Voices of Iraq: Iraq-Currency
Posted by: saleem on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 12:52 PM
Dollar demand hits new low in 2006
Baghdad, Nov 28, (VOI) – Buying demand for U.S. dollars hit a new low for 2006 on Tuesday and the dollar rate was down two dinars amid expectations of lower demand for the U.S. currency as the Iraqi central bank moves towards raising the dinar rate.
The Cenbank said in its daily statement the dollar demand reached $0.850 million compared to $20.580 million on Monday.
The central bank covered all bids received from local banks which were $0.850 million in cash.
The exchange rate was at 1,437 dinars per dollar, two dinars down from the previous session.
Only six banks participated in Tuesday’s session, the lowest number in 2006, and none of them offered to sell dollars.
The Iraqi central bank runs a daily auction on Sunday through Thursday.
30 November 2006
26 November 2006
SF Gate Article: Conflict in Iraq
News keep getting worse...
CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Retaliation at Sunni mosques -- dozens killed
Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Baghdad -- In a wave of reprisal killings, Shiite militiamen attacked Sunni mosques in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq on Friday, defying a government curfew and propelling the country further toward full-blown civil war.
The exacting of revenge for the deaths of more than 200 Shiites on Thursday came as powerful politicians linked to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to pull out of Iraq's coalition government if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attends a scheduled meeting with President Bush next week in Amman, Jordan. A boycott by loyalists of al-Sadr, on whom al-Maliki relies for political support, could upend Iraq's fragile unity government.
Friday's attacks illustrated Iraqi security forces' inability to rein in violence, at a time when U.S. leaders want them to take greater responsibility for the country's security, a vital benchmark for any strategy to withdraw U.S. troops.
In the mixed Hurriyah neighborhood, Shiite militiamen torched at least five Sunni mosques on Islam's holiest prayer day, police and residents reported. Other mosques were attacked by gunmen spraying bullets from the rooftops of nearby houses, witnesses said.
In one mosque, militiamen detonated a cooking gas cylinder. In another, they declared that it was now a husseiniya, a Shiite mosque, and posted pictures of al-Sadr, whose stronghold of Sadr City was attacked Thursday. At least 18 people were killed Friday and 24 injured in the mosque attacks in Hurriyah, said Adil Mahmoud, a physician from al-Nouman Hospital in the nearby Adhamiya neighborhood.
"They started attacking with grenades and RPGs," said Abu Abdallah, the imam at one of the attacked mosques, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. "Then shooting started from nearby houses. Then, they entered and burned the mosque before they left."
In the Ghazaliya neighborhood, at least eight mortar shells hit a mosque run by the Association of Muslim Scholars, one of the most outspoken defenders of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority since the U.S.-led invasion. The house of worship is one of Baghdad's best known.
Northeast of the capital, Shiite gunmen in Baquba opened fire at a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers, killing a mosque guard, said imam Osama al-Ani. Near the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded in front of one of the biggest Sunni mosques in the area, injuring five people and damaging the building, according to police.
Meanwhile, in the northwest city of Tal Afar, two bombs exploded near a car dealership, killing 22 people and wounding more than 40 others, police said.
The scale of Friday's revenge attacks was smaller than the spree of killings by Shiite militiamen in the aftermath of the bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra in February. That bombing caused cycles of revenge that further ruptured the bonds between Iraq's two major sects.
U.S. troops bolstered their patrols Friday, flying helicopters over Sadr City and operating checkpoints. One helicopter destroyed a rocket launcher manned by a Shiite crew that had fired six rockets into the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, near the Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the most revered Sunni shrines in Baghdad, the military said.
Friday's attacks unfolded in the aftermath of the bombs, mortars and missiles that hit Sadr City on Thursday, the deadliest single assault on Iraqi civilians since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003. The death toll in those attacks rose to more than 200 on Friday. Thousands of mourners, flanked by minivans carrying wooden coffins, paraded solemnly through Sadr City on Friday, paying last respects before the procession drove to the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf to bury the dead.
Later, in an address after the midday prayer, members of al-Sadr's political party denounced the U.S. military, saying its presence was the reason for Iraq's escalating violence. They demanded a U.S. withdrawal or, at least, a timetable for the troops to leave, a demand echoed by al-Sadr in his Friday sermon at his mosque in the southern city of Kufa.
In previous periods of tension, al-Sadr loyalists have threatened to walk out of the government. Still, the current climate is unlike anything Iraq has experienced since the invasion. The attacks on Sadr City appeared to embolden al-Sadr and his followers, as they try to capitalize on Thursday's carnage that Shiite leaders, including al-Maliki, have blamed on Sunni Arab insurgents.
"If the prime minister did not give up his intention to meet Bush the criminal in Amman, we will suspend our membership at the council of representatives and the government," Salih al-Ighaeli, head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, told a crowd gathered on the street in front of al-Sadr's headquarters.
Ali Adeeb, a member of parliament and close al-Maliki aide, said the meeting would take place as planned.
Friday's reprisal attacks underscore how powerful the Mahdi Army and other militias have become in Iraq, operating above the law, spreading violence even under an indefinite 24-hour lockdown of the capital.
By Friday evening, the attacks were still unfolding. With no other alternative, many Sunnis were hoping for the intervention of U.S. forces.
"Up till now, we are waiting for the American forces, and they haven't shown up yet," Salman al-Zobaye, imam of al-Hashab mosque, said in a telephone interview. An attack on the mosque by Shiite militiamen killed four guards.
Throughout Friday, rumors of new atrocities committed against Sunnis floated across Baghdad, including one in which six Sunnis were doused with kerosene and torched to death in Hurriyah. But two local imams, in an interview, denied such an attack took place.
Still, there was no shortage of confirmed incidents. In Hurriyah Friday morning, militiamen expelled Sunni families living near tea warehouses, and more than 90 Sunni families received letters threatening them if they did not leave their houses within 72 hours, authorities said.
In the Amiriya neighborhood, Sunnis started to form neighborhood militias under the guidance of local clerics to protect themselves. By Friday evening, 25 volunteers signed up, and those without weapons were handed AK-47 rifles, said residents.
By nightfall, the imams of mosques in three Sunni neighborhoods -- Ghazaliya, Amiriya and Adhamiya made a joint announcement to their followers.
"We would like to ask you to take care and be careful for the next hours of tonight," they said. "Open fire towards any gunman who enters the city, such as the Mahdi Army, except the Americans because they will come to protect the people from the death squads and guard the neighborhood."
The imams gave one more piece of advice to their followers: Open fire on any members of the mostly Shiite police forces. What happened in Hurriyah, the imams alleged, was done with their help.
CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Retaliation at Sunni mosques -- dozens killed
Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Baghdad -- In a wave of reprisal killings, Shiite militiamen attacked Sunni mosques in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq on Friday, defying a government curfew and propelling the country further toward full-blown civil war.
The exacting of revenge for the deaths of more than 200 Shiites on Thursday came as powerful politicians linked to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to pull out of Iraq's coalition government if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attends a scheduled meeting with President Bush next week in Amman, Jordan. A boycott by loyalists of al-Sadr, on whom al-Maliki relies for political support, could upend Iraq's fragile unity government.
Friday's attacks illustrated Iraqi security forces' inability to rein in violence, at a time when U.S. leaders want them to take greater responsibility for the country's security, a vital benchmark for any strategy to withdraw U.S. troops.
In the mixed Hurriyah neighborhood, Shiite militiamen torched at least five Sunni mosques on Islam's holiest prayer day, police and residents reported. Other mosques were attacked by gunmen spraying bullets from the rooftops of nearby houses, witnesses said.
In one mosque, militiamen detonated a cooking gas cylinder. In another, they declared that it was now a husseiniya, a Shiite mosque, and posted pictures of al-Sadr, whose stronghold of Sadr City was attacked Thursday. At least 18 people were killed Friday and 24 injured in the mosque attacks in Hurriyah, said Adil Mahmoud, a physician from al-Nouman Hospital in the nearby Adhamiya neighborhood.
"They started attacking with grenades and RPGs," said Abu Abdallah, the imam at one of the attacked mosques, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. "Then shooting started from nearby houses. Then, they entered and burned the mosque before they left."
In the Ghazaliya neighborhood, at least eight mortar shells hit a mosque run by the Association of Muslim Scholars, one of the most outspoken defenders of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority since the U.S.-led invasion. The house of worship is one of Baghdad's best known.
Northeast of the capital, Shiite gunmen in Baquba opened fire at a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers, killing a mosque guard, said imam Osama al-Ani. Near the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded in front of one of the biggest Sunni mosques in the area, injuring five people and damaging the building, according to police.
Meanwhile, in the northwest city of Tal Afar, two bombs exploded near a car dealership, killing 22 people and wounding more than 40 others, police said.
The scale of Friday's revenge attacks was smaller than the spree of killings by Shiite militiamen in the aftermath of the bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra in February. That bombing caused cycles of revenge that further ruptured the bonds between Iraq's two major sects.
U.S. troops bolstered their patrols Friday, flying helicopters over Sadr City and operating checkpoints. One helicopter destroyed a rocket launcher manned by a Shiite crew that had fired six rockets into the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, near the Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the most revered Sunni shrines in Baghdad, the military said.
Friday's attacks unfolded in the aftermath of the bombs, mortars and missiles that hit Sadr City on Thursday, the deadliest single assault on Iraqi civilians since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003. The death toll in those attacks rose to more than 200 on Friday. Thousands of mourners, flanked by minivans carrying wooden coffins, paraded solemnly through Sadr City on Friday, paying last respects before the procession drove to the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf to bury the dead.
Later, in an address after the midday prayer, members of al-Sadr's political party denounced the U.S. military, saying its presence was the reason for Iraq's escalating violence. They demanded a U.S. withdrawal or, at least, a timetable for the troops to leave, a demand echoed by al-Sadr in his Friday sermon at his mosque in the southern city of Kufa.
In previous periods of tension, al-Sadr loyalists have threatened to walk out of the government. Still, the current climate is unlike anything Iraq has experienced since the invasion. The attacks on Sadr City appeared to embolden al-Sadr and his followers, as they try to capitalize on Thursday's carnage that Shiite leaders, including al-Maliki, have blamed on Sunni Arab insurgents.
"If the prime minister did not give up his intention to meet Bush the criminal in Amman, we will suspend our membership at the council of representatives and the government," Salih al-Ighaeli, head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, told a crowd gathered on the street in front of al-Sadr's headquarters.
Ali Adeeb, a member of parliament and close al-Maliki aide, said the meeting would take place as planned.
Friday's reprisal attacks underscore how powerful the Mahdi Army and other militias have become in Iraq, operating above the law, spreading violence even under an indefinite 24-hour lockdown of the capital.
By Friday evening, the attacks were still unfolding. With no other alternative, many Sunnis were hoping for the intervention of U.S. forces.
"Up till now, we are waiting for the American forces, and they haven't shown up yet," Salman al-Zobaye, imam of al-Hashab mosque, said in a telephone interview. An attack on the mosque by Shiite militiamen killed four guards.
Throughout Friday, rumors of new atrocities committed against Sunnis floated across Baghdad, including one in which six Sunnis were doused with kerosene and torched to death in Hurriyah. But two local imams, in an interview, denied such an attack took place.
Still, there was no shortage of confirmed incidents. In Hurriyah Friday morning, militiamen expelled Sunni families living near tea warehouses, and more than 90 Sunni families received letters threatening them if they did not leave their houses within 72 hours, authorities said.
In the Amiriya neighborhood, Sunnis started to form neighborhood militias under the guidance of local clerics to protect themselves. By Friday evening, 25 volunteers signed up, and those without weapons were handed AK-47 rifles, said residents.
By nightfall, the imams of mosques in three Sunni neighborhoods -- Ghazaliya, Amiriya and Adhamiya made a joint announcement to their followers.
"We would like to ask you to take care and be careful for the next hours of tonight," they said. "Open fire towards any gunman who enters the city, such as the Mahdi Army, except the Americans because they will come to protect the people from the death squads and guard the neighborhood."
The imams gave one more piece of advice to their followers: Open fire on any members of the mostly Shiite police forces. What happened in Hurriyah, the imams alleged, was done with their help.
24 November 2006
CNN Article: Bombs kill more than 200 in Baghdad's Sadr City
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The death toll from a brutal string of car bomb attacks in Baghdad's Sadr City has risen to more than 200 dead and more than 250 wounded, an Iraqi Health Ministry official said Friday after an updated count from local hospitals.
Thursday's bloodshed represented the single deadliest coordinated attack in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
Police reported three car bombings and a mortar attack over a 30-minute period. Later, Health Minister Ali Shummari said there were six car bombs and a missile fired.
The attacks were part of a frightening spasm of violence on Thursday that coursed through two bastions of support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Attacks were coordinated northeast of Baghdad in Sadr City and at the Health Ministry compound, which is controlled by the cleric's political movement.
The situation was fluid and officials offered different numbers for those killed and wounded throughout the day.
The Health Ministry said officials plan to tour hospitals Friday afternoon to gain more detailed information on the number of casualties.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, speaking on state Iraqi TV, condemned the attack, offering his condolences to families, calling for national unity and urging calm.
But the incident -- which might have sparked retaliatory mortar fire in a Sunni section of northern Baghdad later in the day -- portends even more chaos in a country rife with violence.
It comes a day after a U.N. bimonthly report about Iraq that underscored the unbridled sectarian violence harming Iraq.
The report said that 3,709 civilians were killed in violence in Iraq in October -- the highest monthly toll since the war began. (Full story)
U.S. military commanders believe al-Sadr supporters, particularly the Mehdi Army militia, have carried out sectarian revenge attacks against Sunnis. Al-Sadr, who has denounced such attacks, is a fiery anti-American figure and is very popular among Shiites in Baghdad, in the Shiite south, and in Shiite enclaves in the Sunni Triangle.
Sectarian violence flared Monday through Wednesday, with more than 140 bodies found dumped across the capital -- signs of Shiite-Sunni fighting. But Thursday's violence was even more dramatic.
News footage showed the wreckage of cars, thick smoke rising over the neighborhood, and wounded people at hospitals.
"This is a bloody day," Shummari said.
The U.S. military said it believes six car bombs -- five initial blasts and a smaller blast later -- detonated.
There was an earlier report, from police, that one of the strikes was from a mortar round.
"As of right now, we have no reports of Iraqi Army or Coalition force casualties. There are no U.S. units in Sadr City," U.S. Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.
He said the 9th Iraqi Army and coalition advisers are on the scene. U.S. helicopters did fly overhead but did not engage any targets, and there has been no reported fighting involving coalition forces.
"There have been reports of residents randomly firing weapons after the (car bomb) detonations," said Garver, who noted that conditions had calmed down after the incident.
The Interior Ministry imposed a curfew for Baghdad starting at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than the start of the normal overnight curfew. It is unclear how long the curfew will extend.
Despite this, Shummari said the Health Ministry employees will continue to work to help manage the health crisis caused by the attack.
An Interior Ministry official said Baghdad's International Airport has been closed till further notice. The government has closed the airport during a curfew in the past.
Violence on Friday came to the town of Tal Afar, about 250 miles (400 km) north of Baghdad.
A suicide bomber killed 22 and wounded 26 at a car lot in Tal Afar after simultaneously detonating explosives strapped to his body and in a car, police said.
The double bombing took place around 11 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), according to police.
Four killed on minibus
In a separate incident Thursday in Sadr City, police in Baghdad said U.S. troops fired on a minibus and killed four people.
The U.S. military said Iraqi troops looking for an insurgent who apparently knows the whereabouts of a kidnapped U.S. soldier fired at a vehicle on Thursday that posed an "immediate threat."
The U.S. statement said there were no Iraqi or coalition casualties, but it did not specify other deaths or injuries.
The Iraqi troop raid in Sadr City is one of many in recent weeks aimed to rescue a kidnapped U.S. soldier -- Spec. Ahmed K. Altaie, kidnapped Oct. 23 in Baghdad.
In central Baghdad, attackers thought to be from a nearby Sunni neighborhood attacked the Health Ministry, controlled by the al-Sadr movement, police said.
At least 30 gunmen attacked the ministry compound, located in Bab al-Mudham, and Shammari said at least three missiles struck the ministry compound. He said there have been similar strikes in recent days.
Police said gunmen tried to break into the compound and fought with ministry security guards. Employees were in the compound during the incident.
There were no immediate details about casualties.
The Health Ministry official said the attackers were from the nearby neighborhood of Fadhel, a Sunni area, and that they also attacked a Shiite office -- the Shiite Endowment.
The endowment manages Shiite institutions around the country.
Earlier this week, there were other attacks on Health Ministry officials, a kidnapping of a deputy minister on Sunday and the killings on Monday of two guards who worked for another deputy minister.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thursday's bloodshed represented the single deadliest coordinated attack in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
Police reported three car bombings and a mortar attack over a 30-minute period. Later, Health Minister Ali Shummari said there were six car bombs and a missile fired.
The attacks were part of a frightening spasm of violence on Thursday that coursed through two bastions of support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Attacks were coordinated northeast of Baghdad in Sadr City and at the Health Ministry compound, which is controlled by the cleric's political movement.
The situation was fluid and officials offered different numbers for those killed and wounded throughout the day.
The Health Ministry said officials plan to tour hospitals Friday afternoon to gain more detailed information on the number of casualties.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, speaking on state Iraqi TV, condemned the attack, offering his condolences to families, calling for national unity and urging calm.
But the incident -- which might have sparked retaliatory mortar fire in a Sunni section of northern Baghdad later in the day -- portends even more chaos in a country rife with violence.
It comes a day after a U.N. bimonthly report about Iraq that underscored the unbridled sectarian violence harming Iraq.
The report said that 3,709 civilians were killed in violence in Iraq in October -- the highest monthly toll since the war began. (Full story)
U.S. military commanders believe al-Sadr supporters, particularly the Mehdi Army militia, have carried out sectarian revenge attacks against Sunnis. Al-Sadr, who has denounced such attacks, is a fiery anti-American figure and is very popular among Shiites in Baghdad, in the Shiite south, and in Shiite enclaves in the Sunni Triangle.
Sectarian violence flared Monday through Wednesday, with more than 140 bodies found dumped across the capital -- signs of Shiite-Sunni fighting. But Thursday's violence was even more dramatic.
News footage showed the wreckage of cars, thick smoke rising over the neighborhood, and wounded people at hospitals.
"This is a bloody day," Shummari said.
The U.S. military said it believes six car bombs -- five initial blasts and a smaller blast later -- detonated.
There was an earlier report, from police, that one of the strikes was from a mortar round.
"As of right now, we have no reports of Iraqi Army or Coalition force casualties. There are no U.S. units in Sadr City," U.S. Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.
He said the 9th Iraqi Army and coalition advisers are on the scene. U.S. helicopters did fly overhead but did not engage any targets, and there has been no reported fighting involving coalition forces.
"There have been reports of residents randomly firing weapons after the (car bomb) detonations," said Garver, who noted that conditions had calmed down after the incident.
The Interior Ministry imposed a curfew for Baghdad starting at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than the start of the normal overnight curfew. It is unclear how long the curfew will extend.
Despite this, Shummari said the Health Ministry employees will continue to work to help manage the health crisis caused by the attack.
An Interior Ministry official said Baghdad's International Airport has been closed till further notice. The government has closed the airport during a curfew in the past.
Violence on Friday came to the town of Tal Afar, about 250 miles (400 km) north of Baghdad.
A suicide bomber killed 22 and wounded 26 at a car lot in Tal Afar after simultaneously detonating explosives strapped to his body and in a car, police said.
The double bombing took place around 11 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), according to police.
Four killed on minibus
In a separate incident Thursday in Sadr City, police in Baghdad said U.S. troops fired on a minibus and killed four people.
The U.S. military said Iraqi troops looking for an insurgent who apparently knows the whereabouts of a kidnapped U.S. soldier fired at a vehicle on Thursday that posed an "immediate threat."
The U.S. statement said there were no Iraqi or coalition casualties, but it did not specify other deaths or injuries.
The Iraqi troop raid in Sadr City is one of many in recent weeks aimed to rescue a kidnapped U.S. soldier -- Spec. Ahmed K. Altaie, kidnapped Oct. 23 in Baghdad.
In central Baghdad, attackers thought to be from a nearby Sunni neighborhood attacked the Health Ministry, controlled by the al-Sadr movement, police said.
At least 30 gunmen attacked the ministry compound, located in Bab al-Mudham, and Shammari said at least three missiles struck the ministry compound. He said there have been similar strikes in recent days.
Police said gunmen tried to break into the compound and fought with ministry security guards. Employees were in the compound during the incident.
There were no immediate details about casualties.
The Health Ministry official said the attackers were from the nearby neighborhood of Fadhel, a Sunni area, and that they also attacked a Shiite office -- the Shiite Endowment.
The endowment manages Shiite institutions around the country.
Earlier this week, there were other attacks on Health Ministry officials, a kidnapping of a deputy minister on Sunday and the killings on Monday of two guards who worked for another deputy minister.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
22 November 2006
Voices of Iraq Article: Iraqis find new rules of survival
Voices of Iraq: Iraqis-Advice (Feature)
Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:27 PM
By Ibrahim Zannoun
Mosul, Nov 21, (VOI) – Iraqis have learned them by heart, yet they keep exchanging them every time there is an act of violence in their daily toiling through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Advice on how to escape a multitude of ways to get killed has become boring clichés, however, Iraqis who sometimes poke fun at such precautions, believe they could save lives.
Here are some of the safety measures recommended by ordinary Iraqis.
"My wife is expecting a baby. Family and friends have advised me to steer away from Islamic, historical names and names of Arab figures when we choose our child's name," said 27-year-old Salem Mahmoud, an employee.
"They considered it a golden advice as hundreds of Iraqis are being killed because of their names. We started to take precautions for the future in naming our kids," he added.
Names such as Ali or Omar could indicate a certain Moslem sect, making the bearer likely to get killed in the escalating wave of sectarian killings that has been engulfing Iraq since the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samaraa last February.
"I bought a mobile telephone and my brother advised me not to use certain backgrounds or tunes of religious, nationalist or political songs. Some got killed because they had an expensive set or because of a tune or a background as it could reveal his identity," said university student Walid Khaled.
"I chose the tune of Titanic and nobody objected," he added.
Tareq Kanaan, a retired army soldier, stopped buying newspapers although he is a keen reader.
"There are those who choose there victims through their choice of certain newspapers which can be the key to reveal the affiliations of the reader costing him his life," Kanaan said.
"My son, who is a university student, implored me to do without newspapers… Even my wife who waited for me to finish reading newspapers to use them in the kitchen or for cleaning windows said she did not want a newspaper that could turn her into a widow," he added.
Umm Ahmed, a housewife, tells her children not chat with colleagues at schools.
"How many a family died when their children spoke unwittingly about their wealth of money or furniture. How many a family paid everything they had gained to have back a child who was kidnapped by gangs," she says.
"Children like to talk and boast of their dad's car or even of their daily pocket money," she adds.
Shaker Abdul-Wahab has a different piece of advice for his children.
"I tell them everyday to stay away from American convoys or tanks, police patrols, army vehicles…and official motorcades as well as hooded men," he said.
"What we see every day is driving us crazy. I tell my children before they leave home everyday to keep away from anything that may cost them their lives even if they have to jump into a pond of rotten water," said Abdul-Wahab.
Retired army soldier Mohammed Amin, 58, stopped going to mosques to pray for fear gestures might reveal his sectarian affiliation. Shiites and Sunnis make different gestures with their hands during prayers.
"What do we do? We pray different ways according to the circumstances for fear of the consequences," Amin added.
He has also advised his neighbors to do the same.
Housewife Samira Ammar says her husband prevents her and their children from leaving the house for fear of armed attacks.
"Yesterday, the only thing we could see from our neighbor Hadi was his leg. The rest of his body was mutilated and molten by the car bomb that exploded in a crowded place," she said.
Mohammed Ismail, a pupil in the second grade, says his father advises him not to move far away from the house for fear of getting kidnapped.
"My friend was kidnapped two months ago and they cut his throat," he says.
What bothers him most is that thuds of explosions scare birds off the trees.
"Funerals are now more than the birds," he says.
Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:27 PM
By Ibrahim Zannoun
Mosul, Nov 21, (VOI) – Iraqis have learned them by heart, yet they keep exchanging them every time there is an act of violence in their daily toiling through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Advice on how to escape a multitude of ways to get killed has become boring clichés, however, Iraqis who sometimes poke fun at such precautions, believe they could save lives.
Here are some of the safety measures recommended by ordinary Iraqis.
"My wife is expecting a baby. Family and friends have advised me to steer away from Islamic, historical names and names of Arab figures when we choose our child's name," said 27-year-old Salem Mahmoud, an employee.
"They considered it a golden advice as hundreds of Iraqis are being killed because of their names. We started to take precautions for the future in naming our kids," he added.
Names such as Ali or Omar could indicate a certain Moslem sect, making the bearer likely to get killed in the escalating wave of sectarian killings that has been engulfing Iraq since the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samaraa last February.
"I bought a mobile telephone and my brother advised me not to use certain backgrounds or tunes of religious, nationalist or political songs. Some got killed because they had an expensive set or because of a tune or a background as it could reveal his identity," said university student Walid Khaled.
"I chose the tune of Titanic and nobody objected," he added.
Tareq Kanaan, a retired army soldier, stopped buying newspapers although he is a keen reader.
"There are those who choose there victims through their choice of certain newspapers which can be the key to reveal the affiliations of the reader costing him his life," Kanaan said.
"My son, who is a university student, implored me to do without newspapers… Even my wife who waited for me to finish reading newspapers to use them in the kitchen or for cleaning windows said she did not want a newspaper that could turn her into a widow," he added.
Umm Ahmed, a housewife, tells her children not chat with colleagues at schools.
"How many a family died when their children spoke unwittingly about their wealth of money or furniture. How many a family paid everything they had gained to have back a child who was kidnapped by gangs," she says.
"Children like to talk and boast of their dad's car or even of their daily pocket money," she adds.
Shaker Abdul-Wahab has a different piece of advice for his children.
"I tell them everyday to stay away from American convoys or tanks, police patrols, army vehicles…and official motorcades as well as hooded men," he said.
"What we see every day is driving us crazy. I tell my children before they leave home everyday to keep away from anything that may cost them their lives even if they have to jump into a pond of rotten water," said Abdul-Wahab.
Retired army soldier Mohammed Amin, 58, stopped going to mosques to pray for fear gestures might reveal his sectarian affiliation. Shiites and Sunnis make different gestures with their hands during prayers.
"What do we do? We pray different ways according to the circumstances for fear of the consequences," Amin added.
He has also advised his neighbors to do the same.
Housewife Samira Ammar says her husband prevents her and their children from leaving the house for fear of armed attacks.
"Yesterday, the only thing we could see from our neighbor Hadi was his leg. The rest of his body was mutilated and molten by the car bomb that exploded in a crowded place," she said.
Mohammed Ismail, a pupil in the second grade, says his father advises him not to move far away from the house for fear of getting kidnapped.
"My friend was kidnapped two months ago and they cut his throat," he says.
What bothers him most is that thuds of explosions scare birds off the trees.
"Funerals are now more than the birds," he says.
19 November 2006
An Iraqi Cat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXR3BzCJDXo
(Even cats in Iraq have become militia members!!!)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An Iraqi comedy series in Ramadan had a dark-comedy title song about cats (which is self-explanatory):
"These hard times made me envy the cat
All the (Iraqi) people envy her
She takes a nap anywhere she likes
She is stress-free, she has no problems
She doesn't care about anything
She doesn't have any restrictions
Her constitution is so helpful
She doesn't attend suit-and-tie meetings
She doesn't know any technocrats
Nobody asks her "where are you from?"
Or "Which Party would you join?"
Or "Are you an Arab, a Kurd, a Sunni, or a Shiite?!"
Or "What are the names of your father and grandpa?"
She has everything, all the luck
of which we have none!"
15 November 2006
"Miss Ealene Yous"
It’s a rainy day here in Sulaimaniya, nevertheless, since I got the habit of walking long distances for 3 consecutive evenings, i did some walking this evening too. I took a 2-hours long walk under my handy dandy umbrella. It was nice..
The first two were to return from the Sulaimaniya Int’l Fair (the Harmonica Night and the night that followed). The night that followed was really something. I walked about double the distance that I walked on the 1st night. I finally got a taxi when I was about 10 kms from the Sulaimaniya Airport. The 3rd night though, was the best of the 3 nights. I went with two of my friends by car, and walked a lot inside the Fair, and while one of them ended up getting soar feet, I went along just fine! I kept saying: “I told you! Wear tennis shoes!!”
As for today, and for in-country reasons that I prefer not to specify, I felt sad. Events inside out haven’t been so very top notch pleasant. Things could be hard if you get disappointed of sorts, and the worst is that you cannot explain your point of view. One of the things that we may not learn so easy in life, is not to have higher-than-we-should in people or goals, and that refusal to learn would cause us disappointment sometimes.
The skies wept over the city in the early evening, making alleys almost impossible to cross, so you count on the small asphalt bumps and “cat eyes” to cross the street; that washed the streets or probably over-washed them.
Tonight I bought the Diana Haddad 2006 album “Mas ou Louli” (Diamonds & Pearls), and I loved the 8th song so much. It is called “Aadi” (Ordinary) or (Common). It has very soft music and nice lyrics.
Today, as well, Al-Jazeera has launched its English speaking channel. To be honest, it seems really interesting, because of the fleet of well-known names it gathered, such as Ragi Omar who was with the BBC, whose documentary on Islamic Andalusia is one of my favorite documentaries. You can check it out on http://english.aljazeera.net , also, if you dig around the website, you’d be able to watch it live through Real Player.
And last but not least, I would like to thank Rachel Ray, for giving the viewers a priceless tip on how to open clogged glass jars. You just turn it upside down, tap its head to the table for a couple of times, and voila!
That was my miscellaneous “Miss Ealene Yous” note for today. (I thank Microsoft Word for its Spell Checker).
More soon, inshallah!
12 November 2006
Harmonica Night!
Have you ever been in a situation were what you would expect as a regular day, turns out into an adventure, of the good kind, not the stress-filled kind? Have you been in such an interesting experience?
Well, here’s what happened to me on the evening of 12 Nov. 2006. A friend of mine in Sulaimaniya, is working in Sulaimaniya Expo which was opened on 11 Nov. and will go on till 14 Nov. And that friend had suggested that I come and visit the Expo and take a look around. I also wanted to see this Expo myself. The last time I’ve seen one was in 2001 or 2002 in Baghdad, and I actually worked on the 2001, and it was very tiresome, trying, but still somewhat fun.
Anyway, I went out of my Sulaimaniya home by 4 pm, knowing that the Expo will close completely by 6 pm, and the entrance would be closed an hour earlier. I calculated some 15 – 20 minutes to reach that destination, but the 1st obstacle was finding a taxi. 4 or 5 drivers said that they won’t go there (probably because it was too far), and another two asked for a high amount. I finally got a taxi and was on the road around 4:15 pm, so I am still ok with time.
When we got to the main road leading there, we saw this huge traffic jam, and the road looked really further than every time I went on. When I arrived at the Expo’s entrance, it was 5:01 pm, and they closed the door a minute earlier. People kept arguing with the police that they came from far away places and this and that, but it was useless. I sent my friend a short text message, saying: “You know what? They closed the door. I’ll go home.”
That was what I said alright, but how on earth do I intend to do it. The sun was down by the time I decided to leave the Expo, which was 5:10, and darkness crept really quickly. Now to give you an idea about where this Expo place is; it is some 20 kms outside Sulaimaniya, with some 17 kms on the Kirkuk road, then you turn right as if you’re going to Dukan, in a vast area called Tasluja. The Expo is on a side road that is usually common with private cars, pickups and trucks, but not taxis. So, the first step was to start walking about 3 kms till I get to the Kirkuk – Sulaimaniya road, and from there, I’d try to find a bus, a taxi or anything to carry me through the 15 kms mainly uninhabited stretch of land. More darkness came along, and I kept walking, humming some coming-home songs, like Haytham Yousif’s “Baladna” (Our Homeland), and Hatim Al-Iraqi’s (Iraq) song, to name a few. I finally arrived at the Tasluja interchange after half an hour’s quick march. There were some 4 people waiting there, and they were later joined by another two. I waited for some 10 minutes, then I decided t walk as much as I can, and keep looking for a passing bus or, if I get more lucky, a passing taxi.
As I was walking, humming, and munching some toffees I bought earlier in the day, I thought: What if I don’t find a car? What if I had to walk up to Sulaimaniya? What if I get too tired? What if I had to make a fire and look for some creature to hunt and eat? What if I’m too close to the Airport, and a landing airplane wakes me up as it roars down the runway?! Where can I get a harmonica? If not, then where would I find a guitar, or someone who’d teach me how to play the guitar?! If there was someone how’d teach me the guitar, they’d probably drop me into town in the 1st place!
I walked for about 500 meters or so, when I saw a bus stops about 100 meters away, so I began to run towards it, and luckily enough, they saw me running so they waited. I couldn’t exactly understand where it was going, but I got that it reaches an interchange, and I was lucky because it was the 60th Street & Salem, which makes me inside Sulaimaniya.
I took another walk from that interchange to home, which was about another 2-3 kms, not because I had to, but to discover a part of town I don’t get to see, being away from my regular commuting axis.
Anyway, I arrived home, had a warm shower that made every joint of mine crack, checked my e-mails, watched some TV, made and ate some tsatsiki (AKA cacik in Turkey, jajik in Iraq), wrote these couple of pages, and then it’s snooze time, not forgetting to let you know though, that I’d probably try going to that no-man’s place again tomorrow, but much earlier I’d say.
Hopefully, someone would go with me by their car, otherwise a harmonica would be really handy!
11 November 2006
BBC Article: Iraqi tales from the blogs
Iraqi tales from the blogs
The postings of Iraqi bloggers give an insight into areas of life in the country that journalists struggle to cover because of the extreme violence.
Zeyad is a 27 year old Iraqi dentist from Baghdad. He started writing his blog Healing Iraq in October 2003. He is now studying journalism in New York, but he is still in touch with many bloggers inside his country.
Here, we offer some of Zeyad's latest postings and a selection of some of the other blogs he follows.
This story contains links to external websites which are not subject to the usual BBC editorial controls.
healingiraq.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 22, 2006: My brother, Nabil, witnesses another terrible murder, this time of a hairdresser. She was dragged out of her taxi by four gunmen, a sack was put on her head and then they opened fire.
Her corpse was left on the street for over three hours because no-one dared to go near it. The worst was when Iraqi troops arrived at night to pick up the corpse.
They had to shoot it several times to ensure it wasn't booby-trapped with explosives, something that is becoming more and more common in our area of Baghdad.
Monday, October 16, 2006:
Another close friend of mine has been killed in Baghdad. We had lunch together in Baghdad just days before I left.
I can't concentrate on anything any more. I should not be here in New York running around a stupid neighbourhood, asking people about their "issues".
I now officially regret supporting this war back in 2003. The guilt is too much for me to handle.
baghdadtreasure.blogspot.com/
Another Iraqi blogger writing from the United States is Treasure of Baghdad.
Treasure has asked a number of bloggers inside Iraq for their views on the war.
Read what the bloggers had to say in Their Own Words.
http://nabilsblog.blogspot.com/
Zayed's brother, Nabil, is in Baghdad and is also a regular blogger. He describes the routine corruption he saw among border guards as he returned to Iraq from Jordan.
Sunday Oct 8 2006: The road to Baghdad is one of the most dangerous roads in the world.
I left Amman at 2 am, reached the Jordanian border at 6 pm. Completed my passport visa and then headed to the Iraqi Border. As always there was no electricity.
At the Iraqi gate my driver gave the guard who checks our passports about 2,000 Iraqi Dinar (US$1.4) just to let us pass without checking (and that's what happened with all the people coming to Iraq), then we entered Iraq.
The driver told me to prepare 7000 Iraqi Dinar (US$4.8) for the guard who checks our luggage, so that he won't check it.
When I went to do my passport, I gave my passport and my family's passports to the officer, he told me to give him 5000 ID (US$3.4).
I gave him the money and then he gave me the passports all done.
Then I just looked up at the window of the officer and I saw a sign saying the passports should be done for free - and if the officer asks for money call on this number to register a complaint.
The order is written just two or three feet above his head and he does not carry it out.
I wonder about our government when it pretends it doesn't know how the terrorists enter Iraq. Well, the answer is simply check out your guards; they are all taking bribes.
iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
A recent report in the medical journal, The Lancet, about the casualty figures in Iraq resulted in a storm of blogging from inside Iraq.
The Lancet study estimated that about 655,000 civilians had died in Iraq since the invasion in 2003.
One entry from Baghdad blogger Iraq the Model caused upset by disputing the authors' claims:
Thursday Oct 12, 2006: To me their motives are clear, all they want is to prove that our struggle for freedom was the wrong thing to do. And they shamelessly use lies to do this ... when they did not find the death they wanted to see on the ground, they faked it on paper!
ejectiraqikkk.blogspot.com/2006/10/iraqi-bloggers-discuss-lancet-study.html
Other bloggers thought the study's findings were valid.
One of them Iraqi Konfused Kid responds in the third person, adding a round-up of other bloggers' reactions.
Wednesday October 18: Kid accused Iraq The Model of being "an example of the mentality that currently prevails the Green Zone, nervous Iraqis who just want to make a few bucks by catering to an audience and telling them what they want to hear"
Konfused Kid sent a mass e-mail to a sizeable group of Iraqi bloggers, demanding that they give their opinions about the general viewpoint and direction of Iraq The Model.
Miraj: "he wants to follow other Iraqi bloggers to US and what is better than sucking up to the Americans."
Iraqi Screen: "I am sure they are dying for asylum in the USA to be close to their dear Bush. Did they ever read about Haditha massacre, Ishaqi and Falluja?"
Khalid Jarrar: "being a traitor is not an allowed option, and should not be legitimized by ranting about freedom of speech, I swear reading them is just like reading a White House statement."
BBC Article: Iraqi bloggers on Saddam verdict
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6125608.stm
Iraqi bloggers on Saddam verdict
Iraqi bloggers have been reacting to the guilty verdict and death sentence against Saddam Hussein. This is our second snapshot of postings from Iraqi bloggers. Their views give an insight into areas of life in the country that are otherwise hard to reach.
Zeyad is a 27 year old Iraqi dentist from Baghdad. He started writing his blog Healing Iraq in October 2003. He is now studying journalism in New York, but he is still in touch with many bloggers inside his country.
Here, we offer postings from Zeyad and other Iraqi bloggers after the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.
This story contains links to external websites which are not subject to the usual BBC editorial controls.
healingiraq.blogspot.com/
Monday, Nov 6, 2006: So the tyrant will be hanged. A moment that Iraqis awaited for years, but now that it's here, it seems to be tasteless.
Not that it will fail to bring a much-deserved sense of justice to the families of his victims, but because of the unprofessional and highly politicised manner with which it was handled.
Take a look at the celebrating Iraqis on the streets: whose posters are they carrying?
This is not as much a celebration of the death of Saddam as much as a celebration of the birth of new tyrants and warlords.
The new victors in Iraq are the followers of Sadr [Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr] and Hakim [leader of Iraq's biggest Shia political party, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim], and as the Baathists and Sunni insurgents and jihadists become more localised and irrelevant, the next conflict will be between those two.
This demonstrator in Sadr City brandishes a Glock handgun that was issued by Americans to Iraqi security forces. Now we know where those thousands of weapons have disappeared to.
riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Riverbend is an Iraqi woman in Baghdad. Her blogs have already been published in two books.
Sunday, November 5, 2006: Execute the dictator. It's that simple.
When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you've put a group of Mullahs in power - execute the dictator.
Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict. The pro-Saddam demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army.
This is how free our media is today: the channels that were showing the pro-Saddam demonstrations have been shut down. Iraqi security forces promptly raided them.
Welcome to the new Iraq.
The Zawra channel ran a subtitle saying that the channel has stopped broadcasting by order of the government.
It's not about the man - presidents come and go, governments come and go.
It's the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics.
neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/
Neurotic Iraqi wife is an Iraqi-American woman living and working in the Green Zone.
Sunday November 5 2006: I didn't want the death penalty. I wanted him to get life imprisonment and rot in a one metre by one metre cell.
I wanted his pride to be broken. I wanted him to live to the day were he will see a better Iraq. Whatever remaining years he had, I wanted him to live them in fear, in solitude, in despair...
justsooni.blogspot.com/
Sooni is an IT programmer blogging from Baghdad.
Sunday November 5 2006: Finally, we folded the book of tyranny in Iraq.
It was not surprising to hear the death penalty, Saddam killed more than anyone can imagine with his wars and the countless atrocities against his own people.
But it was surprising to see a good bunch of whiners grieving upon the tyrant.
secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com/
Secrets in Baghdad is Khalid Jarrar, a 24 year old engineering student in Baghdad.
Monday, November 6, 2006: Saddam is nothing but a political card American politicians are playing against the American public.
And what exactly is his death going to do to improve Iraq or life in Iraq?
The sectarian tension or the security situation? The electricity or water? The curfews or the blocked streets? The puppet government or the dirty politicians? The loans of the billions stolen from Iraq as cash or oil since the invasion by Iraqi or Americans politicians?
Nothing at all.
iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
Iraq the Model is written by two brothers in Baghdad.
Saturday Nov 4, 2006: Saddam's trial is a trial for all tyrants who oppressed their peoples and a tough warning to whose who think they have the right to control nations with fire and steel and get away with it.
It is just a one trial in a series of trials yet to come; there are many more criminals in our land and they will eventually meet the same fate as Saddam's.
iraqithoughts.blogspot.com/
An Iraqi's thoughts is written by a 25 year old Iraqi man, living in the UAE.
Monday November 6 2006: The media picks up a rally in Tikrit and a rally in Sadr City and then can generalize the whole verdict into two camps. If only life was that simple.
The truth is I know Sunni Arabs who were happy with the verdict and I know Shia Arabs who were saddened by what happened.
We need to think about the hundreds of thousands who died, the plus one million who have been displaced and live in countries because they don't have one of their own, they were all victims of this terrible tyrant.
Iraqi bloggers on Saddam verdict
Iraqi bloggers have been reacting to the guilty verdict and death sentence against Saddam Hussein. This is our second snapshot of postings from Iraqi bloggers. Their views give an insight into areas of life in the country that are otherwise hard to reach.
Zeyad is a 27 year old Iraqi dentist from Baghdad. He started writing his blog Healing Iraq in October 2003. He is now studying journalism in New York, but he is still in touch with many bloggers inside his country.
Here, we offer postings from Zeyad and other Iraqi bloggers after the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.
This story contains links to external websites which are not subject to the usual BBC editorial controls.
healingiraq.blogspot.com/
Monday, Nov 6, 2006: So the tyrant will be hanged. A moment that Iraqis awaited for years, but now that it's here, it seems to be tasteless.
Not that it will fail to bring a much-deserved sense of justice to the families of his victims, but because of the unprofessional and highly politicised manner with which it was handled.
Take a look at the celebrating Iraqis on the streets: whose posters are they carrying?
This is not as much a celebration of the death of Saddam as much as a celebration of the birth of new tyrants and warlords.
The new victors in Iraq are the followers of Sadr [Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr] and Hakim [leader of Iraq's biggest Shia political party, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim], and as the Baathists and Sunni insurgents and jihadists become more localised and irrelevant, the next conflict will be between those two.
This demonstrator in Sadr City brandishes a Glock handgun that was issued by Americans to Iraqi security forces. Now we know where those thousands of weapons have disappeared to.
riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Riverbend is an Iraqi woman in Baghdad. Her blogs have already been published in two books.
Sunday, November 5, 2006: Execute the dictator. It's that simple.
When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you've put a group of Mullahs in power - execute the dictator.
Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict. The pro-Saddam demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army.
This is how free our media is today: the channels that were showing the pro-Saddam demonstrations have been shut down. Iraqi security forces promptly raided them.
Welcome to the new Iraq.
The Zawra channel ran a subtitle saying that the channel has stopped broadcasting by order of the government.
It's not about the man - presidents come and go, governments come and go.
It's the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics.
neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/
Neurotic Iraqi wife is an Iraqi-American woman living and working in the Green Zone.
Sunday November 5 2006: I didn't want the death penalty. I wanted him to get life imprisonment and rot in a one metre by one metre cell.
I wanted his pride to be broken. I wanted him to live to the day were he will see a better Iraq. Whatever remaining years he had, I wanted him to live them in fear, in solitude, in despair...
justsooni.blogspot.com/
Sooni is an IT programmer blogging from Baghdad.
Sunday November 5 2006: Finally, we folded the book of tyranny in Iraq.
It was not surprising to hear the death penalty, Saddam killed more than anyone can imagine with his wars and the countless atrocities against his own people.
But it was surprising to see a good bunch of whiners grieving upon the tyrant.
secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com/
Secrets in Baghdad is Khalid Jarrar, a 24 year old engineering student in Baghdad.
Monday, November 6, 2006: Saddam is nothing but a political card American politicians are playing against the American public.
And what exactly is his death going to do to improve Iraq or life in Iraq?
The sectarian tension or the security situation? The electricity or water? The curfews or the blocked streets? The puppet government or the dirty politicians? The loans of the billions stolen from Iraq as cash or oil since the invasion by Iraqi or Americans politicians?
Nothing at all.
iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
Iraq the Model is written by two brothers in Baghdad.
Saturday Nov 4, 2006: Saddam's trial is a trial for all tyrants who oppressed their peoples and a tough warning to whose who think they have the right to control nations with fire and steel and get away with it.
It is just a one trial in a series of trials yet to come; there are many more criminals in our land and they will eventually meet the same fate as Saddam's.
iraqithoughts.blogspot.com/
An Iraqi's thoughts is written by a 25 year old Iraqi man, living in the UAE.
Monday November 6 2006: The media picks up a rally in Tikrit and a rally in Sadr City and then can generalize the whole verdict into two camps. If only life was that simple.
The truth is I know Sunni Arabs who were happy with the verdict and I know Shia Arabs who were saddened by what happened.
We need to think about the hundreds of thousands who died, the plus one million who have been displaced and live in countries because they don't have one of their own, they were all victims of this terrible tyrant.
10 November 2006
AFP Article: Iraq bloodletting leaves 150,000 dead since invasion
Iraq bloodletting leaves 150,000 dead since invasion
by Sabah Jerges Fri Nov 10, 5:41 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has said nearly 150,000 people have died since the US-led invasion, as outgoing Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accepted his military faced difficulties in fighting extremists in the country.
The war-ravaged country's Shiites and Sunnis, meanwhile, headed to their respective mosques for weekly prayers amid a fresh bout of violence over the past three days that has left dozens dead.
Iraq's health ministry estimated on Friday that some 150,000 people have been killed since the March 2003 invasion, more than three times the previously agreed upon figure.
The latest death toll was first mentioned by Health Minister Ali al-Shamari in Vienna on Thursday and was subsequently confirmed by a public affairs official in the ministry.
"We have statistics and we send them every day to the cabinet. We also have monthly and bi-annual figures," he said.
"Some 75 to 80 people die every day on average ... but in some cases the figures exceed that number, so the total will be nearing 150,000."
The dead came from military clashes, those killed in cold blood and bodies brought to morgues, he added.
The number of dead in Iraq has been a controversial topic of repeated speculation. Most estimates, such as those by the Iraq Body Count project, put the figure at between 50,000 and 60,000.
In October, British medical journal the Lancet published a report estimating that 650,000 people had died since the invasion, based on extrapolations from people interviewed.
The figure has been dismissed as wildly exaggerated by the Iraqi government, press agencies and the US military, who themselves will not release data on civilian casualties.
The bulk of the dead in the past year have been killed in a bitter Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict across Iraq. Baghdad has been the worst hit, with dozens of bodies found on the streets every week.
The US military and Sunni politicians have often accused followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr of spearheading the killings of the members of the former Sunni elite.
The health ministry is controlled by supporters of Sadr.
Rumsfeld, meanwhile, acknowledged Thursday that US efforts to stabilize Iraq have not gone well and that the military was ill-suited to fight extremists.
"I will say this: It is very clear that the major combat operations were an enormous success. It is clear that in phase two of this, it has not gone well enough or fast enough," he said in his first speech after President George W. Bush ousted him on Wednesday.
Iraq had made tangible progress, he said, but the sectarian violence and the killings of Muslims by Muslim extremists had created "a much more complex situation."
"And quite honestly, our country does not have experience attempting to impose control and our will over vicious, violent extremists that don't have armies, that don't have navies, don't have air forces and operate in the shadows," he said.
Rumsfeld further cautioned that dealing with Muslim extremism will take patience and perseverance, just as the Cold War struggle against communism did.
Meanwhile, the US military announced Friday the death of three US serviceman, including a marine in Fallujah and two military policemen in Baghdad. That brought total US casualties since the March 2003 invasion to 2,839, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
There was a lull in Baghdad's violence Friday morning as the warring Shiites and Sunnis went to prayers amid a vehicle curfew.
But nearly 100 people were reported dead since Tuesday after the lifting of a curfew imposed to coincide with the sentencing two days earlier of Saddam Hussein. Dozens of bodies have been found, including two Friday in the central city of Diwaniyah.
In the Shiite holy city of Najaf authorities on Friday announced the arrest of a senior former ruling Baath party member suspected of abetting insurgency.
Provincial spokesman Ahmed Daebil said the Baathist, whose name was not released, was accused of helping recruit insurgents, organizing funding from Baathists in Syria and carrying out violent operations in the center and south of the country.
Leaflets intended to provoke violence were also discovered on his person, Daebil said.
09 November 2006
The Mother of All Updates
I think the title says it all… And here I am “paying the price” of not writing something by myself since a very very long time.
Now there is a stack of events that I have no idea how to deal with! I have been thinking about describing Sulaimaniya in which I’ve been gladly staying since the 1st week of September (except for the Eid week which I spent home in Baghdad), but time passed and I didn’t do that, and I can’t stop feeling that I owe this cute city a nice article, and owe its blue skies and wonderful sunsets, and especially the mountain that I look at everyday, and its fascinating colors change.
I was also to prepare a very optimistic article about the Mecca Agreement, signed between Sunni and Shiite clergymen, but after 3 weeks of signing it, nothing, absolutely nothing had changed. Around the time of signing that deal, my friend’s father got kidnapped by an extremist (Selefist) Sunni group that wants all Shiites out of anywhere west of the Saladin Highway west of Baghdad. He was then released on the condition that the family abandons their house and belongings, in addition to paying a ransom; and of course, no force would protect them, or any one else who would go through the same suffering.
I also wanted to write about the time when I meet Mr. Dhiya Al-Nasiri, one of the very respectable reporters of my favorite channel, Al-Arabiya, and the nice discussion we had about news and their channels. I was really proud to have this discussion with someone from Al-Arabiya, and I asked him to send my sincere regards to its entire staff anywhere they may be.
And then, days pass, and the Saddam Verdict came on 5 Nov. 2006, and a good thing that our usually volatile area remained calm in and after the verdict was announced.
Amidst all of this, I have become a Borat addict. The main reason for laughing is the YouTube Borat videos. And as a tribute to Mr. Borat and the talent that impersonates him, the following program is in Boratese!
“The US & A Congress Elections was on the Tuesday, which saw the loss of Premier George Walker Bush Party for some important chairs, and that made Ronald Dumbs-field went out barefooted because he got a big hit on the khrum!! I think he was one of the big reasons of US & A's non-success in the war of terror!!!”
Seriously though, President Bush told us that Bremer was a clever dude, and he wasn’t so clever I think; he also says that Rummy is cool, and I don’t think so either, and now he brings theM & M’s University President to yeeha everything! I wonder what O’Reilly would say, seeing that everything is fine, and that there was a “coalition” between the Democrats, the Iranians and the North Koreans!!
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=77016
And we come to this day… One year ago, I was in Amman for some business, when terrors, which usually stroke Baghdad, stroke Amman. I still remember how the news was broken to us by a friend that was there, and how stressful that night was. But the only thing that brought a little smile to us in all that stress was the vagueness CNN, BBC and Fox had. See, we needed to know where the explosions were in Amman, and they were busy explaining where Jordan is! “This Europe, this is Africa, this is Asia, and this is Jordan!”. Good Grief!
That attack killed 60 innocent people most of them Jordanians, but one of the non-Jordanians was the well-known Syrian-born Director Mustapha Akkad, who made the most famous movie about the history of Islam (The Message). I was so sad for him, and sadder to see a peaceful city like Amman go through what we go through.
Well, that’s about it… I hope that I will be able to post little things every 5-10 days, with a bigger article like this more often.
Next time, I will give you good entertainment news, all being well…
Till then… That’s all, folks!
07 November 2006
AP Story: Flash floods kill 18, injure 20 in Iraq
Mon Nov 6, 2:49 PM ET
KIRKUK, Iraq - Flash floods caused by heavy rain killed 18 people and injured 20 in northern Iraq, a provincial governor said Monday.
The heavy rains began late Sunday, mainly in five villages in the Khalifan district in the Erbil province, Gov. Nawzat Hadi said.
The floods destroyed nine bridge and several houses, he said. Nine of the dead were members of one family. Three of them were children.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms hit different parts of Iraq in the past two days.
KIRKUK, Iraq - Flash floods caused by heavy rain killed 18 people and injured 20 in northern Iraq, a provincial governor said Monday.
The heavy rains began late Sunday, mainly in five villages in the Khalifan district in the Erbil province, Gov. Nawzat Hadi said.
The floods destroyed nine bridge and several houses, he said. Nine of the dead were members of one family. Three of them were children.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms hit different parts of Iraq in the past two days.
06 November 2006
Sources of Iraqi News
1- Quite neutral and updated within 12-24 hours:
http://www.aswataliraq.info/?newlang=eng
2- Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/
3- Multi-National Forces Website
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/
4- Pentagon Channel (the name says it all)
http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/
5- (And last but not least) Google News
http://news.google.com/news?q=iraq&ie=UTF-8
http://www.aswataliraq.info/?newlang=eng
2- Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/
3- Multi-National Forces Website
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/
4- Pentagon Channel (the name says it all)
http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/
5- (And last but not least) Google News
http://news.google.com/news?q=iraq&ie=UTF-8
05 November 2006
Azzaman Article - Beware of Motorcycles in Baghdad!
Beware of Motorcycles in Baghdad!
By Ali al-Mawsawi
Azzaman, November 4, 2006
Iraqi gunmen, insurgents, terrorists, or whatever you might call them, have recently introduced new tactics to deter their enemies but their victims are mostly ordinary and innocent Iraqis.
The gunmen are supposed to be fighting foreign occupiers or what they term their Iraqi ‘lackeys.’ But the fodder of their carnage is mostly innocent Iraqis.
The nearly six million people of Baghdad live under constant terror in the presence or absence of these gunmen.
Iraqis are now afraid to touch or even come close to any item outside their homes be it a barrel for garbage collection or the corpse of a human being.
Almost everything unattended in Baghdad can be a booby trap.
Car bombs are the weapon of choice but recently the gunmen are resorting to motorcycles as their speed and size makes it easy for them to bypass checkpoints and sneak into cordoned off areas.
The use of motorcycles is not limited to attacks against U.S. or government troops.
Criminals and thugs are using them to kill, rob, steal and assassinate rivals.
There is no shortage of motorcycles as is the case with almost anything the gunmen need to execute their dirty plans.
In the absence of strict border controls, everything can enter Iraq and there more motorcycle shows in Baghdad than anytime before.
Motorcyclists do not have to obtain a driving license or a registration as do most drivers in Iraq. And even if the authorities want to impose such restrictions they lack the means to do so.
“The gunmen have resorted to motorcycles following government measures to block certain headquarters with concrete slabs. They find it easy to drive through,” said Marwan Ahmad from Adhamiya.
Sameer Amer says motorcyclists have been attacking targets in residential areas “but the police always fail to catch them.”
Iraqi police or U.S. troops do not use motorcycles in their operations and the gunmen’s large-scale use of them has given them an edge in fighting, said Amer.
Amer says motorcycles are widely used in breaking into super markets and shops in the area of Amiriya in Baghdad.
Motorcycles are even employed widely in the restive district of Doura, one of the violent areas in Baghdad.
Khatab Ahmad said: “Most of the military operations and assassinations taking place in Doura are carried out by gunmen using motorcycles.”
Ahmad Abbas, a police officer, says there has been “a marked surge” in operations using motorcycles as bombs.
“They are easy to get and their impact when booby-trapped can be as lethal as that of a car-bomb,” said Abbas.
You can get a motorcycle for about 25,000 dinars (about 17 U.S. dollars), rendering them within reach of many in Iraq.
There are not exact figures on the number of motorcycles in Iraq, but, according to Ihsan Abdullah, a motorcycle dealer, there are more motorcycles than cars in the country.
“Motorcycles have dramatically increased in number in the past three years. We have motorcycles of all sorts and origins. We import them from Japan, China, Thailand, Iran and many other countries,” Abdullah said.
He said traffic jams and closure of streets and districts particularly in Baghdad have made the motorcycle one of the most attractive means of transport.
“But I am afraid nearly 30 per cent of all the motorcycles in Iraq have been used in terrorist operations,” says Hassoun Bader, another motorcycle dealer.
By Ali al-Mawsawi
Azzaman, November 4, 2006
Iraqi gunmen, insurgents, terrorists, or whatever you might call them, have recently introduced new tactics to deter their enemies but their victims are mostly ordinary and innocent Iraqis.
The gunmen are supposed to be fighting foreign occupiers or what they term their Iraqi ‘lackeys.’ But the fodder of their carnage is mostly innocent Iraqis.
The nearly six million people of Baghdad live under constant terror in the presence or absence of these gunmen.
Iraqis are now afraid to touch or even come close to any item outside their homes be it a barrel for garbage collection or the corpse of a human being.
Almost everything unattended in Baghdad can be a booby trap.
Car bombs are the weapon of choice but recently the gunmen are resorting to motorcycles as their speed and size makes it easy for them to bypass checkpoints and sneak into cordoned off areas.
The use of motorcycles is not limited to attacks against U.S. or government troops.
Criminals and thugs are using them to kill, rob, steal and assassinate rivals.
There is no shortage of motorcycles as is the case with almost anything the gunmen need to execute their dirty plans.
In the absence of strict border controls, everything can enter Iraq and there more motorcycle shows in Baghdad than anytime before.
Motorcyclists do not have to obtain a driving license or a registration as do most drivers in Iraq. And even if the authorities want to impose such restrictions they lack the means to do so.
“The gunmen have resorted to motorcycles following government measures to block certain headquarters with concrete slabs. They find it easy to drive through,” said Marwan Ahmad from Adhamiya.
Sameer Amer says motorcyclists have been attacking targets in residential areas “but the police always fail to catch them.”
Iraqi police or U.S. troops do not use motorcycles in their operations and the gunmen’s large-scale use of them has given them an edge in fighting, said Amer.
Amer says motorcycles are widely used in breaking into super markets and shops in the area of Amiriya in Baghdad.
Motorcycles are even employed widely in the restive district of Doura, one of the violent areas in Baghdad.
Khatab Ahmad said: “Most of the military operations and assassinations taking place in Doura are carried out by gunmen using motorcycles.”
Ahmad Abbas, a police officer, says there has been “a marked surge” in operations using motorcycles as bombs.
“They are easy to get and their impact when booby-trapped can be as lethal as that of a car-bomb,” said Abbas.
You can get a motorcycle for about 25,000 dinars (about 17 U.S. dollars), rendering them within reach of many in Iraq.
There are not exact figures on the number of motorcycles in Iraq, but, according to Ihsan Abdullah, a motorcycle dealer, there are more motorcycles than cars in the country.
“Motorcycles have dramatically increased in number in the past three years. We have motorcycles of all sorts and origins. We import them from Japan, China, Thailand, Iran and many other countries,” Abdullah said.
He said traffic jams and closure of streets and districts particularly in Baghdad have made the motorcycle one of the most attractive means of transport.
“But I am afraid nearly 30 per cent of all the motorcycles in Iraq have been used in terrorist operations,” says Hassoun Bader, another motorcycle dealer.
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