Disgusting

This is something different form what I first wrote for this entry. I deleted the whole thing after reading two articles over and over.

When the government was formed, I was a little bit optimistic especially when I heard Maliki saying that he is going to do his best to disarm the militias and work for the benefit of Iraq. How stupid I was! Days proved me wrong. Months and months have passed and here I am in America and nothing has changed. I keep asking myself: why there are no loyal people in the government who actually want to do something to help? Why there are ministers who rob form the country’s resources instead of enriching them? Why we hear speeches only and no actions are taken? Why and why and why?

Today, two things frustrated me. The first one was Maliki’s decision to wait to disarm militias. He said this will happen by “the end of this year or the beginning of the coming year.” When I saw the headline in USA Today’s article, I was so frustrated. I read the article and was more frustrated. What the heck he is talking about? Hundreds of people are dying because of the militias and death squads. I mean HUNDREDS!!! Which means a digit followed by two more digits on the right. Each digit is a soul! A life! A person! A mother! A father! A friend! A baby! Are these nothing? Were they born just to be killed? For what? For fake democracy and some stupid slogans? For what? For the sake of a group of white and black turbaned extremists? Does waiting till the end of the year is going to solve something? Let’s count. Let’s suppose there are only 100 people die in Iraq per day. That means 3000 per month which also means 3000 multiplied by 90 days [Oct., Nov., and Dec.] wow! You find out the sum…and wait! Send the number to Maliki because it seems he's bad in Math!

The other thing that made me so frustrated too is that America’s funniest monkey called Maliki and assured him that he still gets support. Bush called Maliki after the latter was scared to death that he might be kicked off because of his failure.

Read what the Washington Post reported:

"He said he was worried about a report that said we were giving him two months,"
White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters, referring to what Maliki told
Bush in the 15-minute phone conversation.

Snow said Maliki, who he said
brought up the timetable question with Bush, was referring to a "rumor" about
"attempts to replace him" if certain conditions weren't met by a certain
time.

Ok. First of all, he begged Bush! And that’s insulting in our culture. Secondly, if they all say Iraq is a “sovereign democratic country” and that the government “has the full power to do whatever it wants”, why did Maliki sound like Bush is the real prime minister of Iraq? If you are confident of yourself and willing to do something, why do you beg others to keep you in your position? This whole phone call revealed many things including the fact that Maliki is just a puppet in the hands of the US administration.

Instead of acting like this, Maliki should have shown some respect to those who die everyday. Enough humiliating our identity. That’s unendurable. If he is really working for his country, he does not need to beg. He should show us actions to make us believe in what he is doing. Jeeeeeeez! These people make me feel I want to throw up.

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

Email

Kidnappings, torture and death! What else does an Iraqi see or hear everyday? Even outside Iraq, Iraqis are haunted by reading what is going on there. One of the means that makes me connected to my country is the internet. Yesterday, a friend of mine emailed me and told me about the kidnapping of one of his friends. The kidnapped young man is a reporter and works for an Iraqi media news agency. Here is what happened in my friends own words:

I kept the names of the reporters and the news agency anonymous for their own protection.


"Hi ****

A friend of Mine who works in [a news agency] was kidnapped yesterday and tortured and then was released at the last moment in Sadr City.

This is how the story went according to his brother for I have not seen the guy himself yet. The [news agency] received a phone call asking for a [reporter] to head to their office in Sadr city in Baghdad to cover a conference over there. The [news agency] first asked for some people to come and escort the crew into Sadr City , but the high ranking Sadr official told them that they will be secure all the way to the office. The crew went there and they did cover the conference. As they were leaving the office, few meters from the office and inside Sadr City, 9 cars came and snatched [the reporters] and released the driver thinking that he might be a taxi driver and not with the crew. The driver immediately informed the [news agency] who immediately called the high ranking Sadr official.

[The reporters] were blind folded and handcuffed and were taken to a house in Sadr city. He was beaten and tortured there and was asked wither he was a Sunni or a Shiite. He was saved because he carried a copy of his Father’s ID card which says that he is from Ummara ( even though that he is Sunni but they did not know that) he told them that his Father is a Shiite from Ummara and he did talk to them about Ummara for he dose know it very well. He was asked wither his mother is a Sunni or a Shiite. He told them that his mother is a Sunni. They kept cursing his father and calling him bad names for marrying a Sunni.

Mean while the Sadr office was looking for [the reporter] and they told the [news agency] not to worry for they will find him. After the one hour torture, suddenly the men who were beating [the reporter] started to apologize to him and set him free along with the [other reporter]. He told his brother that when he got out of the house he found himself in the middle of Sadr city and there were kids playing right in front of that very same house. He took a Taxi and went back to the [news agency] and did the report on the Sadr office Conference which he went there to do in the first place.

The High ranking official from the Sadr office called him after that report was [shown up] and told him that there was a group which was present at the conference who did not like his [news agency] and not him personally that made all this.

This is what I heard from [the reporter’s] brother."

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

Weekend

The last week was so overwhelming and depressing for me. There were too many things to do at once, including keeping track on what is going on in Iraq. “Welcome to grad to school,” one of my best American friends always tells me whenever she sees me studying hard.

I was frustrated so much the last couple of weeks because of the deterioration of the situation especially when my family and friends told me that it’s been ten times worse than before I left. The scene of bodies shown up tortured and killed in the streets is breaking my heart.

I think of Iraq, Baghdad, my family and friends every minute if not every second. Even when I look in the eyes of people, I remember my parents, sister, niece, friends and everyone I know and think of what they are doing at the moment. Are they scared now? Is there shooting near the house? I thought if I keep feeling as sad and frustrated like this, I may end up in a hospital by the time my country needs me to succeed and go back and help.

So to lessen the pain of this feeling, I decided to enjoy the weekend. Instead of staying in the apartment, I thought of going out and have a small trip in Philadelphia’s Center City.

Today, the weather was great. It was chilly but sunny. I decided not to let anything make me upset or sad. I checked my emails, took a shower, had breakfast and went out for my new adventure. In order not to go back home early, I took one of the books with me. I decided to read it in one of the parks.

Market Street was my first destination. Iraqis by nature are addicted to shopping. That’s why you see many of them are killed mostly in markets than in other places. So I decided to go shopping first. The first shopping place I went to when I first arrived was the Gallery Mall, one of the most popular malls which extends over four blocks.

After shopping, I went to Benjamin Franklin Parkway, an amazing place that I would never miss seeing. Being there makes me fee I am in Paris, not in Philadelphia. The surrounding streets look like the Champs-Élysées. My last stop was the Logan Circle where I sat facing the Swan Memorial Fountain. Surrounded by people reading, jogging, taking pictures and children playing, I opened my book and started reading. I didn’t feel the time. I kept reading and reading until I found it was 5 p.m. The beauty of the place made me read as much as I can without feeling bored or tired.

The book I was reading is called Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstile. What is funny is what I read in one of the chapters that talked about truth in covering stories. The writers talked about an incident happened after the death of President John Kennedy. Former president Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, sent for the Secretary of Defense at the time. The book says that Johnson wanted know what was really going on in Vietnam. So the defense secretary, Robert McNamara, went there and came back with two press conferences saying that “progress was noteworthy” there. Eight years later, the book added, The Washington Post and The New York Times published a secret government-written history. “Things were going to hell in Vietnam,” the book quoted the two papers saying. I stopped reading for a second and thought of what is happening now. I laughed at the fact that history repeats itself. Same things are happening but by different people. I don’t know why people don’t learn from their previous mistakes. History is written to teach, not to be in books on shelves.

After I finished reading two chapters of the book, I went back home fresh and satisfied with what I have done today.

Enjoy the pictures.

Pennsylvania Convention Center



The Gallery Mall

Market Street

One of the cafes in Center City

The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

Dunkin' Donuts in Market Street.

Starbucks, my favorite!

Swan Memorial Fountain

The City Hall

A Street leads to Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

Liar Liar Shows up Again!

The number of the dying Iraqis is increasing. No one is doing something to help. Neither the government nor the parliament is trying to end the bloodshed. And now what? More than half a million people were killed since the occupation. What made it worse is Bush’s statements regarding that. “I don’t consider it a credible report. Neither do Gen. Casey nor the Iraqi politicians,” Bush said in a conference aired on abc TV channel. As if people believe in all of those he mentioned including himself. What a jerk!

I hear you! I did the same when I saw him saying this...

Oh my God! Are you crying? This is a doll. It's not your daughter! Mr. Bush says neither he nor Gen. Casey beleives in that. Oops! I forgot our elected government does not recognize the number either.

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

Yahoooooooo! Groups

Imprisoned in their houses, young men and women in Iraq have one companion only. Internet is the only thing that makes them feel they are still alive and can communicate with others in their age.

Before I left, the Iraqi youth used to exchange Iraqi jokes. By course of time, the jokes developed from being innocent into being indirect attacks against the Americans, Iraqi government, Iranians, insurgents, militias and of course the collapse of the aspects of life there. But the case has changed. Something other than jokes is being exchanged through the Iraqi Yahoo youth groups. Some of the widely-read messages stress on how Iraqis should unite in these hard times while the others warn Iraqis from the “imperial plans” of how to divide Iraq and the whole region.

I got the maps posted here in an email from a friend of mine who joined one of the dozens of Iraqi youth groups. The hundreds-if not thousands-group members were exchanging such kinds of emails in the last couple of days.

My other friend who is also a member of the same group sent me another email he got from the other group members. It was about how life was far better under Saddam. It was accompanied by powerful pictures of Saddam in his military uniform and with beautiful pictures of Baghdad before the war.

In spite of all of these messages, the biggest number of shared emails so far includes jokes, but bitter ones. Let’s hope these messages do not go beyond this limit. Otherwise, God knows what would happen.

Click on the picture to get a bigger size.

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

Like Drums

I was on the last step on the stairs in my grandparents’ old house when my entire family and relatives were downstairs looking at me. They were all sad with their faces pale. I asked my uncle if there is a problem. He looked at me from downstairs and said, “It’s our neighborhood”. We both sighed and then I woke up at this moment.

I ran to the computer to see if something bad has happened. My heart was beating fast. I could hear the beats as if it came from a drum. “The email- yes- first,” I said to myself even before wearing my spectacles. I noticed that there is something wrong! I couldn’t read my emails. I grabbed them without even looking at them. My heart was still beating. I found nothing in the email. It was a positive sign. But I said wait! Maybe there was nothing in the email because something bad might have happened. So I checked the newspapers headlines and read all those about Iraq to check if something happened in my neighborhood or my relatives’. I found nothing. Another sigh followed by me leaning on the chair. PHEW!

I found out later that the nightmare almost happened in reality but in my house. My parents told me on the telephone that my relatives were all gathered in my our house for Iftar, the Muslims’ time of breaking their fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

These days, I have nightmares almost everyday. The continuous bad news keeps me always worried. I don’t know how to explain that but I believe it is happening for many reasons. First of all, I don’t remember I slept well since the invasion. Sounds of bombs, shooting, and the fear of being killed everyday deprived me from sleeping well. I had to wake up at least three times at night with my heart beating fast as if someone is chasing me. This feeling is still haunted inside me. I still wake up at night on any sound of any thing and still have nightmares of my family and myself being chased and killed. Eventually, I wake up dizzy.

Sounds of sirens of police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances are an everyday scene in Philadelphia. They are almost the same ones I used to hear in Baghdad. There is a high percentage of crime here and that makes me worry sometimes. TV channels always report about someone killed or robbed, not to mention the car accidents. But I always keep telling myself that I survived three wars, sanctions and tyrannical era. I can manage being safe. It won’t be worse than what is happening in Baghdad.

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com

"Just a Comma"

Being in the middle of action is hard but being away and aware of it is even harder. I can’t stop thinking about Baghdad and the daily horror people are going through every single minute in their lives. Some people may think that I am safe now and should not think about it anymore. I have to say that I am more horrified and worried than in any time before. My heart breaks and aches everyday when I read the news. My breakfast nowadays is internet. Even before I wash my face, I go to my desk, turn the computer on, and read the news. Usually, I end up depressed and sad thinking of the ordeal that seems is not going to end.

The last two weeks have been incredibly terrible for Iraqis. The government seems to be obviously unable to do anything, literally nothing. The members of the so called “Council of Representatives” are busy spitting at each other by the time people are being kidnapped, tortured and killed in cold blood every minute, if not every second. The scene of the dead bodies seems to be haunting on the “new free” Iraqi lands, blood is now seen more than the water people drink, and the Tigris is deserted and full of bodies drilled, beheaded and torn. Moreover, if I want to talk about black funeral banners, I need hundred pages to be fair talking about those whose names are dug on these black cloths which are almost in every street now.

Few days ago, newspapers rushed to talk about how the “friend” forces were able to arrest Dulaimi’s bodyguard suspecting him being linked to al-Qaeda. Well, DAH!! Good morning! Finally, someone woke up. Or maybe they did not wake up. They were already awake but when the snake reached their safe haven, they felt the real danger coming. So they decided to stop it.

What made me so angry is the debate that happened afterwards. Since they detained the bodyguard, Parliament members started spitting and throwing stones at each other, including Dulaimi as if they were shocked that he and the Vice President Hashimi [thanks to democracy that brought them to power] are part of insurgent armed groups in Iraq. What is funny in all of that is that Bahaa al-Araji, another Member of Parliament from the Sadr list, attacked Dulaimi in interviews as if his Mahdi Army thugs are peaceful like birds. Who knows? Maybe weird creatures came from another planet and are breaking into houses and setting up checkpoints in the middle of the day.

As I was reading the news on the web the last month, a Washington Post article drew my attention. It was about the death squads and the checkpoints they set up to hunt civilians and then kill them. I was reading the article for two reasons: first because part of my studies is to read them and the other was because I wanted to see how is it in Baghdad after I left few months ago. The story was very detailed and accurate. The writer described how the situation looks like there by putting the reader in there. I even felt the horror through the words. As I reached the end, I felt myself sinking in tears of fear and horror. I looked at myself in the mirror and remembered every moment of fear I went through. I still have the same feeling but not for me. Just the idea of imagining my family and friends in this situation makes feel sick. I urge you to read the article here.

Last month our lovely president visited the United States. He disputed on reports of growing violence in Iraq and declared, "I can assure you there will be no civil war." Now, what do I make of this? Is he blind? Or what? Someone tells me because this is really irritating. If there is “no civil war”, what does he consider what is going on now? What does he call what the militias and armed groups are doing? Oh Oh! I forgot… It’s only “terrorism”. Oops, I can’t differentiate between his voice and Bush’s. They sound so much alike. Well, it doesn’t matter. They are two faces of the same coin.

"The media is only focusing on the negative and exaggerating it," the Associated Press quoted Talabani. Ok, now tell me anything positive happened. Don’t tell me “restoring water to the marshes in southern Iraq” like what one of 24 steps’ readers said in a comment about reconstruction because that’s stupid. Zarqawi is killed? Nah! Nothing is changed. Iraq is “free”? Nope! It is not.

It’s funny that by the time our “representative” was saying that setting a deadline for withdrawal of U.S. troops would be a tragedy for Iraq, new polls by the U.S. State Department revealed that “a strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence.” If you read the details in this Washington Post article, you’ll know the reasons. People attacked me previously when I said although Saddam was a tyrant, we were able to live relatively normal life. In this article, other people are saying the same thing.

He paused for a moment, then said, "We just want to go back and live like we did
before." from the WP article

Out of this unplanned war, people and U.S. soldiers are being killed everyday due to unforgivable mistakes the U.S. administration committed. In today’s paper, the Washington Post reported “Thirteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since Monday” registering the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in the capital since the start of the war. This happens by the time Bush indifferently says that this traumatic period in Iraq will be seen as "just a comma" in the history books. Wow! I didn’t know that for him the value of more than 2,700 U.S. troop and the hundreds of thousands Iraqis' deaths is "just a comma."

baghdadtreasure@gmail.com