Star Wars 7 - the proxy wars

It seems US thinking is coming out of movies these days. Bush now thinks that the Israel, Hezbollah war is a proxy war between the US and Iran.

The Bush administration has realized that sending its own army to fight its wars is a failed policy and now is pushing its allies to send their own sons to the slaughter on their behalf. Israelis have proved willing monkeys in the new proxy war but I think the Turks are not so stupid.

Replies, replies

Mohammed at Iraq The Model replied to me. In response to my statement:

If a peaceful Iraq just gets to spend a small proportion of its oil wealth on its people while the rest goes to the occupier, Iraq can still be one of the richest countries in the region.

Momammed wrote:

I do not question Salam's good will but I have to disagree with him, I will go farther than what he suggested and give every cent of oil revenues to the people and I will be even excessively optimistic and set a stable level for production and exports and sell the oil at the highest price oil ever reached. Now I wish my friend here and others who share the same belief do some simple math, calculate the total amount of revenue and divide it over the population of Iraq equally, and I challenge anyone who can show me a figure that says we're rich or that our only problem is that someone is stealing our money or oil.

I kind of expected that response. But given that this was not the point of my original post I was not going to elaborate there, but I will now.

With all due respect, this is way too simplistic - you do not take the oil wealth, give it to individual people then assume they only live off this money and all other economic activity in the country just disappears. This is Chalabi's logic. Give people a share of oil for nothing and then buy it privately for next to nothing. Oil money, when used for the benefit of the whole country and invested at a macro-economic scale, is a whole different ball game. Then again, what if Iraq did not just suck oil out of the ground and ship it abroad? If oil is refined first in Iraq it and converted into much, much more expensive by-products the value would be immense. Have you noticed that while oil production has been reconstructed, oil refining remains far below the level required for the country, let alone for export. But I digress..

It was America that suggested that Iraqi oil money would be used for their war effort; one only needs to recall the original cost estimate that Cheney gave for the war back in 2003 and his idle boasts that the whole enterprise would become self-funding from Iraqi oil. America is not out to steal Iraqi oil just to pay their own population cash. They are out to use Iraqi oil to fund their foreign policy and use it as a way to control rival states. As a way to force international trade relations to go their way. Have a problem with European steel subsidies? Need some extra leverage at the next trade talks? Oil price and supply can be a very powerful bargaining chip.

Mohammed suggests that the reason for the war on Iraq is that: "a stable and prosperous middle east would be better for America's interests than a poor, troubled one."

America has many interests but the good of the Iraqi people is way below the bottom of the list and supporting stable democracies is a myth. The simplistic question I would ask after all these years of the War on Terror: how is it that only anti-American totalitarians have been attacked or threatened? I mean how long does it take to put pressure on Mubarak to stop imprisoning and torturing democratic opponents or King Abdullah to respect basic human rights - let alone allow their countries become true democracies. How is it that Libya can get away with remaining a one-family dictatorship and still reopen diplomatic ties with America and Europe? How can America tolerate a fascistic regime under its nose in Iraq? Can you see a pattern emerging here?

American policy to Iraq has been consistent for the past forty years. Keep Iraq under a continuous state of war. if not internal with coup's and repression then external, with Iran. I cannot see anything they have done lately to change that policy. Apart from internal sectarian war there is now a move to promote a new war against Iran that will keep Iraq under a state of war for generations.

I'll tell you a well-known story (at least among some Iraqi political circles). Back in the days when Saddam was friendly with the USSR, the Soviets told their allies - the official Iraqi Communist Party - that it should support the government and work in alliance with Saddam. So the ICP newspaper became legal, and they got a couple token ministries to take care of. After a while they fulfilled their purpose and Saddam had them tortured and executed. And several went to their execution confused and protesting that they were friends and natural allies - why should they be executed? They could not comprehend that the Party of Lenin would betray them.

Same with ITM - the neocons betrayed and will continue to betray the new Arab democrats and ITM will still be pleading "why are you doing this we are natural allies". The US and USSR are big countries with their own agenda and have zero interest in Iraqis. The Soviet Union happily sacrificed the Iraqi Communist Party to gain control of East Germany. The US is happily sacrificing its democrats to tyrants and war to remain an economic super power.

An offer you can refuse

Here are two people who embody the concept of the Chicken Hawk - Ariel Cohen, Middle East specialist at the Heritage Foundation and Gal Luft, director of the Institute for Analysis and Global Security in Washington who want Turkey to lead the international force in Lebanon. Why? They suggested to the Turkish Daily News:

"Unlike the last international force deployed in 1983 in Lebanon, which dissolved after 241 U.S. marines were killed in a Hezbollah bombing, a determined Turkish-led force is not likely to flinch. ... If Turkey succeeds in calming Lebanon, it should be granted points towards its European Union accession and a seat at the table of the great powers."

Too chicken to send American or Israelis soldiers to die fighting Hezbollah they now want Turkey to ruin itself on their behalf. In return they will throw Turkey a few peanuts. And peanuts that they have no right to offer. Difficult decision, American peanuts or Iranian petrodollars... So I asked a Turkish restaurant owner what he thought. And he gave me a look which can only be translated as "these chicken-hawks are babbling idiots."

Turkish Delight

The Saudi King broke his summer holiday and made his first ever state visit to Turkey. Which has one columnist, Semih Idiz, in the Turkish Daily News asking "why now and why after 40 years?" The answer came from Tariq Alhomayed, editor of the London-based Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat:

"History tells us the ambitions of the Safavi dynasty, which converted Iran to Shia Islam and sought to convert others, was hindered by the Ottoman Empire. It seems history will repeat itself."

Talk about living in the past. The stone-age cavemen of the Saudi press seem to have missed the First World War. In other words the Saudis are scared witless from Iran and think they can sweet talk Turkey into supporting them on the basis of some ancient animosity (and a little Bakshish). However, Semih points out that the Ottomans and the Wahabbis were not exacty friends either and

"As for the clash of civilizations ... this was apparent from the moment King Abdullah set foot in Ankara airport. His delegation numbered nearly 300 yet he had not one woman in it. He was met on the steps by Ms. Oya Tuzcogolu, the head of protocol but refrained from shaking her hand -- a typical Islamic fundementalist approach."

Of course such alliances between America's allies in the region fits rather nicely into their concept of the "New Middle East". But will Turkey bite into this offer from the King himself - given Saudi Arabia is waving its own wads of Petrodollars? Well, tomorrow Iran's Oil Minister comes to Turkey to talk about gas supplies and opening a new pipeline through Turkey to Europe. It seem this time money talks and Iran has the better offer.

Flying Over the Iraqi Blogodrome

I am holiday and in a flat with no Internet and no telephone. Yet I still get that urge that keeps drawing me back to the Internet café. My one-hour a day fix to feed my blogging habit. And the Iraqi bloggers are keeping me hooked.

Hacked

After an anonymous hacker temporarily brought down IraqBlogCount Konfused Kid is speculating about conspiracy theories.

As one blogger bows out...

I am sorry to see one of the most active of Iraqi bloggers leave the 'drome. In a short post Ladybird says goodbye..

Cyber-Life finished, Real-Life continues

I apologize if I said anything bad to anybody here.

These are the last words.

Bye all

And the best blog-bituary comes from her arch-nemesis Mister Ghost:

I didn't often agree with Ladybird. Our political philosophies were radically different. I winced at her constant proliferation of posts critical of the United States. ... But I always had a soft spot in my heart for Ladybird. She had high hopes for a better Iraq, and grew disappointed like many Iraqi bloggers, which may have fueled her distrust, ...

And that Ladybird was a tough gal who made something with her life as a member of the International Red Cross in Africa and parts beyond, helping a wide range of people. She survived wars, being shot at, snakebites, was kidnapped, I believe, more than once. Ahhhh, what a book she could write about her life and experiences.

Lets hope that new life involves writing that book!

...another steps in

With a name that will probably blow a hole through all but the best Unicode convertors, ĒL DELILÂH gives us her Not-So Humble Opinion about other Iraqi bloggers. Her blog reviews tear through the victims blog with keen wit that has others waiting in fear of the day she notices them. "i am in anticipation of being reviewed by El Delilah, i hope i will not be found wanting" writes aNarki-13.

El Delilah's first target was Meemo

In the July 20th post which is the most recent, titled "Midnight Chitchat", he goes on as though he's got ADHD. I realize it's a chitchat, but it's one of those things where you lose interest after the first...there are no paragraphs but say chunk. He starts off with how he can't think of anything to talk about, and how they found a decapitated man near the house and all of that. As I read through, I found it no more than "blabber". You would expect a person to be slightly more affected by the fact that a decapitated body was at their door.

And then she lays into The Mesopotamian fists swinging wildly.

He's the All-Knowing Oracle, he warns and warns and people just never listen. Media's the green serpent that is sometimes mean and sometimes plain idiotic, while his majestic self carries on warning...et cetera. You should go to this blog if you've got low self-esteem issues, but you should go with a bucket, because there you can collect some of the bloated ego which drips from his lines.

Ouch. Her review of Meemo also provoked a counter-review from Asterism (that's me). "People are getting beheaded on Meemo's doorstep and Dulilah is moaning about him to grow up. Get a perspective little girl! What is you problem? Were you potty-trained too early? Did your parents force you to study instead of playing. Are you harboring deep grudges of a lost childhood?"

Reading blogs just became more fun!

Word from the streets

Hell on earth would be an understatement for life in Baghdad these days. Baghdad Treasure just moved to Amman and explains the difference between living in a peaceful city and Baghdad:

My life has changed now. I can breath, walk, laugh, joke, cry, run, have fun, and meet with friends and relatives. I missed these things for years. For the last three years, I was like a robot. Living and working for the sake of work and nothing else. No kind of life was represented in my previous life. Fear was my companion. Wherever I go I feel worried and whatever I do I feel cautious. I thought about each step I walked in Baghdad several times before I took its risk.

For those that remain in Baghdad, life is a mixture of dealing with day to day crises...

Anyway, what made me extremely worried was the news that spread like lightning in the neighborhood, the news (or the rumor) says that leaflets were found in the neighborhood carrying threats to Sunni families and telling all Sunni residents to leave.
What the….!!

Do I and my family have to leave our home now? Impossible! That was the first thing I thought of…No, I'm not running away, I'm not leaving the home I was raised in and I'm not abandoning my country…what do these people want from us?!

... or saying sad goodbyes to friends and family who are leaving Iraq indefinitely. Miraj's favourite aunt is trying to leave Iraq. She writes, "Once they are gone from Iraq, we won’t have any family left in Iraq, just another reason that keep us hanging on to Iraq is being dissolved, like every other reason." Or just reacting to the daily horror of it all:

I just wonder how can we continue doing our jobs and go to schools or to work?! A week before, my father came home terrified! He said that some gunmen stop their office bus on the highway that leads to “Albayaa area” in Baghdad. He added and mentioned that those hirelings obliged the driver to pull over and grabbed that poor driver out of the bus and aim their AK47s over his head. One of them ordered the passengers to show their ID cards! The other gunmen yelled: “Fuck them, let’s move on from here quick!”. They took that poor driver with them and quickly drove their four wheel drive Toyota.

And finally...

Iraqi bloggers are still meeting in Amman. The latest discussion have gone from the price of Iraqi petrol: "While I was enjoying the time with my new friends last night, I got a call from an Iraqi friend here in Amman. he told me that the prices of oil products in Baghdad have reached a point where when it’s become impossible for the average Iraqi to buy them." to singing "the famous Phoebe [of F.R.I.E.N.D.S] song, 'Smelly Cat, smelly cat. What are they feeding you?' ".

And finally, finally...

Here is the best blog post I never read:

I wrote the longest post and best post I ever have. And it just dissapeared, I am so dissapointed right now.

Sorry.

Damn.

Consequences, consequences

Here is an interesting kettle of fish. The international consequences of the war in Lebanon has taken an ominous twist. The Turks are up in arms over recent PKK bomb attacks in Turkey. The PKK is a Kurdish resistance or terrorist group in Turkey - depending on how you want to define them. In fact the label terrorist sticks better to the PKK than Hezbollah as they directly target civilians.

Now, given that the PKK operate from Iraqi Kurdistan, the Turks have realised that the American attitude to the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon gives Turkey the moral justification to roll their army across the Iraqi border in order destroy what they see as PKK bases. In fact considering that Turkey is seriously concerned about any form a Kurdish state on their southern border, they may also be tempted to take that moral justification as far as occupying significant portions of Northern Iraq.

Already the Turkish press is saying that as a result of American double-standards over Lebanon and the PKK, a strategic document signed by Turkey and America over the future of the Middle East is all but in shreds. They are even going as far as saying that Turkey would not side with America in any future crisis over Iran's nuclear weapons program.

I wonder what next?

The poverty of hypocricy

Mohammed of Iraq The Model swears at the hypocrisy and negative role of the Arab media in a post that I would generally agree with if he was not using it to blacken Nasralla and Hezbollah.

It is right to say that Arabs as a whole have abandoned Iraq and failed to condemn the hideous crimes carried out in the name of Islam by Al-Qaeda and their ilk. It is especially true of the Palestinians where one Hamas member is on the record for calling Zarqawi a martyr. And it is also ugly to see an Arab media crying over dead children in Qana while the mass murder of Iraqi children went virtually unnoticed.

Decrying Nasrallah as a murdering baby killer, however, and marking Hezbollah as an equivalent to Saddamist Baathists and Al-Qaeda is wrong and Mohammed should know that. He is simply regurgitating American propaganda.

Whatever you can say of Hezbollah, it is a Lebanese-grown movement. Iranian supported or not it grew and was formed from the poor Shia in south Lebanon and trained fighting an Israeli occupation. Al-Qaeda and Saddam on the other hand are both direct products of the American CIA. Saddam received his training in Cairo and was funded and nurtured to be a bloody dictator that would last for years. It was no accident that Bush senior called him a renegade before Gulf War I - implying he was a partner turned bad. And Al-Qaeda received direct US support and training to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

But the significant difference is that, whatever you can say against them, Hezbollah has never directly targeted fellow Arabs. It is not Hezbollah bombs that killed either Iraqi or Lebanese children but both Saddamists are Al-Qaeda have made mass murder of Arabs the cornerstone of their campaigns.

So why this venom against Hezbollah? ITM has thrown its lot in with American domination. And I do not blame them for this, If a peaceful Iraq just gets to spend a small proportion of its oil wealth on its people while the rest goes to the occupier, Iraq can still be one of the richest countries in the region. Hezbollah has put a spanner in the works of their world. It has shown another way. That a principled stand against foreign dominance and occupation can create military victory as well as provide rival model to secure the Middle East back into the hands of the local people.

For ITM anything that gets in the way of their grand plan has to be insulted and demonized and sent to hell. Sorry Mohammed, if you go on like this you are in danger of growing up to be like the hypocritical Arab politicians that you hate so much. You gain respect by telling the truth as you see it not by giving a false picture to further your own world view.

A taste of her own medicine

How about this for the rabbit eating its own dropping. My own blog-review of a blogger who blogs about other bloggers. I dont usually regurgitate the blogospheres own droppings but she annoyed me!

El Delilah has set herself up as gods gift to blog reviews. Every post she finds a new blogger to spit her poison at. And poison is all there is. I live by the saying "if you have nothing positive to say then don't bother to say it" and here the definition why this proverb is a good thing.

But before I descend into my rant - I have to start by saying she is a great blogger - when she hits on The Mesopotamian she is spot on. The guy deserved being pulled down a rung or two and gets his just rewards. But she has issues. Her first post was a wholly unjustified and uncalled for rant against an innocent blogger who was humbly minding his own business and creating his art in his own way. Her "review" was the blogging equivalent of the playground bully. Find someone you think is smaller and lay into him.

Let me start with the name she writes under "ĒL DELILÂH" I'm sorry but using silly accents is not big and it's not clever.

She starts with the reason for her blog:

Some blogs are just great, others are fine, and there's a good number of them that are there to reflect Iraqis' potential at being ignorants, over-bloated, ego-centered, extremists et cetera, you name it and it's there. Not that there aren't people like that everywhere else, but we're the ones that need to get their image fixed.

And why is that Ms. ĒL DELILÂH? I haven't had a conversation yet with any journalist or blogger who says that Iraqi blogs are collectively ignorants, over-bloated, or ego-centric. I just hear awed appreciation for Riverbend, Salam Pax, Zeyad, Iraq The Model, etc. When you can get your blog listed for one of the worlds most prestigious book prizes, or have your blog consistently in the top 500 blogs worldwide, or you can get a job with the Guardian and the BBC, or get published in the New York Times you have a right to say that. Until then pleased shut up.



She goes on to rant about Meemo's writing style:

Now, we Iraqis aren't normally raised speaking English, and we might not be the best writers ever in English. But this guy writes the longest overrun sentences ever, even longer than resolutions. Every post is an overrun sentence, itself, and there is no such thing as paragraphs.

Suddenly Delilah is an expert on English. There is one thing I respect the English language for and its the one thing any true expert of the English language will tell you is that English has huge room for innovation. And Meemo is one of those rare bloggers who is trying to create some thing original through his use of the language. I admit it is somewhat hard going but original nonetheless. Like a complex jazz composition - not everyone's cup of tea but still has a perfect right to its place in the blogosphere.



The rest of the post sinks into the realm of personal insults from which there is no recovery:

he goes on as though he's got ADHD ... I found it no more than "blabber" ... you just can't help thinking "Boy! Get a life!" ... he's either a metroman dying to get laid, or a plain homosexual going through denial and it's getting to his brain...if there's such a thing ...

It all just got me wondering why this venom. Meemo doesn't tell people to be like him, he is not advising others to support this war or that army, he just tells us about his life as he sees it. Then I read this:

Unfortunately, Meemo's likes are becoming the more common element in our youth. Quite a burden on society, quite sluggish and grumpy, hollow to a level where their value as human beings is not that high in a world where a person is valued by what they can produce and what they've got to offer.

Here we go, she is on a moral crusade to rid Iraq of lazy teenagers. People are getting beheaded on Meemo's doorstep and Dulilah is moaning about him to grow up. Get a perspective little girl! What is you problem? Were you potty-trained too early? Did your parents force you to study instead of playing. Are you harboring deep grudges of a lost childhood?

It is sad to see a good blogger waste her effort on personal vedettas. Especially when the Iraqi blogosphere needs more talanted people. Posts like this will just put new bloggers off. Well, Ms. Dolilah, if you want to pick on someone - have a go at my blog if you think you are big enough. Otherwise have the decensy to apologise.

Flying Over the Iraqi Blogodrome

I'm on holiday - posting from a smoky Internet Café in Turkey - so only time for a small sliver of the Iraqi blogs this week. There are two that really stood out and make essential reading. Both are from the same kind of person, secular, middle-class, Westernized, Iraqi. Both have experienced the horrors of war firsthand. Yet each comes to conclusions that are worlds apart and each describe their feelings more eloquently than any other writer I have read since the start of the Lebanon crisis. You want to know why blogs are going to push the established media out? Read these and you will see.

First, came Hala's post of her reaction to the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Hala recently returned from Beirut where she was one of the last tourists to enter in peacetime. She gives a daily account of life through the bombardment and gives one of the most eloquent reactions against the Israeli's I have seen anywhere:

I’ve never ever felt so humiliated in my life as I did seeing Israeli jets flying freely in the skies of Beirut... I loathed our weakness, I loathed being born as an Arab, I loathed living in London I hated myself so much I couldn’t even look in the mirror or watch my shadow as I walk. I felt so small and envied a tiny ant struggling to find its way through the sand.

I hate peace and I don’t believe in it anymore, it is so clear now that the more we bow and compromise the more we got stepped at and smashed. If there would be peace one day it has to be on our own terms.

Israel is talking about changing the culture of hate; what a joke, those cowards have the cheek to speak about hate. Israel has the right to defend itself; and talking about us trying to throw them in the sea, so meanwhile they are throwing us in hell.

The US has only one goal, that is to turn the area to a desert and drain it freely; armless, helpless, pacified and who dares to say a word.

It is very hard for me to say that our only salvation is to ally with Iran, the only strong country left, enough is enough we are living in an era where you have to be feared not respected.

And a small message to all the hypocrates; you may kill and slaughter trying to establish a so called "The New Middle East"; rememmber you are fighting an ideology not a group of people.

Nasrallah is not a terrorist; he is probably the last dignified man in the area. Right now he is the only man I can take my hat off for.

Then came Mohammed's post in Iraq the Model:

I feel I must talk about the Arab media and its deception campaign and that's because wars in both Lebanon and Iraq are largely the same. In both cases the media functions not only as a means to deliver news but had long turned into an effective weapon that is not the least interested in objectivity or factuality. ...

Perhaps the peak in the destruction curve inflicted by the Arab media on the Arab mind was in the exploitation of the Qana tragedy, ... I was horrified by the ugly scenes of extracting the dead children's corpses from beneath the rubble. That scene was a disgusting act of begging for sympathy and an attempt to sell the dead childhood to serve an evil cause...

This is utter absurdity that challenges reason and diverts the view from the real criminal, the children-murdering butcher Nesrallah. Don't ever think those criminals were hurt by that scene … if they really care about the children and the innocent we would've seen similar angry reaction and uproar to what they show now when more than a hundred of children were massacred in two terror crimes in Baghdad in 2004 in Hay al-Amil and 2005 in New Baghdad. ...

The murderer in those crimes was not a pilot unsure of what was inside a building and it wasn't midnight either, no, the criminal went purposefully straight into a crowd of children celebrating a new project in their neighborhood or receiving candies and gifts.

... the murderer was Arab and Muslim and holding him responsible would've blown away the ideology of "resistance"

Although these posts are worlds apart, there is a common thread. A deep hatred of the hypocrisy of media and governments. and a recognition that the days of peaceful negotiation are over.

A sense of perspective

Neurotic Wife cuts through all the emotional language and gets to the point:

Now lets get into the nitty gritty...People have to understand that theres a fine line between what people define terrorism and what people see as self defense...The daily killing of Iraqis is a terrorism act...The Qana massacre is a terrorism act... 911 was a terrorism act...Oklahoma bombing was a terrorism act...Any killing of any kind that involves innocent people going victims IS A TERRORISM ACT... Had the scene been reversed and the shelter was in Israel, I probably would have reacted the same way but maybe with less ferver...Most of the victims in Lebanon that were killed were innocent people and not Hizbollah militia...

Do I support Hizbollah??? No I dont support Hizbollah...Do I support the Israeli action??? No...Do I support Al Sadr??? No No No...And when I say I dont support these people, I mean I do not support their policies...I do not judge people by their faith, nor do I judge people by their nationality...But Im sorry to say that there are many ignorant people in this world, that are extremely judgemental and I will also say very shallow...Take Oklahoma bombing for instance...The minute it took place all fingers pointed to the Middle East...Doesnt that tell you something???

And Finally...

There has been the biggest Iraq blogger meeting ever in Amman, Jordan last week. So what do you think they did? Plot the overthrow of the mainstream media? develop a solution for world peace? devise a new political system?

Morbid Smile writes: "There were Hala_S, Anarki, The Kid, Zeyad, Attawie and me. My sister was around but she was exploring the place with Mom. It was fun. We talked about blogs, Baghdad and other stuff, and sure a few political topics!"

What??? That was it??? Oh no, there was one more thing...

Attawie and I went to movies and watched Pirates of the Caribbean II. Being a big fan of Johnny Depp, I'd say that the movie was so much fun and Jack Sparo was hilarious! After the movie we went out to the mall and walked around for hours and took many photos

Ho hum.

Condi's New Middle East

Time magazine nicely explains America's new policy for the Middle East:

Administration officials say one purpose of Rice's trip is to create an "umbrella of Arab allies" opposed to Hizballah. "She's not going to come home with a cease-fire but with stronger ties to the Arab world," says a U.S. official. "What we want is our Arab allies standing against Hizballah and against Iran." It was, perhaps, the prospect of such an alliance that led Rice last week to say, "What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the birth pangs of a new Middle East."

It is a return to the 1980's Iran/Iraq war policy. Instead of fighting their own wars, America used proxies to attack their enemies. The 1979 Iranian revolution threatened US hegemony in the Middle East. In order to counter that threat Iraq was enticed to invade Iran. Iraq fought a ten year bloody war with Iran on behalf of America. This time around Israel has becomes America's proxy to destroy Hezbollah and Lebanon. And the stupid Israelis like the stupid Saddam blindly lapped this policy up.

What next? Iran again threatens US hegemony throughout the Middle East. But this time America can not fight the next war with Iran itself. After its failures in Iraq, politically, it would not be able to afford the loss of lives and economically it could not finance such a war. So here is the new Middle East that Condi Rice is promoting. A Middle East that would, again, attack Iran on America's behalf. Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and Israel can pay with their blood to keep the dollar from failing.

Unfortunately, for America this policy is based on the same delusions that drove them to invade Iraq in the first place. No sooner than Condi returned to America the whole charade is starting to unravel. Hezbollah has failed to play dead in the face of a massive Israeli onslaught and the Arabs are uniting. Mahmood says it all:

Today; however, all Muslims are virtually a single sect, today all Muslims are Hizballah!

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

With all the war and suffering I just don't feel like blogging. But todays post is important and I feel it is my duty to write it.

If you read no other blog post this week read this

Caesar of Pentra writes of the numbing pain and screaming anger at the loss of his close friends to the random violence in Iraq:

Then I decided to call Baghday’s dad again waiting for more good news about his progress!
But I was surprised when an unfamiliar voice answered
Me: “I’m just asking about Baghday, how is he?!”
The Guy: “I’m his cousin, Baghday has donated his life for you!” which means that Baghday’s gone!
I can’t remember then but a loud sharp wailing screech.
I didn’t imagine that I could cry on someone like that. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t study, I couldn’t stop weeping and I couldn’t stop that desire of cutting ma self again!
The more blood the more relief. ... Isn’t there any moment of silence? Won’t you stop this blood flood? I hate you, Iraqis! I hate you, Iraq! I hate you all! ...

Once, ma mom said: “I’m not Iraqi, I’m Italian! Because in Italy I felt that I was a real human and such land deserves to be your homeland and to consider yourself as a one of their people!”. She was f***ing right!
May God keep my beloved mates in his eternal paradise. And if I could send them a message I will say this:
“Don’t fret, pals! You are in much safer, better and pleasant place! A place with no hypocrites, no love cheaters, no assassins and no power outages.”

Lebanon

Baghdad Connect gives an original view on the war in Lebanon. I read it and thought; well it is so obvious, why should it be so controversial?

Today there is a true chance for a moment of contemplation for both the Lebanese and Israelis to draw back from their hardware, just for brief moments, and look at the bigger picture. They are the only two true democratic systems in the middle-east yet are engaged in a war! ...

This is an opportunity not to be missed for both warring parties to look into their own internal affairs instead of relying on global myths and phony Shamanization. Perhaps it is time for Israel to refrain from the purification war of the dead David Ben-Gurion against the Palestinians, and begin to establish infrastructure of trades with their future neighbors instead of slipping into the inflationary trade of cults and armaments, which will further drag them into the abyss. And for the Lebanese to invest in their own people – as they truly can. ... The Lebanese should realize that their country is the only true democratic Arabic country in the region and they must keep it so.

There was a enough comment on Lebanon in the rest of the blogodrome to fill this post twice over - but I will skip all that and let Neurotic Wife say it all...

can you hear my screams????? You think by doing that you will elliminate terrorism??? ...

Terrorists are those that target innocent civilians!!!Terrorists are bin ladens/saddamists/zarqawis/militias...and now ISRAEL!!!Terrorists are not CHILDRENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN....This is so cowardly....Such a weak act...you wanna elliminate Hizbollah, then go after them and not after the innocent!!! ...

Well done Israel...Well Done Arabs...Well Done US....Well Done the WORLD....Its time for a Standing Ovation....Come on everyone lets all stand up and clap...Clap for the courageous people that spoke out now and said "Cease Fire"...Bravo...Bravo...Bravo...The world has become such a safe place now that these kids have been martyred....So Safe...Wowwww....I can barely recognize it....Bravo...Im impressed....This is exactly what democracy means...Lets teach our children the new meaning of democracy....

Child: Mom, what does democracy mean???
Mother: Well Child, democracy is when you try to protect your self by killing children and women...This is the new found Democracy...

The week in politics

Can national reconciliation in Iraq be a bad thing? Well, it could be according to Iraq The Model. Mohammed explains "I know this may sound a bit confusing so please read to the end…" To cut a long story short he reports on talks of reconciliation between warring sectarian militias, not so much to for the sake of the people but:

"the unpleasant scenario I'm expecting is basically that these parties want this truce to fix one front and pave the way for the beginning of a Sunni-Shia joint Islamic insurgency against the US and the UK in Iraq, and I call it Islamic because that's how the planning party wants it to look like to persuade militants of the other sect to join them in their next mischief or at least to guarantee that the other sect would remain neutral during the conflict they are planning to spark."

Is there a hidden hand behind the sectarian killings in Iraq? Baghdad Connect delves into the news of recent massacres and wonders how sectarian they really are. In the recent in Hay Al-Jihad massacre BC reports that Sunnis were not the only ones targeted but also the 14 Shia employees of a company he knew personally. And if not a hidden hand maybe the mainstream media:

the media simply ‘assumes or believes ’ that the dead are either Shiites or Sunnis depending on the area where the crime is being reported! ... Only the media reports the killings! ... It seems that the killers have been relying on the mainstream media to report the crimes based on people/faction/area (thanks to the constitution), which helped the crafting out of today’s Baghdad demography of faction/area, and further helped the perpetrators to forge their goals.

Baghdad Treasure looks up the meaning of Civil War and decides Iraq is already in one. He gives an excellent summary on the events that led up to it and gives this rumor: "the American army may carry out a huge operation in Baghdad looking for militiamen and insurgents. People, including my family, started storing food and water. It is believed it is going to be as worse as the Falluja and Najaf battles."

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki's, visit to America raised a couple of eyebrows. Ladybird called him an idiot for asking for US troop reductions and coming back with a promise of more troops. While Maliki's refusal to condemn Hezbollah while in America gained him some respect from Truth About Iraqis.. "Maliki grows one ball, US Congress has none" he writes. On the other side The Exiled Shalash critisized Maliki because he "failed during yesterday's press conference with Bush to thank the United States for liberating Iraq, he failed to acknowledge the sacrifces of the men and women of the United States armed forces."

And Finally...

Neurotic Wife drags us over the roller-coaster emotions of her life. Recently her HUBBY found out she had ranted about him in her blog and she takes us through the consequences:

Things at home got really bad…And when I say bad I mean really really bad....HUBBY and I reached a point of no return...In a moment of anger and frustration we both decided it was best for us to go separate ways...As I sat there in silence, my life with HUBBY flashed infront of me....a movie strip...a movie strip of memories...

But I am not giving away the ending - read on to find out what happened next.