I love You Iraq ..

Why I'm not a politician

2010-06-25T20:40:00.008-05:00

Greetings everyone; it feels almost as if I’m hearing my words echoing between the walls of an empty house where everything is covered in a thick layer of dust. It’s been over a year since I last posted anything on my blog, and whenever I try to do so, something stops me. I always thought it was being busy and having school and other things, and perhaps it’s true, but when I really gave it some thought, I found out that it is the same reason why I wouldn’t go into politics.

In Iraq, like almost any other country in the world, you can’t get anything done without having a certain bias in your life. Without biases, we are not really conforming to the human nature, which as far as I know, is “natural.” Everyone has a bias, sometimes we prefer to drink a certain kind of juice or eat at a certain restaurant just because “we feel good about it,” just because we feel comfortable with it. Many times we don’t really have a reasonable justification for what we’re choosing to do, and most of the time these are personal choices that probably do not really affect other people.

Iraqis have grown more and more biased towards the political groups they support. This is completely fine, definitely democratic and is something that at this point in my life, I should be really happy writing about. What’s the problem then? The problem is that when it comes to looking at groups like “The State of Law,” “Al-Iraqia,” or any other political group, things that surface are too much to just be ignored. For the passing days since the parliamentary elections, we have heard almost no single professional announcement from any of them. We have been getting mixed signals about what their goals or what they really want is, the groups have been talking about who’s taking over, but no one has heard anything about what their policies might come to be.

All of this might be due to the fact that Iraq is a young democracy and even the most professional politicians are not that experienced. This is probably true, but there are also all those accusations going right and left about each group being in charge of death militias, torture prisons, foreign propaganda, and many things that one simply cannot just ignore. How can I personally side with Al-Iraqia when Allawi’s statements are all about fraud and attempts to have him assassinated, and how can I side with The State of Law when all those rumors and files regarding corruption are surfacing.

I went to the election center, I voted, and I believe that politically, this is as far as I am willing to go. If there is any other opportunity that might become available to help Iraq any other way, I will do it, far away from political support for anyone.

And don't get me wrong, just read through my blog to understand that I might be one of the top supporters for democracy in Iraq, and perhaps the top opposer of the authoritarian regime we've had for years, aka Saddam.

Of course, any politician or sane person can say that politics everywhere is like this, it will definitely involve some mistakes and there is no politician in the world that is perfect. Now I myself am a human being, and I have my own biases, but what I would say to this is not that I want a perfect politician, - because this is a joke - But when Iraqi blood is on stake, how can I ever be biased?

A scent from the past ..

2009-02-17T15:46:00.004-06:00

It is a scent from the past, “Al-Shabandar” café opening its doors again to the public. Personally, I was never at the appropriate age to go and sit in that café and absorb what happened there. However, it feels like a part of me came back to life. I have always heard of that place, and passed by it with my father in our little trips to Al-Mutanabby street and Al-Saray Market to buy books and school supplies.

That street formed a significant part of my childhood. Although I never paid so much attention but to the comic books and the small adventure stories, the smell of the worn-out yellow books is still tickling my nose. The memory of that place fills my soul with inspiration and happiness. And the day that it was bombed, burning the beautiful pages, killing innocent people, and destroying Al-Shabandar café along with it, it felt like a part of me died inside.

This place, as I consider it, is the single most important historic/contemporary spot in Baghdad. Not the ruins of Babylon, neither the old walls of Baghdad. These might show how great it was, but they are completely worthless otherwise. Places like Shabandar café are places that we need to work on so that 500 years later it would still be standing as a gem of culture and tradition.

Reading the news, seeing that this place has reopened its doors, and that the street is paved with books once again was the single best thing I’ve heard in years.

Despite the death of the owner’s five sons who helped him run the place, and despite the death of their mother due to the severe shock she received. Their father whom I consider to be a hero, reopened the place, preserved the old decoration, and is running the place once again.

Things like these, and men like those are like winds of hope cleansing the streets of Baghdad from the blood that they’re immersed in. Life is returning, and hope is growing. Slowly, but it's something.

Best Regards,

Mohammed Al-Saedi

Some waiting, and some saving!

2009-02-01T18:46:00.003-06:00

The great news that are coming from my lovely home in Baghdad, are that Iraqis once again marched to the polling centers and casted their votes in an unprecedented event in my world. Why is it unprecedented? Because it happened for the second time! No bombings, no one hurt, all happy with wide smiles.

My next step along with my friends here after a decision we made, is to save some money and prepare ourselves for a road trip to the north where we can vote ourselves. I’ve been hearing that our voting will be delayed and the election results will be held until the next march of 2009, however that could very well be just a rumor, and even if not, life seems to be getting on the right direction in that beautiful land in the middle of the cruel middle east!. Yes, I’m not sorry to say it, it’s cruel, brutal, and unfair. And I’m so happy to say that I’m from the only country in that part of the world which does not adhere to the Mafia law anymore.

Now, to add a spice to what I’m writing here, I’ve come across a song online that is produced by the late “Al-Mehdi army”. It literally says “فاصل اعلاني ونعود”, it means “we’ll be back after the commercial break” What the hell? LOL , that’s all I’ve got to say.

And last but not least, I hope that we’ll witness a large number of elections through our lives, in Iraq that is, and hopefully in other repressed regions of the middle east, after all, some claim that most of the world problems originate there.

Best,
Mohammed Al-Saedi

Update:

Steelers won the superbowl!

Stereotypes

2008-04-15T20:54:00.004-05:00

A stereotype is a conception that someone from a certain group of people has against another group no matter what the grouping has been made according to. Stereotypes are a major problem that outlines the majority of the social and political difficulties the world is facing, it clearly expresses itself in the Middle East in general, and what I’m looking into, Iraq in particular.

A lot of research, writing, and convincing has been made by many people along history to defeat the predetermined stereotype misconceptions made about certain groups to which they belong or don’t, they often miss the core point of their work by drifting into defending a group rather than manifesting the faulty nature of every stereotype.

In Iraq, the living evidence on the idiocy of all stereotypes is schools, as sectarianism, which is just a form of pushing stereotypes into our everyday life in disguise, hasn’t yet worked its way through the destroying of the college and education society, at least in some schools. Every school that I’ve been in as a student had a very diverse population of students including Arabs, Kurds, Muslims, Christians, and others, most of which are best friends and will hold friendships that last a lifetime.

If a group of people do not have a designated leader that each and every one of them acknowledges as their leader who can say ANYTHING for them all, a stereotype can not be said to subsist. As Human beings with a mind that can analyze many of the complex concerns of science, or handle a lot of the interwoven daily life activates, we can tell if this leader is approved by all the members of the group if we can simply ask all of them about it; seeing the thing by ones eyes or hearing it by ones ears should be the only proof we accept for new information; now we know that a few of us have witnessed at least one of the major science discoveries with his own eyes, but we know that we’re more than welcome to check it for ourselves, and we also know deep down that we will probably find the same results, of course it doesn’t apply for everything, but we also know deep down that no stereotype can be entirely true, unless we prove it by directly asking everyone involved and having a distinct proof that they’re not lying!

I know that such a piece of writing may seem a little strange as the reader might think that he or she already knows that or have known it since forever, but this is not true, in the 21^st century with the huge discoveries and even the most difficult numerous questions asked about the human psychology and the desperate tries to predict human behavior, people still think that they’re smart enough to decide what someone thinks only because he or she lives in a certain neighborhood.

A Reporter from Iraq, Talks in UT Austin

2008-04-06T00:12:00.014-05:00

Me, Maroon Shirt, Mustafa, Black Shirt, Sorry for the black spots but I can't show more!, Mr. Jamail, orange shirt.
(Update)
I got several comments from people I know telling me that the picture is funny!, so I thought it's never a bad thing to start with some humor!

(Update)

I decided to remove the picture! bear with me!
----------------------

On the 3^rd of April 2008, three days ago, there was an event on my school campus that caught my attention. The name of the event was “Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded journalist in occupied Iraq” being the title of Mr. Dahr Jamail’s book. Dahr Jamail is known as one of the few Unembedded journalists to report directly from Iraq during the Iraq war, he grew up in Houston, Texas and is a fourth-generation Lebanese American (Wikipedia).

Trying to focus on saying what I think was important in that event, I must say that I entered the room about 45 minutes after he started talking, and stayed there for an hour and 15 minutes until he finished. Why I’m concerned about writing what happened on that day is that I was reading the event’s report on the Daily Texan newspaper and then on the Daily Texan Online and found several comments from readers complaining about the very poor coverage of that event, which I think is of great importance (the event!).

The main points that drew my attention and are still in my memory that Mr. Jamail tried to voice were: (details after)

1- The Immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq is a necessity.

2- The Economical Damage that this war is causing to the states is huge. (part of the first point)

3- The Iraqi President is not an elected president; he’s assigned by the US army.

4- John Negroponte, (ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005 – “Wikipedia”) was assigned this position basically to start all the sectarian division and wars.

5- The recent operations against Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra were all strategically and politically a victory for Muqtada, which proved that he’s smart in both these aspects. “Not that I agree with all of what he thinks, for instance, I don’t agree with what he thinks about women” Said Mr. Jamail.

Now If I want to discuss all that, I might manage to do it, I can’t say that this covers all of what Mr. Jamail said, I welcome any additions in the comments if any of the readers were there at that day.

Mr. Jamail justified his wishes for an immediate withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq by saying that there are polls from very credible sources that are documented and stated to have collected the votes of Iraqis all around the country “From people in Baqouba, Baghdad, and many other cities” Said Mr. Jamail, resulting in the conclusion that over 70% of Iraqis want an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, “I’ve seen some polls where this percentage was above 90%” , but they weren’t as credible as he said. What I think about that? “May be the 100% voting results for Saddam Hussein were correct as well!, I was there, and my parents never left the house!”. Anyways, let’s stay focused, at this point, my friend Mustafa raised his hand and asked to talk, and he was asked to talk, he stood up and said “Hello, we are three Iraqi citizens here and we are students in UT Austin, It's gonna be big chaos. It's gonna be like a big mess, I'm sorry, but we don't agree with you."(referring to the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq , Mustafa replied to what Mr. Jamail said about Muqtada, and about the polls, I will only talk about the polls now and how Mr. Jamail replied, and leave Muqtada until I reach that point.

I will not quote, but paraphrase, because I don’t have a steel-strong memory, however, if anybody thinks that I said something in a twisted way, please tell me. Mr. Jamail said that these polls are from extremely credible sources, they were gathered from Iraqi citizens from all around the country, including cities like Baqouba, Anbar, and Baghdad, and he told Mustafa that if this is his opinion, it doesn’t mean that all Iraqis agree, Mr. Jamail said that he went in a Bus to Fallouja during conflicts between Americans and “Iraqi Resistant” stated by him, and talked to Iraqi citizens. Mustafa didn’t reply to that, because he knew that Mr. Jamail would immediately leave the room because he wanted to use a diplomatic way with him, as Mustafa actually said directly to the Daily Texan reporter.. when the conflicts were going on in Fallouja, even him, the dark skinned Iraqi citizen who can in no way be considered a foreigner, couldn’t even think of walking in Fallouja at these days, Americans sniping every moving object, and the “Iraqi resistant” shooting anything that moves besides there team, because no one would dare to walk there, and he went there in a bus!.

My personal perspective was very similar to that, it’s simply a question, “did you, Mr. Jamail, walk in the streets of Baqouba and distribute surveys?”. And of course my dear readers, me and Mustafa do not have credible sources of what we say just like the ones Mr. Jamail has, we only have 4 and a half years of bullets over our heads, so may be, we don’t know as much!

I Respect every American who stands and says that he wants the American forces out of Iraq because they’ve had enough with the death of their children, because the American economy is being destroyed, because of things that matter to America, but I can’t handle someone saying it in my face “You want us to leave” , Mustafa said it, I wrote it, and I’ll repeat is “It’s gonna be a big chaos”.

The Iraqi President is an assigned president, He’s not elected, is that true? On a day that Al-Qaeda threats were so high saying if anybody attempted to go and vote he will be killed mercilessly, over 60% of Iraqis –“based on credible sources” – went out and voted for the whole government, is that an assigned government? And how degrading to the Iraqi people who risked their lives to vote is it to say that? (Update) - Quoting a friend of mine "May be we made the wrong choice, but it was our choice". (Update) (CNN) some witnesses!! (as an Iraqi citizen, I'm telling you that this is definitely true)

Regarding the fourth point, about Mr. John Negroponte, I don’t know what to say really, because I actually don’t know if this is true or not, Just like the point about economy, I would love it if somebody would show evidences or ideas about this, stated by Mr. Jamail, John Negroponte has previous experience in lighting the fire of sectarian division in other places, and he was specifically assigned this position to do the same thing in Iraq “I’m not saying this is the only reason for the sectarian division there, but it has to be an important one” Said Mr. Jamail.

A point that Mr. Jamail also mentioned, was the economical damage that this war will cause in the United States, now, as I don’t want to be bias about anything, I have to say that I don’t know much about that, Mr. Jamail said a number that was in trillions of what the war will cost overall, including the costs of lifetime care for soldiers who will come back with disabilities and other hidden expences, he said “You have to look at it very well to know the amount of damage it will cause to the next generations” . I would love any follow up on that, because as I said, I don’t know much about it, and because I care about both Iraq and the United States, Iraq is my home and I’m writing because of all the friends and dear ones I lost, and America is where many of my friends are and they’re the ones who have brothers and sisters fighting over there.

Talking about the recent operations against al-Mehdi Army in Basrah, Mr. Jamail said that they were a definite strategic and political victory for Muqtada, Saying that he is politically and Strategically smarter than the government, and he has more power and more control now. And what I said to him directly about that was “Ok, You’re saying that Muqtada is politically and strategically smart, but, Muqtada is the enemy, and he’s responsible for the deaths of many Iraqis, what is the reason for saying that he’s politically and strategically smart, why are you praising his ideology? What is that gonna help me?” Mr. Jamail’s answer was “Now You’re taking it personally” , and as I was trying to explain that I wasn’t taking it personally he kept saying “I can’t talk to you if you do that” and turned to Mustafa who did a greater job, Mustafa said (not exact words) “Do you think that Muqtada is a good guy? Mr. Jamail said “I didn’t say that, I said that he is politically and strategically smarter than the government in this last operation in Basrah” ,”I already said that I don’t agree with what he thinks” he followed. Remembering that during his speech he said “For instance I don’t agree with what he thinks about women” . Mustafa continued:: I want to tell you something, I bet that you know it already, when you talk about Muqtada or anyone else in front of a crowd here, they wouldn’t know who these people are, they’re interested in knowing though, so when you say that he is politically and strategically smart, they will think that he’s the good guy, not knowing that he’s responsible for killing and relocating millions of Iraqis around the country without any human justice, so you might as well mention that to them” , Mr. Jamail replied “Well, I usually do, but in a one hour speech, that I have to say what I have, answer questions, and do this –pointing to a book, referring to the book selling and signing session he has to do- I don’t have enough time to say everything” Mustafa said “Well, these things are important for people to know, so even if you don’t have time, can you please at least highlight these points to people so that they’ll know, like, this is the bad guy, this guy is killing people, and this guy is ok!, can you please do that?” Everybody around us kinna laughed and Mr. Jamail apparantely tried to keep the water of his face “Ok, I will try to do that” Shaking Mustafa’s hand with a smile “I’m glad that you’re here in the states” Mustafa replying “I’m glad that you made it back home safe from Iraq”.

That’s what I heard and saw, and thought as well, correct me if I’m wrong please.

Cheers,

Mohammed

Not even titled ...

2008-03-28T13:09:00.007-05:00

72 hours, then 12 days, after 5 YEARS of waiting, it doesn’t make any sense to give the illegitimately armed militias a 72 hours or a 12 days chance. Everybody including Maliki himself knows that the government does not have anymore power to threaten, because when you threaten for a couple of years continuously without actually having any of your threats successfully carried on, you just have to act, there’s no point of threatening, unless of course, you can’t really do what you’re claiming intention to, which means that your threats Mr.Maliki, are only more fuel on the fire, and it’s the worst strategy to start a battle.

I had some thoughts about why the government has no power at all along with a good friend of mine after an intense “”””politics”””” talk!!! , for instance, let’s look at a manager of a big government institution, if I were one, who would I be more afraid of, my higher manager? Or a guy from al-medhi army working as a janitor in my office? It’s simple, you do the math. What if I’m the prime minister and my personal bodyguards are in al-mehdi army or al-qaeda and are spying on everything I’m saying, yeah! Do you think it’s hard to do that? Is it hard for an organization that kidnapped two airplanes and hit the top of the highest buildings in the world or who managed to kidnap a huge number of employees and officials in the Iraqi ministry of health with a couple of SUVs and some old guns to sneak a couple of wired spies to the PM’s office? You have to be kidding me if you tell me you don’t believe that if the government was claiming transparency to the world, that it’s not actually a tin can that’s open from one side which is al-qaeda and its likes side.

Al-Dulaimy, quoting my friend, needs to have a nuclear head in his garage to actually be thrown out of the government, and it needs huge efforts to figure out that there’s a WAR going on, the terrorists are fighting, and the government is hoping for unity of the people to accomplish safety! Screw that it’s not a government, it’s a barnyard.

I’ve always had hope, not just hope, no matter what I said, I believed that if this government was given a chance it would do something, because after all, there is a number of good people involved in it, crazy me! Has anybody noticed how all the Qaeda controlled neighborhoods are perfectly quiet and sound these days? Let’s not say all, but most are taking a break, are they? Or are they building their lines that when al-mehdi army is destroyed they will take over everything, kill all Shia and all Sunna who merely think that Shia shouldn’t be killed, kill all the remaining doctors and stop colleges as they are coed and again stop schools because back in the prophet’s time kids used to sit under a palm tree and learn not in an old classroom with an old fan that barely gets some power to spin!

I don’t know what to cover in this post, and I don’t know where I stand, what pisses me off is that Baghdad has been a little safer and better very recently, and all this started, Muqtada came out of his grave and curfew is back on, is it all bad luck for Iraqis? Just chaos and coincidences? Or a strategic computer game being played by a 10 years old kid who left his computer and went down for dinner?!!! All possible, all logical!!

Book Tag

2008-03-05T03:52:00.003-06:00

(it's a brief break from blogging about Iraq, it's a refresher!!"

Moviemania has tagged me! So here it is: (I'm doing the steps exactly like she did!)

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages):"Chemical Principles" - Steven S. Zumdahl !!! (I have a test tomorrow)

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence."Balancing an Oxidation-Reduction Equation by the Oxidation states Method"

4. Post the next three sentences."Assign the oxidation states of all atoms. Decide which element is oxidized and determine the increase in oxidation state. Decide which element is reduced and determine the decrease in oxidation state. " (if u wanna know the rest of this method contact me, haha"

Tag 5 people:

Moviemania
Jeffrey
Konfused Kollege Kid
Omar
Yahoo!

I'm not sure if all of whom I tagged are interested in doing that! I'm just following instructions :D

Cheers,
Mohammed

A deeper view, a real one.

2008-03-02T04:35:00.000-06:00

Why do I blog about Iraq? I love my country, I love my city, I love my neighborhood, and I love the life I lived there, I might never have the chance to live it or one similar to it again, I might just talk and talk about it, to get things out of my mind, to feel comfortable, every time I miss my home, I blog, every time I miss my family, I blog, some people around me might think that I’m living the happiest life and I just forgot, well, I have the greatest friends here in Austin, I’m in a great school, and I love life, however, I won’t start saying that I’m a sad person who has sadness buried deep down in his heart and get all emo on everyone who reads my blog, I will just say that there’s no way on earth I would forget, is not a memory, it’s part of me.

I sit here and have intense conversations about Iraq, about how things should be done, and about what happened and what messed up the place, I never reach a conclusion, Saddam?, Wars?, Bombs?, Corruption?, Violence?, Death?, Ignorance?, Wrong or no planning?, What is it? It’s all, I guess it’s all at least if I pretend to know.

We talk about how the economy got destroyed, how the infrastructure collapsed all the way down, and how the reconstruction will take place. This is all known, have we thought of what happened to the Iraqi society? Can anyone estimate the time and the number of generations needed to have a decent society that believes in life and hope? In a great society where doctors and university professors got killed or travelled away and settled down in some other place, students are scattered all over the world and getting tons of job offers abroad, or of course sitting at home afraid to go to school, where the gun, blood, and al-qaeda became daily vocab. Of a 6 year old, what’s the remedy for that? We should think about it, if Iraq will ever be a place of life, democracy, and future, the society is Iraq, and the society should be a place of life, democracy, and future, not one of a gun, blood, and al-qaeda.

Future ..

2008-02-19T18:38:00.002-06:00

“Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.” Denis Waitley

     With all the overwhelming events over the past few years, we stopped thinking about the future, or, in other words; Future in our eyes, became a safer tomorrow during which we can walk around comfortably and safely without really worrying. This is not completely achieved, but the difference is magnificent, we should not be satisfied with the ongoing security situation, but we should be proud of the way it’s heading to, now there’s a small statement I have to put here. I still do believe that the Iraqi government made tons of wrong decisions and caused many of the recent problems, but at the same time, I must say that I was wrong in thinking that there’s no way this government was going to end the violence and provide security, well, they did, so I should stop the negativity and placing blames, I still think that the conversations between Maliki and the government members go like how I wrote before, but as long as a stable situation is in the horizon, it means that a great future is there too, if security was established, we’ll be a little ahead of Saddam’s time, we’ll have safety, plus freedom of speech!, and then, great things will start flowing beautifully towards us.

     At this moment, we need to get ahead of time, now I know the government is not just sitting around, but it could be true, coz it’s not the first time!, for the security to be totally stable, it shouldn’t just be made so, it should be accompanied with other types of actions, like starting to refresh the economy, starting the rebuilding process that had completely stopped for a while, start cleaning the mess that the destruction has left, start fixing the streets and getting things done, opening the road for everyone who wants to help accelerate these processes, inviting peace corps, international peace and humanitarian organizations, building a better health system, trying to give more stability to normal life supplies like water and electricity, this is all not easy, but starting to work is a step, and I know that I’m not breaking any news here, but it should start as soon as possible, all these things, if only started, will provide thousands of work positions, which is a fantastic cause of seizing violence reasons, this is the simplest advantage, and how big it is!

     At this point, people will start thinking of the money required to carry on these plans, and this is the realistic way of thinking, however, money is not all that’s needed, the spirit to start working is most important right now, we know we have the money, and even if we don’t, money will be there once we start working someway or another, life is what’s needed, engineers need to find a place to do something, doctors need to get to work, teachers should start looking at life and their students differently and workers have to double their efforts, poets need to write their spirit lifting verses and writers need to criticize and praise the work, who ever starts, he will start a new period in this country, it’s going to be the most busy, and profitable era in the history of this area, and it will be the mostly remembered piece of time over the ages, just watch and see.

With all my best wishes,

Mohammed H. Zaid Al-Saedi

Just four months

2008-01-25T16:20:00.002-06:00

In this post, I will ask a question that I came up with due to a personal experience. This question was asked by many people at the beginnings of all the changes, but no one actually knew if it had a true base or not.

I have been out of my house in Baghdad for about a year now and out of the country for about 4 months. When I talk to my friends and family, online or through the phone or by any means, I only get that they’re doing alright, their security is somehow better, and that the electricity and water services still barely work, and this sort of things. When I watch the news or read them, I see if there was an explosion somewhere, and if the government has reached a new decision about our flag or whatever.

Now what made me wonder is that from December 2006 I started writing on this blog, sometimes I talked about my personal experiences and security threats, sometimes about an important piece of information on the news, or a current matter of concern in the society, or even just conceptual thoughts about the ongoing events. Now, about 4 months after I left the country, I open up a new word document, either with a simple idea, trying to make it work for a post that fits “I love you Iraq”, and I can barely write a few lines, a number of times this happened to me and I started wondering, “What If I was out of the country for 5 years, 10 years, 30 years???” . Even though I will still love my country, love my family and friends, love my neighborhood and my memories more than anything else around me, even though I’m still a 100% Iraqi and no one in the world can say something else, even though I wish so hardly that I can do something to help Iraq, and finally even if I became educated with degrees from the best schools in the world and life experience in societies and relations of the whole globe, I still won’t be able to write a page about Iraq, a page that actually means something.

Have you noticed what my question was? A hint? It’s about the current Iraqi government? Are they the right people? And if they were, don’t they need some help from people who know and who lived in Iraq all the time they were out?

Best Regards,

Mohammed H Al-Saedi

Seriously, let’s give them a chance and be in their shoes for a week.

2007-11-27T00:49:00.000-06:00

This is the point when I start wondering, not as I always do, but in a more negative way, is there actually anything we can do? We got the word out of the walls, a lot of people know what’s happening in Iraq, a lot more know many of the superficial causes, but what does that change in Iraq, in the land, on the spot, where children are being killed and life is being suffocated slowly and mercilessly, what will change if a couple more million people knew more about reality? Do you believe that it makes a difference?

Let’s take it from perspectives of different people and what they can do.

I’m the prime minister of Iraq; I have the highest power on the army and the government, but, what the hell is going on? What should I do next? What do you think Mr. President?

- Let me go to Syria and have a little chat with the president over there dear P.M
- Alright then, I’ll be waiting for you so please hurry up.
- Try to think of something while I’m away will ya?
- I will, while watching family guy.
- Oh, would you please record this week’s episode for me so I won’t miss it?
- Never mind, I downloaded all the seasons on eMule, I don’t like watching them on TV, coz sometimes I don’t get some jokes and I have to rewind.
- Even better, see you next week.
- Alright, have a nice trip.

I’m the president of an important party in the government; I have control over the ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Agriculture. Hey there Mr. Prime minister, we’re running out of oil, we don’t know where it’s going because we thought we had the second largest reserve in the world and still there’s not enough oil for everyone here, can you help us out?

- Yo buddy how’s it goin? Take it easy, I’m watching Stewy killing his mom, what was that again?
- Oil.
- What about it?
- We’re running short of oil.
- Seriously? How many barrels are you getting per day?
- 4
- Ha! , tell me Mr. Oil minister, how many barrels do you have filled all the time in your backyard?
- 3, sir.
- Alright and how many people work for you and get free gas for their cars and home electric generators?
- Probably a thousand, sir.
- How much do they approximately use?
- About 0.999 of a barrel
- Aha, and did you catch all of the small business smugglers?
- We’re working on it sir.
- (The PM getting furious) Are you kidding me? Go find those smugglers and the country will be rich in one moment, you idiot! Why are you asking me about your oil when it’s all swimming in the Gulf?
- I’m sorry sir.
- Dammit, Kenny died, oh, who switched it to South Park???!
- I did sir, I love that show.
- Well go watch it somewhere away from me okay?
- Okay sir, have a good day.
- Not with you around!

I’m a General in the Iraqi army, I have authority over a huge number of troopers, but I’m facing troubles controlling them very well. Hey Mr. Prime minister, can you help me out with a small problem I have?

- Yes sir, I’m all ears.
- Thank you sir, I come to you with a serious problem today …
- What is it?
- Is that South Park?
- Yeah man this show is hilarious, do you watch it?
- I’m much of a family guy dude but I also watch South Park.
- Well, to be honest, this is the first time I watch an episode of South Park and I find it good; have you seen this episode?
- Which?
- The one where Kenny dies?
- Which?
- What do you mean which?
- Kenny dies in all of them!
- WHY ARE YOU HERE?
- Coz of the army.
- I haven’t seen that episode yet so don’t ruin it for me.
- Alright then, we’ll catch up later.
- Ok, Bah bye.

I’m the president, I’m in Syria, I’m sitting with the Syrian president, Hi sir, we have great relationships with your country, can you help us surround terrorists?

- Hey, it’s great to see you here again, you came right in time, I have some great fresh hot pancakes with some blackberry syrup, join me.
- I’m actually on a diet, I can’t eat pancakes.
- Oh, that’s a shame.
- Nah, don’t worry, I’m good.
- Ok then, sorry I couldn’t help you.
- Never mind, I’ll see you around ok?
- Aha (Thinking: These pancakes are damn good)
- See ya.

I’m the prime minister; the president is back, Hi Mr. President, What were the results of your meeting?

- What meeting?
- With the Syrian president?
- Ah, this one, it was fine.
- What do you mean fine?
- Fine means fine, is it investigation day or what?
- Hey calm down what are you all angry about?
- Nothing it’s just been an exhausting trip.
- Alright then, check out this family guy clip I found on YouTube, it’ll cheer you up for sure.
- Ha Ha Ha, you know me pretty well my friend, lemme see.

And that’s how things work in the Iraqi government my dear readers.

Can making people aware of it change something? well, they are now, and people like me who are a lot by the way, are willing to take the risk and do something, can millions of minds help us? can billions of people leave South Park and Family Guy for one moment and think of the dying children? It's not too much to ask right?

No further comments.

(P.s: A little change in the writing style occurred because I couldn’t take it anymore)

Best Regards.

Mohammed H. Zaid Al-Saedi

The Flag, The colors, the words... Who deserves to change them?

2007-10-18T01:09:00.000-05:00

Click on the image to enlarge

I've been off blogging for a while now, I always wanted to find some time to write something here but I just couldn't, I'm glad that I have some more free time now that I can continue writing here on regular basis.

My personal idea is so simple… The flag is a colored sheet, four colors, three stars, two words, and a huge history. The two words written on the flag are ‘Allah Akbar’ which mean “God is the greatest”, the first thing they did was changing the font of the two words, based on the fact that Saddam was the one who wrote them in his hand writing!, this was actually the first step they took in removing Saddam and his black era from our history pages. Is that what we really want? For people to forget Saddam? Forget about the most brutal dictator who killed millions and did what no one else dared to do? Is this how nations heal their wounds? By erasing the lines? These questions trouble me as I will never understand how they were thinking when they changed the font to simple Kofi, this is a well known artistic Arabic font, but does it say to the generations that this noble word on the flag was written by a villainous criminal who was in charge of this land for 40 years that regressed the society, the economy, and even religion to a thousand years ago! Does it say that even the noblest words and the noblest ideas could be coming from someone who could destroy a whole nation and claim to be the glory of it! By erasing the lines, you will only give the chance for future generations to look them up and only find the letters written by Saddam to be removed during an era where Iraqis had the most difficult time of their lives. What is this going to prove? Just that Saddam was a national hero and his statues will quickly be back up! If you were brave enough, you would have dared to quote his lines, then correct them and point out the lies, at least mock them! But, my friends, and friends here is just sarcastic! YOU AREN’T BRAVE ENOUGH.

Thank you very much for reading

Mohammed H. Zaid Ali

A drive on a northern road.

2007-08-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

Click on the picture for details

As I’m currently living in Arbil, I thought that I would write a few things about it, as Arbil, known as (Hawler) in Kurdish has quite a history of itself, I made this small research to add some spotlight to the north of Iraq, what this region went through, and what’s it like now, I also added a few lines at the end gained from my almost three months experience living here.

The City Names – History and meaning .

Known as Arbil in Arabic, they have many spells for that word in English but it’s actually one Arabic pronounced into (Arbeel), it was also called “Arabela” or “Arbela” in the Syriac language which was a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the second to the eighth century AD. The Kurdish name for the city is Hawler meaning the place where sun is worshipped. The name is thought to derive from the Kurdish name helio(sun).

The name Arbil was mentioned in the Sumerian holy writings (about 2000 B.C.) as Orbelum or Urbilum. Others believe the name derives from the Akkadian arba'ū ilū, meaning "four gods". The city was a centre for the worship of the Assyrian goddess Ishtar.

Modern History – How the people said it.

I will make it as simple as possible, without many complicated dates and controversial issues, Arbil was one of the cities at the north of Iraq in the Iraqi-Kurdistan region which was very much oppressed by the Baath and Saddam. Saddam was threatened by the Iraqi Kurds because they were all gathered in one big region and had other Kurds surround them in all neighboring countries as a part of the Kurdistan Land, above all, Saddam was threatened by anything that moves, and that counts pretty hard. He started to put more pressure on them by evicting many of them and relocating them into southern cities, bringing more arabs into the region to weaken their lines. A long war went on between Saddam and the Kurds until he gave up and granted them an independence government right, to rule their region by themselves while officially still a part of Iraq. They’ve seen a lot of fear, deaths, and miseries for a while, for their testimony, it was a lot lighter than Baghdad today, but it was unbearable.

Problems weren’t over by that, a war went on between the two parties of Kurdistan, causing a long era of fear and war in the kurdistan region going on between the mountains and the difficult roads making it even more difficult for everyone. The war started settling down, I think it was for a year or so I’m not sure, then the north of Iraq was divided into two regions with two central cities, Arbil and Suleymania, Arbil was under the government of Masood Barzani, Suleymaniya ruled by Jalal al-Talabani, each and his own party, each part having it’s own government, ministries, and borders, the people actually have different accents which can reach as far as not being able to understand, some of them also have racial sensitivities towards each other. At that time any Arabic person was not allowed to enter the northern area especially men and unless he had an official cause or wasn’t an Iraqi. Following 2003 the two parties made an arrangement to settle things down, united in one government to be a more effective part in the new Iraqi government, so the Kurdistan region is ruled by Barzani and Talabani handles being the President of Iraq. A lot of things makes me wonder here around Kurdistan, things that are almost copies of pre-war Iraq, however, I think what makes it easier to let go, is that this region is being built, reconstructed, streets are being paved and bridges built, everything is going in a good hopeful road, so mainly, the citizen is almost on the beginning of the road where he starts getting what he wants here, unlike Baghdad!, so I decided not to go so deep in the negatives and leave it this way.

Kurdistan and the Kurds goal of life is to earn their independence and form the single united Kurdistan country, separate from Iraq. They already have a different flag with a big shining sun in the middle of it, independent ministries and administration, even the army and police forces.

What is Kurdistan, My ideas.

It’s a beautiful piece of land at the north of my country, whether a part of it or not, all mountain roads and beautiful landscapes, a place where the best picnic could be. I lived here for about three months now, in Arbil, as I said it’s being built, it doesn’t have that much places to spend your free time, especially that certain circumstances prevented me from pursuing my study here in Arbil this year, so I have lots of free time. I can’t speak Kurdish so I have to track people who speak Arabic in order to be able to do what I want, it’s not that hard anyway, most people who are older than me speak Arabic well, especially men, due to the fact that most of them served in Iraqi army at southern cities. My generation and the younger, probably most people in their late twenties and younger don’t know any Arabic word.

Most of the people here are so great, they always say that we are dear guests, they always say how sorry they are for Baghdad, and how beautiful it was, and how they wish that we all go back home someday so that they could come visit us in Baghdad.

My last and latest addition to this post is a small wonder. When the Iraqi soccer team got the Asian cup, celebrations were all over the world, the Iraqi flag was seen everywhere, except in Arbil, it was banned, and the police prevented the partying people from raising the Iraqi flag!!. Well, it’s too simple, if it’s not Iraq here, it’s OK for foreigners to hold their flag, and If it was Iraq, it’s also OK for natives to hold their flag, can you decide? It’s just like the roaming mobile devices, they work all over the world except in Arbil, it’s a fact, may be that’s it? :D

All the best,
Mohammed Hasan H. Ali

Click on the picture for details

Farewells.

2007-07-09T16:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted something new for a while now, however, my latest post under the title "Farewells" is now published on Omar's Twenty four steps to liberty Visiting Writers section, If you want to see it, please click here. Many thanks to Omar for publishing it, and thank you for visiting my blog.

All the best.

M.H.Z

Who are the Iraqi bloggers?

2007-06-27T04:47:00.000-05:00

These are my ideas about Iraqi bloggers, I will not count Iraqi blogs, write thorough reviews and put links for them as there’s someone who’s doing a great job with that in the “Iraq Blog Count” , neither I will choose noticeable paragraphs and bloggers and track the history of the Iraqi Blogosphere as done wonderfully at the “Iraqi Bloggers Central”. I will try to find out who these people are, including me, why they chose to write online? And what they’re writing …

Iraq has lived a very rich history, rich in events I mean, and everyone of the current generations had a fair share of these events, whether he’s a 70 years old grandfather, a 50 years old university professor, a thirty years old looking to settle down, a 20 years old bachelor still looking for some thrill in his life, or even a 10 years old still willing to play hide and seek during the class brake.

These rich events aren’t normal, a person who’s living in Iraq feels differently about them, they’re not just news on TV or in the paper, and it’s not only because he’s involved in them, no, it’s because they are actually different from the regular news. People here, all of them, share a feeling that’s really strong, this feeling makes them want to tell people about everything, describe it clearly, it’s not just my story, Konfused Kid’s story, or the River Bend girl’s story, or even Ali’s ‘the new blogger at 24 steps to liberty’ story. It’s a story of a nation, a novel of billions of pages, millions of characters, and a combination of trillions of thrilling, beautiful, memorable, exciting, and heartbreaking events.

“So we've been busy. Busy trying to decide what part of our lives to leave behind. Which memories are dispensable?” River Bend

“Now I look at the pictures from my neighborhood and remember all the people who lived there and I cry because now I can’t have the same days that I had” Ali

Iraqi bloggers are a small group of these millions of people, talking for the rest, and for themselves, after finding the opportunity to share their ideas with other people.

Iraqi people are definitely of different kinds, not regretting to say it, of course these different kinds are relatives and best friends, lovers and classmates, their differences made them react differently for the Iraqi rich in events timeline. This is actually what shows us the big variations in the Iraqi bloggers opinions, that's where the big mistake was, of course we all see that there are common wishes and goals for all Iraqi people who love Iraq and are human enough not to be involved in the current events in a negative way, but still, Iraqis are different. Some people tend to write about Saddam and his glories, others say that these are not Iraqis even if they have it written on their ID card, Well, to be truly said, they were born in Iraq, lived in Iraq, after their ancestors did long before them, and that’s the description of citizenship I believe, and even if a country caught some native terrorists, they’re not deprived of their nationality identification, they’re just called “terrorists from that country” , every country has people who oppose the law and selfishly do whatever it takes for their own sake, Iraqi terrorists by the influence of outsiders have just taken it to the next level ‘killing for own self’ , and what country in the world doesn’t have jails to lock in the outlaws? It’s not a country of angels, nor any other country in our world. It’s just a matter of common sense.

Why did I choose to be a blogger? I think that was because I had the same feeling every Iraqi had, because I had a computer, and had the time to write what I think, and actually, starting a blog doesn’t depend on what you think, it depends on having something to think about, whether it’s the love of Saddam, the love of Iraq, fighting for freedom, woman rights, human rights, supporting terrorism or even supporting your favorite singer or football team.

Freedom means that anyone can write what he wants and thinks, say what he wants, so does that mean that we can’t disagree? Show our spite? I think we can, for someone writing about how he loved Saddam, or how he supports the occupation resistance who are killing Iraqis without a bit of human mercy, or even how he loves Osama Bin Laden, yes, there are people who love him, and my ideas are against these , these people are actually the ones who made it go this far, and they’re the ones who should be locked in, that’s what I think, no matter what they think, even if they were Iraqis, even if they are seeking the missing freedom online.

It’s not about Shiites or Sunnis, Muslims or Christians, atheists or any others, I said in my last post, no religion supports death, and regardless of all the religious and historical differences, I had Christian best friends throughout my life, some of my neighbors were Christians, and we shared our lives happily for a long time, and why should I care? Or should anyone else care for my religion? however, some Iraqis do, and they think that they’re the only good ones on earth, they’re called Muslim extremists, which as far as I’m concerned means they take Islam too literally, while this is wrong, they don’t, they’re just brainwashed savages, may be they’re not humans, but they are Iraqis, some people love Iraq, some hate it’s name, and others would do anything just to spend one more day in it, and these my dear readers, are the Iraqi bloggers.

So as members of the Iraqi Blogosphere, we have to be careful too, and work hard so the more human, more honest, more sincere thoughts and feelings, are the ones which reach our readers and convince them, we shouldn’t just tell our thoughts, we should see what’s told by others, If we find it wrong, we discuss it, bring it out to the open, and prove it wrong if it is, we should also work together, because we are getting help and discussion from people around the world, we can think for other Iraqis, and try to figure out more ways to ease things, at least we will be building better generations for the future of Iraq.

A beautiful mind? don't think so.

2007-06-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

I can’t take a brake from this, I know that, but I keep writing it at the end of each post, It feels like I’m tired after everyone, but I promise, from now on, I won’t write it.

A wreck of a country is appearing beyond our eyes, and of course, we are writing about it, you find hundreds of bloggers pressing on their buttons to record every piece of news, mourn for the lost ones, post images of the destruction, some even insist on showing a good image of pre-destruction Baghdad, and a lot others work really hard trying to figure out an equation to balance everything on the screen into one clear problem that we can understand and work on together.

We all have some beliefs, even if our belief is not to believe in anything, whether I’m a Muslim, a Christian , a Jewish, or a holder of any other religion on earth, I don’t need to be such a religious person to realize that it doesn’t make sense. People around the world hear all the time about Muslim extremists, thinking that no one holding but their belief should be allowed alive, People still never notice that these so called people are killing Muslims who hold the same belief they claim to be involved in.

It doesn’t need a very deep analyzing power to realize that these people are of the same kind all over the world, and not a part of any civil community.

We need a lot of work to figure who these really are, like secret services, special forces, and these sorts of stuff, but how could that be when the government itself admits that their forces still have corrupted members and they’re working on finding them!. May be if an outsider read this paragraph he would think “Why find out who the terrorists are, just spot them and do what needs to be done” , however, we all know, if the people of the country didn’t collaborate, nothing will be done, and the Iraqi citizen is in a position that nothing could be done at all!! .. how?

Here’s how, you’re an Iraqi person sitting at his balcony .. A group of young fellas are doing some weird action in the corner, they seem to be putting something there, of course, if they see you there it won’t do you any good, you’ll go in, and decide to call 130, you do it right away if you’re so brave, and you get the busy tone!!!!!!!, sometimes it rings and nobody gets it, other times you get someone who puts you on hold for 10 minutes, then they ask you what it is, most of the times they tell you they’re arriving and they just don’t, I heard some rumors saying that they threaten you not to call again but I’m not sure about that, and after all that, all you get is a broken glass and one hell of a shock, fortunate enough you saw it and stayed away from the window!

So after all, I don’t think it needs much of a beautiful mind to figure out tons of ways easy to do by the dear elected government to make a lot of changes. Not doing them , is a whole other universe!.

How about a general look?

2007-06-19T07:20:00.003-05:00

Whenever I wanted to write about the political situation currently going on in Iraq I find it all so overwhelming, so many sides, corners, political parties, armies, gangs, twenty four hours news, murders, mass killings, explosions, so many things to collect in a single mind.

Can we have a general look on all this? I mean, let’s try to make a simple categorization of these loads of stuff, for me, a young college student at the beginning of his life, I will count all the names that play or have played a role in the current ongoing events, and try to guess If they have done any good or bad, just to me, and from my perspective.

The Iraqi Government, The American Government, The Iraqi army, The American Army (talking Baghdad), Al-Mahdy Army, Al-Qaeda, Baath party, Saddam Hussein, Syria, Jordan, Iran, The United Nations, and may be something else could come up.

I’ll take them one by one, The Iraqi Government, huh, we did elect that government didn’t we? I mean all the guys who are seated at the senate, the ones who are called ministers, and the president and the prime minister as well, we did elect these as far as I recall, well, not me as I wasn’t 18 by then, but my parents and all my neighbors and relatives did … Where the hell are they???, how could they sleep at night?, for one thing these guys made me believe in “Never be a politician”.

How about the American government? I don’t know what to say about this one, I mean all we hear from is J.W.B talking about new strategies, and with these, he’s only hurting America’s and Iraq’s people, that’s what he’s doing.

Let’s come to the current Iraqi Army, they’re all around the place, looking like they’re doing there jobs well, checkpoints, concrete walls, barbed wires, but they work like traffic police, he only moves his arm signaling the traffic to move, and unlike the real traffic police, it never stops here!.

How about the American army?, well, I guess they came for a purpose, and they did a lot at first, you know, defeated the Baath government, then caught Saddam, killed his sons too, I mean, these were some good things that we were happy about, but still, for about two years now I never saw an American vehicle unless it was stopping in the middle of the road blocking the traffic with no one out or was passing by real fast, or even so slow in front of the cars making it look like a parade or something, what’s going on? I don’t know. Note: since the new strategy started the American army left the job to the Iraqi army depending on the fact that they’re ready and well equipped now, umm, they might be equipped, but they’re sure not ready, coz they’re just shooting their bullets up to the sky.

Wow, a big point now, Al-Mahdi army, who are these people?? It all started by Muqtada when he said that he’ll fight the occupiers, the amazing thing, is that he decided to join the political side, and work for peace in Iraq, yet, the Army was still there, I’m not getting it right, did he forget about it? Went out to party and left the oven on?? And where is he now? Huh, who knows.

AL-QAEDA, boy, I can’t keep saying “who are these people” but honestly, who? Are they brainwashed people as some say? Are they extremists who believe they’re the only good kind on earth? Or are they just paid mercenaries? I don’t believe anyone could convince me with an answer, not even Osama himself, and by the way, I wanted to tell people around the world a note, Osama is an old Arabic name, people use it everywhere, so don’t get scared of anyone named Osama because he might be a great poet or brilliant doctor!, just as a note for the sake to one of my best friends.

Baath party, these guys I lived with, and I gotta tell you, it’s no treat, the thing is, they were so self absorbed, also thinking they’re the best breed on earth, is it just a coincidence? I really don’t know, the shortcut to know these guys, is knowing that they have three kinds, the first one is the kind which includes people who go after money no matter what happens, killing, reporting, and even fighting, these were the most, the second kind was of those who wanted to have a share but couldn’t and may be they were a little better than killing someone for money, but not better than fighting over a penny, the third kind was made of people who have either joined the party against their will or have just joined for no purpose but to feel safe, they don’t want any money, they’re just good people.

Saddam Hussein was a guy with a strong personality, and a stupid ideology, thinking that killing people would make him safe, well, wasn’t he right? For his sake, he was totally safe, even in the gulf war, he didn’t feel a thing, he was probably drinking tea at his garden, one of them of course, He had the most brutal gang around his sides, willing to do anything for more money and satisfaction from the dear president, they ruled Iraq for thirty years sucking the people’s blood, and the only reason that they got removed was because of a false claim of mass destruction weapons presence, should that have been the reason? Or tons of other shadowed ones?

Syria is a country that’s full of Iraqis, If anyone went there he would only hear Iraqi accents around him, it’s a small fact saying that an amazingly large number of Iraqis have left their free country!!, they’re living there without a job, without schools, without nothing but a small rented apartment and a stupid empty life, what for? That’s just for the people who argue saying that Iraq is not as bad as the media claims!.

Jordan, It’s not a heaven on earth!, I mean, I’ve been there once, for about a week, It was a nice place, but it sure doesn’t worth the struggle on the border, or at the airport, I went their with some legal documentation that let me in, but each passenger on my plane including me was investigated and treated in a not so much of a decent way for 4 continuous hours, of course I was granted a 3 days visa even though my papers stated that the appointment I’m in for is not before 4 days, of course I have to pay 1.5 dinars for every day I’m late which is not more than 3 dollars but what matters is the idea. The day I came back we were held at the airport for 5 hours even though we saw the Iraqi plane outside the window they still said that it’s not here yet, and finally we found out that they held it to finish the procedure of 40 people who came in yesterday and weren’t allowed to go into Amman!!, that’s how Jordan is paying us back what Saddam gave them.

Iran is coming up in the news so much, Iran is providing weapons to Iraqi terrorists, Iran is planning attacks on the British army, Iran so and so, I mean isn’t that stoppable? A few checkpoints between Iraq and Jordan have prevented even an old sick woman wanting to go to the hospital from passing, why can’t we prevent anyone from passing here? Or are we so generous so we’re shy to say no to a pretty face? I mean, The USA has a war against terrorism and might settle it with Iran later, but isn’t it a job for the Iraqi government to set the border a little better than that?? Huh.

The United Nations proved themselves being like the old grandpa who doesn’t tell the parents what his grandsons did to win their love!, or hallucinating mind who goes with who ever talks to him!!, it’s just a picture of a nice place with a great design, building the perfect world should only be achieved by such a huge collaboration of countries and leaders, but only nothing is getting accomplished!!..

That’s all I have for now, may be not all, but still, In general, there are so many sides of this era, and they all started at a single point, and went away in all directions, they’re miles and miles away, and the only way to solve this mess, is by them finding their way to the starting point again, If that’s to happen I guess a miracle is needed, who knows what could happen, but the bottom line is, “To anyone who wants this war over, Pray for a miracle, a big one too”.

After writing all this, I think I will take a good brake from Iraq blogging, as it gives me one hell of a headache.

Cheers,
Mohammed H. Zaid Ali

Iraqi history, the one I lived so far.

2007-06-04T05:48:00.000-05:00

To think about it this way, it might be a little easier to understand, If we considered it as fate, and you all know what it is I don’t need to go over and over with it, If it was fate, then generally we have nothing to do but be ourselves, do what we can do although even if we didn’t, it’s just fate that isn’t letting us …

“Some people tend to think this way just to avoid being blamed for something, for my opinion, I think that even if we believed that fate is all what we are about, we aren’t entitled to think in this particular way, it simply won’t work, as everything will stay still, waiting for fate!”

Back to the subject, If we considered all of it as bad luck, Iraqis are not lucky people, and boy they need a lot of good luck just to avoid being called unlucky if this all depended on luck, saying that it’s all about luck, make us unable to do anything, isn’t that right? Some people are just born unlucky, some are not!, if we all thought this way, imagine how much money astrologers will make on this earth, that if they didn’t rule it as a whole!.

“Some people just think that their bad luck is going to stay with them forever like a curse that lies upon their souls, my opinion is not totally opposite to theirs, it involves a curse too, and their curse is that they believed bad luck isn’t something coincidental, I believe that luck, is a coincidence, it exists, but no one can expect!”

Finally, If we thought of it as a consequence or a series of consequences, then we definitely have to keep thinking, for now I mean, of an action, we all know that everything we do has a consequence, If what’s going on is one of these, there’s definitely no time for regrets, let’s honestly try to answer these questions, Is it a consequence of something(s) we have done? Who are we? What was the thing(s)? Could it be a consequence of something(s) that someone other than us have done? If we answered all this, we might as well have a glimpse of an idea about what to do next!

If I wanted to discuss all of the questions I asked above, I think it will be a dull case in a small post on a lost blog, these questions need deep researches and a lot of action analysis, the least they need is they get shared between a lot of people just for them to be vaguely answered, for something to be really done, all people should think together, not just me, or you, it also doesn’t mean that we should stop thinking until they start with us, but it needs a lot of work and I hope that this is a very simple start, that forms a dot our of a really complicated novel.

So, I can just tell you what I believe in, what I think I might have done!, either right or wrong, and the rest is yours, I was born in the late eighties, told that the Iraqi Iranian war ended while I was too young to even remember anything, played for a while in the street then joined primary school, I was good there, good grades like most of the pupils, we studied a lot about Saddam, the Ba’ath, the revolution, as young pupils, we didn’t care so much, we didn’t talk about it that much either, then came high school, where I had the most fun in my life, as usual, high school brings fun, we all graduated six years later and fortunately – I guess – I had some good grades and went to a great college, what came along this simple life that I lived, was as far as I recall, three wars, the first one happened while I was still too young to remember when the Iraqi armies went into Kuwait and caused a whole lot of mess there, for all the times after that I heard my parents talking about army officers who became rich in one second, were sent by Saddam to collect goods, just like the ancient wars, except that the two armies were Muslims and I don’t think this has happened before, or may be a little!, the war ended, Iraq went into the economic siege period as If to punish Saddam for his doings and to make it for Kuwaitis, what really happened was that Saddam was more relaxed than ever, he wrote books about his victory on Kuwait and America, and a whole lot of crab about defeating thirty countries!!, the man was happy, he never had a problem, who had it was the Iraqi person, there were lines in front of bread shops with coupons to get your breakfast bread every day, a peace for a person, Imagine, burned black bread, just like the ones Oliver twist had, Iraqis normally, started to adjust, they always talked about the good times and during my whole life I was confused about when they really were.

Frankly, I didn’t think of anything that time, as far as I remember my head was empty of anything but fun, candy, and fun!, except that there wasn’t that much candy as the economic siege as Saddam said prevented the government from importing sugar!, I swear I remember a time that me and my parents were driving and stopped by an Ice cream cart and bought some Ice cream quickly, then my father said “Poor guy, he might get locked in for life for doing that” and that’s when I first knew about the sugar thing!!!, I think that in 1999, there were some bombs thrown on Iraq by the US and I don’t remember asking why, the only thing I remember is that we used to play soccer all the time, happy that there were no school!!!.

After that, me, myself, felt that life was a little bit getting better, I don’t know how I felt it, may be because in the year 2000, Saddam allowed internet access in Iraq!, even if Yahoo!, Hotmail, and hundreds of other websites were marked with “Access Denied” but that was good because it was when I learned a whole lots of stuff about the internet and how it works and probably “how to bypass security”, never mind, the year 2002 was good as I remember, because believe it or not, we had four local TV channels, three normal ones about everything, and one sports channel, they were kind of good as Uday Saddam’s Alshabab TV used to bring us all US-BOX Office movies illegally and a whole lot’s of other good materials, believe it or not, we used to live in a bubble, for me, I never knew that there was a war in Lebanon, or something called Al-Qaeda, may be I didn’t even want to know that, but there was always something missing, my father had a magnificent degree yet he never joined the Ba’ath party, he was prevented from traveling abroad by name and also from taking part in the work of any foreign company in the country, later in 2002 we started hearing stuff about an upcoming war!.

Let me tell you about the day I had, two days before the war, I was at school, 8:15 am, I blurted something about the war, they were scared, you see, we’re not allowed to talk about such a thing, because Saddam was invincible, and no one dares to battle against him after all the victories, deep down we all knew that in a few days Saddam would be in prison, even before we heard Americas announcements about it, then the guys pulled their guts a little and admitted that two days later there will be a war and no one will know, so we talked, and we decided to skip school for the day and have some fun of our own, we played soccer, we talked and talked, we even went to the computers lab we had that day, then left five minutes later, nothing mattered, we had fun, and two days later the war was present.

6:30 am, we were awakened by bombs and rockets, my mother and my sister were so scared, it’s only rightful to be scared. For an unknown reason, I wasn’t, may be because of all of what my father told me about American technology and how they can’t miss, during that war a rocket once fell in a crowded market and Saddam accused America of attacking the innocents, however, a while after the war, many former army officers just admitted that it was an Iraqi rocket!, how, why, who knows!, we went to Diyala, a city a little to the north of Baghdad, or that’s what I think, we were afraid that it would take a long time as we didn’t take but minimal necessities that could fit in our saloon car, we lived there with close relatives for about 10 days, that’s when someday, we managed to tune up an old TV, it was the same moment that the statue was being pulled by the tank ….

For, me, a 16 years old student, that’s when it all started, before that, It was an era that I was born and raised in, so there’s nothing to compare it to, after the war, we were so happy that we are back home, above all, as my parents were so happy, and after all I heard about Saddam, I was happy he was gone too, we all expected the best was yet to come…

May be not all of us, but some of us honestly did, that’s when the political arguments got spread and became present all the time every where, we used to have those during the whole school time, even at class, some people defending Saddam, some people, defending America, some people mocking the whole thing!, I never remembered an actual problem caused by that, we used to argue, then go to the basketball court and throw some shots, even when my parents argued with relatives, they were all friendly arguments, the only thing that all Iraqis shared, was anticipation ….

I believe this is where my blog started, as everything following that was a gradual increase in blood, misery, and consequences for god knows what, for eating burned bread for years?, or living in a bubble knowing what He wants us to know!?, or may be for having fun in high school - that’s me - ? , or even for not having a decent job with a great degree and qualifications – that’s my father - ? Or even for having some special fun two days before the war after it was a must happen ??, it even could be because we had some silly arguments after the war!!, could that be a cause for what’s happening now?, if it’s not, then I think that Iraqis had no hand in it!! aha, probably that’s the thing we’ve done wrong!!, however, it could be that we didn’t have a hand, and never could have had one, may be other parts were in the equation, visible, my be not, who knows, as far as I’m concerned, that’s all I know!.

Best Regards.
Mohammed H. Zaid Ali

If Someday ...

2007-05-19T14:40:00.000-05:00

If someday, you were walking in a quiet street, accompanied by occasional car horns once in a while, a nice breeze comes along , it’s one nice feeling you’re having, a sense of privacy in the street!, you know no one’s looking, you know no one even cares, you feel so liberated, and can close your eyes and for a few steps imagine that you were walking on a beautiful sea shore with birds flying all around ..

That, until you hear a series of gunshots so close to be real, you freeze in your place, scarily turn your head to find that it’s just the street patrol shooting in the air to clear the road just instead of using a car horn!

If that has happened to you once, then beware of imagining anything in a public place, or drifting your mind a little off the road, because from that story I get that you are an Iraqi.

If someday, you were at home, relaxing quietly, or may be, watching TV and not thinking of the outside for a while, and again, you hear the same series of gunshots and the voice of a rushing car, you get out quickly and what you find is all the neighbors gathering around the dead body of your next door neighbor who lived there for such a long time to remember…

It takes the police a half an hour to get there, and an ambulance about three hours, just for the atmosphere to clear up!!!

I can’t suggest that you stop watching TV, I just want to make it clear that If anyone heard that story from someone, that someone is definitely an Iraqi.

If someday, you got up in the morning thinking of watering the plants so they won’t wither because of the heat, thinking of doing it quickly to go to work a little early and beat the rush hour, you did the plants and got ready and when you reached for the garage door you found a little scrunched piece of paper attached to the door, you opened its folds and scrunches slowly, and found a note telling you to leave your house or be killed as your only two options!, if when you read that, you rushed to wake up your family and left the house without carrying anything out of the house beside the clothes you have on you, then you reached the area check point and they told you that it’s a curfew around here today, you can’t leave the area, and if you tell them that you’ve been threatened and you can’t return to your home and they just nodded and told you to wait around here until they open up the road, and you waited there for 8 hours with your family feeling so cold and scared, then…

Then my friend you’re definitely an Iraqi.

If someday you felt like you had a happy life with tons of close friends and beautiful memories that keep repeating themselves in an even more beautiful manner, If someday you felt that you had the best family in the world, the best house, and the best job, and probably the best neighbors of all times, If someday you felt all that, then another day you felt that the only thing you have in your life is spicy memories and scary moments, quick goodbyes and gloomy long farewells, If someday you found yourself alone, with no one to console about the simplest thing, If someday you wouldn’t even consider passing by your old neighborhood, and never have the strength to think of seeing your old buddies, then you’re for sure, An Iraqi.

If someday you went to school, and the teachers taught you a lot about history, if the teachers were people you really trusted, and you believed what they said about how good the time you lived in was, how wise the government is, and how clear the weather was, and someday you found the same teachers saying everything in totally different ways, where good is bad and bad is good, and you never know where the right is!, if you never knew when was the time your teachers were scared to tell the truth, now or before, or even both, you are an Iraqi and it’s a real fact.

If someday you lived in a quiet neighborhood, the next on the street, someday you had friends and family, next day no one to talk to, someday you had a life and a routine, the next you were so lost to be able to bear, then you are an Iraqi,

If someday you wrote an honest word, and got punished , and If you traveled to an Arabic country and got treated like a criminal on the boarder, and If you were scared from both the thieves and the police, the terrorists and the army, and If you lived and didn’t live, laughed while crying inside, whispered when you should shout, and sealed your door real hard, and that’s just when you had a door, THEN, You my brother!, are an Iraqi.

Greetings,
Mohammed H. Zaid Ali

Let's get it out of the walls, think about it

2007-05-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

I was strongly urged to write something here right now, no matter what it was …

Actually, I think it matters what it is, it should be something that makes sense, that makes you hang on till the last line of it, we keep going on and on about what’s living in Iraq is like, what’s having dear ones in Iraq feels like, what’s losing a dear someone could be like, even what the streets looked like nowadays and before, sometimes I find posts on other logs that seem almost as the ones I have on mine, this makes me wonder, am I really doing something for Iraq?, let’s all think about that, our letters, our poems, our articles, and our thoughts, could they change even a small portion of the misery that lies upon our hearts? , I can’t even answer that question, I’ve always heard and believed that writing improved societies and changed lifestyles, solved major humanity issues and made miracles come true, Is that the type of writing we’re pursuing? Are we writing unique words? Even if our styles were different, an 11 years old who just learnt to write ABC can express misery and regret in rather long sentences that might even make the reader have a greater feeling of reality, so if I may say, the Iraqi blogs, texts, letters, poems, news, and media, are whispers between the students of a small classroom, in which one whispers to the one next to him, the idea never crosses more then two students, and never crosses the wall of the class, and each of the students, feels a little less bored by the lecture when he blurts something to his mate, yet he’s frightened that he’s noticed by the teacher, I don’t know why I chose to compare this way, but it seemed to me like even a 10 years old will get it, in this post, I’m talking to all bloggers, journalists, poets, and thinkers, let’s try, even by an extremely small effort, and even more extremely remote hope, to do something together, and try to get it out of the walls, is that anyhow doable? Think about it ….

Regards,

Mohammed H. Zaid Ali

Let's write the word, for Iraq

2007-04-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

What should I start with, I haven't been writing in this blog for a while now, It's really hard to find the words to write about Iraq or Baghdad now, whenever I write a word, I feel like it's supposed to be two, whenever I write a page, I know it's supposed to be a book, and a book, Is supposed to be a whole history, I started this blog, thinking that it would record some of the events that could be forgotten, but the events flooded us, and are now engraved in our hearts forever, today, I came back with news, that were the most sad ones my life came across with, today, a bomb exploded in the center of the Baghdad Dentistry college,AL-Bab Al Mu'Adham, at the same moment I saw the subtitle, I called one of my best friends who attended that college as I was so frightened for him, he was ok, a student at the 5th grade (a senior) got killed and a number of other students are severely injured, yes, my friends safety was kind of a relief, but the strength of this news, Imagine what this student's mother thought when she heard the news, he only has a few months before he becomes a dentist, he's probably suffering like evey other student every day to get to college, he gets there and in the early morning he's killed in a way that even the most brutal criminal in world doesn't deserve to be killed with, now, they're inside our colleges, what can we do? we always heard people saying, everyone has his role and can do something, when we asked, they said just go to your college and be good at that, well, can we be good there after that? or after a whole lots of events that went near our colleges, yesterday, before I even heared those news, I was stadning at my room's balcony at 3:00 am being taken by a lot of thoughts, one of them was, Baghdad has something that feels safe about it, it's a wrong feeling, but it's just like the feeling your mother gives you, safety, you're walking alone, in a street of Baghdad, literally there's no one else in the street but a frightened cat, the wind blows and the yellow leaves of the trees fly around, you never know when you could get killed or where the bullet's hiding, even when it's quiet, in Baghdad it's always the quietness that comes before the storm, but still, you do it the next day, and go on your route, that's how me and my friends are actually doing, yes, we all are thinking and actually planning on leaving the country to pursue our future some place safer than this, but deep down, we all hope that before the last call for the plane, we here a call from Baghdad, telling us to look back and find everything as beautiful as it was before, to go back and honor our lost dear ones in the most appropriate way, to write their names on the stone to be remembered forever, and with this stone, build the street's the torn down houses, be there for our friends and families, become successful in our country, just to recolor the rivers in blue again, and erase the red color from this country, erase the word blood from our dictionaries, all the time I wish so deeply, and I believe that every Iraqi in the world does, that it was all just a horrible dream, this is unfair to be said, horrible is not enough to describe this dream, but I will settle down with it, I love Iraq, Baghdad, and all the other cities in Iraq, and I will always love them, and I will do whatever I can, whether it's writing a word, or taking a lecture, I will do it.

Thank you
Mohammed H. Zaid Ali.

Opinions ..

2007-02-04T04:26:00.000-06:00

Opinions ... different people with extremely variable sets of these things are scattered everywhere on this globe, Living on this earth I suppose a person needs to be one type of several ones, some of us are so extreme about their point of view that they find it a necessity not to be around people who have a different opinion, some others would have a number of isolated areas of their personality that could make them best friends with the person who is in a total disagreement with them at a certain matter, and of course here I'm talking about a major issue and this thing also depends on the person himself, sometimes a person considers a soccer match a really critical issue while someone else might consider it nothing in comparision with the differences of opinion about a certain hip hop singer!, let's norrow it a little bit here and say that we're talking about racial and religous differences, weather major or minor, some people can live with others of a contrary or a different belief, some can take it with spite and be convinced that there's no ligical thing to do, and some others just can't stand it ...

Now here comes a critical question, is there a way where someone can toggle between these personalities?, can external effects like time or some certain events do that? I don't know, I mean can I kill or hurt my best friend of a different religion if some events that aren't done by me nor him happened? it just can't be accepted by a straight mind..

What is happening in Iraq? civil war?? I believe that this term throughout my whole understanding of it means a war ongoing between a certain area's citizens with their own funds and efforts, mostly without training or evolved weapons unless it took some time to build itself, it also needs a lot of hatred ...

Now we must talk reality and dump the nonsense, nobody , anyplace wether it was Baghdad or Moscow (Just a random place) can say that there are no racial and religous diferences between Iraqis, nor say that there isn't any discontent of people from these things, some people even get angry when such subjects are opened, and to this we can say that a civil war can occur!?, not a chance , despite all these differences and hot subjects , Iraqis have managed to live for a long time together being friends, school mates, work colleagues, and above all (FAMILIES), yes , they get married to each other without thinking or asking about religous directions and that's a fact, If I fell in love with a girl who don't believe in a certain thing I think is right, It would never be a cause or even an idea of a cause not to grow that love up, I have a number or to be truly said a huge number of real friends who don't think religously like I do, and intentionally I won't say any racial names here but the reader I think can easily understand what this is all about, all this talking is about reaching a certain decision , a conclusion that determines something that matters.

As Iraqis lived on this land a long time ago, they lived, and built the place together may be even ruined the place together it's the word (together) , there have been wars that the history recorded to be outsider caused, Iraqis have always been of the type that can live with others of different religion and respecting it, and respect a person for his personality regardless of his beliefs, this has either been changed radically in a year according to the news spokesmen, or they haven't and whatever's happening is being directly done (not caused) by outsiders, that's the conclusion, whoever thay are, whereever they came from, whatever they do or induce, It's just an opinion.

Best Regards, MHZ.

What are we talking about?

2006-12-22T07:52:00.000-06:00

Two days ago, I was chatting with a close friend who left with his family to the UAE, so while we were talking about some PC games and music download sites, I gave him my blog address and told him to give me his opinion, in two minutes he replied saying, “Why all these politics?, Why do you care?”, I said “I do care coz I might get killed at any minute now”, he said “DUDE! You’re 18, You should be talking about the internet, the media, whatever isn’t politics” lol ,so I didn’t know what to say as I tried to give some clueless causes coz I didn’t even know why “all these politics” , I’m trying to figure out when did all these politics get into my mind this deep so I would start a blog about them, you know I’m a regular person who likes to socialize, play basketball, and listen to loud music, so how can this be figured out?!?! …

And as I’m talking about my friend abroad, I noticed something that made me really sad today, we had visitors!, that’s not the problem, the visitors were my aunt and her husband who are currently living in another town, they spent like 5 hours at our house and all of what we talked about was politics, murders, and dangers!, we didn’t even talk about the electricity nor the water! Huh, what made me sad was that I remember an earlier time when we used to sit with my aunt and her husband and talk about the modern technologies, college, movies, TV shows, relatives, marriages, and a little about electricity! Hehe, it’s just that even normal conversations and interests have emigrated with people, sneaking between their bags leaving us either mourning or silent ...

Iraq, What's yet to come?

2006-12-19T06:05:00.001-06:00

I’ve always been a fan of optimism, believing that the best is yet to come, believing that life isn’t that bad and it would certainly be better a while later, I’ve always insisted on seeing the bright side of anything and trying to believe that it’s better than how it really is and trying to persuade everyone around about it, it really worked, I kept on doing this for a long time until now, now is when I reached a point where there’s no bright side at all, I can’t even think of doing what a famous quote says “If You can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side” , hehe , well I polished until there’s no side left at all!! And what I really believe in right now regarding what’s happening in Iraq is what Peter Ustinov said “The point of living and of being an optimist is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come.” ..

Believe me, I could be, as I was, An Optimistic person... Thanx .

To : The Government.

2006-12-15T09:23:00.000-06:00

a message
To : the government.
From : An Iraqi.
Subect: Read it..

Dear Government,
I'm sending you this message from the heart of Baghdad, The capital you assume you're ruling, I wanted to tell you a number of things that I suppose you don't know as you say so everyday, you don't say "we don't know", you say "that's not true" and you seem so confident that we are convinced that you're ruling another place.

I'll start with some events I thought it would be the best to let you know about, first of all, people are being kicked out of their homes for no reason, or for a reason, we don't care, it just is too real to believe, Baghdad is being divided to portions according to religious beliefs, and that's not just a myth, everyday we hear about people being evicted violently, these people are our friends, relatives, & neighbors, and someday could be us, so dear government, do you have anything in mind to stop that?

I also wanted to tell you about the fantastic phenomena of the fake checkpoints that kill people according to the very same religious belief! You know, I have a certain belief in my mind, but I never tried to drag someone to my side! Never tried to ask someone about his, nor wanted to know! but that's not the point dear government, the point is that it's not my responsibility to protect my freedom of belief, it's YOURS.

Again I would like to say, just in case you don't remember, that the important people in Iraq who need security are not you, they are the scientists, professors, students, employees & workers, THEY are the ones who will build Iraq, not you, your job is to protect them, and that's why they voted for you, they never thought that you don't deserve a thought, so how about a vote, and now, A lot of them are dead, and the (A lot) I just said, worth billions of your likes dear government, no not less than billions, billions of billions, Iraq worth nothing without them, but hell it worth a lot without you.

Dear government, you don't worth a penny, You're just nothing.

It's .. Groundhog DAY ..

2006-12-14T12:59:00.000-06:00

Holla! Hey there everyone, I haven't been writing anything during the past few days coz.., You know! I told you don't embarrass me! hehe I've been living the same day over and over again, Have you guyz seen that movie "The Ground Hog Day"? Bill Murray? In case you haven't, It's a movie of a guy who get's trapped in a place that he hates and the same day keeps coming back every morning, Same date, Same people reactions, Things always going back as they were at the beginning of that day, except for his memory, He remembers everything.

It might seem the same way here as I say "I've been living this day for so many times over and over" but hell no, It's a lot different, you know how? see I told you how it was in the movie, now I'll tell you how it is here, I'm a guy who's trapped at a place which he used to love so much that he never dreamt out of its borders, the same day keeps going back every morning, DIFFERENT DATE, Same people reactions (but it's not a small place), Things never go back as they were at the beginning of the day, and hell yeah he remembers everything, it’s a big mess, Huge problems that keep coming everyday, dear ones going away everyday with even stronger feelings, so ..

If you wanna live The groundhog day, be careful which day you choose, and put some firm conditions, then blow the candle …

Thank you .. & C ya

Iraq? Happy? Are You INSANE?

2006-12-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

hmm, people talk about the dear Iraq all the time, they talk about their hopes of a happy ending, You know, Iraqis... happy!, each having his job, and going to school, feeling totally safe, above that people around the world expect a happy scene of soldiers returning to their families being received with roses and awesome festivals with fireworks and dancing all over the world, that's a nice ending scene huh? Man! have you people heard of Iraq? I mean even a portion of its story? naah, I don't think so .. Take a seat, light a cigarette! I'm about to tell you what I know...

Once upon a time...heh!? That’s the beginning of a fairy tale, it's just not right, ok let's get directly to the point, "Iraq has never witnessed a period of time, from creation, being peaceful" You say that this could be the end of this page of history? Page? Or books & books, thousands of books won't cover the miseries that were here and what's happening now is just a chapter to be added...

Guyz! Do you want a long boring report about Iraq's history? I don't think I would include it here but you could check it out in any history book, it's all wars, catastrophes, floods!, massacres, for thousands of years, so if you believe that what’s goin on now, being a series of foolish, out of control, instantaneous and spontaneous reactions of a group of ignorant people will be the last of the bad happenings and the start of the happy ending,Then let's get the party prepared!

Thanks a lot.

OK OK OK

2006-12-10T06:40:00.000-06:00

huh! be there and u know that it's just some kinna game! ....

Ok Ok Ok, we always say (Ok Ok Ok) , coz we compromise a lot!, everyday something is done by one of our dear politicians which is so stupid beyond imagination!, at earlier times we used to really consider what they say, then later we used to discuss what they say, now we do nothing but laugh with misery!...

There’s a little something that makes me really wonder, I’m a regular guy who’s got nothing to do with politics, Ok?, how come I know what the military is going to do in my neighborhood? Or what’s the next security plan? How come I know which checkpoint is going to be removed and which is going to be set!!???!, I think this is so stupid, the country is on fire and a stupid minister appears on TV to say: “we have a new security plan that’ll start in Oct.29th at 5 PM!” and another one appearing the next day saying “a new update arrived saying that the plan will be at 5:05 PM not 5!!!!!!!!” yes! That’s what’s goin on here, and it looks like some kina deal between the government and another people, the speeches are no where related to us.

A lot of things make us wonder here, a threat was put on a big wall to all university students not to attend college again or they will be killed and this wall is just next to the checkpoint!, they’re here to protect us but they didn’t see who put that big sign right next to them and they’re here day and night?!!! Nice …

And just to tell you something, “we hear a lot of bullets and gun shots, they’re either someone being assassinated in the neighborhood or!!, they’re after an explosion!, yeah people!, our soldiers only fire after the damage has occurred and they never hit, while assassins always hit without an explosion!! Wooo”

they're happy and posing!! is it supposed to be this way??

Ok, Ok, Ok, Thank you very much !!

Just a dream ...

2006-12-09T05:06:00.000-06:00

"Life is too short to live the same day twice"

I think I've been living this day for like 500 times!! (sitting at home, doin' nothin') , seriously not kidding, yeah, if not more! , sometimes I sit down and think about my future! I can't think (they're just dreams) I once heard a nice saying "The beauty of dreams is that they have no limitations" But in order to have some of the dreams come true I must exchange my time between dreaming and working right?? That’s the way it works, I don't suppose Elbert Einstein reached his level of knowledge by dreaming about being famous!! ..

Well, every thing I think of now is a dream! , yeah that's my point, if I think of talking to my friends at a nice cafe it's a dream! , if I think of running into a cute girl and talk to someday it's a dream! , and finally if I think of my graduation day, it's a dream even though I'm already in college!! Huh, for us dreaming of a normal life where I can play basketball with my buddies for 15 minutes and then take a cold bath and sleep peacefully is a dream!! (so how can I have bigger dreams like people?),, really , first I have to forget my friends because they can't go out (it's dangerous) , then I have to forget the basketball yard coz there's an army troop there !! , forget the cold bath coz water's rarely there!! , and finally forget a peaceful nap coz I will always be awaken by the noise of a bullet or a gigantic explosion! , so now as a normal human being It feels so selfish to think , coz it would be a thought of normal life and then turns to be a dream and finally it will be a full ignorance of the people who are suffering of the loss of dear ones .. Yes , truly and honestly , I don't want my ordinary life , I just want to feel safe for my dear ones , and for that we pray everyday, week , and year .. So let's pray together...

Thanks,

Real life .. One day!

2006-12-08T11:10:00.000-06:00

I started my blog making a few idiots taking the leading roles... Now I decided to get into real life... People around the world, notice that we are ordinary people living here or to be truly said "Trying to live"

Starting by the nearest person to me , who's me , I'm a student at college trying to get a decent educational level , but do You think that's easy here? It's not, and I'm definitely not talking about the educational material! I'm talking about the educational environment... I go everyday to college in a mini-bus with 12 other students in my college reaching my college in nearly 45 minutes due to heavy traffics caused by military check points (Iraqi) and believe it or not they never opened the door to look around!! , Yes we pass safely without being asked we're just directed to the correct way between the concrete blocks by one of the soldiers.

That's not all, we go to our college and do what We have to do and then it's time to get home... wooh, we have to wait for the cars to arrive in a big yard outside college which used to be so normal untill three weeks ago there was a battle between the police and some masked attackers in it!! Wow it was really fun we had to run with our heads too low to avoid the bullets and ran into another college which is nearby!! Huh.. Neat?

Well.. we finally got the news that it cooled up and we can go home so we got out and found the drivers trembling outside or hiding in nearby houses , we headed home passing through the same checkpoints reaching home at 4:00 pm after finishing the official college time at 1:00 pm so it's like a travel to another country! ..

Shoes can talk ..

2006-12-08T06:20:00.000-06:00

This is from an article published on worldnews.com ..

Baghdad Bob said in one of his rants shortly after the war began. "They are shocked because of what they have seen. No one received them with roses. They were received with bombs, shoes and bullets."

Ok Ok Ok .. You came here guyz (Alliance Forces) , You expexted roses , and brought Your vases with You , yet some people were kinna pissed off! .. umm .. let's get thoroughly in that ..

Hypothetically, If someone's holding a vase in his hands and a man just started throwing a shoe on him , what to do?? I think there are a couple of good choices here :

1- Turn around and guard the vase. , 2- Run away!!

(It's not good for a man's dignity to run away from someone with a shoe so let's leave that aside)

(We're talking sense here !! ..)

well well ,, That's if it's one shoe ,, What if the guy attempts to put off his second shoe to throw it?? what's the best to do? is it : 1- Guard the vase again? 2-Time to run away?!! or 3-Throw the vase at his face??

Man You didn't do the 3rd one which makes the most sense! .. so You are now practically in a hole surrounded by shoe throwing people!! ..

Satisfied??

Iraq is bad . Oooh Now we know ..

2006-12-08T05:39:00.000-06:00

People!
He's waving don't be rude! huh
I wanted to start my blog and though .. Where to start??
OK .. I thought what the heck let's start with today's news ..

hmm i saw that (Bush dismissed some ideas, as did others in the U.S. and elsewhere. By Peter Baker and Robin Wright ) Washington PostWASHINGTON -( President Bush vowed yesterday to come up with "a new strategy" in Iraq but .... )

Ok a new strategy .. hah .. i think he's gonna give cookies to his troops so they won't be more mad , man He's the worst I've seen with speeches , What did he say?? he said .. (Iraq is bad ..) is that how to state the situation? well may be it is .. Coz I agree , Iraq is bad .. was it bad before U came?? my be .. I won't say it wasn't , hehe so We see the the full improvement of Iraq's situation and the great acheivements of Joerge W Bush was in stating that it's bad !! from 2003 - 2006 and stated by bush so far before that!! WoW

Hi there ..

2006-12-08T03:44:00.000-06:00

This is my first post on this blog, this is my first blog post ever, I will see how things turn out, I might stop blogging all of a sudden, and I might keep it up for years, I'll just live my days and watch.