Iraqi bloggers have great insight and amazing patience with our fumbling country

[madfloridian]

and what we did to their country and its citizens. I have kept track of several, and they show in-depth understanding of a country that harmed them so much.

One wrote with relief about the 2006 election and our winning more congressional seats.

Iraqi blogger on US election: "The beginning of the end of a mad era?"

I wasn't particularly jubilant earlier today! I didn't even follow the election results as closely as I should have: Bush was adamant to 'stay the course', the Democrats did not have a clear policy on Iraq. Some of them were even advocating the break-up of the country – a recipe for disaster...

But less than an hour ago this evening, and for the first time in more than a year, I listened carefully to what George Bush, the de-facto President of Iraq, had to say! It brought an unfamiliar warmth to my old heart to see that man, who brought so much death and destruction to my country, broken. He couldn't hide that. It was written all over him!

Can an Iraqi hope now? Perhaps a little.

Time for accountability? Dare we hope? Perhaps too soon for that.

The beginning of the end of a mad era? Perhaps too soon for that too.

To Americans I say: to see the man who has done so much damage to your country in that position in that press conference… I only have one word: Congratulations! Your democracy may have many illnesses; you have a long way yet to go… but tonight many of you have shown the rest of the world that It and you are not dead yet.

I got tears when I read that. The intelligence to know that many here were trying. The understanding that we would do what we could.

This next one was amazing to me. It was from 2005, and it had a strange and apt description of our country.

Behind the Image Curtain

He spoke of an iron curtain.

However, in America there is another curtain that is more difficult to demolish… because it is not ‘solid’.

Imagine a huge room full of light and noise, called the United States of America.
People in that room are free to come and go as they please. They are free to talk, to listen, to say yes or no. But they are not totally free to know.

The room is surrounded by huge, white velvet curtains. On those curtains are projected images of what goes on in America and in the rest of the world; a lively, noisy, entertaining world of images.

There are numerous screens projecting on those curtains. The numerous larger ones are all owned by only a few big corporations, and consequently follow the bidding of a handful of individuals. These screens project images of the real world and of reality that does not always reflect that reality truthfully. The images pass through a number of selective filters. There are many other, smaller screens, but few people bother to watch them. They strain the eye, are usually full of unpleasant images and are generally thought to be less reliable.

There also numerous holes in those curtains. Anybody in America is absolutely free to have a peek at the real world through those holes. But not more than 10% of adult Americans actually do: scholars, academics, the inquisitive and the discontented. Some of those choose to or are paid to retain the filters they are accustomed to when having a look. For the bulk of the population, those holes are not even visible from the living room couch.

People are also free to come and go across those curtains. Few people bother. Some of those who do, take little projections of the screens they are used to with them.

Those who venture out without their little screens or filters and have a good look at the real world, come back in disgust and start yelling like madmen… but no one listens to madmen in that bustling room. They, as well as the people on the other side of that image curtain… remain unheard.

Too much trouble for many Americans do find the holes in the curtains and look at the rest of the world as it really is. Beautiful and perceptive image.

Another favorite called Healing Iraq tells us stuff about how prisoners are classified to be let out of prisons there....or not.

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

Saturday, December 06, 2008

"I'm not looking at whether they are guilty or innocent," said Air Force Maj. Jeff Ghiglieri, the president of the review board that convened in May. "We're trying to determine as best we can whether they will do bad things if we release them." Minutes later, the panel unanimously voted to detain Farkhan for another six months.

This proceeding is what has amounted to due process for many of the 100,000 prisoners who have passed through the American-run detention system in Iraq. Although the legal controversy over detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has attracted far more attention, 100 times as many prisoners have been held at Camp Bucca and other Iraqi sites with far fewer legal rights and no oversight by the American court system. The Iraqis are not charged with crimes, permitted to see the evidence against them or provided lawyers.

....Let's see whether Mr. Air Force Major's logic will be applied to the Blackwater scum who opened fire on fleeing Iraqi civilians and are being charged with "manslaughter". I would like to see a "review board" of Iraqis giving random sentences to Blackwater guards. I mean, who cares whether they are guilty or innocent.

To see us as others see us would be a great gift indeed. I think of the Bush years and their contempt of others and their arrogance toward human life.

I think the Iraqis show us more understanding that perhaps we deserve for what was done in our name.

[Jeep789]

1. Reminded me of Riverbend

remember her blog: http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

She hasn't posted since Nov 2007. I wonder what happened to her. I would have loved to hear her take on the election. Hope she is okay.

[madfloridian]

2. They went to Syria.

From her blog in Oct. 2007

Bloggers Without Borders...
Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. In so many ways, Damascus is like Baghdad before the war- bustling streets, occasional traffic jams, markets seemingly always full of shoppers… And in so many ways it’s different. The buildings are higher, the streets are generally narrower and there’s a mountain, Qasiyoun, that looms in the distance.

The mountain distracts me, as it does many Iraqis- especially those from Baghdad. Northern Iraq is full of mountains, but the rest of Iraq is quite flat. At night, Qasiyoun blends into the black sky and the only indication of its presence is a multitude of little, glimmering spots of light- houses and restaurants built right up there on the mountain. Every time I take a picture, I try to work Qasiyoun into it- I try to position the person so that Qasiyoun is in the background.

The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things- like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me.

It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today. I believe it. Walking down the streets of Damascus, you can hear the Iraqi accent everywhere."

I think they finally started turning Iraqis away.

[madfloridian]

3. Healing Iraq blog: Children of Sadr City

An Iraqi boy drinks from a broken pipe in Sadr City. A United Nations report
found that 94% of boys in Iraq attend elementary school, but that number
drops to 44% by high school. For girls, 81% start elementary school; 31% go
on to attend high school.

Healing Iraq blogger

The Raad brothers, and tens of thousands of children like them in this poor walled-in Shiite Muslim district, have been shaped by war, honed by poverty. They are witnesses to sectarian violence, Shiite militias, angry sermons echoing through mosques, Humvees gurgling through streets and pictures of religious leaders and wanted men hovering on billboards. These children may not know grammar and punctuation, but they know what to do when the bullets come, how to take cover, to hide from the kidnappers, the militants and the soldiers.

Bloodshed and years of unrest are harsh teachers, especially in Sadr City, where 30% of children have quit school, according to a Baghdad human resources office. That estimate is probably low. A United Nations report found that 94% of boys in Iraq attend elementary school, but that drops to 44% by high school. For girls, 81% start elementary school; 31% go on to high school.

The blogger links to the LA Times:

Childhood cut short in Baghdad

More from that article.

In another world, boys like the Raad brothers might dream of being engineers, doctors or hip-hop pretenders. But here the uniform and the gun command respect, the soldier wearing dark sunglasses, a .50-caliber machine gun tight in his hands. The soldier and the policeman offer protection; no classroom or Encarta program can guarantee that, not in this neighborhood, a riot of clatter, of dusty houses and tin roofs, spreading like a gray sea from the tailor's shop to the corners where the sheep cry before slaughter.

There is no classroom in Ali Kadhim Baidani's long day. His father is bent and old, and Ali, 15, collects garbage on his tractor to help provide for his family of nine. In 2001, his clan moved to Sadr City from the marshes southeast of Amarah. The tractor was meant to farm the fields rimming Baghdad, but at 5 a.m. each day Ali drives it from the furrows to pick up trash in streets and alleys, heading toward the dump about 2 p.m.

When he returns home, his younger brothers circle to hear stories from the city. They help him wash his hands, brush the dust from his clothes. The eldest son, Ali has never been to school; his childhood is like his tractor -- turned over to other responsibilities. He attends funerals and weddings in place of his father, the family representative to neighbors and the world.

"The happiest moment for me," he said, "is when I receive money from the contractor and give it to my father to spend on my family. . . . I will work in this job and when the job is finished, I will search for another."

There is a photo gallery there at the link.



(Raheem Salman / Los Angeles Times)Sajjad Hassan Saadi, 12, quit school in the 4th grade to earn a living selling government rationed flour diverted to the black market. It's illegal but unremarked upon in Iraq. He can earn $8 to $12 a day, but on a recent afternoon, he had no money in his pockets. He fears he has no future unlike other children who go to school.

[slipslidingaway]

4. knr for later :) n/t

[madfloridian]

5. Looks like Raed in the Middle is posting again.

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

[The Wizard]

6. That we the people

couldn't get the Bush cartel impeached, indicted and convicted speaks volumes about our apathy toward our government's illegal and immoral actions.
What dirt is on the hands of the Democratic leadership that had the majority in the House and refused to do anything? If the people were out in the streets in big numbers demanding a head, be it Bush's or Pelosi's, something would have happened. The same goes for the rigged elections that put the Bush cartel in power and kept it there.
The only reason there were mass demonstrations against the Vietnam War was because there was conscription, and that exposed far more people to the dangers of a reckless foreign policy. When people have skin in the game everything changes.

[madfloridian]

7. Trouble is..

There were mass anti-war demonstrations several times in DC and around the country. The media barely mentioned them. Half a million, a million...yet the small in comparison pro war rallies set up by Glenn Beck and Jebby got covered a lot.

[madfloridian]

8. McClatchy blog: Inside Iraq. Updated blog through March 27

"Inside Iraq" is a blog updated by Iraqi journalists working for McClatchy Newspapers. They are based in Baghdad and outlying provinces. These are firsthand accounts of their experiences. Their complete names are withheld for security purposes."

http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq//

" "I just can not understand why the insurgents target the civilians. They are not security forces like us. They don't cause any harm to anyone. They just want to live"

With thes words and with a strong will to control the tears, the policeman who escorted me to the scene of yesterday's explosion started the conversation. I couldn't give him any answer because the same question troubles my mind. The blast killed at least 16 people and wounded some 45. The death toll likely rose today.

I walked slowly down the street which was, until the explosion a lively street filled with men, women and children. I saw some of them but they were still under the effect of the explosion. Their faces tell the story of ongoing pain and suffering of Iraqis.

I took many photos of the place. I chose seven of them to tell the story of the ongoing pain."

There are pictures, sad ones.