Chávez... Shut Up!

Today, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, decided to halt diplomatic relations with Spain unless the Spanish king, Juan Carlos apologises for his behavior early this month when he called on Chávez to "shut up".

The video below is from that incident




I can understand Zapatero's plea for respect, and I tend to agree with him, but I don't think it is appropriate for a king to interfere in such a way - far from protocol and diplomatic attitude!


I can't but to compare this incident to ... this below


The video is of Arab Summit, on Saturday 1 March 2003 (a couple of days before the invasion of Iraq). It contains a heated and public exchange of insults between Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and Saudi King Abdullah (when he was Crown Prince). This was broadcasted live by most Arab satellite television stations, Gaddafi said that during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he had spoken with former Saudi King Fahd about Libya’s concern over the presence of US troops in the kingdom. “King Fahd told me that his country was threatened and that he would cooperate with the Devil to protect it,” Gaddafi said. such an attribute or a remark to King Fahd – who holds the revered position of custodian of Islam’s two holiest shrines – would be particularly offensive. Before the live feed was cut off, King Abdullah angrily responded: “Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country and not an agent of colonialism like you and others.” Wagging his finger at Gaddafi, Abdullah said: “You, who brought you to power? Don’t talk about matters that you fail to prove. Your lies precede you, while the grave is ahead of you.” A bewildered Gaddafi replied: “By God, I don’t know how I am going to answer this man.”

Power of the Heart

A couple of days ago, Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge's former head of state of Cambodia, was arrested. He was taken from a hospital in the capital to a UN-backed genocide tribunal. He was in the hospital because of a heart stroke! Under the Khmer Rouge, more than one million people died from starvation or overwork as leaders strove to create an agrarian utopia. In addition, hundreds of thousands of the educated middle-classes were tortured and executed in special centres.

On March 11, 2006, Slobodan Milosevic, the formal president of Serbia, has been found dead in his cell in the Hague, the Netherlands, after suffering from a heart attack. He was indicted in May 1999, during the Kosovo War, by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity in Kosovo. Charges of violating the laws or customs of war, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in Croatia and Bosnia and genocide in Bosnia were added a year and a half later.

Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, has suffered a mild heart stroke in 2005, while he was under the imprisonment of US forces. He is one of the high profile officials during the dictatorship rule of Saddam Hussain, which is accused of genocide and persecution of millions of Iraqis for almost three decades.

On December, 2006, Augusto Pinochet, Chile's former military leader has died from a heart attack after some time in hospital, Santiago... He is accused of killing thousands and thousands of political rivals, in addition to torture, forced disappearance, and assassination accusations took place during the Military Junta in the 1970s.

Did they finally realize, after all these years in power, that justice will always prevail?

Football Match

I am not a big fan of football (soccer for those who mix it up with American football), but this match is unique! Supporters are not that much; there are some but a lot left the stadium looking for more interesting things to do! The remaining supporters can be sighted easily, because they shattered sitting here and there among the empty seats. Some of them are focused on the game beneath; others show emotions from sadness to despise, because of the foul play and the very obvious cheating among players. One can easily observe that no single honesty in that match. The first team consists of players from different countries: there is the Iranian player who wants to score at any cost, taking advantage of having his Iraqi co-player on different positions on the fields to pass the ball to him so he can get deeper in and score; the Iraqi player, though, has no chance of either to keep the ball or to score – they must pass the ball only to the other players; There is also the American player! like a bulldozer, run heavily and aggressively, always want to keep the ball to himself, never want to pass the ball to anyone, not even to his British (who play left and right wing) or European players! There are other players in that team but with a less tempo, such as the Turkish player, but when time comes (according to their evaluation it seems) they display fantastic energy and effort! This team does not show some harmony among its players, there is some feud, such as the player with a beard who seems to have a problem with his American co-player! They are both playing in the same team, but they don’t like each other… It happens, you know. There are other players from different backgrounds and countries playing in this team, but I thought it's worth it mentioning the toughest among them.

It is a tough game, the team is fully prepared, they had training, best equipments and facilities to ensure they are fit and have victory.

But wait, what about the other team? Yes, they are doing great, they are trying their best compare it to the humble training and facilities. They can be easily recognized, because each one of them is wearing a three striped colors T-Shirt: red on top, white, and black! When they stood next to each other before the start of the game, they formed the Iraqi flag. The interesting thing is that each Iraqi player is originally from different cities and villages' allover Iraq. They also come from entirely different ethnic, social and religious backgrounds! Despite that, they illustrated most amazing harmony during their play.

The more the Iraqi team defends his goal, the more the other team becomes more aggressive, and as I mentioned earlier, many foul plays took place but the referee seems to be in a different reality. He just whistles and warns players not to do this or that, but no red cards, not even a yellow card.

The match goes on and on and honestly there were some Iraqi scores that made the public sitting at the benches jump and dance with happiness, but they were very little! Some of the Iraqi team supporters were carrying crosses, others carrying their holy books and praying, many others just watch with tears mudding their eyes, shouting endlessly with tired voices words of encouragement, all hoping that the Iraqi team will come out victorious.

This Attack is the Key...

I don't want to sound weird with such a title to this post, but I will start with this question "wasn't everyone expected last year when the dome of the shrines in Samara was bombed that THIS will happen again?". I am not getting old or my memory is betraying me, but I still remember the talk by many people, on the internet and on TV that the same location will be targeted again due to its importance and due to its signifance to the Shiite community in Iraq, which makes it as the igniting spot for an overall secterian violance. Well, it happened again!


The second thing which became so obvious is about the guards: Last time they arrested a number of people including some who were working as guards for the shrine - this time I don't remember how many, but never heard about the conduct of the envistegation! This time again, the sabotage took place from inside the holy shrines, and we hear the same record again of arresting a number of people including guards!

Most of the reactions I read on the internet about the situation and what happened yesterday was described in one word "disgusting"! Will this apply to the event or is it that the situation of the position the Iraqi governement (as the protector and servent of the people) became so disgusting? I am not a military analyst or a political expert, but the attack on the holy shrine took place in Samara, why the curfew on whole Baghdad? Allow me to put the question in different context: why everytime an attack on Samara or Najaf or Karbala or anywhere else a full curfew is imposed on Baghdad? Is this some kind of a show off? or is it a matter of act of desperation?

Some says that it is the gangs of Saddam and al Qaeda who committed this crime, others accused Iran and others the U.S. because this will ensure their control over Iraq - what control do those mean? nothing is under control, ah, they meant ensure that all kinds of chaos remain intact. In either way, whenever I look at the pictures on the internet of the al Askari shrines in Samara without the two minerates I always reach the same conclusion... I am sure many reached the same: The attack proved last time to be the key to a bloody secterian conflict in Iraq, attacking it for the second time will enrich such tragedy.

Sarkozy, The 6th Son of the 5th Republic

Finally the results of the French presidential elections came out a couple of hours ago to announce Nicolas Sarkozy, 52 years old former minister of interior, as the winner with more than 50% of the total votes. A lot of people expected Sarkozy to be the winner, mainly because of his tough grip on dealing with internal problems in French (2005 riots on the superb of Paris), but above that his preparation and conduct during this campaign compare it to the way his contender, Segolene Royal, did. Therefore, tonight’s results was no surprise to me or to any other person!

However, there are a couple of interesting observations about Mr. Sarkozy; First of all, in a country like France where its people are very proud of their nationalism and French identity, here we have a president who is originally from a Hungarian father and a Greek mother. Despite this fact, more than the half of the French population voted for him.

The second interesting observation is the sort of a contradiction nature French society has shown during these elections, becuase everyone realizes how Sarkozy represents the departure form the Digol school, which former president Jacques Chirac, for example, and all his predecessors have been always loyal to around the years. Sarkozy made it clear during his campaign that “deep change” must begin in France. A strong figure like of Sarkozy’s can serve many purposes for French people. I have been in France during the last elections, and most of people I talked to during my visit told me that the reasons for voting mainly because of the danger that this candidate or the other might put to their society i.e. not because they believe in the ideology or the agenda or the personal qualities of the candidate. The same thing happened this time, but not with the same scale 5 years ago. Thus, a lot of people are afraid of Sarkozy, and they might voted for Royal instead to diminish the chance foe Sarakozy to win. Part of some people’s fear is related to the expectations for the future, especially with a president who’s known for his high temper, which might make great impact regarding important decision an influential country in the world like France can make.

One thing for certain is that the French are fed up and they want change, and in that case, nationalism can have less than the highest priority. They voted for someone this time whom they have from him a lot of expectations.

On foreign affairs track, there were two messages Sarkozy sent immediately after his win; the first is to ensure the United States that France is taking a new direction and that the US can count or rely on its French friends. The second thing Sarkozy’s call for all countries around the Mediterranean sea to follow a new policy of unity and working together - Sarko is loud about his objection to Turkey joining the EU because he consider it as an Asian country more than anything else, but he offers strong trade and economic partnership! Both message send vague signals because many questions will be asked; one is related to Lebanon and the responsibility especially after last year’s war against Israel, not to forget the speculations of a new era of a new relationships with the Jewish state - his statement about the deep friendship with Israel during the elections campaign made most, if not all French Jews, vote for him. The other question is related to the relationship with north African countries like Algeria and how this relationship will result, especially with the impact on the existed Algerian community in France itself – partially a problem within French society. Last but not least is the relationship with the United States: On which way the United States will rely on its French friends? Will France finally help the US in its crisis in Iraq? And how? Sending finally troops to Iraq?

One thing for certain: Sarkozy is very motivated, energetic and offensive of a kind during his time as the minister of interior, but will this be the case during his presdency? He want for sure to show the heavy weight of a France among all countries in the world in more effective way, but the future will show how!

Another Planet Earth

While I was driving to work early this morning, I heard on the radio that European astronomers announced today the discovery of a new planet more than 60 trillion miles from earth orbiting outside our solar system. The significance of that discovery is their assumption is that this planet has the most suitable conditions for supporting human, with temperature lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius – theoretically, this also indicates the existence of water in liquid forms on it. Its radius is 1.5 times the radius of our planet Earth, and has a mass five times the mass of earth, which scientists predict that this planet is either covered with rocks or with oceans.

Later in the day I opened alarabiya news channel website to read the news, and the same news about the discovery of the new planet was there. The interesting part about this news is people’s comments. Some were skeptical about the existence of life outside planet Earth. However, almost half of the comments took a religious course regarding the subject: many praised God and the creation of the universe, some backed up this discovery with verses from the Quran and some disapproved it using the same in regards to the existence or non-existence of extra-terrestrial life. There were some obscured comments, such as that of someone who wrote “God gave us another chance [with this discovery] to live together, Arabs and Jews on it”. Other comments emphasized that this discovery is the sign for the re-appearance of the Imam Mahdi, and the approach to the moment at the end of time!

Others, many others, were sad and wrote about how Europe and the west in general became advanced with their technology in which wonderful discoveries like this are made, while Arabs nowadays are still behind and plagued with dictatorships, ignorance, poverty, extremism, corruption, agony, wars… etc In fact, many of the readers pleaded to alarabiya website to put more news about science and technology so people can learn and get more educated from it. There are some who expressed their grief for the future of the new discovered planet because “we humans will turn that planet into a play-field for evil and bloodshed”. It is very interesting that some of the readers already predict a universal war that will wipe out human race entirely and that “the new planet is too far, until the time we discover ways to travel there, the ‘war’ will be already took place”!!!

One reader regarded the newly discovered planet as the ultimate alternative for our current planet, especially with the increasing danger of global warming and what might result from it in the future.

Other readers suggested sending all extremists to live on that planet and “let us here to live in peace” – or the opposite for others who recommended full immigration of human race except for extremists and fundamentalists to do what they like to do most!!

Not all comments were that serious or darkly-viewed; there are comments that showed sarcasm, humor and ambition in some cases, such Azzoz who prayed to God that the planet has its own inhabitants who can play football in order for us to arrange with them football tournaments called “Football League of the Planets”. An Iraqi reader wrote that the discovery is a problem, big problem if people leave earth for the new planet, because “we won’t be able to sell our oil to anyone, we won’t be able to get medicine, electricity…etc” and for that reason he “decided to buy a camel, before camel crisis happen”.

Some guy with the name of Ahmed asked if there is Khat (or Qat) on that planet, and if not, then he is not willing to go!!

Another guy asked if he is allowed to live on that planet, but has one condition: He doesn’t want the following to live there: neither Bush nor Blair… neither Arabs nor Jews, no republic or monarch state systems, no thieves or drugs… but he was wondering if a peace of land there is cheap or not! Speaking of Bush, one warned that this planet is now doomed, because Bush will sooner or later lead a campaign to bring democracy there! But he showed some sympathy for the American president by “hoping that oil is can also be discovered there, so Bush won’t be disappointed and take that long trip for nothing”. Yasmin said that she wants to have her honeymoon there, while Blend did some mathematics by writing “the planet is huge, so buying a piece of land and building a house will be very cheap, but due to its massive gravity, the planet is not for fat people, because someone with 100kg on earth will be 220kg on the new planet”.

Another Iraqi asked if there is a place on that planet for 27 million of his fellow men and women!

Finally, there were many praises by alarabiya readers for the Egyptian singer, Midhet Salih, because he was the one who wrote a song predicting the existence of another planet and that he wants to live on it.

For those who can read Arabic, the link to the article is here

British Navy Released

When we were kids we used to have a problem with one or two from the whole group, who used to break the rules of the game and almost a quarrel, takes place between the group and those boys because of this. We spend a lot of time trying to convince them, with no success. No one agree with their objections and as a result the group refuses to play with them. After a little time, those one or two boys or girls realize the situation and decide to get back to the group, follow the same rules, and play wonderfully with the rest of the group.

After the end of the game and before we say good bye to each other, the same "rebellious" kids stand a distance away from the group, they start making funny faces with tongues out and fingers making signs of sarcasm towards us. They say, among many things:”We are not with you” or “you are not good”, “your rules are not right and we want these rules and the way the game played to be changed”. We look in amazement at each other, because the same thing happened before and it happens again: the kids get themselves in trouble, no one want to play with them, after a while they come and say we were right and they were wrong, and at the end of the game they start shouting, complaining and protesting!

I am not a fan of the regime in Iran, neither I want to defend them by any means, but the way the released British navy soldiers came out on TV yesterday on a press conference with the allegations of Iranians mistreated them, Iranians forced them to say this and that... all that is just hilarious and extremely lame. One day only after their release, they even didn't have enough time to get their breath back from the long trip – it looks like military intelligence debriefing did not last long this time with regards to inquiries and information gathering from the released soldiers about the Iranians! However, one day, and they just come out, all look healthy, no bruises, and no shock in their eyes from the mistreatment by the Iranians, with papers in their hands, in front of the joyful press, they sit and tell their story!!


In the meantime and almost three weeks after the capture, the US government kept on watching the situation quietly, of course there was the condemnation part took place, but suddenly they broke that silence with the announcement that the British navy was on petrol to prevent weapons smugglers when they were captured by the Iranians! Funny that we didn't hear that from the British themselves!

But wait a second, where is the Iraqi government from all this? I thought that Iraqi navy has been restored and they are doing the "stop weapons smugglers" task! Ah, I forgot, the agreement is that coalition forces are responsible for restoring peace and order, while the government focuses on provides services and reconstruction efforts around the whole country!
Another comedy scene is the announcement of releasing the soldiers: The Iranian president comes out on a press conference, talk about everything and anything from politics to religion to what else and suddenly before the end of his speech he says that the 15 men will be released as a gift to the British people!!

I am not going to argue about whether they were on Iraqi or Iranian sea territories, but I also find it a bit hard to believe that a British military analyst comes on TV and explains that the sea border between the two countries is not clear and difficult to be identified! Hey! The 8 years war between Iraq and Iran because of that damn sea border (among other things), and the first thing Iraq and Iran agreed upon was where these sea territories for each country lay!!

Iran played it right this time and they had a double winning position: when they captured the soldiers and when they released them. Many political and military analysts confirmed that Iran was in control of the situation from the beginning throughout until the end. I think it is for that reason, the joyful press conference yesterday and the story telling of abuse and mistreatment came altogether at once!

Bushra Al Khalil Disclose New Information

Some identified her as the only feminine member of the defense team for the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussain. She is mostly known for being kicked-out twice (the second time having guards escorting her by force out) from the court room during the trial of Saddam and his aides on the Dujail case. At that time she accused the judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman of “having complex issues towards women”, but then she concluded and kept on saying to the media then that the real reason for removing her from court is the fact that she is a Shiite who was defending a man who is most hated by Iraqi Shiite!

Bushra Al Khalil was born in the south of Lebanon. Her uncle, Mohammed Taqi al-Faqih, was a student of Iraqi Shiite figure Sheikh Mohsen al-Hakeem in Najaf. She was graduated from Beirut University in 1979 with a Degree in Law.

After the execution of Saddam Hussain, many Iraqis thought that old and new faces they became familiar with seeing on TV during the trial from Arab and non-Arab lawyers defending the former dictator would be vanishing forever. However, there are people like Bushra Al Khalil who found profitable attempt to gain fame by poping up her head from time to time and play the same tune of bringing up Saddam and his regime. In an interview recently by Al Arabiya Satellite Channel, Bushra Al Khalil told her host that the former Iraqi regime is innocent from the killing of Ayatoallah Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq Al Sadr, the prominent religious Shiite leader and the father of Muqtada Al Sadr in 1999 by Saddam’s Secret Intelligence Services, and the truth is that a Shiite Iraqi group (referring to Al Hakeem) has close ties with Iran is the real responsible for committing that crime.

Before he died, Mohammed Mohammed Sadiq Al Sadr was put by Saddam’s regime under house-arrest for many years in his home town of Najaf, because he refused to praise for the life and achievements of Saddam during his weekly Friday prayers. In addition, Al Sadr’s Friday prayers attracted hundreds of people, which by any means can be considered grave danger to Saddam and his iron grip on the Iraqi population as the sole leader. The official story of the Ayatollah’s death says that he and two of his sons had a car accident and he died on the way before arriving to hospital. However, other sources say that he was assassinated while he was on his way back home from his office in Najaf.

From her point of view, Al Khalil said that “one of my friends from the former Iraqi regime used to be responsible for the “Shiite population” told me that Saddam and Al Sadr used to have a good relationship! Saddam allowed Al Sadr to have Friday prayers in front of masses of people!!” She also added that Saddam liked Al Sadr and wanted to make him more influential within Iraq due to his Arab origins. Bushra Al Khalil also mentioned that Saddam sent a condolence letter to Al Sadr’s son, Muqtada, in 1999, and all the media announced or published that letter to the public, in order to show how much the Iraqi president had sympathy. She also supports the claim that Al Sadr has been assassinated, however, she points the finger to Baqir Al Hakeem, another distinguished religious Shiite figure (and the brother of Abdel Aziz Al Hakeem)!

Bushra Al Khalil align herself with the Arab nationalists who believe that a conspiracy exist to divide the Middle East into small nations based on sectarian and ethnic bases. This can be clearly seen with her analysis on the assassination of Rafiq Al Hariri by saying: "If we look at the way the assassination has been conducted, it is very sophisticated, I knew al-Hariri's security measures - no local system could have breached them”… "The question is, who stands to benefit from his death? Syria's enemies. I think al-Hariri's death is part of the plan to divide the region into tiny helpless sectarian states. This plan has started in Iraq and it will continue to hit all other Arab countries."

The Lebanese lawyer is like millions of ordinary Arabs; They are looking and praying for day when another leader will come and unify them, defend them against any aggressor, free their occupied cities, stop corruption, spread justice, and provide them with good and comfortable life, for them and for their children. This became stronger after the US invasion of Iraq, and the US biased-stand towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The result? chaos in people opinions; mixed feelings towards current political, religious and social events, and even more chaotaic nature regarding the relationships among Arab regimes. The Arabs reached a level where concept of right and wrong has been disregarded and redefined.

Bushra Al Khalil said on a number of occasions that defending Saddam is a national duty of an Arab opposed to American hegemony duty of an Arab opposed to American hegemony on the whole political system in the Middle East. I wonder, how come 26 years of experience Al Khalil gained from practicing law did not teach her how to recognize a murderer from an innocent! There are two options here: It is either that Bushra Al Khalil has another definition for Arab nationalism, by defending any tyrant used to rule the Arab countries, and, defending Saddam is just a matter of big bucks and fame, or her Arab nationalism is just a fake, and the whole thing again is a matter of big bucks and fame. In fact, she shares the same crime of causing damage and division by defending the man who caused great disasters of death and destruction to the Arab nation.

Will be better if Bushra Al Khalil worked for the rights and just of the Iraqi people instead! It would honorable to her if she raised her hand against the occupier without indulging herself into the adventure of defending the butcher of Iraq! Really! If her heart is really torn apart for Iraq and the Iraqis, why do I keep on hearing her praising the man who was the only reason Baghdad burnt to the ground? Anyway, Baghdad will be alive and will shine again; there is no doubt about that! People and history books will tell stories on how this glorious and beautiful city kept on rising up against forces from east and west, from strangers who tried to wipe it and its people out but kept on failing. Among the stories, the story of Bushra Al Khalil will remain a shameful one for being one of those who wanted to reverse justice by defending one of history’s most tyrants and mass-murderers mankind had ever witnessed?

Plan is Ready

Prime Minister Al Maliki gave a speech on Iraqi army day on 7th of January that the security plan is ready and that "The Baghdad security plan will not offer a safe shelter for outlaws regardless of their ethnic and political affiliations, and we will punish anyone who hesitates to implement orders because of his ethnic and political background". To promote his plan, the Iraqi Prime Minister gave another speech in front of the parliament on 25th of January. The speech was resulted in a mayhem when confrontation, threats and shouting among members took place

On 28 of January, Iraq the Model latest blog came out with a title: “Sources: Operation Baghdad starts on February 5.” Humm… So the anticipated plan for securing Baghdad and bringing back safety for the Baghdadis will finally begin! But didn’t the prime minister just said that it is ready??!!

The shameful and disastrous thing about this is the way it has been dealt with so far. The talking about this security plan is so lame, as if the whole thing is about putting the finishing touches on a sort of a campaign for the start of a big festival!!!!!!!!!!! According to Reuters “the data from an Interior Ministry official, widely viewed as an indicative but only partial record of violent deaths, showed 1,971 people died from attacks in Iraq in January, slightly up from the previous high of 1,930 deaths in December.” It adds that “The Interior Ministry toll, provided to Reuters by a ministry source, refers to people killed in terrorism -- a category that may not include many of the dozens of unidentified bodies found daily in Baghdad, many the victims of sectarian death squads.”

Any secondary school boy or girl knows that any plan for spreading security in the Iraq is needed NOW more than any time!! And the same boy or girl knows that when announcing for such plan action MUST be taken immediately! What kind of preparations are these and what kind of secret plans both the Iraqi and US government having for implementation? It is more than a month since the news came out about “how a joint effort by the US and Iraqi troops to start purging Baghdad and the rest of the country from all bad boys” Everyone from South America to Japan already knew that! More than a month since the very first announcement! In the meantime all thugs, criminals, corrupted politician (oh no, they are not included in the list, I think) have already booked their flights and packed their cars and hop-ala, there we goooo!!

Is there someone who feel a little optimistic about this plan? Is it the fifth or sixth security plan which did not succeed?? However, anyone, including myself still have hope. Hope is the only method for survival these days; it was useful in the past and should always work!

Work-Around, Not a Permanent Solution!!

There are lots of talks going on among Iraqi bloggers in the past few days about the situation in Iraq, especially after major events took place simultaneously, which for some gave the indication that the situation is running out of hand, and that civil war is inevitable – if it is not already has broken out. This comes mainly after dozens of stormed armed men in uniform entered a government building in Baghdad and kidnapped 150 people in midday. That followed the killing of around 200 innocents in Baghdad by a chain of cars exploded, also in the middle of the day, and finally, the warrant issued to arrest Harith Al Dhari, the leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. In the meantime the kidnapping and killing of innocent civilian is to the highest level around the clock. The question is whether the arguments and discussions among Iraqi bloggers reflected the real split within the Iraqis about their own problems (and I am not excluding myself), or did it show that Iraqis can argue, discuss and maybe disagree but the big picture never intended to show conflicting ideas that can be related to what the media is telling: Iraqis are killing their fellow Iraqis!

I will start with Neurotic Iraqi Wife: in her latest blog she was expressing her fears and frustration from the situation. She is against anything might lead to the US withdrawing from Iraq because in her opinion this will definitely will result in more chaos and bloodshed in Iraq. Her version of the solution for Iraq included: the deployment of more troops to Iraq, overthrow the government, the US put a new government for Iraq, and arresting Al Sadr, Al Dhari and many others who are considered as a threat to the stability of the Iraq. In short, NIW’s solution for Iraq can only be achieved by the US might! I explained to NIW that the US is not doing anything at the moment, so staying or leaving will not make any difference, if not make things worse! The US is just watching Iraq falling apart, and Iraqis falling down one after the other without moving towards restoring law and order. People in Baghdad and many other Iraqi cities are helpless, afraid for themselves and for their beloved families – and angry, even among Iraqi bloggers! Miraj asked the ultimate question of all: what will happen to us? It is a very heart breaking moment when a sister or a friend or a relative ask you from thousands of kilometers away to pray for her safety and to wish that this tragedy end with no more loses. I am full of sorrow because for years and years Iraqis have been trapped in the cross fire when someone else decided to wage a war and it happens to be Iraq the chosen zone for these wars.
Miraj, as one, expressed her fears that these events mark the end of everything. A similar fear has been expressed on Kid’s latest blog. He is emphasizing that the warrant issued against al Dhari last week will open the gates of hell by saying that “al-Dhari give his enemies the opportunity they've been dying to get a few days back on al-Arabiya television, he called the Anbar Rescue Council, the recently formed force fending off al-Qaeda in volatile Anbaar governorate a formation of 'weak tribes and bandits', he also said that al-Qaeda is 'a form of resistance, but we do not agree on them killing innocents'.



With all fears, there is a call for love, peace and a reminder message from Marshmalloow26 that we Iraqis used to live together, grew up together and she begged all Iraqis to “..stop this bloodbath, and take the DOVE as an Example of peace so God will be satisfied with your behaviors and open all doors for you”.

One of my fellow bloggers, Salam, put a very interesting theory. Salam did cross the Iraqi border with his analysis regarding finding a solution for Iraq. He included the Middle East as a whole, which in a sense I find it close to reality, with some objections. However, there are who disagreed with Salam: One of the comments on Salam's latest entry argues that the solution is purely in the hands of the Iraqis and with that both the militias and the occupation will be out in a month, and I am quoting some of his/her thoughts:

"Let all Iraqis sit down ~ and refuse to lift a finger until The Occupation Army leaves. The ones perpetrating terror will be clearly UNMISTAKABLE ~ they will be the Iraqis who are standing. You would find your Death Squads AND get rid of the Occupation within a month.
Do you think al-Maliki will make the announcement to the population on television soon?? Of course not; no one follows the logic of pure logic; so it won't be done. That means I am much like you: I wrote a WISH rather than a Probable Outcome."

The Iraqis won't be able to move because of many reasons, and one of them is that anyone raise his hand in objection to what is happening will be killed. So Internal-Iraqi solution is far from reachable. Neither a strong Iraqi control on Iraq's affairs, nor the current trap the US has put itself in will help improving the situation for the US administration. For that reason the White House is waiting for a bunch of former diplomats and semi-retired politicians to come up with a solution i.e. Baker report.

The new move is similar to what Salam mentioned. At the moment, the US is relaying on someone else (like Iraqis) to solve their problems: Talabani is in Iran and he is begging for support - I won't argue whether his visit was on behalf of the US or not! In the meantime, King Abdullah and after one day of his speech which warned of a three civil wars (the other in Lebanon and Palestine) he decided to be move, he received Al Dhari and there were hugs in the royal palace. The Saddam loyalists will have no role, especially after the sentence on their leader will executed. They will be gradually diminished from the playing-field.

Israel on the other hand, is having a truce with the Palestinian factions) and Olmert's speech announced a change in strategy regarding Israel stand towards the middle east, by talking about an independent Palestinian state, withdrawing from all occupied territories..etc Again, does this has something to do with the consequences from the war in Lebanon and the furious resistance Hezbollah showed, this can be argued about, especially with the question about what Israel did learn from last summer war!

To put everything into its perspective, we have Iran and Jordan playing a role on behalf of the US, each is trying to bring down the pressure from either side of both fighting factions (I won't use Sunni and Shiite rivals). In the meantime, the leak from the Baker report is proposing a partial withdraw from Iraq and leave from the 150 thousand troops, the half of it based in Iraq in the hope that this pressure can also be gradually diminished - this would also improve the picture of the US administration in the eyes of the public when they see that their beloved ones are back.

The result? Iraq and the Iraqis will be more reliable and increasingly influenced by foreign powers and the tactics for the region i.e. the public will have no respect for its government, because everyone knows that the loyalty of the politicians is not for Iraq and the Iraqis i.e. another Lebanon.

All the efforts from east to west during the past days and until this very moment is just a work-around for a problem facing one foreign power or the other, and not a permanent solution for Iraq, and not taking into the consideration the tragedies Iraqis are living through on daily basis.

No one form those non-Iraqi powers wants a:
Strong Iraq
United Iraqis
Iraq that can play a role in the ME

Elections in the Netherlands: The Peak of Democracy

I am going to talk about a very important event in the Netherlands. Yesterday Dutch went to voting posts to elect new representatives for them in the parliament. The winner of 2003 elections, the right Christian Democrats (CDA) remained ahead, but lost majority of seats to the left Labour Party (PVdA) and Socialists Party (SP), who is now considered as the big winners. This means that the new government must deal with a new dilemma: a new political structure in a government never seen before in a democratic country. This is very difficult, and as some analysis said on the radio while I am on way to work “this has never happened before in the history of this country” and some in advance indicated that “the process of forming a government will be a lengthy one, and might lead to another elections in summer of 2007, at worst case”.

The question I asked myself is: What kind of message the common Dutch citizen tried to send?” There are a few ones: first message is a reward, the current prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende (Christian Democrats) and his party will remain in power. In spite of all critics related to his policy in the past years (or even to his character) the voters decided to keep him in power, maybe because of his success in pulling the country out from the ground and making its economy flourish – The Netherlands now has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe. The second message is the main and most important one: The voters was very loud and clear by saying “we want more social Netherland” i.e. more towards the left, and as a result, the SP and the PvdA were the big winners!

Confusing, right?

Its worth mentioning that the socialist party is considered to be the party with the most extensive elections campaign compare it to all other political parties.

Some might say that this split could be a dangerous turning point for the political scene in the Netherlands. I disagree. The elections of 22 November 2006 did not bring split among Dutch in the sense of the word. The elections were not about how people show support for a specific party (or person) based on their expectation for the coming 4 years, on the contrary, it showed the voters were making a sort of a judgment on the conduct all politicians in the Netherlands made in the past 4 years, and this is how the concept of reward and punishment came about. It is like saying to the Christian Democrats “ you can stay in power, but change in attitude is needed” A similar call to the left, especially to the Labour Party, when voters decided to remain left, but give more votes to the Socialist party – maybe because of the trend the Labour Party shift to the centre that caused such a change in heart by the voters!! , and that was the third message - the public keep an eye on its government! The fourth message by the Dutch voter was a sort of a punishment to other politicians and their political parties, such as the VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) and List Pim Fortuyn, both suffered the most.

However, the right did not lose all ground to the left, and there is a fifth message from the voters to everyone: The emergance of a new extreme right within the political scene. This extreme right rised on the account of the VVD and LPF, and this is based on the fear factor, mainly related to Islam. Problems such as radical Islam, integration of Muslims in Dutch community (and other related issues) gave a chance to approximately half a million voters to look for a strong figure that would provide safe-haven for them and might represents an iron first that can smash the cause of such problems. Thus, the big surprise in this election was the PvdV (Partij van de Vrijheid) or Freedom Party, by gaining 9 seats in the perliament. This party is known for its extreme stand (or shall I say hatred) towards muslims living in the Netherlands. The party is led by Geert Wilders, from the southern town of Venlo, who is well known for his repeating rants about “less Islam” or “we want to stop the islamization of the Netherlands” after every three of four sentences he say in every speech.

Another big surprise in these elections was the Party for Animals! This is the first time in history of Europe (or the whole world?) that such a party gains seats in a parliament.

The elections this year was different from previous ones, because there was less focus on Immigration and illegal people coming to Holland. This year, the discussion and political campaign was focusing more on the welfare of the common citizen. Actually, believing in norms and values (among other factors) were the strongest behind people going voting. This was an advantage for the Christian Union party to gain more votes in these elections, in my opinion. However, the Christian Union party were quick to understood all the messages from the voters, because the moment the results started to come out, this party announced their desire to become a “Social-Christian” party - A term which has never been used or heard before within the political playing-field! Believing in norms and values also helped the Green Party to fairly stabilize his position; no wining, no loss – in spite of the loss of one seat! It is a fact that a coalition cannot be formed of the left i.e. SP, PvdA and Green Party, because they don’t have the majority, but their collective influence will be noticed effectively.

The political storm in the Netherlands is far from over. We will witness a very interesting, and extremely critical – if not the most critical chapter in Dutch politics ever.

A smart politician will keep this extraordinary balance alive, but how? The ruling party, the CDA must make compromises to remain effective and to be able to gain more popularity, is Prime Minister Balkenende prepared to do so, especially with his socialists and labour party rivals? In addition, the VVD need to ajdust their policy in order to gain its stolen support back from Wilder’s Freedom Party, how? Especially that Wilders will play on the anti-Muslims string more than ever seeing that this already brought him more popularity and more votes. Geert Wilders will take any opportunity to raise his cause high, that’s for sure, and no one knows if he would succedd or not. One thing for sure that he won't rely on any of other politicians in the big parties. It was obvious from yesterday’s final debate after the announcement of the voting results, where the "big winners" sat together around one table discussing. It was obvious that Geert Wilders is not favored by most of most politicians sitting on the very same table. The left on the other hand will benefit from the results of the elections and some might think that playing hard by putting more pressure on the right will bring some political profit, but this is will result in great unstablity, and therefore more problems, not for the politicians, but to the common citizens, of all sorts.

What the Netherlands is going through for the last four or five years is a very complex experience. Everyone knows that things will never be the same as they were in the 70s, 80s or the early 90s. There are now many colors standing behind orange in 21st century Holland. These colors will either push the country forward towards prosperity and beter welfare, or pull it down to another economic and social dark hole.

Within all this complexity, what would be the role of the immigrant who lived here for years, who has been granted the Dutch nationality, and given the opportunity to vote? What are the initiatives any immigrant might take for the sake of the country he lives in? this is another topic I wanted to write about very long time ago, but I will one day, hopefully soon.

The final conclusion I can draw from this very difficult and interesting elections is that Dutch should be proud of their democracy, because democracy in the low lands is healthier than ever, healthier than in any other country on the planet.

Delay in Awareness, Stubbornness and Slow Mindset Towards Realization

Stuck in the mud to the waist… This is an analyst’s comment I saw on Sky news channel evaluating the situation of the US involvement in Iraq. He resembled this situation with a song by Bruce Springsteen! Calls are getting louder in Britain, especially after four soldiers got killed and three very seriously injured when their boat hit by an improvised explosive in Shat Al Arab. This happened on the same day Brits are remembering their beloved once died in war. Debating Iraq became serious in Britain before that, though, however more politicians, human rights organizations and law maker are demanding Prime Minister Blair to settle everything once and for all.

On the other side of the Atlantic, after the defeat of the US Republican party in the mid-term elections last week, President Bush (according to his White House spokesman) decided to “be open to all options”! I don’t blame him especially that a look into the near future does not look that bright as before: Angry voices inside the US are coming from different directions; more losses among the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan where chances to hide the accurate number of casualties are becoming narrower and narrower; more hostility towards the “liberator” from Iraqis, even those who were happy that the US helped in toppling the rat of Tikrit; the Talaban is gaining some victories on ground, which makes past years effort, money, and sacrifices looks like gone in vain. For these and many other reasons critical (or shall I say fatal decisions) decisions must be made, started with removing one of the main pillars holding the Bush Administration together: by letting Donald Rumsfeld fall. It is like a sign of reconciliation with his Democratic opponents! However, it is not over for Rumsfeld because there are some believe that Rumsfeld should pay the price. Why should the blame completely be put on the president?

The smell of “still” burning Iraq has reached the White House, and for that reason, the president is reviewing impossible possibilities, such as sending indirect signals (through Tony Blair) to have talks with Syria and Iran in order to save his situation in Iraq.

The last I remember, Bush branded the government in Tehran as one of the three axes of evil, and replaced Iraq with Syria afterwards

Anyway, the president of the United States is seeking help from his enemy to clean up the mess he and his troops created in Iraq. However, taking how Bush’s personality into the consideration, especially his stubbornness, no two person would doubt that he would not say it publicly “need help to be pulled out of the Iraqi mud!”. Bush must remain tough because any softening will cause more damage to his administration than Iraq already did.

There are of course who oppose that approach strongly: the Iraqi Model is one. Their objection is not because of Iran’s (behind the curtain) involvement in Iraq, but more about how the US and the UK view of to Iran! In addition to the “working together with enemy to stabilize Iraq” proposal, there is of course the possibility of a full withdraw from the country. Some Democrats are demanding gradual and systematic withdraw within 4 to 6 months. I doubt it, especially that this will mean the fall of the US administration as a whole! There are more who demand the President of the United States to apologize. Keith Olbermann did that a couple of months ago, but he reiterated that during the mid-term elections when Jim Kerry made his comments about the US troops



Both proposals were written by a group of Democrats and Republicans, led by former secretary of state, James Baker. The result of the study would be submitted by the end of the year! But in the meantime those living in the White House will continue thinking and saying to each other something similar to a song by Clash:

….you gotta let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay, or should I go!!

With these amazingly speedy events, players in the “big middle east” game are moving: There is the quick player who want to understand what’s really going on and ensure that any strategy the at-the-moment-in-a-very-big-problem US government would take will not have an effect on its interests in the region. This is perfectly illustrated in the quick their actions towards their region’s events Is there a significance from such a move? Do they deserve credit? In fact, the Arabs do not deserve any compliment or credit, because the UK and US blockade on the Palestinians will be in either case lifted very soon when the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas comes out from behind closed doors with the name of the new “independent” Prime Minister, who eventually will take the next steps in forming the “national unity government”.

While all this is happening, supporters of each party are still getting at each other’s throats, and more are getting killed, buildings have been burned, and foreign journalists have been kidnapped from day to day!

What made the Arabs react now and not earlier? Why do they always late in taking actions or decisions that fate of millions depends on? Do they like to play it safe or what????? This is the second time in less than a year that a common reaction can be seen by the Arabs. If we look to last summer war in Lebanon, Arab governments did not move a bit towards dealing with a situation where a country was 24/7 under the bombardment, until Qana. The same thing happened with the Palestinians, nothing happened until Beit Hanoun. Both incidents involved the killing of children while they were sleeping. Both tragedies took place by Israelis, both have Qatar as the central player, and in both cases money was the main element for reconciliation!

In the meantime, back to Iraq, the killing, mutation of bodies, the discovery of unknown dead bodies, and the kidnapping is continuing under the sight and sound of a crippled Iraqi government!

A death machine just crashes everything and anything that might light a candle to see the path towards a better Iraq.

Changing Strategy or Amending Tactics?

Yesterday, the American president, George W Bush, presided a 90 minutes meeting with his top generals in the US forces to review policy in Iraq. According to the news on media channels – even Bush himself addressed that in his weekly radio speech, the purpose of the meeting is to review and maybe change tactics used in Iraq, and not to change US strategy in the country. I don’t doubt that a minute, especially with the stubborn nature of Bush and his men around him. Besides, it is very dangerous politically to suddenly come out to the public and say that “we have a new strategy in Iraq”, while there are the Congress elections coming very soon. In addition, voting pole in the media in regards to support for the government is essential. It is also dangerous because any failure will create an problem among Americans themselves: for those who support the war, there are who believe that there is a noble cause for this war i.e. liberty, freedom, democracy, WMD…etc, and all is part of the war on terrorism. For those supporters, this means that they are losing this war! On the other hand, for those who oppose the war, this means that more anger towards their government because their beloved ones fought a war which their government did not plan for properly, additionally to considering the war as one without cause.

There are rumors coming out form Washington about a plan by the U.S. Administration demanding the Iraqi prime minister, Maliki, to come up with a scheduled plan to end this violence, including disarming militias and implement a number of economic, military, and political measures. In the proposed plan, which is supposed to be implemented next year, the US will have more control on actions to be taken! Wondering what else they want to control? They do control everything!!

Speaking of taking control, earlier today, I was reading Faiza’s (Family in Baghdad) latest blog – she did not write anything new for some time, and I wouldn’t agree with her more about every word she wrote. She has been busy risking her life trying to help Iraqis in need by visiting houses, non-government organizations, Parliament and meeting its members. She explained the sad and frustrating experiences she has been facing through during the past period.
I salute her efforts and also admire her faith in herself and in what she believe. My compliments to her and to the ability that she can do something despite the danger she is facing day after days.

Battles of George Galloway

I watached today an interview with George Galloway on Sky news, in which he talked about the deteriorating situation in Iraq and how the coming period is not showing any good hopes, especially with increasing pressure on Bush and Blair to withdraw from the most closest aide. He also talked about the recent row created by Jack Straw regarding his objection to muslim woman wearing niqab (full veil). Unfortunately, I could not find it, it was very interesting especially with his analysis related to the the U.S. and U.K withdraw from Iraq tactics in order to avoid embarresment and remain having support from their people.

Instead, I decided to post this video of Galloway's testimony back in May 2005 when he rejected accusations related to oil-for-food program corruptions.



I am also posting here the famous interview Galloway had with Sky news during the summer 2006 war in Lebanon.



Wow, the man can really talk on others :)

Creating New Bounderies

I read today that many Christians are migrating back from different areas in Iraq to their old villages in northern Iraq, and that the regional government in Kurdistan (Barazani) is giving them all sorts of support in order to settle down. Those Iraqi Christians were forced to leave their villages during Saddam’s rule. In fact, some sources indicates that this displacing Christians from north Iraq took place before Saddam became the president, specifically, according to the same source, from 1975 onwards. They were forced to leave their land, their houses and villages and locate them in other areas all around Iraq, and in the meantime the government put non-Christians in their place.

Well, I called them non-Christians and not as written in the original article: “Christians were forced to leave their villages and territory and were replaced by Arabs”, which is not correct because in my opinion Arabs consist of different religions and social groups.

This counter-immigration of Christians back to their territory is a combined effort by the regional government in Kurdistan Iraq and the Christian Affairs Committee, where the two is trying to bring all Christians originally from these areas within one geographic area, which will later be part of the Kurdistan Iraq region (not as it is right now as as part of the province Ninewa). We are talking here about an approximate of 4 to 5 million people form villages such as Tilkeef, Karamles, Bakhdida, Al Qush and many others.

Further more, the Kurdish regional government already made a number of measures in order to make this process easier for immigrated people: by building houses, sport and education centers, renovate old and build new churches! In addition, is working on promoting the Assyrian language in primary schools, by financially support these schools and giving funds for printing books and staff training. All this effort is for the purpose of establishing an independent geographic entity for Christians that will provide social protection for their citizen rights in the future, according to a Kurdish official interviewed about this matter.

This news comes after the national assembly voted less than a month ago in a swift move with very slight majority on a law allowing all provinces in Iraq to run a referendum to see if the people would favor the federal status for Iraq. Personally I find it very strange that the national assembly members discuss the federation issue, and I am not talking about the sectarian violence that is raising day after day, but I am referring to the never-ending-debate among the different political parties on the very issue of the federation and the way it has been written in the new constitution. There are still many obvious gaps in that constitution where even the supporters of the federation admit that a lot of work needed to be done until full agreement is reached. Despite that, the national assembly took the decision!

Last week I was listening to a political analyst who said that since the end of the war in 2003 and till this month, October, approximately 1.5 million people were forced to leave their places and live now in other areas in Iraq. The same analyst said that between 1.2 and 1.5 million have left Iraq since the end of the war to mostly neighboring countries.

According to the BBC, more than 300,000 people were internally displaced since February this year. Further more, The UNHCR came with a result on the number of travelers to Syria, for example, saying that “2,000 people a day coming across, so it's more than 40,000 people a month just into Syria."

The full BBC article can be found here

My conclusion from all has been said is that no different between the people now on power from those during Saddam era? Both regimes forced people to abandon their homes; both reallocated (and still are) communities the way they see appropriate to their best interest. Both forced millions of Iraqis flee their country and became refugees all over the world,, but what make things worse is the pace of such actions, unbelievable!! Each party or group is acting quick, each sees justice with own way! For example, I don’t believe that Barazani did consult with the central government regarding giving northern Iraq Christians a favor and to arrange this counter-immigration I mentioned earlier, simply because “politicians and politics in Baghdad does not concern me” I don’t blame him, it is logical that he doesn’t need to consult with anyone. Why getting headache from something he shouldn’t be bothered with?? On the other side, the politicians in Baghdad are giving the best example of a shattered unity, by either having a group occupied with the best way to get more money, or another group thinking with whom they should put their loyalty (or bet on), or another group (or individuals) are shining with their attitude by insulting each other and criticize each other to the level of accusing each other of incompetence and sometimes accusing each other of the highest level of stupidity – watch any satellite channel to enjoy the bashing of one politician against the other.

Another conclusion I can draw from the current situation is that the whole chaos in Iraq is not chaotic after all. These actions is part of a programmed process, and a long-term political agenda. Yes, it is a planned process by people who really know the inside and outside of Iraqi society, Iraqi history, and geo-political nature of Iraq. They know what they are doing, really. I am not referring to a conspiracy theory or something similar to that, because such a theory is supposed to be made by one particular source, but in Iraq’s case there are many, each is pulling a string, and this is leading the country into more disastrous situation, parallel to the daily torture and killings.

How can someone categorize all those I mentioned above? I can only put them in one category: They all share the responsibility of the crime committed towards the innocent Iraqi people. I am not execluding the American administration from this responsibility too.

I can’t imagine someone who lived for more than 20 years in Basrah suddenly is being forced to live in Ramadi!! I can’t imagine someone who live in Baghdad will need a permit to go to see his brother who live in Amara!!

Is There Hope?

Like every Thursday, I have to be at work very early, I was late a little bit today! After finishing a number of things at work, I decided to read more and more blogs from Iraqi, inside Iraq. I read what Baghdad Burning was saying about "saying goodbye". Not far from her reality, but to the opposite. How? My relatives decided two weeks ago to leave Iraq: two old parents, two married men with their wives and their children decided to leave, why? because at any moment "it will be our turn" and "They will kill us". That was their reply! I asked them "by whom?" and "why?" or "can someone stop them?", but my question was already answered by what we hear, see and read in the daily news and from people we know...

It is like something programmed to target certain areas in Baghdad, or the rest of the country. Each family feeling threatened decids either to abandon their houses and go somewhere else, or the last resort by leaving the whole country. Saddam did that for years and now there is an opportunity for some groups to do the same.

A colleague of mine compared the disaster in Iraq with what happened more than a decade ago in former Yoguslavia. He said that this exactly what happened when the Serbs used to go to Muslim neighborhoods and force people to leave their houses, or vise versa... things escelated and the result was dividing the country into many, but it didn't stop there and a bloody war was waged that made more people fleeing the country and more deaths!

Bastards from the east and from the west are digging in our society in Iraq. One group is killing, the other counter-killing, and another group is standing from a little distance, just watching! Ah, and the same group who is watching is participating in the killing when they have the chance too - whether in public or secretly. In all this chaos, another disfunctional generation is born (the first disfunctional group is the one that Saddam created since he became president).

10 years ago I had a middle-aged man who fleed Iraq in early 1990s. I told him that there is no hope for Iraq to get over these crisis - during that time there were sanctions on"the people" of Iraq. He did not agree with me, and replied with a calm tone:"Iraq went through a lot of crisis... Civilizations in Iraq collapsed in the past, but Iraq remained always a sort of survivor. Iraqis has been always rise up and rebuild their beloved country, despite all the crisis they have been through."

Very optimistic point of view, but does that apply on the current disaster we are facing?

A country can be built by its people and also can be distroyed further by its people. I am sure about the fact that people like riverbend from Baghdad Burning and Truthteller and his family from Family From Mosul (whom I only know them from their writings on their blogs) are one of those who would love to build new society, and participate in re-building the current wounded society. On the other hand, there who do the opposite, by steeling, killing, cheating, and distroying the whole country with their actions. But does those who build making a balance with those who distroy? and will we be able to see the day when those who build as winnars?

The Best Headlines You Will Ever Read

Bush Found Guilty Of War CrimesGeneva- Former President of the United States George Bush was convicted by an international tribunal Monday morning of crimes against humanity and mass genocide. He is to be sentenced later this year for his crimes in Iraq and recently discovered role in the 9-11 attacks. “Even though we have not seen one in years, the possibility of a firing squad has not yet been ruled out…”

Internet Neutrality Laws PassedWashington- A new amendment was passed in a majority vote by Congress early this morning guaranteeing the neutrality of the World Wide Web. Investigations were also announced into the dealings of certain large internet service providers, including AOL and MSN. In addition to net neutrality, the amendment also states the distribution of spyware is to be considered a serious offense that allows for the offenders to spend prison time getting ass raped…

File Sharing Deemed Legal By Supreme CourtWashington- In a unanimous vote last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of internet users everywhere in their class action lawsuit against the MPAA and the RIAA. An unprecedented $200 billion fine was levied upon the entertainment industry for violating invasion of privacy laws. Despite the ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in this case, cocaine use amongst rock stars this weekend was not affected…

Bill O’Reilly Arrested On Crack, Child Pornography ChargesColorado- According to his lawyers, the police roughed up the popular right wing television personality when he was arrested on charges of child pornography and possession of crack near downtown Denver Friday night. “There was an unwarranted full body cavity search and my client was repeatedly tasered,” said the high profile attorney outside of the courtroom Monday morning. According to the police, O’Reilly was hyped up on crack and threatening them while masturbating in the middle of a busy street…

Rare Plant Found In Rainforest That Cures EverythingBrazil- A team of scientists have confirmed that a rare psychedelic herb found growing wild in the rainforests of southern Brazil is indeed the miracle drug it has been called in the press as of late. The herb creates a LSD-like high when smoked and causes human cells to regenerate and repair themselves. The first batch of cancer patients began their trips early this morning…

Marijuana Legalized WorldwideGeneva- In a stunning move Friday at a special session called by the United Nations, governments all over the world agreed unanimously to legalize the cultivation and sale of the hemp plant. Over the weekend sales brought in more money than all other industries combined and single-handedly repaired the world’s economy. In related news, everyone is stoned…

Science Finds True Origin Of The UniverseRome- The group of scientists hired by the Vatican to prove the existence of God without a doubt did just the opposite last Thursday when they unveiled irrefutable evidence that the universe was actually created by a rogue group of garden gnomes. “Apparently, everyone was wrong.” One of the scientists was quoted as saying. The Pope was bathing in his Naziness, so he could not be reached for comment…

Superman Thwarts Terror Attack: Cheney ArrestedNew York- A plane set to collide with the new World Trade Center was intercepted by the Man of Steel last Wednesday morning. Former disgruntled Vice President Dick Cheney was found to be controlling it remotely from a nearby public restroom. He was led away in handcuffs by FBI agents after getting slapped like a bitch in front of everyone by Superman…

First Contact Made: Aliens Bring Better Gaming TechnologyFlorida- NASA has announced early this morning that three astronauts made contact with an alien species last Tuesday while doing routine repairs on the international space station. “Their handheld technology was awesome,” reported one of the astronauts, “They had a gaming network running through the entire galaxy. When you get shot in the game, it actually hurts!” The purpose of the contact was apparently to announce a release date for their own gaming system to compete with Microsoft and Sony just before Christmas…

Nasrallah dates: best quality, highest price

With all preparations for the holy month of Ramadan, Egyptian public markets (souq) came out with a list of new names for their products, especially dates. The most expensive dates in Egyptian public markets now and with the highest quality carries the name “Hasan Nasrallah”, when the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah is considered as a hero, especially after the victory they made in the war with Israel. The price of the one Kilogram of “Nasrallah Dates” is 24 Egyptian Pounds (more than four Dollars for the Kilo). The “Ahmednajadi Dates” (the Iranian President) comes second with a price of 18 Egyptian Pounds (more than 3 Dollars for the Kilo). On third came the “Chavez Dates”, after the Venezuelan president Chavez, who is highly regarded and respected by the Arab people. The price of “Chavez Dates” goes to 14 Egyptian Pounds (more than two dollars for the kilo).

This is not the first time that dates carry names of famous political or religious leaders or celebrities, such as in previous years when dates were called after Palestinian leader , Arafat, or the Egyptian female actor, Layla Alawy.

However, the worst quality type of dates did also took its share after: First come “Olmert Dates” (Israeli prime minister, Ihod Olmert), after years of carrying the name “Ariel Sharon dates”. The price for the kilop is 1.5 Egyptian Pounds (less than $0.20).
Egypt is considered now the first producer of dry dates in the Arab world, with its 11 million dates-palm, preceding Iran and Saudi Arabia in this field. In the past and for years Iraq used to be on top as the first producer and the country with the highest number of dates-palms.

The link is here for those who is interested in reading the original article (in Arabic)