Just when we thought Mel Gibson had had his rude awakening and sunk into the atonement of the last temptation, the Mashahdehs and the Dulaims have geared up to Mad Max III the sequence in full throttle.
The eyewitness says it is literally desert rat chase for those who would try to flee the Oil city and get brutally murdered by masked men driving funny built cars - in the movie - but in our own sequence the freaks ride in 4 wheels and aim at each other with RPGs!
It sounds all pretty bizarre and you bet it is. Al Dulaims are the sole & 'official' tribe protectors of the Oil pipe lines in the western regions and Al Mashahdeh tribes would like to see an end to this monopoly. Ten days ago Al Mashahdehs have abducted 13 Oil Guards from the Dulaims and bargained them for a portion of the Oil pipes but in return the Dulaims killed a head of the Meshahdeh tribes during a Mad Max style chase in a desert dirt road! The protection of the pipe lines means good business for the black market as there are points where Oil can be siphoned into tanks and sold in the open 'free Iraq' market. We shouldn't be surprised when we will soon see Pirates of the Caribbeans (Basrah) III - the Curse of the 'Black' Pearl.
Pizza man gets 60 years for delivering a Pizza with the wrong toppings!
BC -
Zeyad (naturalised Polish) was or seemed happily married to a Polish lady with whom he had four children. He was working as a manager for a Pizza restaurant in Germany, but when one day the orders came rushing in Zeyad, on the spur of the moment, had picked up the wrong Pizza and even made a wrong turn in the way to the customer that had eventually changed the rest of his remaining life.
Just before the invasion of 2003 The US, Poland and Hungary had worked together to build an Iraqi army to help Iraq in 'whatever' it was needed. The mentioned countries have recruited Iraqi men in Europe to take up on this unbelievable task and Zeyad was the first to join in and was most enthusiast of all, he was so into it that made Mr. Bremer proud of him to have him recommended to be the second man in the defense ministry and Zeyad sure had lived up to Mr. Bremer's expectation!
After the invasion and during Mr. Alawi's term Zeyad had become Mr. Shalans' (ex-defense minister) right (or left for some) arm. During the 7 months in office Zeyad has accumulated a wealth that ran up to few hundreds of millions of Dollars! - according to the current Iraqi government. From selling outdated, poor quality Warsaw pact and Polish made hardware to dumping Egyptian! made weaponry stock into Iraq's back-yard and of course at price 1000 times more than the original price tag. He also signed release of payments to his partners in Jordan in the range of 100 Million USD! Zeyad had made so much money in such a short time he started to find absurd ways to spending it. For example, for 'his' birthday he gave all his 16 Friends their own choice of brand new 4-wheels drive! Also, he overnight turned polygamist and married a second wife (we have no idea how does Poland live with that). Funny thing is his second wife refers to him as Doctor Zeyad! and he even had one baby from her. Zeyad bought houses and cars to every member of his family in Europe, and purchased, with his business associates in Jordan, buildings in a posh Amman area.
Zeyad had acquired so much cash that made him literally lose all his senses when he began attributing people's criticism to his line of work as part of a sectarian struggle for power - ah! what a novelty.
When Mr. Alawi's term was up and Mr. Bremer flew that C 130 out of Baghdad for good, it was then when voices were raised with concerned to Mr. Shalan and his man Zeyad. And in a few days they have fled Baghdad. Mr. Shalan was under diplomatic immunity in London (the British grant multi-entry visas to any GZ badge holder!) and Zeyad found refuge amongst the Kurds Barons and War-Lords in Erbil and until he vanished all together.
1 week ago the current Iraqi government has finally passed its verdict in the case of Zeyad and sentenced him to 60 years in prison..of course in absentee, and Zeyad has been demoted from being an Iraqi Freedom Fighter to a common thief
During the investigation neither Mr. Bremer nor Mr. Shalan claimed to have known Zeyad! and BC wonders how many of Zeyad alike that Mr. Bremer can't claim to have known!
Many will wonder how could a Pizza man get that far and get away with so much money! It really is very simple; it is obvious that Zeyad was doing the same thing when he bought re-stocks for the Pizza toppings and made an extra buck off of the restaurant owner.
But what if this call never came and that day Zeyad had simply picked the right Pizza and had it delivered to the right person, and then after work he went back home to find his Polish wife and his children happy to have seen their father after a hard day at work? Some may say good for him that he made it even thought he has turned into a thief because life is about one big opportunity not to be missed at all cost and even if ethics and social values are at risk. If so, then let's hear it from his own children!
