Traumatophobia in writings of Iraqi Bloggers

Let me first start by defining the two terms, phobia and Traumatophobia:

"The word Phobia is a term that refers to a group of symptoms brought on by feared objects or situations.A phobia is a persistent, irrational fear that causes a person to feel intense anxiety."

"There are many phobias, and they are differentiated based on the specific object of the extreme fear – that is, the object that triggers the extreme and uncontrollable fear or that which makes someone unable to control his or her emotions and thus exhibit feelings of anxiety and panic."

"Traumatophobia, means the fear of war, traumatization or physical injury.There are many level in Traumatophobia ranging from mild to excessive."
***
More than four decades of endless war, terror, political and social repression, corruption, sanctions and a shattered economy have killed or traumatized most of the Iraqi people.Every Iraqi has a story of terror to tell. Therefore, you should n't be suprised to see solid signs of Traumatophobia in writings of the Iraqi bloggers.

You're at home but still you're not sure what'll happen to you the next minute and when you leave in the morning you don't know if you're going to be dead or alive by the end of the day. Always, you feel lucky when you spend a day without getting involved in any of the possible problematic scenarios. Then and because of all sort of problems, such as terrorist attacks, you need to check on your relations, nighbours and your friends all the time.This is a real tragedy. You're in a constant fear all the time..

On March 3, 2004, Faiza Alaraji reports that she:

spent the day calling people to ask if there were alright after the explosions yesterday. All the customers at the store today were saying to each other “thank god for your safety

By the end of the year, on November 29, 2004, she strongly expresses her fears that, in actual fact, are the fears of the whole nation:

What is the meaning of life without security? How could a person work, give and create, while living in a constant state of panic? In the Institute, I sit in class, listening to the teacher, and thinking warily: will a shell fall down now, break the windows, smash the walls, kill and wound us?
***
The magority of the Iraqis were pleased that Saddam was toppled and Hammorabi is one of them:

Anniversary of Free Iraq:
Today is the 20 March 2004! One year ago like this day the coalition forces led by the US dropped the first rockets on Baghdad aiming at Saddam and his thugs.

However, on April 2, 2006, he talks about his disappointment which leads to fear:

Iraq from darkness to darkness:
Three years passed for the occupation of Iraq and this country sunk in seas of blood, darkness and death.

His hope for a free Iraq replaced by insecurity and death:

Even the hope for democracy and freedom declined day after day and replaced by dreams about minimum standard of security. The phantom of death is everywhere and anywhere. No one can grantee his life even in his own bedroom.
***
There was a time after the year 2003 when many Iraqis were, during the different confrontations and clashes, in fear from the snipers who used to kill anybody they could see. On February 26, 2006, Nibras Kazimi talks about the killing of the so called "Baghdad Sniper" by another sniper:

Famed ‘Baghdad Sniper’ Mourned by Jihadist Websites:
A leading terrorist ‘warrior’ who have been lionized by the jihadist propaganda machine over the last two years was himself killed by a sniper shot recently, according to identical postings on several jihadists websites.

Then by the end of the year, on December 26, 2006, he remembers the destruction of the homeland of the indigenous Ma'dan people, the Marsh Arabs. The Ma'dan have a 5,000-year-old culture, descended from the Sumerians who established mankind's first civilization. No doubt the effect of the destruction of such a rich culture on humans and the envirnment is massive and will last for many years to come:

Saddam regime launched a massive campaign to dry the marshes in the 1990s because these areas were harboring anti-Ba’ath rebels for two decades. He burnt hundreds of villages, killed thousands and drove out tens of thousands of the Marsh Arabs to Iran. He then dug three major water-ways, costing tens of millions of dollars (during the sanctions years, mind you) to drain the water out of the marshland.
***
It doesn't matter if you're in exile, you can't overcome your fear seeking to live a life free from worry.Attawie , on November 30, 2006, posted this entry which should be regarded as an accurate account of the fear factor that is associated with the lives of Iraqis in exile:

Pending:
Every now and then my family and I call friends or relatives just to check how they are doing back in Baghdad. And when there are clashes or any bad event, which became more often these days, in a certain area we hurry to send text messages to check on them.Lately, all the phone calls we made and the SMSs we sent shared the same three words. "Pray for us"
***
Saminkie is a psychiatrist who wants to help all his patients but the task is almost impossible to achieve, so on May 18, 2007, he:

felt fatigue and I was avoiding conversations with my colleagues preferring to sit alone in complete silence while letting my eyes getting lost into gazes that scan the surroundings without exactly knowing what they see, and my head was going as a blank blackboard, but you can find the traces of the old words that was written by white and other colorful chock by the hands of the psychiatric ward.

He is so tired and you can imagine the endless number of sad stories he heard from patients who represent the national and religious diversity of Iraqi society:

I let them write on my mind blackboard all they want, and it came as a panorama of Iraqi languages: Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Armani, Assyrian, and others all speaking there problems so the threads of their stories get tied in my head today to a degree that I preferred to give my self a rest from talking… I went blank….
***
If an American soldier, seeing all the horrible things, feels sick because he stayed in Iraq few months, what about the people of Iraq who for about 40 years have witnessed nothing but disasters. The Iraqipundit, on October14, 2007, quotes a U.S. soldier who said:

"I'm sick of hearing about all the horrible things that happen in Iraq"
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How would you feel if not only your house but the whole neighborhood was destroyed due to sectarian tension? What would you do when you see that the only refuge that is left for you is the insecurity of the streets and the uncertainty of the future for yourself and your family. The Iraqipundit, on February 29, 2008, talks about what happened to Al Dora district in the capital city of Baghdad:

“Lakes of mud and sewage fill the streets. Mountains of trash stagnate in the pungent liquid. Most of the windows in the sand-colored homes are broken, and the wind blows through them, whistling eerily. House after house is deserted, bullet holes pockmarking their walls, their doors open and unguarded, many emptied of furniture…. Emptied and destroyed by civil war
***
The BaghdadDentist , on January 27, 2008, is talking about a blast which is louder than music. I have to remind you about the fact that all the blasts are louder than music:

A DISASTER:
it was afternoon.i was writing my new post which was supposed to be about the health care provision.suddenly a huge terrifying sound of blast i heard inspite of the loud music that was out of my headphones.at first i thought it as a bombed car or a road side bomb near us as usual until my boss ringed me a phone to tell me that it was a mile away!!!.

The Iraqi health system which used to be one of the best in the region, has suffered the consequences of wars, inappropriate policies, mismanagement and the absence of specialists and modern equipment. Subsequently, you don't wish that you or any member of your family get sick because you are afraid that you won't find the proper treatment.On December 21, 2008, the BaghdadDentist describes the deterioration of our health care system:

Iraq Has a Chronic Illness:
everytime 'i tried to challenge the deterioration, i was disappointed.on saturday the first patient came and her tooth was indicated for extraction,i gave her aneasthesia but the forceps and instruments were not sterilized. i stood gazing at the instuments and was very angry.there was no electricity,nor the generator,so i had to dismiss the patient and apologize for a fault that wasnt mine.
***
It's incredible that, for so long, we the Iraqis are following just the bad news. The Media in general is giving us only the news of killing and disasters in our beloved country. On some occassions they either fabricated or exaggerated their news items aiming profits trading in our blood. Unfortunately, our mind-sets are most often expecting sad news or looking for any updates related to our chronic problems and its roots.

Iraq The Model, on, January 29, 2008, is busy talking about a new sponser for Al-Qaeda in our country, which gives you an example of news that we have to know. However, it creates disappointment that leads to fear about our future:

Al-Qaeda in Iraq's New Sponsor, Libya:
After Iran, Syria and others it's now Libya's turn to sponsor terrorism in Iraq.
The news popped up for a second then it vanished; Gaddafi's son is accused by senior awakening officials in Anbar of funding and sending a group of foreign terrorists to Iraq. This particular group, awakening leaders believe, was responsible for the explosives cache that caused the devastating explosion in Mosul last week.
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The intelligence organs of some neighbouring countries are trying everything in their disposal to kill as large a number as they can of our innocent people. Baghdadtreasure , on November 14, 2008, is listening to his mother talking about a new lethal device used to kill the innocent people of Iraq, the Sticky Bombs:

When I called my mother last week, she said everybody is worried because of the increase of ‘al-lasiqa,’ a term I have not heard of before I left Baghdad in July 2006. I asked what that is and she said it’s a sticky bomb usually put under the car.
***
I asked a western friend what would happen if he were prohibited from going to the centre of his city for no real reason.He told me, it would drive him crazy. So you imagine the damage that already is done having lost our freedom of movement in our Iraqi cities because of our fears of getting killed, kiddnapped or arrested. These are fears that are associated to our lives for so long. Touta ,on November 21, 2008, is telling us about her fears of enjoying her basic right, the freedom of movemnet in her own city:

The Silence of the Damned:
I would rather walk, despite the dangerous implications that comes with walking. But then again, what isn't dangerous nowadays

We the Iraqi people, our country is floating on a sea of oil and having the world's second -if not the 1st- largest proven oil reserves but Touta , on January 26, 2009, informs you what we, the poor Iraqis, got from our oil so far:

Poor Iraqis:
No clean water, no electricity, no heat, and they somehow still find the time to bring more sadness into their lives.
***
The Iraqi nation is the only nation on the planet that has to face more than 1200 suicidal cars!However we tried our best to deal with such barbaric, inhuman and uncontrolled atrocities. Nevertheless its the worst kind of troubles that you have to keep in your mind and think about fearing for yourself and every single Iraqi that you know or you don't know. Mohamed, on April 23,2009, and his friend were not far from a suicidal attak in central Baghdad:

dead:
i feel un-euphoric.
i'm at friends house on the pc while he's answering about a million phone calls from family members.
There's been multiple explosions and the victims were people. Real living smiling crying people. I'm speechless. I just have no idea what to say or do.
***
Micho is writing her memories of the wars. If you read between the lines you cann't stop yourself from feeling sad and upset. These are the kind of terrifying memoris that every single Iraq has in their memory. They are days that you won't forget for the rest of your life. Needless to say that these memories are associated with fears that it could have happened to you or is going to happen again to you or your loved ones.You have to live with this fear all your life. On April 24, 2009, Micho mentions a day which she regarded as unforgettable:

unforgettable days:
I was only afraid of being seriously injured because of a bomb by the US troops, and I live for the rest of my life paralyzed or suffering the lose of my family, I prayed to God all the time, I don't want to suffer, if this is my time to die, let me die, better for me to live and lose my family
***
Surley, the Iraqis are fed up with war, killings and bloodshed. We have had enough and we don't want any more. We just want to live in peace.Is that too much for such a civilzed and rich nation such as ours?
Layla Anwar in her post on April 24, 2009, talks about saturation. She 's an example of some Iraqis who fed up with all these bad news and they don't want to hear more:

These days, when there are news of explosions going on in Baghdad and its vicinity, like daily, I avoid reading the full story. I just read the headlines.
I don't want to know anymore.
***
The lack of a normal life is too traumatic for a child to accept, but that is what's happening to our chirlden in Iraq. No toys, no parks, no playgrounds and no entertainment whatsoever. Instead they are always forced to face a trauma of some sort such as, the loss of their parents or family members and friends, the destruction of their houses, displacement and the lack of a proper health care service that includes caring for their psychological welfare.

Abbas Hawazin, , on April 28, 2009, posted the following picture, please have a look and see for yourself the traumas that our beautiful children have to go through at a very early stage of their lives:


It was difficult to hide my emotions watching such an unusual circumstances so I left the following comments:

I love the child and I feel so sorry for him. I'm sure he probably has 1000 questions about the unfolding drama behind him. However, I turst he'll get out of all the difficulties of current time more confident and strong.Unfortunately he paid already a heavy pschological price.

Whenever you click the Iraqi Mojo blog, you face the traumatic story of this little Iraqi girl, Ibtihal Jassem. I think the picture speaks for itself.It's just one of thousands of similar stories that involved Iraqi children:


Her name is Ibtihal Jassem and she's from Basra. Ibtihal lost her entire family in an aerial bombing attack by the U.S. on March 22nd, 2003. She also lost her leg during that attack, she was 9 years old at the time. Ibtihal is both deaf and mute. She now lives with her grandparents who are very poor and old and cannot even communicate properly with her in sign language.
***
We, the Iraqi bloggers, are united in our common fears, sorrows and vulnerability. We are being psychologically traumatized and terrorized for too long. Does this mean we have lost all our hopes? No, not all. We are Iraqis and hope for us is necessary in every condition. Hope for our nation is the love of life and we'll say loudly all along the time of troubles: while there's life there's hope for us to build a free and prosperous Iraq . Touta the brave and clever Iraqi blogger, who left the luxury life in UK and came back to her country Iraq to complete her study says the following:

I don't believe Iraq is dying. Well, perhaps I'm just in denial, but I prefer to have hope. Life's too short to not have hope.

I can not agree more with Touta because once you choose to be hopefull, anything's possible and any problem can be tackled. Finally lets all remember that:

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that ALLAH gives us to control our fears

No doubt at all that, the future of the Iraqi people will be marked with success, stability, happiness and a phobia free life.

Khalid Ibrahim from Al Wak Wak island!

I spent few nights in touta's hotel and I enjoyed the stay in the room which has a democratic balcony and a beautiful view.During the stay, the talks started very nicely and touta was extremely helpful and went out of her way to accommodate the conflicting needs of her residents coming from the 5 continents.

I have to say that, tuata is a real domcrat and has the ability to accommadate any discussion.There is no any limitation whatsoever in her hotel on views expressed by the residents. However, in the last night of my stay, some residants insisted on raising issues that had already been buried or settled in the past, and subsequently pillows & shoes- fights erupted all along the single corridor.The fights continued into the early hours of the morning. It was not beneficial to anybody, so I decided to leave for a week or so to Al Wak Wak island to get some rest.

To know the full story, please have a look at:

Decide 'dear'.


****

On my arriavl in Al Wak Wak island I herd the sad news of the two suicide attaccks.

One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.

The other attack took place in central Baghdad, at Aqaba Ibn Nafe'a square, as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to displaced families driven from their homes at the height of the violence.At least five children and two Red Crescent workers were among the dead. Some witnesses said the bomber was a woman walked in with a little girl holding the woman's hand.

The next day 24th of April, the sad news continued, two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up at the gates of the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in the neighbourhood of Kadhimiya in Baghdad.

No any innoccent life should be killed in this barbric way or in any other way. It's so inhuman and it's the worst type of crime ever committed in the history of Iraq. They are, in their brutality, beyond any classification. I hope that peace in my beloved country Iraq will be restored through dialogues and the Iraqis, who have seen far too many tragedies, will find a way out of this difficult time.It's so bad that the killing is continuous in our country. The terrorists should be stopped and all the Iraqis, without any tiny discrimination, should be united to rebuild Iraq.

May Allah accept all the innocent victims, who lost their lives, among his martyrs in paradise and give speedy recovery to the wounded people.

Few Iraqi bloggers wrote about these terrorist attacks.It seems that Mohamad and his friend were not far from the attack that took place in central Baghdad. He was shocked and his friend was busy making calls to assure his family and his friends that he's ok. Please read more at:

dead.

The Iraqi Mojo is asking this question:

Do humans get any more jarab than Ba3thi and Wahhabi jarab? I don't think so.

For more information please click at:

Dozens of apostates killed today

***

Noor el Qamar has put up a recent post entitled, Time, which encouraged me to finally post this entry about time.

I have found myself allways questioning the meaning of Time?

What's the nature of time?
Could we stop it?
Could we slowing down time or speeding it up?
What'll hapen when the value of time becomes equal to zero?

Also, I got the idea that if it's always possible to devide any thing we know such as iron, wood or air, then another question will arise which is: could we also devide the current time (say 2009 just for argument's Sake) into two parts, one represnts the past and the other part goes to the future?

I have to remind you about an obvious fact that we can n't divide time using a knife. What we need is a time travel-machine to start our unimaginable trip .



This's the time when we all have to be ready to begin the adventure of exploring the past and the future times. I would like to ask you all, If you divided your current time, to which years you would like to travel and why?Obviously, you need to know history very well in order to travel to the most excited years in the history of mankind.

***

Some Time Quotes

Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.
By Edgar Allan Poe / Lets forgeive and love each other.

A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self.
By Charles Dickens / Surely, it's not.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
By Henry David Thoreau / If time could be -peacefully- equal to zero then eternity should n't be injured.

An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold.
Chinese Proverb / It's true.

Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.
By Leonardo Da Vinci / Always there's enough time to do what you want.

Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
By Euripides / What's the link between time and history?

Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.
By T. S. Elliot / Not at all.

Times don't change. Men do.
By Sam Levenson / What about women?

To fill the hour - that is happiness.
By Ralph Waldo Emerson / To be busy doing some thing useful in your time should be happiness.

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.
By Eva Young / People need deeds and not talks.

I remain optimistic that we can turn things around, but I think we've got much less time than I thought to ensure our survival.
By Tim Flanneryhp / The time is limited and the task is so difficult but we remain optimistic that we will survive.

***

"A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes" is a popular science book written by world-famous cosmologist at Cambridge university, Stephen Hawking, and first published in 1988.The book addressed many important questions such as:

"Where do we come from? How did the universe begin? Why is the universe the way it is? How will it end?"



The following are three intersting paragraphs taken from this famous book:

"All my life, I have been fascinated by the big questions that face us, and have tried to find scientific answers to them. If, like me, you have looked at the stars, and tried to make sense of what you see, you too have started to wonder what makes the universe exist. The questions are clear, and deceptively simple. But the answers have always seemed well beyond our reach. Until now.

"The ideas which had grown over two thousand years of observation have had to be radically revised. In less than a hundred years, we have found a new way to think of ourselves. From sitting at the center of the universe, we now find ourselves orbiting an average-sized sun, which is just one of millions of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. And our galaxy itself is just one of billions of galaxies, in a universe that is infinite and expanding. But this is far from the end of a long history of inquiry. Huge questions remain to be answered, before we can hope to have a complete picture of the universe we live in.

"I want you to share my excitement at the discoveries, past and present, which have revolutionized the way we think. From the Big Bang to black holes, from dark matter to a possible Big Crunch, our image of the universe today is full of strange sounding ideas, and remarkable truths. The story of how we arrived at this picture is the story of learning to understand what we see."

The Iraqi Blogsphere is alive

There are a lot of activities happening on the Iraqi blogs that include not only many valuable posts but also enjoyable commenting discussions. That should make us all happy and proud.Therefore, I have to say, the Iraqi blogsphere is fully alive and showing healthy sign of growth that Abbas Howazin declatred at the Iraqi Blog Count:

So many new blogs, we need to hire somebody

***

Abbas Howazin also published on his blog an interesting picture for the hands of a hard working Iraqi Woman. Please have a look and don't forget to read the comments as well:

Interesting Iraq Photo Of The Day


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Touta published her account of a recent incident which got her in a face-to-face arguments with a group of Iraqi policemen. The focus was Touta's human rights:

Die Polizei in Irak

Touta the brave and clever Iraqi blogger should have our support because it's only these strong stands that'll make the change for good in our country.

***

Nibras kazimi at the talisman gate is busy writing about:

Arabs and Kurds, and Emma Sky

So If you need to know Nibras's views about Emma just go there.

The IraqPundit also giving his views about the dispute in the north:

Iraq's North

***

Mhmd has received a vicious attack from touta for the personal views about Iraqi girls that he has published in his recent post.To be honest, I don't blam touta for her reaction.In actual fact I admire Touta when she has the rage of our nation.Mhmad is new to the Iraqi culture and needs to be given time to understand the culture and the tradition of our society.Please be patient with him:

street wise

***

Micho has published some of her war memories:

Bad memories about war

Micho have lost some of her loved ones so please have a look and show you love to her.

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Attawie is asking you all the following question:

Tell Me Why

A very intersting YouTube video so have a look and try to address the question.

***

Eye raki is in Diwaniya city exploring the link between:

Dogs & Politics

I should say that you could measure the civilisation of a nation by assessing the way it treats animals and in particular cats, dogs and donkies.

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If you need to know more about weapons trade in America then the Iraqi Mojo is your place:

Guns in America

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Noor el Qamar put an emotional poem about her best friend so read carefully every line to understand what it means:


My new best friend


***

Layla Anwar from the Arab Woman Blue, woke up with a wonderful feeling this morning. To know the reasons click at:

Against All Odds...

***

We (Touta, Jeffrey and myself) were involved last night in a late lively discussion about writing an Iraqi sictom and here are three proposed outlines:

Touta:
I've outlined the plot already:
blonde (dyed) iraqi girl has to relocate to the marsh due to lack of living space in baghdad. There she falls in love (awww) and then suddenly goes blind (another awww). But love conquers all and through funny mishaps and heart wrenching scenes, she regains her sight, marries said love of life, and lives happily ever after.
Oh, and she visits the church, oops, Mosque every friday, where gossip is handed out, and she politely interacts with society.
Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be sued?

Jeffrey:
Touta, How about this idea for a sitcom called "Welcome Back, Khalid." Khalid and his family flee Baghdad for security reasons and then return a few years later only to find another family living in his house. Instead of asking the family to leave, they decide to join both families together, one Shia family and one Sunni family (kind of like "The Brady Bunch").
When the Shia kids spill juice on the floor, the Sunni father smiles and pokes fun at the Shia Dad, "Hey, can't you teach your Persian kids any manners!" Then there's the old grandmother in the corner in full burka whom the kids keep trying to sit on because they think she's an armchair (cue laugh-track).

Khalid:
Jeffrey, Shia Kids and Sunni father!
I don't fancy these names. We're all Iraqis. May be as a play it could teach people some thing about the strenght of togetherness. However, I started to write the firts lines of the Iraqi sitcom. The events supposed to take place between the Marshes and Al-Karada in Baghdad and I hope you'll enjoy reading it. Touta'll have the power to change and add the spicy stuff.

If you would like to read the details of this discussion then click at:

The Iraqi Sitcom

***

For those who're feeling bored, you could go to the Iraqi Maqam and listen to some classical maqam sung by the voice of:

Najm al-Sheikhli

***

Tuota lecturing the Iraqi police and Micho is looking for the house of her dreams

I looked around at many Iraqi blogs, looking for stories, and decided to write about Tuota and Micho because their two stories are related to some chronic problems we are facing in Iraq these days.

Let me first start with Tuota who, together with Mhmd and her brother were walking in Baghdad to get some books or shoes for Touta, when they were stopped by some policemen who asked them Where're they going.Touta's brother addressed their question and then just before they let them go, another group of five policemen stopped the three again looking at them upside-down. Then, they asked them: What are your relations with this girl?! Mhmd explained what happened after this:

My friend (her bro) looks on in shock, i don't know how to reply.
in the end, touta spends half an hour talking to them about her human rights to walk with anyone she wants

So in actual fact Touta lectured the policemen for about half an hour, focusing on human rights. I told Mhmd that I'm so proud of Touta.Unfortunetley human rights are not taken for granted in our countries contrary to people’s wishes.You have to stand up for your rights against any violation for your civil rights and that's exactly what Touta has done and she successed as the ploicemen let them go.

I commented on Mhmd'blog saying that democracy is a learning process and the Iraqi policemen need lot of training and workshops to know how to respect the human and civili rights of the citizines they supposed to protect. To be honest, I'm so glad that Touta managed to lecture to the police about human rights for almost 30 minutes. I hope she'll put some thing about the incident on her blog. It is hoped that these and other actions will succeed to convert the Iraqi police from a force that are being used to oppress people into a friendly force that should protect all the citizines without any form of discrimination whatsoever.

I believe though that Iraq is moving in the right direction. We just need time to sort out some chronic problems and then I believe we'll be the most prpsperous country in the region. Then Mhmd asked me about our chronic problems to which I said there are many of them but let me list what I have in my mind at the moment:

1. Terrorism and sectarianism
2. Corruption, mismanagement and malinvestment
3. Inefficient public services
4. Also the U.S. military presence is another chronic problem which needs to be dealt with in order for our country to be fully independent. Nobody would like to see his or her country occupied for too long whatever the wisdom behind it.

***

Its nearly been a half year now, during which Micho spent lot of her time looking for a house to rent in Baghdad. The house of dreams will see Micho ties the knot with her long time fiancé. However, this's not an easy task in Baghdad.

Despite the fact that Micho has an army of volunteers that includes according to Micho words:

my family, my family in law, my father and his friends, my mother and some neighboors, my finace and all his friends, my friends and their families.

The outcomes are not successful,:

There is nothing to live in.

There is a housing crisis in Iraq and according to what Ms. Bayan Dezayee, the Iraqi Minister of Construction and Housing, said recently:

“Iraq’s population will reach 39 million and will require building 1.9 million housing units by 2015, which cannot be met with existing rates of supply.”

It's not easy now to find a house or an apartment for rent in the secure area of Baghdad such as Al-Karada and Zayoneh districts. Also the prices of property in our capital Baghdad have more than doubled since the year 2003 and the fact of the matter is that you must have more than 200,000 US$ to buy a little house in the secure districts of Baghdad.

The crisis is worsening day by day and it seems there's no simple solution for it. My friend Rasim desperately tried in August last year to find a suitable small house in Baghdad Al-Jadyda district but to no avail. Then he paid 90,000 US$ for a house in Al-Hillah city, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad.Some people are now paying him 120,000 US$ for the very same house. This represents a 40% increase over the original price in less than a year.

For more information, please read the following two articles. They are not newly published articles but the information is still valid:

Boom time in Baghdad: Return of refugees puts heat under property prices

Baghdad property prices soar amid improved security


Let's see some of the options that are available to Micho in her struggle to find a place. She could very much focus her efforts to find an appartment in Zayoneh district or Hifa street because many place seekrs prefer a house:



The other solution is for Micho and her fiancé to find another couple (preferbley cousins or close friends) and then they could share a house in one of the secure districts for no more than a 550 US$ a month:




Micho could go to some of the old areas of Baghdad such as Al-Hayderkanah and rent a (Shanasheel) traditional Iraqi house. They have a unique architecture that makes them look very attractive and also it helps the house to keep the temperatures low in the summer and high in the winter. I have to say that they are cheaper compared to the modern designed houses:

Surley, Micho and her fiancé could start their marriage in one of the former dictator's palaces that is being offered to the newlymarried couple for about 175 US$ per night and after their short stay let's all say "ALLAH Yehlha" which means ALLAH will solve it:





Micho and her fiancé also have the option of moving to Kurdistan region which is one of the most stable and prosperous parts of Iraq. Micho has languages and accounting skills that should help her to get a good job to pay the rent for the following house in Erbil:



You don't need money or a job to live in the Marsh Arabs.It's FREE! All what Micho needs to do is going there to actually build her own Sumerian style house and start fishing together with her fiancé. They just have to fully integrete into the 5,000-year-old culture of the Madan, descended from the Sumerians who established humankind's first civilization, and to do so they may need to buy a (Jamousah) buffalo and try to learn how to milk her every day:



Although I'm not sure if Micho and her fiancé are ready to explore all the above options, nonetheless, we, the army of volunteers and her Iraqi bloggers colleagues should give the best possible advices and solutions. Needless to say that the final decision really lies with them both, Micho and her man, as she rightly declared in her following statement:


we want to do it the way we want, the time we want, we will wait untill we find a nice place for us.. this is my business, it is not others businss.


Finaly, I pray for Micho and her fiancé to get a house that suite them today and not tomorrow and I'm very optimistic they will.

Six years after the invasion that toppled the brutal dictator

Few Iraqi bloggers managed to remember the 9th of April 2009, the day on which the formal dectator was removed from power. Lets start with the IraqiPundit who says:

On the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, most Iraqis around the world are looking back at the last years with mixed emotions.Most are glad to see the Baathists go,sad to see the suffering of Iraqi civilians, and pleased that things are finally improving.

I think it's a fair general statement.

***

Iraqi Mojo in a recent entry thinks the new Iraq really is better than the old Iraq and yes he has a good reason to say that:

Muntadhar Al Zaidi's sentence cut to one year
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former US President George W Bush has had his sentence cut from three years to one year on appeal.
Good news. An Iraqi who dared throw his shoe at one of Saddam's guests would have been tortured to death. The new Iraq really is better than the old Iraq, at least in this respect.


***

Touta described some mixed feelings in her house:

Today is Friday, the start of the seventh year since the start of the war. I hope that the 7th year will bring peace and happiness, and luck. But I don't know what to say. In fact, I am suffering from lack of emotion if anything.
Our house has chocolates and sweets littered around because of the anniversary. But they leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

Touta thinks that:

Celebrating the removal of Saddam from power is a completely different thing to celebrating the start of a war to me.

She explained further her view by saying:

Why would I celebrate the start of a war? Instead, I choose to remember and celebrate all those who lost their lives. All those who could have changed the world, but never had the chance.All those who selflessly sacrificed their lives. But with that, I also have to remember their killers. Which is why I cannot bring myself to ever say any war is Just or Good.And for this reason, I shall never celebrate the 9th of April


Well, surely she has a point to be made there .

***

Eye Raki Hayder Al-Khoei couldn't hide his excitement as he remembered what happened on the 9th of April 2003 in Al-Fardos square (Paradise sq.) at the very heart of Baghdad :

I can't believe it has already been 6 years. It seems like yesterday I watched the statue of Saddam fall in a symbolic ceremony that indicated the Ba'ath regime was finished.

Then he rightly declared:

Iraq will prevail and it will become strong and remain a thorn in the eyes of its many enemies.

He also directed the following question for some journalists:

"Why do people expect so much so fast from a country whose people had to suffer 3 decades of unimaginable terror!?

I think it constitutes a valid question. More than 1000 suicidal cars exploded in Iraq targeted the innocent people in the public places such as schools, markets and mosques. No nation on earth faced such a barbaric and inhuman acts but the Iraqi nation. However, the brave Iraqi people never get tired and they never lose patience.Its a normal practice for the Iraqis after every single terrorist attack to mourn our martyrs then to send the wounded people to the hospitals, clean the place and start to work again. They never lost the hope for a united and prosperous Iraq, free of any sectarian tension.

***

Jeffrey, in his post marking the six anniversary of removing the former dictator from power and commenting on Hayder's entry, rightly have listed the enemies of the emerging democracy in Iraq:

The last six years, as Hayder alludes to, have also seen many enemies of democracy try to destroy the new Iraq that was trying to pull itself from decades of dictatorship. Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni Baathists, and the Shia militants all took the lives of many Iraqi civilians in their hopes of scuttling the formation of a democratic Iraq.

***

Al -Mutanabbi Street, is a visible example that shows the true nature of the hard working Iraqis. The street is the literary center of Baghdad, named after the most famous Iraqi Poet, Abu Al-Tayyib Al-Mutanabi (915-965 A.C.)who said the following powerful lines:

It is I whose words the blind could see,
And whose words the deaf had harkened.

I'm known to the horse, the night, the wilderness,
And to the sword, the spear and the plume.

This historic area which is filled with bookstores and street book stalls was attacked in March 2007. Many people were killed or wounded and the street also severely damaged including its famous Al-Shabandar Café.

Mohammed Al-Saedi wrote a beautiful entry about this lovely street together with pictures. Have a look and see for yourself the determination of the Iraqis to re-build their beloved country.

When I read Mohammed's conclusion, my heart was lifted up with joy and hope:

Things like these, and men like those are like winds of hope cleansing the streets of the city from the blood that they’re immersed in. Life is returning, and hope is growing.



***

BaghdaDentist is talking about the situation in Baghdad after 6 years in the context of the recent suicidal cars:

some people may wonder what is the situatin in baghdad after six years of war from an iraqi view
*the security situation:
it is flactating from "semi-normal" to the worst on earth.what happened in the past few days showed that clearly.in one day 6 bombed cars exploded in different districts in baghdad,what about the "cyber dogs" that detects weapons???!!! and the checkpoints that are making all the traffic jams everywhere??

Yes, it's very painful that many innocent Iraqi people lost their lives and the Iraqi government should take actions to protect all the Iraqi citizens wherever they live.

***

Only Layla Anwar of the Arab Woman Blue is talking about the fall of Baghdad:

The Fall of Baghdad as seen by an American - 2
Since most of you out there have short attention span, and reading long articles does not "turn you on" - I am presenting you with part 2 of my interview with Malcolm Lagauche - hoping you have already digested part 1 of the "Fall of Baghdad."


Hold your horses Layla, Baghdad has never failed and will never fail.

Layla is asking her interviewer this question:

what do you make of the current state of the Iraqi resistance ?


What resistance? !!!
Do you mean the killing of the Iraqi people by the brainless killers?
I can't see any viable resistance other than those terrorists who have no morals whatsoever. You have the chance to explain your view further.

***

Finally I though I'll put the following video which has been taken for Abu Tahsin, the famous Iraqi man, on the 9th of April 2003:




He is shouting to say the following:

Thanks for whoever helped us to get freedom.

Hey people this's the traitor.
Do you know what has he done to the world?
Do you know what has he done to Iraq?
He killed our youth.
He killed our children.
He killed millions.

Abu Tahsin continued hitting the picture of the former dictator with his shoe shouting from the depth of his heart, mind and soul:

This's freedom.

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."

***

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.”

***

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.

***

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."

***

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

***

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!!!

***

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.