm that alerted us about the seriousness of the war we’re fighting right now.
9/11 wasn’t the beginning for this war but it was the day that exposed the ugly face of terror.
This is not about advertising for a war but it’s essential to fully comprehend the nature of this war.

9/11 wasn’t an illusion. It was reality and it hurt so bad. What we saw at that day was a tremendous lust for killing and destruction and it was so clear that the killers didn’t care whether they were killing their “enemies” or innocents who had nothing to do with the policies of the USA.
"We’re a weapon of mass destruction"; the more people dead the more perfectly the job is done, that’s how they were thinking at that day and the objective remains destruction, not victory.

We’re facing a new type of threats and this time it’s different from the other threats that interrupted the history of mankind. We‘re not seeing a definite ideology or a known mentality that plans for a certain change or a better future, it’s just a call for death and nothing but death “death to me and death to my enemies” their sick minds dream of self destruction that destroys the others too because they know no other way of communication so they try to destroy anything they can’t understand and they try to kill anyone they can’t mix with.

The free world stood united against this threat and this alliance formed after 9/11 was the largest in history. The war is clear and there’s now way to be neutral in it.
The challenges have changed and so did the world and we have to change our ways now because the old way won’t work with these new challenges but strangely some allies began to loosen up not long after the war started and some started to show disapproval with the way the war is being handled with.

I have no objections to the necessity of discussion to improve our mechanisms in facing the dangers but I see that there’s a tendency for shrinkage in some countries that try to escape their responsibilities and leave the US alone in this confrontation as if the terrorists were targeting America alone. These countries think that just because they were not attacked directly they would be on the safe side.
Well..this is one big illusion; the current part of the battle with its field being in Iraq won’t be the final destination for the terrorists. They have gathered here dreaming that our determination will fade and that our alliance will disband and by time America will enter a phase of despair and pull out and then they would say “see, we’ve defeated them in Iraq which means we can defeat them elsewhere”.
I really wonder how could some people not see the connection between these groups in Iraq and what happened in 9/11; they’re the same and there’s no difference between who hijacks an aircraft and who blows himself up in a car in front of a church.

Yes they’re the same group; today here and tomorrow in Rome or Paris. The battle here is a continuation for what happened in 9/11and let the world understand that it’s a battle on behalf of the rest of the world. Those criminals hate life even for their own selves and they keep saying that they’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan now while some countries seal off their ears pretending to be unaware of what the terror lords are saying or doing.

Let’s imagine that we decided to appease them. What do you think they would do?
Would they go to their mosques and hold prayers? Would they seek to build schools and hospitals?
I know what would happen and you too know what would happen; 9/11 would look like a walk in the park when compared with their sick dreams.
If we kept trying to find links among Saddam, Al-Qaida, Syria, Sudan, Hizbollah..etc and kept waiting to find all the solid evidences that prove Saddam’s or Gaddafi’s intentions in possessing WMD’s and if the decision wasn’t made at the right time, the results would’ve been catastrophic.

We don’t need to look deeper to discover their intentions as they were made clear in 9/11 they’re clear now in Iraq.

God bless the souls of the innocents who lost their lives in 9/11.
God bless the souls of those who lost their lives defending freedom.
May God give us the strength and determination to achieve victory in this war.

Mohammed.

Whining on behalf.

To me, the past week was more than quiet and normal; I was in Samawa where life is totally normal that I didn’t hear a single gun shot during the whole time I stayed there.
In the hospital we were busy preparing for the vaccination campaign which I volunteered for in spite of being a dentist because there was a shortage in man power in one of the teams that was responsible for a remote area inhabited by Bedu..We had to follow those Bedu in the desert. I was enjoying the process in spite of the terribly hot weather and the long distances we had to travel on foot sometimes because our vehicles couldn’t reach some points.
It’s fascinating to watch the life of these people with their tents and camels, no electricity, no TV and no phones. It’s so simple yet so tough, but they live this kind of life in a way that makes you wonder if they are missing anything or if you actually live a better life.

The team members were excited and we had the will to help those ‘poor’ people who were very helpful and welcomed our presence and efforts, and we finished the job according to the schedule and our hospital ranked first among other health centers in the province but only after the sun left its marks on our skin.
At that time I was following the news on TV just like any other person in any other place in this world as if I were outside the events circle. I really needed this time of internal peace to practice normal life but this didn’t last long as my vacation started and I headed back to Baghdad.

There were 40 passenger on that bus, most of them were coming from Samawa to visit Imam Kadhim’s shrine in Baghdad. They were mostly families traveling together but there were also some groups of young men. The road was quiet but we knew that as we travel farther to the north the danger would grow as troubles usually emerge at Latifiyah (60 km south of Baghdad) where I witnessed four road-side bombs explosions in previous trips.
We heard that the Iraqi forces have launched an offensive in this area after the citizens’ complaints have increased recently and I heard that this area together with Mahmodiyah is one of the most dangerous strongholds for pro-Qaida fighters and some suggest that Zarqawi himself is hiding in this region and actually there are many signs and evidence that support this idea; burned vehicles, slogans that have the signature of “Ansar Al-Sunna” and other terror groups and threats, addressing both Americans and Iraqis, as Iraqis who work for the government (like myself) are considered spies. Anyway, the operation ended by arresting 500 suspects but it’s still a wide area full of palm orchards that provide many suitable places for hiding.

As we approached the town we found that the police station there was totally destroyed in a recent attack by “Ansar Al-Islam” and some police cars were burnt.
As we were moving, the driver saw fire on the road and he speeded up to pass the accident site because we knew that the American and Iraqi forces will soon block the street and we might get trapped in the jam. The explosion was a fresh one, we reached the burning vehicle and it was a long unloaded cargo-truck with Iraqi registration plates. The driver was lying dead on the ground and he was shot more than once.
The atmosphere in our bus immediately turned to one of pain, anger and sorrow; some women began to cry.
I felt my heart getting squeezed in my chest and I got really depressed and I felt that a question is haunting me : can those savages really defeat us? They know that such scenes bring despair to our hearts and their weapons are mean and wicked but, aren’t humanity and goodness stronger than evil? Questions were asked loudly in the bus : “ Until when?” “Don’t those killers care that the poor man had a family waiting for him?”

We continued our trip towards Baghdad and we began to see more signs of the authorities’ control; IP patrols, multinational forces patrols and we started to feel safe again and the passengers were back to their ordinary conversations and some were pointing to the instability Baghdad is suffering from when compared to their province. The traffic was heavy and we had to move slowly and it was annoying to them because they don’t have traffic jams in Samawa and here one of the young passengers stood up in the middle of the bus and with nice acting moves he started to mockingly imitate some Baghdadis who appear on Jazeera complaining : No water!...no electricity!...no security!
The whole bus burst into laughter; this sentence became some kind of a joke for it was repeated a million times by some selected Baghdadis on Jazeera. The provinces started to feel somewhat superior after decades of strong control from Baghdad. I smiled, ok we’ve become a joke for them but it’s alright and it’s time for the rest of Iraqis to feel that Baghdad is not superior and they should have a bigger role now in representing and building this country.

However, I liked this young man little ‘play’ not just for this reason; his joke brought me hope and relief, as it shows -together with others response- that Iraqis are tired of complaining and do not approve of such behavior. When this comes along with acknowledging the deep troubles we are facing, it cannot but mean that they (most Iraqis) are saying “enough with the whining and maybe we should think of some solutions!” it’s obvious that such whining attitude has become ridiculous to most Iraqis. This thought made me happy but I still wonder when the media, arab and western are going to stop whining on behalf of the Iraqi people.

By Mohammed.

"Spirit of America" have carried out many successful helpful projects in Iraq. One of those was distributing sandals for children and barrels for carrying water. The barrels are especially important and helpful to Iraqis living in rural areas where water supply is still very poor and not that clean. People need to get drinking water from water treatment plants which can be distant to many, and this make it essential for each family to have such containers. However, this is not easy, as these barrels cost a lot compared to what poor Iraqi families can afford.

We had the pleasure and honor to be part of this project as the shipment ended accidentally in our house and had to be picked up a couple of days later, since we were always connecting and trying to help these great guys through our friend Kerry Dupont who is one of the great people working in Spirit of America. We didn’t plan for that, that’s true but we are happy that we served in accomplishing the task in one way or another.

This project that was carried out lately is of great help to hundreds of Iraqi families and will also have a good effect on how these families view American presence in Iraq and will open many eyes to who their friends are. Can it be the “resistance” that destroy water pipes and infrastructure in general, or the “invaders” who help them to overcome these difficulties? I think pictures like this one tell it better than I can.

:: In case you haven’t seen this yet, I advise you to go read what those six Iraqi women said and you can leave comments there too.
It’s a little bit surprising to see the BBC bringing out good pictures from Iraq one after the other.
The six women are telling their feelings, fears and hopes and despite the fact that they come from different classes, one can clearly see that there’s obvious resemblance among their statements; they all share worries about the security situation after the fall of Saddam’s regime but also they have all confirmed that the economic situation has significantly improved. There was also a great appreciation to the new-found freedom in Iraq.
Some of them put much emphasis on the security issue while others considered this issue a temporary one that Iraqis must not be discouraged by. But anyway, all those women shared one thought; Iraq is a better place without Saddam.

:: After seeing this, I'll consider joining a gym again, especially if it looks like that one! And err...By the way, I thought that Iraqis prefer a theocracy. Don't they?

:: I was at Big Pharaoh's and discovered that Yusuf Qaradawi issued a shocking fatwa. Well, it's not exactly shocking; it's sick and it's expected from a corrupt cleric such as Qaradawi.
Big Pharaoh is expressing his disgust with this fatwa and with the double standards Qaradawi uses. He also mentions details about Qaradawi's funds.

He also mentioned some interesting changes he noticed on Al-Arabiyah way of reporting from Iraq. I admit that I noticed that too but I'm neither surprized nor optimistic because I guess this is just a temporary reaction to the ban on Jazeera.

:: In an announcement for a group of (Hawza) clerics (on New Sabah website) the clerics expressed their strong rejection to the atrocities Muqtada and his Mehdi army comitted in Najaf.
At the beginning I thought that this move is a little bit late, but after a moment of thinking I changed my mind; it Isn't late at all because it wasn't possible to make such an announcement two weks ago; no one would dare to raise his voice when the fight was on and Mehdi army men controlling parts of the city threatening and willing to kill anyone showing disapproval with them or with their crazy chief.
More over, such announcements can serve in the future because the situation isn't completely solved yet; the weapons are still in Muqtada's thugs' hands and a new crisis can explode at any time. So an announcement like this one can help bring some important hidden facts to the surface to uncover the massacres of Muqtada against Policemen and civilians and at the same time, it can undermine Muqtada's attempts to gather support by showing himself and his army as victims for the "agressions" of the Americans and the Iraqi government.

The announcement mentions that the senior clerics had tried hard to convince
Muqtada to give up his plans and warned him many times that he shouldn't disturb
the peace near the holy shrines but he refused to listen and insisted on adopting the wrong choice of violence , therefore he's responsible for desecrating the holiness of the shrine and also for the destruction and the casualties among civilians in Najaf.
The clerics in their announcement severely attacked the "religious court" of Muqtada saying that:
"this court is not related to Islam in any way and that those involved in the killings and torture must be sued and punished according to the law".
The announcement also mentioned that "Hawza urges the relatives of the victims of this court to report any evidence or information they have to uncover this terrible crime to the public opinion and to expose the criminals who use Islam as a cover".

Here's the announcemnet in Arabic.
This announcement coincided with two days of demonstrations in Najaf; the people of Najaf went to the streets carrying signs saying "Side by side with our brothers in the IP and ING to bring peace to Najaf" and other signs that show support to the Iraqi goverment and rejection to the illegal existance of militias.
the people marched toward Muqtada's office in Najaf and surrounded it asking the men inside to leave Najaf.
From all that it's clear that Najafis are trying to seize the opportunity to declare that Muqtada and his followers are no more than unwelcomed intruders who murdered hundreds of Najafis in the name of protecting Islam and Najaf.
Another good point in this announcement is that in included a confession from the Hawza that no one is above the law and that it's law, not Shari'a that must govern this country.

Is it worth it?

Congratulations for the Iraqi people and to all freedom lovers in the world for the 1st meeting of the interim Iraqi national conference that was held yesterday.
The meeting was successful without any serious conflict and the members elected a president for the conference; Dr. Fuád Maásoom. Their was an agreement that the president should be a Kurd and the competition was between Dr Maásoom and Jalal Talibani, and although I like Talabani but I’m glad it was Maásoom who got elected as it’s certainly better now not to put too much power in one hand. And despite that I don’t like this distribution of responsibilities according to ethnicity and religion, as this is far from what can be called a democracy, but I think it’s better to accept this at the moment to reassure everyone that their rights and their share in authority will be preserved, hoping that with time and after fear and sensitivity get less and with more education to Iraqis and more explanations, we can abandon such methods and start making our choices according to efficiency and loyalty to Iraq.

With the 1st minutes of the meeting, the enemies of freedom showed their ugly face as was expected and they showed their determination to continue living in the past and in their own delusions through some mortar shells that were fired randomly in the direction of the area were the meeting took place.

They are saying it clearly that they are against plurality and freedom, but it has become obvious that such actions are becoming less and less effective as time passes. It’s impossible for such coward attacks carried by some mercenaries and fanatics to stop the march of a whole nation that suffered a lot towards achieving the dreams of millions in an honorable life and a better future. It was obvious that these attacks didn’t affect the meeting or scare the conference members, and one of the members even described these explosions as fireworks that scare no one.

He’s mistaken who thinks that there’s anything that can stop people’s lust for freedom and he’s mistaken who thinks that Iraqis are incapable of practicing democracy, as this maybe the only thing that almost all Iraqis have agreed on, including radical parties such as the communist party and the different Islamic parties, and anyone who says that these parties were forced to do so and that they don’t believe in democracy will further prove our point, as what will force such old and big parties to do that unless they found that it’s the will of the majority and that they can’t stand against it.

Here I would like to direct a question to those who opposed the change. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that a whole country transfers from a totalitarian state run by an oppressive regime to a free democratic country? The results may seem unclear now to some people but the near future will show what a great change was achieved through this war. As for us, the change and success started since the 9th of April and despite all the losses and difficulties, we are unbelievably happy with our freedom and we are full of hope and belief in our future, and I’m not speaking on behalf of all Iraqis, as there are certainly many among us who are not that happy but I’m sure that this too will change sooner or later.

As for the reactions in the Arab media, it wasn’t unusual that all what they have focused on yesterday, was the explosions around the building where the meeting took place, while the event itself; the meeting, the free discussions, the exchange of opinions and the plans for the future, were something they weren’t concerned about. Others focused on the fact that some members (around 10%) didn’t attend, showing this as some sort of a failure, as they are used to 100% attendance, 100% voting (yes) and 100% cheering. They (Arab media as well as some Arabs) stand confused at what’s happening in Iraq. They are looking at us as if we were aliens, wondering what happened to the obedient well behaved Iraqis. How can they revolt against their ancestors heritage? Why are they acting differently to their arab and Muslim brothers? Why did they accept the “west’s ideology” and betrayed their own leadership?

They found that all they could do is to ignore this victory hoping that other arabs and Muslims won’t notice the change and start wondering if what’s happening in Iraq can be actually good.

As I said we have answered the question or at least most of us have, and it will take time until our neighbors and others around the world understand why and for what all these sacrifices are.

-By Mohammed.