* The plan of National Reconciliation that Prime Minister Maliki addressed the Parliamnet with was a reasonable one, but the totally unreasonable was the whining and more whining that "some" members of Parliament and politicians have met the plan with. What on Earth do they want?! Nobody knows.
* The security plan continues to suck, completely! Friday 23 June had gunmen set up check points in Haifa Street, right in Baghdad's heart! The gov't called for a quick curfew that held hundreds of people in the streets! Scores of Ministry of Industry workers were kidnapped in broad daylight, only to start emerging later as bodies floating in Tigris.
I have seen with my very own eyes, two holes as big as Grand Canyon in this security plan of theirs.
No. 1 is that you come from a hotbed area, take a shortcut and swerve around two check points, and you have arrived at Mansour, One of Baghdad's important areas, without even seeing one policeman or soldier!! As simple as that!! The other one was when i was driving down Al-Rabee' Street. They have this concrete-walled check point, and there is a shortcut next to it where cars climb the pavement and drive under the noses of the soldiers and their concrete walls. I swear that half of the cars skipped the checkpoint this way.
So, would criminals be so damn stupid to go right into the checkpoints, not taking the shortcuts and swerving around the checkpoints?! Seriously!!!
29 June 2006
22 June 2006
"Congratulations to your mother!"
Congratulations to your mother... And by saying "you", i don't mean you; and in case you have been wondering, it wasn't said to me either!
I am the one who is using this Iraqi proverb "Congratulations to your mother!" or (Niyalha Lummak), to address the good ol' government, for their outstanding security plan that has been going for more than a week now, without any significant results. They speak about this "security plan", but there is no "security", and we're not sure if there is a "plan". This proverb is sarcastically said to someone who thinks that he did something big, but he, as a matter of fact, did nothing, or even did it the wrong way!
Car bombs blow up on a daily basis anywhere they like to blow up, volatile areas are still far away from being calm, and check points are something decorative to create traffic jams. The latter point has a proof that was not told to me, but lived by me, and i saw it with my very eyes!
And here's the cute little story:
I went this past weekend to downtown Baghdad for some business, and because of the odd-numbers / even-numbers no-drive rules, i couldn't go by my car to the place i wanted to go to, so i took taxis. I returned home at around 6 pm, and on the way, the car i was riding went through a check point, like all the cars going through that part of the street. I was in the car, and the driver was a grey haired man in his 50's i guess, who had a light beard. The Iraqi soldier allowing the cars to pass decided to pull us over for some reason, so we went into the pulled over cars' lane. I, of course, supposed that once we are pulled over, then the routine procedure to follow is to search the car or maybe even us, let alone looking at our IDs. Nothing happened! The other soldier, who was responsible for searching the cars, looked at me and the driver in the face, asked the driver to open the back window behind me with the automatic button, the driver said that that back window does not work, the soldier came to the car, opened the door behind me, made sure that the window doesn't work, closed the door and said go!
So, i am still scratching my head here 4 days after it happened; it is either the first soldier didn't have a good reason to pull us over, or the second soldier didn't have the slightest clue of what should he do once a car enters his checking lane!!
Some "security"!
But that is not the big story. The big story is the kidnapping of some 70 workers going out of a Ministry of Industry factories on the northern tip of Baghdad, some 30 people of whom were released later, for being women (and their children), or for being Sunnis. 50 people were kidnapped last week from Central Baghdad, only hundereds of yards outside the Green Zone borders, by armed men wearing police uniforms and posing as police in broad daylight!! 10 survivors were said to be found, but what did they say?! Nobody knows (yet), and probably we'll never will!
Another story is one that filled all the newspapers about the memo that Ambassador Khalilzad sent to Condie Rice regarding the lives of the Iraqi employees of the American Embassy in Baghdad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060620/cm_usatoday/iraqasseenthrough9lives An outstanding example of what all Iraqis are going through, excluding what the coalition forces are doing of course, which is now falling in the grey area, sometimes good, sometimes....
One of the important notes in that memo, is mentioning that the gov't is "not relevant", or in other words (knows nothin' about muffin!).
Well, we still hope there will be a gov't in Iraq one day, that could establish the rule of law, until then there is -unfortunately- no rule and there is also no law.
More soon!
I am the one who is using this Iraqi proverb "Congratulations to your mother!" or (Niyalha Lummak), to address the good ol' government, for their outstanding security plan that has been going for more than a week now, without any significant results. They speak about this "security plan", but there is no "security", and we're not sure if there is a "plan". This proverb is sarcastically said to someone who thinks that he did something big, but he, as a matter of fact, did nothing, or even did it the wrong way!
Car bombs blow up on a daily basis anywhere they like to blow up, volatile areas are still far away from being calm, and check points are something decorative to create traffic jams. The latter point has a proof that was not told to me, but lived by me, and i saw it with my very eyes!
And here's the cute little story:
I went this past weekend to downtown Baghdad for some business, and because of the odd-numbers / even-numbers no-drive rules, i couldn't go by my car to the place i wanted to go to, so i took taxis. I returned home at around 6 pm, and on the way, the car i was riding went through a check point, like all the cars going through that part of the street. I was in the car, and the driver was a grey haired man in his 50's i guess, who had a light beard. The Iraqi soldier allowing the cars to pass decided to pull us over for some reason, so we went into the pulled over cars' lane. I, of course, supposed that once we are pulled over, then the routine procedure to follow is to search the car or maybe even us, let alone looking at our IDs. Nothing happened! The other soldier, who was responsible for searching the cars, looked at me and the driver in the face, asked the driver to open the back window behind me with the automatic button, the driver said that that back window does not work, the soldier came to the car, opened the door behind me, made sure that the window doesn't work, closed the door and said go!
So, i am still scratching my head here 4 days after it happened; it is either the first soldier didn't have a good reason to pull us over, or the second soldier didn't have the slightest clue of what should he do once a car enters his checking lane!!
Some "security"!
But that is not the big story. The big story is the kidnapping of some 70 workers going out of a Ministry of Industry factories on the northern tip of Baghdad, some 30 people of whom were released later, for being women (and their children), or for being Sunnis. 50 people were kidnapped last week from Central Baghdad, only hundereds of yards outside the Green Zone borders, by armed men wearing police uniforms and posing as police in broad daylight!! 10 survivors were said to be found, but what did they say?! Nobody knows (yet), and probably we'll never will!
Another story is one that filled all the newspapers about the memo that Ambassador Khalilzad sent to Condie Rice regarding the lives of the Iraqi employees of the American Embassy in Baghdad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060620/cm_usatoday/iraqasseenthrough9lives An outstanding example of what all Iraqis are going through, excluding what the coalition forces are doing of course, which is now falling in the grey area, sometimes good, sometimes....
One of the important notes in that memo, is mentioning that the gov't is "not relevant", or in other words (knows nothin' about muffin!).
Well, we still hope there will be a gov't in Iraq one day, that could establish the rule of law, until then there is -unfortunately- no rule and there is also no law.
More soon!
16 June 2006
The Crackdown, or The Meltdown?!
A military operation began two days ago to pull security together in Baghdad. Check points that look more carefully into cars are set up.
Raids were also reported or heard of in some places in Baghdad. May be not raids, but inspections. Either is good, in my opinion, because it might lead somewhere.
In our area, that needs something to be done, there is nothing yet. But we will see...
The problem with Baghdad is that it is too big. You could put 4 Maltas or 2 Bahrains, or a Hong Kong easily in Baghdad, and don't forget 7 million people, and 6-hours electricity per day in 40 C (105 F) ! As i always say: They don't call it "hot spot" for nothing!!!
13 June 2006
Guess Who's Coming To Lunch?!
So! If it isn't George W. Bush himself "coming to lunch"! Waw!
The news did describe that Airforce One landed in a hazy hot day in Baghdad, and i -accidentally- got the photo to prove it!
As i was outside shopping with my cell phone with me, i heard a sound of an airplane, looked up and there was this big white airplane making it for a landing in Baghdad Int'l Airport!!!
Of course, hours had passed before knowing that it was Airforce One, and that i was one of the few -if any- "lucky" guys to see the big bird land!
One of the good things he did was that he emphasized that Iraq should carry the responsibility for itself. Don't we all hope so?!
Anyways, it is not the visit that it's important, but the results would be.
And as i always say: We will see...
08 June 2006
Zarqawi's Death: Who Wept Him?!
The list is as follows:
1- Muslim Scholars in Iraq Association ( www.iraq-amsi.org ) : Its spokesperson Mohamed Bashar Al-Faydhi even named some "would-be" successors! speaking to Al-Jazeera.
2- Al-Jazeera was rather sad, kept a long face, and met with many pro-Alqaida "analyists"
3- Muntasir Al-Zayyat, an Egyptian lawyer known for his relations with militant groups, on Al-Jazeera: He even offered long prayers for AMZ!
4- At around 15:18 (=11:18 GMT), while Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al-Jazeera's Amman correspondant was blabbing with the brother-in-law of Zarqawi (also fluffy bearded) in their hometown of Zarqa, the whole bunch was arrested by the Jordanian security live on the air. The funniest thing in the incident is when the news anchor was saying that "our correspondant was talking to the husband... The sister... sorry, the brother's husband... Ummm, the sister's husband of Zarqawi".
5- Al-Jazeera talks on the phone with Ibrahim Al-Shammari, leader of the so-called "Islamic Army in Iraq", who eulogized Zarqawi, and said that they won't give up the "fight".... He should've said the "killing"...
6- Al-Jazeera hosted an Iraqi analyst from Beirut, who stormed them boldly for having an all day long eulogy of Zarqawi, without asking for other opposing opinions. The anchor says to him: "But we met some Americans". The analyst said: "Iraqis are Iraqis, no Americans, all Iraq, especially the honorable Sunni sect, all Iraq is happy today, and Al-Jazeera is weeping?!"... The Anchor claimed again that they are neutral, and to prove this neutrality, the next guest was no one rather than a Taliban spokesman!!!
Neutrality my butt!
O, Al-Jazeera! When o when are gonna behave?!
1- Muslim Scholars in Iraq Association ( www.iraq-amsi.org ) : Its spokesperson Mohamed Bashar Al-Faydhi even named some "would-be" successors! speaking to Al-Jazeera.
2- Al-Jazeera was rather sad, kept a long face, and met with many pro-Alqaida "analyists"
3- Muntasir Al-Zayyat, an Egyptian lawyer known for his relations with militant groups, on Al-Jazeera: He even offered long prayers for AMZ!
4- At around 15:18 (=11:18 GMT), while Yasser Abu Hilalah, Al-Jazeera's Amman correspondant was blabbing with the brother-in-law of Zarqawi (also fluffy bearded) in their hometown of Zarqa, the whole bunch was arrested by the Jordanian security live on the air. The funniest thing in the incident is when the news anchor was saying that "our correspondant was talking to the husband... The sister... sorry, the brother's husband... Ummm, the sister's husband of Zarqawi".
5- Al-Jazeera talks on the phone with Ibrahim Al-Shammari, leader of the so-called "Islamic Army in Iraq", who eulogized Zarqawi, and said that they won't give up the "fight".... He should've said the "killing"...
6- Al-Jazeera hosted an Iraqi analyst from Beirut, who stormed them boldly for having an all day long eulogy of Zarqawi, without asking for other opposing opinions. The anchor says to him: "But we met some Americans". The analyst said: "Iraqis are Iraqis, no Americans, all Iraq, especially the honorable Sunni sect, all Iraq is happy today, and Al-Jazeera is weeping?!"... The Anchor claimed again that they are neutral, and to prove this neutrality, the next guest was no one rather than a Taliban spokesman!!!
Neutrality my butt!
O, Al-Jazeera! When o when are gonna behave?!
BBC Report: How Arab TV Covered (Zarqawi's Death) Event
Courtsey BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5058534.stm
Arab TV coverage of Zarqawi death
The first report of the death of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was observed by BBC Monitoring on the pan-Arab TV station al-Jazeera.
At 0650 GMT al-Jazeera reported that Iraqi TV was quoting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as saying that Zarqawi had been killed. The TV added that "the Pentagon has not thus far confirmed the report".
At 0702 GMT the Iraqi TV station al-Sharqiya announced that the prime minister would soon give a news conference of "paramount importance".
At 0722 GMT the pan-Arab al-Arabiya TV carried a screen caption quoting its correspondent reporting: "Maliki announces the death of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq."
Further details
As viewers waited for the news conference, details began to emerge on other Arabic TV stations.
Al-Zarqawi had been killed during a US air raid, reported al-Arabiya.
"Al-Zarqawi has been killed in air raid north of Baquba," said a screen caption broadcast by Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan KurdSat TV at 0740 GMT.
Live announcement
Iraqi TV stations broke into their regular schedules at 0741 GMT to bring their viewers the news conference live.
The children's cartoons on al-Sharqiya TV stopped and al-Iraqiya TV interrupted its regular cookery programme.
The scene switched to Baghdad, as Iraqi networks ran the news conference live. Viewers saw Prime Minister Nouri Maliki make the announcement at 0742 GMT:
"Today al-Zarqawi has been killed." The announcement was followed by applause and cheering.
First reactions
As the news conference continued, al-Iraqiya TV provided a consecutive translation into English.
Pan-Arabic stations combined clips from the news conference with recent footage of al-Zarqawi and reports on his background.
Al-Arabiya cited the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, congratulating the US military but warning that "the killing of Zarqawi will not put an end to violence in Iraq".
Al-Arabiya also quoted al-Zarqawi's brother as saying that the killing "was expected".
*BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
01 June 2006
Viva Google, عاشت غوغل :)
Well, it seems that my prayers have been answered!
And that the wish i wrote only a couple of days ago in my posting "The Cookie Monster" have finally came true!! :)
I am flying with happiness at this moment, with this announcement i just read on Google's Official Blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/two-more-gmail-languages.html
Thank you, thank you Google...
You gave me something to be happy about, in a time when finding such thing is difficult!
This is your big Google Fan reporting :)
And that the wish i wrote only a couple of days ago in my posting "The Cookie Monster" have finally came true!! :)
I am flying with happiness at this moment, with this announcement i just read on Google's Official Blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/two-more-gmail-languages.html
Thank you, thank you Google...
You gave me something to be happy about, in a time when finding such thing is difficult!
This is your big Google Fan reporting :)
31 May 2006
Violence Continues
Yesterday, our whole area stood on its feet as something happened for probably for the first time here. It used to happend in a bit farther parts of town, but not here until now.
A car came, and two people whose hands were tied were brought down of the car to a little dump square, and they were both shot in the head on the spot.
Some people even thought that the killers had put detonators under the two dead bodies, in order to kill the police or army or whoever comes to deal with the two bodies.
Furthermore, I heard on the radio this morning that armed men in Ramadi who have the on-the-ground control, have banned satellite TV and wireless internet.
This comes in addition to some other banned things such as (written in bold are confirmed): Shorts, goatie beards, smoking in the street, short (marines-like) hair for men, uncovered hair for women, trousers (even wide ones) for women, t-shirts with English writings; oh and mixing tomatoes (feminine) and cucumbers (masculine) in the same bag!
I just wonder what would come next, where would they stop, and when would the Gov't or even the American Army would wake up and do something or anything about it, if some of these stuff do not happen elsewhere, but in Baghdad?!
Everyday they tell us that they caught 50 terrorists and gangsters, "including key figures", but we are not seeing the effect in the restive areas; so what exactly are the gov't and armed forces doing?
The bigger question is: Excuse me, do we have a government??!! If yes, then don't tell me, SHOW ME!!!!
A car came, and two people whose hands were tied were brought down of the car to a little dump square, and they were both shot in the head on the spot.
Some people even thought that the killers had put detonators under the two dead bodies, in order to kill the police or army or whoever comes to deal with the two bodies.
Furthermore, I heard on the radio this morning that armed men in Ramadi who have the on-the-ground control, have banned satellite TV and wireless internet.
This comes in addition to some other banned things such as (written in bold are confirmed): Shorts, goatie beards, smoking in the street, short (marines-like) hair for men, uncovered hair for women, trousers (even wide ones) for women, t-shirts with English writings; oh and mixing tomatoes (feminine) and cucumbers (masculine) in the same bag!
I just wonder what would come next, where would they stop, and when would the Gov't or even the American Army would wake up and do something or anything about it, if some of these stuff do not happen elsewhere, but in Baghdad?!
Everyday they tell us that they caught 50 terrorists and gangsters, "including key figures", but we are not seeing the effect in the restive areas; so what exactly are the gov't and armed forces doing?
The bigger question is: Excuse me, do we have a government??!! If yes, then don't tell me, SHOW ME!!!!
30 May 2006
A Message to a Friend...
These lines are quotes dedicated to a very dear friend, a very true friend, who moved away to another town...
I hope that the blessings of God be with that friend wherever that friend may go, and that we meet again someday... Bye, J!
There's a miracle of friendship that
dwells within the heart
And you don't know how it happens
or where it gets its start
But the happiness it brings you
always gives a special lift
Any you realize that friendship
Is God's most perfect gift.
- Anon.
"When I find myself fading, I close my eyes and realize my friends are my energy."
-Anon.
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see."
-John Burroughs
"Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are everything."
-Willa Cather, Shadows on the Rock, 1931
"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend."
-Henry David Thoreau
29 May 2006
The Cookie Monster!
Hello All!
I guess you all know by now, that i am a Google fan.
I don't use any search engine except "The Big G", use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, read the official Google Blogs, and the list goes on!
However, there is something i would like to report to the world, and i still don't know what it is, or what is causing it!
For a year now, i have been a happy Gmail'er, and it is a pleasant experience to tell you the truth, except for the inability to use it in Arabic (i hope Gmail Arabic/ Arabic text enabled happens one day while i am still breathing!)... But now a new negative point have poped up, and i strongly believe that it is not Gmail's fault, rather than something from my side that i can't put my finger on...
For sometime now, i am having a difficulty signing into my Gmail, the "Google Accounts" page that came right afterwards seems a bit stubborn; and expecting such a problem due to the neat system Gmail works with, (and how backwards my computer is, i may add), i used the auto forwarding feature in Gmail to drop my G-mails into Yahoo!... But Yahoo's Sign in page became stubborn as well! That left me only with the POP feature that saved the day.
It seemed to me that some pages that have the https:// prefix failed to open well... Until two days ago, when something weird happened, which left me "crying", when anything that is Google refused to open! I even tried to go through Google Int'l websites,like Google Jordan or Google Greece, but nothing happened! For a moment i thought it was a Microsoft conspiracy!! :)
I recall that the Google Help pages once said that we should delete the offline files, history and cookies, so i did just that. Man! I even brought the Cookie Monster to eat all the cookies and it didn't work... Again, i think my computer has the glitches big time! But today, things suddenly got better, and everything returned to normal, for now, that is!
I guess you all know by now, that i am a Google fan.
I don't use any search engine except "The Big G", use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, read the official Google Blogs, and the list goes on!
However, there is something i would like to report to the world, and i still don't know what it is, or what is causing it!
For a year now, i have been a happy Gmail'er, and it is a pleasant experience to tell you the truth, except for the inability to use it in Arabic (i hope Gmail Arabic/ Arabic text enabled happens one day while i am still breathing!)... But now a new negative point have poped up, and i strongly believe that it is not Gmail's fault, rather than something from my side that i can't put my finger on...
For sometime now, i am having a difficulty signing into my Gmail, the "Google Accounts" page that came right afterwards seems a bit stubborn; and expecting such a problem due to the neat system Gmail works with, (and how backwards my computer is, i may add), i used the auto forwarding feature in Gmail to drop my G-mails into Yahoo!... But Yahoo's Sign in page became stubborn as well! That left me only with the POP feature that saved the day.
It seemed to me that some pages that have the https:// prefix failed to open well... Until two days ago, when something weird happened, which left me "crying", when anything that is Google refused to open! I even tried to go through Google Int'l websites,like Google Jordan or Google Greece, but nothing happened! For a moment i thought it was a Microsoft conspiracy!! :)
I recall that the Google Help pages once said that we should delete the offline files, history and cookies, so i did just that. Man! I even brought the Cookie Monster to eat all the cookies and it didn't work... Again, i think my computer has the glitches big time! But today, things suddenly got better, and everything returned to normal, for now, that is!
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