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

Hcg Shot And Hot Flashes

Summer Stag .... The slaughter at Qana

Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words "Leave this area or another." The perpetrators of these threats are Sadr's followers. The Mahdi army. This is public knowledge, but no one dares say it aloud. In the last month we had two different families staying with them in our house, after they had to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. Not only the Sunnis, Shiites are Arabs, Kurds-most of the middle class areas are being targeted by militias.

Other areas are being overrun by armed Islamists. Americans have absolutely no control in these areas. Or maybe you just do not want to control them, because when there is a clash between Sadr's militia and another militia in a residential area they surround the area and observe what happens.

Since early July, the men in our area have been patrolling the streets. Some patrol the terraces and others sit quietly next to the barricades "home" we have placed on main roads that go to our area. I really can not be trusted in any way the Americans or the government. You can only hope that your family and friends remain alive-not safe, not secure-just alive. This is good enough.

for me was in June marked the first month that I dared not leave the house without a hijab, or headscarf. Normally not seen the hijab, but it is not possible to drive around Baghdad without a hijab. It is not at all a good idea. (Take note that when I say "driving" really mean "sit in the back seat, "I have not driven for a long time). walk bareheaded in the car or on the streets also puts family members at risk, as well as you. You risk hearing something not want to hear and then the father or brother or cousin can not just sit by and let it pass. For a long time do not drive. If you are a woman you risk being attacked.
Miro
my old dresses, jeans and T-shirts and colorful skirts-and it is as if studying a wardrobe from another country, another life. There was a time, a couple of years, you could, more or less, dress as you like when you were not going to a public place. If you went to a house relatives or friends could wear trousers and a shirt, or jeans, something that no current view. We do not do this because there is always the risk that the car is stopped and reviewed by one or another militia.

no laws that say we have to wear the hijab (yet), but there are men in black robes and turbans, the extremists and fanatics who were liberated by the occupation, and, at some point, you get tired of challenging them. Do not want to see you. I feel as if the black or white scarf I pull over my head any way make me invisible to a certain extent, it is easier to blend with the masses shrouded in black. If you are a woman, do not want to draw attention, do not want Iraqi police attention, not the want of militant dressed in black, do not want the American soldier. Do not want to be noticed or seen.

I have nothing against the hijab, while the use is a choice, of course. Many of my friends and relatives wear the hijab. Many of them began to use after the war. It started as a way to avoid problems and undue attention, and now simply because there is no point carrying it off. What is happening to the country?

I realized what had become common until mid-July when M., a childhood friend, came to say goodbye before leaving the country. Entered the home, complaining of the heat and the roads, her brother following behind, very close. It was not until the end of the visit when the peculiarity of the situation struck me. She was preparing to leave before sunset, and took the beige headscarf folded neatly beside her. As I told one of his neighbors had been shot, opened the handkerchief with a flourish, set him on the head like a pro, and lit it with a pin under the chin with the precision of an experienced user of hijab. All this without a mirror, as if he had done hundreds of times before ... I would be fine, except that M. Christian.

If M. can wear one without complaining, I can

This last month I said goodbye to more people than I can count. Some of the 'goodbyes' were hurried and furtive-the sort you say at night to the neighbor who has received a death threat and is leaving at dawn, quietly. Several

"goodbyes' were emotional and deeply suffered, the relatives and friends who can not live any longer in a country that is crumbling stitching.

Many of the 'goodbyes' were said stoically-almost casually-with a fake smile carved on the face and the words, "See you soon" ... Just to get out the door and the weight derrumbarte want to separate you from other loved more.

During times like these I remember a speech Bush made in 2003. One of the great things he mentioned was the return of jubilant 'exiled' Iraqis to their country after the fall of Saddam. I like to see some figures on Iraqis and outside the country currently are occupying ... Not to mention internally displaced Iraqis abandoning their homes and cities.

Sometimes I even wonder if you ever come to know exactly how many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis left the country this bleak summer. I wonder how many of them come back. Where do they go? What will their lives? Is it time to follow them? Is it time to wash their hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else in another?

- posted by river @ 12:38 AM