BBC News Article: Historic Kuwaiti visit to Baghdad

Kuwait's foreign minister has flown to Iraq for the highest-level visit since Iraq's armed forces invaded its southern neighbour in 1990.

Sheikh Muhammad al-Sabah, who is also Kuwait's deputy prime minister, met Iraq's PM and other top officials.

They discussed joint oilfields, maritime borders and war reparations, exactly 19 years after Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait.

Iraqi officials said it was "illogical" to continue paying Kuwait compensation.

Many countries have written off their debts to help Iraq get back on its feet since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by a US-led invasion in 2003.

However Kuwait, which has so far received $13.3bn in compensation from Iraq, is holding out for more. Iraq currently pays 5% of its oil revenues as compensation to Kuwait.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the Kuwaiti parliament, and not their government, shown to decide on the matter.

On Wednesday night, Kuwait celebrated its liberation for the first time at a banquet in their Baghdad embassy.

Kuwait's first ambassador to Iraq since the 1990-91 war, Ali al-Momen, said: "It means a great deal to me, to my people, to my leadership, having this celebration on this land."

"We have a great task ahead of us and we will work very hard," he added.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Kuwait in January for an Arab economic summit.

Menek$e ile Halil (Myrna wa Khalil) Original Soundtrack - Toygar I$ikli ((Ninni))

The Day I Went to Elections...

As many of you know by now, i've been in the Northeastern city of Sulaimaniya since the beginning of January, and couldn't get back before the local elections held in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces due to some business obligations. Just so you know, Kirkuk, Sulaimaniya, Erbil & Duhok provinces didn't get to vote in those elections.

Anyway, now there comes 31 January 2009, and only two days before, the Independant High Electoral Commission says that there is a center for people in Sulaimaniya from other provinces who didn't get to register in the period of time they were given to do so, from mid-July to mid-August 2008. I wasn't registered because i had my mind made up to vote in Baghdad, and i was kind of hoping to be allowed to vote here, since i am nowhere else but here.

So, on the relatively rainy moning of elections day, i went to this center, which was in Jawahiri Arabic School, opposite the Sulaimaniya Governor's offices, and stood on the line. I stood there for 30 minutes or so, and people were debating whether they were allowed to vote or not, since the line was not moving, and there were minibuses taking people someplace and binging others back from that place.

Seeing and hearing what the people on the line were discussing, i decided to go and check with any official there was in (or around) the center. I asked if there was such an official around, and i was told that there is a women sitting inside a tent outside the center. I took a walk around the center, and found that tent. I went inside the tent, and saw a middle-aged Kurdish woman who spoke very good Arabic. She met me with a wide smile. After i greeted her, i stood there explaining my case in brief; that i was planning to vote in Baghdad, but due to some business i had to stay in Sulaimaniya, and here i am trying to vote here. She smiled wider and said:
- "But sir, you are a guest here, and this voting process is only for Internally Displaced People (IDPs)."

I asked here if there was any chance at all for me to vote there, and she said that there wasn't.

I thanked her and left.

Later that day, an Arabic-speaking radio station spoke about how "the elections were great" and how "even mentally-disabled young people were allowed to vote with the help of centers officials."

Now; is a comment really needed on such news item?!?!

Can one really be convinced with the "Iraqi Democracy"?!

Perhaps the only condolence for me, being deprived of my electoral rights, was the outcome of the elections. Maliki's group got the lead. I sort of wanted him (or at least his group) to continue the clean-up they began in 2008. I really respected the man after he kicked both asses, Qaeda & Muqtada.