Iraq at a glance

... Alaa my friend, kindhearted and nice guy, one of my best friends, he’s a doctor in AlChwadir neighborhood in AlSadr city, we know each other since we were 15, he’s full of life, tough and smart guy, we spent pleasing times training together in a bodybuilding club, having meals in restaurants after getting out of the college, talking about everything in our life and our future…..but I have not seen him many weeks ago, I work in Basra and he was preoccupied in his assignment in Baghdad, so we did not have the time to meet…
Today, my friend Ali rang me to tell me that there’s bad news, his voice was so worrying..
I replied anxiously ‘What….?’
‘Alaa…’ he said.
‘Come on Ali, what’s wrong with him?’
‘He’s been shot in his abdomen three weeks ago, and I’ve just known that from his brother’…
My God, my heart filled with pain and sorrow as I heard that, Ali told me that Alaa was in the hospital and a Humvee bullet penetrated the window to find its way in his abdomen..some clashes were there and one of the bullets hit Alaa.
Alaa is unconscious now in the American hospital in Baghdad, they transferred him from one hospital to another before taking him there, the doctors felt helpless regarding Alaa, and they said that he’d die sooner or later, but fortunately he’s been transferred to the American hospital, many operations have been done and we don’t know more about him till now, his brother said that his colon, intestine and many arteries are damaged.
We can’t visit Alaa since he’s in the CCU and the American hospital system does not permit visits for now.
We all are waiting for some news; I don’t want to hear that he might pass away, hope he’ll be fine…I hope that.

by Mrs.S
Yesterday I went to my school to get the salary, it’s 25th of the month, and we usually get it on this date. We were very anxious, sitting in our chamber waiting nervously because we were afraid of the sudden bangs and bombs, since the security situation is not fine those days.
We were about 15 teachers, we talked about the ongoing events and our confused days because of those who call themselves ‘resistance’, those who everyday explode oil pipelines, power stations and kill the Iraqis, we deny all those hostile acts which harm the Iraqi people.
We are afraid of getting out of our house because of them, we are afraid about our sons and daughters from those criminals who kill in cold blood.
As we were discussing in this topic, three teachers took share of the discussion and encouraged those hostile acts, we were very astonished with their words, and we kept looking at each other as they started their strange speech, they believe that: those acts make people resist the ‘occupation’ and force them to leave the country, because people will put their hands in cold water if there is electric power, oil, petrol and security, no one of the ordinary people will be annoyed or be anxious of anything, they will live in ordinary life and the Americans and other forces will stay in Iraq fearing nothing!

What strange brains they carry in their heads!
They don’t think that all these acts drive Iraq to a deep hollow, to a complete destruction.
However, we ignored them and remembered what their husbands were.

We always watch on the TV the opinions and interviews with different groups of Arabs saying ‘those who bomb the pipelines and the stations are not the real resistance, they want to deform the picture of the Iraqi resistance….’ …I say they are!
Because I see their fans, those three teachers encourage them and their sons and husbands might be working with them, the problem is one of the teachers has a son in the Iraqi Police, and surely he has the same thoughts of his mother, we always hear news about members from the IP who’ve cooperated with the extremists, I think that the government must find a way to clean the IP from those people, they are the most dangerous enemy.

If there are groups that disagree with the government and want the military forces to get out, why don’t they participate peacefully in the upcoming elections and then achieve their goals? If Iraqis want them, they’ll choose them.
But there are Arab and foreign countries who do not want Iraq to heal and be rebuilt for many purposes and cooperate with the terrorists to destroy our country.
They are the real enemy of Iraq, if they are not, so they could guard their borders and help Iraq to arrest those terrorists who harvest the lives of innocent Iraqis…have you ever heard that one of our ‘neighbors’ arrested terrorists who were trying to enter Iraq?

They did nothing although the Iraqi government called many times for help and assist Iraq to keep their borders safe and prevent the evil people from entering Iraq.
Actually they want these attacks and wish them to go on and on..
But inshallah we will win.
Mrs.S

I watched a documentary movie on AlArabiya channel called ‘Madraseh Deeniyeh’, it means: a religious school, these types of schools are widespread in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and some on the borders between those countries.
The movie showed the lives of the pupils of this Islamic school, in the beginning, everything was fine, showing how life is so peaceful, and how those kids learn by heart the Koran for 2.5 years even when they do not understand a single word cause it’s written in Arabic so they learn it as it is, after those years the teachers begin to explain the meanings of the Koran to make them understand what Islam is.
One of those fierce looking teachers of course with unkempt beard talked about the system of these schools, and showed the reporter some of the parks while the pupils were playing volleyball with each other.
The teacher said: ‘we teach those kids the morals and ethics of Islam, how to respect the people, we are studying the Koran, and learn it by heart, the pupils here are so happy and proud of their future as they’ll grow as good men’
Till now, I asked myself: ‘so what?..what’s wrong with this system, since it is an ordinary school, and does not hurt anyone, let them learn what they want to learn, but without harmful outcomes’..
But I knew that there’s something after this nice introduction.
The movie went on, and I watched some scary scenes, those kids were sitting and reading the Koran loudly and hysterically with rapid forward and backward moves and above this, the teacher was holding something like a small piece of a hose and was beating them while they were reading the Koran frantically!
And here the black face was shown up.
The reporter asked one of the pupils about his life in this school, and the kid said that they are there from the morning till late evening, they don’t do anything but reading and studying the Koran (according to their teacher’s way) for years.
Future troubles began to be clear half an hour from the beginning of this movie.
The kids were talking about the Jihad and how they are ready to be one of AlMujahideen, their parents were so happy with their ‘courageous and strong’ boys, and that they would get AlJannah (the paradise) sooner or later.
Then, the manager of this school and some also bearded guests came by (obviously the big leaders) and started to talk in front of a crowd of teachers and boys explaining how the United States want to spoil their youth and destroy Islam, how they came to Afghanistan to destroy and make an end to Islam and how they want to control the Islamic world and many other thoughts, and then began to shout and scream: ‘God bless our great leader Osama bin Laden, God bless our great leader Mullah Omar’ ‘Death to America’..’Death to America and her collaborators’ and the crowd replied in a louder and scary voice the same ‘great’ words of their supervisors!

So attract innocent kids, put them in this religious school which resembles the jail, no one kid has the time to talk or see anything except his teacher and the Koran, wash their brains completely for years and fill it with hatred and hostile ideas using dangerous strict thoughts in the name of Islam, and then, It’s obvious from the environment of this school what will the ‘graduates’ be.

I wonder what would happen if the United States left Taliban to control Afghanistan till now? What would that movement do?
I wonder how some people especially in United States dare to say that the war on Afghanistan was wrong and after that the war on Saddam was wrong, yes, the regime might differ, but they are alike in the same crazy results, both support the terror, one of them directly and the second indirectly, that one prepare AlMujahideen and the second support them, and of course not only Saddam, there are other regimes who support and help terrorism, I think you’d better stand with your president against the terror, reelect him, I’m sure you don’t want to see another attack inside of America, you don’t know what’s going on overseas, you don’t know how the enemy is growing.

However, regarding religious schools, I want to know something: If these schools are so popular there and openly extol OBL and his followers, why they are left free?! We are fighting terrorism, and those schools are creating those fundamentalists who have OBL as their great leader and OBL is a terrorist, so why those schools are left free?

...In this post I want to clarify something after I’ve read some e mails and the comments of the previous post:
I’m a human being; it means that I have only a couple of hands and not tens of them, so I can’t write on everything shown on the TV, simply because I might not have the time to be at home or I might have an important work to do, you know, we are supposed to be transferred to work in Baghdad after we’ve spent the nine months in Basra, so we have some work to do regarding this, and I have no enough time to explain what happens here or there, I run this blog alone, and might get some help or news from my brother or friends, so don’t expect an explanation or analysis on everything in Iraq.
I read some comments and e mails like: ‘I don’t believe you’, ‘I feel like a fool when I read your blog’, ‘who pays for your work?’, ‘how can I believe you’..!
It seems like I have a banner on my blog saying: You Must Believe My Posts..!
I write what I want to write, I write what I see it right..it’s not my problem to look after your feelings, I’ve been writing since Nov.2003 and I have many many wonderful friends and continue to have more.. These blogs are nice windows for us to share thoughts and ideas with friends from all over the world..
It’s been a long time since I read comments like those..
So if you can’t believe me, just get off my back!
I don’t want to use other ways to clean the comments..

Yesterday I was in AlHurriya Olympic Swimming Pool together with my friends, while we were there, the Iraqi soccer team alternates entered the place with the goalkeepers coach Ahmed Jasim..
I met one of the players, Akram Sabeeh, the goalkeeper and talked for few minutes, then I asked some questions and told him that I’d publish his words on the internet and he’s agreed, so I gladly began my questions:
A: What do you feel when you play now? I think there’s a difference than those days during the ex-regime?
Akram: look, I was seriously afraid when I was playing, they were really horrible days under Uday, I was afraid to do anything that might be misunderstood and the result would be the jail.
Now, I feel free when I play soccer, I feel that I’m playing to improve myself and never afraid of anyone.
A: So you feel that you are free now?
Akram: of course free.
A: Have you ever been jailed?
Akram: Yes, for 10 days.
A: what for?
Akram: Because I shouted at the referee!
A: Isn’t it a humiliating act to be jailed for this reason?
Akram: Yes, but Uday was enjoying doing so, I might be lucky to be jailed only, other players were being beaten severely, tortured and many other brutal acts, you’ve heard about that?
A:Yes..let’s forget what was Uday doing… what about the economical status?
Akram: my salary was 20$ and now it is 200$.
A: wonderful..multiplied by 10..
Akram: Yes, I can think in my future now!
A: So what was wrong with other Olympic players, they were so upset when they were shown on the TV after each game, they kept repeating: occupation, targeting the cities..etc, they blamed on the Americans for that, what do you think?
Akram: Well..they were saying this cause they were watching what was going on in AlNajaf and previously in Fallujah, they felt that the families were being killed everyday.
A: And do you believe that?
Akram: we are watching all of that on the channels.
A: Have you ever watched some good news regarding Iraq on those channels?
Akram: Frankly…Never!
A: So those channels intentionally collect the bad news and exaggerate in most of them and play with our emotions to achieve their goal, and they’ve succeeded in that with some people..if they are honest they had better look at the good changes also.
Akram: Yes, you are right, we cry and get angry as we watch those channels!..........................
Unfortunately, Akram’s friend called and we’ve finished our conversation..
Akram: Excuse me..I have to go now..nice to meet you..
A: Thank you very much Akram..

Well, I could ignore all those questions, and ask him directly showing some bored and upset facial expressions: ‘DO YOU ACCEPT..what’s going on in your country now? Chaos, explosions, bombing the cities…what do you think..isn’t it miserable?’
!!
I could make all the conversation full of hatred and pessimistic views!

I mean, you have to hear the question of the reporter and the manner of asking the players before you judge the players’ opinions..
Those journalists ask according to what they want to hear or according to what is needed from them.

The reporters should be honest and fair in dealing with the people in Iraq, it’s a temporary critical period, and they have to help and support the Iraqis to stand against terrorism and build their country.
Unfortunately, there are few of them.

I got those photos of one of Saddam’s palaces; you can see where Saddam was living; now he wishes to live free in only a small humble hut..
Areas alongside the Tigris river were only for Saddam and his relatives..
Meetings and conferences are held in those palaces now..
photo 1
photo 2
photo 3
And from inside:
photo 4
And this nice one:
photo 5

And this photo is for the ceiling, every brick of the ceiling is written on it ‘Yes Saddam’..’Yes Saddam’…!
no..please.. don’t say he’s sick!!

-Witnesses in AlSadr city say that there are clashes everyday in AlSadr city, the Americans are bombing the city and they don’t know why, they begin the fight-….etc. you watch that on many channels, so let me tell you the truth from a man who is one of the residents in AlSadr city, he’s a worker in a store in a neighborhood near AlSadr City, this store belongs to my friend, the worker said:
“ the Americans were far away from the city and we did not see a single soldier there, meanwhile the Iraqi National Guards were searching the area and scrutinizing many houses for the mortars and RPGs and leaving the AK47 and pistols as they are necessary for protection, the ING did that unexpectedly, so many of Muqtada’s men were caught and their weapons were confiscated, these news distributed rapidly to all over the city, so everyone who had those weapons got out to the streets and began to fire at the ING, after that the Americans entered the city and the fight began”…

I think this problem with Muqtada and his thugs will never end, the government lost that chance when those thieves and their leader were in the shrine, the fight would be finished at once, but now, and after AlSistani ordered to end the fight and let the visitors (pilgrims) enter the shrine, all Muqtada’s thieves got out of the shrine with those visitors and no one could catch them, so they went back to their cities in AlSadr City, Amara and other places, and now we are searching for them again!

Frankly, I’m waiting for the results of the investigations about the massacre in Muqtada’s courts, I don’t know were the reports and the news regarding that brutal act are, the channels have never talked any word about it, nobody says something, isn’t it a brutal act? What’s going on? Those men were the IRAQI POLICE…
I wonder if the Iraqi government or the MNF did that (and of course it is impossible) how long would the channels cry for them? How many reports would be written?
The Minister of Defense said: ‘I’ve talked with a reporter of an Arabic channel and told him were are the news and reports regarding this brutal act, and he replied: ‘we are afraid of the fighters, but we are not afraid of your government’’..

Afraid? So why are they working there? To give biased news only?

Again I want to say that this incident is a real test for the government, if the government wouldn’t take a decisive judgment, we’d better forget the law and security in our country.

Hi friends, I came back today, it was so boring trip to Baghdad since I had to keep looking to the right all the time, cause as I turn left I see that man who was beside me, he was looking for something in his nose! He spent hours keeping his finger twisting in both holes! Disgusting, isn’t it??
However, let’s forget that man and let me talk about the debate with Abu Mohaimen, a medical assistant there in Basra:
Abu Moh. was anti-American, but I realized that he was thinking as pro and anti in the same time, but he couldn’t be completely with the United Sates policy, you know, the media and religious leaders still work.
We started our debate regarding the chaos that happened in AlNajaf and criticizing and mocking Muqtada, then he said: ‘…but America wants this chaos to continue, they do not want peace in Iraq..and….’
I said interruptedly ‘why?.. what for?’
Abu Moh.: ‘ they don’t care for that’
A (for AYS): ‘ but they care to complete the American plan in the middle east..right?’
Abu Moh.: ‘ Yes.’
A: ‘so they have to care about the security in Iraq as a part of the plan, right?’
He nodded and said: ‘ehh..so why they don’t care for all the chaos here in Iraq and continue bombing the cities’
A: ‘and who told you that they don’t care for that and I recommend that you change the channels you used to watch, cause all of them are biased, for me I like AlHurra channel, it’s so fair’
Then I wanted to know his opinion regarding Iran and whether Iranian regime want our country to be safe and secure or not, so I said: ‘ and Iran continues their mean operations in Iraq and against Iraqis’
He replied enthusiastically: ‘Yes..doctor..those Iranians won’t give up their habit, they are supporting Muqtada with fighters, arms and money to keep the unstable situation in Iraq and let it distribute all over the country’
I admired his thought when he said that and felt that he’s started to use his brain properly! So I asked him cunningly!: ‘why they are doing that..’
Abu Moh. : ‘ they don’t want Iraq to be secure in order to foil the American plans here to make the world say “look at Iraq, they destroyed it”, and so keep the Americans away from them and stay in power so they are afraid of Iraq now, cause if Iraq becomes safe and prosperous, Iranian regime will be the next’…
!!
If we join Abu Mohaimen’s opinions together, the result will be: < Americans want the chaos to continue in order to frustrate their plan>!!!

In fact there are many like Abu Mohaimen, I noticed those different confusing viewpoints from many Iraqis, I can say that some Iraqis complain from a sort of ‘Paranoid personality’ characterized by the suspicion, awareness and feeling that they are always targeted, all of that because of the ex-regime, oppression is the main cause.
Some Iraqis now are torn; they can’t decide who’s the friend and who’s the enemy, so they mix the facts without knowing that..it’s kind of psychological conflict which will end in a calm environment, i.e, when Iraq becomes safe.

My God..what a great news..at last the Iraqi people got out to the streets of AlNajaf in a demonstration against Muqtada, they want him to get out of the city and also do not want any one of his followers to pray there..
They were cursing his militia, courts and they looked so angry..
AlHurra channel met few of them who said ‘we don’t want him..they are thieves’
The people were repeating words that support the ING and IP and wanted the government to put an end to what they called ‘a disgrace’ and ‘crimes’ that happened in AlNajaf especially the courts of Muqtada..
Let the world know the real Iraqi people, the people who look for peace and justice, security , freedom and democracy..not those criminals who are shown on the channels kidnapping and killing the innocents in the name of ‘resistance and Islam’…there is NO ‘resistance’ in Iraq, there are AlQaida, Saddamis, Arabs and criminals who are destroying our country and the MNF, ING, IP and the IRAQI PEOPLE are fighting them….
OK?
Update: Here are some photos from AlHurra channel..
photo 1
photo 2
photo 3
And this banner says: the crimes and oppression of the ‘illegal courts’ will stay a disgrace forever.

Damn..those lazy officials keep saying 'come here tomorrow..we'll complete it tomorrow..the boss will be here tomorrow' and nothing new..
We are supposed to be transferred to work in Baghdad after we've completed the boring nine months here in Basra, but our requests are being transferred among the officials in Basra's health center, and no one tell us what's going on..we only need the signature of the boss the most gracious the most…….Ahhh..I'm tired..
And above all of that, scorpions are increasing here!. I can't sleep calmly..I get up at little moves or sounds at night because of those creatures..
Today, the sky is full of dark clouds in Basra, I think another oil pipeline has been bombed, or there might be another reason..
I'm sorry I can't write more, we have to go now…, scorpions are waiting for us!