Forgot My Combination To My Brinks Lock

When all else fails ... The Lancet study

... Execute the dictator. It's that easy. When American soldiers killed dozens, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break into smaller countries, when militia and death squads roaming the streets and have put in power a group of mullahs - execute the dictator
Everyone expected this verdict from the very first day of trial. There was a brief interval in which the first judge, it was believed that it might be a coherent trial where Iraqis could hear explanations and see what happened. That soon ended with the first false witness for the prosecution. The events that followed were so ridiculous that even today are hard to believe.
The sound suddenly disappeared when the defense or one of the defendants got up to speak. We could hear the witnesses but could not see them - hidden behind a curtain, their voices were changed. People who were supposed to have died in the Dujail incident were found to be very much alive.
Judge after judge was called to court because the court was seen as too fair. Not immediately condemn the defendants (even if it was in the interest of the media). The brightest jewel was the final judge they brought. His reputation rivaled only by Chalabi, a well known thief and murderer who fled to Iran to escape not political condemnation, but the wrath of his father after he stole to the restaurant he ran.
So we all knew the result would (Maliki was on television 24 hours before the verdict telling people that "they did not rejoice too much"). I think what surprises me right now is the absolute stupidity of the current Iraqi government. The timing is ridiculous, "just before the congressional elections? How convenient for Bush!, Iraq today is at its worst since the invasion and occupation began in April 2003, now looks like a honeymoon. Is it really the time to execute Saddam?
I am more than a little worried. It is Bush's last letter. The elections came and went and put in power a group of extremists and thieves (no, no ...! I mean Baghdad, not Washington). The constitution, which appears to have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since the elections has been forgotten. Only dig up when one of the Puppets wants to tear the country. Reconstruction is an aspiration from another time. I swear we no longer want buildings and bridges, security and an undivided Iraq are more than enough. Things must be deteriorating beyond imagination if Bush needs to use the letter "Execute the Dictator."
Iraq has not been this bad in decades. The occupation is a failure. The various governments pro-American or pro-Iran government have failed. The new Iraqi army is a deadly joke. Is it really time to turn Saddam into a martyr? Things are so bad that even the Iraqis for the occupation retract his initial frenzied "WE LOVE AMERICA." Laith Kubba (who looks like Mr. Catfish for his big mouth and constant look stupid) was recently on the BBC saying that this was just the beginning of justice, people who today is responsible for the loss of life also face justice. Seems to have forgotten that he was one of those who supported the war and occupation, and an important member of one of the murderers pro-American governments. But history will not forget Mr. Kubba.
Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict. The pro-Saddam demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army. That's how free our media is today: the channels showing the pro-Saddam demonstrations have been closed. Iraqi security forces promptly raided. Welcome to the new Iraq. Here are some images from the Salahiddin and Zawra channels:


Zawra Chain. The caption says: Baghdad: Zawra satellite channel has stopped broadcasting by order of government.



Salahiddin green screen which appeared suddenly, says Salahiddin
satéite channel via


Sharqiya channel announcing the latest news: Two channels, Salahiddin and Zawra, closed. Security forces ransacked the offices of the stations.

not have to do with man (the presidents come and go, governments come and go). It is the frustration of feeling that the whole country and each of them and the Iraqis from inside and outside are at the mercy of American politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess piece being moved forward and back at will. It is the aggravation of having a government so blind and insensitive to the needs of its people who do not even seem necessary to comply with formalities or pass a law. And there are the dead. The thousands of dead and dying, with Bush sitting there smirking and lying about progress and victory in a country where all Iraqis and outside the Green Zone is losing.
Again ... The timing of this is impeccable, two days before congressional elections. And if you do not see, sorry, you're stupid. Let's see how many times takes this as a "success" in his upcoming speeches.
One final note. I read somewhere that some families of dead American soldiers are visiting the north of Iraq to see "so that their sons and daughters have died." If that is the goal of the visit, then, "Ladies and gentlemen, to your right is the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, to your left is the refinery Dawry ... Each of you get this: a gift bag containing a color poster of Al 3 x 3 Sayid Muqtada Al Sadr (Long life and prosperity), the Ayatollah Sistani t-shirt and a map of Iraq at redrawn with the Islamic Republic of southern Iraq. Plus ... Hey, you! You, the woman behind! Would that I see is a lock of hair? Cover up or stay home! ".
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And that is why they have died.

- posted by river @ 8:25 PM

Gordon Brown Spotting

This has been the longest season I've been away from writing in my blog. There have been several reasons for my disappearance. The most important is that whenever I felt urged to write about Iraq, about the situation, I felt invaded by a certain hopelessness that can not be described in words and I suspect others and other Iraqis feel also.

is very difficult at the present moment to connect to the Internet and read articles from so-called experts, analysts and politicians. They argue and write about Iraq as I can write about the Ivory Coast or Cambodia, with a detachment and a lack of feeling I guess is what is called being fair. Hearing American politicians is even worse. Ranging between idiots like Bush in a constant and total denial, and opportunists who want to use the war and the subsequent chaos to promote themselves.

The latest horror is the study published in the journal Lancet concluded that 600 000 Iraqis have been killed since the war began. Reading about it left me in a confusion of feelings. On the one hand sounds like a reasonable number, it was not unreasonable. On the other side I wanted the figure was wrong. But ... who to believe? "American politicians or highly reputable scientists using scientifically reliable research techniques?

were typical responses. The war supporters said the number was nonsense because, of course, who want to admit that an action so fervently supported by them has led to the deaths of 600,000 Iraqis (even if they were crazy Iraqis)? Admitting that number is the equivalent of admitting that they have promoted a tsunami or an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale, or the occupation of a developing country by a ruthless superpower ... oh wait, that's what really happened . Is it really so absurd number? Thousands of Iraqis are dying every month, this is undeniable. And, yes, they are dying as a direct result of war and occupation (very few of them and they really have died of happiness (as supporters of the war and Puppets would have you believe).

For American politicians and military personnel the latest tactic seems to be to play dumb and talk of bodies in morgues and official statistics. But as every Iraqi knows, not every death is reported. As for getting reliable figures of the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution is as likely as getting a grammatically correct sentence from George Bush, especially since the minister was disqualified for providing mortality figures correct. So far the only Iraqis I know that many qualified exorbitant, or are out of touch with Iraqi reality, living abroad and supporting the war, or Iraqis inside that directly benefit from the occupation ($) and likely living in the Green Zone.

The chaos and lack of adequate facilities are the result of people being buried without passing through the reservoir or the hospital. During the U.S. military attack against civilians in cities like Samarra and Fallujah, victims were buried in their gardens or in mass graves in football fields Or have forgotten this already?

literally do not know a single Iraqi family that has not seen the violent death of a first-or second grade in the last three years. Abductions, militias, sectarian violence, revenge killings, assassinations, car bombs, suicide bombers, American military attacks, military raids of Iraqi forces, death squads, armed robberies, executions, detentions, secret prisons, torture, mysterious weapons, with so many ways to die "is the number so unlikely?

There are Iraqi women who have not removed the clothes of mourning since 2003 because each time we approach the end of the appropriate period of mourning, some other relative dies and the countdown begins again.

pretend that the figure of 600,000 is totally wrong and that the minimum is the correct number close to 400,000 Is that better? Before the war the Bush administration Saddam was claiming that 300 000 Iraqis killed in about 24 years. After this latest report published by the Lancet. 300,000 seems quite modest and tame. Congratulations Bush and company.

Everyone knows that the "official figures" of Iraqis dead or dying as a direct result of war and occupation are far from reality (yes, even you, war hawks, in the depths of your tiny heart). This latest report is probably closer to the truth than anything that has been published so far. And what about the American deaths? When will someone study on the actual number of these? If the Bush administration is lying so vehemently about the number of Iraqi dead, one can only imagine the extent of lying about dead Americans.

- posted by river @ 11:35 PM