Thursday, December 29, 2005
Friday, December 16th, 2005
Good morning…
Yesterday was a day of happiness to the Iraqis…
On Iraqi TV stations, I saw through direct and live transmission how the day went by in most Iraqi cities, as people went to the voting centers to participate in the elections. Sometimes we saw a group of women or young men going to a voting center, sometimes husbands and wives, and perhaps whole families with their children (who are not allowed to vote), but who came with their parents to satisfy the curiosity in their young hearts. And like the people said- we take our children with us when we go out for a happy occasion, and this is a happy occasion, for the adults and the children as well…
In some voting centers there was a shortage of in the voting papers or the boxes, and the General Commissariat rushed to supply the requests of the centers, with the direct TV reports confirming the Commissariat's role in helping the Iraqis to complete this matter in a way that would satisfy them…
And in the evening, they announced that the duration was extended for one more hour in some voting centers, due to the crowds…
I think that yesterday was the first day since the war on Iraq, in 2003, which held hope and joy to all the Iraqi people's factions, who participated, all of them, in the hope of getting out of the dark dilemma in which the country fell, and hoping to build a new, beautiful country, governed by security, freedom, and the good livelihood for all.
************************************
Why do the Iraqis put a wager on these elections?
Because the one before it wasn't comprehensive; there was violence against some of the people's factions then, which made them boycott the election process, and of course, a lot of people sympathized with them, seeing that the general conditions in the country weren't suitable to have an election, and that such an election wouldn't be fare because some party would exploit the situation and seize authority, being unjust to the other parties. And also because the lists of candidates then were full of strange names, which the majority of people didn't know; who were they? What was their history? And what is the measure of their credibility?
And the lists were announced then without work programs…
So, why should we vote? And what is the evidence that those coming on to authority had a real program to reform the country?
That was the query of a lot of the Iraqis at that time, and I, personally, and my family were among them, that's why we boycotted the elections, because we saw in it just a propaganda act for Bush and his administration, that it didn't have any serious will to make the change, but would be held at the expense of the Iraqis fate and future, which no body cared about….
**********************************
And true to the word, the new government came along, and spent three months distributing positions and fighting about them; This is for our party, and that is for yours…
This is a catastrophic mentality, increasing the intensity of conflicts in Iraq, and it did just that for the duration of their being in power, since almost a year.
Well then, what have we gained from the policy of a government controlled by a faction of the people, while the other factions are marginalized?
The result was dictatorship, monopolization of decision, arrests, prisons, night raids, assassinations, and sectarian and Party militias…
Meaning- we never progressed from the mentality of Saddam Hussein, the one Party, and the only acceptable viewpoint, as for the other viewpoint; it would be marginalized, because it doesn't land in our interests…
You are either with us, or else, you are our enemies…
This is the mentality that controls the leaders of Globalization, a mentality that came back to Iraq, to control the ruling faction… And in their speeches, we always hear them accusing "some hidden parties" of being the enemy, lurking somewhere for them, and that they are the honest who are giving their efforts up for the people's welfare…
Well then; if we had seen any positive aspects of respecting people's dignity and rights, of not arresting them in an abusive way, by providing the necessary services for daily life, improving employment opportunities for citizens, providing security by the well-organization of the new army and police force in Iraq, all these would have been the positive manifestations for the government's performance strength and her good planning and implementations on the reality ground.
But where is all that from what the present Iraqi government achieved? The officials in that government arrange press conferences to deny the charges addressed against it…
And where are the achievements that would silence the opposition? Where are the improved services, security, and economy?
Nothing happened except more scandals of robbing the public funds, the security deterioration, the militia racking havoc in Iraq, killing and detaining whoever they wanted; the government denies, and the people wail, call for help, and present photos, evidences, and accusations….
The Iraqis lived in this whirlpool since the fall of Baghdad until now; a temporary Governing Council came on, then an interim government, then a government elected but not from all the people, and conditions kept getting worst, and deteriorating…
But this election of a new parliament, and the- next- four- years- government made the Iraqis stand up seriously for the situation, and re-asses it; either to boycott it and leave the arena as it is, with more ruin, destruction, and the loss of Iraqi blood and funds….. Or to get in and participate to stop this bleeding, violence, and madness…..
And this is what happened yesterday; that is why the Iraqis are happy, why they smiled, and felt hope renewed in their hearts, that was the feeling that the fate and future of Iraq in the coming years should be manufactured by all the Iraqis…..
Enough what we have lost, and been through… it is time we should get up, open our eyes, and act maturely and responsibly, for we are tired of this conditions…
We left the field for new leaders who entered Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, presenting themselves to the Iraqis as the opposition against the Saddam regime, and that he oppressed them, that they ran away to struggle abroad, and to think how to deliver the people from this unjust dictator, and here they are, coming back on an American tank, happy and glad by the victory on the dictator, they went to Al-Ferdowes Square and toppled down the statue, then sat down with Premer, the American governor, who chose the members of the new Governing Council from among them, then an interim government, then elections dominated by those patriotic leaders who took most of the parliamentary seats and the ministries' positions…
Well then, as we look at them, we say; let's see what's new those victims of Saddam has brought on, the patriots who spent most of their lives in exile?
And we saw the wonder of wonders…
We saw them surrounding themselves with armed militia, and accusation fingers started pointing at these militia as being involved in a campaign to assassinate the political rivals from other Parties, or some poor Bathists, who has done no harm except being forced to enter the then ruling Party so they could get a job in the state and earn a living…
They increased the provocation of people with the stories of the Mass Graves; everyday we hear that same tune, like the (Two minutes of Hate) in the George Orwell novel- 1984.
Then, people started seeing that positions are being given to those whose relatives were killed, expelled, or imprisoned by Saddam…the priorities of employment landed near those- well well, what about the poor who were not involved with all this, nor gained anything?
Oh, it doesn't matter; this is a government of patriots, who will give a priority to patriots.
So, the poor people went to seek a mediate to join the new Parties, to get membership ideas, so they could get a job in the state, or to join the Politically Expelled Societies, to get employment…
And so, here we are; getting out of the tyranny of Saddam and his Party, to get in the tyranny of new strugglers and their Parties…
That’s in addition to the series of violence, and the sectarian and Party settlements led by the new Parties in power, against whoever opposes them, or against whom they bear an old vengeance….
So, who says these are better than those who went?
The same mentality and the same behaviors…
Plus- they take refuge with the occupation army…
And that's another catastrophe, meaning; they control the government, they mishandle the administration, and take shelter with the occupation…
In the beginning, the American administration used to defend those new Iraqi leaderships, and justify all their actions. But with time, mishaps increased, and scandals, like the administrational corruption, the robbery of millions of dollars from ministries, the governmental detaining centers, and the stories of torture…
So, the American administration started changing its tactics with these leaderships, discovering that they bring bad reputation to the American administration, and they started talking in the American newspapers about those violations…
…
And here, America decided to lift its support from those leaderships and their Parties, and open the door for Iraqi powers and Parties that have been marginalized before, to enter through a widely-open door into participation in the political and election process…
And the first step was the Cairo conference, like a reconciliation conference, and to give legitimacy to the powers that were outside the government in order to take their role in the political process…..
The new powers and Parties from outside the government were rejoiced for this event, and used it in an excellent way by announcing their open opposition of terrorism that targets the Iraqi civilians, and demanded it to be distinguished from the legitimate resistance against occupation…
And they agreed to participate in the elections and the political process in Iraq …
And I saw that the Parties in the government, which appropriated power, were forced to attend this conference, as if America put pressure on them to attend, for many reasons; some of which are; the American deadlock in Iraq, which didn't reap any success on the ground of reality, and secondly; the complaints of the Arabic governments near Iraq, like the Gulf States and Jordan, from fears about the spread of fire from the Iraqi field to their countries, and the threats to the security of the region…..
And I could see the Iraqi government was going to die of rage, because the red carpet was beginning to be pulled from under her feet.
*********************************
At the beginning of that government's assumption of power, some talk moved around the street about the necessity of a national reconciliation, and a gathering of all political factions on the Iraqi field. The government used to burn with anger at that talk, holding press conferences in which her representatives would say: And who are the resistance? Who are these Parties? They are Bathist criminals, their hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis, and the mass graves, and lab, lab, lab….
And we always used to say; oh, and who says they are like that? Have you met them? Have you sat with them? Did you listen to their ideology?
The government has no right to monopolize the media and the press conferences to say- we are the only ones who are right, and the only ones to decide the future of Iraq. Give the others a chance to participate, and dialogue.
But to no avail, months passed, and the conditions keep deteriorating, and the embarrassment increases on the American administration and the Iraqi government, which makes the near and the far say- all the parties must participate in the political process, In order to get quiet and balance in the next government, and the violence would decrease in the street, for perhaps this political opposition has her way of pressuring the armed opposition to lessen the violence in the Iraqis street, which would bring what is good to the Iraqis in the first place, and even if Bathists whose hands are clean, who didn't kill the Iraqis, would get in the new government, what's with that? Wouldn't that be better than turning them into an enemy; a displeased, indignant faction that would hurt the government, and effect the good performance?
We want peace and security in the Iraqi street, and we are supposed to knock on all doors, and open all doors to achieve peace, and stop the blood shed of the Iraqis. The narrow, spiteful attitude will bring us nothing but ruin, devastation, and blood on the streets.
And this was what we saw in the past months; the harvest of what those narrow, ignorant, selfish minds have planted, wanting nothing but their personal interests, heedless of the Iraqi interest, heedless of the Iraqi blood.
And may GOD bless all who seek the reconciliation, if his wish was to stop the bleeding in the Iraqi streets first, and build the country of peace and justice.
********************************************
Thank GOD……
All those conditions pushed and compelled the American administration to change its policy in Iraq, not because she loves the Iraqis, but because her reputation was soiled in Iraq, and she found herself in a mess, and an endless whirlpool, and everybody started criticizing what she is doing there, and that made her permit, constrained, opening the field for a wider-range of forces to join in the political process in Iraq, in spite of the fact that almost all of these new forces say: NO to the occupation, and put the issue of removing the occupation from Iraq as a priority for them in their political programs, after providing security, building the army, police force, and state establishments, by more national and logical standards; without sectarianism, without parties, without factionalism, so the state and its establishments would be in the service of all people, not in the service of one faction withholding the others, like what the former government used to do, I mean; the present government, which was dominated by the mentality of revenge and vengeance, with the theory of: back to get revenge… so, they transmitted destruction and ruin upon all Iraqis… then that government reaped the results of that stupid policy; she was hated by a lot of Iraqis, who no longer wanted the return of any of its personalities in the next stage, because it was a government that dedicated sectarianism, hatrids, Injustice, and segregation among people, and didn't succeed in handling any one of the Iraqi files, like security, services, economy, and administrational corruption in a serious and sound way…
******************************************
Did the Iraqis have to go through this bitter experience to learn?
Well, perhaps –yes, for now people became more articulate and perceptive, looking for leaderships who have a clear, logical, and mature program, with a comprehensive Iraqi mentality, not a sectarian one, a leadership with a mature, calm, and responsible intellectual speech, and that's what the Iraqis are hoping to get after the results of the elections would be revealed; leaderships more mature, more experienced, and more true in handling the problems of the Iraqis after the war, and the fall of the state.
The political analysts are talking about the after-election coalitions, and people do not care for such talk…
The People want clean, honest, and mature leaderships, ones who are capable of carrying the responsibility of solving the problems of this wounded country, and the tired people….
The coming months will show us if this election was truly a step in the right direction? Or shall we go back to Square One?
All the Iraqis are in a state of waiting…
And we ask GOD not to disappoint them…..
=======================================
Translated by May/Baghdad.
Good morning…
Yesterday was a day of happiness to the Iraqis…
On Iraqi TV stations, I saw through direct and live transmission how the day went by in most Iraqi cities, as people went to the voting centers to participate in the elections. Sometimes we saw a group of women or young men going to a voting center, sometimes husbands and wives, and perhaps whole families with their children (who are not allowed to vote), but who came with their parents to satisfy the curiosity in their young hearts. And like the people said- we take our children with us when we go out for a happy occasion, and this is a happy occasion, for the adults and the children as well…
In some voting centers there was a shortage of in the voting papers or the boxes, and the General Commissariat rushed to supply the requests of the centers, with the direct TV reports confirming the Commissariat's role in helping the Iraqis to complete this matter in a way that would satisfy them…
And in the evening, they announced that the duration was extended for one more hour in some voting centers, due to the crowds…
I think that yesterday was the first day since the war on Iraq, in 2003, which held hope and joy to all the Iraqi people's factions, who participated, all of them, in the hope of getting out of the dark dilemma in which the country fell, and hoping to build a new, beautiful country, governed by security, freedom, and the good livelihood for all.
************************************
Why do the Iraqis put a wager on these elections?
Because the one before it wasn't comprehensive; there was violence against some of the people's factions then, which made them boycott the election process, and of course, a lot of people sympathized with them, seeing that the general conditions in the country weren't suitable to have an election, and that such an election wouldn't be fare because some party would exploit the situation and seize authority, being unjust to the other parties. And also because the lists of candidates then were full of strange names, which the majority of people didn't know; who were they? What was their history? And what is the measure of their credibility?
And the lists were announced then without work programs…
So, why should we vote? And what is the evidence that those coming on to authority had a real program to reform the country?
That was the query of a lot of the Iraqis at that time, and I, personally, and my family were among them, that's why we boycotted the elections, because we saw in it just a propaganda act for Bush and his administration, that it didn't have any serious will to make the change, but would be held at the expense of the Iraqis fate and future, which no body cared about….
**********************************
And true to the word, the new government came along, and spent three months distributing positions and fighting about them; This is for our party, and that is for yours…
This is a catastrophic mentality, increasing the intensity of conflicts in Iraq, and it did just that for the duration of their being in power, since almost a year.
Well then, what have we gained from the policy of a government controlled by a faction of the people, while the other factions are marginalized?
The result was dictatorship, monopolization of decision, arrests, prisons, night raids, assassinations, and sectarian and Party militias…
Meaning- we never progressed from the mentality of Saddam Hussein, the one Party, and the only acceptable viewpoint, as for the other viewpoint; it would be marginalized, because it doesn't land in our interests…
You are either with us, or else, you are our enemies…
This is the mentality that controls the leaders of Globalization, a mentality that came back to Iraq, to control the ruling faction… And in their speeches, we always hear them accusing "some hidden parties" of being the enemy, lurking somewhere for them, and that they are the honest who are giving their efforts up for the people's welfare…
Well then; if we had seen any positive aspects of respecting people's dignity and rights, of not arresting them in an abusive way, by providing the necessary services for daily life, improving employment opportunities for citizens, providing security by the well-organization of the new army and police force in Iraq, all these would have been the positive manifestations for the government's performance strength and her good planning and implementations on the reality ground.
But where is all that from what the present Iraqi government achieved? The officials in that government arrange press conferences to deny the charges addressed against it…
And where are the achievements that would silence the opposition? Where are the improved services, security, and economy?
Nothing happened except more scandals of robbing the public funds, the security deterioration, the militia racking havoc in Iraq, killing and detaining whoever they wanted; the government denies, and the people wail, call for help, and present photos, evidences, and accusations….
The Iraqis lived in this whirlpool since the fall of Baghdad until now; a temporary Governing Council came on, then an interim government, then a government elected but not from all the people, and conditions kept getting worst, and deteriorating…
But this election of a new parliament, and the- next- four- years- government made the Iraqis stand up seriously for the situation, and re-asses it; either to boycott it and leave the arena as it is, with more ruin, destruction, and the loss of Iraqi blood and funds….. Or to get in and participate to stop this bleeding, violence, and madness…..
And this is what happened yesterday; that is why the Iraqis are happy, why they smiled, and felt hope renewed in their hearts, that was the feeling that the fate and future of Iraq in the coming years should be manufactured by all the Iraqis…..
Enough what we have lost, and been through… it is time we should get up, open our eyes, and act maturely and responsibly, for we are tired of this conditions…
We left the field for new leaders who entered Iraq after the fall of Baghdad, presenting themselves to the Iraqis as the opposition against the Saddam regime, and that he oppressed them, that they ran away to struggle abroad, and to think how to deliver the people from this unjust dictator, and here they are, coming back on an American tank, happy and glad by the victory on the dictator, they went to Al-Ferdowes Square and toppled down the statue, then sat down with Premer, the American governor, who chose the members of the new Governing Council from among them, then an interim government, then elections dominated by those patriotic leaders who took most of the parliamentary seats and the ministries' positions…
Well then, as we look at them, we say; let's see what's new those victims of Saddam has brought on, the patriots who spent most of their lives in exile?
And we saw the wonder of wonders…
We saw them surrounding themselves with armed militia, and accusation fingers started pointing at these militia as being involved in a campaign to assassinate the political rivals from other Parties, or some poor Bathists, who has done no harm except being forced to enter the then ruling Party so they could get a job in the state and earn a living…
They increased the provocation of people with the stories of the Mass Graves; everyday we hear that same tune, like the (Two minutes of Hate) in the George Orwell novel- 1984.
Then, people started seeing that positions are being given to those whose relatives were killed, expelled, or imprisoned by Saddam…the priorities of employment landed near those- well well, what about the poor who were not involved with all this, nor gained anything?
Oh, it doesn't matter; this is a government of patriots, who will give a priority to patriots.
So, the poor people went to seek a mediate to join the new Parties, to get membership ideas, so they could get a job in the state, or to join the Politically Expelled Societies, to get employment…
And so, here we are; getting out of the tyranny of Saddam and his Party, to get in the tyranny of new strugglers and their Parties…
That’s in addition to the series of violence, and the sectarian and Party settlements led by the new Parties in power, against whoever opposes them, or against whom they bear an old vengeance….
So, who says these are better than those who went?
The same mentality and the same behaviors…
Plus- they take refuge with the occupation army…
And that's another catastrophe, meaning; they control the government, they mishandle the administration, and take shelter with the occupation…
In the beginning, the American administration used to defend those new Iraqi leaderships, and justify all their actions. But with time, mishaps increased, and scandals, like the administrational corruption, the robbery of millions of dollars from ministries, the governmental detaining centers, and the stories of torture…
So, the American administration started changing its tactics with these leaderships, discovering that they bring bad reputation to the American administration, and they started talking in the American newspapers about those violations…
…
And here, America decided to lift its support from those leaderships and their Parties, and open the door for Iraqi powers and Parties that have been marginalized before, to enter through a widely-open door into participation in the political and election process…
And the first step was the Cairo conference, like a reconciliation conference, and to give legitimacy to the powers that were outside the government in order to take their role in the political process…..
The new powers and Parties from outside the government were rejoiced for this event, and used it in an excellent way by announcing their open opposition of terrorism that targets the Iraqi civilians, and demanded it to be distinguished from the legitimate resistance against occupation…
And they agreed to participate in the elections and the political process in Iraq …
And I saw that the Parties in the government, which appropriated power, were forced to attend this conference, as if America put pressure on them to attend, for many reasons; some of which are; the American deadlock in Iraq, which didn't reap any success on the ground of reality, and secondly; the complaints of the Arabic governments near Iraq, like the Gulf States and Jordan, from fears about the spread of fire from the Iraqi field to their countries, and the threats to the security of the region…..
And I could see the Iraqi government was going to die of rage, because the red carpet was beginning to be pulled from under her feet.
*********************************
At the beginning of that government's assumption of power, some talk moved around the street about the necessity of a national reconciliation, and a gathering of all political factions on the Iraqi field. The government used to burn with anger at that talk, holding press conferences in which her representatives would say: And who are the resistance? Who are these Parties? They are Bathist criminals, their hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis, and the mass graves, and lab, lab, lab….
And we always used to say; oh, and who says they are like that? Have you met them? Have you sat with them? Did you listen to their ideology?
The government has no right to monopolize the media and the press conferences to say- we are the only ones who are right, and the only ones to decide the future of Iraq. Give the others a chance to participate, and dialogue.
But to no avail, months passed, and the conditions keep deteriorating, and the embarrassment increases on the American administration and the Iraqi government, which makes the near and the far say- all the parties must participate in the political process, In order to get quiet and balance in the next government, and the violence would decrease in the street, for perhaps this political opposition has her way of pressuring the armed opposition to lessen the violence in the Iraqis street, which would bring what is good to the Iraqis in the first place, and even if Bathists whose hands are clean, who didn't kill the Iraqis, would get in the new government, what's with that? Wouldn't that be better than turning them into an enemy; a displeased, indignant faction that would hurt the government, and effect the good performance?
We want peace and security in the Iraqi street, and we are supposed to knock on all doors, and open all doors to achieve peace, and stop the blood shed of the Iraqis. The narrow, spiteful attitude will bring us nothing but ruin, devastation, and blood on the streets.
And this was what we saw in the past months; the harvest of what those narrow, ignorant, selfish minds have planted, wanting nothing but their personal interests, heedless of the Iraqi interest, heedless of the Iraqi blood.
And may GOD bless all who seek the reconciliation, if his wish was to stop the bleeding in the Iraqi streets first, and build the country of peace and justice.
********************************************
Thank GOD……
All those conditions pushed and compelled the American administration to change its policy in Iraq, not because she loves the Iraqis, but because her reputation was soiled in Iraq, and she found herself in a mess, and an endless whirlpool, and everybody started criticizing what she is doing there, and that made her permit, constrained, opening the field for a wider-range of forces to join in the political process in Iraq, in spite of the fact that almost all of these new forces say: NO to the occupation, and put the issue of removing the occupation from Iraq as a priority for them in their political programs, after providing security, building the army, police force, and state establishments, by more national and logical standards; without sectarianism, without parties, without factionalism, so the state and its establishments would be in the service of all people, not in the service of one faction withholding the others, like what the former government used to do, I mean; the present government, which was dominated by the mentality of revenge and vengeance, with the theory of: back to get revenge… so, they transmitted destruction and ruin upon all Iraqis… then that government reaped the results of that stupid policy; she was hated by a lot of Iraqis, who no longer wanted the return of any of its personalities in the next stage, because it was a government that dedicated sectarianism, hatrids, Injustice, and segregation among people, and didn't succeed in handling any one of the Iraqi files, like security, services, economy, and administrational corruption in a serious and sound way…
******************************************
Did the Iraqis have to go through this bitter experience to learn?
Well, perhaps –yes, for now people became more articulate and perceptive, looking for leaderships who have a clear, logical, and mature program, with a comprehensive Iraqi mentality, not a sectarian one, a leadership with a mature, calm, and responsible intellectual speech, and that's what the Iraqis are hoping to get after the results of the elections would be revealed; leaderships more mature, more experienced, and more true in handling the problems of the Iraqis after the war, and the fall of the state.
The political analysts are talking about the after-election coalitions, and people do not care for such talk…
The People want clean, honest, and mature leaderships, ones who are capable of carrying the responsibility of solving the problems of this wounded country, and the tired people….
The coming months will show us if this election was truly a step in the right direction? Or shall we go back to Square One?
All the Iraqis are in a state of waiting…
And we ask GOD not to disappoint them…..
=======================================
Translated by May/Baghdad.
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 9:15 am 
