Monday, June 13, 2005
Wednesday, June 8th , 2005
GOOD MORNING…
These days I am in America, attending a training course about (Peace Building), in an institute near the state of Vermont, eastern USA…
The institution is private, non-governmental, an American lady friend directed me to it, a friend who used to work in Iraq after the war, in a non- governmental organization, financing some women's societies to build up some small projects, like a tailoring workshop, to train Iraqi women in poor neighborhoods.
I respect this woman very much, because she isn't one of the "Women's rights" seekers in Iraq, nor domestic violence, human rights, democracy, and the other vocabularies of the western governments, who " over-used" these words, thus harming them in a cheap way. Whenever I called her, I feel her voice breaking, and her heart squeezing in pain for Iraq, and what is happening there. Of course she left Iraq because of the bad security conditions there, wishing to get back to it as soon as possible, to help people…
And I always tell her: when Iraq is once more basking in peace, security, and independence, you shall come to visit us there, by the will of GOD.
Anyway, this institution lives in a different world from the American government's, and the subjects taught there discusses the conflicts and their types in the world countries, offering solutions about how to deal with every one of them, and how to look for those solutions…(of course, all is in theory, but I do believe that a believer seeks wisdom, feeling happy whenever he finds it, no matter what the source is).
And while the American government is usually, and historically, involved, and is the cause of many wars and conflicts in various countries, I ask myself daily: why wouldn't they send their leaders first to an institution like this one, to learn how to build peace among nations?
Hummm… difficult questions in a funny, contradicting time…the country that wages the wars, is the same one to host peace-teaching institutions!
This country lives a true crisis…the conflict between theory, and practice.
What do they tell the world about freedom, and world human rights, and what do they implement of these, according to their moods?
It seems that the theory says: Oh, Well, all is up to the case, or the mood; meaning- it depends!
And there is a crisis among the new generation, and what they read of a shameful history committed by the old generations. The stories of the annihilation of the native inhabitants, the racial segregation, slavery, the Hiroshima bomb, the war on Vietnam, then Afghanistan, then Iraq….
All these are complicated stories, old and new, but in need of frank answers.
And this is a true crisis among the theories of freedom and democracy; are they for all humans? Or are they the privileges of a pampered minority, like the American people, and let the others go to hell?
Those Americans who still retain clean, live, and unbiased consciences see the picture clear, shameful, and puzzling… but how to solve it? What is the appropriate way to get out of this dilemma?
Oh, yes…this nation suffers a clear conscience-concerning dilemma …and there must be a self-trial for what the governments of this nation committed, and how they gained the agreement of their people, or convinced them with the legitimacy of their evil acts?
And the people will pay the price, sooner or latter…
Not only is the American government hated and rejected all over the world…but the American people are paying the price of their government's mistakes when they face the hostility of the nations they visit, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America… while the government is planting in their heads the notion that: they are jealous and envious of you??
What losing, unsuccessful justifications, that a big percentage of the American people themselves no longer believe them.
**********************************
Anyway, I decided to pay the traveling expanses and the training course from the family's pocket. And I asked GOD to grant me an easy journey, if it would be any good to Iraq, and the Iraqis.
I want nothing for myself… I want only answers for questions that destroyed me, nagging in my mind since the beginning of the war on Iraq, till now…..
What happened to us? And why?
What is our future?
How do we get out of this impasse?
And when I came here…I started to see clearly what the answers to my questions would be…
*******************************************
I am here since one week or so, and shall remain for two weeks, by the will of GOD, till I finish my classes, then I shall travel to other states to meet anti-war on Iraq groups, to tell them what is happening in Iraq, from an independent Iraqi view point, which has nothing to do with Saddam Hussein, nor with the new parties that entered Iraq under the American canopy, or on an American tank… those who beautify and sweeten the portrait of occupation, giving the idea that it is the only way to build Iraq all over again…. These parties have no legitimacy…the occupation gave them legitimacy, as they gave it legitimacy.
I always believe that legitimacy belongs to those Iraqis who lived in Iraq, and the new government should be formed from them, because they were the ones who suffered, endured, lived through wars, embargo, hunger, and injustice, and they didn't play the hypocrite, nor climbed up on top of others, or betray, they didn't applaud the occupation because it presented them with a personal revenge against Saddam and those with him, or for achieving some personal, selfish interests for them, granting them the positions the power, and the right to plunder the nation's money. Those who do not agree to the destruction of Iraq's future, to making it a poor colony, under an empire who lives by sucking the blood and wealth of miserable, weak nations….
All the Iraqis whose hands were not stained by steeling, plundering, and injustice, are the ones who have the right to build Iraq's future, and decide the fate of Iraq's wealth, for this wealth is a property, and the pure right to Iraq's people, and none other… this is the justice in which we believe, and I don't think there is someone who believes the stories about the necessity of giving the international companies the rights to invest Iraq's natural wealth, or the necessity of the foreign occupation forces remaining in Iraq, to guarantee the stability and security…for we have lost stability and security since they entered Iraq……that is what the daily life's events have been proving for more than two years now…..
*********************************************
I have been asking myself everyday, perhaps along with many Iraqis like me: Is it a coincidence, what happened in Iraq? Was it a reaction to some bad deed we committed?
Is what is happening in Iraq since the war; the disasters, the accumulation of negative events of killings, violence, and sectarian conflicts, a coincidence? Or is it bad planning?
Or is it a confusion from the American administration?
(Poor things…perhaps they love us, only they don't know how to handle the matter!!).
I was naïve enough to think like this, like many other simple Iraqis who were not members of parties, nor had the experience and understanding of what was happening.
But today, I re-read the history of two years again…after what accumulated with me of stories and experiences that opened my eyes, so I am no longer the naïve, well intentioned creature who doesn't understand what's going on around her…as is the case generally with nations.
*************************************
I will write diaries about the lessons we took, the lectures, the theories about conflicts in society, how to escalate and increase it, and how to cool it down, and put it under control.
Then, how to draw a map of the conflict in society, and the parties involved in that conflict.
Then, the explaining and clarification of each party's needs, and his fears against the other.
How to build the culture of peace, and non-violence, and how to build the culture of tolerating the other. How to build a dialogue.
There are also the studies of the contemporary conflicts in the world, we have about 70 participants from all over the world, (Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and European Asia), and they are all required to submit answers to these questions:
* Clarify the Americium military role in your region, and its influence upon it.
* Clarify the American and European economic role, and that of the Asian economic group, like Japan and china.
* Human rights and democracy, what are they? And how are they dealt with in each country.
The participants worked through groups, presenting amazing and honest illustrations of what is happening in their countries, which the media doesn't usually mention.
Here, I listened to the true story of each country, without lies, nor touch-ups, in most of the cases, because the participants were from non-governmental organizations, they were the people, talking with the spontaneity of the people, without lies, hypocrisy, nor playing with words.
************************************
I tell you; this training course taught me a lot, which I wouldn't have learned if I stayed in Baghdad, turning my head left and right like a fool, or reading the lying, poisonous newspapers, Arabic, or non-Arabic, or listening to radio and TV. Channels, Arabic, or non-Arabic… For they all became the same color usually, and the miserable citizen is always the targeted victim, for a brain wash.
I shall not call them publicity Media from now on…. Hahaha…
But the daily lying and brain-wash Machines...
But that who decides to get away from it, and its poisons…shall escape…and shall find other sources to learn the truth… the important thing is; that he shall always pray to GOD to open his eyes, and show him the truth…as I did, in my experience after the war on Iraq…
And I believe in the idea that: If you insisted upon looking for the truth, you shall undoubtedly find it.
And if you were a lazy fool, believing whatever you hear…well, then, that is your problem!
******************************************
after attending the classes, I understood exactly what happened to Iraq, and in what path they are leading it.
And what is the future they want for it…
I now have a clear vision of almost everything, and answers to all questions…
Thank GOD, whom we do not praise but HIM….
And peace be upon you all……
**********************************
Translated by May/Baghdad.
GOOD MORNING…
These days I am in America, attending a training course about (Peace Building), in an institute near the state of Vermont, eastern USA…
The institution is private, non-governmental, an American lady friend directed me to it, a friend who used to work in Iraq after the war, in a non- governmental organization, financing some women's societies to build up some small projects, like a tailoring workshop, to train Iraqi women in poor neighborhoods.
I respect this woman very much, because she isn't one of the "Women's rights" seekers in Iraq, nor domestic violence, human rights, democracy, and the other vocabularies of the western governments, who " over-used" these words, thus harming them in a cheap way. Whenever I called her, I feel her voice breaking, and her heart squeezing in pain for Iraq, and what is happening there. Of course she left Iraq because of the bad security conditions there, wishing to get back to it as soon as possible, to help people…
And I always tell her: when Iraq is once more basking in peace, security, and independence, you shall come to visit us there, by the will of GOD.
Anyway, this institution lives in a different world from the American government's, and the subjects taught there discusses the conflicts and their types in the world countries, offering solutions about how to deal with every one of them, and how to look for those solutions…(of course, all is in theory, but I do believe that a believer seeks wisdom, feeling happy whenever he finds it, no matter what the source is).
And while the American government is usually, and historically, involved, and is the cause of many wars and conflicts in various countries, I ask myself daily: why wouldn't they send their leaders first to an institution like this one, to learn how to build peace among nations?
Hummm… difficult questions in a funny, contradicting time…the country that wages the wars, is the same one to host peace-teaching institutions!
This country lives a true crisis…the conflict between theory, and practice.
What do they tell the world about freedom, and world human rights, and what do they implement of these, according to their moods?
It seems that the theory says: Oh, Well, all is up to the case, or the mood; meaning- it depends!
And there is a crisis among the new generation, and what they read of a shameful history committed by the old generations. The stories of the annihilation of the native inhabitants, the racial segregation, slavery, the Hiroshima bomb, the war on Vietnam, then Afghanistan, then Iraq….
All these are complicated stories, old and new, but in need of frank answers.
And this is a true crisis among the theories of freedom and democracy; are they for all humans? Or are they the privileges of a pampered minority, like the American people, and let the others go to hell?
Those Americans who still retain clean, live, and unbiased consciences see the picture clear, shameful, and puzzling… but how to solve it? What is the appropriate way to get out of this dilemma?
Oh, yes…this nation suffers a clear conscience-concerning dilemma …and there must be a self-trial for what the governments of this nation committed, and how they gained the agreement of their people, or convinced them with the legitimacy of their evil acts?
And the people will pay the price, sooner or latter…
Not only is the American government hated and rejected all over the world…but the American people are paying the price of their government's mistakes when they face the hostility of the nations they visit, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America… while the government is planting in their heads the notion that: they are jealous and envious of you??
What losing, unsuccessful justifications, that a big percentage of the American people themselves no longer believe them.
**********************************
Anyway, I decided to pay the traveling expanses and the training course from the family's pocket. And I asked GOD to grant me an easy journey, if it would be any good to Iraq, and the Iraqis.
I want nothing for myself… I want only answers for questions that destroyed me, nagging in my mind since the beginning of the war on Iraq, till now…..
What happened to us? And why?
What is our future?
How do we get out of this impasse?
And when I came here…I started to see clearly what the answers to my questions would be…
*******************************************
I am here since one week or so, and shall remain for two weeks, by the will of GOD, till I finish my classes, then I shall travel to other states to meet anti-war on Iraq groups, to tell them what is happening in Iraq, from an independent Iraqi view point, which has nothing to do with Saddam Hussein, nor with the new parties that entered Iraq under the American canopy, or on an American tank… those who beautify and sweeten the portrait of occupation, giving the idea that it is the only way to build Iraq all over again…. These parties have no legitimacy…the occupation gave them legitimacy, as they gave it legitimacy.
I always believe that legitimacy belongs to those Iraqis who lived in Iraq, and the new government should be formed from them, because they were the ones who suffered, endured, lived through wars, embargo, hunger, and injustice, and they didn't play the hypocrite, nor climbed up on top of others, or betray, they didn't applaud the occupation because it presented them with a personal revenge against Saddam and those with him, or for achieving some personal, selfish interests for them, granting them the positions the power, and the right to plunder the nation's money. Those who do not agree to the destruction of Iraq's future, to making it a poor colony, under an empire who lives by sucking the blood and wealth of miserable, weak nations….
All the Iraqis whose hands were not stained by steeling, plundering, and injustice, are the ones who have the right to build Iraq's future, and decide the fate of Iraq's wealth, for this wealth is a property, and the pure right to Iraq's people, and none other… this is the justice in which we believe, and I don't think there is someone who believes the stories about the necessity of giving the international companies the rights to invest Iraq's natural wealth, or the necessity of the foreign occupation forces remaining in Iraq, to guarantee the stability and security…for we have lost stability and security since they entered Iraq……that is what the daily life's events have been proving for more than two years now…..
*********************************************
I have been asking myself everyday, perhaps along with many Iraqis like me: Is it a coincidence, what happened in Iraq? Was it a reaction to some bad deed we committed?
Is what is happening in Iraq since the war; the disasters, the accumulation of negative events of killings, violence, and sectarian conflicts, a coincidence? Or is it bad planning?
Or is it a confusion from the American administration?
(Poor things…perhaps they love us, only they don't know how to handle the matter!!).
I was naïve enough to think like this, like many other simple Iraqis who were not members of parties, nor had the experience and understanding of what was happening.
But today, I re-read the history of two years again…after what accumulated with me of stories and experiences that opened my eyes, so I am no longer the naïve, well intentioned creature who doesn't understand what's going on around her…as is the case generally with nations.
*************************************
I will write diaries about the lessons we took, the lectures, the theories about conflicts in society, how to escalate and increase it, and how to cool it down, and put it under control.
Then, how to draw a map of the conflict in society, and the parties involved in that conflict.
Then, the explaining and clarification of each party's needs, and his fears against the other.
How to build the culture of peace, and non-violence, and how to build the culture of tolerating the other. How to build a dialogue.
There are also the studies of the contemporary conflicts in the world, we have about 70 participants from all over the world, (Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and European Asia), and they are all required to submit answers to these questions:
* Clarify the Americium military role in your region, and its influence upon it.
* Clarify the American and European economic role, and that of the Asian economic group, like Japan and china.
* Human rights and democracy, what are they? And how are they dealt with in each country.
The participants worked through groups, presenting amazing and honest illustrations of what is happening in their countries, which the media doesn't usually mention.
Here, I listened to the true story of each country, without lies, nor touch-ups, in most of the cases, because the participants were from non-governmental organizations, they were the people, talking with the spontaneity of the people, without lies, hypocrisy, nor playing with words.
************************************
I tell you; this training course taught me a lot, which I wouldn't have learned if I stayed in Baghdad, turning my head left and right like a fool, or reading the lying, poisonous newspapers, Arabic, or non-Arabic, or listening to radio and TV. Channels, Arabic, or non-Arabic… For they all became the same color usually, and the miserable citizen is always the targeted victim, for a brain wash.
I shall not call them publicity Media from now on…. Hahaha…
But the daily lying and brain-wash Machines...
But that who decides to get away from it, and its poisons…shall escape…and shall find other sources to learn the truth… the important thing is; that he shall always pray to GOD to open his eyes, and show him the truth…as I did, in my experience after the war on Iraq…
And I believe in the idea that: If you insisted upon looking for the truth, you shall undoubtedly find it.
And if you were a lazy fool, believing whatever you hear…well, then, that is your problem!
******************************************
after attending the classes, I understood exactly what happened to Iraq, and in what path they are leading it.
And what is the future they want for it…
I now have a clear vision of almost everything, and answers to all questions…
Thank GOD, whom we do not praise but HIM….
And peace be upon you all……
**********************************
Translated by May/Baghdad.
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 3:25 pm 
