The Voices of the Iraqi Citizen Blogs (Great Stuff)

TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD

Beware that no one escapes the blockade. Beware. They will try to organise a diversionary terror campaign in Baghdad mainly and elsewhere. This may be the turning point battle. Mobilise everthing and all the professionalism and wisdom required. May be they have committed the fatal error, at last. Beware that you don't hurt the innocent though. It will be a campaign not to destroy Fallujah but to save it, even from its own folly and disease.

Well what can we say? Mohammed said it for me. My initial reaction was to wish that everyone in that crowd of zombies be strung up on that very same bridge. So you see what we are up against, and have been for the last forty years or so? I try to think coolly if possible. It is difficult though. But I really think it was planned. Yes this was no random act of barbarism. This was planned. Remember how many times I told you things that later on you saw to be true. This was no random event. This was done with Somalia in mind to frighten off and disgust the American people. And they are all in it, the whole bunch of zombies and monkeys, including the propaganda media of the Wahabis and their employees, because we know who finance these media and who run them. They have execused the savagery of Saddam before, nay loved it; so it is not surprising that they don't mind this in the least.

And we are sick and tired of the whole bunch of them: "Clerics" claiming to represent the people, politicians manoeuvering, thieves robbing etc. etc.; the same faces; the same worn out cliches and the same sickening noises.

May be we shall have to discuss this later after the shock has eased to give place to this constant pain that eats the heart. Meanwhile remember everyone, this was designed to shock and dismay and bring despair. We shall not give them that satisfaction.

We have an old saying here that says "most of the great men leave disgraceful sons" and this applies to today's man in question.

Once again, our “famous cleric” proves his disrespect to reason. Not only that, this time he started to act obviously against Iraq’s interest as well as his own. “I’ll be your striking hand in Iraq. We have the same goal and the same enemy…bla,bla,bla”. What’s that united goal? Who’s this common enemy? And whom you’ll be striking? I think this guy needs to go back in his memory for just a few years.

Saddam used to consider Al-Sadr family as a threat that must be controlled or eliminated and as the second choice is always easier for a murderer; Saddam assassinated many members of this family in the past years including Muqtada’s father, brothers and uncle. Muqtada was easy to be controlled, he was just a kid with no qualifications or important social or religious degree, and all he had was the name of his father who struggled for years against Saddam's regime and was respected by most of Iraqis. During the years that followed 1999 when his father got assassinated; Muqtada had no role in Iraq, he had to stay at home not allowed to preach, speak or start a movement; in other words he had to remain silent and accept the presence of his family’s murderer.

After the liberation, the young cleric had the chance to preach in Baghdad’s big mosques, ask his father’s followers to regroup and to start a newspaper named Al-Hawza. Now he has the opportunity to live a normal life in free Iraq or to do his role as a cleric if he chose to be one. Who gave him this opportunity for a new life and who released him from his fears? I guess he forgot this.

Let’s try to get into this man’s brain -if he has one- and see how is he “thinking”? What does he want and what are his ways?

He wants to lead a theocracy in Iraq just like the one in Iran? Let’s suppose this is a legitimate goal, but what has he done to achieve this? And what does he need to do it? He has absolutely no qualifications but he has the chance to control the people who used to follow his respectable father taking advantage of their naivety and religious emotions.

Now part of the desired fame is achieved and it seems that causing more troubles to be more famous is a part of his policy but he still needs the money and this comes from two ways, the first one is from his followers. The second and the more important is the foreign one. He’s been already receiving support from Iran and now after declaring alliance with Hizbollah and Hamas he’ll be certainly receiving support from other parts including Syria.

The major point that he’s missing is that the countries and organizations that support him are in the same time supporting other criminal and terrorist groups in Iraq, and many of those consider him, in person and the Shea’at in general, an enemy. Syria, Iran and the others do have their goals but I think they’re not those of Muqtada and certainly not those of Iraqis’. A common goal for both of these countries is to keep Iraq in chaos for as long as they can, to protect their regimes from meeting the fate of Saddam’s, and if this mission is accomplished they will surely abandon the puppets who served them and they will not care if they kill each other.

Now let’s turn to the tens of thousands went down the streets to show their support for Muqtada, tens were killed or injured, and I wonder whom do they think will benefit from this violence? It’s clearly the enemies of Iraq after realizing that terrorist attacks from outsiders are not fulfilling the job are now trying to shift their strategy to provoke a conflict between Iraqis (who are originally satisfied with the situation) and the coalition. This represents the major part of the problem. They’re supporting a man who deceived them and is trying now to use them to get to his goal, not theirs. They don’t even know what they’re demonstrating about. So what shall we do to stop this? We can’t simply oppress them and an ordinary man cannot go to tell them that they’re being misled; also it would be a bad idea to arrest their leader.

I think that we have many respectable personalities in the GC and they should do their move now and speak to the people to make them understand the seriousness of the situation. Also Sistani and other religious leaders should do something about it if they really care about Iraqis’ lives and Iraq’s future. They should be direct and tell those who think that they’re resisting the “occupation” that these actions will delay Iraq’s independence and that they just have to wait for less than 90 days to get sovereignty. As for those who cannot be reasoned with, I think they should be prevented from hindering the progress in Iraq by all the necessary means.

Fallujah and a flashback. - Like most Iraqis I was shocked to what happened in Fallujah and till now the Iraqi street condemns what happened and reject it. Even the mosques today including the major one in Fallujah condemned the horrible crime. But what I want to do today is an attempt to remind the others of our tragedy. You can now comprehend the extent of the crime that took place in Iraq for the past 35 years. We were ruled by people like those who committed the crime in Fallujah. Every day we were shocked by scenes like these for our beloved ones our children our thinkers and artists; our bodies were mutilated for 35 years.

You have the right to be shocked and we have the right to scream out loud this is the scene we were forced to see again and again for decades; amputation of limbs decapitation, cutting tongues, casting limbs in concrete, mincing human flesh. You probably have heard of Uday’s iron coffin but have you heard of the “the Ba’ath flame”? Which meant that the prisoner would be chained and stripped of his clothes and then he would be splashed with gasoline to be set on fire until he dies. You can imagine what the comrades of such prisoners would feel while the see and hear the screams and feel the smell of the burning human flesh. I wonder if you saw the tape that Al-Jazeera put right after the war where 3 prisoners were wrapped with dynamite to be blasted in a bloody party so that the barbarians can enjoy their revenge.

We will never forget how the hungry dogs and Uday’s tigers and lion were used to be set free to eat the people -who opposed Saddam- alive. We used to whisper these events to each other and hear from those who escaped death about all kinds of torture that mankind had forgotten or even never thought of.

We used to see brothers and friends disappear after going to work or shopping without knowing what happened to them. Can you imagine what it would be like when a girl get raped in front of her family or the wife in front of her husband to force a “confession”? We were terrorized to death and despite that we resisted and all kinds of weapons were used against us including WMDs.

You must remember very well that we’re fighting together and we face death every day, more than 500 IP members were killed and many Iraqi contractors or labor men and women who worked with the CPA to build a new Iraq but we will never despair and we’re ready to give more sacrifices so that what happened will never recur. Do not ask for what is beyond our capabilities; we’re passing through exceptional circumstances ands we’re doing our best against terrorism. Every day one of those terrorists get arrested by the CPA the American officials announce that they got help from the people of Iraq who had made up their minds and put their feet on the right track to change without even thinking about taking a look backwards.

My sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Our fight is one and your loss is ours.

Daily news and comments on the situation in post Saddam Iraq by an Iraqi dentist

Al-Sadr calls upon followers to 'terrorize' the enemy Muqty is playing on his old dirty tricks again, only this time he has gone too far.

Following last Friday's prayer sermon, when he announced that he would be a 'striking hand' in Iraq for Hizbollah and Hamas whenever they need, and issued a veiled warning to Kurds to stop assisting the occupiers, his followers in Kufa ran amok killing an Iraqi IP colonel and after that attacked Salvadorian and Spanish troops. Spanish forces retorted by arresting Sayyid Mustafa Al-Ya'qubi, an aide of Muqtada and head of Sadr's office in Najaf.

Meanwhile, in a display of power and defiance, Al-Sadr organised a military parade on the streets of Al-Thawra district (Sadr city), a Shi'ite stronghold, in Baghdad on Saturday where thousands of Jaish Al-Mahdi (Al-Mahdi army) militiamen in black marched along with mullahs to the horror of Iraqis who watched on tv, bringing back nightmares of Fedayeen parades under Saddam. American and Israeli flags were burnt at the parade, and large posters of Muqtada and his father Mohammed Sadiq Al-Sadr (assasinated by Mukhabarat in 1999) were carried by the demonstrators. One of the mullahs at the parade stated that "this is to show our power to the world. This army is a striking force and a time bomb that can go off any moment at the time and place our leader deems necessary".

Later that day, Sadr followers cut off roads leading to the entrance of the Convention center near the Green Zone, set fire in tires, and prevented vehicles from crossing over Jumhuriya bridge. While they were at it, they attacked Video CD stores and gaming shops in Bab Al-Sharji accusing them of selling porn movies.

Since Al-Sadr's weekly newspaper Al-Hawza was closed about a week ago for inciting violence against the coalition, there have been daily demonstrations near the Green Zone by Sadr supporters demanding re-opening the paper and against the national reconciliation conferences initiated by Kurdish leader Mas'ud Barzani, current head of the GC. I passed through one such demonstration last Wednesday with Omar and AYS at Tahrir square and it looked dangerous, they were armed with pistols and AK-47's.

Anyway, last thing we heard was that Muqtada Al-Sadr's residence in Najaf was surrounded by coalition troops and that his followers clashed with Spanish troops in Kufa, 21 of them killed and 120 wounded. IP stations in Kufa were attacked, and there was news of fighting in Sadun street and Al-Thawra in Baghdad. Last word from Muqty was that he asked his followers to stop demonstrating and to resort to 'other methods' since demonstrations aren't working. Al-Jazeera is having difficulties concealing their excitement and they have already coined this as the 'start of the Shia resistance in Iraq'.

Iraqis know very well who those 'pious' people are. They are gangsters, rapists, murderers, thieves, kidnappers, looters, and criminals. They are only using religion as cover. I can't even dream of what would happen if those people were left to make trouble on our streets that way without punishment. I believe that it's now time for Al-Sadr to experience a very bad accident soon. We will be sorry for him I assure you, "Oh poor fellow, what a terrible misfortune, what a great loss" we would say to each other knowingly. It's scenes like these that make me sometimes wonder to myself if Saddam wasn't justified in assassinating all those clerics. Get that new Mukhabarat working.

I decided that I would not comment about the Fallujah incident on Wednesday right away, but that I would give it some thought and write on it when the anger had subsided and everyone can see things clearly. People utter ugly remarks when they are confused and angry, myself included, and there are things we say that we may come to regret later. Check the comments section for the previous post and see for yourselves. I understand the reaction completely but I wish that a few commentors (they know who they are) would try to compose themselves or I should ask them to take their hateful drivel elsewhere.

You have to understand first that Islam had nothing to do with the disgusting behaviour we all witnessed from our screens. I'm not saying this in defense of Islam, of course, since some of you may know that I have abandoned Islam (and all other religions) ages ago. Theoretically, Islam is against that practice of dead body mutilation. Bukhari quotes a Hadith in which Mohammed (the founder of Islam) scolded and objected against a few of his followers who were engaged in mutilating the bodies of elder Quraish kuffar at the battle of Badr. Since then it was supposed to be haram to maim a dead body whether it was that of man or animals.

However, I believe that this is an exclusive Iraqi trait, and we have examples from our own recent history to prove it. For Iraqis who deny that, go here and here (warning: gruesome images), I got these historical pictures from my late grandfather. In the 1958 coup which overthrew the monarchy, the bodies of members of the royal Hashemite family together along with Noori Al-Saeed, prime minister under King Faisal II, were mutilated, dragged around the streets of Baghdad, and then hung to rot for days. Communists committed similar atrocities in Mosul and Kirkuk in 1959, ironically against Pan-Arabs, Ba'athists, and their supporters. Some Ba'athists did the same to Communists during their short lived coup in 1963. And again the Ba'athists after 1968, when they assumed power in Iraq for good, with a long list of atrocities against political adversaries, 'enemies of the people', 'traitors', 'Zionist spies', etc. Now they have resurfaced again it seems.

All the images of a long history of violence above have become deeply ingrained in Iraqi society, and I'm afraid we have become desensitized to such scenes a long time ago. As disgusting and horrible the Fallujah images were, you could see bystanders children there watching casually, if not cheering, without blinking an eye. I would not call those children evil, because sadly they do not realise what they have become. The people that defiled the dead bodies were not technically terrorists, Ba'athists, or insurgents, they were common folk which makes it even more depressing. All respect for humanity has long been lost in a large section of Iraqis. I admit this concept is difficult, if not impossible, to explain to a western audience.

I believe we would first need clerics and political parties to organise a rally to condemn this type of behaviour. I haven't heard any clerics, be they Sunni or Shia, speak against the incident yet. I've heard Iraqi figures denounce the act and I noticed that even the most anti-american people I know were against it, but no action followed. It even seemed that the Arab media was somewhat embarrassed by the behaviour of their 'resistance'.

Second, the CPA should gather all the prominent tribal leaders of Fallujah, Ramadi, Khaldiyah (since those towns are largely tribal ones) and give them two options; either to hand out all weaponry and ammunitions, plus any insurgents and foreign terrorists they have amongst them, or to face the consequences which could be pulling out of the area completely, halting all reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, and leaving it behind the rest of Iraq, if that's what they want.

Any other approach wouldn't work. Bombing innocents would create more outrage and anti-american sentiment from people who are still against others making trouble. The culprits that were shown on tv can be found easily via informants in the area, and they should be punished severely.

Meanwhile, Abu Hadi's page has been updated and he describes his visit to the Old Baghdad and other adventures. Mina has also updated and she talks about her hopes in Iraqis.

Reading the words of actual Iraqi citizens is better than listening to the American liberal media tell it.

BTW: The "MESOPOTAMIAN" is the guy who christened Bush "Avenger of the Bones", back in November.

The bones in the mass graves salute you, Avenger of the Bones.

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5 posted on 04/05/2004 3:52:39 AM PDT by oceanperch (I will continue to be a Monthly Donor until JimRob says he is GAY too!)

Great stuff indeed. Thanks to the internet, the institutional media will not be able to stifle these voices as they stifled so many voices in Vietnam, Cuba, and Africa during the Cold War. The institutional media invariably represent rebels, terrorists and totalitarians as representing the people. It is what they do, a mass market tool like Che or Mumia T-shirts extended to a gigantic scale. It has gone on for 40 years now. Technology, in the form of television, created this monster. Now a different technology, the internet, will destroy it and don't imagine that the media lords are not aware of this.

6 posted on 04/05/2004 3:55:23 AM PDT by atomic conspiracy (A few words for the media: Julius Streicher; follow his path, share his fate.)

A different aspect of the war in Iraq.

Our truthful News Media must have overlooked this. I think the sheeple may be getting suspicous of them, since they seem to overlook almost all positive news in Iraq.

Hopefully, Bush will liberate America, next.

We don't ask for much, just the truth.

9 posted on 04/05/2004 4:18:56 AM PDT by auggy (http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-DownhomeKY /// Check out My USA Photo album & Fat Files)

Americans got a little taste of what the Iraqi citizens have lived with for too many years.....and just like the Americans, they are out for justice as well. Time to clean up the streets of Fallujah for good!!!!

11 posted on 04/05/2004 4:23:07 AM PDT by Arpege92 (America and Israel are two countries that were founded on the rejection of Europe. -Dr. M. Azaryahu)

Wow, thanks for posting this, lowbridge. I hope more Freepers take a look at this.

I particularly liked one of the first poster's analysis of Sadr's activities. It's also stunning to read all of them talking about the appalling atrocities that were routine in Iraq for decades.

15 posted on 04/05/2004 4:53:27 AM PDT by Marie Antoinette (Happily repopulating the midwest since 1991! #7 William Elijah born 3-9-04)

18 posted on 04/05/2004 5:08:07 AM PDT by oceanperch (I will continue to be a Monthly Donor until JimRob says he is GAY too!)

I've been reading these Iraqi blogs for a while now. These people are living what our "media" is telling us and our "media" has it wrong. Whenever anyone tells me that Iraq is a mess I say go to the Iraqi blogs and see what people in Iraq are saying.
Of course this is just a limited glimpse, but I bet they know more about what's happening than Catie Couric.

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