was about 10 or April 11, 2003. There was no electricity in our neighborhood since the end of March. He was also cut water and l @ s most Iraqis still did not have generators. We spent the days - and nights - listening to the war plans of the Americans and British, while listening for the tanks invaded the city, and praying. We also tried desperately to follow the news.
Iraqi television channels controlled by the government, apparently, had ceased to exist. Transmission had been bad since the war began - sometimes we could access the channel clearly, and sometimes it was just a confusing blur of faces and distorted anthems. The official Iraqi radio was not much better, it sometimes seemed that they were transmitting from Mars, from far away it was. When we tuned clearly, nothing made sense: Sahhaf, the Minister of Information, would say "no tanks in Baghdad!" and yet, by contrast, spoke of explosions and charred corpses of cars with families still inside.
In early April we had given up on getting any information from television and had to rely on the news we received through radio stations such as Monte Carlo, BBC and Voice of America. VOA was nearly as useless as Sahhaf - you could never tell if the news we received were real or were simply propaganda. Between news, VOA broadcast the same songs over and over again. I can not still hear the song of Celine Dion "A new day has come" without shuddering because in my head I hear the sounds of war. "I was waiting for someone ..." the roar of a plane overhead ... "That comes a miracle ..." the BUUM of a missile ... "My heart told me to be strong ..." the rat-tat-tat of an AK-47 ... Today I hate that song.
A television station had been broadcasting from the beginning of the war was an Iranian station called "Al Alam". They had been broadcasting in Arabic to the Iranian public with prior government permission and had continued to issue even after stop doing that Iraqi stations. Their coverage of the war was rather neutral. They gave facts and avoided unnecessary comments or opinions and that, to some extent, made them trustworthy - especially when we had really no other options.
We had heard comments about the downing of the statue in one or another radio station, but no s @ of us had seen it because we had no television due to lack of electricity ... @ S some Iraqis were using old televisions and connecting a standard car battery which is what they did in 1991. E. and my cousin managed to dig up the dust a small television, old, white black and my aunt had overlooked during spring cleaning in recent years. The connected and made operational in about 20 minutes (and after carefully dusting). Since there was no Iraqi station. There was only the Iranian transmitting clearly. The tanks were ramming Baghdad and bombing everything on the road. The Apaches were flying low and it seemed that every hour intensified the shooting and bombing.
was about 9 pm on April 11 when we finally saw the material on the overthrow by American troops of the statue of Saddam - with the American flag plastered on his face. We watched, stunned, as Baghdad was looted and razed by hordes of men, watched and saluted by American soldiers in tanks. Now, looking back, it is rather ironic that our first glimpses of the "fall of Baghdad" and occupation of Iraq came to us via Iran - through that Iranian channel.
immediately started hearing about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and that they had formed a militia to Iraqis who had defected to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. Could be heard already in the country and helping to loot and burn everything from governmental facilities to museums. Hakims and Badr debut, followed by other clerics with their guards and militias personal, all infiltrating from Iran. Today
govern the country. Over three years, and having used brutal militias, assassinations and kidnappings, have managed to install themselves firmly in the Green Zone. We constantly hear our new puppets rant angry and against Syria, against Saudi Arabia, against Turkey, even against those who should be thanked for his rise to power, the United States of America ... But no one dares to talk about the role Iran is playing in the country.
In recent days we have heard from Iranian attacks in northern Iraq, Kurdistan areas are on the border with Iran. Several sites were bombed and various news agencies are reporting that thousands of Iranian troops are prepared along the border of Iraq. Previously, there was talk of Iranian revolutionary guards infiltrating areas like Diyala and even parts of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the new puppets (simply a return of the same OLD puppets always) after having taken several months to decide in the end, who would play the role of prime minister, are now disputing and fighting for the ministries "important" and which party should receive what ministry. The reason for this is that as a minister is named, say, SCIRI, enter "their people" in key positions, their relatives, friends and cronies, and (most importantly), his personal militia. As soon as Al-Maliki was named prime minister, announced that armed militias would be converted into part of the Iraqi army (which can only mean the Badristas and Sadr's henchmen.)
few days ago we were watching one of the many ceremonies held at the appointment of new prime minister. Talbani stood in front of various politicians in a large room in the Green Zone and said, rather cynically, that Iraq would not accept any 'tadakhul' or interference neighboring countries because Iraq was a "sovereign country free of foreign influence." The cousin almost burst out laughing and E. was wiping his eyes and gasping for breath ... as Talbani pompously made his statement, yet it sonrisas.Sonriendo big belly and behind him was a group of American commanders or generals and to his left was Khalilzad, patting him affectionately on the arm and looking like a father to his firstborn!
So while hundreds of Iraqis killed, with bodies popping up everywhere (last week found a dead man in the open space opposite the school of the daughters of my cousin) Iraqi puppets are taking their time to decide who can carry the greatest theft in which ministry. Embezzlement, after all, should not be taken lightly, one should devote the necessary amount of thought and debate, even though the country is being dismantled.
Regarding news of the new Iraqi military, things do not go as well as Bush and his team paint them. Today we saw the scenes of Iraqi soldiers in Anbar graduating. The whole ceremony was quite normal until the end, their commander said they would be deployed in various areas and suddenly it was chaos. The soldiers began to act out their hardships and express openly verbally attacking his superiors, screaming and pushing. They were promised when they enlisted in their areas, which would be deployed in their own regions, so it makes sense. There are reports that are currently on strike, refusing to be deployed outside their own provinces.
something Would it help to imagine that the area where they were supposed to be deployed to northern Iraq was? Especially with Iranian troops on the border ... Talbani announced a few days ago that the protection of Kurdistan was the responsibility of Iraq and I completely agree with the change. Because Kurdistan is part of Iraq. Before that would make this statement, it was understood that only the Peshmerga would protect Kurdistan-apparently, against Iran, are not sufficient.
The big question is: What will the U.S. with regard to Iran? There are indications of the possibility of bombings, etc.. Although I hate the Iranian government, people do not deserve the chaos and damage of air strikes and war. I'm not really concerned about this problem, because if you live in Iraq know that America has its hands tied. As soon as Washington makes a move against Tehran, American troops in Iraq will be attacked. It's that simple: Washington has powerful arms and planes ... But Iran has 150,000 American hostages.
- posted by river @ 12:59 AM
Iraqi television channels controlled by the government, apparently, had ceased to exist. Transmission had been bad since the war began - sometimes we could access the channel clearly, and sometimes it was just a confusing blur of faces and distorted anthems. The official Iraqi radio was not much better, it sometimes seemed that they were transmitting from Mars, from far away it was. When we tuned clearly, nothing made sense: Sahhaf, the Minister of Information, would say "no tanks in Baghdad!" and yet, by contrast, spoke of explosions and charred corpses of cars with families still inside.
In early April we had given up on getting any information from television and had to rely on the news we received through radio stations such as Monte Carlo, BBC and Voice of America. VOA was nearly as useless as Sahhaf - you could never tell if the news we received were real or were simply propaganda. Between news, VOA broadcast the same songs over and over again. I can not still hear the song of Celine Dion "A new day has come" without shuddering because in my head I hear the sounds of war. "I was waiting for someone ..." the roar of a plane overhead ... "That comes a miracle ..." the BUUM of a missile ... "My heart told me to be strong ..." the rat-tat-tat of an AK-47 ... Today I hate that song.
A television station had been broadcasting from the beginning of the war was an Iranian station called "Al Alam". They had been broadcasting in Arabic to the Iranian public with prior government permission and had continued to issue even after stop doing that Iraqi stations. Their coverage of the war was rather neutral. They gave facts and avoided unnecessary comments or opinions and that, to some extent, made them trustworthy - especially when we had really no other options.
We had heard comments about the downing of the statue in one or another radio station, but no s @ of us had seen it because we had no television due to lack of electricity ... @ S some Iraqis were using old televisions and connecting a standard car battery which is what they did in 1991. E. and my cousin managed to dig up the dust a small television, old, white black and my aunt had overlooked during spring cleaning in recent years. The connected and made operational in about 20 minutes (and after carefully dusting). Since there was no Iraqi station. There was only the Iranian transmitting clearly. The tanks were ramming Baghdad and bombing everything on the road. The Apaches were flying low and it seemed that every hour intensified the shooting and bombing.
was about 9 pm on April 11 when we finally saw the material on the overthrow by American troops of the statue of Saddam - with the American flag plastered on his face. We watched, stunned, as Baghdad was looted and razed by hordes of men, watched and saluted by American soldiers in tanks. Now, looking back, it is rather ironic that our first glimpses of the "fall of Baghdad" and occupation of Iraq came to us via Iran - through that Iranian channel.
immediately started hearing about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and that they had formed a militia to Iraqis who had defected to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. Could be heard already in the country and helping to loot and burn everything from governmental facilities to museums. Hakims and Badr debut, followed by other clerics with their guards and militias personal, all infiltrating from Iran. Today
govern the country. Over three years, and having used brutal militias, assassinations and kidnappings, have managed to install themselves firmly in the Green Zone. We constantly hear our new puppets rant angry and against Syria, against Saudi Arabia, against Turkey, even against those who should be thanked for his rise to power, the United States of America ... But no one dares to talk about the role Iran is playing in the country.
In recent days we have heard from Iranian attacks in northern Iraq, Kurdistan areas are on the border with Iran. Several sites were bombed and various news agencies are reporting that thousands of Iranian troops are prepared along the border of Iraq. Previously, there was talk of Iranian revolutionary guards infiltrating areas like Diyala and even parts of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the new puppets (simply a return of the same OLD puppets always) after having taken several months to decide in the end, who would play the role of prime minister, are now disputing and fighting for the ministries "important" and which party should receive what ministry. The reason for this is that as a minister is named, say, SCIRI, enter "their people" in key positions, their relatives, friends and cronies, and (most importantly), his personal militia. As soon as Al-Maliki was named prime minister, announced that armed militias would be converted into part of the Iraqi army (which can only mean the Badristas and Sadr's henchmen.)
few days ago we were watching one of the many ceremonies held at the appointment of new prime minister. Talbani stood in front of various politicians in a large room in the Green Zone and said, rather cynically, that Iraq would not accept any 'tadakhul' or interference neighboring countries because Iraq was a "sovereign country free of foreign influence." The cousin almost burst out laughing and E. was wiping his eyes and gasping for breath ... as Talbani pompously made his statement, yet it sonrisas.Sonriendo big belly and behind him was a group of American commanders or generals and to his left was Khalilzad, patting him affectionately on the arm and looking like a father to his firstborn!
So while hundreds of Iraqis killed, with bodies popping up everywhere (last week found a dead man in the open space opposite the school of the daughters of my cousin) Iraqi puppets are taking their time to decide who can carry the greatest theft in which ministry. Embezzlement, after all, should not be taken lightly, one should devote the necessary amount of thought and debate, even though the country is being dismantled.
Regarding news of the new Iraqi military, things do not go as well as Bush and his team paint them. Today we saw the scenes of Iraqi soldiers in Anbar graduating. The whole ceremony was quite normal until the end, their commander said they would be deployed in various areas and suddenly it was chaos. The soldiers began to act out their hardships and express openly verbally attacking his superiors, screaming and pushing. They were promised when they enlisted in their areas, which would be deployed in their own regions, so it makes sense. There are reports that are currently on strike, refusing to be deployed outside their own provinces.
something Would it help to imagine that the area where they were supposed to be deployed to northern Iraq was? Especially with Iranian troops on the border ... Talbani announced a few days ago that the protection of Kurdistan was the responsibility of Iraq and I completely agree with the change. Because Kurdistan is part of Iraq. Before that would make this statement, it was understood that only the Peshmerga would protect Kurdistan-apparently, against Iran, are not sufficient.
The big question is: What will the U.S. with regard to Iran? There are indications of the possibility of bombings, etc.. Although I hate the Iranian government, people do not deserve the chaos and damage of air strikes and war. I'm not really concerned about this problem, because if you live in Iraq know that America has its hands tied. As soon as Washington makes a move against Tehran, American troops in Iraq will be attacked. It's that simple: Washington has powerful arms and planes ... But Iran has 150,000 American hostages.
- posted by river @ 12:59 AM
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