Some updates from the Iraqi blogsphere

I'll start with Attawie who's busy showing cards that'll:

"identify several rare archaeological sites and artifacts reminding troops that these areas are not only a part of Iraqi and Afghan cultural history, but also their own."

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IraqPundit talked about the recent six suicidal cars in Baghdad and concluded:

Could al-Qaeda be sending a message to the United States? While he is calling the gang names, they could have been terrorizing Iraqis to tell Obama they're ready to receive Iraq after the U.S. withdraws.

Also, the Iraqi Mojo quoted a 40-year-old construction worker as saying:

“We are all so simple,” said Hussein Jawad, a 40-year-old construction worker, who returned to street afterwards, his head swathed in bandages from his injuries. “We are all workers. We are not a military outpost. This is a public place.” He expressed anger but seemed at a loss to understand a motive behind the bombing, except to say, “The point behind this explosion was sabotage.”

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Eye Raki talked about the conflict between the SIIC and the prime minister Maliki 's Al Da'wa party quoting one senior SIIC official who declared the following:

"Does Maliki really have a strong mandate in Iraq? How many votes did he actually manage to get? One million? More? Well in the general election Allawi managed to get a very similar number of votes. Most Shia parties were against Allawi, the marja'iya was against him too, and yet he still managed to get over a million votes. There is nothing special about Maliki this time.

The SIIC official continued to conclude about the recent local elections:

"It was a conspiracy against SIIC. The election results were fixed by people who wanted to make sure SIIC failed. In many areas in Baghdad where we had a strong footing the people were forced to vote in a different area to where they were living. This of course means not everyone could go out and vote. We lost many votes like this."

I believe strongley these terrorists acts are not the work of one isolated group but it's a collective work of the intelligence organs of some neighbouring countries and many local terrorists groups. No doubt that they are getting sort of strength because of the differences not juts between the SIIC and Al Da'wa part but also the failure of politicians in the central governemnt and the federal goverment in Kurdistan to solve their differences. Alos the Iraqi parliament proves to be so ineffective. Just look at their inability to elect a head for the parliament and thier willingness to be united when it's about them getting more money and diplamatic passport forthemselves and their families for life while most of the Iraqis having no power and no clean water and in actual fact no proper health care.

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Nibras Kazimi at the Talisman Gate published a new post entitled "What one arrest teaches us". Here's what he says:

I have a a new piece out on Hudson NY, about the Adel al-Mashhadani arrest in Fadhel, the 'reckoning' that the false prophets keep predicting, and the myths of the surge.The concluding paragraphs are:

What is scary is that the lessons of the ‘surge’ are to be implemented in one form of another in Afghanistan, without fully understanding the implications, and delusions, of what happened in Iraq. This is no mere exercise in ‘I told you so’: the surge arrived in Iraq as the insurgency was petering out, but the surge is going to Afghanistan as the Taliban are on an uptick. The consequences of this misreading could be very, very grave.

The case of Adel al-Mashhadani teaches us that there cannot be security without ‘nation building’, a concept that has become something of a dirty word in the Obama administration. The two go hand in hand. One cannot turn to the thugs and co-opt them, letting bygones be bygones, because in the vast majority of cases, people seldom change their spots. In the New Iraq, men like Mashhadani should be dangling by their necks, not swaggering around with an American ID card hanging from their collars. One cannot expect the thief, the rapist, or the murderer to police the innocent. That is always a recipe for tyranny, for that is how tyrants rule. Let us hope that America’s new doctrinarians are not inclined to equate tyranny with stability, in a hasty repudiation of a doctrine that sees stability as an extension of democracy.

The usual argument against barring the Ba’athists from power runs akin to that made for rehiring the Nazis in postwar Germany: they made the trains run on time. But the analogy to putting Mashhadani back on payroll is to have brought back the Gestapo to maintain order in Bonn. Not only is it immoral, it’s dangerously absurd. We should be thankful that the Iraqi government is soberly correcting a foolish legacy that the departing Americans have forced upon them.


I fully agree with most of these conclusions and in particular the fact that "One cannot expect the thief, the rapist, or the murderer to police the innocent."

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Treasure of Baghdad is focusing on a New York Times Documentary about Girls Banned from School:

This is a really interesting and chilling short documentary made by two New York Times reporters in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.

The documentary profiles an 11-year-old Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban close down her school. It is a shocking reminder to all of us that the Taliban need to be crushed by all means. Their barbarian actions are far from over.


Treasure of Baghdad, I couldn't agree more that this's a shocking reminder to all of us that the Taliban need to be crushed by all means.Another shocking reminder is here if you have time to see a video:

The Islam of Taliban

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Mosul, the beautiful Iraqi city, is occupied by terrorrists and militants. It's so sad to get all these bad news from Mosul about car bombs, suiciidal brianless killers, kidnapping and other similar news that make you sick and not enjoying life even if you are away so this should tell you some thing about the bravery of the people of Mosul who decided to stay in their beloved city. Therefore it's so good to hear some good news about a successful love story between two nice bloggers Najma and Bookish that ended up in an engagement.

They both published the following picture:




Najma said:

The beginning of the rest, and the best, of my life.
The single most beautiful thing in life must be to love someone who loves you back.. It changes everything; the world is suddenly pink, you feel happier and safer than ever, and want to live every moment forever.
Tomorrow is the second week anniversary of my engagement to the most amazing man.. They were two weeks in heaven.
My fiance is actually a blogger and I don't want to bother you with the details (not that they'd bother you, or bore you.. I'm just not planning to share ;) ) of how it all happened.. all you really need to know is that I've finally found the bright side of my life in Iraq, and that I've never felt luckier!
Everything feels different now.. I am different now.. this is the beginning of the rest, and the best, of my life.

And this's what Bookish have to say about it:

The single most beautiful thing in life must be to love someone who loves you back.. It changes everything; the world is suddenly pink, you feel happier and safer than ever, and want to live every moment forever.
I am now engaged to the nicest and most fantastic girl in the world, The lovely and wonderful Najma. The girl who I am TOTALLY sure that I want to spend every single moment of my life with her.
I am so incredibly happy.

Its a love in the time of terrorism which should keep us all optomistic about the future of our beloved Iraq.

Najma and Bookish I wish you every thing good today and every day and I have this love poem for you:

All because I love you
I alwayz think of you
In my sleep,
In my dreams,
I alwayz think of you,
All day, All night,
Hoping that your allright,
I alwayz think of you,
Wishing that your thinking of me too.
Everyminute, Every second of the day,
I think of you in every special way,
I alwayz think of you,
I really do,
All because,
!!!I LOVE YOU!!!

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No ctivities at all at the Iraqi Blog Count and sadly the Iraq Blog Central is shuting down on the 1st of May 2009:

Iraqi Bloggers Central will celebrate its five-year anniversary in just a few weeks. On May 1, 2009, I will write the last blog entry for IBC. The decision to shut down was made several months ago and my co-bloggers have now been notified. I'm going to keep the blog online, primarily as a resource for anyone interested in the history of the Iraqi blogosphere and as a guide for any new bloggers who would like to write about this community. I will say all my farewells and many thank-yous on May 1.