Sooni

A continued conversation with Paul

2007-01-23T16:53:00.000+03:00

This is my second conversation with Paul of Arena of Ideas. He had few questions for me about the situation in Iraq:

Paul: What is the situation on the ground right now? (e.g. are they stabilizing, getting worse or just more of the same?)

not much happened since our last conversation the four major effective powers in Iraq still doing there best to gain control ( the Government and the American forces on one side, the Militia and al Qaeda on the other side ) of course the Militia and al Qaeda are fighting each other.

Paul: What was the Iraqi reaction to Democrats winning in November, or do they understand the American election process?

When I speak about Iraqis I have to divide them depending on the way they believe or see things. Most of the Iraqis are living in the grace of conspiracy theory and they believe the American policy will remain the same no matter who would win the election, while the intellectual people started to fear that this would be the end of the American presence in Iraq.

Paul: What has been the Iraqi reaction to Bush's announcement of adding more troops in Baghdad?

The people feel more relief for more American presence in Baghdad. People started to hate the heinous acts of the Militia and Qaeda. People started to feel unsecured because neither the Militia nor Qaeda can protect them from the attacks. What is really going on the ground is very simple Qaeda attacks innocent people (Shiite mostly) and the Militia retaliate on innocent people too (Sunni mostly).

Paul: A recent poll came out which said 49% of Democrats hope that Bush's plan to stabilize Iraq fails. What would you say to those people?

If this poll is right then it would be really surprising and shocking. I can't imagine how civilized people like the Americans can think that way, I mean letting the factional competition affect the American image all over the world. If democracy succeeds in Iraq, we will be grateful to the American people regardless of the differences they have inside.

Paul: Many Americans feel like most of Iraq is in civil war and we should pull out. Could you explain to the average American why it is important for us to stay?

Iraq will be in civil war right after the American withdrawal. In fact the only thing preventing Iraq of being in a total civil war is the American presence in it. The American forces should stay in the region not only for Iraq. They should keep a large presence because of the new changes happened the past few years in the Middle East in general. As you can see that there is a wide disturbance in the area extremists started to emerge and get control over things, for example Hamas in Palestine, Ahmedi Nijad in Iran and al Qaeda in Iraq. Those groups have only one goal to achieve and that is killing the largest number of people in the name of God.

Paul: How do most Iraqis view ethnic lines (e.g. Sunni, Shia, Kurd, etc) and how important is it to your culture.

Before the pluralism we have now, there wasn't such a thing. In fact no one could have imagined that things will turn this way. Anyway the differences are facts now and the politicians are deepen these differences to make benefits from them and get elected in the name of the sect or the ethnicity

Paul: If there was a single thing you would hope us, as Americans, could learn about your culture which could help us understand the situation, what would that be?

The Arabic and Islamic culture in general is a tribal one based on Winning and Losing. They don't believe in middle grounds like sharing and the only language they understand is force. That’s why dictatorships and families ruled the countries of the area very well. Democracy will need long years to be adapted in the region because in comparison with dictatorship democracy will appear like a weak and tolerant way of ruling. For example, the Sheikh of the Tribe won't accept to be ruled by his subjects, so the more powerful you appear and control things they will fear you and respect you, the more tolerant you be they will disobey and despise you. This kind of mentality is what we are fighting in Iraq right now hoping we can make them change.

Saddam's execution: right thing done the wrong way

2006-12-31T17:20:00.000+03:00

It is ironic how good things turn to be bad in Iraq. Justice served and Saddam got what he deserved. Like many Iraqis remembering his days, I believe the execution is the least he deserves, but let us see how the right thing was done!

The TV channels that covered the event did not play all the video. One of my friends emailed me the full video link to see it. The procedure went normal until they put the rope around his neck and one of the attendants started to shout "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada" another one shouted "to hell" others said many other things that I couldn’t recognize, there was a weak voice in the background saying "please don’t" trying to make those people stop of saying wrong things.
The scene was a real shame and lacks any kind of professionalism, you can't even feel that he was hang in a state respect the law or know anything about it!

Just like always, to make one step forward we end with three steps backward! Showing Saddam's execution like a Shiite revenge will only deepen the gap we have now.
I know the Iraqi government is weak and have a lot of troubles but I couldn’t imagine that I would hear Muqtada's name in the execution room.

Saddam meets his inevitable fate

2006-11-05T16:59:00.001+03:00

Finally, we folded the book of tyranny in Iraq. It was not surprising to hear the death penalty, Saddam killed more than anyone can imagine with his wars and the countless atrocities against his own people, but it was surprising to see a good bunch of whiners grieving upon the tyrant.

I saw the reactions on TV most of the Iraqis were celebrating while the Arabs were grieving! Many whiners from different Arab countries who hate to see Saddam hang but they like to see the Iraqi blood spilled in the name of "resistance".

The verdict came at the right time when few sick minds started to promote a rumor that he will come back to save Iraq from the mess! Most of the whiners say that the verdict came out under American influence and to those I would like to say: what did you expect? That he would go out free clear from all charges. Can anyone deny that about 80% of the Iraqi people are happy with this verdict? One may see the rate high somehow but it represents the Shiite and the Kurds and I am fully confident that they are dancing of happiness now. The Sunni Iraqis reaction came disappointing since the leaders remained silent and we heard news about people demonstrated against the verdict in Sunni areas and provinces, anyway I will leave this subject to another post but now excuse me, because I want to celebrate the day!

Few things about the situation in Iraq

2006-10-27T19:01:00.000+03:00

Through few emails I exchanged with Paul Seale of Arena of Ideas he asked me few questions about the situation in Iraq, I would like to share our conversation with you

AA: Could you tell our readers where you live?
Sooni: I live in Baghdad-Iraq

AA:Many talking heads here in the United States have said recently that Iraq was better under Saddam. What do you believe and what do you say to those people?
Sooni: Saddam was a dictator, a murderer, and a warmonger. He assumed power in 1979 since that day Iraq got only backward, and part of what we are going through today related to him and what’s left of his family and followers who are still spending Iraq stolen money on funding terrorism. Saddam ruled by killing a whole family for suspecting their son, if the current government would rule that way you will see a peaceful Iraq two months from now. Iraq situation is bad now and no one can deny that, but what do you expect a battlefield would look like? Al-Qaeda, Iran, Syria, many other Arabic and Islamic countries and Islamic groups fight the Americans in Iraq and when they realized that they cant defeat the American Army they started to attack the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police also provoking the sectarian violence. They think if they can make Iraq fall down then they will be able to hinder the American project for the region. All those regimes feel threatened and they chose a clever indirect confrontation where they do not lose much more than money. If they really think it was better under Saddam then all we have to do is to let the government hands loose and a small massacre like what happened in 1991 uprising will bring back stability to Iraq!

AA: How do Iraqis view Americans as a people? What about American Soldiers?
Sooni: I can’t speak here in the name of all Iraqis, but I will try to illustrate what different groups and sects think about that. To have a better approach our parliament consist of 275 seats and Iraq population is around 27,500,000 so when I will mention a (seat) you will know how many population it represents. Iraqis love American movies, songs, and life style, I didn’t meet anyone who hates the American people, but when it comes to politics and of course the American soldiers are part of the politics we have different opinions: the Seculars and Liberals (28 seats) and the Kurds (55 seats) understand and appreciate what the American done and doing. The Sunni groups (58 seats) speak frankly of their hatred to the American policy and soldiers. The Shiite groups (130 seats) consist of many parties, trends, and individuals so I wont go far and I will say only (25 seats) of them are pro-American. At the beginning (the early days of liberation) most of the Shiite used to be pro-American because of the big favor of toppling Saddam, but later some tense started to appear when they disagreed over some political issues and after the American lunched few operations against Mahdi Army of the Sadir trend (30 seats). You can reflect those numbers on the population and you will have a good idea about the American Image in Iraq.

AA: During this election cycle in America there are politicians proposing to pull American forces out of Iraq and move them to other places in the region. If you could say something to these people, what would you say?
Sooni: Iraq is now on the edge of all-out civil war, the American troops act now like a safety valve and it is definite that Iraq will explode if those forces leave now.

AA: How might such a plan effect the average Iraqi?
Sooni: The civil war will mostly take place in Baghdad, Diala, Kirkuk, and Basra so I guess we are talking about more than 10,000,000 people will be affected directly from it and this effect will continue for many years.

AA: Could you explain the issue of federalism to our readers?
Sooni: The first group who talked about federalism was the Kurds and they put it as a condition to participate in the political process. Later the Shiite liked the idea and start talking about the “Southern Region”. The Kurds want to practice more independency away from the central government while the Shiite pretexted of providing more security to the south part of Iraq. The Sunni and part of the Shiite (al Sadir trend) refused it totally saying it will lead to partitioning Iraq.

AA: When you hear American politicians and media discuss partitioning Iraq off into sections what are your thoughts? Again, how might this effect the average Iraqi?
Sooni: The Iraqi street is a little bit confused about this issue, we hate to see Iraq divided. From the practical side I expect this will lead to endless fights and blood feuds among Iraqis. Just imagine it this way partitioning Iraq will create a small Iran in the south of Iraq and a small Afghanistan in the middle of it!

AA: From your vantage point, how bad is the sectarian violence in Iraq?
Sooni: Very bad since people get killed everyday on sectarian bases, we are only one-step away from an all-out sectarian war, any move like partitioning Iraq or the pull back of the American troops will definitely start it.

AA: What do you believe is the main cause of this?
Sooni: Too many reasons to count, but I will try to put it this way: Saddam planted the seeds and al-Qaeda reaped.

AA: What does the average Iraqi believe is the main cause for the violence?
Sooni: That will depend on their backgrounds, believes would vary from blaming al-Qaeda ending up with blaming the Jews!

The Islamic state in Iraq!

2006-10-18T16:07:00.000+03:00

Al-Qaeda's declaration of an "Islamic State" in Iraq came and went unnoticed by most of Iraqis. One of my friends said when I told him about it "what difference would it make? They've been killing people on daily basis so what makes you think they will stop and start taking care of them and act like a responsible government like they claim to be?"
As an Iraqi I know they can't control this "'State" but they chose an area of influence where they can use their "hit and run" tactics to declare a "State" in, moreover, the declaration sounded more like a challenge to the Iraqi Government and the Coalition forces than a real declaration of a state.
I guess my friend was right, there will be no change in their actions towards people but still I have a few points I would like to mention about this new "State" and its surroundings:

It seems that al Qaeda quitted the idea of "liberating" the entire country. I guess that from now on they will be busy "defending" the newborn "State".

The declaration came when their lighting began to fade so to speak, so they came up with a move to attract some of the lost attention back; they need to once again to be in the spotlight to insure the flow of recruits and funds.

They have chosen four provinces of Sunni majority where they have few supporters adding to them Baghdad and Kirkuk where they have fewer supporters. Baghdad and Kirkuk (which has a sizable presence of Shia militias that rarely gets involved in action) will witness a fierce war between al Qaeda and the Shia militia because the militia will try their best to show that the two cities do not belong to al Qaeda.

The Iraqi Government and the Coalition forces have their own war against al Qaeda and the militia, so what we will have is like a compound war where each one of them will have to fight at two fronts simultaneously.

I think their strategy will retain the same methods of killing more Shia civilians in the hope to provoke an all-out civil war.
Killing Shia civilians will lead to retaliation acts form the militia against Sunni civilians living in Shia neighborhoods, so more forced displacement will take place in the coming few weeks. Neither the Government nor the Coalition forces can do much about the sectarian killings and forced displacement because they usually occur through assassinations and intimidations that are difficult to notice and trace by the security forces.
I don’t think deploying more forces would solve the problem but "smart" forces may have a better chance.

The al-Qaeda should not be given any chance to choose the time and the place of the battle. The moving patrols of the Iraqi and Coalition forces are very simple targets and most of the casualties happen among them. The best way to deal with both al- Qaeda and the militia is to keep "hunting" them in "sudden strikes". They should live in fear all the time not knowing when it will happen.
The Israeli techniques in hunting down their opponents would go perfect for the coming stage. Eliminating their threat is more cost-effective and prevents unnecessary casualties that might result when trying to capture them.

A day to change history

2006-09-11T21:54:00.000+04:00

Five years ago some people imagined that the time has come to attack America and teach the whole world a lesson. Those people divided the world to "us" and "others". They imagined that God (Allah) will stand by them in their holy war against "crusaders", "infidels", and all the "others". They killed innocent people thinking they will be safe in their holy land (Afghanistan) protected by Allah. I remember that I watched the event live on TV that day, it was really shocking.
The reaction came fast when the holy protected land wiped away and the "heroes" ran hiding. The great loss that day resulted in a new American policy to follow the criminals and bring them to justice the first attack on Afghanistan criminals was successful and the second attack on Iraq criminals was successful too. One may ask what Iraq had to do with 9/11 attacks? The answer is simple! The criminals though they have different trends but they share the same hate to the free world and kept on feeling threatened by the free world (without the free world Saddam would have invaded more than Kuwait and without the free world Kuwait would never have returned to its people). So the criminals kept working in a net though they didn’t declare it, from where do you think the terrorists have this much fund to carry out attacks this big? Or keeping there operations alive? It’s a big net contain all the regimes who fight freedom and repress their people.
Two from the list are gone forever and yet many to come. What I hope is that the whole free world keep remembering this day because it’s the day that started the War on Terror. I know that the voices calling to stop the operations and pull back to the United States are rising more and more, I think they have forgot or at least started to feel safe, well they might be wrong, the hatred is still big and only small portion of it eliminated. If you stop now you will give them the chance to regroup again and soon you will see another attack in the United States and don’t forget what happened in England few weeks ago when the criminals tried to conduct a massive attack there. They are trying their best and you are trying to retreat leaving them more space to prepare themselves better!
I refuse to link between what is happening in Iraq right now and the War on Terror. If Iraq now in a mess I guess that what the Iraqis themselves did. Operation Iraq Freedom was totally successful in saving the area from a real threat and what happened in Iraq next have many causes these lines wont be enough to deal with, I hope I will have more time in the future to discuss them individually.
I don’t want to keep going far from the main reason I wrote these lines for, its for the memory of those people who died for no reason but being in a free country in a free world where some criminals hate those values and think that killing is the best way to express their hatred. To you and to all the people who fall as Freedom Martyrs I raise my prayers. I want to tell you before 9/11 innocent people used to die and nothing would happen but your death changed history forever.

Woman day in Iraq

2006-03-09T20:32:00.000+03:00

This year the Ministry of Woman Affairs had a celebration in one of the Iraqi social clubs on the occasion of woman day in Iraq but sorry I wasn’t there nor was my brother, my brother was in a press conference held by the Organization of Woman Freedom in Iraq where they showed some drawings condemning the terrorism and the woman abuse in jail in the name of the law and I thought you would like to see some of those pictures. The drawings were made by the prisoners themselves inside the women prison in Iraq. The two events shared the same day but in a different way. I wrote this not to be against or with but I thought its something worth posting.

This picture was drawn by a prisoner mother who lost her daughter in a terrorist act while she is in prison.

One of the prisoners painted this picture and wrote "stop injustice against the Iraqi woman"

This one is asking the Muslims about the mercy of God upon the women because the devil is torturing them in the name of the law.

Back to blogging!

2006-03-09T18:52:00.000+03:00

First of all I would like to apologize for being away for so long and I would like to thank all the readers who kept on sending emails or wrote a comment asking about me, and I guess with these lines I'm back to blogging!

Waiting for the final results

2005-12-26T12:18:00.000+03:00

Things are running very fast in Iraq and everyday brings more and more surprises. Let me talk first about the elections results. Well, what we were afraid of came true and the Iraqi people elected their representatives on "sectarian bases" and in my opinion this is the biggest problem so far. Our people still don't believe in the democracy to protect them and they find it a good way to show their affiliation only.

Most of the political bodies rejected the results and accused the "United Iraqi Alliance" of forgery, in fact the results were not logical enough, but in all cases even if we suppose that all the claims are true the results wont change that much and still the two major winning slates will be the same as now the (555) for the Shia and the (618) for the Sunni. The problem is not with forgery but with the winning slates themselves since they are both sectarian and the only "secular and liberal" slate (731) didn’t get enough votes.

The Iraqi equation turned to be so hard and if I want to make an assessment for why we got such results I would say that the security situation in Iraq in general is the main reason behind it, the attacks made by Zarqawi and his supporters on the Shia and since Zarqawi claim he is Sunni and his supporters are in Sunni areas of Iraq led the Shia not to trust the "others" and they voted to the slate (555) they though it would protect them. On the other hand the Sunni didn’t believe that they are a minority and couldn’t accept the idea of the Shia taking over things in Iraq so they gathered to vote for (618) to show there strength. What's left were the seculars and the liberals who have voted for (731) but they didn’t gain enough votes to be able to form the government and it seems after the dark decades of Saddam's regime there are not enough seculars and liberals in Iraq!
It will take time and efforts to make the Iraqis trust each other again and to start thinking out of the sect they belong to and this only can be achieved with a better security to help the ordinary people to start thinking of tomorrow and when they start to think of a better future the results of the votes will change.

Allawi (731) and the Accordance Front (618) announced that they won't accept to form the General Assembly if things remain the same and the UIA (555) announced that they will defend every seat they won. It seems that the coming days will be really tough for Iraq.
I don’t have a clue about the coming government but even the best scenario doesn't seem to be that good. The Sistani called for a "National Unity" government to calm things down, but even if it happened it would mostly be from the "religious" slates (555) and (618). Four years under this kind of government would be more than enough to destroy the liberalism and secularism in Iraq.

After the liberation we though that we will stop "fighting" for our rights and we will start to participate in building democracy in Iraq but it seems that another four years of "fierce war" is coming and this time its just to stay who we are and not to melt in the "Sunni-Shia" environment
I think we need a second miracle now, the Americans granted us the first one and broke our chains to set us free, now we need the second miracle not to put them back.

Another step forward

2005-12-16T13:51:00.000+03:00

It was really amazing how calm and peaceful yesterday was (the elections day) with almost no major attacks or incidents. The turnout was over expected even in the "hot spots of Iraq" and it's really making me wonder have the insurgents lost their ability to carry out attacks? Or it was the "perfect security plan" the government put? Well in both cases it’s a good progress we made.
That don’t mean in anyway the attacks will stop or that was the end of violence in Iraq, but it is a good message to all that after three years of liberation Iraq is finally a democratic country and yesterday was the first "real" step for the four years government that is elected by "everyone" because simply there was no boycotting.
I have many pictures to share but I will only publish four of them for our brave security forces that that made a real nice job preserving our people lives and you can see them celebrating that.

Yes it was the right decision

2005-12-14T22:26:00.000+03:00

Today I watched and listened to President Bush speech about the "war on Iraq and terrorism" to an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and I can't say but that his speech made me admire him more and more.

He was simple with the main facts and the reasons that led to the war "I prefer to call it liberation" and he draw the future plan that gives more hope to the people craving for democracy.

I watched and listened carefully with a big smile on my face while the President continued his speech and the more decisive and determined he was the more confident I got.

I was really happy because he knew the simple truth we needed him to know "We know and appreciate what the Americans have done and still doing in Iraq and if you hear some of the Iraqis saying (Leave) let me tell you that there are millions of the Iraqis saying (Stay) and you will see them tomorrow when they will march to defend the democracy you brought to this country"

I saw you defending your decision saying "As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq" well Mr. President let me tell you that your decision will change the world as we know it. You gave Iraqis freedom that they wouldn’t have gotten in a thousand years, and the "Iraqi effect" started to affect the region and this is why everyone around us is trying to "kill" this young born democracy.

I know that when the people around the world who see the violence in Iraq would think that the Iraqis don’t want the Americans and they want them out, they don’t know the truth about the "hidden war" all the Arabic and Islamic countries are waging against the Americans and Iraq its battlefield. They don't do that by sending armies but they provide all the money needed and the logistic support and of course the trained men to do the attacks. All the Arab and Islamic countries in the region are ruled by dictators and they will do anything to stay in their "chairs" forever.

Mr. President you started something and yes you are responsible to go on and never stop until democracy is a worldwide spoken language and a way of life. And that will be the Total Victory.

Four years of what?

2005-12-12T23:43:00.000+03:00

Two day from now and the elections will start and in one week after that we probably will know who will form the next Iraqi government and this time it's for four long years. We passed the test period and now we have to think twice before we put the "paper in the box" because every mistake we make will take four years now to be corrected. The nice thing about this election is its unpredictable and no one can say that I know the outcome of it. This time most of the Iraqis are willing to participate and this time every province will have their seats depending on its population and this will mean a more fair seats allocation in the parliament. All this make us a little more optimistic about the coming parliament.
The past year was really tough for the liberals in Iraq because we had a "religious type government" and we suffered much from them and now we hope that the liberals will form the government this round.
The "United Iraqi Alliance" which is mostly a group of religious parties is the strongest till now. In the previous parliament they were able to take about 140 seats and that means more than half of the parliament seats but this round we hope that the liberals "National Iraqi List" will be able to get enough seats to form the government.
As we all know that Iraq is consist of many religious and ethnic groups and every "religious government" will have its "natural enemies" thus any religious government whether Sunni or Shia will not succeed in one way or another, and I don’t need to tell u that an "Islamic government" wont be much better than the "Afgani" model or the "Iranian" model and the whole world saw how both think and deal with problems!
It was like a dream to be freed by the US Army and the chance is very big right now for us to be a real free and democratic country and this is the only way for Iraq to evolve.
It’s a matter of time and we will see if we are going to have a "four years of delay" or a "four years of development"

Why Ramsey Clark?

2005-12-05T23:29:00.000+03:00

Today we watched a very long trial for Saddam Hussein and his gang on the TV and I'm not trying to tell you what happened in the trial. There is something else that I want to write about and that is the presence of the former American justice minister Ramsey Clark in the court to defend Saddam Hussein.
I know that every defendant should have an attorney but it's really confusing why a respectable man like Ramsey would defend a criminal like Saddam?
Saddam is not a regular prisoner because if we ignored the details of what he have done the fact remain that through his acts and during his reign we and our neighbors lost about 2 millions of our people!
I'm sure that Ramsey is fully aware of what I'm talking about and he knows well that the man hands are full of blood and from every type so why would Ramsey defend him?
I cant imagine that he is looking for publicity or want to get more famous or he believe in any way that Saddam is innocent and he needs to prove that, then why? I really don’t have any kind of answer to this question.
And the bigger surprise that he inside the court accused the court of being illegitimate! We have an elected government (that most of the Arab countries and the third world don’t have) and this elected and legitimate government had appointed the court so why it's not legitimate in your opinion Mr. Ramsey Clark?!

Why you are there? I still don’t know but let me tell you that you won't gain the respect of the world by defending a tyrant but you will be hated by millions of the Iraqis and the Kuwaitis and the Iranians and the Americans who lost their beloved in the wars the dictator made.
And this trial will be like a stain you won't be able to erase from your history. One day we will remember and we will tell our children about the Americans who librated Iraq and your name wont be among them.

Side by side

2005-11-25T22:40:00.000+03:00

These are pictures of the military parade made by security keeping forces to
show their strength.
The U.S soldiers were there observing closely

That was the message I got from my brother who took these pictures. When I looked at the pictures I noticed that the American soldiers weren’t wearing anything to protect themselves and they were calmly watching the Iraqi soldiers they trained, I guess they were feeling real good in that beautiful sunny day. They stood side by side with the Iraqis to watch the parade, I can feel how proud they are to help those men to make Iraq more secure. I really enjoyed seeing the pictures and I hope you will too.

A clearer vision and a new starting point

2005-11-22T01:15:00.000+03:00

Too many things happened in Iraq the past few days:

First was the scandal of torturing the detainees by the interior minister, that day set a new "rule" in the new Iraq history and sent a clear message "no more abuse" it’s a new era where Iraqis can say "No" and ask "Why".

Second was the "Reconciliation Conference" where too many Iraqis political parties and powers tried to "patch their quarrel" and also tried to find a new definition to what so called "resistance", well we didn’t expect much from this conference but still there is one big thing happened there "Zarqawi sold out!", this is the first time when all Iraqis say "No" to terror "even if not all of them meant it" because Zarqawi used to speak in the name of Sunni Arab and now they dropped him!.

The third thing is the promotion campaigns of the parties for the coming elections started and there are too many good things I would like to refer to about this subject:

· Almost all the political powers will participate in the elections and this hopefully means a balanced National Assembly
· All the big entities came apart for smaller and I can say distinguished entities. Most of the liberals left the "United Alliance" (the biggest Shia bloc in the assembly) and this is what made the Alliance make a new partnership with Muqtada al-Sadir and its obvious that " the radicals becoming more radical". That was on the Shia side
· On the Sunni side there are good changes too since they are not all "Islamic" now and there is a new branch I can't say liberal "even if they acclaim so" but at least they are not a religious party and they will take a good share of the votes.
· The liberals are stronger this round and much more organized and they are trying a new concept that I will call "a flower from every garden", they have organized their slate to make room for everyone ( Shia, Sunni, communists even old Ba'ath members)

We really hope that the coming elections will be a new starting point when all the Iraqis will have their representatives in the National Assembly and by time they will start to believe in the peaceful political process instead of violence, I'm not assuming that the violence in Iraq will stop but I hope that we will win more voices saying no to it.

Eid photos from Baghdad

2005-11-05T13:24:00.000+03:00

It is relatively calm in Baghdad these days and many people celebrated the Eid (a three days holiday after the holly month of Ramadan) and my brother was in one of the amusement parks (I think this is what they call it) in Baghdad and he took many pictures out there and here are some of them

Questions and Answers

2005-10-29T03:31:00.000+03:00

I wrote this post in response to few questions asked by one of the readers (he is a blogger too, Peter M)

He asked: "Sooni, what do I tell the liberals that say we should leave? Do the majority of Iraqis hate the Americans and want them out? Are they even aware or grateful of the sacrifices that the soldiers and their families have to endure?"

To answer these questions I need to go through some facts and assessments I hope you will be patient to read to the end.

Iraq consists of 18 provinces, 3 of them only (in the middle and west of Iraq) represent a safe haven for the insurgents (I will tell why), well I don’t think that 3 of 18 is a majority. The question remains who's making the attacks against the Americans and why?

In Saddam's time the Shia and the Kurds were suppressed (they both represent 80% of Iraq population) and most of them see the Americans as liberators, but they started to (blame) the Americans for the current situation in Iraq. The total weakness of the current government and the lack of security and general services made the situation very hard in Iraq and generated a (lack of trust) situation between the people and the government and thus the Americans since the common people still consider both are responsible. But all the (blame) and the (lack of trust) didn’t push the Kurds and the Shia to an armed confrontation with the government or the Americans and they always express there feelings in a peaceful way. And the only groups that don’t submit to this rule are (Muqtada Alsader group) from the Shia and (Ansar Alislam group) from the Kurds who have been violent with the government and the Americans.

Here we come to an important fact that the real responsible of the violence in Iraq are not the Iraqis themselves as (though there is a tangible amount of them have a vital role in it) we all know that Zarqawi is not Iraqi and most of the suicide attacks are executed by Arabs and Muslims coming from outside Iraq and we also know that there are countries funds those terrorists (buying cars, explosives, house renting and paying salaries to the Iraqis that provide the logistic support) and on the top of the list stands Syria who wish's that the delay of the Americans in Iraq will keep her files closed.
Tackling the Americans in Iraq hence the failure of the political process and the democratic model is seems to be the goal of too many powers and countries in the region and outside it and every one of them have his reasons and his means to make it happen.

Back to the Iraqis who have a role in this (battle) they are mostly from the 3 provinces I mentioned earlier and more they are one of these three parts:
People used to work with Saddam's regime like the republican guards and the intelligence.
The Sunni Islamic fanatics that can be easily deceived in the name of Islam's sake.
People who are ready to do anything for the money
The first and the last parts will vanish by time and the cut of the funding but the middle part is what really need a good attention because they are the seeds of terror.

Those who ask for the American withdraw from Iraq are (politically short sighted) because they can't see that Iraq is only step two (after Afghanistan) in the global war against terror and calling for a pull back is a call for ending the operation and a new chance for the terror to grow stronger again, in my opinion it is a (negative thinking) to wait for the terror to hit me again in my hometown and I think the Americans tried that once in the events of 9/11, do you really want to try it again?

Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed in the terrorist acts but they burst in millions to the polling stations to defend their freedom and because most of them believe it’s the only way to gain the peace back, the freedom that was granted to the Iraqis by the Americans soldiers, and yes the Iraqis are fully aware of what the Americans have done to Iraq and they are really grateful and I wont be surprised if we built a statue for the brave American soldiers who fall in Iraq defending their country and people and Iraq and its people and the whole free world.

I hope what I said will answer your questions Peter.

A free lesson for all

2005-10-23T00:47:00.000+03:00

What is happening in and to Syria these days reminds me of what was happening in and to Iraq in the early 90's. A dictatorship with the same ideological background (The Arab Ba'th Socialist Party) is messing around! And the International Community is trying its best to find a peaceful solution for it.

Almost everyone is aware of what is Syria doing to sabotage the political process in Iraq and it's bad and destructive role in Lebanon. And the problem is that it don’t seems like they have learned anything from the Iraqi lesson. The free world was sharp about it and made it clear "no room for trouble makers".

Well Libya learned the lesson well and gave up everything "as it seems" and started to reap the benefits.
I really don’t get it why fighting the free world? I guess the best way I can think of it is the ideological difference between Liberty and dictatorship. And I don’t think I need to explain much about this point.

Anyway my point is there is no use of fighting the whole world and its no shame of accepting the fact that you are wrong and the time has come to start correcting things.
The free world is determined on ending terrorism and its up to them (Syrian) to choose on which side they will be, but they have to keep in their minds that the time is running fast and tomorrow will be harder than today, and I really wish that they can take a close and considerate look on what happened to Iraq since 1990 and they will be blind not to see what there future will be.

A man behind the bars

2005-10-19T19:32:00.000+03:00

Millions of Iraqis sat in front of the TV to watch Saddam's trial, the man who is responsible for the death of more than one million (some say two million) human being.

Happiness all over the country, since the only protesters to the trial where in Tikrit (Saddam's hometown) and it is something very normal due to the tribal values we have in Iraq.

He killed too many people without a trial but he will have a fair trial (we hope so) because this is the new Iraq and this is the way we want our country to be.

No more dictatorship, just a man behind the bars fighting for his life while most of the Iraqis are waiting for his death (death penalty by court)

The Iraqis want to forget Saddam's decades and want to forget him too, it’s a step the Iraqis have to take, and we want to leap into the future without the sorrows of the past.

Too many Iraqis complain about the current situation but if you ask them the magical question: "do you think it's better to have Saddam back?" they will answer:" hell, no!" (most of the people I know answered no in a conversation like that)

I really would like to say something to Saddam and I wish he can hear me ….."Your days are gone and we are very happy without you, in your days we were ashamed of saying we are Iraqis, but now we are proud to say so"

A peaceful Vote!

2005-10-16T02:55:00.000+03:00

I think you all were surprised how peaceful the Vote was (in comparison with the last election the Zarqawi attacks were over 300 but in this Vote they were only 13), it wasn’t the security measures for sure nor the lack of suicide bombers but I think it’s the new situation that most of the Sunni Arabs voted like all other Iraqi sects and groups.
One may ask: what's that got to do with stopping the attacks?

Firstly: for Zarqawi Sunni Arabs are like the backbone of his operations in Iraq because almost all his followers are from them and also they provide the logistic support for him and his fighters (most of the west side of Iraq is a Sunni Arabs provinces and it’s the major route for the Arab fighters that come from Syria), so starting to kill them without plan (B) will be a big mistake.

Secondly: I guess Zarqawi is also eager to know what the real situation in Iraq is, surely he knows about the Kurds and the Shia's but he really need to know about the Sunni and who's with him (people who said NO) and who's against him, and this Vote is like a free survey that will help him to set his future plans.

We all know that he will never stop but if he want to start fighting the Sunni Arabs (not all of them of course but still a substantial part of them who voted YES) then he will need new plans for sure, and if u ask why? I will answer that by:
The Sunni Arabs were acting so tight till now but when a major part of them "The Islamic Iraqi Party and it's followers" started to believe that there is no future for violence and decided to join the political process the situation will end up with a big infiltration to the Sunni Arabs which may result of increasing intelligence information from inside the Sunni house, if Zarqawi started to attack the Islamic Iraqi Party and it's followers.

We really don’t know or have any idea what the outcome of the Vote will be, but lets hope that it will be something will make Zarqawi recalculate everything he have.

Voting photos from Baghdad

2005-10-15T15:01:00.000+03:00

My brother took some photos for me near a polling station and i like to share them with you.

A little kid with his blue finger

A citizen celebrating

A policeman voted earlier

People heading for polling station

People voting

The right choice?!

2005-10-15T04:51:00.000+03:00

I think the time has come to choose between YES and NO for the new constitution and to tell the truth it's not easy to decide what to choose for which both choices have their advantages and disadvantages.

I really hoped that the constitution were done and approved by all "The Iraqi Spectrum" but unfortunately the limited presentation of the Sunni Arabs in the National Assembly and the Constitution Drafting Committee will remain like a scar in the constitution if ratified.

But if we take in consideration the altering made to bring the "Sunni Arabs in" (which made the Islamic Iraqi Party switch to YES) then we will start a new assessment for the whole situation.
The Islamic Iraqi Party made a huge move when they declared that they will vote YES for the constitution because they gave the constitution a "new legitimacy" and ended the situation of "Sunni Arabs are out" for the Islamic Iraqi Party is one of three major movements that speak in the name of Sunni Arabs in Iraq, and to be honest their decision was very brave and unexpected and as a result they started receiving attacks from the terrorist groups that threat to kill anyone joins the political process.

Back to the constitution and why it's hard to choose between YES and NO.
As a secular living in Iraq I don’t agree with too many religion (Islamic) based articles imbedded in the constitution that will lead it away from human rights and for this reason I wanted to say NO. But on the other hand the constitution is a very important step in the political process and a big slam for terrorism and dictatorship everywhere.

Few days ago I would have said NO but now after the agreement of shifting all "disputed among things" to the new Assembly which we wish will be more balanced and represents all Iraqis since most of Sunni Arabs are willing to participate in the coming elections, though the seculars may not have any seats in the new Assembly (because they are still afraid of nominating themselves that they might get killed) I switch to YES.

I'm writing this article before 3 hours from the official time (7 AM) of starting the referendum, I don’t know what the outcome will be but for sure it's something we will talk about later.

The last card

2005-09-29T02:57:00.000+04:00

It seems that Zarqawi and his group are running out of ways to sabotage the political process so he decided to play his last card, the civil war.

To those who don’t know much about Iraq, its population is divided mostly between Arabs and Kurds and the majorities of them are Muslims and belong to the main Islamic two sects in Iraq Sunni and Shi'at. The estimated rates are (60% Shi'at Arabs, 20% Sunni Arabs and 20% Kurds) and there are too many ethnic and religious groups that I didn’t mention because I want to focus on the active sects in Iraq.

Zarqawi depends on the 20% Sunni Arabs and is trying to provoke them to start the civil war in Iraq and in his last statement he declared war on Shi'at hoping to drag Shi'at to the war but he didn’t declare war on Kurds because the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims and he don’t want to fall in contradiction by declaring war on his sect of Islam (Sunni) although the Kurds support the "American Occupation" by all means because the American protected the Kurds during Saddam's regime.

I don’t know how Zarqawi wants to win the war and I guess he doesn't care about that the outcome of the war all he cares about is to start the civil war, on the other hand the Shi'at community led by the Sistany (the chief cleric of Shi'at in the Islamic world) refuse to be dragged to war in spite of the bloody attacks done against them and the Sistany made it clear when he said that "we wont go to war even if half of the Shi'at got killed in Iraq"
The big difference between the insanity of Zarqawi and the sanity of Sistany is what the Iraqis count on to avoid the civil war and to propel the political process and have peace in Iraq.
One important question left that anyone might ask "does Zarqawi represent the Sunni Arab in Iraq?" there are too many details to answer this question but in the end the answer will be no, but I will try to clear few things out.

First, there is no real representation for Sunni Arabs in Iraq because all the three major powers in Sunni world in Iraq "Association of Muslims Scholars, The Iraqi Islamic Party and The Fatwa and Preaching Board) don’t represent the Sunni but they affect them through the mosques.

Second, those powers have connections with the terrorist groups in one way or another and they use the terrorists to put pressure on the government to gain some political benefits.

Third, those powers lack the political wisdom because they boycotted the first elections in Iraq saying "no elections under occupation" they bet that the whole political process will go down if all the Sunni boycotted the elections and most of them did because they were under threat, but when they saw that the process is going on and the elections succeeded they changed their minds and now they are willing to go to the elections this year although the "occupation" is still the same!!

I guess you can see that for a regular Sunni person living in Iraq he will be between two hammers; the three Sunni power centers and Zarqawi and they are two faces for the same coin and if the Sunni Arabs keep surrendering to those powers they will be the firewood used to keep the blood stream in Iraq flowing and they have to notice that those groups don’t have any project but to object on anything the government proposes and to keep the killing alive.

We truly hope that no civil war will take place in Iraq and the Sunni Arabs will wake up some day because in civil war there are no winners at all.

Land of confusion

2005-09-12T12:39:00.000+04:00

Yes it is! This is what Iraq is like these days, with literary no services and no security at all.
What confuses the situation more are the solutions of the smart government that only aggravate the situation. One example for that: they invented the Odd and Even rule that allow you to drive three days a week and when u ask them why? They will say it's over crowded and there is on enough gas stations, well? How about building more gas stations and opening the closed roads that we have too many (more than u can imagine) in Baghdad and of course you know why they are closed? For security reasons! Taking in consideration that we don’t have security at all. I guess u can see what kind of a smart government we have that keeps pressuring the people for solutions.

That's not it! Yes there is more, I wish you can take a peek at our new confusion sorry constitution. It's too long to discuss it here but I think you will like one of its articles that say:

Article (2):
1st: Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:
a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam
b) No law can be passed that contradicts the principles of democracy
c) No law can be passed that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms outlined in this constitution

I think it's anyone's right to choose his religion, right? Well, if you are a Muslim and you wanted to choose another religion the penalty will be death! That’s all. And really I'm waiting to see how they are going to workout this Article.
I hope you didn’t come to a confusion sorry conclusion that the Iraqis are idiots, no they are not but our main problem is that we are ruled by amateurs and we really need professionals and the other problem is the Americans don’t have but those amateurs to consult and they will always give them false readings.
Things didn’t come out the way we hoped or even imagined and we can't blame but ourselves because we chose the people in charge now. Let's hope our choice will be better next time.
Till now the best thing happened to Iraq is the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" it was the surgery that cut the tumor off and started the even better "Democracy by Force" healing process in a community used to deal with force and for many it's the only language they understand.
Don’t panic! Things in Iraq resolve in a different way.
And please don’t understand "Democracy by Force" the wrong way, what I meant was the American "Forced" the majority to take the minority in consideration and this is the soul of Democracy.
We have too many things to be confused about but one thing for sure, we used to walk the tunnel with no hope of getting out one day but now we can see a weak light at the end. Do you know what I think? It's freedom.

She sings good!

2005-09-07T19:32:00.000+04:00

I never thought that this will be my first post in my blog, but sometimes you can't control the situation and the situation controls you. I was just surfing the net looking for some softwares when I read about an interview with Celine Dion donating some money and criticizing Bush's policy. Both seemed good to me till I got to read her own words, she said:

'How come it's so easy to send planes in another country, to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives, at a time when Americans need to serve their own country'

Here I was really shocked because I'm a big fan of Celine, I wasn’t shocked because she criticized Bush's policy but oh my god not in this naïve and superficial way. She can be against the war (I think too many are) but saying "to kill everyone" well who's everyone I'm still alive and many others in my country! And most of the killing in Iraq are done by the terrorist groups not by the American army, I'm not about to defend the American army way of acting or what I think about Bush and his policy maybe I will do this in another article. Dear Celine if you have a point and you what to say it say it but there is no need to tell lies about it or even saying something that u don’t know what it means just like the "planes that kill everyone". Well Katrina made you speak and I wish you didn’t and please next time when you feel that you need to give a helping hand don’t speak just sing it would be much better believe me.

Better late than never

2005-04-14T12:16:00.000+04:00

Maybe I'm a little bit late for blogging but as they say better late than never, about me I'm a free Iraqi person who would like to express himself a little so wish me luck and pardon me for my English you will find too many mistakes (grammar and spelling) but I still hope that you will be able to get what I mean.