Children of today, innocent?

Youth of today are surely not.. After a boring day at school the day before yesterday, we had a mathematics lesson and the teacher didn't come, so we went down to the cafeteria and had some conversations there..

I sat with my friends, their friends, and their friends' friends. My friends' friends are a little bit my friends, but their friends are not usually people I get along with. We reached a point in which we started to talk about kids, and how annoying they can be. One of my friend's friends' friend talked about how kids fear her a lot, and how when she gets in the room, they sit without making a move. She said that she beats them if they don't do what she tells them to do, "When they messed up with my room, Do you know what I did to him -She said smiling- I hit his head with the wall".

I was sitting there with an opened mouth, amazed, and hearing this girl proudly talking about how she controls kids..

Then, they talked about how their brothers and sisters in the primary school are getting bad behaviors from their classmates who publicly seem to express their feelings towards their fellow students (Which is surely not the way things used to happen in our days). Children are getting affected 'negatively' by the media, and are accepting the negative behavior (Anything) as normal, as long as someone did it on TV and was not punished.

What made me write this post is my neighbor, he's about 5 years old, his mother brought him to our house to have some medication (Injections). He started crying loudly, mom told him (Hoping that he'll stop crying) that the Americans in the street might hear him and think he's a coward, he shouted "Let 'em kill me, I don't mind if they behead me".. This might be out of anger, but for a normal kid to cry out this way, is not normal.. They're living in war, and it surely is affecting their lives.

In Baghdad (and that's what my aunt has told me about long time ago but I didn't have the opportunity to publish it till now), my cousin who's 6 years old plays a special game with his friends. A kid stands up carrying a piece of paper, other two stand next to him pretending to be holding guns, another lies on the ground, and the last sits next to him..
The one with the paper stats giving his speech, the other two shout Allah-Akbar and the one who's sitting on the floor pretends to be beheading the one who's lying on the floor.. That's it! A game for kids. Good news? Makes you like crying? Are we to expect a better generation?

Give them some space to have fun, let them watch TV to get them to stop crying for not going out.. That's what parents are doing to their children to make up for what they're missing. Which is just WRONG..

Fight for minds uses a TV show as battleground

I copied this article from a site in the internet, it contained more details about the confessions of the prisoners I already mentioned in my previous posts (In the hands of justice. and Out of the hands of justice).

The title of the article is:

Confessions rivet Iraqis

Fight for minds uses a TV show as battleground

By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff | March 18, 2005

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's wildly popular new television hit features a nightly parade of men, most with bruised faces, confessing to all kinds of terrorist and criminal acts.

''Terrorism in the Hands of Justice" is the Iraqi government's slick new propaganda tool; its televised confessions, police say, aim to discredit the armed resistance and advertise the government's success at cracking down on gangs.

If it is meant to showcase a brave new Iraq, the television show is starkly reminiscent of the bad, old Iraq. Part ''Oprah Winfrey Show" and part ''Cops" -- with a strong flavor of Saddam Hussein-era strong-arming -- the show airs six nights a week on the state-run Iraqiya network.

Since its debut a month ago, ''Terrorism" has become a fixture in Iraq's cafes and living rooms. Iraqi government officials brag that the show has ruined the image of jihad, or holy war, in the country, exposing the resistance as a racket of street criminals and thugs who attack Americans and Iraqi security forces for pay.
It also raises a host of questions about Iraq's treatment of the suspects and the reliability of their confessions.

The bruised, swollen faces and hunched shoulders of many of the suspects suggest they have been beaten or tortured. The neat confessions of terrorist attacks at times fit together so seamlessly as to seem implausible. And the suspects are presented to the public without any legal process to protect them, presumed guilty, with no word about rule of law as a weapon in the arsenal against terrorism. US officials have sidestepped questions about the program airing on Iraqiya, a network still run by an American contractor hired by US occupation officials nearly a year ago.

There is no question, however, about the program's popularity and wide reach. Men at cafes debate the details of certain gang members from ''Terrorism." Others interrupt soliloquies about recently murdered relatives to declare: ''I expect to see his killers on TV." The show aims to change the minds of Iraqis who see insurgents as noble, patriotic Muslims.

Powerful politicians have blasted the show: Mohsen Abdul Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni party that gets support from Arab nationalists, tribes, and the insurgency, called a press conference recently to accuse the show of airing lies, outraged not that a party member was presented as a terrorist, but that the man confessed that he drinks alcohol and does not pray.

Footage is provided by the Interior Ministry and edited by state-owned Iraqiya. After the US invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority restarted the state-owned Iraqi television network as the Iraqi Media Network and renamed the main state channel ''Iraqiya."

Colonel Adnan Abdurahman, the Iraqi police official in charge of producing taped confessions for the show, dispatches a camera crew wherever police commandos make a lot of arrests. In the last week, his staff has filmed confessions in Mosul, Baqubah, and Baghdad

''Previously Iraqi people saw the resistance as fighting the occupation," Abdurahman said. ''But when people saw how they talk, and the details of their actions, they became despicable in the eyes of Iraqi society. They're not resistance. None of them say they are fighting Americans. They are killing Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police, only Iraqis."

In the show's opening montage, the theme song from ''1492: Conquest of Paradise" by Vangelis plays over images of hooded members of Tawhid and Jihad about to execute an American hostage in an orange jumpsuit, a bloodied corpse, and finally two smiling Iraqi children holding paper signs that say ''No to Terrorism."
Then a police special forces trooper in camouflage uniform and a red beret extols the work of ''our brave, noble Iraqi law enforcement brothers."

Who are the perpetrators of the daily bombings and ambushes that have killed hundreds of civilians, Iraqi police, and soldiers?
According to the taped confessions, the answer is, essentially: lowlifes.

The fighters almost never describe themselves as patriots or holy warriors; they say they fight for pay. Many of the men admit to homosexual acts, considered particularly shameful in Iraqi culture. They frequently admit to rape and pedophilia, and clips often end with the unseen interrogator excoriating the detainee for having no honor.

On a recent episode, alleged members of an insurgent cell from Mahmoudiya -- a town south of Baghdad in the dangerous ''Triangle of Death" --admitted to murdering and raping several Iraqis.

A man who identified himself as Azawi Hassan Azawi said the leader of a criminal cell induced him to kidnap and kill a young boy by offering Azawi his sister in marriage.

Another man, identified as Hassan Mahdi Hassan al-Kafaji, said he used to fight in the Saddam Fedayeen militia. After the war he joined Tawhid and Jihad, the jihad group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a killer for hire; he said he pops pills before each mission. ''They pay me $100 or $150 for each person I slay," Kafaji said

Talal Ra'ad Ismail al-Abassi came next; he said he led an insurgent cell in Mosul.
According to the interrogator, Abassi had been imam of a mosque but was fired by religious authorities under Hussein for having sex with men inside his mosque.
Abassi said his group had killed a dozen Iraqi ''collaborators" -- once a leader can claim 10 kills, he becomes an ''emir," or prince -- to earn $1,500 a month from Saudi financiers of the insurgency. ''I do not believe in jihad in Iraq," Abassi told the camera. ''It was important for my group to kill enough people that I could become an emir and get the $1,500 salary."

On another episode, a group of men from Samarra took responsibility for a series of strikes that killed Iraqi police and interpreters for US forces. In quick succession, the men detailed how they were paid less than $200 to kill and mutilate five Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

Qahtan Khalid, the last man to appear before the camera, was skinny and hunched over, his face more bruised and sunken than the rest. He said he was a policeman who had collaborated with insurgents in 10 killings. ''I joined them so they would not slaughter me," he said.
Yesterday Khalid's father told the Agence France-Presse wire service that Interior Ministry police commandos delivered his son's corpse to him.
The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry has opened an investigation.

US and Iraqi officials said that airing confessions on television is completely legal.

The 2004 State Department's Human Rights report, which was released two weeks ago, noted that hundreds of cases of alleged torture are pending against the Iraqi government. ''Reportedly, coerced confessions and interrogation continued to be the favored method of investigation by police," the report said.

Mishan Jabouri, a Sunni tribal politician elected to the new national assembly on Jan. 31, said he had evidence that the confessions are bogus.
A constituent from Mosul wrote Jabouri last week to say that his brother appeared on the show on Feb. 22, and confessed to killing four men. But the names of the victims he listed were all relatives who are still living.
''All these deceased are alive and not dead. They are ready to stand in front of your excellency," Muthana Abdullah Khalil wrote. ''I don't know the reason that led my brother to these untrue confessions, but we are ready to bring the living dead in front of you to prove our allegations."

Abdurahman, the police colonel who provides the confession footage, dismisses such accusations. The judicial system will punish any police who torture suspects or elicit false confessions, he said, impatiently brushing aside questions about the treatment of detainees.
''Our work is being appreciated. That's the biggest objective," he said. ''People are demanding that the cruelest punishment be inflicted on those shown on TV."

Announcement

Zeyad has updated on the same subject.. Just so that you'll know!

Fayrouz has a more trustable update on the same issue.. I completely forgot that she is a Christian from Basrah, weird!

It looks like the girl did not die, but she's lost her eye.. Read the post, it's worth it.

I demonstrate from my place..

I heard about this from my aunt on the phone yesterday, but I didn't post about it since she had no enough information about it, and I waited for the media to give me more info.

It seems that the media isn't intending to talk about it, and it's the bloggers' job to inform you of it..

I will just quote Zeyad, who posted about this today:

No one seems to have reported the latest events in Basrah. Not any of the news services or the blogs.

Students of the Basrah and Shatt Al-Arab universities in Basrah city have been on strike for the last three days as a reaction to the attack last week by Sadrists and Mahdi Army militiamen on tens of students organising a field trip or a picnic at Al-Andalus park, downtown Basrah.

Hooded men assaulted the students with rubber cables and truncheons which resulted in the death of a Christian girl, Zahra Ashour, and another student who came to her rescue after militiamen had tore off her clothes and were beating her to death. He was shot in the head.

Students say that their belongings, such as mobile phones, cameras, stereo players and loudspeakers, were stolen or smashed to pieces by the militiamen. Girl students not wearing headscarves, most of them Christian, were severely beaten and at least 20 students were kidnapped and taken to Sadr's office in Al-Tuwaisa for 'interrogation' and were only released late at night.

Students also say the police and British soldiers were nearby but did not intervene.

Read the REST here..

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."

Voltaire

What's happening?

The most thing I enjoy with my mobile is sending SMS.. It can draw a big smile on someone's face, and will cost only 2 cents in Mosul!

When I feel bored, I send a message to my aunt, and get four in return :) Mostly jokes, and they certainly make me feel better.

Sending messages to Baghdad is a little bit lousy, they get it hours after we send 'em, and they can't reply to them.. It costs them tens of cents, and it doesn't get here!

Finally, my aunt bought me a cable for my mobile, I want to add some of Aya's photos, along with some ringtones that I like.

The Biology teacher took some classes to take a look at our new school's garden, which seems (As she said) to be really nice. She said we'll be moving there on the 28th, next week. And I can't wait!

Tomorrow is a holiday, it's a celebration of Spring, and the mother's day.. My older sis couldn't go out to buy her the gift, she's sick now, and there's no way to buy one till tomorrow. As soon as mom and my sis get recovered from their flu, they'll go to some shops and buy a gift on mom's taste.

I've been writing this for too long, surfing the net at the same time..
Well, here's an interesting forum for you, English Cafe, a forum for Arab English-speakers. I don't think they'll mind your asking them questions! Arabs learn English so that they can communicate with the world. In Iraq, we HAVE TO learn English at school, for 8 years.. Some get it, and some forget it :)

There's something that I wonder about all the time, do you (the ones who live in countries that care about copy-rights and stuff like this) read those terms of usage or forum rules? If yes, then what is there anyway?

Okay, I hope nobody is bored so far :) Wait, I'll find you some stuff to talk about.. Let's see, quotations, heeey.. I think I'm getting this passion about quotations from uncle Ahmed, this trial to be him is going too far. But, what's not to like about quotations anyway?

Saddam Hussein didn't kill 3,100 people on Sept. 11. Osama bin Laden did, and as far as we know he's still alive.
William J. Clinton

True, TRUE! Both are alive in fact, Iraqis are dying instead!

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
Dean Acheson

If we can only have a hint on whether it's good or not, I'll be grateful!

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
Charles F. Kettering

Me too, maybe we'll meet! Okay, now I'm being too silly.. Bye

Saddameyat.... صداميات (Updated)

I ended my last post (Welcome back neighbor) with a quote, and I asked you to guess who said it. Only Libby answered, and it was surprising that she was right..He was Saddam Hussein, and this is the post I was referring to.

I'll just try to include whatever I remember, including 3 of his 59 recommendations!

Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq, made several wars and killed a lot of people.. Made some good stuff as well.
First thing we used to hear in the news, was who he met, who he talked to and who he received a letter from, then some stuff he wanted us to hear. You can guess that the Iraqi media wasn't to be depended on, we fortunately used to receive Syria TV in Mosul which had very good stuff in it.

He made children watch what was called "So that we won't forget", some scenes of wars and the damage that was done.. That was just before the cartoons, everyday.

At school, we had a subject called Wataneya (Nationality), I was horrible at it, it made no sense to me, and it made me cry everytime I had to study it for the finals or for the mid-year exams.. Same stuff over and over every year, same meaningless stuff. Now, I call what doesn't make sense to me, a Wataneya book.

Every single book we had, had the picture of Saddam at the first page (I actually kept two for records in a box in my room, but I'm thinking of getting rid of them.. What if someone came to search our house? This year, and since we received old books at my school, we had to tear off the first page of each book!) And recently, his sayings were put at the end of the book's chapters. He made 59 sayings that were called (The president's recommendations), I'm not sure if he was the one who said them all, but most of them -as always- didn't make sense to me. We had to memorize a bunch of them.. I found three in my English book and I thought I would make you have a look..

* "Do not wound a friend's feeling with a piece of advice, but do not deprive him of it so that he may know his mistake"

And since I've memorized it in Arabic few years ago, it was easy to translate it into Arabic:
"لا تجرح روح صديق بنصيحة و لا تحرمه منها لكي يعرف خطأه"

** "Real chance is the chance you take, not the one you merely imagine possible"

*** "Seek not to wrong anyone. It is better that you let him who deserves punishment escape it and lay the blame on yourself than to wrong the human being and rebuke yourself for doing it"

Well, those ones make sense! But, what doesn't make sense is the one who said them -- Saddam Hussein, who obviously didn't have a clue about what he was talking about.

Saddam Hussein, made most of Iraq Baathist, not all out of their will, some were forced. None of my family joined the Baath party though, well, maybe two, two who you won't believe that they were Baathist.. A Shiite, and a coalition-supporter!

My friend's father was one of those Baathist in high places. He now has no job, but he surprisingly still gets his full salary from the new government without having to work, and this makes me angry. Other Baathist, some who are also from high places, are now trying to get involved with the new government..

I remember seeing those who work for Saddam, his administrators and such, kissing him on his shoulder.. I asked dad why, he said that he doesn't want to get flu :)

I think this man had a strong effect on most Iraqis, some were weak enough to force themselves to believe him, and some just did.
Saddam liked to release the prisoners (Those who are in prison for non-political reasons) from time to time.. Those prisoners (mostly killers and robbers)and some others (either too poor or too rich) used to go to the streets and cheer for their great leader. Cheer and call for his life ", "Bil-rooh, bil-dam, nifdeek ya Saddam" With our soul, with our blood, we'll protect you, Saddam.. And occasionally, the teachers would take us out of school to march in the streets and say those stuff as well.

It comes as a surprise to see that the same students who used to hang signs saying "Yes, yes to president Saddam Hussein" on the walls of the school, are now happy with his leaving. It makes me sad as well to see this dishonesty in everything they say now trying to hide what they felt. I personally hated all this, including Saddam, but very much liked our national song of Iraq, and the raising of the flag.. A thing that we don't do anymore! I'll try to translate some of our national song:

A nation that put its wing on the space
And wore the glory of the civilizations as a shawl
May God bless the land of the to rivers, as a country
And some other stuff I have no idea how to translate :)

(Update: from this site,you can find the rest of the song):

A homeland that extended its wings over the horizon,
And wore the glory of civilization as a garment--
Blessed be the land of the two rivers,
A homeland of glorious determination and tolerance.

This homeland is made of flame and splendour
And pride unequaled by the high heavens.
It is a mountain that rises above the tops of the world
And a plain that embodies our pride.
Babylon is inherent in us and Assyria is ours,
And because of the glory of our background
History itself radiates with light,
And it is we alone who possess the anger of the sword
And the patience of the prophets.

Oh company of al-Ba'th, you pride of lions,
Oh pinnacle of pride and of inherited glory,
Advance, bringing terror, to a certain victory
And resurrect the time of al-Rashid in our land!
We are a generation who give all and toil to the utmost.

Oh expanse of glory, we have returned anew
To a nation that we build with unyielding determination.
And each martyr follows in the footsteps of a former martyr.
Our mighty nation is filled with pride and vigour
And the comrades build the fortresses of glory.
Oh Iraq, may you remain forever a refuge for all the Arabs
And be as suns that turn night into day!

You can hear its music here..
وطن مد على الافق جناحا
و ارتدى مجد الحضارات وشاحا
بوركت ارض اللفراتين، وطن
عبقري المجد عزما و سماحا

At last, Saddam's ego gave him the idea of working for his win-or-win campaign, so, T-shirts (with his photo on) were given to the male students, and they had a sentence that said all what happened at that time (In his point of view): "If Saddam said, then Iraq said". But the ancient Arabs rarely say something that is wrong, and they said that as the birds fly and get higher, they fall the same way (Very poor translation.. Help will be appreciated).

So, what happened to Saddam at first, and at last, is what you've heard in the news.. I only said some of my thoughts.

Out of the hands of justice

Every day Nineveh TV show us a number of peoples arrested for the suspicion of being terrorists.
In the interview,most of whom confessed that they killed so and so, attacked the police centers and some even confessed that they rape many women.

Today in the news they show us that the police releases 118 arrested persons who were proved to be innocents.

Before I heard this news, I was talking to one of my patients, he lived in a village 20 km from Mosul, he told me this story:

"yesterday I visited one of my relative, who was arrested for suspicious of being terrorist, he appeared on the TV and confessed during the inreview that he killed so many people and did other offensive acts. When we asked him how did they released you and you did so and so, he answered that the police officers had tortured him and beat him almost to death, and dictated the answers for him befor asking them, and forced him to say that confession in the TV conversation."

This remind me in a note from one of the commenter to my post "In the hand of justice" who said "In the west it is believed better to release 10 suspected criminals than to mistakenly punish one innocent. Without indisputable evidence or testimony even the most evil and vile people are set free."

I want to ask him (the commenter) what he will say about 118 persons arrested and tortured and forced to confess of being did some things never happened?? . Are the people in the west differ from the people in the middle east??

BTW. I believed this story is true because, as I told you before, the assumed terrorists confessed killing some peoples who still alive, I know one of those who their names mentioned as being killed.
ps. We have a ministry called (Ministry of Human rights).!!!

Where are the human rights ??

Best or worst

Hi people,
Sorry I am late, but now I decided to write a new post because not posting made me sad more than I was.
Anyway, today I got the least mark I have ever got in physics. But on the other side I got 99% in chemist and that made me alive untill now.
There is something strange, when I was at school I felt so sad and I felt I couldn't stand up anymore. but when I go back Home I felt that most my feeling were gone.
Mary came today to the school and she looked better than before but she was feeling bad because she had many examinations to do. And many lessons to study it.
We heard that the final examination will begin on May. There is something we called (E3faa)(اعفاء) this thing give the students a chance not to do the final examination if he or she got more than 90% in this lesson.
I hope I will not take the final examination in all of them, but in physics I don't think I am able to pass it without the final examination.
Tomorrow I don't have any exams and I still don't believe that. but I didn't finish my homework so I must go now.
hnk

Two Cows Tale

This is a joke I read few moths ago under the title of (The Two Cow Tale),

GLOBAL ECONOMICS DE-MYSTIFIED

SOCIALISM:
You have two cows, and you give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM:
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You reengineering them so they live for 100 years, eatonce a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION:
You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge others for storing them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION:
You have two cows. Both are mad.

Welcome back neighbor

This post was written yesterday, but I couldn't publish it due to some Blogger problems..

Last Monday, at noon, we saw a strykers parking infront of our house, then we saw the soldiers rushing to the left of our house.. This was so strange. We didn't know where they were running to, we assumed that they went to the a company next to our house, but my cousin called from the company at once telling us that the Americans entered our neighbor's house (Which was my grandparents', few years ago). Mom started calling our neighbor (whose husband was in Baghdad) to see what's going on, or whether she needs us to come, our neighbor didn't pick up. We used to hear everything in my neighbor's house, we even had a door between the two houses but we built a wall there after my grandparents died. But, the house was strangely quiet. We started doubting that the soldiers went into her house at all. In a short time, all the neighbors stood at their doors, waiting for our neighbor to do something, or at least the soldiers, our neighbor's brother came and entered the house, that was when we heard some soldier yelling, and then we saw him coming out.. They were long 15 minutes, then we stared seeing the soldiers in our neighbor's garden. There were many of them.. The wall between our house and our neighbor's is low, we can see everything in their garden if we tried enough. A soldier was standing behind the wall just staring miserably at us (This was the most time I could put on a soldier's shoe, it was small enough for me.. He was a young boy, in a country he doesn't know, with no one who loves him, he wanted to go home A LOT, but he somehow couldn't.. I felt as if he wanted to trade places with me) our neighbor and her brother were talking to the soldiers and the translator was translating. In few minutes, the soldiers ran out of the house to their strykers and left.

Our neighbor and her brother disappeared in the house, mom and my neighbor went there on foot, I, HNK and our other neighbor walked there too.. As we got there, our neighbor was crying, I only heard her saying that "the soldiers are coming back on Wednesday to get him, it's his fault, he has a good heart and therefore gets in such troubles", I didn't get it and didn't feel it was appropriate to ask at that time.. We came home after calming her down, she didn't calm down but her mom came to stay with her.. Mom told us about the story at home.

The soldiers came and searched the house, they told her that they found weapons in her husband's warehouse, but he's left the warehouse for about a month, he couldn't pay the rent and so he left it. They came to arrest him, but since he's in Baghdad, they couldn't. They told her that they'll come back and take him on Wednesday, at 2AM.. He hasn't given her a phone number to call, and she had no idea when he'll be back.
Of course, we were so worried for her, sad as well, she has 3 children, the oldest is 6 years old. On Thursday, he called her and she told him that he should come. On Wednesday, he came to Mosul.

He came by taxi, and brought a friend who had good English with him. As soon as he arrived in Mosul, he went to the airport and surrendered to the soldiers with his friend, they told him that they didn't have his name anywhere in their lists and had no idea who came to arrest him. He insisted that they investigate more about it, they did and eventually gave him a card to show to the soldiers if they came to arrest him again. A woman who was at the reception gave him a phone number to give to the soldiers if they arrested him.

At about 5PM, I was studying upstairs in my room when I heard mom talking outside (from behind the wall) to our neighor, I knew something happened so I rushed downstairs to hear the news.. HNK told me that the Americans released our neighbor. Dad and other neighbors welcomed him at the door, the women started to do their famous thing (I have no idea what you call it. The women do it when there's a celebration usually, a wedding or something like this. It sounds like what the Indian Americans shout in their celebrations-- Kul-l-l-l-l-l-ish).. My heart started beating (As usual :)) and we all felt so happy for them. Nevertheless, we all expected the soldiers to come at night to take him, but they DIDN'T. He said they treated him very well at the airport :)
They came to his shop today, and sat quietly near him to ask some questions.. And then left.

We woke up in the morning to find out that my brother-in-law who started his journey to Baghdad at 1PM yesterday has not arrived yet to Baghdad.. We got worried again, and started thinking of what might happen. I went to school to tell my friend about my neighbor's news and my brother-in-law's news. Then proceeded to study, we had a math exam..We first had a Biology test, in which our loving teacher decided to make us a quiz (To raise our grades, she said), she did the opposite. I had all those thoughts and fear for my brother-in-law, and 5 minutes only to answer the really hard questions. I didn't do well, I did very bad in fact, but I didn't really care. Then we got the news that our math teacher decided to cancel the test (That was actually better, I wouldn't have done well without concentrating).. At the break, I sent mom an SMS to ask her about my brother-in-law and to tell her that we're still alive (There was a loud explosion), few moments after that, I got an SMS from her telling me that my brother-in-law (There really should be a shorter word for this) arrived at the hospital in Baghdad (He works and sleeps in the hospital, so he wasn't injured or something). He had to spend the night at Balad (80 km from Baghdad) since the car he took to Baghdad broke near Balad.

I came home at 1:15, hoping for no more HOT news.. Let me be bored. No more excitement please.

On Thursday as usual, I get stuck infront of the TV, as if I've never watched it before.. On Friday, I study a little then get stuck in front of the TV again.. On Saturday, mom will wake me up to study, I start studying and never finish before the family decides to go on a visit before the curfew starts. This happens every week, I get yelled at for my laziness every week. I'll try to finish my homework tomorrow! And try to read some extra Chemistry too..

You know about my attempt to speed-up (I keep discovering more words for this) and skip the 6th grade.. Well, my hopes have been shattering away lately. Our new Arabic teacher seems much worse than the one before, too young, with so many mistakes, and very limited knowledge. And my first mark in Arabic (The very first one, 86) made it impossible to get an average more than 95.. Nevertheless, I talked to uncle about it (Since I still have the opportunity to take a final exam which will be counted by itself and cancel the others) and decided to pray and ask God for guidance. I prayed the prayer I was supposed to pray, I asked God to make me do whatever is better for me. I didn't have any dreams that guided me to what I was supposed to do, not even a strong feeling (I'm supposed to keep trying till I get something.. I'll try to do it again today). But today, I was searching for signs. I think the way I did in Biology was a good sign from God (Do you want to take it easy and cancel the speeding-up? Or do you still want to speed-up and worry for every single mistake you're going to make from now till next year?), guess what I think I'll choose? I hate hesitation. I'll be giving up in PUBLIC.

"Real chance is the chance you take, not the one you merely imagine possible." Here's a quote for you. Who said it? I'll write a post about him next time Inshallah.

A unique personality or a Psychopath. ??

Hassan in his first post write about some strange structure of iraqi personality. It is hard to confess that he was write about most of what he said. I have to add that iraq personality is somehow differ from others.
Some called it double personality, not like schizophrenia, they did that intentionally, propably the causes is related to their cultural and educational as well as environmental backgrounds.

There is some thing unique to the Iraqi people, and that they like challenges and don't accept to loose, but they will not accept to win without opposition.
simple example; few days ago, there were a severe shortage of fuel, kerosine and gasoline, there is a long line on the gas stations , the cars arranged in 3-4 lines, only one line is enter the station, so at the enterance there were a mess, every one wants to enter first, some time they fight with guns for that, but if you were in line and stoped to let the one beside you to enter first, he will refuse and insist that you will enter first. This behaviour will be applied to different aspect of daily life. Between the good guys he is the best, between the bad he is the worst.
They do silly things and they know for sure that those things are wrong.

Other thing, is that the people here, accept any thing they heard, especially if this thing meets their wishes, or close to their believes.

I remember a funy story happened about fifty years ago,
at that time the peoples were very simple, there were no TV, even the radio set was new and only limited persons have radios in their houses, I was a child at that time and I remeber the story very clearly.

I was with my father in his place of wark in the downtown, we noticed a lot of peoples go in hurry toward the main police station (called at that time the general police center, because it contains all the divisions of police even the traffic police), some people are comming back with strange expression on their faces, a woman stopped near us and started to explain what happened, "there is a man changed to a donkey, the police took him (the donkey) to the general center, I saw him sitting on a chair there" the woman said in confidence !!.
off coarse no body beleive her but the people still going to that direction in waves.
My father asked me to go there and look what is the matter. I saw a hundreds of people in front of the general center, the police men pushing them back, there was an officer told the peoples that there were nothing, it is only a rumer. But they still there looking for mor news.
Later we heard the real story.
A police man trying to arrest a man who was guiding a donkey behind him, the man escaped leaving the donkey, the police man took the donkey to the police center, people in the way asked him " why you arrested this donkey" he answer joking with them "this is not a donkey, this a man changet into a donkey !"
The simple poor people believed him at once and started to distribute this news. Every body want to witness this miracle.

Now aday the people are more educated and by the virtue of TV and other media, they knew what is going o around them. but still some strange stories are believed by some peolples.

In the hands of justice

In the last few Weeks, I didn't write any think in politics, because I found that my point of view is annoying to some of you, and I was, and still very keen to conserve your friendship. But those days there is a lot of things that deserve to be written, so I have to rewrite again in politics!

In the last 2 weeks, and almost on daily bases, Nineveh TV shows us a group of people arrested by the Iraqi police (IP), Iraqi national guards (ING), or the Iraqi army. They classify those people as terrorists, they confessed on the TV that they killed so many people , beheaded some, kidnapped, and raped others. Their number was about 85 or more. But the terrorism actions are still going on. Yes I know.......There are more to be caught!.

Some of them confessed that they received 200$ for every person they killed, some have fixed salary of 1500$ a month, Just to do what they were asked to do. Who paid those money? It is a question who need an answer.

The thing that made me write this post is that; during a recorded interview on the TV, some of those terrorists give the names of the persons they had killed but some of the names were proved to be fallacious, they gave the names and addresses of living persons who have no relation to anything as being killed. (the names given were proved to be of some of their relatives).!!! Very strange, I think.

In addition, in the interview on TV, they looked if they have underwent a severe torture. The person who made the interview with them always hide himself, and insult them with offensive words. They always repeated what he want them to say, If they say something different or not allowed he either mute the sound, or asked the questions again till they get the desired answer.

Those things make the audience suspicious about the truth!

In another interview on the TV with the commander of the (Qowat al-Theeb), it means in Arabic (The wolf force), the reporter asked him if he did fabricate those interviews?. But he denied that and insisted that everything was real. In addition, he (the commander) asked those people whose names are mentioned as being killed to represent themself to the authorities.

From the interviews and the conversations, anybody can concluded that there were two types of prisoners. The terrorists and the Jihadis.

You can recognize between the two from the type of their missions.
The jihadis never kill policemen or the civilians.

The terrorist did what they did to frighten the people, or for their own interest, to gain money by the easiest way available in those days.

They blamed the Syrian Mukhabarat for assisting and paying the salary of those terrorist (I thing this a type of pressure is against Syrian government for some dirty political reasons.)

As the condition is not very clear for me, I promise to update the subject when I get more information.

BTW, the commander says: "They are the Iraqi forces who did this great job."
There were an old rumors that the Americans freed the prisoners who didn't attack them who had been caught by the Iraqi police. This is really happened when the police arresed some of the criminals, the Americans took those criminal and freed them the next day after interrogated them and be sure they didn't attacked them. The Americans claimed that they have no place to keep those criminals. So they let them free!!!!. they are only interested in the terrorists (those who attacked them!).

After they have been displayed on the TV, and confess on air everything is settled, nobody can free them or blame the Americans any more.

You remember how we divided those people into 4 groups. But now we can divide them into only two.
1-The jihadis. (group of men fight to free their country)
2-Tthe terrorists which includes the other three groups (the criminals, saddams men, and those who are paid by foriegn country to ruin Iraq!)

A mistake, AS USUAL

I was supposed to write an introduction here before posting anything.. But, this post is more important.


I'm getting used to it.. A mistake, the soldiers are very well trained and they can't possibly shoot randomly. Well, may be it's not random!

"Freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena is back in Italy, hours after US troops in Iraq fired on the car she was in wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer."

This happens (believe it or not) almost everyday.. My brother-in-law's father, my classmate's aunt, my classmate's uncle, my classmate's brother, my teacher's son-in-law and many many others.. Surely can't be all counted. But, according to the US, it was just a mistake, and we're sorry. The family of those who are killed will never forget who killed their relative, they'll never understand why, and they'll suffer to get the death's certificate. The soldier who shot will have nightmares, but he was well-trained, and that's what matters!

I hope this time, someone will be punished, not that I accuse him of doing it deliberately, but unless some one is not punished, all the others will think it's Okay. Just like .. I'll never understand why the US is allowed to have weapons and the others aren't. Well, this might be because no one tells the others what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do but democratic US..

It is interesting how she wasn't treated badly by her terrorist kidnappers but was shot nevertheless, by the irresponsible soldiers!

The Start

Introductions:
Today we decided to make a blog for all the family, Me, najma, HNK and their mother.
This is how this blog is born.
the first post I chose is a joke, to bring us good luck.

Costly Test
==========
A professor was giving a big test one day to his students.

He handed out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait. Once the test was over the students all handed the tests back in.

The professor noticed that one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying, "A dollar per point."The next class the professor handed the tests back out.

This student got his test back and $64 change.

Truth teller