Iraq at a glance

I've just finished drawing this..I found it in Loomis' book, but I'm not satisfied with what I drew, however.. step by step the drawings will be improved.. right?..

What’s going on at my blog?? IP addresses, ‘FROM’ and ‘IN’ problems!! Received emails saying that I’m not an Iraqi!!
I’m writing here to exchange thoughts and opinions between Iraq and the rest of the world, and then I read such silly responses! Hey.. you trolls ..why don’t you go and write in a separated blog? Here are respectable people who want to read what’s happening in Iraq and I’m telling what I see and hear and want to discuss that with those kind people, since November 2003 we built a great family in our blogs, so don’t spoil it with such suspicions and useless things.. Huh.. I’m ‘not an Iraq’ !! I think you can easily discover that if you did read the posts since November, watch the photos, notice the language , read the news that was written before it happened, …etc…… ( I think it’s absurd to discuss that..)……….

Finally: please anyone who don’t like what I’m writing just leave it and get out…. I’m sure you can press that (X) at the corner of your screen and close it.. it’s easy .. Just try it !!!

Yesterday, my friend and I went to Al-Mutanabbe St., this street is famous, located in the center of Baghdad.. it’s full of books, it’s one of Baghdad traditions.. On Friday, many educated people go by this street to purchase books.
There’re many vendors, most of them are enlightened and educated, some of them have the Master degrees in Art, science, some of them are teachers, engineers..etc, but, as you know, under Saddam they were forced to leave their jobs, so they used to sell books over there as a means of livelihood..
I like this place and I kept visiting it since 1992 ( I was in the intermediate school, I remember when I was insisting on my friends to drop by Al-Mutanabbe street, but they were always refusing!! So I used to go alone !).
There are some buildings under maintenance and others under construction..
I came across foreigners who were purchasing some books, a women said to her friend: “ wow.. Wonderful, nice and cheap”.. they liked the place, if you see it you’ll like it too, it’s interesting.
The best point now is NOTHING PROHIBITED in Al-Mutanabbe St., you can find different types of books, regarding politics there are different books for different parties, authors and so many thoughts and opinions.
During the ex-regime the vendors were showing only books that must not interfere with ‘ Baath Party principles’ ! , at that time the Baathist books were sooooo cheap and always covered with dust and never been respected !!
many religious books weren’t allowed to be sold.. magazines and books that contained subjects criticizing the regime were surely forbidden.
Now you can find hundreds of these books.
We were hiking for a couple of hours, then I bought “ Figure Drawing” for Andrew Loomis, I love drawing so much especially using pencils and coal, I want to register in an institute to hone my skills, but of course after finishing the medical residence in Basra..
You may ask who’s Al-Mutanabbe? OK, he’s a great Iraqi poet (915-965 AD), his poetry is being studied in many stages in the schools and colleges of Art and Arabic Language departments.
If you want to see Al-Mutanabbe St, click here...

Friends,
I scanned issue eighteen of ‘Baghdad Now’ newspaper, I divided each page into two parts; part a ( the upper part) and part b ( the lower one)..
I finished all the work of scanning, resizing, uploading..etc today, cause the electric power is VERY good, BUT, you know it’s Spring and everything will be changed in Summer, people will turn on all the air conditioning devices they have and again there’ll be shortages and outages, I hope the power is getting better this season.
Here is the newspaper:
page 1 part a part b
page 2 part a part b
page 3 part a part b
page 4 part a part b
page 5 part a part b
page 6 part a part b
page 7 part a part b
page 8 part a part b
page 9 part a part b
page 10 part a part b

Yesterday, I was watching Al-Iraqia channel, suddenly news drew my attention, the newscaster said “ … then the Iraqi police arrested those criminals and….”..
He broadcasted a robbery in the north of Baghdad : a boss of a school and her colleague came under a robbery when they were on their way with the salaries to the school, fortunately they didn’t kill them, the IP could arrest the robbers and they were showed on the TV.
Then a debate began with my parents and our neighbors about what punishment those robbers deserve.. actually most of them said those thieves must be executed to make all the bad guys who are free now to see their fate and give up crimes, and give the government some sort of power and let the citizens feel that there is a government and a Ministry of Interior..
The neighbors said “ Yes, they must be executed, and publicly in the streets to show the criminals what will happen if they dare to rob”
Another one said with nervousness “ they must be dangled by ropes on the pillars leaving them die slowly, then the crows eat their rotten corpses” !!
Actually, these opinions is very popular nowadays and you can hear it from many many Iraqis, the hatred and aversion even to a pickpocket boy.. They might kill him at once! Last month the people caught a thief in a neighborhood in the south of Baghdad, there were more than 15 man beating him! He was beaten nearly to death! Until the IP came across them and arrested the guy ( they saved him from the enraged people! ) ..
Now, let’s talk about what punishment they deserve, I think a repeal for the capital punishment isn’t a good proposal ( I heard that the Iraqi government will discuss such decision in the future ), criminals who kill intentionally must be executed, the death penalty is controversial in modern countries and we don’t want it to be discussed here in Iraq for now, the Ministry of Interior must go on with this penalty and those who steal must have a long term imprisonment, and it’s very important to broadcast some trials on the TV, the people over here need to rely on the government especially the security subject.
I emphasize on broadcasting the trials cause there are rumors saying ‘ they are just arrested for days and then set free, we didn’t hear anyone imprisoned or executed till now’ you know, bad news travels fast.. .. and such rumors is dangerous for the people and encouraging for the criminals, even make them stronger and rob people nonchalantly ..so the MEDIA is VERY effective now.

## I think what Israel did is wrong, wrong time, wrong way, this isn’t a way to perish the terrorists, Israel will make the region unstable in such operations.. I’m sure Hamas won’t keep silent..
Also, this operation will change the Iraqi people’ feelings, yes .. the people here will link between Israel and USA, I don’t know why always they consider USA is in charge of that ! you know, this is a great chance for some clerics to incite!
Poor USA, Israel kills a leader and the Palestinians carry banners saying “ Death to America” ! huh.. silly people..

## What’s happening in Basra nowadays?.. angry demonstrations ?
Unemployed people were demonstrating, I watched some scenes on BBC news ....
I said that many days ago, freedom is dangerous when it’s used improperly, Iraqis demonstrate for anything.. I hope the GC is studying all such problems and solve them as soon as possible..
Last month, many Health officials protested on the salaries, they weren’t satisfied with their salaries, few days later, the Ministry of Health changed the salaries system..
The people noticed that the squeaking wheel gets the oil !

## Also in Basra ..many blasts over there, it seems that that officer was right when he talked about the terrorists who entered Iraq..

“ No it wasn’t a bomb.. it was a missile fired from a plane”
“ I don’t believe the explosion was due to a car bomb.. I heard many planes were flying around the area at that time”
“ NO.. it’s not a bomb, why the crater is inside the hotel ? those Americans bombed the hotel”..
AHHHH.. I grew tired from all of these bullshits, the people have started to blame the Americans for anything happened and will happen, tired from explaining the terrorists’ plans to change our minds and overturn our feelings towards the coalition, tired from trying to make them analyze anything happens before giving a judgment.. and when I ask them about what will the Americans gain from bombing; they don’t know how to answer, they just say that the Americans want to make us afraid and worried.. Nonsense..
I’m afraid the terrorists will succeed in making the people hate the coalition leading to much more troubles… Above all of that, I read a news on Al-Jazeera channel saying: “ the American army will use sound bombs to spread the fright in Iraqis’ hearts” what a poisonous words they use..
The coalition must defend themselves and they must increase the TV programs which explain what the coalition did and are doing and giving proofs about that..
Many people changed their minds about the war on terror, the press, the broadcasting and the TV must work harder to make them understand the terrorists’ thoughts.
The terrorists succeeded in changing a government.. yes .. Spain.. the first country who surrender..and they’ll withdraw their troops soon.. what a shame..just wait you Spanish for few years and you’ll see what will happen if the terrorists get stronger…huh.. you think you’ll be out of the woods…...NO..you’ll regret.
I’m afraid that another attack in another country will make them do the same as Spain, handling the world to the vileness of those terrorists.. just imagine that.
Now, let’s talk about the United States, what will happen if Mr.Kerry wins? Ha??

Hi friends,
I came to Baghdad yesterday, and today I went to the College of Dentistry to get the information about the two students who were arrested there as I posted before, for those who didn’t read it, here is the full subject.
I met their friend, he told me that they were set free last week, I told him I want to talk with them, but he said they had a lecture, I asked him about their health and how did the Americans behave with them, he said: “ there’re OK, and nothing happened, they rebuked them only ! haha, don’t worry .. there’re fine”..
Thank you for all kind friends who sent the emails and offered a help.

Regarding the meeting in Basrah.. it was boring this time, the head of the meeting was the general manager of the sport and youth institution in Basrah and he’s Shiite.. he’s very Shiite !! he talked for an hour about Al-Hussein and Imam Ali and continued his stories regarding Shia ..etc, he didn’t talk about his work as a manager and what are his plans that’ll help the youth there ! until one of the members asked him interruptedly: “ ehh.. sorry Mr. What about the new plans of the institution regarding the youth and how will you behave with those who don’t do their job honestly, cause I heard some bad news about those people ?”..
“ Oh.. yes.” He replied. “ We must work together like the great Imams” !! “ We must consider our conscience as a judge for all our works” “ We must remember what Imam Al-Hussein said……” and continued his old-fashioned and boring stories..
the problem here is that I couldn’t tell him “stop it and say something useful” cause nearly all the members were listening to his mesmerizing speech, they were very happy with that and forgot they were in a meeting and they had to ask him about what’ll happen in their district… I got bored and was about to leave the meeting, until one of the members asked about Basrah governor and there were many complaints about his work, the manager said : “ Oh.. yes . you reminded me, the governor of Basrah will be replaced, he or his officials are using their positions to make much money illegally, and there are investigations regarding this subject, we’re going to organize elections to elect a new governor instead of him”…
I waked up once I heard ‘elections’ and I’ve been glad to hear that, it was impossible to let the populace choose their governor, the governor was assigned not elected, Saddam was choosing his low men for such positions.
Then the officer said “ we arrested 17 terrorist were trying to enter the country, but there’re 83 entered, we’re questioning those terrorists to get the information helping us to arrest them.”.
Then an official entered suddenly and shouted “ TIME OF THE PRAYER” !! it meant they MUST end the meeting at once and go for the prayer…and they did !! Huh.. nonsense..
That was the meeting ! I told you it was boring !
BUT.. the important thing here is that the people are able to express their feelings and discuss with the managers their notions and even change the governor if he was dishonest. Yes.. we’re on our way to democracy and freedom, BUT, we must be aware, if these two words used randomly or without certain rules, we’ll destroy our country instead of building it.

Inspections
The American troops along with the Iraqi army inspected a sector for arms in a neighborhood called ‘ Hai Tunis’ north of Baghdad, the new plan to look for the houses is : the Americans stay outside the house looking for the streets and the Iraqi soldiers enter the house and inspect it.. Good idea.. this will hush those who were complaining from ‘ how can I let the Americans inspect my house’, now let them shut up.

### Hi friends,
I'm in Basrah now, Omar and I reached here on Friday, I am at the cafe now..
Yesterday, I attended another meeting.. I'll write about it later..
Just some news from the meeting:
The IP officer said that there were 17 terrorists caught in Basrah last week,BUT, there are more than 83 entered Iraq and the IP are investigating and searching everyday..
another thing.. the governor of Basrah will be changed, there are some problems regarding his work, I'll post about these troubles soon..

## We noticed a loooong line of cars at the gas station here in Basrah..Ahhh..another shortage again.. ..I don't know why.. Do you ?!!

## I'll set out to Baghdad on Monday.. I have many subjects to discuss with you.. wait for me..
bye

Hi friends,
Today I did something new.. I think.... Actually I decided to dedicate some of the donated money to help the poor families and their kids in Baghdad.. I know many families who have nothing but dignity and honesty… they are living in miserable places as you’ll see in the photos…
I made a tour to those neighborhoods and distributed many packets of chocolate among the kids, I was over flooded with happiness as I saw the cheerful children…
Every child said something grievous and gloomy.. I’m going to write their words with every photo..
Here we go:


^^^ Those kids said “ we don’t have a house.. we are living here in this tent, we built this wall to avoid dogs” and then his mother got out of the tent, looked at her sons and said to me “ thank you very much.. God bless you”.


^^^ This aged woman said “son.. I’m fasting and I don’t have the food to eat.. please I don’t have enough money to eat everyday.. we are living here long time ago.. I have grandsons and daughters”.. I gave her a packet..
Actually, this woman didn’t remember me, one day I gave her the lunch and she thanked me a lot.
Anyhow, she was very happy with the packet and the photo !


^^^ Those kids dwell in this poor place, they are the neighbors of the aged woman above.. their father is a farmer but he doesn’t earn enough money to rent a simple house so they are living here… what a life..

^^^ those kids with their father dwell in this area, they are building their ‘house’ with boxes and bricks, they said that they were forced to get out of their house in Al-Sadr city, because Saddam dictated that, he punished those families who made the ‘riot’ in 1999 after the assassination of their religious leader Mohammed Sadiq Al-Sadr, of course he was assassinated by Saddam’s thugs.


^^^ Another photo at the good-bye scene.


^^^ This poor girl asked me to give her another package cause she has many sisters and brothers, I gave her another one.. she thanked me so much..


^^^ A man brought this beautiful kid when he saw me there.. his father is handicapped and can’t work..

I promised those families to come again and bring some other things and toys for the kids, they were very very happy..

I wish the new government will pay attention to those poor people and dedicate a salary for every one to let them live like others, I hope that…

Damn.. Damn.. I knew that .. I knew that will happen.. explosions in Karbalaa and Baghdad in Al-Khadimia neighborhood as I expected.. I am sad.. I burst into tears as I saw those corpses and the wounded and burned people, do you know what Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiah said ? They said that the bombs are from mortars or an ARTILLERY…! And they said who has the artillery in Iraq? Yes the American army…... nonsense.. I hit the ceiling when I heard that.. Damn… Damn .. I want to bomb those two channels.. they deserve those explosions.. they are terrorists …they are inciting the people with those mean words..
I am sorry I am very confused I can’t write more now..

I hear many sounds of explosions now, I don’t know what’s going on, I hope no one hurt, I am waiting for the news…
I think the sound came from north of Baghdad or a neighborhood near..
Wait to hear what happened..
I hope to God that nothing happened....