Obama vs Bush

Courtesy: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, 4 Jun. 2009

Iraq 2009: A car with many drivers

Courtesy: Al Sabaah Newspaper, Iraq, 1 Jun. 2009

Aswat Al-Iraq News Article: Iraq sees off great coach Ammo Baba

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Thousands of sportsmen and officials saw off former Iraqi national soccer coach Ammo Baba on Friday before burying him near al-Shaab international stadium in Baghdad.

Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdulmahdi and a number of sports officials took part in the funeral near the football school, supervised by Ammo Baba.

Aswat al-Iraq news agency correspondent said that the ceremony was attended also by several lawmakers, members of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, defense ministry’s officials and Iraqi players and coaches.

The Iraqi football community is in mourning with the news that the former national team player and coach, Ammo Baba, passed away on Wednesday evening (May 27) at the age of 74 after complications with his health. The legendary figure had been suffering from diabetes for many years and was earlier this year diagnosed with prostate cancer after he fell ill at the Gulf Cup in Muscat.His health took a turn for the worst on Wednesday and he subsequently died.Emmanuel Baba Dawud was born on November 27, 1934, on the RAF base in Hinaidi, Baghdad, where his father was employed by the British.His family moved to the city of Habbaniya in 1937 and it was there that the young Ammo first encountered the game of football, watching British soldiers playing matches on the dusty fields of the RAF base. As there were no balls to kick around at home, he would stuff pieces of fabric into a sock to substitute as a ball.

Ammo became Iraq’s most successful national coach, winning the Gulf Cup on three occasions in 1979, 1984 and 1988, the 1988 Arab Cup and leading team to the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

Ammo Baba was one of the greatest Iraqi footballers, if not the greatest Iraqi sportsmen, of all time. It is only when you combine the careers of Bobby Charlton and Alf Ramsey into one that you can grasp the magnitude of what Ammo Baba achieved for his country.

AFP News Article: Iraq-born teen cracks maths puzzle

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – A 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant living in Sweden has cracked a maths puzzle that has stumped experts for more than 300 years, Swedish media reported on Thursday.

In just four months, Mohamed Altoumaimi has found a formula to explain and simplify the so-called Bernoulli numbers, a sequence of calculations named after the 17th century Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, the Dagens Nyheter daily said.

Altoumaimi, who came to Sweden six years ago, said teachers at his high school in Falun, central Sweden were not convinced about his work at first.

"When I first showed it to my teachers, none of them thought the formula I had written down really worked," Altoumaimi told the Falu Kuriren newspaper.

He then got in touch with professors at Uppsala University, one of Sweden's top institutions, to ask them to check his work.

After going through his notebooks, the professors found his work was indeed correct and offered him a place in Uppsala.

But for now, Altoumaimi is focusing on his school studies and plans to take summer classes in advanced mathematics and physics this year.

"I wanted to be a researcher in physics or mathematics; I really like those subjects. But I have to improve in English and social sciences," he told the Falu Kuriren.

BBC News Article: Funeral held for Iraq football legend

Iraq's legendary football player and coach Emmanuel Baba Dawud has been buried at the country's biggest stadium in the capital Baghdad.

Dawud, better known as Ammo (uncle) Baba, died on Wednesday after suffering complications from diabetes. He was 74.

He scored Iraq's first goal in an international match in 1957, and was admired for his attacking flair.

After his retirement in 1970, he led the national football team to the Olympics in 1984 and 1988.

The coffin draped in an Iraqi national flag was lowered into a grave at Baghdad's al-Shaab football stadium compound - as Dawud had requested before his death.

"We loved Ammo Baba from our heart, as a player, trainer and a teacher," Iraqi Vice-President Abel Abdel Mahdi was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"We loved him and bid him farewell with our hearts, and he will always be in the Iraqi people's hearts."

NYT Article: Iraq’s False Spring

STIRRINGS A week that began with a flower show ended in bombings.

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: April 25, 2009

BAGHDAD — It has often been said, on those rare occasions when the brutal climate eased up a bit, that a beautiful day is wasted on Iraq.

After a wartime winter made colder than it really was by the scarcity of central heating, there would be the false spring of a desert land. Marred by sandstorms, it never seemed more than about three days long. Abruptly the furnace door would swing open and the triple-digit summer would roar out.

Then when that rare fine day did happen, there was little to see but landscapes marred by T-walls, those huge concrete blast barriers shaped like upside-down T’s. There was a prevailing attitude of can’t-be-bothered, as seen in the buildings that went unpainted, crisscrossed by tangled wires from generators and satellite dishes, or the bomb debris just left lying. Outside it smelled always of generator diesel and often of dead dogs, which rotted by the roadside untouched for fear they hid an I.E.D. Even when there was a splotch of green it was covered with thick dust. Iraq seemed a place painted in desolation, and decorated with despair.

This year it has been noticeably different. Partly it’s because superb spring weather has endured for an amazing five weeks, with scarcely a sandstorm; sunny and 60 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s been something more though. For the first time in years, on any sort of serious scale, Iraqis have been taking a visible pride in their surroundings. Returning after an absence of some six months makes this pride now seem the most striking thing about the place. The improving security, the hundreds of checkpoints in Baghdad, the latent but diminishing risk of terrorist attack — all that was already the case last year.

Driving in on the Airport Highway once was a trembling quarter-hour on a road that defied taming. Now it’s getting landscaping. Neighborhoods like Jihad alongside it once treated the highway like a carnival duck shoot. Now they’re pacified behind anti-sniper walls painted in bold diagonal stripes: yellow, orange, white, pale blue, purple, pink and green.

No one will argue that these initiatives are always in the best of taste, but anything is an improvement on concrete-colored T-walls with reinforcement bars sticking out of them. For years there have been some efforts here and there to paint the blast walls as they became more permanent features of the cityscape. Now T-wall paint jobs are the norm in some areas, often with elaborate murals.

The blast-proofing in front of the Defense Ministry has a long mural of Humvees and helicopters, little Iraqi Air Force cargo planes, patrol boats and obsolete Russian tanks. There’s a certain wistfulness to it, since the Iraqi military so far has precious little or nothing in the way of heavy weapons, modern tanks, fighter aircraft or combat choppers.

In many places, T-wall murals depict sculptures and monuments from Mesopotamia’s ancient civilizations, Babylon, Sumer, Assyria. At the government’s Council of Ministers compound, the scenes range from Sumerian through Greco-Roman to abstract Arabic. That compound used to be a shabby place, but now its buildings and walkways are trimmed by meticulously cared-for flower beds, with laurel hedges in geometric shapes, and so many roses that the breeze is fragrantly cloying.

All over, fountains have started to spout again after years of disuse, including the magnificent one in front of Al Rashid Hotel. Made by the famous Iraqi sculptor Khalid Rahal, it depicts a parched man summoning a djinn from a jug, with water spouting in wanton abundance from many clay pots.

At Zawra Park, once best known for its sorry zoo and its suicide bomb craters, the first Baghdad Flower Show was underway last week, until it ended Wednesday. There was an impressive variety of offerings, including some elaborate designs mimicking ziggurats and Al Shaheed monument in Baghdad, two giant blue half-shells.

No doubt there are many better flower shows, but this one stunned with its incongruity. Flowers were almost as rare as beautiful days before, and as wasted on Iraq.

This is not at all to say that the ugliness of a war zone isn’t still present. It’s pretty hard to make towering blast walls into a thing of beauty, no matter how much paint is deployed. Mad Max fortifications are still often the rule. Hescos — antiblast protection consisting of big wire containers of rubble — defy all attempts at decoration. They’re just huge piles of dirt. There are still many areas of the city where no one seems to have figured out whose job it is to pick up the trash.

One such area is the Green Zone. There, a series of murals of Iraqi landscapes, each stretching over three to six sections of blast wall, have been moved to protect an Iraqi Army camp, with no effort to keep them in the right order. The result is a crane-size jigsaw puzzle.

Yet in such fine spring weather it has been easy to overlook all that. Even the customary pessimism that afflicts recidivist visitors has been hard to sustain against an onslaught of good news.

In an interview on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the American military’s top spokesman in Iraq, ventured an optimistic analysis of the decline in what the military labels high-profile attacks. “They’re much less sophisticated,” he said. “We’re seeing that complexity is much less. Obviously very devastating to people who are wounded and killed, but we’re not seeing the 50 and 60 dead we used to see.”

Over the next two days, Thursday and Friday, five suicide bombers killed at least 140 people in attacks both complex and sophisticated. They targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and Iranian tourists in Diyala and refugee women and children in line to receive food donations. The killer at the food line was a woman who reportedly slipped past security by holding a young child’s hand.

Recalling a very different false spring in Paris in “A Moveable Feast,” Ernest Hemingway wrote this: “When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason.”

Here in Baghdad it is the summer heat, rather than the rain, but just as surely it vexes spring and takes “a season out of your life.” On Thursday for the first time the thermometer soared toward 100 degrees. Then on Friday a sandstorm blew in that will sully all attempts at beauty and make the fountains run with mud.

BBC.co.uk Article: Viewpoint: Laughter in the dark

An Iraqi member of staff at the BBC Baghdad bureau has been sending his impressions of life in his hometown. In this instalment he considers the lighter side of an often dark situation. For security reasons, the author's name is not being published.

There is a special intensity to the experience of life in Iraq. You laugh more and cry more. And as often as not, you find yourself doing both at the same time.

The humour of the people of Egypt is well-known in the Middle East. Some believe it is born of crippling poverty - if you've no other choice, you have to laugh the hardships away.

The same is true in Iraq. Except that, in addition to poverty, we have daily, random violence, foreign soldiers all over the place, a state sector riddled with corruption, and public services that have fallen to pieces.

So we laugh all the harder.

The other day, a colleague went to the computer market in the centre of Baghdad. When he got back he told us he had been scared stiff.

As he walked among the stalls, a taxi screeched to a halt and three men plus the driver leapt from the vehicle.

Everyone scattered in panic, thinking it was bound to be a car bomb and the men were about to detonate it by remote control. Chaos followed.

It turned out the men had simply stopped their car in a no-parking zone and were hurrying to do their shopping before the traffic police showed up.

Humour amid discomfort

It's like another story I heard recently; a young guy was staring lasciviously at a pretty girl on a public minibus.

An older man, indignant at the youth's shameless behaviour, but not knowing how to intervene, called out "Allahu akbar" (God is great) in an attempt to bring the youth's mind back to more pious thoughts.

Of course, all the other passengers drew the natural conclusion, that the old man must be a suicide bomber and the shout of "Allahu akbar" meant he, and they, were about to meet their maker.

The bus driver pumped the brakes and the passengers fled screaming in all directions.

Should we laugh at their discomfort? I don't know. But what else can you do?

Here are some of the jokes doing the rounds in Baghdad these days. You may find them funny, you may not.

- A guy stoned on drugs is driving his car when he's stopped by the traffic police enforcing the new traffic rules. "Why aren't you wearing your belt?" they ask him. "Because I'm not wearing any trousers," he replies.

- A guy with cross-eyes volunteers to join a militia group. They assign him to the random bombing unit.

- A Jordanian finds a magic lamp. A genie appears and asks him what is his heart's desire. "Send all these Iraqi refugees back across the border," the man says. "Why?" asks the genie. "Whatever have we done to you?"

- A Indian man is tossing and turning in his bed in the middle of the night in his hovel in the country's poorest slum, and then he wakes up screaming. "Oh God! Please! No!!!" he yells. "Calm down, darling. It's just a nightmare," says his wife. "You're right, my love," he says, catching his breath. "But what a nightmare - I dreamt I went to sleep and woke up in Iraq!"

Quite. A nightmare indeed.

Aswat Al-Iraq Article: Kurdish jalli hugs Arab hashmi over Kurdistan mountains in Nawroz 2009

ARBIL, SULAIMANIYA, DUHUK / Aswat al-Iraq: Non-stop rain since Friday was not reason enough to convince the Kurds to stay indoors and ignore celebrating the Nawroz. The Kurds, who ventured out along with Arabs and Christians, even considered rainfall as a good omen to bring good after years of political drought and deprivation.

Kurds’ garish and flashy colored garments mingled with the colors of the fields and prairies at the foot of the mountain and the valleys of the areas surrounding the Kurdish cities of Sulaimaniya, Arbil and Duhuk as well as Kirkuk, forming a paining that even hundred Picassos, Dalis and Cézannes would fail to depict on their sketches.

The scene was emphasized by the sounds of music and traditional Kurdish dabaka stomp dancing with a merry atmosphere of celebrations and faces full of grins of freedom and optimism for a better tomorrow.

In Arbil, 349 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, several families and young people went out of town on Saturday as there were thousands of vehicles bound for the northern part of the cit, namely Kuwaysanjaq, where women are clad in their traditional jalli and men in their traditional colored attire to celebrate the spring season.

“Nawroz is a national day for us. We have been preparing for it for a few days now as we go out with our folks and friends,” Raffan Ahmed, a Kurd, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Kurds celebrate the Nawroz, which marks the beginning of the new Kurdish year, on March 21. Kurds all over the world deem Nawroz as a national day.

In the evening of March 20 every year, Kurds in the Iraqi Kurdistan region rush to mountain and hill tops to set fire to celebrate the Nawroz and the advent of spring season.

According to the old Kurdish legends, Kurds, thousands of years ago, used to suffer under the tyrant Dahak, who killed two young people each day and used their heads to treat some malicious disease on his shoulders. One day a Kurdish young man of the name Kawa the Blacksmith challenged the tyrant and killed him. Kawa then told his friends to set fire over mountaintops to express their won freedom and joy over the end of an unjust era.

Saleem Ali, a Kurd who was accompanying an Arab family, told Aswat al-Iraq that his friends came from Mosul “to share us our joys and celebrations for Nawroz”.

In Duhuk, 460 km north of Baghdad, Kurdish, Arab and Christian families were all celebrating together.

“I feel so great enjoying this occasion with my relatives and friends as well as numerous citizens others after several years deprivation,” said Dilshad Saeed Sadeq, 38, as he was preparing a lunch meal with many others.

“We used to avoid celebrating the Nawroz or even think about lighting a single candle during Saddam’s reign of terror,” Sadeq recollected.

In the resort of Ducan, 60 km northwest of the city of Sulaimaniya, Kurdish dabakas and music were coming out of the hundreds of tents pitched everywhere.

“I have decided to celebrate my engagement during the spring festivities,” Shadi Halkut, a young woman, told Aswat al-Iraq.

She did not talk too much, only drawing away her fiancée saying, “Kakajian, let’s go celebrate; no more talking”.

Tayseer Al-safeer & Nusrat Al-Badir (This is Iraq)

Iraq is like the Sun
It's light will never fade away

Beautiful song by Tayseer Al-safeer & Nusrat Al-Badir.

The Cat in the Hotel

I returned to Baghdad on Saturday by land, along with a very dear friend of mine from Sulaimaniya. He had some work to do in Baghdad, therefore we decided to come here together. 

We both wanted to check how things are in Baghdad after the sun sets, and since it would be difficult for me to return from downtown Baghdad to my distant district after i show my friend around, therefore i stayed at Babylon hotel where he stayed. We later enjoyed walking down Karrada street at night, and seeing people going out and about. We ate falafel at the famous Falih Restaurant, and drank grape juice from Jabbar some 200 meters (yards) away.

Babylon Hotel, in case you didn't know, is (or let's say it used to be) one of the best hotels in Baghdad. It has about 13 storeys and is built in the shape of an ancient ziggurat. It was (and still is) probably the last known hotel which is accessible to ordinary people, since all the other luxurious hotels are reserved for contractors and journalists. 

Now what we first noticed in the pathway was that a plate of food, left by guests who ate chickens for dinner (at least) a day ago, and the leftovers were mainly bread. 

Now we expected that a cleaner would pick these things up if not today (it was shortly after 2pm) then the next morning, but these leftovers were left there until next morning!

The next morning, we discovered that the leftovers were scattered by cat, which we heard growling two storeys below us! 

The picture in which the leftovers were scattered, was taken *before* the other picture! 

Please remember that!!

After that, we went out to finish some business downtown, and two hours later, we came back into the hotel. My friend was ready now to go back to Sulaimaniya, and i was ready to go back home, and we were ready for checking-out of the hotel.

What surprised us, or let's say shocked us, was when we saw that the leftovers which were scattered by the cat when we went out, were now re-arranged, and "neatly" put next to the wall, right at the same place they were left!!!!!

Now please don't get me wrong! I have nothing against cats. In fact i cannot even begin to imagine the world without cats. I just love cats, and appreciate any feline presence in my life; but not in a 4-star hotel i don't!

We went downstairs to settle the account and get out of there, but before we did, i asked the man (or let's say the dude) who was behind the desk. Remember that this was a 4-star hotel, once upon a time. He was definitely born after 1990, and was wearing a t-shirt, unlike the other ones who wear all wearing suits and ties. I greeted him, and asked him:

- "I'm sorry, but i have a couple of questions, please."

- "Sure!"

- "What's the rating of this hotel? Who many stars?"

- "Ummmmm, Aaaaaaaa, Errrrrrrrr... I don't know....." chuckling.

- "Ok, there is another thing. There were some leftovers in the pathway next to our door. They were there since yesterday afternoon, and i don't know for how much time they've been there!"

- "The cleaners would get to them..."

- "Well, it seems that they've already got to that sector. You see, they were scattered this morning, and now they are arranged, so a cleaner must've been there."

Right here, the dude lost track of what i've been saying, so i thought i should change the subject:

- "And what about the cat?"

- "What cat?"

- "There is a cat roaming in the floors! I think there's more than one because one was growling and i think there was a fight!"

- "Yes, we have cats problem in the building, and it is difficult for us to restrict their movements."

At that point, i thought that i cannot continue with this heartaching converation. I was really feeling sad for this hotel in which i stayed in 2004 and 2006, and it was better then, but what i was seeing now was a disaster! 

It had definitely turned into a cat hotel, where cats' interests are more important than human interests, although the cats aren't paying $80 a night! The humans are!!!