Baghdad Connect
News as seen & not as told!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Rendezvous on board a sinking ship
Deep throat:
Secrete talks between Mr. Alawi and Mr. Abdul Mahdi had taken place to discuss a martial law plan to be headed by the former and approved as ‘a president’ by the latter!!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
George and I
BC -
The other day I finally managed to meet George. He is a man of 57 years old from the USA. I have heard about him from a colleague who praised him as ‘different from the rest’.
So we have invited him to a late lunch around 3 pm – in our timing this is quite normal lunch. And George was promised to try Kubat Hamudh; they’re rice pasta honed into small circular shapes; rolled and stuffed with minced diced meat and cooked in somewhat tangy tomato paste. They’re delicious!
George, who wore a baseball cap and is armed with a high-pitched voice, cannot be called obese but he is rather a huge and sturdy log. He seemed quite happy to be amongst us. And when the food was served I grabbed a chair and made myself comfortable next to his in order to be able to explore him.
George, who works for a contracting company, said he was American but from ‘back east’! Which was quite puzzling. And when I enquired about ‘back east’ he said most Americans are proud of their east coast origin. He says that long ago he’s ‘moved out west’ and got married and then got an ugly divorce.
He later settled in California and bought himself a house and remarried. When I asked him about his family and relatives he was taken aback a bit. He said some stayed home (he meant back east) and others ‘moved around somewhere’! And as George carried on I realized that he always refers to people he knows as ‘some one I ran into’ or ‘some one I used to know’ or ‘that guy I met’!! And I wondered did he ever have a real friend?
He later spoke of his daughter that ‘moved down’ to Florida to work for a real estate office and got married there.
George had the opportunity too to work ‘down in Mexico’ and; also, in a place, which is ‘all the way over’ in Panama.
As time progressed I realized that I just could not figure him out. There is this man who is American but from back east. Moved out west and got an ugly divorce. His family moved around somewhere and his friends are either people he ran into or he used to know!!
George is an ace in what’s going on in both Las Vegas and Reno (apparently it is another gambling place) He knows all the hotels names and their proprietors! His face lit up when he expounded, for half an hour, his endeavors in those two cities. And to be frank I lost him there.
George loved ‘this good stuff’ – Kubat Hamudh, which reminded him of some Turkish food he tried long ago; and when I explained to him that some of our cuisines are derived from Turkish origins he said ‘really, I’ll be damned’!!
When the Iraqi tea was served I began to sympathize with George. It must be hard living like that, and I honestly was looking for ways to make him talk about some nice things that he has done in his life. And when I asked him what does he do when he wants to relax he said he would ‘get away from it all’ and leaves his wife at home and ‘travels up north’ with his dog to fish in a lake by the name of Tahoe. And when I asked him why go there all alone he said so he could have a piece of mind! Which it turned out to be even sadder and it felt so creepy.
When George left I thought what if the Iraqis would lead a life similar to that of George with no families, relatives or friends in Iraq? and I said no way. And then I suddenly realized that we have in fact commenced to live just like George! And I laughed bitterly and I said in English ‘I’ll be damned’!
Friday, February 16, 2007
No, they're still here; in fact, they’re next door!
BC -
Many ‘big gun’ western media, either due to hidden agendas or a mere jacking-up of circulations, are joining the circus to speak about how the militias are going into hiding, and their subsequent withdrawal from the Baghdad arena to avoid the security plan which started more than 3 years ago!
The Militias (from all sects) haven’t gone into hiding or withdrawn from Baghdad. Right next door there is a lurking militia and for the past 8 months, which today they probably are watching TV from the comfort of their home! Why they are not working? Simple, their bosses at the Green Zone have gone into hiding and withdrew from Baghdad. And therefore, there are no orders to follow!
Once the confrontation with the resistance subsided the militias will report back to work – when their bosses are back to the GZ, and will be business as usual. Bear in mind, for the past few days the militias did roll a few car bombs in areas where it is supposed to be securely sealed, how did they get their? ONLY GOD KNOWS, amongst others!!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Flee?
BC – today the government in the GZ is accounted to 50% vacuum presence! Almost all those who got jobs there after previously having lived in the western world are not physically there and since that security plan No. 1001 to have supposedly started!
Most employees of the GZ were kept in the dark regarding the plan and some others – even today - have no idea if there were such a plan. Apparently, the amount of security personnel is so huge there that any surge would not make any impact!
No novelties in our neighborhood except for that big bang we heard coming from Al Shorjah markets.
Besides the usual sky rumbling noise caused by the invaders’ choppers things look, smell and feel exactly as they did one week, a month or 6 months ago.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
The Phantom of Ataturk
Deep throat:
A high ranked Turkish official has recently told Mr. Al Hashimi that "if you won’t be able to keep it (
BC –
Senior Turkish army officials are on a visit to the
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Plan Surge; some kind of a rooster chase?
BC -
Security Source:
The so called Plan Surge is one hake of an Arabic labyrinth to pertain some bizarre schemes of allocating Iraqi non-melting pot of army officers, and SAVAK style personnel - quite reminiscing of those last days of Shah of Iran, Mr. Reza Pahlavi
The entire civil government bodies have been grafted with hodgepodge odd Iraqi ranked security workforce that each will correspond to its sect! (presuming that’s been figured out)
Orders will be given from various control units around Baghdad (9-11 units) and the occupiers’ Air Force is estimated to be engaged in ‘hundreds’ of combats (upon signals!) during a course of one day, which will include taking out any reneged!!
If there is one thing that could describe the situation is this. Another issue is that there is no political agenda in place for the aftermath of the upcoming mortal hide and seek games. Although, there is a word that a new character is to take the center stage!
Also, the Jund Al Sama incident has triggered high sentiments of “invaders-out-of-Iraq” amongst the general public.
And, finally, the latest model of 3X3 Jeep Wrangler has been spotted in Al Thawra (Sadr) City:
Friday, February 02, 2007
Mr. Al Malaki, I challenge you if you dare
Al Tarrar:
I dare you, Mr. Al Malaki, if you could be just as 'audacious' with other radical sects as you were with Jund Al Sama; but I honestly doubt it.
There are two incongruous sects that are just as twisted and fanatic as Jund Al Sama in both AL Moqdadiya and Diyala – where an ethnic and sect cleansing took place 1 month ago, and you have shamelessly watched from your elevated hole in the GZ without being able to utter word about it.
The two mentioned sects are part of the Islamic Emirate where fanatics practice indoctrinated rituals similar to those of Al Taliban, and carry weapons at all times. They, also, refer to you as a smelly Iranian rat and they have killed lots of soldiers of your ‘well-trained’ army.
However, you haven’t done anything about it nor you ever will. It is quite simple; on your own turf, where you run a spaghetti of Mafia operations pertaining vicious personnel from Al Badr and Jaish Al Mahdi, your interests are vital to the national security!, whereas in other places innocent Iraqis can go to hell.
You and your absurd and nuisance invaders can handle your own sect very well but for other sects, well… you sure know how to strike deals behind doors!
Being shrewd but generally weak makes a person parasitical and that, Mr. PM, is you.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Al Malaki and the Shaman of Zarkaban
Scheherazade:
Once upon a time in a land far way from the reign, there was a shaman who pitched his tent behind the dunes of Zarkaban. The shaman and his holly junds, who dressed in tunics and cloaks, gathered to psychpomp drumbeats and danced all night so an axis mundi could transport their souls above and beyond.
When one day Al Malaki (the boy who lived!) was told by the owls - Qaddu and Abdu of the wizardry, of Zahra (Venus in Arabic) of Zarkaban (with little head and giant visage) Al Malaki at once reached to his sacred globule and broke it into pieces and took the magical wand, and he zoomed on a back of an Azande ostrich to reach the Land of Zarkaban.
There he flung his cape and gestured with the magical wand and immediately bees upon bees from the McDonald’s land flew over the shaman’s tent with muster and red ketchup, and all that beneath turned into big Mc-meats and extra French Fries!
Later Qaddu and Abdu of the wizardry spoke of the Zahra of Zarkaban and his psychotropic substance that he took so he could enter the spirits land.
But, master Shahryar, the story was not like that at all. It was a broken heart love story written by Omar Khayyam. You see, Fatima the sister of boy Hassan was in love and secretly married to Zahra of Zarkaban, and how many nights she cried at her lodge when Zahra took to the gates of sands.
But her brother who turned Sultan over night had since wanted to rule Zarkaban, and finally agreed to trade with Anbarabad bows and arrows and he promised Zahra that when the land would become his then he would appoint him the Shaman of Zarkaban.
Alas, master Shahryar, Qaddu and Abdu of the wizardry, who loath each other too, eavesdropped and brought Zahra of Zarkaban life to a sad fate and broke Fatima’s heart. But some say Zahra’s spirit still lingers on.
Ah, Master Shahryar, the morning has broken and the rooster has awaken and you are tired so as I. Next time I will tell you the story of boy George – no master, it’s not the singer! and the crude beneath the sand sandals of Basrabad.
Abdul Zahra (worshiper of Venus) The Shaman of Zarkaban
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