Free Iraq
The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
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| Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991 | معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991 | 
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
'Democracy' galore in Iraq
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Click on image, then click bottom right to enlarge and read
."Before you read this, I will tell you what happened Monday to my uncle:
He was going to his work in the morning with his friend and a driver (he works for one of the ministries, I can’t say which one).
Four cars blocked their car, and 16 gunmen stepped out asking my uncle and his friends to come with them, so the gunmen started to kick him to force him to ride with them but he kept resisting telling them that if you want to kill me then do it here, at least my body can be found and identified.
Then came two police cars, and to his surprise the police were shaking hands with the gunmen and asking them to hurry up because the roads are getting very crowded with people going to their work.
With my uncle keep reinstating to go with them and totally covered with blood they left him and his friends, saying there will a next time.
If you want to understand what’s behind the story, Islammemo has obtained the following document and I have translated it to check for yourself how bad it is."
Evidence: Mahdi Militias are working with the Iraqi Police and Army, Roads to Iraq Blogsite, October 25, 2006
"Hired Guns
British private security companies have contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan worth £1bn. There are 48,000 employees of private security firms in Iraq - 21,000 of them British - according to War on Want. The total has now dropped to 10,000, British companies say. Aegis, which won a multimillion pound contract from the Pentagon to provide security in Iraq, saw its turnover increase from £500,000 in 2003 to £62m last year. ArmorGroup, a British company, trebled its turnover from £37m in 2001 to £122m. In Afghanistan, 150 employees of the US company DynCorp are protecting president Hamid Karzai. Blackwater has won contracts in Iraq and to combat opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Control Risks has contracts with UK and US agencies, including the Foreign Office, to provide security in Iraq.... the main problem is that they are unaccountable. Non-Iraqi employees of private security companies in Iraq were protected from prosecution under Order 17 of the Coalition Provisional Authority, issued shortly before it handed over power in 2004. "
Fears over huge growth in Iraq's unregulated private armies October 31, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
"The wretched fiction of Iraq's 'success' is Blair's attempt to make us wear the veil"
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Veils seem to be coming into fashion in the UK. Further to a previous posting here on veils: "I might as well be wearing hijab and niqab! Only mine are invisible!", Rober Fisk writes on a not so invisible veil:
"Reality has to be separated from us. Thus a massacre that became part of a policy has been turned in the movie into an aberration by a few armed extremists. Indeed, after the film ends, a series of paragraphs on the screen bleakly record the dispossession of the Palestinians as a result of "Arab propaganda". This itself is a myth. Yet again, Israeli historians have already disproved the lie that the Arab regimes told Palestinian Arabs over the radio that they should leave their homes "until the Jews have been thrown into the sea". No such broadcasts were made. Most Palestinians fled because they were frightened of ending up like the people of Deir Yassin. The propaganda about radio broadcasts was Israeli, not Arab.
It's as if a blanket, a curtain, a veil has been thrown over history - so that the shadow of real events is just visible, but their meaning so distorted as to be incomprehensible. "So this is why you wanted guns," Bobby Goldman shouts at the Stern leader amid the dead of Deir Yassin. And he's wrong. The guns enabled the Stern gang to murder the Arabs of Deir Yassin to produce the panic that sent three quarters of a million Palestinians on the road to permanent exile.But isn't this the world in which we live? Aren't we all veiled from the truth?"
Robert Fisk: We've all been veiled from the truth, Ocotber 21, 2006
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Veils seem to be coming into fashion in the UK. Further to a previous posting here on veils: "I might as well be wearing hijab and niqab! Only mine are invisible!", Rober Fisk writes on a not so invisible veil:
"Reality has to be separated from us. Thus a massacre that became part of a policy has been turned in the movie into an aberration by a few armed extremists. Indeed, after the film ends, a series of paragraphs on the screen bleakly record the dispossession of the Palestinians as a result of "Arab propaganda". This itself is a myth. Yet again, Israeli historians have already disproved the lie that the Arab regimes told Palestinian Arabs over the radio that they should leave their homes "until the Jews have been thrown into the sea". No such broadcasts were made. Most Palestinians fled because they were frightened of ending up like the people of Deir Yassin. The propaganda about radio broadcasts was Israeli, not Arab.
It's as if a blanket, a curtain, a veil has been thrown over history - so that the shadow of real events is just visible, but their meaning so distorted as to be incomprehensible. "So this is why you wanted guns," Bobby Goldman shouts at the Stern leader amid the dead of Deir Yassin. And he's wrong. The guns enabled the Stern gang to murder the Arabs of Deir Yassin to produce the panic that sent three quarters of a million Palestinians on the road to permanent exile.But isn't this the world in which we live? Aren't we all veiled from the truth?"
Robert Fisk: We've all been veiled from the truth, Ocotber 21, 2006
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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
أو آني الممنون
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ـ" شكراً للدكتور والاخ الكبير حقاً عماد خدوري مرتين ..اولاً لانه انشأ هذه المدونة وتابعها بصبر .. وثانيا لانه تحمل ايميلاتي الجاهلة بكيفية الدخول والكتابة في المدونة، فارسل لي رسائل توضيحية بالتفصيل الممل ...انه حقاً تواضع العلماء.. وعلى الرغم من اختلافات كبيرة في وجهات النظر بين ما أكتب ، وبين ما ينشر الدكتور في مدونته ، لكنه لم يتأخر في نشر آرائي حتى تلك التي تتقاطع بالكامل مع آرائه ..ـ
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إسمحوا لي ان اشكره من اعماقي ، وانشاء الله اكدر اشيل نفسي وادخل للبلوغ لوحدي واكتب على راحتي.. لان بصراحة يا اخوان تعبت من المقالات ، فقلت يجب ان اتحول الى اسلوب اخر هو اسلوب التواصل اليومي، لان المقالة كمت اشوفها هواية رسمية وجنها لابسة قاط ورباط .. اريد اصير شوية سبورت واخذ راحتي بدون جديات ، وانت تعرفون اني بديت وياكم خوش ولد، ومخلصها ضحك ونكات وقصص عن خنجر وصبيحة وسوادي وباقي ال رحيمة الكرام، ولكن الاوضاع التي تدهورت بشكل عنيف سرقت مني الضحكة ، وسرقت الكثير من روح الدعابة ، وحتى نوبات من اريد اكتب فد شي ساخر، اكول عيب يا شلش ، لا الناس تكول هذا سفيه ، الدنيا بيا حال وهو كاعد ينكّت ، وهكذا يوم بعد يوم شفت نفسي شخص ماخذها جديات. وبعد شوية راح اصير جني مهدي الحافظ ، ميضحك لو يجي مدري منو . ولكن الواقع يا اخوان ان الحياة وخاصة للشعوب الحية (وانا مؤمن بحيوية العراقيين حتى هذه اللحظة) تستمر في اعادة انتاج نفسها، سواء بالبكاء والضحك واللطم والغناء والرقص والفن وحتى هامش الجريمة هو امر مفهوم في المجتمعات ـ (للاسف الجريمة عندنا لم تعد هامشا) ، فقلت ياشلش ارجوك اذا تريد تضحك ، اضحك ، واذا تريد تبجي ابجي، واذا تريد تخربط خربط يعني عيش كما انت وبالانكليزي بي يور سيلف ، لتخلي الامل يجف ، ولتخلي اعداء الضحكة يفرحون.." ـ
ـ" شكراً للدكتور والاخ الكبير حقاً عماد خدوري مرتين ..اولاً لانه انشأ هذه المدونة وتابعها بصبر .. وثانيا لانه تحمل ايميلاتي الجاهلة بكيفية الدخول والكتابة في المدونة، فارسل لي رسائل توضيحية بالتفصيل الممل ...انه حقاً تواضع العلماء.. وعلى الرغم من اختلافات كبيرة في وجهات النظر بين ما أكتب ، وبين ما ينشر الدكتور في مدونته ، لكنه لم يتأخر في نشر آرائي حتى تلك التي تتقاطع بالكامل مع آرائه ..ـ
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إسمحوا لي ان اشكره من اعماقي ، وانشاء الله اكدر اشيل نفسي وادخل للبلوغ لوحدي واكتب على راحتي.. لان بصراحة يا اخوان تعبت من المقالات ، فقلت يجب ان اتحول الى اسلوب اخر هو اسلوب التواصل اليومي، لان المقالة كمت اشوفها هواية رسمية وجنها لابسة قاط ورباط .. اريد اصير شوية سبورت واخذ راحتي بدون جديات ، وانت تعرفون اني بديت وياكم خوش ولد، ومخلصها ضحك ونكات وقصص عن خنجر وصبيحة وسوادي وباقي ال رحيمة الكرام، ولكن الاوضاع التي تدهورت بشكل عنيف سرقت مني الضحكة ، وسرقت الكثير من روح الدعابة ، وحتى نوبات من اريد اكتب فد شي ساخر، اكول عيب يا شلش ، لا الناس تكول هذا سفيه ، الدنيا بيا حال وهو كاعد ينكّت ، وهكذا يوم بعد يوم شفت نفسي شخص ماخذها جديات. وبعد شوية راح اصير جني مهدي الحافظ ، ميضحك لو يجي مدري منو . ولكن الواقع يا اخوان ان الحياة وخاصة للشعوب الحية (وانا مؤمن بحيوية العراقيين حتى هذه اللحظة) تستمر في اعادة انتاج نفسها، سواء بالبكاء والضحك واللطم والغناء والرقص والفن وحتى هامش الجريمة هو امر مفهوم في المجتمعات ـ (للاسف الجريمة عندنا لم تعد هامشا) ، فقلت ياشلش ارجوك اذا تريد تضحك ، اضحك ، واذا تريد تبجي ابجي، واذا تريد تخربط خربط يعني عيش كما انت وبالانكليزي بي يور سيلف ، لتخلي الامل يجف ، ولتخلي اعداء الضحكة يفرحون.." ـ
ـ 22 تشرين الأول 2006
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Sunday, October 22, 2006
No reported casualties at Camp Falcon, eh?
."US occupation forces are accusing Iraqi translators of leaking information on the location of arms and ammunition depots in the Falcon military base (Al-Rashid military base) to the resistance.
“We are sure that two Iraqi translators working with US forces leaked information and gave the base altitudes to the resistance. There are also doubts that a third interpreter had left the base one day before the bombing only and did not join again”.
The Iraqi source, who refused to reveal his identity, said that dozens of American soldiers were killed in those explosions. The source pointed out that six Iraqi translators were killed in those explosions. American forces refused to hand over the bodies of the dead Iraqis to their families without giving reasons."
Ammo Dump Explosions Investigation Ocotber 16, 2006
Who needs translators when there are Google Maps?
There are emailed reports, yet to be confirmed, that the number of dead American soldiers at Al-Rashid military base (camp Falcon) has reached 300. See below pictures on the extent of some of the devastation there as a result of just a few Grad and Katyusha rockets (cost: no more than $300 - Effect: estimated at $billions of munitions, structures and American lives wasted).
Wonder why there is a 'spike' in American casualties this month?
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Wonder why Bush is huddled with his military?
Friday, October 20, 2006
"Why are you staying in Iraq (2003)? So that Iraq does not descend into ethnic chaos"
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"With a new wave of violence claiming more lives in Iraq, Sunni Arabs are fleeing the Iraqi city of Balad, saying that gunmen had been going door to door, giving them two hours to leave their homes, and "burned everything related to Sunnis."
"Militiamen gave them just two hours to leave the house. But after half an hour, they broke into the house and killed four of them," The Associated Press quoted Ahmed Ali, a 32-year-old Sunni truck driver who was trying to reach his wife's family in Balad, as saying.
Balad is now strewn with dead bodies, as Sunnis in neighboring towns started arming themselves to protect their families against militia raids.
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Iraqis are wondering what’s behind the Americans’ weak response to Balad’s crisis? Why haven’t they intervened to stop the bloodletting? According to a New York Times editorial .
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Why did the U.S. troops not intervene to stop the string of killings that began earlier this week, eventhough their Camp Anaconda, one of the largest U.S. military bases in Iraq, which offers amenities including movie theaters, fast food courts, and dance lessons, and operated by Halliburton subsidiary KBR, is located nearby.
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“People are bewildered because of the weak response by the Americans,” said one of Balad residents who demanded anonymity. “They used to patrol the city every day, but when the violence started, we didn’t see any sign of them.”"
Why didn’t the U.S. troops intervene to save Balad? Ocotber 16, 2006
"With a new wave of violence claiming more lives in Iraq, Sunni Arabs are fleeing the Iraqi city of Balad, saying that gunmen had been going door to door, giving them two hours to leave their homes, and "burned everything related to Sunnis."
"Militiamen gave them just two hours to leave the house. But after half an hour, they broke into the house and killed four of them," The Associated Press quoted Ahmed Ali, a 32-year-old Sunni truck driver who was trying to reach his wife's family in Balad, as saying.
Balad is now strewn with dead bodies, as Sunnis in neighboring towns started arming themselves to protect their families against militia raids.
...
Iraqis are wondering what’s behind the Americans’ weak response to Balad’s crisis? Why haven’t they intervened to stop the bloodletting? According to a New York Times editorial .
...
Why did the U.S. troops not intervene to stop the string of killings that began earlier this week, eventhough their Camp Anaconda, one of the largest U.S. military bases in Iraq, which offers amenities including movie theaters, fast food courts, and dance lessons, and operated by Halliburton subsidiary KBR, is located nearby.
...
“People are bewildered because of the weak response by the Americans,” said one of Balad residents who demanded anonymity. “They used to patrol the city every day, but when the violence started, we didn’t see any sign of them.”"
Why didn’t the U.S. troops intervene to save Balad? Ocotber 16, 2006
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ـ" مع انفجار موجة جديدة من العنف وسقوط المزيد من الضحايا العراقيين، تتعرض مدينة بلد (مائة ألف نسمة- 50 ميل/ 80 كم شمال بغداد) - ذات الأغلبية الطائفية الحاكمة - للتطهير المذهبي. ذكر المقيمون ممن يُشكلون أقلية من الطائفة الأخرى في المدينة أن مسلحين ينتقلون من منزل إلى آخر يحملون التهديد لهم بترك منازلهم وإلا تعرضوا للموت "وحرق كل شيء يعود لأهل المنزل."ـ
رجال المليشيات مَنحوا المقيمين ساعتين فقط لهجر بيوتهم. ولكن بعد نصف ساعة عادوا وقتلوا أربعة من أهل إحدى هذه البيوت، حسبما نقلت الاسوشيتد بريس عن أحمد علي (35 عاماً- سائق). وهكذا انتشرت الجثث في أنحاء مدينة بلد.ـ
يستغرب المقيمون في المدينة لضعف استجابة القوات الأمريكية إيقاف أعمال القتل في بلد.. لماذا لم يتدخلوا لمنع حمامات الدم فيها؟ حسب نيويورك تايمز.ـ
رجال المليشيات مَنحوا المقيمين ساعتين فقط لهجر بيوتهم. ولكن بعد نصف ساعة عادوا وقتلوا أربعة من أهل إحدى هذه البيوت، حسبما نقلت الاسوشيتد بريس عن أحمد علي (35 عاماً- سائق). وهكذا انتشرت الجثث في أنحاء مدينة بلد.ـ
يستغرب المقيمون في المدينة لضعف استجابة القوات الأمريكية إيقاف أعمال القتل في بلد.. لماذا لم يتدخلوا لمنع حمامات الدم فيها؟ حسب نيويورك تايمز.ـ
لماذا لم تتدخل القوات الأمريكية لإيقاف هذا المسلسل المكشوف من القتل الذي بدأ في وقت مبكر من هذا الأسبوع، رغم أن معسكرهم- إحدى أكبر القواعد الأمريكية في العراق- تقع بالقرب من المدينة؟
ـ 16تشرين الأول 2006
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"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with USA TODAY that his government will not force militias to disarm until later this year or early next year, despite escalating violence in Baghdad fueled by death squads and religious warfare.
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"Terrorism and militias — especially militias — cannot be dealt with only by using tanks, guns and aircraft," he said."
Iraq will wait to disarm militias, Ocotober 16, 2006
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Thursday, October 19, 2006
Riverbend is back !!!
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May you have a blessed Eid, Riverbend!
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
"I might as well be wearing hijab and niqab! Only mine are invisible!"
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RE: Article: 'This is not about a woman's right to dress, it is about the values of a secular society' - The Independent 16/10/06
Dear Yasmin,
Do Jack Straw, Blair, Tessa Jowell and Phil Woolas have genuine concerns for the rights of Muslim women? Do they heck!
I am writing to you on the subject of the veil, because I believe you unlike Straw and the rest of the 'lies brigade' in the government, have the interest of the British Muslims at heart.
No one seems to have noticed that along side the increasing number of veiled young Muslim women there is also an increasing number of young Muslim men taking up Muslim dress, shaving their heads and not shaving or cutting their beards. No one said that the sight of these men is offensive?!
Reading Joan Smith's input on the veil debate, in the Independent on Sunday, made me look at the front page of the newspaper again to make sure I was not reading the Daily Mail by any chance. I thought her one sided views were no help at all. She is entitled to her opinion of course, but her attempt to tarnish Islam with selective quoting of Suras combined with lack of knowledge about the history and culture of Islam was only slightly different to the way the likes of Melanie Phillips goes about spreading her Islamophobic poison.
Well, I come from one of the most open minded Muslim families in Iraq, I have never worn any hijab, apart from the times of visit of holy places.
However, I must tell you, that today, I might as well be wearing hijab and niqab! Only mine are invisible! I have come to the realisation that the roots I have set in this country are not so deep, yet again been disturbed and weakened, as the occupiers of my country of origin continue to turn it into a Serra Leon, while the rest of the world looks on.
I just feel so angry, so despondent and at times resentful too. My only therapy is being with my comrades in the peace movement.
I am now seriously contemplating quitting the UK. When I arrived at this country after fleeing Iraq in 1979, I embraced life here and people kept on telling me, how 'westernised' I am!!! Especially after I got married to an Englishman.
If they meant broad minded, then this is a quality, not monopolised or manufactured in the west. As I bring up my daughter and look around me, I realise, that my parents both in their eighties now, were streets ahead of your average 'secular dressed' English parent living in a leafy suburbs of London.
I think I know how angry these young Muslim men and women feel. I think in most of the 5% cases of veil wearing it is defiance, resistance and rebelliousness. In which case we should be patient with them in order to guide them out of their state disconnectedness (if that is what it is) and bring them on to the main stream again.
I think Asian Muslim women in the UK have already managed to demolish the myth, that those who wear the Hijab, are suppressed and oppressed. You only need to listen to the likes of the wonderful, Selma Yaqoub.
I would therefore like to see a serious study and census before I can pass the judgement that all Muslim women who wear Niqab are oppressed and helpless!
I am sure you are aware that the covering of the face came with the Ottomans. It stayed in Saudi and the Gulf states. I feel certain that if you go to Iran, iraq or Palestine and start giving them lectures about wearing Hijab, they will tell you that this issue is at the bottom of their priority list.
In Iraq, during the seventies and eighties, women wearing the scarf and the robe were the exception. None wore the veil. Now thanks to occupiers and their democracy, women are living in constant fear of their lives feel astounded and flabbergasted by those who call on them to abandon the veil!
And if there are women in the UK or anywhere in the Muslim world, (I am sure of the case), using the veil to evade male dominance and make fools out of oppressive men, then I have two words for them: Good Luck!
I liked the article in the Guardian on Sat, 8th that pointed out with photos, that the mothers and grandmothers of these veiled young women do not wear the veil themselves. This evidence supports the theory that this is rebelliousness and identity assertion. While I agree, there is no clear evidence of such requirement in Islam, people are free to adopt their own version of the faith so long as they are not harming anyone. I am happy, so long as these men and women have not fallen victim to a sinister campaign by extremist agents. In which case they need our help not criticism.
Is there any doubt, that this phenomena only started after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq?
I see the bigger picture, I have little doubt, that Blair and Bush are worried about Muslim anger translated into activism and participation in politics. They would rather these men and women withdrew into a corner, or chose the line of extremism rather than join forces with peace and anti war campaigners and make a real difference.
I personally think the anti war movement single handedly did a great deal for drawing Muslims into the mainstream than the whole of Blair government put together! I was delighted to see them on demonstrations, and in the lobby halls of parliament.
I must however point out, that there are credible rumours that Saudi Arabia is financing mosques that preach extreme version of Islam. My Sri Lankan friend was shocked when she went on a visit home three years ago to find her cousins were clad from top to bottom and had converted to Islam. It seems there were financial incentives and cheap good quality education for children on offer! When she told me, I said it sounds like something KSA would do.
Would KSA be able to wage such a campaign in the UK without the government knowledge?
As you know Yasmin, the Saudis do not do anything without the say so of their masters; the Bush administration!
Keep up your good work. I enjoy very much reading your column in the indie.
Regards,
T S
Orpington
Kent, UK
RE: Article: 'This is not about a woman's right to dress, it is about the values of a secular society' - The Independent 16/10/06
Dear Yasmin,
Do Jack Straw, Blair, Tessa Jowell and Phil Woolas have genuine concerns for the rights of Muslim women? Do they heck!
I am writing to you on the subject of the veil, because I believe you unlike Straw and the rest of the 'lies brigade' in the government, have the interest of the British Muslims at heart.
No one seems to have noticed that along side the increasing number of veiled young Muslim women there is also an increasing number of young Muslim men taking up Muslim dress, shaving their heads and not shaving or cutting their beards. No one said that the sight of these men is offensive?!
Reading Joan Smith's input on the veil debate, in the Independent on Sunday, made me look at the front page of the newspaper again to make sure I was not reading the Daily Mail by any chance. I thought her one sided views were no help at all. She is entitled to her opinion of course, but her attempt to tarnish Islam with selective quoting of Suras combined with lack of knowledge about the history and culture of Islam was only slightly different to the way the likes of Melanie Phillips goes about spreading her Islamophobic poison.
Well, I come from one of the most open minded Muslim families in Iraq, I have never worn any hijab, apart from the times of visit of holy places.
However, I must tell you, that today, I might as well be wearing hijab and niqab! Only mine are invisible! I have come to the realisation that the roots I have set in this country are not so deep, yet again been disturbed and weakened, as the occupiers of my country of origin continue to turn it into a Serra Leon, while the rest of the world looks on.
I just feel so angry, so despondent and at times resentful too. My only therapy is being with my comrades in the peace movement.
I am now seriously contemplating quitting the UK. When I arrived at this country after fleeing Iraq in 1979, I embraced life here and people kept on telling me, how 'westernised' I am!!! Especially after I got married to an Englishman.
If they meant broad minded, then this is a quality, not monopolised or manufactured in the west. As I bring up my daughter and look around me, I realise, that my parents both in their eighties now, were streets ahead of your average 'secular dressed' English parent living in a leafy suburbs of London.
I think I know how angry these young Muslim men and women feel. I think in most of the 5% cases of veil wearing it is defiance, resistance and rebelliousness. In which case we should be patient with them in order to guide them out of their state disconnectedness (if that is what it is) and bring them on to the main stream again.
I think Asian Muslim women in the UK have already managed to demolish the myth, that those who wear the Hijab, are suppressed and oppressed. You only need to listen to the likes of the wonderful, Selma Yaqoub.
I would therefore like to see a serious study and census before I can pass the judgement that all Muslim women who wear Niqab are oppressed and helpless!
I am sure you are aware that the covering of the face came with the Ottomans. It stayed in Saudi and the Gulf states. I feel certain that if you go to Iran, iraq or Palestine and start giving them lectures about wearing Hijab, they will tell you that this issue is at the bottom of their priority list.
In Iraq, during the seventies and eighties, women wearing the scarf and the robe were the exception. None wore the veil. Now thanks to occupiers and their democracy, women are living in constant fear of their lives feel astounded and flabbergasted by those who call on them to abandon the veil!
And if there are women in the UK or anywhere in the Muslim world, (I am sure of the case), using the veil to evade male dominance and make fools out of oppressive men, then I have two words for them: Good Luck!
I liked the article in the Guardian on Sat, 8th that pointed out with photos, that the mothers and grandmothers of these veiled young women do not wear the veil themselves. This evidence supports the theory that this is rebelliousness and identity assertion. While I agree, there is no clear evidence of such requirement in Islam, people are free to adopt their own version of the faith so long as they are not harming anyone. I am happy, so long as these men and women have not fallen victim to a sinister campaign by extremist agents. In which case they need our help not criticism.
Is there any doubt, that this phenomena only started after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq?
I see the bigger picture, I have little doubt, that Blair and Bush are worried about Muslim anger translated into activism and participation in politics. They would rather these men and women withdrew into a corner, or chose the line of extremism rather than join forces with peace and anti war campaigners and make a real difference.
I personally think the anti war movement single handedly did a great deal for drawing Muslims into the mainstream than the whole of Blair government put together! I was delighted to see them on demonstrations, and in the lobby halls of parliament.
I must however point out, that there are credible rumours that Saudi Arabia is financing mosques that preach extreme version of Islam. My Sri Lankan friend was shocked when she went on a visit home three years ago to find her cousins were clad from top to bottom and had converted to Islam. It seems there were financial incentives and cheap good quality education for children on offer! When she told me, I said it sounds like something KSA would do.
Would KSA be able to wage such a campaign in the UK without the government knowledge?
As you know Yasmin, the Saudis do not do anything without the say so of their masters; the Bush administration!
Keep up your good work. I enjoy very much reading your column in the indie.
Regards,
T S
Orpington
Kent, UK
Friday, October 13, 2006
It is the Oil, st- - - - ..... الأقاليم الفيدرالية ومربط الفرس - النفط
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Update:
"Iraq is sitting on a mother lode of some of the lightest, sweetest, most profitable crude oil on earth, and the rules that will determine who will control it and on what terms are about to be set.
The Iraqi government faces a December deadline, imposed by the world's wealthiest countries, to complete its final oil law. Industry analysts expect that the result will be a radical departure from the laws governing the country's oil-rich neighbors, giving foreign multinationals a much higher rate of return than with other major oil producers and locking in their control over what George Bush called Iraq's "patrimony" for decades, regardless of what kind of policies future elected governments might want to pursue."
The Iraqi government faces a December deadline, imposed by the world's wealthiest countries, to complete its final oil law. Industry analysts expect that the result will be a radical departure from the laws governing the country's oil-rich neighbors, giving foreign multinationals a much higher rate of return than with other major oil producers and locking in their control over what George Bush called Iraq's "patrimony" for decades, regardless of what kind of policies future elected governments might want to pursue."
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ــ " تعقيبا على مقال كنت قد كتبته في حزيران 2006 تحت عنوان " التنازل عن مصدر سيادة العراق" ، استناداً الى دراسة وضعتها مؤسسة بريطانية "بلاتفورم" المختصة بالدراسات النفطية، و كان هدفي منه توعية القارئ العراقي على الأهداف الحقيقية للحملة العسكرية الأمريكية على العراق التي انتهت في 9/4/2003 وتم السيطرة على العراق عسكرياً.ـ
كنت في مقالي المذكور قد أثنيت على بعض الكتاب الأمريكان الذين فضحوا الدوافع الحقيقية للحملة العسكرية الأمريكية، وهي السيطرة على الثروة النفطية العراقية وتحويل العراق كذلك الى قاعدة عسكرية، وأن تحقيق الهدف المذكور استوجب تفكيك العراق الى دويلات ( الفدرالية) وانهاء أي سلطة مركزية ذات تأثر على الدولة العراقية بصورة فعالة الأمر الذي يسهل هذه المهمة ، وتمرير دستور يحقق هذا الغرض. وهذا ما تم فعلاً بضلوع أطراف عراقية مع المخطط الأمريكي لتحقيق مآرب هذه الفئات الاقليمية والطائفية واستئثارها ايضا بالثروة النفطية العراقية، غير آبهين بمصير العراق كدولة.ـ
كنت في مقالي المذكور قد أثنيت على بعض الكتاب الأمريكان الذين فضحوا الدوافع الحقيقية للحملة العسكرية الأمريكية، وهي السيطرة على الثروة النفطية العراقية وتحويل العراق كذلك الى قاعدة عسكرية، وأن تحقيق الهدف المذكور استوجب تفكيك العراق الى دويلات ( الفدرالية) وانهاء أي سلطة مركزية ذات تأثر على الدولة العراقية بصورة فعالة الأمر الذي يسهل هذه المهمة ، وتمرير دستور يحقق هذا الغرض. وهذا ما تم فعلاً بضلوع أطراف عراقية مع المخطط الأمريكي لتحقيق مآرب هذه الفئات الاقليمية والطائفية واستئثارها ايضا بالثروة النفطية العراقية، غير آبهين بمصير العراق كدولة.ـ
اليوم أجد من المناسب أن أنقل الى القارئ العراقي الكريم نصاً ما ورد في كتاب
The Bush Agenda
للكاتبة الأمريكية
Antonia Juhasz
المقطع التالي من الكتاب يعبر بوضوح عن الأطماع النفطية للمآمرة الأمريكية على العراق والغرض من تفكيك الدولة العراقية ( الصفحات 324 – 326 من الكتاب)ومن الأدوات الاستعمارية لاستغلال الثروة النفطية العراقية من قبل شركات النفط الأمريكية هو فرض العقود النفطية المعروفة باسم ( Production Sharing Agreement ) التي تحابي المستثمر الأجنبي على حساب الصالح الوطني العراقي، كما ورد تفصيلا في دراسة مؤسسة ( بلاتفورم ) والتي كنت قد ضمنت مقالتي سالفة الذكر مقدمة الدراسة المذكورة.ـ
جدير بالقراءة بإمعان The Bush Agenda المقطع التالي من الكتاب
رفعت عزت الفارسي
ـ 10 تشرين الأول 2006
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Saturday, October 07, 2006
No light at the end of the tunnel, yet
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"Iraq's Ministry of Electricity has issued in June 2006 its CENTRAL PLAN [MASTER PLAN] FOR THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM -YEARS 2006-2015 (LIMITED CIRCULATION). It can be viewed or downloaded in its Arabic original from http://throughthepowerlines.125mb.com.
"Note: The earlier paper that was posted on the above matter has been removed at the request of its author".
Comments:
The present Electricity Minister, Karim Wahid, boastfully claimed four weeks ago that the above mentioned electricity plan was prepared under his own appointmnet and that it was the second electricity plan for Iraq since 1922 (in Arabic). Yet, this same exact plan, which was readied in 2001, was used by and claimed by all successive Electricity ministers since the occupation.
Furthermore:
"Iraq's Ministry of Electricity has issued in June 2006 its CENTRAL PLAN [MASTER PLAN] FOR THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM -YEARS 2006-2015 (LIMITED CIRCULATION). It can be viewed or downloaded in its Arabic original from http://throughthepowerlines.125mb.com.
"Note: The earlier paper that was posted on the above matter has been removed at the request of its author".
Comments:
The present Electricity Minister, Karim Wahid, boastfully claimed four weeks ago that the above mentioned electricity plan was prepared under his own appointmnet and that it was the second electricity plan for Iraq since 1922 (in Arabic). Yet, this same exact plan, which was readied in 2001, was used by and claimed by all successive Electricity ministers since the occupation.
Furthermore:
ـ"وكشف وحيد أن " وزارة الكهرباء تأمل في أن يقوم مجلس الوزراء بالموافقة على تخصيص ملياري دولار العام المقبل ضمن الخطة الاستثمارية لبناء وحدات جديدة وتأهيل الوحدات القائمة." وأضاف "قطاع الكهرباء في العراق لا يعاني من مشاكل مالية لتنفيذ الاعمال غير أن المشكلة القائمة هي مشكلة الامنية"، موضحا " أن عددا من الشركات تركت مواقع العمل لأسباب أمنية في بعض المناطق."ـ
على صعيد أخر ، قال السيد سلام الزوبعي نائب رئيس الوزراء إن " القطع المبرمج للكهرباء يجب أن يشمل المسؤولين في الدولة لاسيما في أوقات الليل."ـ
وأضاف الزوبعي في بيان تلقت وكالة أنباء ( أصوات العراق) المستقلة نسخة منه اليوم الثلاثاء، أن "المسؤولين يستطيعون توفير الطاقة الكهربائية ليلاً عن طريق مولدات الكهرباء لكن المواطن يكلفه ذلك اموال باهضة".ـ
وقال إن " القطع يجب ان لا يشمل المؤسسات الخدمية كالمستشفيات وان لا يؤثر او يعيق عمل الحكومة والاجهزة الامنية."ـ
Moral: Electricity is a system which only works within a system!
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Monday, October 02, 2006
انطلاق موقع الحملة الشعبية " انا عراقي "ـ
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PS: This posting is on the campaign "I am Iraqi" that has been in plan for two months and was launched publicly on October 1, 2006.
The above link is their new site. The campaign, for obvious reason, is in Arabic.
The "I am Iraqi" campaign is the antithesis of sectarian strife.
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