I recieved another article from Dr. Ghougassian, and although he had it posted in another blog, he wanted to post it in our blog too. I read the article and I see that it's worth sharing with our readers as it comes from a man who served in Iraq for a long time and had certainly observed many things by viewing events from an angle other than ours.
Here's the article:

"FALLUJAH, KOFI ANNAN, AND ELECTIONS IN IRAQ"

From May 1, 2003 to August 31, 2004 I worked as a high ranking US official on the reconstruction efforts in Iraq. My last assignment was in the rebuilding of Iraq higher education, comprised of 20 universities and 48 technical institutes and colleges. I restarted the Fulbright Program in Iraq that brought the first 25 scholars to American Universities in February 2004 after a 14 years hiatus. I traveled extensively throughout Iraq visiting the campuses, meeting with administrators, faculty and students.

I lived in Saddam Palace with more than 3000 military and civilian personnel where the Coalition Provisional Authority had set up its offices.

In my trips to the various cities of Iraq, I did not encounter any significant antagonism towards the US people, US forces or US Government. Majority of Iraqis were supportive of our liberation policy and were grateful for the sacrifices our men and women in uniforms and civilians were doing to improve their new freedom, civil liberties, quality of life, economic prosperity, and educational opportunities.

Their complaints were centered around basic necessities such as uninterrupted electricity, instant availability of gasoline, job opportunities and above all their personal safety from criminal elements and organized crimes.

Of all the 18 provinces, Anbar was problematic from the start; and of all the Iraqi cities, Fallujah had remained a bastion of Saddam’s loyalists. Since April 2003 Fallujah has been the floodgate for foreign mercenaries, terrorists, and Baathists insurgents to come and go. It was the favored escape route for the enemies of Iraq and Iraqis leading to Syria.

It has always been my belief and perception that Fallujah mirrored the heart and mind of Saddam. While Saddam, the person, is physically incarcerated, his persona, anima, mind, and heart reverberates till today in Fallujah.

Last April right after the savaged killing and desecration of the bodies of the 5 Americans, I recommended to the Pentagon to lay siege of Fallujah and fight the insurgents until the city turned in those who killed the Americans, turned in all their weapons, and submitted to the rule of law.

For a short while we conducted mopping operations in Fallujah. We were quite successful in our battle against the insurgents and terrorists. Regretfully, the UN, French, Germans, Iranians, Russians, Chinese and the Arab opinion labeled our activities a massacre of innocents. We caved in to their opinion and stopped our military marches to clean Fallujah of the criminals. Then came Zarkawi and his band of beheaders.

They escalated the attacks on the Iraqis, Americans and foreign workers. Their evil actions threatened the national security of Iraq and hampered the US national interests in Iraq.

On November 8, 2004, the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi rightfully realizing that there could be no political or diplomatic solution with the insurgents in Fallujah, he ordered the Iraqi armed forces to storm Fallujah and he called upon the coalition forces to assist.

Allawi and the majority of Iraqis, including a great number of Fallujan citizens know that the Zarkawis and the Iraqi insurgents must be eliminated in order to pave the way for a successful and democratic election process in January 2005.

Under no circumstances should the January national election be postponed. Not only will this be the first ever transparent election in the history of Modern Iraq, but also, in the Middle East. The Iraqis, the US, Britain, Italy, Poland, and the other members of the coalition have invested a lot and sacrificed a lot to make this election a historic reality that might revolutionize the Middle East at its core.

In the week leading to the American election, the Secretary General of the U.N., Kofi Annan remarked that Fallujah should not be resolved through military action but through a political process. Diplomacy is not a magic wand; it has its limitations. The communication language of diplomacy is dialogue. What we have seen in Fallujah since April 2003, is the language of monologue. The Iraqis and the good citizens of Fallujah have paid and are paying now dearly for having held false hopes that the insurgents and terrorists could carry a dialogue.

Once again, Kofi Annan is on the wrong side of the Iraqis. The Iraqi-American military operation must continue to the bitter end of ridding Fallujah of the extremists and enemies of Iraq, and thereby sleuth once and for all the anima of Saddam.


Dr. Joseph Ghougassian was US Ambassador to Qatar and Advisor in CPA/DoD. His email is Zena92029@yahoo.com

Declaring the state of emergency laws had a positive effect on the majority of Iraqis although it should’ve caused worries but I believe that this explains the public hopes to see an end for the violence and presence of criminal groups in some parts of Iraq and this is a public feeling that grew bigger because of the brutality of the atrocities committed against Iraqis by those criminal groups.

I think it also shows that Iraqis are convinced that this emergency law won’t be similar to the “laws” that governed their lives under Saddam; people know that a real change is under way and that the new laws are going to protect the citizens instead of oppressing them.

Perhaps the fact that most the Fallujans left the city proves that they have no intention to confront the Iraqi and multinational forces and it clearly means”go get the bad guys” and this discredits the media’s theory which claimed that “most of the Fallujans are willing to fight”.
The decision to enter Fallujah also shows clearly that the government is determined to build security and stability and to create a healthy environment for the coming elections and in fact the government realized that this is a public demand and that the time has come to answer this demand and start dealing really tough with the terrorists and outlaws.

Mohammed.

I found this letter (link in Arabic) of congratulations from Iraqis to president Bush and the American people on an Iraqi website and I wanted to share it with you.
It’s open for any Iraqi to sign it. The letter was posted online yesterday and till now, more than 1060 Iraqis have signed it.
Here it goes:


In the name of God,
Sir, President George W Bush, President of the United States of America.
On behalf of the families of the victims of the mass graves, on behalf of the martyrs of “Halabja” and “Anfal” and on behalf of all the Iraqis that you liberated from dictatorship and oppression; we have prayed for you and now we want to send you our congratulations on being reelected as a president of the United States.

Mr. President, we’d love to congratulate you and the people of the United States on the beginning of a new phase of democracy, freedom and prosperity and we wish you and the American people the best, as they have led the liberation of Iraq and sacrificed their sons and daughters for the freedom of the Iraqis; the historical achievement that the United States has accomplished together with the other liberating countries.
The united States and the coalition, among all other nations were the ones who recognized the suffering of the Iraqi people and saved them from a regime that was more lethal and more destructive than any weapons of mass destruction. A regime that murdered, slaughtered and enslaved Iraqis for long, dark decades, denied them their freedom and their right to live a decent life until God inspired you and helped you to rescue us, liberate our country and put us on the road of freedom and democracy.

Mr. President, we-the Iraqis-are on your side and we’ll keep supporting and blessing your efforts in eradicating terrorism inside and outside Iraq and all those who carried weapons against the liberating coalition forces and the new Iraqi police, hunting down the criminals who murder innocent civilians, whether Iraqi or American civilians.

We-the Iraqis- are determined to establish democracy and freedom in our country starting with general elections that exclude no one whether inside or outside Iraq. These elections would lead us to a democratic Iraq and we wish that you could help focusing on the role of the Iraqis outside Iraq and make use of their qualifications in the reconstruction process.
We also want to emphasize the necessity of establishing an international legislation that incriminates the Ba’athists, terrorists, fanatic salafis and all the parties, and governments that support them, not forgetting the media that promote the ideology of killing and terrorism.
These parties ought to be confronted and fought to achieve peace and stability in Iraq, America and the rest of the world.
We’re also determined to establish a strategic, permanent relationship with our friends; the government and people of the United States to whom we hold the utmost feelings of gratitude, love and friendship for what they have given us and what they’re still offering.
We will be united on the road of freedom and peace and we will always be supportive to all the efforts of America in bringing peace to the region.
In the end, we ask God to guide you and bless all your efforts to do the best for humanity as a whole.

All the glory to the American and Iraqi martyrs
long live America. Long live Iraq, free and allied nations.

Your brothers in the “Iraqi Parliament” voice chat room and in “Sawt Al Iraq” website.

I know I said that we're not going to post anything until Wednesday but there are always exceptions and this time it's Arthur Chrenkoff with a new part from his great series "Good news from Iraq". Go check it out.

Sorry for this pause my friends; I don't think we're going to post anything before Wednesday.
There's nothing wrong but we're rather too busy right now.

The race to the white house is about to end and the results will remain unknown till the last moment. Many readers have asked for our opinions and I still see that it's not important whom would we favor, as it's the American's decision and we respect that and trust that they will make the right choice, for their own nation and also for the world. Instead I decided to put some of the opinions of Iraqis and Arabs who responded to A poll in the BBCArabic website asking the Arab readers how do they expect the elections to go and what would it's effect on the Arab world, especially Iraq and Palestine would be.

Most of the comments till this moment came from Iraqis (11 out of 43 and I have translated all of them) and the rest came mainly from Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. The contradiction between Iraqis and Arabs was more visible this time. While most of Iraqis who posted their opinions favored Bush strongly, the Arab readers showed distrust in the American system saying most of the time that it won't make a difference, with some of them favoring Kerry mainly (as some of them put it) because they hated Bush and his policy.
Here are some of the comments:


I expect the elections to take a course similar to that happened in 2000 because the support to both candidates is close, and no doubt Mr. Bush=s victory would have a positive effect on Iraq and Palestine, as he had made solemn commitments about this.
Ahmed Talib Al Ta'ai-Baghdad-Iraq.

I wish Arab regimes would have half of what the Americans have of freedom of expression and participation in deciding their future.
Fartis Adil-Basra-Iraq.

There will be a great competition between the two candidates but I expect Bush to win. As for what will happen for Iraq, I believe who started the war is the only one who will finish it. Bush has toppled Saddam the tyrant and I'm sure that some Arab rulers are afraid that their fate will be like Saddam's.
Rasoul Jamil-Iraq.

Bush has won in Iraq and Afghanistan and changed their regimes, and now his role is over and it's time for Kerry to finish the job and stabilize the conditions in both countries in addition to start the efforts to topple the regimes in Syria and Iran, and thus the "Big Middle East" project would be completed.
Amal Al timimi-Ba'aquba-Iraq.

Nothing will change. I wish Kerry wins just because I like the change, and maybe this would stop the war on Iraq and the brutality of the Zionists against Palestinians.
Ra'ed Mahmood-Amman-Jordan.

Victory will be for Bush because he works to secure the interests of his country and this is what the American voters want. I don't wish Bush to win because I like him, but because I hate the Arab dictatorships that he terrorized when he toppled Saddam.
Saif Ali-Nassyria-Iraq.


Bush will win because he's the best, while Kerry is not ready to confront the hot issues in Iraq and Palestine.
Nazar Al Jaf-Germany.

I expect the American voters to chose Bush because he's a conservative. The American society is changing to the Christian fundamentalism which doesn’t differ a lot from Muslim or Jewish fundamentalism.
Aymen Zahry-Qairo-Egypt.

I don't really care who will win, as they're both two faces for one coin, but if Bush lose I'll be definitely happy and it would worth to be a national anniversary in Iraq!
Zainab-Iraq.

Most Iraqis favor Bush because he needs to finish what he started, while Kerry might bring the Ba'athists and Saddam back to power.
Mohammed Aboud-Baghdad-Iraq.

President George W. Bush will win and the "Big Middle East" will become a reality and all dictatorships will fall.
Karhad Karmity-Holland.

I wish with all my heart that Bush lose, not because I like Kerry but honestly out of hatred for Bush.
Mohammed Al Mansour-Madina-Saudi Arabia.

I think Kerry=s win would be in Israel=s best interest, as he would cancel Bush's project in establishing a democratic Muslim nation in Iraq that would be an ally to America and which would form the greatest danger to Israel=s position as the biggest and strongest ally to America in the region.
Sarmad Al Iraqi-Germany.

All the American presidents are faces for one coin! Anyone of them get elected starts approaching Israel without any consideration for the rest of the world. This is their policy and their train always travel on the Zionist railways regardless who the president was.
Sabri Anas-Al Jeeza-Egypt.

I'm not very informed about Bush or any other candidate but logic says that this is the president who will save the world from terrorism and fanatics. President Bush is always serious in his words and does not back of if he sees in it the common interests of his country, like what he did in Iraq. By God's will he will win and I'll be the first one who congratulate all who wish him to win.
Al Muhannad Al Baka'a-Baghdad-Iraq.

You can now read the 2nd roundup of "Good news from the Islamic world" in Arthur Chrenkoff's blog.

What Iraqis think of the French government.

France is the biggest enemy for Iraq.
Hamza Al Jawahiri.

I know the huge amount of oil France had stolen from Iraq.
Mohammed Jawad Asher.

France role is known through the modern history as supporter of dictatorships. France blocked the democratic path in Algeria and now Iraq.
Al Kenany

No, To New Barbaric Murders Supported by France, Yes, For Free Democratic IRAQ.
Radhi Al-Hashimy

These are some of the comments made by Iraqis who signed an appeal to the UN to stop France’s attempts to hinder the democratic process in Iraq.
The petition was organized by a group of Iraqi civil society organization and was directed to the UN and addressed “To any person support democracy in Iraq”. The petition was put on line few days ago and till this date they have gathered around 380 signatures from Iraqis inside and outside Iraq but the number is increasing by dozens everyday. The majority were Iraqis living abroad and I guess this is because of the Internet access is more available outside Iraq.

Unfortunately many comments were written in Arabic and seemed to be encoded that even I couldn’t view them, but still there are many comments in English. I know that many people would probably say that such actions are ineffective, and they have a point. Still I see it as a wonderful development that Iraqis are starting to organize such group activities making use of the Internet as the fastest way to achieve contact with the largest possible number of Iraqis. In addition to that, such appeals and the one organized by “Arab Liberals” send a message to the terrorists and those who support them and who claim to help Iraqi people that Iraqis do not support their actions and moreover condemn them. It’s helpful in exposing these people and also discouraging these terrorists whom many of them are being sent to Iraq and told that Iraqis need their help to be “liberated”.

It’s also helpful in showing Iraqis who believe in democracy and new Iraq to see that they are not a minority as the media tries to show them and that there are so many of their brothers and sisters who want what they want; peace and democracy. It’s a start for a more effective and more organized activities by the Iraqi people who were silenced for such a long time, and who till now are being terrorized inside their land.

Here’s the translation for the appeal as provided on line:

Your Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan,
Secretary General of the United Nations

We extend our best greetings and highest appreciation,

We, the undersigned, Iraqi civil society organizations as well as a group of Iraqi and Arab intellectuals are gravely concerned at the continuing attempts of certain governments to undermine the democratic process in Iraq. In the vanguard of these governments stands the French government. Since the start, this government has opposed the endeavours of the international community to help the Iraqi people end the despotic rule of Saddam Hussein, a rule that posed a threat to international peace and security, under the pretext of protecting the integrity of the Iraqi people. It threatened to resort to the veto in the UN Security Council to thwart any resolution which could help the Iraqi people rid themselves of the dictatorial regime.

After the liberation of Iraq under United States leadership and supported by many countries in the world, the French government called for the participation of the Baath party in the transitional government in spite of that party’s totalitarian thought, nationalistic fanaticism and sanguinary past. These efforts were repeated in different forms including the persistent call for the withdrawal of multinational forces from Iraq, forces which Iraq needs in order to ensure security. The last such effort was the French government’s demand to convene an international conference in Egypt to include governments and representatives of what it calls factions of the “Iraqi resistance”. We wish to confirm to you that this “resistance” is none other than an alliance of remnants of the ousted regime in Baghdad and non-Iraqi Islamist and extremist terrorist groups affiliated to the Al Qaida organization led by Osama Ben Laden whose Iraq branch is headed by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, as well as organized crime gangs previously released by Saddam Hussein before his fall.

The Iraqi government objected to the presence of terrorists at this conference, one which is a gathering of governments and not a joint meeting with non-governmental organizations. This stance was supported by Iraqi civil society organizations. This notwithstanding, the French government submitted a new proposal calling for the holding of a special conference to which “factions of the Iraqi resistance” would be invited under the appellation “Iraqi civil society organizations”. This term implies that these are merely peace-loving civil society organizations which believe in democracy, reject violence and terrorism and strive to protect human rights and society by peaceful means. We do not know whether the French government has accepted that representatives of these terrorists groups would attend masked, or if it will ask them to remove their masks so that hostages would recognize their kidnappers and witnesses of beheadings would behold the face of murderers.

We believe that the purpose which the French government seeks through all of the above is to accord international legitimacy to terrorist groups in Iraq, delay elections sought by the Iraqi people and press for the withdrawal of the multinational forces before stability is established and before security and democracy are realized in Iraq. This contradicts Security Council resolution No. 1546 which was approved by the very same French Government, a resolution that gave the Iraqi Transitional Government the sole right and authority to demand the withdrawal of these forces. We believe that withdrawal of the multinational forces in this critical transitional phase in the life of the Iraqi people is tantamount to paving the road, either to the restoration of the Saddam Hussein regime– one that has filled Iraq with mass graves and displaced millions of its sons – so that it may pursue its persecution of the Iraqi people, or transform Iraq into a large hotbed that attracts criminals, thieves, murderers and terrorists turning it into a centre of international terrorism with the attendant threat to peace and security of the peoples of the region and the world.
We therefore appeal to you, Your Excellency the Secretary General, to call on the governments of the states neighbouring Iraq as well as the French government to rectify their negative positions vis-à-vis the Iraqi people and to join the international community in the bid to help Iraq and its people defeat terrorism, realize security and democracy and rebuild their country, thereby restoring peace and security to the Middle East region, key to security and stability in the world.

With sincere thanks and appreciation,


Signed


Cc:
1- President George Bush, President of the United States of America, the White House, Washington D.C.
2- Mr. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 10 Downing Street, London.
3- Mr. Jack Straw, Foreign Minister, U.K Foreign Ministry, London.
4- President Vlademir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Moscow.
5- President Guojia Zhuxi, President of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing.
6- President Jacques Chirac, President of France, Paris.
7- Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of Germany, Berlin.
8- Mrs. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commission of the European Union, Brussels.
9- Mr. Iyad Allawi, Prime Minister, Government of Iraq, Baghdad.
10- Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, Foreign Minister of Iraq, Baghdad.
11- Mr. Ahmed Abu Al Gheit, Foreign Minister of Egypt, Cairo.
12- Mr. Amr Mousa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Cairo.
Sincerely,

Here is the link to the petition, and here you can view the signatures.

I just found about a new Iraqi blogger. His blog is titled "Ibn Al Rafidain" which means, Son of the two rivers. Check it out and give him some encouragment please.
(Thanks to reader Jeff Reeds).

During a press conference that was held yesterday in Baghdad, Mithal Al Alousi, an ex-chief member of the INC (and a member of the DeBa’athification committee) announced the formation of the “Iraqi Nation Democratic Party”. This came after Al Alousi got dismissed from the INC few weeks ago for his controversial visit to Israel last month.

Mr. Alousi mentioned that he intends to run for office in the coming election.
He also stressed that if he became part of the authority in Iraq he wouldn’t mind “visiting hell” if this is going to serve Iraq’s national interests (in a signal to his previous visit to Israel).

“The Palestinians have communications with Israel, and so do the regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Tunisia and even Iran although we don’t know exactly the size of communication between Iran and Israel”
He also criticized Saddam’s policies in dealing with the Palestinians
“Iraq was generous with both, financial and moral support but the result was an economic disaster and terrible living conditions for the people but on the other hand, millions of dollars accumulated in bank accounts of the corrupt officials.”
From Sawt Al Iraq (Link in Arabic).

It’s worth mentioning that this visit to Israel was to attend an anti-terrorism conference and he was the first Iraqi politician to visit Israel without hiding it from the public, but Alousi was faced with storm of harsh criticism in response to the visit and ‘strangely’ most of the criticism came from Arab countries rather than from Iraqis.

It’s enough to note that the man is back in Baghdad, without even any protection after being dismissed from the INC, forming a political party and planning to run for office and till now no one heard that he received any threats.

I recall Alousi’s words in an interview he gave to an Arab station some time ago where he defended his position saying (not the exact words of course but the meaning is pretty much the same)
“Had I felt that I was doing something wrong by going to Israel and if I had bad intentions, I wouldn’t do it in public. I care a lot about transparency in my communications, unlike Arab leaders or some other Iraqi politicians. I went there to participate in a conference about terrorism to discuss one of greatest dangers threatening Iraq”.

Whether we agree or disagree with the man and whether he has his own agenda or not, we have to respect his courage and honesty, as collaborators don’t show their faces in such a bold way; they wear masks!

Congratulations my friends!! few months more and you’ll be able to watch the same sh** we’re watching here.
We will all be able to watch and enjoy the indispensable and most honest news station of all times, Al Jazeera.
We tried many times to describe to you how biased and hateful the channel is but some of you kept saying “No way, you must be exaggerating. No channel can be more biased than the BBC or CNN”.
Now, you’re about to explore Al jazeera yourselves; “Al Jazeera International” is planned to be launched in 2005 and it will be in English with four bureaus in London, Doha, Washington and somewhere in far east Asia.

The managing director of the new branch of Al Jazeera, Nigel Parsons said that the programs they intend to broadcast from the new channel are going to be slightly different from the ones currently showed on the Arabic mother channel.

“The network said last month it planned to launch an English-language news channel to counteract what it says is unbalanced reporting from Western networks such as CNN and the BBC”
Funny, right?

Parsons also said :
"Our target audience is everyone who speaks English. We will have a slightly different agenda than the Arabic speaking channel”

You’re going to become targets ! Everybody, take cover !

Read the full story here.

*Our government is now online! The website is still under construction in some of its parts though.

*Baghdad dweller expresses her objection to the term “Sunni triangle”

"This is wrong and it’s discrimination against many Sunni people who don’t accept the killings in Iraq".

*Alaa has an informative post in which he explained the geo-demographic nature of the “triangle of death”.


*Kurdo is talking about the Kurd’s plans for the coming elections and the anticipated democratic changes in Kurdistan.

Arab Liberals speak!

Yesterday, I found a very interesting letter on “Sawt Al Iraq”.
It was prepared by a group of recognized Arab thinkers among whom is the Iraqi former minister of planning Dr. Jawad Hashim who’s been living in exile since the late 1970's.

The letter is calling for the establishment of an international court to prosecute individuals or groups who support and justify terrorisim, namely clerics who release “fatwas” that provoke hatred and encourage terrorist attacks(like Qaradawi for example), and the letter will eventually be sent to the Security Council and the UN secretary general after getting sufficient support.

The letter was shown in Arabic and an e-mail address is provided, where readers who are interested in this subject can contact Dr. Jawad and support the request by signing the letter, so I e-mailed him offering my support and my signature and I asked him to send me the letter in English if possible as I thought that it would be a good idea to spread the word about this letter, and perhaps this will get more people to give their signatures.

Today, I got a reply from Dr.Jawad with a translated version of the letter and it was amazing to know that within a couple of days, they managed to collect over 10 000 signatures from Arab liberals, writers and intellectuals.
Support coming from anywhere would be helpful of course but I understood from his reply that he would prefer support from inside the Arab or Muslim world and I assume that he thinks that this way there will be no chance for those who believe in conspiracies to question the integrity of this project, as those idiots will not hesitate to call it a “crusade” if the support came from westerners.


Here’s the full story.

And here's the link in Arabic.

Ali.

Hell and Paradise.

I received an invitation from the “Iraq cultural house” to attend a lecture about art and community.
This association includes a special group of Iraqi artists; poets, critics and actors who were denied the opportunity to get their voices to the public during the dark age of Saddam and now they’re trying to find a place for them among the lines to build our new Iraq.

They came carrying their worries and dreams and a wild desire to renew and improve the public awareness. They are so willing to create and add something new to the community and they didn’t let their poverty and lack of resources be an obstacle in their way, even that some of them came walking on foot from distant places just to not miss the chance for meeting and exchanging ideas.

The lecture was about the Iraqi folkloric poetry and the guest of honor was an Iraqi poet who had to remain silent and hide what he writes in Saddam’s days.
His papers were locked up in a secret place that even his family didn’t know about, and yesterday was the time for those papers to see the light, to share with everybody the stories that was hidden inside his heart before the 9th. Of April.

Poems and conversations went on like a stream, mixing art with politics until the organizer asked the audience to overlook the differences in opinions and focus on the main topic of the meeting which was discussing a special kind of folkloric poetry and here one of the audience cried out:

“to hell with art if it didn’t tell our suffering. All of our poems, paintings and plays are nothing but a documentation and a description for our pains and love for freedom. We won’t separate this from that; it’s all for the sake of Iraq. We were showing our works on the sidewalks and we faced prison far our words while the regime’s pets were stealing all the lights and attention. I am a folk poet but when poetry turned into a propaganda tool for Saddam, I decided not to write anything.”

The guy was very excited and somewhat angry. I asked about him and I was told that he’s a member of a group of artists who call themselves “poor without borders” and spend most of their time having discussions on the sidewalks despite that they were registered as an NGO and had an office! In the past they refused the tyrants’ offers and suffered a lot and still suffering till this moment because the cheap voices can always find their way to the arms of the authorities and can reach more easily while those poor and honest guys will always find it extremely difficult to find their deserved places.

Strangely you can find some of those who spent their lives praising the Ba’ath and now they came back in a new look, using the tone of the change while our poor friends decided to be an opposition, regardless what the government was, is or will be.

One of them suddenly jumped and shouted “Someone said in the newspapers said that who refuse to vote will burn in hell. I say, IT’S AN HONOR FOR ME TO GO TO HELL!”
Many voices of approval were heard in the hall, mainly of members of the same organization “WELCOME TO HELL. IT’S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU THERE” “NO ONE SHALL TELL US WHAT TO DO ANYMORE” “WE ARE NOT VOTING UNTIL WE’RE SURE THAT OUR VOICES ARE GOING TO BE HEARD”
The rest of the audience tried hard to calm them “it’s ok..we’ve suffered with you” or “this is our opportunity to make a difference” or “maybe no one represents us right now but let’s look for the future. We must support election for the sake of the future of democracy”.

The majority were actually with the elections but some of them just didn’t like that someone is still claiming responsibility for them and threatening them if they disobey, regardless of the nature of the threat. The conversations left poetry and switched to politics and this is natural for any meeting here in Iraq; we start talking about something and suddenly we find ourselves talking about politics and the voices get loud and anxious.

I started shooting .pictures and I was full of joy; having such a conversation with no fear was impossible in the past and I just can’t help feel the joy every time I see it till now! Everyday I see a similar situation in a house or a university. Everyone feels responsible for Iraq’s future and everyone is looking forward for active contribution.

We’re changing so quickly and the concept of one opinion and one point of view is becoming part of history.
Who said that nothing has changed?! Who claimed that the present is worse than the past?!
I wish they could attend even one of those meetings or lectures to see the progress we’ve so far made, and let them know that these meetings and discussions are much more in number and in effect than the car bombings but unfortunately they don’t attract the same attention.

Many people describe Iraq these days as a hell, and I want to say that this 'hell' is my paradise despite all the dangers and difficulties and even losses, as these struggles make the process itself a real life, a joy that only oppressed people with dignity can sense when they become free, and I truley feel sorry for anyone who doesn't see it this way.

-By Mohammed

Good news from Iraq, part 13.

Some people criticize us and other bloggers and journalists who adopt optimistic perspectives similar to ours.

They seem to think that we’re ignoring the bad things that are happening in Iraq and focusing only on the good side just to serve the agenda of the American administration or the so called “neo conservatives”.
This is not true, as we have never said that Iraqi is a perfect place and that progress is being made in lighting speed. We acknowledge the difficulties and the terrible losses and each loss, whether among Iraqis or coalition forces makes us really sad and discourages us for a while.

The difference is that we can also see the good things that are being done; we want to encourage such progress and promote a better vision for Iraq’s future.
Most of the optimists and pessimists do have an agenda, but not all, as there are some pessimists as well as optimists who are honest in the way they deal with the Iraqi issue and we respect both but we ‘chose’ to be optimistic and not allow ourselves to be discouraged because Iraq, the region and the whole world needs such attitude. It is a commitment just as it is a personal perspective. On the other side; pessimism, although understandable but very dangerous in this particular struggle and it approaches the verge of defeatism, which while not that disastrous when dealing with new projects or adventures, is catastrophic in such a crucial conflict.

Chrenkoff sees this and recognized “two Iraqs” in a way that is very difficult to be seen by people other than Iraqis living inside Iraq. As he put it:

There are two Iraqs.

The one we more often get to see and read about is a dangerous place, full of exploding cars, kidnaped foreigners and deadly ambushes. The reconstruction is proceeding at a snail's pace, frustration boils over and tensions - political, ethnic, religious - crackle in the air like static electricity before a storm.

The other Iraq is a once prosperous and promising country of twenty-four million people, slowly recovering from physical and moral devastation of totalitarian rule. It's a country whose people are slowly beginning to stand on their own feet, grasp the opportunities undreamed of only two years ago, and dream of catching up on three decades of lost time.
Read the whole piece here.
(Aso available from the "Opinion Journal" and "Winds of Change").

What happened yesterday is one of the ugliest massacres that targeted Iraqis since the 9th. of April but this one belongs to a category of attacks that is somehow different from the rest because the terrorists didn’t attack a base for the ING, an oil pipeline or any type of fixed targets; a bus or convoy of cars are not easy to locate and identify, especially when the victims are not wearing uniforms and this suggests the occurrence of treason in this attack and this what makes me even more angry.

There are two possible theories to explain how this happened, the first one suggests that there are infiltrators among the ING and/or the IP in that region, which is quiet possible as we heard more than once about officers (among whom were some high ranking officers) being dismissed from service for suspicions regarding their loyalty.
Add to this that the area is considered a stronghold for Wahabi extremists who might have used the information provided by a corrupt officer to carry the attack on the recruits who came from Southern cities.

Another fact that I almost forgot is that during the war, most of the active Ba’ath members and high ranking officers left Baghdad and headed towards either Anbar or Diyala provinces and many of those never came back, settled there and mixed with the population and probably joined the ING and this is one of the reasons why these two provinces became fields for countless anti-Iraqis and anti-coalition activities.

The second theory talks about the possible involvement of the Iranian intelligence in planning for the massacre and this explanation looks reasonable too because this region in Diyala province is close to the borders with Iran which makes it easy for criminal elements to sneak across the borders (just as Mosul and Anbar are close to Syria) and at different times there were reports about arresting intruders coming from Iran in this region or neighboring ones.

Whatever the mechanism of the attack was, the ministries of defense and interior must perform a full review for their staff’s backgrounds out there and the IP and ING must be scanned thoroughly for infiltrators because we can’t afford to see tens of young Iraqis die because of a stupid mistake.

Anyway, it’s not all doom and gloom everywhere and together with the bad news there always come some uplifting good news to tell the terrorists that we are not giving up... never.
And is a bunch of today’s good news :

-The IP, assisted by the multinational forces stopped two attempts for blowing up the oil pipelines that transport the Iraqi oil from Kirkuk’s oil fields to Jihan’s port in Turkey securing an export capacity of 300 000 barrels/day.

-The IP in Basra arrested the members of 7 different gangs, freeing a number of hostages that have been abducted by those gangs in order to ask for ransoms.
Also the IP found 29 different stolen vehicles on the gangs and returned them to their owners.
Meanwhile, three Iranians, smuggling hashish were also arrested near Basra.

-The IP in Kirkuk arrested a gang responsible for robbery and abduction and utilizing the money they make to supply terrorist groups with weapons and ammunition.

-Six new police stations were opened in Samarra to enforce law and order in the city that was recently cleaned from hundreds of terrorists.

*news from New Sabah.

Iran has reportedly asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to add 97.2 billion dollars to its Iraqi debt assessment to cover reparations for the 1980-1988 war between the two countries.

From my place I’d like to assure the Mullahs and tell them :
Don’t worry our Muslim brothers, we’re never going to run away from our commitments towards our friends in Iran and we intend to compensate for those damages although were cause by Saddam’s regime, as we were part of this in a way by not stopping that brutal dictator from destroying your country. So as a free Iraqi citizen I want to tell you on behalf of all Iraqis that we will use our new found freedom to pressure the elected government in the future to pay you what could help you overcome the tragic losses that were inflicted on you by Saddam’s regime.
One small detail, we want to schedule this, as it’s not possible to pay all this money tomorrow! So I think it would be fair that our future elected government start handing this money to the Iranian government without any delay...soon after Operation Iranian Freedom.

Clerics endorse democracy.

The elections fever is obviously rising up in Iraq and the belief in the necessity of the elections for the future of Iraq and in the importance of participating in this process is entering the hearts and minds of more Iraqis day by day as the time for elections is getting nearer.

Also we can see more statements coming up from various parties calling the Iraqis to vote in the coming elections and there’s no indication for who’s going to win in this 'announcements race' as many of these concentrate on the necessity of participating and voting for whomever the voters find qualified to represent them.

Today, Ahmed Al Safi, a senior aide of Ayatollah Sistani announced (link in Arabic) that “Those who don’t participate in the elections will end up in hell” and he added in his speech “we must bear the responsibility and we must all participate in the elections because it’s a patriotic duty and not doing so is like treason”
He also denied the news that spread about Sistani preparing or supporting a particular list of candidates.

This announcement serves the purpose, In spite of the harsh extremism in it.
We all don’t like the interference of clerics in politics but the reality is that they still have a considerable influence on many Iraqis and right now we need all the support we can get. Besides, this shows that 'traditional Islam' is not exactly against democracy as some people claim. Yes, they want to use democracy to get to power because they think they represent the majority but don’t all parties think the same?

The important thing is that they’re not against the process and the only important question that remains is that, if they lose, will they accept it or not? I-on my part-believe that Sistani would accept the loss of the powers that he supports but Sadr for example would not and I’m sure the time will come when we will have to deal with people like Sadr more firmly and eliminate the threat they pose to democracy, once and for all.

On the other side, the “Association of Muslim scholars” called all the Iraqis to boycott the elections and considered those who disobey this call as “sinners” . I belive that this opinion does not represents the majority of Sunni population but rather the “Salafis groups”. For example, the “Iraqi Islamic party” released an announcement that has a very different tone; this is according to this leaflet that was distributed this morning which says:

"To my Muslim brothers and sisters:
Beware not to ignore the elections; your participation is both a Sharia and a patriotic duty.
Do not miss your chance to choose your representatives...
And don’t give a chance to the opportunists, racists and those with sectarian agendas...
Let your slogan be “let my participation make Muslims more dominant”
Remember the saying of the prophet (pbuh) “you all have responsibilities and you all shall be questioned for these responsibilities”
Don’t forget to pray for us,
your brothers in the “Islamic Party”"

From this we can conclude that the majority of political and religious trends in Iraq share the conviction that elections are a must and this is good sign for the future of this country and will erase many of the doubts about the prospects of the elections.
We can’t let a small group that’s still living the illusions of the past influence our strategies; the terrorists and their allies thought that they can stop the wild tides of freedom but day by day they’re getting more isolated and I can feel that they are beginning to realize that their end is approaching.

They had missed the train and their call for negotiations strongly indicates that they’re feeling defeated because this is a characteristic feature of the Ba’athists; they never sit down for negotiations untill they know they're losing and until it's too late.

We will triumph and our patience and belief in our cause are our weapons and the support we get from freedom lovers from all over the world encourages us to move on and fight with more faith in victory.
The pessimism we’re being flooded by from the media began to lose its 'glitter' and a bunch of terrorists backed by a bunch of “abduction scholars” will not succeed to steal the dreams of a nation.

By Mohammed.

The American elections are no doubt the hottest current event and will remain to be so for the coming few weeks. so I thought you might be interested in taking a look on how people in Iraq and other Arab countries think of this grand event. My source this time-like in some previous occasions-was an Arabic forum from the BBC. The forum was discussing this question:
If John Kerry is going to win, will the American strategy in Iraq be changed?

The majority of the commentators seemed to agree that whoever going to be elected, he won’t change the strategy of the USA in Iraq and the region. Most of those were supporters of different conspiracy theories while some believed that democracy and the sharing of power and decision making in America was the reason. One of the most adopted conspiracy theories was the “Zionist lobby domination over the government of the USA”, some readers were even more ‘original’ in their beliefs!, and while the majority of Arab posters showed their distrust in the American system as a whole, a small portion favored John Kerry and a lesser portion favored George Bush.
Iraqis on the other hand were less bitter, although conspiracy theory can be seen in many comments. However, those who still fear the “Zionist lobby” seem to separate it from America’s plans in Iraq and have more hope in her. Few posters had a clear stand favoring one candidate. Most of those supporting Kerry were Arabs, while supporters for Bush where mainly Iraqis.


“Bush is a better choice than Kerry.
Regardless of the reasons behind the war in Iraq, I’m hearing news about Iraqis happy with the liberation and frankly speaking, some of the Arab media are very hypocritic when it comes to the situation in Iraq and they exaggerate things greatly.
We-the Arabs-are getting to understand many new subjects”
Mohammed Kerim Al Sabti - Oman.

“If John Kerry wins, I’m going to grieve to death because Iraqis want Bush to accomplish the mission.
As an Iraqi, I’m going to have a party when Bush gets reelected.
I know that time is needed for things to settle down in Iraq and what’s going on right now is a natural side effect for the fall of the past regime”
Shakir-UK.

“Don’t you agree that our Arab brothers are not paying attention to what Iraqis themselves think about the war on Saddam?”
Huda-Baghdad.

“From my point of view, I see that Bush lost the battle and now he’s trying to defend his policy but he will lose more. While if John Kerry behaved rationally and improved his position to prove that Bush was wrong, then he’ll be a better choice than Bush. While if he decided to follow Bush’s course then he will be his successor in failure.
Anyway, I believe that Kerry is going to change his country’s policy in Iraq because America is now sinking in a swarm and day by day it’s getting more difficult to get out of this swarm”
Khalil-Iraq.

“I’m not going to judge John Kerry for his intentions but I believe that Bush’s brave decision to topple the dictator of Iraq had changed the direction of history in the ME not only Iraq.
I hope to see Bush win; he’s the man who liberated Iraq and he’s capable of building the dream example.
As for the WMD’s issue, we all know that Saddam used them and the massacre of Halabja in 1988 is only one example, not to mention that he had always threatened to use WMD’s”
Nawfal Al Jazaeri-Virginia/USA.

“The American policy is not going to change if the democratic candidate wins. It can only change if Britain wanted it to change because Britain plans and America only executes orders ”
Mohammed Jasim-Baghdad/Iraq.

“There won’t be a big difference; the American policy has constants and fixed principles and there are institutions that decide America’s interests not a group of people (administration) who do whatever they want. It’s the congress who plays the major role in the decision making process.
America is staying in Iraq whether it was a democratic or a republican man in the white house, besides, we all know that the law of the liberation of Iraq was released in Clinton’s days back in 1998. The American interests in Iraq and in the region demand a permanent existence for American forces to protect these interests and also to help and support the Iraqi government which is still weak and depends much on the American forces in managing the security situation in Iraq.
We may see only a reduction in the number of troops and this depends on how the security is going to improve in Iraq and on the Iraqi government gaining more control over the country and only then, the troops may be reduced but a total withdrawal is impossible.
The American vision about Iraq is that Iraq is the no.1 ally and the most important country for American interests in the region and consequently the American presence will remain strong and active”
Mohammed Al Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.

“Yes, as Mr. Bush said; the world has become a better place without Saddam. For me, it became a happier place, only our happiness is not a complete one yet because of the foreign terrorists who entered our country”.
Ibrahim-Baghdad.

“No, because it’s the Zionist lobby that steers the wheel of the American policy regardless of who the president was, Kerry or Tom and Jerry.
I, like all other honest Iraqis wish for Bush to win so that he can keep the course of sterilizing the world from the germs that use Islam as a cover”
Ahmed Al Shammari-Baghdad.

“John Kerry cannot change the policies of the US in Iraq because the American policy (unlike the countries of the ME) is not monopolized by individuals. And no matter how high the price America is going to pay in Iraq, it will be for the best of the American people.
I think that Bush is America’s best choice”
Khalid Abdullah-Kuwait.

“What I’m going to say now is going to be what history will show: GWB and Tony Blair will have a great influence on opening the doors of the Arab countries for the coming democracy and they will help the people of those countries open their minds, because they’re the ones who took the decision alone and their people are the ones who sacrificed, and here goes Afghanistan marching on the way to democracy and after that Iraq and the rest will follow”
Fadi Fokee-Egypt.

“The story is clear; Bush and Kerry are two faces for one coin and their goal is to humiliate the Arab countries for Israel’s benefit so that the latter can impose her conditions on arab countries and enslave them. It’s time to wake up, as we know Americans don’t like us and there’s no hope that one day they would. They’re after their interests using different means including the stick, which they’re good at, and which we seem to love already"
Hasan-Beirut.