<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861</id><updated>2011-10-10T14:10:15.648+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Baghdad Connect</title><subtitle type='html'>News as seen &amp; not as told!</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default?start-index=101&amp;max-results=100'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>252</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8979728446906690326</id><published>2011-02-27T21:58:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2011-02-27T21:59:03.447+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JoJL88Mvl9c/TWqe485pZ8I/AAAAAAAAAbY/W7h3aHKCv08/s1600/iraq-flag.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 413px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 284px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578445789709559746" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JoJL88Mvl9c/TWqe485pZ8I/AAAAAAAAAbY/W7h3aHKCv08/s400/iraq-flag.gif" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8979728446906690326?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8979728446906690326'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8979728446906690326'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_27.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JoJL88Mvl9c/TWqe485pZ8I/AAAAAAAAAbY/W7h3aHKCv08/s72-c/iraq-flag.gif' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-979041269486121573</id><published>2011-01-10T17:33:00.002+03:00</published><updated>2011-01-12T21:13:07.565+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Saddamists and invaders’ common mediocrities win them a reprieve</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal"&gt;… and perhaps was one of the primary reasons behind the outcome of the latest Iraqi formed government. &lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Today, Al Maliki is back in power resolutely like never before while the rest of the political parties, although they seem more evident, yet are dysfunctional more than ever. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Back in 2005 when the Saddamists resistance looked invincible and ready to reshape the outcome of the absurd invasion, it was then when they stumbled upon the inevitable third power: the Shiite resistance, and instead of embracing this developing force they, unsurprisingly, turned the clock hands 45 year earlier on to envisage – and what else – a single malignant authority instead of sharing it with other factions of the Iraqi people, on the basis that the Shiites are Iranians by nature – a supposition only shared by the daft pundits. The Saddamists preferred to go ahead and team up with the ex-CIA terrorists (Takifirs -so called Qaeda members) and boycotted the political process – resulting in force majeure for a hodgepodge constitution, rather than seeing Shiites Self-Determination. As a result, the Iranians found a fertile land for power sharing in the arena and the Hawza stayed in with a more sound effectiveness.&lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal"&gt;After the horrific period of 2006-2007 the Saddamists had finally realized that the Shiites are indestructible and decided to strike a deal with the Bush regime in Iraq and cleared the way for a clash between the US junta and the Shiites, which in reality never fully took place. The Shiites, knowing what they were in for, regrouped and accommodated the new ordeal, and that what prompted a lull in daily clashes and it was, also, the commencement of the political process. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal" &gt;Today Al Maliki is in the balancing power; on one hand he has the Shiite resistance ready to unleash its fury, conversely, he has the Saddamists powered by the US junta and the Wahabis; a delicate scale that could tip over by drop of a tiny amount of sand. &lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;However, what is at stake here is the Shiites’ fate – as it’s always been, which is directly linked to Al Hawza and the lurching bloody past of The Baathists. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal" face="georgia"&gt;The King of Iraq – installed by the British invaders back in 1920s once said that he was doomed for being squashed between educated Sunnis who favored the invaders and hated him and ill-educated Shiites who favored him and hated the invaders! So that’s how it goes even after almost a 100 years. The ill-educated Shiites have been played at the hands of the Marjiya/Hawza as well as the doubtful Sunnis and they will eventually pay the price, whereas the Saddamists might come out ‘clean’- mercy!, even if it meant bowing down to the Iranians as their Don Saddam did in Algeria back in 1975 – perhaps it was then when he developed a back disk!! &lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="MsoNormal"&gt;The US Junta willingness to budge down to the Iranians in Iraq is remained to be seen. If the US regime in Iraq could get a break from the Mullas then chances are that the entire region will be affected – a scenario worth 200 years of Iranian Natural gas, ain’t bad even if it meant Shiites suppression for another 500 years! &lt;span style="font-size:+0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-979041269486121573?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/979041269486121573'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/979041269486121573'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2011/01/saddamists-and-invaders-common.html' title='Saddamists and invaders’ common mediocrities win them a reprieve'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-988481893095864762</id><published>2010-09-12T18:49:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2010-09-12T18:56:43.607+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Who’s training who?!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt; 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	mso-para-margin-top:0in; 	mso-para-margin-right:0in; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	mso-para-margin-left:0in; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Before he was sacked Faisal was stationed in Baghdad, occupying a sardine-sized prefab housing in the so called green zone.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;He was reporting to one of the US junta’s offices under the title that was similar to a relationship manager, liaising between the occupiers and the Iraqi army officers, who he referred to as Colonels “Bebbers” due to the fact that none of Iraqi officers can differentiate between the letter P and B in any given word. Therefore, Peppers definitely sounds like Bebbers when it is blurted out by those Iraqi colonels.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I met Faisal on his way back to the US permanently. He truly believes that if there is one reason behind the flagrant failure of the US mission then it has got to be the absolute lack or nonexistent communications between the US junta and the Iraqi government, which is primarily blamed on those Iraqi army officers who he thinks their true allegiance is to their personal self-interests and nothing else.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Faisal said that almost 95% of the time reporting was either miscommunicated or purposely misadvised due to the language barrier or the bad intentions. And he says that if those Iraqi officers are operating on earth then the government most certainly is in Mars. He said that the US forces’ agenda is quite clear and unsubtle in the reporting but it has never been properly conveyed. He adds that the Iraqi government is worried about the US forces leaving Iraq is a blunt example of the ignoramus state that the Iraqi government finds itself in because the US forces have made it clear that there won’t be any Iraq-left-alone policy at any cost, and that a sizable permanent contingency of the Junta is staying until the turn of the 21 century and beyond. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Faisal is quite adamant that at this current puny level of communication, the Iraqi army will require not less than 8-10 years of legitimate training by the US forces to be able to stand on its feet and properly serve the Iraqi people. Although Faisal is quite supportive of the US he refers to funny things have taken place, which he interrupts them as US national security requirements. For instance, Faisal is a staunch opponent of Iran and the Shiite faction but he says that Iran maintains back door channels with the US, which he does not thoroughly approve of. He also agrees that, unlike 3 years ago, the US is on the right track with the “good!” Baathists.&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Faisal had irreconcilable differences with a new Pentagon appointee and accordingly his job was terminated. He said when he was leaving quite a few Iraqi officers asked him to keep in touch so he could help them in the US once they managed to get their green cards!!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Calibri&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;When I heard Faisal I was wondering when this Iraqi farce will ever come to an end?  If the Iraqi army officers are planning to settle in the US and the US Junta is remaining in Iraq for another 100 years then how on earth for any future Iraqi government to be able to mandate, ever?!!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/TIz3DWGCtfI/AAAAAAAAAa4/xPN7R3jOjZc/s1600/untitled.bmp"&gt;&lt;img style="text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px; display: block; height: 300px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516055280464606706" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/TIz3DWGCtfI/AAAAAAAAAa4/xPN7R3jOjZc/s400/untitled.bmp" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-988481893095864762?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/988481893095864762'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/988481893095864762'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2010/09/whos-training-who.html' title='Who’s training who?!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/TIz3DWGCtfI/AAAAAAAAAa4/xPN7R3jOjZc/s72-c/untitled.bmp' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4624855588646370999</id><published>2010-06-21T19:49:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2010-07-04T22:13:53.439+03:00</updated><title type='text'>A dirty war rages on behind Democracy’s Iron Curtain</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Jamil was a mere 17 years old when the invaders rolled in their NATO weaponry into the streets of Baghdad. Then, he was looking forward to enroll into a next year university program to pursue economics; however, the invasion had changed his luck for good. Today Jamil – origin of Abu Ghraib, is part of what is called the Elite force. A team which was established by Petraeus when he finally gave in to the Saddamist resistance back in 2007 - a time when the US junta was being constantly crushed in between an Iranian hammer and a Saddamist anvil, during the totalitarian regime of Bush in Iraq. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Petraeus – who seemed to be the best thing that happened to the Baathists since the invasion of Kuwait, had laid the ground to the most brutal Delta Force that Iraq has ever witnessed since those days of the Elite forces of the old Iraqi army (who fought horrific wars against the Kurds in Kurdistan, back in the 70s.) From a literary point of view, these young empowered men can be drawn as example in parallel line to those rabid dogs, which were trained by the pigs in the classics book “the Animal Farm”.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Jamil, who is found of his latest Ford Mustang, is a sworn in, hard core freedom fighter - like the rest of his team members, against the lurching evil forces of the Iranians in Iraq. Jamil’s primary goal is to liberate Iraq from the influence of the Iranians everywhere.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;He thinks that Iranians do not represent the true spirit of the Iraqi resistance against the US, because the US is no longer considered an enemy. Conversely, his real enemy is what he calls “Al Marjiya” (the highest authority of the Shiites in Iraq) which was then the core enemy of Saddam – God bless his soul!, as Jamil says. He, as he reiterates, undoubtedly voted for Eyad Alawi (a Shiite by born only).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;When a friend asked Jamil about the Takfiris (so called Al Qaeda) Jamil’s laughed at their present situation in Iraq and said these people can be beaten any time and when it is necessary!!&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Jamil constantly brags of his heroic operations in Al Thawra city (Sadr city), Basrah and rouge other places in Baghdad. He says the current madness in the security stems from the fact that Iran is trying to generate a chaos until it can form its own backed government. However, Jamil and his team members had, also, served Al Maliki’s government several times when it was required, which demonstrates the schizophrenic malaise of Iraq’s current affair. From the little time one spends with Jamil one realizes that Iraq will soon be prevailed by hire to kill gangsters- whether they are driven by ideology or sheer profit. These gangsters will be there to heed for &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;calls of death when it is required.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;When we look at the sinister and vile Iranian role In Iraq, which even turned the US junta into good guys and the Saddamists into freedom fighters, one cannot stop wondering if there are any decent factions or group of people left out there to fight the noble cause of the true Iraqi people. When I think of Eyad Alawi – the most politically bankrupt Arabic politician in the history of Iraq, and how he has been entrenched in a stooge role to rule Iraq with one of &lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;the slimmest margins lead ever realized by voting outcome, I keep on wondering just for how long the Iraqis will be taken on a circus ride? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Looking at it with total detachment, it does seem that the ugly Mullas of Iran are the only anti-US junta forces that have left in the arena, and while the comedy of this tragedy lingers on at its full weight, I cry out loud: who will ever hear those Iraqi widows sobs, while the entire government is being locked in the greens zone behind Democracy’s iron curtain?!&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4624855588646370999?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4624855588646370999'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4624855588646370999'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2010/06/dirty-war-rages-on-behind-democracys.html' title='A dirty war rages on behind Democracy’s Iron Curtain'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2917831880935209133</id><published>2010-03-27T17:52:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2010-03-27T23:55:29.839+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Elections Top Winners</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;The Arab countries: 91 seats &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;Iran: 89 seats &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;The American Junta: King seat &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2917831880935209133?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2917831880935209133'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2917831880935209133'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2010/03/top-elections-winners.html' title='Elections Top Winners'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1506743398710858439</id><published>2010-01-25T00:40:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2010-01-25T00:50:45.817+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Spanish flair</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The tale was quite extraordinary but it could have sounded rather banal for those who still have inclination towards reminiscing recent history, well, not so recent after all. It’s about a point in time at which the Spanish democracy was re-instituted through a “coup d’etat” that looked as absurd as a staged drama from a Don Quixote scene; however, if a similar analogy would ever occur in Iraq then the consequences would be as catastrophic as the Spanish Inquisitions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The man that relayed the anecdote is well-versed and has some damned good connection with the ministry of electricity. He tells me of threads of a scenario, which is quite convoluted, that have been sown into staging a coup right after the elections by army officers, who will in turn request the invaders and the head of the state to reestablish the course of democracy by filtering out the political arena from the polluting sediments, and all is done in the name of the Iraqi people. By then, the invaders will bestow their bless on the democratic system - giving it a pulse of life, by eventually handing over the decision to the new government in order to steer the rudder, and, again, all is done in the name of the Iraqi people.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The perfect picture will be farmed when the Iranian government nods to these chains of events and will kick off a series of talks between Obama and the Iranians – a move which may have far reaching implications. The trailing Obama will have the chance to bounce back and the Iranians will put an end to their political stalemate – Iranians may think it is about time to end western corporations from benefiting off of Iran’s recent political farce.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All in all is ginger peachy but not so fast: any staged coup d’etat will not stop right at the TV stations or to be warped up with some flippant and saucy communiqué. In Iraq, coups are taken seriously, and will not spare that Pinochet-style blood bath that always comes along with it – ask the British; they know very well how they dragged us into that puny morass state of affairs - 1958 thru 1964!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If anyone is contemplating such a move, then we may have to be prepared for the worst, as it may end up so damned bad that it could even surpass those horrifying, torrential consequences that came about right after that very wicked day on which Iraq was invaded.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1506743398710858439?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1506743398710858439'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1506743398710858439'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2010/01/spanish-flair.html' title='Spanish flair'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1544721199652169122</id><published>2009-11-06T10:09:00.004+03:00</published><updated>2009-11-06T16:10:45.070+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Democracy Clinically Dead</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;October 25th 2009:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:180%;"&gt;BOOOOOOOM…&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;155 nos. innocent people dead&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;▼&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;October 31st 2009 (Halloween Special!):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;VOTE for the new Iyad Allawi Coalition!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SvPMBxgcNaI/AAAAAAAAAao/bvF8OJTucBM/s1600-h/Iyad.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SvPMBxgcNaI/AAAAAAAAAao/bvF8OJTucBM/s1600-h/Iyad.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400884708988695970" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SvPMBxgcNaI/AAAAAAAAAao/bvF8OJTucBM/s400/Iyad.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1544721199652169122?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1544721199652169122'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1544721199652169122'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/11/democracy-clinically-dead.html' title='Democracy Clinically Dead'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SvPMBxgcNaI/AAAAAAAAAao/bvF8OJTucBM/s72-c/Iyad.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3977217422828048244</id><published>2009-07-13T23:17:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2009-07-14T17:46:16.509+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Baghdad Fanta Festival</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Before my trip back to Baghdad, I received an email from a friend who wrote to me that if I would be lucky enough to catch that week’s Fanta Festival, and I thought that probably Fanta Company – the fizzy, fruit flavored soda drink, has had a marketing campaign in the capital to celebrate the signing of the Air Cargo Handling contract with the Sharjah-based RUS Aviation :))&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Upon my landing at the airport I did not see any signs of such festivities apart from the terrifying heat wave that struck my face when I exited the airport door. Two days after my arrival, I woke up that morning and looked out of the window, and there it was, the Baghdad Fanta Festival at full swing. A glowing red-orange color was filling the entire place around my house. When I went out to investigate what the hell it was I was swarmed with little tiny particles of dust or sand or what ever the hell it was! The heat at 8 am!, however, added to that agonizing feeling. It was sickening. That day the Fanta festival lasted through out the night. The next day when I called my friend who wrote me that email, he told me that I was unlucky, the Fanta festival normally lasts 2-3 days and he reassured me that I will catch the next week’s festivities!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the past we were quite used to the fact that Baghdad would witness maximum 2 nos. sand storm a year and after the war of Kuwait its frequency increased up to 4-5 times, but nothing like this red-orange stuff. However, since 2004 the sand storms are being so recurrent that they have commenced to sweep the land every month and now it is even becoming a weekly phenomenal. Last month, the newspapers wrote about them and the government explained that these sands are partly due to the huge amount of reconstruction sites that are taking place in the cities!! So I took the government’s response to the test and I called an environmental engineer – who was a staunch opponent of the Baath party, and is currently a professor at a university in Baghdad, to get his views about the matter. When I told him about Al Maliki’s reasons behind those storms he said that Al Maliki is as pathetic as the invaders forces. He said that for quite sometimes now, the skies are filled with small red dust that penetrates the leaf pores and kill the planting orchards that have remained in our country- like the cypress and eucalyptus trees. This dust will hinder these trees and other vegetations to metabolize as the leaves become covered with a layer of sticky red dust. He said that the environment of Iraq has seen series of setbacks since the draining of the marshes in the eighties of the last century, then grinding the desert environment with military tanks and heavy machineries as well as the radioactive dust generated from the use of the uranium in 1991. He added that after the U.S. invasion in 2003, the destruction of the geographical nature of Iraq, and specifically southern Iraq were completed on top of the early elimination of thousands of palm trees in the southern Iraqi city of Basra during the Iran-Iraq War, in order to facilitate military operations. The Iraqi environment were turned into soft terrain to not withstand the storm when the wind gains speed to perpetuate particles of red mud (not sand) of heavy density, but small-scale, to spread over long-distance from the south to the north of Iraq, and on its path it kills trees and plants, pollute the air, endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of people at risk of asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. He says if we take air samples to test them at a laboratory we will see that the city is exposed to huge amount of red dust, and by analyzing those dust components the world will know the truth about the contaminated air we breathe in Iraq. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He finally adds that to make matters even worse Iraq is facing an unprecedented drought since five years now as the levels of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have reached the lowest recorded because of the giant dam projects in upstream countries. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When I heard that, I remembered on my last trip overseas, I met a Brit who proudly told me that he was MBE holder, and I thought he meant MBA, however, he corrected me by emphasizing MBE, which stands for Member of the British Empire - an honored badge given by the queen of England, a few steps from the comfort of her chair, to all those who served in south of Iraq during this war, for more than 5 years… And I thought no wonder why the British Empire is left to dust!!!! &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3977217422828048244?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3977217422828048244'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3977217422828048244'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/07/baghdad-fanta-festival.html' title='Baghdad Fanta Festival'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-975716833385218203</id><published>2009-04-04T10:25:00.006+03:00</published><updated>2009-04-11T10:10:31.971+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Seed it</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;From : Richard SullivanInstitute of Near Eastern &amp;amp; African Studies (INEAS)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are writing to invite you to endorse April 26 as International Seeds Day (ISD) to educate the public at your city about patent seeds, genetically modified food, agribusiness under globalization and Order 81.People worldwide acknowledge the sixth anniversary of the Iraq War on March 19/20. But many don’t know of another war taken place in Iraq. It is the war against Iraqi farmers and the future of agriculture.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;April 26 (2004) marks the fifth anniversary of the issuing and signing of Order 81 (see full text below) by Paul Bremer, the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) who was appointed in 2003.Order 81 gives full rights to American agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto to control the future of Iraqi seeds and agriculture, prohibits Iraqi farmers from reusing their traditional seeds and forces them to buy seeds and Agricultural material from USA companies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Endorsers will participate in some or all of the following:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;* publicize April 26 as an International Seeds Day (beginning on March 23) on the Internet, via email, postage mail and/or in their events.* organize teach-ins or any other event they see fit on April 26 to educate about patent seeds, the future of agriculture, terminator seeds technology and Order 81* help publicize the International Seeds Day (ISD) through alternative and mainstream media as well as post the list of events taken place on April 26 worldwide beginning on March 31 through alternative and mainstream media on Internet, distribute via emails and announce in public events.We greatly appreciate your help in making ISD a worldwide success.Cordially,Richard SullivanInstitute of&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Near Eastern &amp;amp; African Studies (INEAS)&lt;br /&gt;P.O. Box 425125&lt;br /&gt;Cambridge, MA. 02142 USA&lt;br /&gt;Tel: 1 (617) 86-INEAS (864-6327)&lt;br /&gt;Website: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a title="http://www.ineas.org/" target="_blank" href="http://www.ineas.org/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;http://www.ineas.org/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;* Order 81- Full text:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a title="http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2004/Iraq-Plant-Variety-Law26apr04.htm" target="_blank" href="http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2004/Iraq-Plant-Variety-Law26apr04.htm"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2004/Iraq-Plant-Variety-Law26apr04.htm&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-975716833385218203?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/975716833385218203'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/975716833385218203'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/04/seed-it.html' title='Seed it'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-457608389750684113</id><published>2009-03-28T20:18:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2009-03-28T20:21:04.421+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Shish Kebab Ministries!</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;When Firas walked into the passport department to apply for a new passport they told him that he needed to pay 700 US dollars to process his application. When he argued that this amount was much higher than the normal renewal passport fees he was told that the fees are not fixed! On his way out someone told him that he ought to try the Shish Kebab man that serves Kebab near the front gate!! When Firas spoke with the Shish Kebab man – out of shear joke- about assisting in getting the passport renewed, the Kebab man took the paper work and went inside; 10 minutes later he walked out with the passport papers stamped for a mere 550 US dollars!! The Shish Kebab man at the front gate has special discount rates for passport renewal!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another friend had finally had his home door bell rung by the municipality – after 5 weeks of complain. He was waiting for a new cable to be installed from a government-owned, neighborhood generator to his house. None of the cable was going to be within his house premises. The electrician charged him for the cables, for the labor, and for the tools fees a (depreciation of using the tools!!) and when our friend argued why he would pay for something which is considered a government property, the electrician told him that the government property was people’s property too!! Of course, by then our friend was not much surprised because he had only managed to get a municipality electrician come to his house when the tea-man - who serves tea at the front gate of the Water and Electricity Department, helped in getting him a municipality electrician sent to his house for a small fee of 10 dollars!!! – Our friend waited for more than 5 weeks when he tried to get the municipality attention on his own which was proven to be futile. The tea man, conversely, has his saying at the Water and Electricity Department!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few months back a private contractor barged into our ex-neighborhood with his equipment and paved the entire derelict streets and later disappeared, which we thought it called for a big applause. A few days later the streets were all flooded!! The contractor, while paving the streets, buried the entire sewerage system!!! 4 weeks later another contractor began digging a new sewerage system and the work was left unfinished until today!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Those examples are not unique; these are the daily Best Practices of our newly re-born country.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-457608389750684113?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/457608389750684113'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/457608389750684113'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/03/shish-kebab-ministries.html' title='Shish Kebab Ministries!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6154887480958064702</id><published>2009-03-11T18:15:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2009-03-11T18:20:52.189+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Things are screwed up anew, and guess who is calling back?!</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;One well-respected businessman was killed in Al Mansour district two weeks ago in a car bomb that meant to kill the head of the interior ministry – south region. A car bomb in Al Karada claimed the live of a loved teacher and children are again being the victim of kidnapping in Al Dawadie area. The madness returns in the aftermath of the elections and the announcement of Obama’s ‘reasonable’ withdraw from Iraq.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The latest news of Ezzat Al Douri’s (Saddam’s vice president) open letter to the ex-Baathists army officers (24000 nos. of which 9000 nos. of highly paid) to heed to Al Maliki’s call to return to their previous jobs is a living proof that a plan is under way to strengthen the Baathists. This plan will rely solely on the out come of Obama’s direct talk with the Mullas of Iran.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ezzat’s letter also calls for the university professors and the obsolete Baathists students union to “report back to duty!” in the new Iraq and to take part in the ever crystallizing scheme of ‘prevalence’.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The green zone soon will no longer exist as such and the American embassy will be the sole symbol of the invasion power in the capital. Everything is moving at a “double cheese whopper” speed of pickles. One interrupter for the invaders is given a gun to protect himself! He told us “the fucking Americans are throwing in the towel!” Another fat cat that works inside the US embassy and lives in the green zone has no idea of wtf is going on in the city… like living in a Trobriand land.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“The Baathists are coming back” one professor said. “We need to build it up from the core; this is our way of doing business”!!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6154887480958064702?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6154887480958064702'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6154887480958064702'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/03/things-are-screwed-up-anew-and-guess.html' title='Things are screwed up anew, and guess who is calling back?!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4591603648907003929</id><published>2009-03-05T18:27:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2009-03-05T18:32:19.194+03:00</updated><title type='text'>like white, like black!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Sa_vlgxq8HI/AAAAAAAAAag/u8NBJ1vf3MY/s1600-h/medium_obama-mccain.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 273px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309725913425571954" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Sa_vlgxq8HI/AAAAAAAAAag/u8NBJ1vf3MY/s400/medium_obama-mccain.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;strong&gt;- Hey, Macain. I’m borrowing this Baathists contacts dossier for a couple of days; I need to take some notes down!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;- Any time big brotha!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4591603648907003929?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4591603648907003929'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4591603648907003929'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/03/hey-macain.html' title='like white, like black!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Sa_vlgxq8HI/AAAAAAAAAag/u8NBJ1vf3MY/s72-c/medium_obama-mccain.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1054128980345038567</id><published>2009-02-13T09:01:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2009-02-14T20:23:53.925+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Fatoma goes to Hollywood</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Fatma or Fatoma when she’s pampered, is an average stature of a woman that never managed to surpass her high school level. When she moved down the road from our house she was already married to a man 27 years her senior while she was only 20 years old. Fatoma gave birth to 3 children and as the days went by she sort of become the macho of her family - driving the family car, quite fast; doing the grocery shopping, running errands, and looking after her children in some what precarious way. Along the years she gained her fame for being a bit loose and one day a friend told me Fatma got her self a boyfriend, during which she got pregnant with her 4th child (a son)– not to insinuate infidelity here, but people did talk about it. Fatma’s loud voice and her driving style were quite unique and recognized by everyone in the neighborhood.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After her husband’s death she turned the house garage into a candy shop to make an extra living. Before the fall of Baghdad Fatma’s children were already married and moved out except for her son. After the fall we heard Fatma moved to Nasriya and the empty house was occupied by barking dogs and a few strange men. But beginning of 2008 Fattma moved back. When I retuned to Baghdad for a few days she saw me and she looked quite joyful. She wore a veil that was a bit pushed back to show the rather cheap henna color of her hair, and she told me ‘Khaloudi (Khalid), your hair cut is nice and look like those ‘Emrikkan’ (American) soldiers and like in Hoolie-ood (Hollywood) films. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;she talked about how things are getting better in terms of security but she added that there is neither electricity nor water, but she insisted that the security is very good but the generator in the neighborhood was broken for 10 days without getting it fixed because the services are very bad. She told me her children stopped sending her money and the kilos of tomatoes are very expensive now yet the security is good at the supermarket. While she complained about how corrupt the government employees are and how she would throw the electricity bills at their faces and never pay it out she simultaneously praised the government, again, for the security and for the pay raise her sister got for teaching at some elementary school. She says that the government is doing its best but the people are dishonest and futile, especially the young people. She asked me if I went to Hoolie-ood when I was in Emrikh (America), and she told me her daughter had filed for asylum to go to Emrikh while she is in Amman where “the Jordanians – sons of bluffers, are giving her hard time.” She said “Khaloodi now we have voting not like before, Saddam never cared about voting, but this Gawad (pimp) Al Hakim promised to kill people if not elected.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I remember once Fatma said that when you break an Iranian bones you find shit! And today Fatma is exercising her right to become a neighborhood representative for Iyad Alawi’s constituency. Every day we found her at her house doorsteps distributing Dishdash (Arabic long white dress) and children toys to the poor to win their hearts! She told me Iyad Alawi is a nice man and will help the people and I wondered how did Alawi managed to recruit a person like Fatma. Before I excused myself she told me ‘Khalid, “will you go to Hoolie-ood again?’ and I replied “no, perhaps you Fatma should go there” and she felt quite happy about it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The next day when I left to the airport we drove pass her house and heard some funny music amplified from a little radio next to Iyad Alawi’s picture on the front gate, and Fatma busily passing out Deshdash and other items to a few passersby. I contemplated for a moment and whispered to my ears: Fatoma goes to Hoolie-ood! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1054128980345038567?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1054128980345038567'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1054128980345038567'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/02/fattoma-goes-to-hollywood.html' title='Fatoma goes to Hollywood'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1616409496859882263</id><published>2009-01-30T18:01:00.004+03:00</published><updated>2009-01-30T19:14:46.782+03:00</updated><title type='text'>The vile proxy of opportunism</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Over the years the fire that fueled the Iraqis with the first day of the fall of Baghdad, crowds poured in thousands of mercenaries jihadists in this unhappy country to slaughter children, women and the elderly. Large crowds of well-trained, driven to death bravely and uninterrupted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As it was the flow in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation - short dishdash With fully bearded faces, and with unprecedented pulse to kill! They Set up small settlements, and began to kill people from all walks of life and pursued the women and children. They demolished mosques and shrines, and set a sectarian sedition. Behind these men stood long line of doctoral degrees in science and jurisprudence in Sharia to support such course of action, and because of them and with their presence, however glorious, to consolidate the U.S. presence has become even lesser of two evils for the Iraqis, the defenseless Iraqis.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While the fire flared up Gaza the Fatwa from the men of religion disappeared and became ever mute!! The Zionist were killing the Palestinian loved ones and their children were exposed to white phosphorous rockets and death under the rubble of their homes as the rockets hunting ambulances and paramedics… Praise God, Where was the Victorious Sect of Takfiris call for Jihad disappeared?! (…)The reality of the situation and the perceived tangible evidence of the tragic Gaza confirmed that each of the core Takfiris are no more than brokers and dealers of sedition, they disappear completely from the view along with their Dishdash and their bearded faces and pass into oblivious swiftly over the cloud… they do it like the pimps and the black markets traders do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(…)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our dear men of religions are merely brokers and professional contractors for the few American-led Arab political regimes, where they have been regurgitated and sheltered, and millions of Dollars have been spent on. We can even find them amongst the big names of journalists too, being under the whip of the religion-house of America. Orders are led by the Americans to those who fought in Afghanistan wars, were being recruited to kill Iraqis or to comply with the Algerian government, pursued the Christians in Egypt, Shiites and Bahais, and they killed Russian children and terrorized the Chinese yet they gave a blind eye when the Arabs shook hands with Perez of Israel, yet they simultaneously oppressed Arab freedom – women cannot drive cars, girls at the age of 10 can be forced to marriages, killing the Arabs – just as the Israelis do, for variety of reasons and then all of the sudden they disappear!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(…)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If this war were amongst the Arabs you would have seen the Takfiris like one sound word full of Fatwas, permitting the killings of Arab brothers and sisters!&lt;br /&gt;Our dear men of religion are tools in the hands of that superpower, they are tools of destruction and misrepresentation, they are tools of distortion and death… for God sakes, from which disgrace orifice you have risen?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;written by Kamel Al Sadoon&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1616409496859882263?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1616409496859882263'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1616409496859882263'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2009/01/vile-proxy-of-opportunism.html' title='The vile proxy of opportunism'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4442218720547087663</id><published>2008-10-17T17:34:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2008-10-18T07:56:16.131+03:00</updated><title type='text'>News from Khandhar and Obama’s Whitehouse birth.</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BC-&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When I met Dirk, a 50 year old Canadian contractor based on a Canadian base in Khandhar, on my recent visit to an Arabian Gulf state I immediately realized that he was one of those straight-shoot-talker yet soft-ignoramus North American citizens. Dirk said he was a Canadian officer for many years and who ‘proudly served his country for a good cause’. He also has spoken in lengths about his Afro-American ancestral pursue for freedom in Canada. Dirk is doing a classified work for the Canadian government in Afghanistan that goes beyond the Afghan border!! as he says. And he is quite convinced that only good western education can make the war winnable over there but the plan for the near future is quite different! But I was quite surprised when he admitted that they (the western world) had created Al Qaeda during the Soviet era!! Dirk never figured out that I was Iraqi because perhaps I have no middle-eastern accent and he presumed I was Romanian :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dirk said (over a 3rd pint of beer) that the NATO is amassing a major army and military hardware for the next year push into the mountains of Afghanistan. He says that Obama! has already assured the Pentagon that next year will be a decisive year in Afghanistan and Obama is planning to keep a skeleton army and mighty air force in Iraq (which is a country in a mess but OK! according to Dirk) and turn things over to the Iraqis while concentrating on winning the final battle against the Taliban. Moreover, he says Iran’s nuclear reactor will be demolished within two years via a covert NATO orchestrated air strike if Ahmadinejad remains in power. Dirk says the Canadian were also quite pissed off with Russia’s stupid role in Georgia which shows that Russia is turning into a Nazi state!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Regardless of Dirk’s gibberish my concern was the piece about Iraq. Two weeks ago someone whom we know that works in a very sensitive department of the current Iraqi government, advised me to permanently move to Jordan because things may turn quite ugly and severely nasty within the next couple of months. And when we told him why things might go worse he said there will be lots of changes yet with little support from the Americans which will have major impact on every political platform&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;looking at it from the 50th floor it looks though when Obama starts his presidency wars will never seem to subside, and that this man will inherit the legacy of his country’s culture-wars, which will bear no end in sight for our open wounds.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4442218720547087663?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4442218720547087663'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4442218720547087663'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/10/news-from-khandhar-and-obamas.html' title='News from Khandhar and Obama’s Whitehouse birth.'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-174529336166187352</id><published>2008-09-26T20:31:00.010+03:00</published><updated>2008-10-04T09:36:53.190+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Fedayeen Patraeus chew each other off and spit out the Iraqi people</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;BC-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;When the ex-head of the American Junta in Iraq – Patraeus, commenced a trend in late 2006 of recruiting Al Qaeda &amp;amp; Takfiris personnel (Sahwa insurgents) to serve the Junta cause in our country, he in fact copied-paste some of those Blue Prints that are sitting in one of these darkest vaults of mankind, which were the basis for the lovely modern days of Afghanistan&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For a year and a half Patraeus enlisted and engaged hundreds of heedful Al Qaeda members and sat with heads of Baathists in &lt;?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and in neighboring countries (where Baathists are giving demographic-embodiment assistance like in &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Bahrain&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;) to counterweight &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;’s emphatic role that caused the deaths of hundreds of invaders in our streets. The result was a lull in the armed confrontations until further notice. But what happened in parallel is that Patraeus has re-paved the channels with the Islamic extremists and legitimized their function as proxy-alternative power in the region. As a result, the Takfiris had regained their self-confidence and have found a larger room to maneuver, while the rhetoric of the war on the Islamic terrorists was softened down to war on a ‘generic’ terror and we, also, rarely hear about the patriotic &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Guantanamo&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; prison as we used to&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, when the state department (of the USA) opted for a rerun episode of the Twilight Zone with the Mullas of Iran – sitting cordially prior to the general elections, the outcome was to pull the plug off for the Sahwa and in return the Mullas would force Muqtada to subdue the Mahdi army on a call-off contract basis&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Today the violence has reignited – Adamiya and Karada are a living example of obtuse future and gloomy days to come. Al Sahwa are tearing into each others flesh since their dictator (Patraeus) was relocated, and most likely a provisional Hekmatyar-oriented lords are emerging to confront their archrival foes, the Mullas-backed government in Iraq&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The next president of the invaders will have to realize that in &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; there are three ways to go: the Baathists’ tribal way, the Mullas way or the highway&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-174529336166187352?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/174529336166187352'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/174529336166187352'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/09/fedayeen-patraeus-chew-each-other-off.html' title='Fedayeen Patraeus chew each other off and spit out the Iraqi people'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-9037199925988167271</id><published>2008-08-17T15:09:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2008-08-17T15:11:57.433+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SKgVd1wMZtI/AAAAAAAAASA/muUrwhPh2vg/s1600-h/GetAttachment.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 427px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SKgVd1wMZtI/AAAAAAAAASA/muUrwhPh2vg/s400/GetAttachment.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235458169207809746" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SKgVFssgp1I/AAAAAAAAAR4/rIcWAqsmMoc/s1600-h/GetAttachment.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-9037199925988167271?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9037199925988167271'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9037199925988167271'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SKgVd1wMZtI/AAAAAAAAASA/muUrwhPh2vg/s72-c/GetAttachment.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7627006470599239482</id><published>2008-08-02T16:42:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2008-08-02T16:46:11.975+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Don't come back, it’s far from over - if ever! </title><content type='html'>&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;BC-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;If there is one reason for the American regime to never succeed in Iraq it would be for adopting Saddam's modus operandi to stay in power. One high ranked employee in the green zone has informed us that the regime has guaranteed the Sahwa (Qaeda) a decisive role after the November elections, the Shiite and the Iranians a similar decisive role after the November elections (remember the hostages deal - 1979?!) and the Kurds for full fledged autonomy after the November elections, and none of the above can be achieved without eliminating one another – a way that Saddam had pioneered long before the screw-face Bush is trying to achieve for his republican party. And the issue here is not about democracy, it is about the death rate of the American Junta in Iraq.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;The other day we had a call from a business man to meet in his offices to discuss a tender for supplies of industrial equipment for a government sector. We drove the car in sweltering heat the distance of roughly 10 kilometers, and literally there was a military check point at every 300 to 500 meters!! In derelict, filthy roads full of cars and low-life pathetic looking people - It was sickening. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;By the time we got to his home-office we already forgotten the objective of our trip. Prior to talking about the tender – totaling USD 4.5 Mil our business associate began to talk about the certain gifts that we should pay the ministry employees, the bank employees, the logistic handlers and a few extra men – based on sects, that totaled more than 350 thousands US dollars and prior to bidding!!!&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;This is an absolute mortal circus when compared with the years of Saddam. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Later the business associate began to talk about the security situation and how the Iraqi resistance can turn things into flaming hell in matter of hours but the orders now is to play politics and for a few months!! How on earth one could do business if hell can be ascended in a few hours?!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Conversely for those who have clinched the regime confidences are simply having a ball – for the moment. The Iraqi resistance have been bribed, Al Qaeda is back to be America's ghost ally and the Iranians Mullas are, as always, the Sultans of the swings.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;For those Iraqis who are in foreign countries and have a slight hope for a job opportunity or a vague form of decent life we recommend that you do not even think of coming back for a long, long time. If you ever want to venture back then come as a foreign subject, perchance you will have the luxury to dream of a better life for the Iraqis before your outbound flight. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7627006470599239482?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7627006470599239482'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7627006470599239482'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/08/dont-come-back-its-far-from-over-if.html' title='Don&apos;t come back, it’s far from over - if ever! '/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1912718881177193717</id><published>2008-07-19T13:51:00.005+03:00</published><updated>2008-10-04T09:37:51.714+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormal" align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;&lt;a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7515104.stm"&gt;Fellatio&lt;/a&gt; session in progress&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1912718881177193717?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1912718881177193717'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1912718881177193717'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/07/fellatio-session-in-progress.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5119213001617812129</id><published>2008-07-14T14:39:00.004+03:00</published><updated>2008-09-13T20:12:45.356+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Qaeda Lite</title><content type='html'>&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-priority:99; 	mso-style-qformat:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin-top:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-right:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	mso-para-margin-left:0cm; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;BC&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;Today Baghdadis are much better off than 1 year ago in terms of security and thanks to Al-Qaeda ‘Lite’ in Hai Al Jamiya, AL-Doura, Al-Ghazaliya, Al-Daoudie, Hai Al-Addel and of course Al Adamiya, and also special thanks to the Iranians that made the aforementioned possible by forcing the US regime in Iraq to negotiate a tentative settlement with the Baathists and Al Qaeda (Lite) in order to one-voice talk to the Iraqi government with regards to the alliance pact. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;We are quite delighted that we are no longer worried about the daily security situation in many parts of Fort Baghdad and until 10pm (when the night gangsters begin to roam the city!) The current security status gives us ample freedom to go shopping, eat out at restaurants, visit our relatives (not quite freely for some areas where only women are preferred to venture into, like AL-Ghazaliya &amp;amp; Hai Al Jamiya). Also, we are grateful to the fact that no ID is being asked for when crossing between neighbourhoods, yet men have to be quite aware that going to some areas like Adamiya, Hai Al-Addel or Al Huriya will still require sect IDs and preferably avoid going there period. Nonetheless, it is wonderful to feel that no more daily car bombs or suicide bombers are in the streets. Everyone seems to abide by the law and the numbers of the unknown dead bodies have trickled or occasionally a few bodies are being truck-delivered to the authority when it is necessary!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;There are however quite a few people who cannot leave their homes at all times due to the constant threats from the different political gangsters, and still are some who are being ‘nicely’ asked to relocate or not to work with unfavoured sect partners. Al Karada is quite happening and even alcohol can be found in some places there, thanks to the relaxed policies of Jaish Al Mahdi. Palestine street on the other hand is considered a bless (open and full of shops and people). But the side streets in general are either dirty or extremely filthy. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;The general talks nowadays are about the indecisiveness of the politicians in dealing with the invaders and also the appalling power struggle amongst all players. One thing is dead certain and that is confidence in whoever we see in the news is ZERO. We already know that future voting will only result in political alliance – favouritism, nepotism etc. rather than human efficiency in dealing with our problems. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;A few Baghdadis, out of shear hopelessness, are betting on the fact that an alliance pact with the American military rule may bring some stability and Oil companies! to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;Iraq&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt; as one friend said to me ‘we Iraqis still consider ourselves cave people’!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5119213001617812129?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5119213001617812129'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5119213001617812129'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/07/qaeda-lite.html' title='Qaeda Lite'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-583354948130104270</id><published>2008-06-27T08:20:00.004+03:00</published><updated>2008-09-13T20:15:23.066+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Columbus holly Laissez-Passer</title><content type='html'>&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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	mso-para-margin-top:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-right:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	mso-para-margin-left:0cm; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;BC-&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;For those fleeing Iraqis who are seeking a turbo entry into the US or Europe as refugees have we got some news for you? Just show up at the UN office door steps in either Jordan or Syria and tell them that you fear for your life because you have converted into Christianity, and we can assure you that in a period of two months some church, with the help of the holly spirits, will get you a granted entry without any further delays!!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;As we write this post there are 320 Iraqi Shiite families with children, waiting to be flown out of Iraq and into the US because they have been converted into Christianity by missionaries. Eric, who is one of the leading cult human-traffickers in our country, says that he would like to see his effort to finally bear its fruits. The Shiite-Christians have been converted out of pure ‘faith and dedication to Jesus Christ's command’ and not solely for their personal interests, says Eric.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Mostly from mid-southern Iraq and impoverished the Shiite families will finally find peace in the teachings of Christ, adds Eric who is a thin tall man of 37 years with fixated flat, placed smile upon thine face. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;A lady with two children has recently joined her husband in Sweden from Jordan after her husband converted into Christianity, and his church there managed to execute his wife’s entry papers in record of 30 days! Another lady we know in Syria, who has been trying to entre into the Denmark for the past 2 years is thinking to convert into Christianity so she could expedite her departure, and when I asked her if the UN would look into the matters of those Iraqis who would, for example, convert into Hinduism and if there is any Hindu temple to help them move into the US or Europe, she snapped back at me and said ‘what Hindu? This is not a religion! Hindus worship dirty cows’ and she left angrily. I got a bit sad; I like cows and I even prefer them over some people.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;So I guess it is high time for Jesus of Nazareth and low time for Mohammed the Hashemite, and for you Iraqis who happen to pass by a church, just think that ‘in name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’ can get you along, long way ;)&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Conversely, many Iraqis that travelled through Baghdad airport could not get a grasp to the reality of seeing loads of Indians, Filipinos and African workers that are travelling on Iraqi passports!! And many of us wonder how could the interior ministry issue passports to those workers that speak zero Arabic or Kurdish?! When we asked an official about this trend he said that most of those are working for the Americans (military regime) at their camps and he thinks those passports worth lots of money!!! &lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"&gt;&lt;b style="font-family: georgia;"&gt;On a different note, the capital could reasonably pass for ‘Fort Baghdad’ for the enormous amount of Iraqi armed forces in the streets, the American junta on the other hand is hardly seen anywhere around in the city. Baghdadis are talking about returning, to a slight degree, to Saddam’s days before the war in terms of some what OK security but the difference is that they see Baghdad has turned into a wreck with zero electricity in blistering summer heat, but they are ‘thankfully kissing their hands on both sides – Iraqi proverb’ for being alive.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="med1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-583354948130104270?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/583354948130104270'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/583354948130104270'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/06/columbus-holly-laissez-passer.html' title='Columbus holly Laissez-Passer'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1449120643734693516</id><published>2008-06-06T09:40:00.005+03:00</published><updated>2008-09-13T20:19:19.716+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Fissure: The Liberators Army</title><content type='html'>&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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&lt;!--  /* Font Definitions */  @font-face 	{font-family:"Cambria Math"; 	panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; 	mso-font-charset:0; 	mso-generic-font-family:roman; 	mso-font-pitch:variable; 	mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face 	{font-family:Calibri; 	panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; 	mso-font-charset:0; 	mso-generic-font-family:swiss; 	mso-font-pitch:variable; 	mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}  /* Style Definitions */  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal 	{mso-style-unhide:no; 	mso-style-qformat:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	margin-top:0cm; 	margin-right:0cm; 	margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	margin-left:0cm; 	text-align:right; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	direction:rtl; 	unicode-bidi:embed; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; 	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault 	{mso-style-type:export-only; 	mso-default-props:yes; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; 	mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault 	{mso-style-type:export-only; 	margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	line-height:115%;} @page Section1 	{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; 	margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; 	mso-header-margin:36.0pt; 	mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; 	mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 	{page:Section1;} --&gt; &lt;/style&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 10]&gt; &lt;style&gt;  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-priority:99; 	mso-style-qformat:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin-top:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-right:0cm; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	mso-para-margin-left:0cm; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;Fedayeen Petraeus (Sahwa’s Baathsits and ex-Qaeda) have confirmed that a medium-sized faction of Al Sahwa has split up and formed the Liberators Army, which according to a Sahwa spokesman of El Taji, it is an army that is made up of reborn Baathists and Saddamists!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;Since the American Junta in Iraq embraced a hand-picked Baathists and remnants of Al-Qaeda in 2006 to form Al Sahwa in order to counterweight the Shiite resistance, the Sahwa have been all along a precarious state of affairs due to its core nature. However, and as the head of the American military regime is due to depart, and the head of the invaders – Mr. Bush - time is up, the arena may appear to be wide open for more political opportunism in the months to come. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;The invaders have already warned Al Maliki that the Armageddon ‘occupation alliance pact’ that is currently under negotiation with the invaders, will be used as a political tool by his enemies if not signed soon, which may further destabilize the fragile political apparatus of the green zone, however, the formation of the Baathists Liberators Army did not come in any better time to vindicate the invaders’ argument!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;The head of the invaders seems utterly adamant to seal the occupation alliance pact prior to the official kicking-off of the American presidential campaign for 2008 &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:&amp;quot;;" &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style=""&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;"  &gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1449120643734693516?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1449120643734693516'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1449120643734693516'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/06/fissure-liberators-army.html' title='Fissure: The Liberators Army'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7254086521860957637</id><published>2008-05-16T11:54:00.006+03:00</published><updated>2008-05-16T23:02:59.764+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Thesis in death</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;" face="georgia"&gt;When Bremer (America’s version of Ali comical) chiseled off the high ranked Baathists professors at Baghdad’s Universities and kept the low-ranked Baathists cadres professors in 2003, he was trying to make sure that the waters were perfect during the universities elections, which were to be held in late 2003 as a prelude to an immanent transformation in Iraq’s higher education system, and man how dumb this Bremer was!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;" face="georgia"&gt;To brief our readers a bit, since 1980 (one year into Saddam’s absolute rule) our higher education system was revolved around a pivotal point and that is all the universities were exclusively-preferential to the Baathists, and this means that all those who were engaged in the services for university education were forced into membership of the Baath party. The universities then contained the largest leading Baath bloc, which controlled the entire students and universities professors in order to prevent the infiltration of any unwanted political trends that could challenge the regime. The Baath party cadres always considered the university a priority because it is a driving force to embolden thousands of educated youths and professors alike; therefore, joining the Baath cadres was mandatory. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;The party organization of &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;’s universities was considered a formidable power that arranged scholarships to each and every high ranked Baath cadre, to mainly countries of &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Eastern Europe&lt;/st1:place&gt; to acquire higher education in primarily humanities – non-scientific or MD degrees. The professors for national political science (specialty in Baath core philosophies) – a mandatory course for all university students regardless, received the lion share for overseas scholarships. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;Back to our topic, the common denominator for the aforesaid Bremer’s elections was communication, and it happened that the English language was a primary factor because it is simply our invaders native tongue. Those Iraqi professors (mainly US and UK graduates) who participated in the elections and had a better command of the English language found the process rather smooth, and they even excelled positively when they mingled with the occupiers admin apparatus; however, the majority of Iraqi professors speak modest English, which could not permit them to understand some intricate details of the new democratic practice. When the elections were over they marked the commencement of the campaign for systematic extermination of our professors.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;The thesis was to eliminate all those professors who can ‘talk’ to the occupiers or have had a taste of the invaders cultures (the Angelo-American culture). When the Baathists resistance gathered momentum, the high ranked Baathist professors (whom over night turned to skid row) took the advantage of the situation and helped in the elimination process (coordination), with the help of existing low-ranked, Baathists professors of non-western affiliation (regardless of sects), rouge students and hire-to-kill thugs. A study conducted by Dr. Ismail Galilee - an ophthalmologist working in &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;England&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, demonstrates that the larger portion of the academics that have been targeted as per departments were the pure science, engineering and medicine, and those disciplines were often acquired in western universities.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;The bleeding wound was later ramified when the militias war began in 2006 and the extermination turned sectarian – when Shiites death militias kicked into the killing spree. Which lasted until the end of that year, exactly when Fedayeen Petraeus (Sahwa: Baathists resistances and ex-Qaeda) were officially formed! By then the campaign for killing professors had subsided and became selective, but still going.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;The process of the extermination is a modus operandi that relies on killers cells catering to professors/districts/regions that mediate in between – similar to a GPS, to encircle chosen victims. One major meeting for those cells was once held in late 2004 in a public Turkish bath in 14th &lt;st1:street st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:address st="on"&gt;Ramadan Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:street&gt;. &lt;span style="font-size:0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;The Sistani office has recently conducted a study on this subject and found that 62% of the academics that have been murdered were graduates of science and MD from western universities, and perhaps the remaining 48% would include heads of departments, deans, and directors of research centers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The outcome of this genocide was that most high-ranked expelled Baathists professors (members of the party, members of a division and leaders of groups) were either spared of the violence and later re-instated by the American military regime through reintegration into private universities, or taken overseas to work in neighboring countries.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;Currently there is an orientation for a plan for a Baath Party branch to return to the control of the universities by the means of establishing party cells within the newly formed legal Baath party, especially since quite a few Baathists professors are still working at the universities. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;Also, we should mention that a small number of former officials of the Baath party in the universities had been killed, but their numbers are low compared to the majority who were assassinated, and did not activily engage in any political activities within the university at the time of the Baath rule. &lt;span style="font-size:0;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7254086521860957637?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7254086521860957637'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7254086521860957637'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/05/bc-when-bremer-americas-version-of-ali.html' title='Thesis in death'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3810839867907843972</id><published>2008-05-03T09:20:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2008-05-07T16:41:57.789+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SCGxQhqk0MI/AAAAAAAAARw/B49EQsMwUIs/s1600-h/wtf.png"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SCGxQhqk0MI/AAAAAAAAARw/B49EQsMwUIs/s400/wtf.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197630342435229890" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Bush: Global food prices have gone up because the Indians now eat more food!!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SCGxQBqk0LI/AAAAAAAAARo/P9tYVY4Sm50/s1600-h/simpsons-doh-postcard.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SCGxQBqk0LI/AAAAAAAAARo/P9tYVY4Sm50/s400/simpsons-doh-postcard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197630333845295282" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SBwEYFQWgPI/AAAAAAAAARg/dqDLDxTO3Yc/s1600-h/Joe-isuzu.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3810839867907843972?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3810839867907843972'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3810839867907843972'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/SCGxQhqk0MI/AAAAAAAAARw/B49EQsMwUIs/s72-c/wtf.png' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-681815804379924681</id><published>2008-04-29T17:21:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2008-04-30T07:39:22.432+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Green Zone Watch – today!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;As we write this post the Green Zone has been hit with a 9&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; rocket today alone. Yesterday a 4X4 wheel in the green zone received a direct hit and all four people inside the car perished. The American military regime knows that the source of those rockets is Al Thawra (Sadr) city but they hope that with time Al Mahdi army will run out of weapons! due to the water-tight ongoing siege around Al Thawra.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;One senior state department invader in the GZ is reported to have lost his temper and vowed to crush the Sadrists even if takes brining Saddam back from his tomb to rule the country! Everyone inside the GZ is blaming &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; for the staunch Shiite resistance, whereas the numbers of assassinations in both Shiite and Sunni areas have doubled in recent days - similar to those figures in late 2006.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-681815804379924681?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/681815804379924681'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/681815804379924681'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/04/green-zone-watch-today.html' title='Green Zone Watch – today!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4586099195443992327</id><published>2008-04-24T15:54:00.009+03:00</published><updated>2008-04-26T08:37:45.296+03:00</updated><title type='text'>A gypsy’s power-phobia</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;st1:state st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:State&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Mayada Al Askari, the current free lance political columnist for &lt;u&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.gulfnews.com/home"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/u&gt; Dubai-based publication (the primary mouth piece and statistics provider for the US in the middle east), is the grand daughter (mother-side) of Sat’a El Husari - the prominent Sunni-Turkmen political figure of the early 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; century, that spoke zero Arabic until the age of 40!, and which the British invaders at that epoch borrowed from the Turks to help set up the sectarian divisional process of our country for many generations to come. Her father-side grandfather was a well-known, powerful politician during &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;’s kingdom era, who was first to conjure up expelling all Iraqi Shiites to &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;! In her teen life Mayada was the doll of a young man whom later bragged about his high level position in Saddam’s secret service agency. She was that man’s butterfly at all times when seen, in a cute bikini, with him and her sister at the pool of a posh private club near Al- Fardous square, indulging on teens’ most precious feeling: first love.&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;During Saddam’s rule Mayada could not be anywhere but quite closer to the regime circle (which was at its highest bloody peak) and was given the luxury to take a few nips into what was collaged then behind the stage. She also maintained a ‘favorable’ relationship with Ali (the chemical). She managed to open a printing shop in Al Thawra city (Sadr) and traveled to the southern tip of &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;’s marshland with her Shiite husband, boasting making basic bio-fuel from animals pooh. However, she &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;later found herself entangled in unnecessary matter (re-printing of a banned paper back of Shiite teachings written in Najaf) that got her thrown in behind bars for some times, during which she claims that she was tortured and kept in one of mankind’s darkest quarters of life (according to this &lt;u&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mayada-Daughter-Iraq-Survival-Hussein/dp/0451212924"&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/u&gt;. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;two years after the arrival of the American military dictators Mayada benchmarked herself as the outspoken proponent of the invasion, and landed on a part time job with the aforementioned publication so she could be utilized as some kind of local produced energy drink ready to be gulped down for any signs of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;political fatigue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;poor battle-field digestions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;daily Baghdad aches and pains&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Her writing in Arabic is a combo jumbo of yellow journalism and low–life, poor taste jargons for what she deems a satirical critique at par. And in short time – and perhaps by default, she became Petraeus’s closest Iraqi female friend ever!, which bestowed on her the center stage seat for the entire sordid circus show, from accompanying Petraeus on air trips to various rogue zones in Iraq to being present at the military operation headquarter in Basra when Iraqis were killing each other, while she was listening to on-the-hour updates amongst Al-Maliki’s newly adopted Baathists colonels, whom she considers ascendants of Alexander’s ancestral linage.&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Today Mayada, covered head to toes as Shiite, is living a lavish life style in Dubai, and enjoying what she was born into, raised and lived through - and always tried her best to cling onto, and that is power, which is the most primitive objective mankind has ever realized. She is a victim of absolute-power abuse since child hood, and whenever she detects a little of power-withdrawal within her mishmash gypsy life she tries harder to full up the vacuum by clinging even closer to those who resemble the most supreme power of the moment, regardless of ideologies and ancestral laws.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4586099195443992327?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4586099195443992327'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4586099195443992327'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/04/gypsys-power-phobia.html' title='A gypsy’s power-phobia'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-166534906180879162</id><published>2008-04-01T13:19:00.006+03:00</published><updated>2008-04-29T17:23:12.763+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Tactique Habibi!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;BC -&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;    &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;“It’s a tactic, buddy” this was Muqtada’s reply in his latest interview with Al Jazeera when asked about the latest development in Basra, so was Saddam’s reply in Saudi Arabia before he started the war with Iran in 1981, when one of Brejencsski’s aids asked him “could you guarantee that your people in the south would not side with Iran against you?” Saddam replied “my people are Shiites Arabs and not Shiites Iranians” as he was referring to his close alliance with one of Al Sadr’s uncles, Mohammed Al Sadr, which Saddam considered him then a key political Arab ally and the rightful religious leader for the Shiites in the south at that epoch, and before Saddam extermination of a large portion of the Sadr family.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mohd. Al Sadr was also the sole responsible for the Hawza, and a potential recruiter for the thousands of non- Iranian back ground Iraqis in Nejef and Karbala for the two universities of the Imams in the south, which used to spew out fresh graduates every year that majored in the holy Shiaism teachings. Mohd. Al Sadr’s role had tremendously angered the Iranians in &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; at that time, and he was constantly under suspicion from the Ayatollahs due to his favored associations with Saddam and with Saddam’s allies then - the American state department. It is reported that Saddam had once joked with the little boy Muqtada Al Sadr when accompanied by his uncle.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When the American military regime and its forces in &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; toppled Saddam’s government in 2003 Al Sadr city (Thawra) was a favorite zone for the invaders and both political agendas – that of the American regime and of Al Sadrists were in correlate lines, a trend which lasted way after the dissolving of the Iraqi army. It was Bremer’s move to bring in the Iranian-based Al-Dawa that prompted the Sadrits change in directions, which witnessed the formation of the Mahdi Army and the commencement of the Mahdi armed resistance against the invaders. That Shiite resistance was hailed by the Baathists resistance for a while, but when the Pentagon (advised by the insolent Iyad Alawi) wrecked Al Falluja city the coast was set clear for a head-on collision course between the Jihadists (anti-Baathists) and the Sadrists. Conversely, the American regime pressed ahead for establishing of Al-Badar’s death Militias until they could reconstruct the Iraqi army, which proven to be a living task-failure for eternity.&lt;/p&gt;        &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;2006 witnessed the official rise of the Takfiris (Qaeda) power and the inevitable militia wars, which was mistakenly and intentionally referred to by most western media as a sect-based war. These kinds of wars are typical pre-Islamic types - Kur &amp;amp; Fur, attack and retreat that in most incidents is taken advantage of by all warring parties to settle scores over a short period of time. Take for instance Mr. Al Hashimi’s Sahwa faction and his Saladin brigade. When last week the American tyrants were heavily bombing Al Sadr city and adjacent areas to the &lt;st1:street st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:address st="on"&gt;Palestine   Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:street&gt;, Al Badar death Militia had sealed off and imposed a curfew in Al Jadriya and Al Karada. But for a divine miracle Al Hashimi’s (vice president) Sahwa found a way in and settled scores with another minor Sahwa faction, and later blamed the Sadrists for it!. Two days after Al Hashimi’s venture his house received a direct mortar hit from a fellow Sahwa in retaliation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is how today’s Iraq ushers the Iraq War 2 period, and while the American military regime’s sole dilemma is how to turn Al Maliki-Talibani-Hakim into oligarchy that looks after the invaders interests in Iraq in return for the safety of the formers’ lives, other Iraqi innocent lives are being lost everyday because it is simply a “Tactique Habibi”!!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-166534906180879162?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/166534906180879162'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/166534906180879162'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/04/tactique-habibi.html' title='Tactique Habibi!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7033763034254893142</id><published>2008-03-28T16:41:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2008-03-28T16:47:44.804+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R-z24Mdt3OI/AAAAAAAAARY/ic5Qdkf3ntI/s1600-h/Basra.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R-z24Mdt3OI/AAAAAAAAARY/ic5Qdkf3ntI/s400/Basra.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182788716475571426" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7033763034254893142?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7033763034254893142'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7033763034254893142'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post_28.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R-z24Mdt3OI/AAAAAAAAARY/ic5Qdkf3ntI/s72-c/Basra.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7583184830531232293</id><published>2008-03-21T00:57:00.012+03:00</published><updated>2008-05-01T00:52:37.905+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Raghad’s fit fits a Zara Spring outfit</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="article" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Last week Raghad Hussein, that is Saddam Hussein, was in a shopping spree mood in Amman, Jordan and was trying out a fashion ensemble at Zara store - City Mall, before reportedly storming out half-way through after she thought that two Iraqi ladies were malignantly and profusely gawking at her. Her incense and hissy fit was amplified with some wicked remarks directed towards the other ladies:&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;“I could crush your skull with my shoe, people your type must always be kept under my shoe heel!!” What made the matter worse is that the ladies angrily reacted and directly asked Raghad: “Who are you, do we know you?!” mercy!! “How could anyone not recognize Reghad Hussein?!” Reghad’s women entourage responded. The episode prompted one of her body guards (who claimed to be a Jordanian secrete service agent) to barge right into the ladies fitting room and harassed the Iraqi ladies by ordering them to surrender their IDs but to no avail.&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;            &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="article" style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;The two Iraqi ladies were utterly perturbed and later said everything came out of Raghad’s mouth was ‘load of nonsense’. They insist that they did not recognize the power heiress and had absolutely no idea what Reghad was talking about. The stunt was an embarrassing PR for the Zara store, which hitherto kept low profile regarding the incident.&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Lately, the Interpol fugitive wowed everyone by stepping on to the Amman avant-garde scene in a stunningly outlook, and she finds more &amp;amp; more room to roam in the Jordanian capital with here full-count entourage and her thick-necked, celeb-style bodyguards, unaccompanied by Saddam’s grandchildren.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7583184830531232293?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7583184830531232293'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7583184830531232293'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/03/raghads-fit-fits-zara-spring-outfit.html' title='Raghad’s fit fits a Zara Spring outfit'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7601152407111660661</id><published>2008-03-15T00:37:00.005+03:00</published><updated>2008-03-16T00:09:48.201+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Ahmadi’s visit unleashes Fedayeen Petraeus fury</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Since AhmadiNejad’s visit to our capital two weeks ago more than 20 houses in both Saidiyat and El Dura alone have been burned down by Fedayeen Petraeus (so called Al-Sahwa) for sectarian reasons. The latest havoc is a series of repercussions to broken promises by the American military regime to put an end to the Iranian influence in Iraq. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The so called Quds Brigade – the Iranian backed resistance, have been beefed up while the crack amongst the resistance in the western region has been widen up to Iran’s advantage. This latest development has marked the end of the interlude between Ex-Al Qaeda and Petraeus, which will linger in history as an indelible smutty spot for a generation to come.&lt;span style=""&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Conversely, Bush’s sole and remaining gambling card is to level down Iran’s nuclear sites in order to retain the precarious allegiance of both the adverse western forces and ex-Al Qaeda until the end of his term; moreover, with the Oil and Gold prices are skyrocketing (the damage is already done) Bush seems to have nothing to lose for a quick phallic attack against Iran even if it meant to risk what ever left of the US dollar value. One thing is certain and that is Bush is quite adamant to live up to his legacy for being a great disparaging transformer that the Mesopotamia has ever encountered since the invasion of the Mongols.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7601152407111660661?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7601152407111660661'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7601152407111660661'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/03/ahmadis-visit-unleashes-fedayeen.html' title='Ahmadi’s visit unleashes Fedayeen Petraeus fury'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-44026090466805093</id><published>2008-03-02T15:09:00.018+03:00</published><updated>2008-03-03T00:20:03.860+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8sZyDSyqJI/AAAAAAAAARI/lg09_sCFXNI/s1600-h/bush-roid.i.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 424px; height: 226px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8sZyDSyqJI/AAAAAAAAARI/lg09_sCFXNI/s400/bush-roid.i.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173256944633424018" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-44026090466805093?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/44026090466805093'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/44026090466805093'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8sZyDSyqJI/AAAAAAAAARI/lg09_sCFXNI/s72-c/bush-roid.i.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-9198921044419400294</id><published>2008-03-01T23:16:00.004+03:00</published><updated>2008-06-20T12:54:47.824+03:00</updated><title type='text'>C'est un connard</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8m51TSyqCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/3olrZOSth74/s1600-h/olmert.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8m51TSyqCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/3olrZOSth74/s400/olmert.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172869972375021602" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-9198921044419400294?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9198921044419400294'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9198921044419400294'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/03/cest-un-connard.html' title='C&apos;est un connard'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R8m51TSyqCI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/3olrZOSth74/s72-c/olmert.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6823051463103338981</id><published>2008-02-22T16:22:00.002+03:00</published><updated>2008-02-22T19:10:41.848+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Who is for McCain? The Baathists!!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In a-never-cease-to-surprise me the Baathists are the first to champion a republican continuity in power for the USA when Bush’s time is up. And it’s all for a good cause, so they say.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;A hard-core, never-let-go Baathist, who is currently in Amman but resides in Europe, has made it wonderfully clear that the Baathists would like to see the republicans in power for another 70 years because ‘they (republicans) learned the lesson’. Iyad, who is a part-time businessman, was talking about his ideas and those of his ‘comrades who are already in power!’ about the relevance of maintaining Bush’s men around for as long as it takes due to a set of common goals!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;“They know who we are and our strength; we sat with them a few times and today I think they see Iraq’s future through our vision yet similarly &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;we understand their system” Iyad adds “I believe their army officials have finally started to listen” and he thinks that the Americans in Iraq have been on the right track since the beginning of last year “They have succeeded to garner supports and unify the warring parties; they are hailed for their master-piece policy of letting Al Qaeda tearing each other off (referring to Sahaw’s Qaeda Vs. Qaeda) And, of course, we share a common enemy and that is Iran, which is a greater threat to the entire region” Iyad boasts the Baathists role in making the aforesaid possible in every respects even to pertain of training pro-Baathists Palestinians to eliminate rouge pro-Iranians militants leaders!! In return, he praises the Americans to give the go-ahead to the Algerians in helping, with their expertise, the Baathists in fighting terror to combat the Iranian terrorists in the streets of Baghdad - the Algerian ambassador in Jordan is a key player.&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;      &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;      &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; The die-hard Baathist, however, is worried that if the democrats were elected then they would not know their way around Iraq, and a hasty withdrawal of American forces will result in Iran getting a total control of Iraq “if the Americans go don’t be surprised when you see Iranian airplanes bombing both Sunnis &amp;amp; Shiites areas alike”  Iyad is quite adamant that the Baathists will soon be back more resolute than ever and he says “the Americans are protecting our country from the Iranians just as President Saddam Hussein did, god bless his soul” ….Amen!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6823051463103338981?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6823051463103338981'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6823051463103338981'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-is-for-mccain-baathists.html' title='Who is for McCain? The Baathists!!!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1585657905740631480</id><published>2008-02-16T15:15:00.003+03:00</published><updated>2008-02-16T15:40:29.342+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Caligula</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Not long ago the American military regime in Baghdad wouldn’t have even dreamed of setting up a military base in Al Saidiyat area, which is opposite Al-Dura refinery - the strong hold of Iraqi ex-resistance and Takfiri-AL Qaeda, but since the birth of Fedayeen Petraeus (Iraqi ex-resistance and &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;renegade Al-Qaeda: so-called Sahwa) the American military regime have been able to enjoy the luxury of a medium-sized military base, in one of the most volatile areas of Baghdad to prompt a sudden surge in doggy activities in the said area such as taking over empty houses and vacating unwanted tenants, which is quite reminiscing to Al Qaeda’s techniques during the last two years. However, the only difference is the perpetrator’s name is changed. In fact, only the name is changed from Al Qaeda to Sahwa whereas the princes of wars remained the same so is the objective: is to regain the upper hand over the other death militias – like Al-Badar who they and the CIA have established not less than 15 separate operating units in &amp;amp; around Al Jadriya area, an area where Al Maliki has given authority, three months ago, to his army officers to break into any empty house they can lay their eyes on and take it up as a residence.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;One week ago a family that reside in Syria received a call to be informed that their house in Al Saidiyat area was taken by force when a Militia dressed in yellow-colored straps barged into their house while it was occupied by the family’s relatives, and took over the dwelling. When they occupants tried to stop the militias the armed men told them that they were Sahwa and they needed the house to combat Al Qaeda in the neighborhood. When the tenants tried to explain that there were no Qaeda &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;anywhere near the house and during the last two months, the armed militias snubbed back and ordered them to go and find a place where their sect belonged - The house owners are Shiites!!! &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Today the rightful owners of the house are negotiating with Al Sahwa to regain their home through a Sunni middle-man.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;I would never ever have thought that this would be the situation that I was going to write about five years on. How on earth did we end up like that, and what kind of logic and common sense do the current forces &amp;amp; players based their mandates on? They must be and have to be some bunch of sick-minded and puss filled-hearted opportunists. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;A few days ago one American military tyrant showed a tape of Iraqi children presumably being recruited by Al Qaeda, and he simultaneously justified why the American military regime is holding a few hundreds of Iraqi boys in their prison so they could correct their paths and re-introduce them back into the communities as good citizens: FLASH BACK: Saddam’s abduction of Shiite orphan children to turn them into tomorrow’s useful youths – Fedayeen Saddam, whom right after the invasion ended up in Jaish Al Mahdi! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;This is not the first time children are being stigmatized, abused and later used as tools to achieve ideologies and there are tons of examples. Remember that gigantic, pathologic lie of a Kuwaiti hospital story where Iraqi soldiers supposed to have killed babies in incubators, and it was rehashed by granddaddy Bush so he could strengthen his argument for a war; and, also, when Saddam showed up on TV, during the Kuwait invasion, being nice to children while he held their parents hostages? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Another example is when the Nicaraguan government accused America’s contra terrorists of recruiting children to wage wars on mountain villages, and even showed the caught children on TV. The American government then accused President Ortega of child abuse. But when America’s contra terrorists later dropped their weapons many of them were forced back to high schools!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-weight: bold;"&gt;Yesterday the Military regime air-bombed a presumably Qaeda-based village in Iraq, during which many children were killed; thank god for killing the children – no more collateral damage, otherwise, they could have been future Al Qaeda terrorists. Conversely, Iraq is all teeth and nails for a new Noriega in the making at the children correction facilities in Baghdad!!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-weight: bold;font-size:11;" &gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7bUF-3prRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/lPnaNahXTNc/s1600-h/mono-sh.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7bUF-3prRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/lPnaNahXTNc/s400/mono-sh.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167550821695073554" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1585657905740631480?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1585657905740631480'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1585657905740631480'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/02/caligula.html' title='Caligula'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7bUF-3prRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/lPnaNahXTNc/s72-c/mono-sh.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1561773449700110738</id><published>2008-02-13T21:58:00.005+03:00</published><updated>2008-02-13T22:02:09.888+03:00</updated><title type='text'>when she walk that walk, Boom Boom Boom!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7M-FO3prQI/AAAAAAAAAQA/78Eqi8-9mbA/s1600-h/angelina+jolie9h.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7M-FO3prQI/AAAAAAAAAQA/78Eqi8-9mbA/s400/angelina+jolie9h.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5166541457135873282" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1561773449700110738?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1561773449700110738'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1561773449700110738'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/02/when-she-walk-that-walk-boom-boom-boom.html' title='when she walk that walk, Boom Boom Boom!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R7M-FO3prQI/AAAAAAAAAQA/78Eqi8-9mbA/s72-c/angelina+jolie9h.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8858768919406218594</id><published>2008-02-02T10:38:00.002+03:00</published><updated>2008-02-16T15:18:32.723+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R6QeLmBlsHI/AAAAAAAAAP4/K9IJRPqZynQ/s1600-h/sheikh+shrek.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R6QeLmBlsHI/AAAAAAAAAP4/K9IJRPqZynQ/s400/sheikh+shrek.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162284257408036978" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8858768919406218594?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8858768919406218594'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8858768919406218594'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R6QeLmBlsHI/AAAAAAAAAP4/K9IJRPqZynQ/s72-c/sheikh+shrek.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2664068913658846681</id><published>2008-01-27T22:44:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2008-01-27T22:47:58.490+03:00</updated><title type='text'>"The Idiots have finally made Saddam’s wish come true"!!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;An Iraqi humanity professor that currently resides in Syria and whom we met recently have told us that the Idiots (MPs) have finally helped Saddam’s wish come true, when they approved a tentative Iraqi flag with missing three stars that bears solely the wording of ‘God Greatest’! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;For nearly a decade Saddam’s intention was to drop the three stars - which at certain epoch represented the Arab unity of Egypt, Syria and Iraq to form a single Arab formidable state back in the sixties - and keep ‘God Greatest’ alone. The move was to portray himself as a heaven’s gate protector for the rest of the Arab countries from any foreign aggressors like Iran. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The ‘Kurds!’ MPs were behind the latest flag change resolution :))&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2664068913658846681?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2664068913658846681'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2664068913658846681'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/01/idiots-have-finally-made-saddams-wish.html' title='&quot;The Idiots have finally made Saddam’s wish come true&quot;!!!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-9198411082116186409</id><published>2008-01-23T09:49:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2008-01-25T17:35:28.771+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Muqtada &amp; Maliki forces side by side against Iraqi Buddhists!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In yet another bizarre chapter in the puny morass swamp of Iraq, last week Al Maliki found himself fighting side by side with Jaish Al Mahdi of Al Sadr against Al-Yamani forces in the south of Iraq. This wacky turn of events demonstrates the ill-extraterrestrial reality of our southern cities, which is a direct outcome to the sudden invasion by our daft occupiers back 5 years ago.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Al Yamani (previously Ahmed Al Hasani or Al Hasan) – which we have previously spoken about him &lt;a href="http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2006/06/to-be-old-wise-one-first-needs-to-be.html"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; &amp;amp; &lt;a href="http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/02/al-malaki-and-shaman-of-zarkaban.html"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, has been brain storming a cult that gives all deep-rooted spiritual religions in Iraq the freedom to exist including the Buddhists!, which is something quite peculiar for Iraq. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Al Yamani’s new faith – based on universal, open-end Islamic values, found quite large followers in the south amongst revered intellectuals and university professors. The faith calls for momentary armed struggle for freedom to all mankind from oppression and occupation, which is an Idea that will throw the entire existence of our invaders into great jeopardy. The faith, like all other religions of books, talks about a great savior who will rise from the death to salvage humanity from all evils within us, and it is Al Mahdi. However, a Yamani spokesman refutes this paragraph and attributed to government and invaders-owned media propaganda. Conversely, the government has been playing the harp to its highest tune to amplify the absurdity of such unusual cult in our society, by flagging its hilariousness and calling it “ailing, odd &amp;amp; unconstitutional faith”.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;During Ashura of last week (and it seems always during Ashura!) Jaish Al-Mahdi Army teamed up with Al-Maliki forces in Al-Nasariya city to battle the Yamani forces and the fight was extended to south of Baghdad! Jaish Al Mahdi did not hesitate to stigmatize the Yamani followers (Shiites) as a Takfiri group! Something normally referred to Al-Qaeda suicide bombers. The animosity between Muqtada and Al Yamani - anti Iranian influence, is ideological as well as geopolitical. Both are gearing up to full control of Basra city when time is ripe, however, Al Yamani extended success up to Al Nasriya city has proven that his influence making headway amongst a heeding crowd. Furthermore, and on a sad note, the Nasriya hospital has received numbers of civilian casualties including children, during last week’s Ashura event, which shows that innocent people paid dearly for the confrontation between the warring parties. Some Iraqi newspapers believe that the annual Ashura battles are to settle scores amongst the war lords of the south. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;     &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;     &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;On the other hand, some Baathist resistance have shown some degree of moral support for Al-Yamani!&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-9198411082116186409?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9198411082116186409'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/9198411082116186409'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/01/muqtada-maliki-forces-side-by-side.html' title='Muqtada &amp; Maliki forces side by side against Iraqi Buddhists!!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5812825841426434830</id><published>2008-01-16T20:26:00.002+03:00</published><updated>2008-05-17T16:34:12.660+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Zebbilian</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;bc-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Can anyone tell us just who are those Americans that are doing business in our country? Where did they come from, which schools did they attend if ever; and who brought them over here? As if this is what we needed, an extra dish-up of business trash. One Sistani follower told BC “they are America’s Zebbilian” - Zebbil in Iraqi means garbage. Some of those Zebblian smell so bad they even make the MBA degree holders look like immaculate saints. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The industrial projects in Iraq have been sect-driven since 2005, but recently the American ‘entrepreneurs’ are catching-up at a rapid pace with that trend to a point some of them are turning into Hadji John and Hadji Tommy of the Sheikh Omar market. No project worth of USD 100 - 150Million gets done unless it is blessed by some American official, who gets his squeaking wheels oiled!, and of course the bigger bulk of the project – the icing on the cake, goes directly to US foreign firms and subsidiaries. And ultimately, what left of the bone is tossed for the hungry Iraqi dogs. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Not long ago an Iraqi business man took a delegation of pure bred Americans to Italy, to witness an ITP (inspection and test plan) for rotary equipments destined to Iraq at an American owned factory. The delegation spent the 6 days trip enjoying Tuscany meals and Red Wine, and visiting Florence and Venice, and they did not even pay a single hour visit to the factory. When he went back to Iraq and reported it to the ministry he was told “to sweep it under the carpet!” and this is just one manor example. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Projects Vendor Approved Lists are infested with Americans suppliers and lots of products cannot be procured from anywhere else unless it is American owned or subsidized. And the Iraqis are finding it hard to do business as American products are overtly expensive – as per official quotations/ related logistics! And the margins have been reduced to minimal. And what makes it even worse is that the dollar value is reduced to the weight of a mere Sri Lankan Rupee, which means that the Iraqis need to put more dollar cash to purchase American products while the their return on profits (in Dollars) are constantly devaluated and it is infuriating. This going trend is not a form of open market capitalism; this is Victorian style market totalitarianism that should be truncated when  the invaders go home.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Another example is when a US contracting company was so adamant to bring an entire team from the US for a call-off maintenance contract. And they were 1000 times more costly than if the contractor had hired Iraqi men to do the job and they are plentiful and with good job references. But when the client raised the issue the US contractor’s excuse was that Iraqis lack the know-how, they are untrustworthy and they speak little English. Needless to say the US maintenance team spends half of the time behind their laptops while the site work is done by untrustworthy Iraqi assistants that speak little English!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Lots of US ‘businessmen’ peewees entered Iraq since the invasion and it was quite evident from the beginning that the majority was far from being successful back home in their own country – some say they are high school drop-outs and America’s unfit.&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Conversely, we the Iraqis have turned into one of the most demoralized, corrupt and constantly unemployed work force in the entire eastern hemisphere and globally I think we surpassed the Nigeria example. The other day a friend was boasting his gutsy business approach when he confirmed that he made a big junk of profit for supply of testing equipment, made in Korea, for an Environmental Department at the Oil ministry “that has no use for and has been sitting at their warehouse for more than a year and half”. And when I asked him why it was ordered then he said “it was an item that was put on the ministry’s purchase list by ‘someone’, which turned out to be his cousin!”&lt;span style=""&gt;      &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;      &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;On a different note, and similarly, guess what this forgotten &lt;a href="http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/33455_Blair-Tony-Charles-Lynton19530506--.jpg"&gt;war loony&lt;/a&gt; got in return for this &lt;a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3165549.ece"&gt;achievement&lt;/a&gt;? &lt;a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jan/10/blairjpmorgan"&gt;A door mat job worth USD 1 Million&lt;/a&gt;. Not bad but not that great as his new boss JP Morgan (worth more than USD 1.5 trillion in capital and the sole administrator for Iraq’s Trade Bank of Al Chalabi! – lone responsible for L/Cs opening) can afford more than 1 Million people like him… everyman comes with its price!&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5812825841426434830?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5812825841426434830'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5812825841426434830'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/01/zebbilian.html' title='Zebbilian'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3649707016423957284</id><published>2008-01-10T08:51:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2008-01-10T08:56:15.032+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4Wyel-4SyI/AAAAAAAAAOs/D7-w9Wu3P_w/s1600-h/attachment.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4Wyel-4SyI/AAAAAAAAAOs/D7-w9Wu3P_w/s400/attachment.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153721587257068322" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4WzSV-4S0I/AAAAAAAAAO8/bj9Gh8DB59k/s1600-h/mono.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4WzSV-4S0I/AAAAAAAAAO8/bj9Gh8DB59k/s400/mono.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153722476315298626" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4Wyel-4SzI/AAAAAAAAAO0/oSt3Sw_qXGo/s1600-h/mono.JPG"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3649707016423957284?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3649707016423957284'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3649707016423957284'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_10.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R4Wyel-4SyI/AAAAAAAAAOs/D7-w9Wu3P_w/s72-c/attachment.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5751359993422128287</id><published>2008-01-03T10:53:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2008-01-03T10:54:05.602+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R3yUjl-4SxI/AAAAAAAAAOk/4aEsEFLwZFI/s1600-h/oil_stash.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R3yUjl-4SxI/AAAAAAAAAOk/4aEsEFLwZFI/s400/oil_stash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151155413017185042" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5751359993422128287?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5751359993422128287'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5751359993422128287'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R3yUjl-4SxI/AAAAAAAAAOk/4aEsEFLwZFI/s72-c/oil_stash.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6898196354051542940</id><published>2007-12-10T08:31:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-12-10T08:33:41.984+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Al Ahamad Baath-branch falls off favor</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;What appears to be yet another sign of tumultuousness in dealing with Iraqi’s current Bold and the Beautiful affairs, the invaders authority has for the first time outlawed Al Ahamad Baath-branch after more than a year and a half of below-the-duvet-honeymooning. Six names from Al Ahamad Baath-branch (Syria based) have been singled out for resistance activities and affiliation with renegade Takfiri Al-Qaeda – those who refuse to be recruited within Al Sahwa juntas. This development coincided with an effort to closing into El-Duri, or his first aid, in Tikrit after a tip off from Al-Ahamad Baath-branch itself, which is in head-on collision with El Duri. The invaders’ authority motive was to slash two lizards with one sharp-edged flint stone. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;News from the scene speaks of a Sahwa junta effort in chasing down that runaway high ranked Baath official in Tikrit, which shows a rising power struggle to who will gain the political upper-hand in the western region.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6898196354051542940?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6898196354051542940'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6898196354051542940'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/12/al-ahamad-baath-branch-falls-off-favor.html' title='Al Ahamad Baath-branch falls off favor'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3829868647745118280</id><published>2007-12-04T23:53:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-12-04T23:56:51.289+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Report: Iran far from Nuclear Arms</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R1W-qtrXmkI/AAAAAAAAAOc/w_eyDL9L4oo/s1600-h/smartass_on_phone.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R1W-qtrXmkI/AAAAAAAAAOc/w_eyDL9L4oo/s400/smartass_on_phone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140224190738569794" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3829868647745118280?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3829868647745118280'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3829868647745118280'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/12/report-iran-far-from-nuclear-arms.html' title='Report: Iran far from Nuclear Arms'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R1W-qtrXmkI/AAAAAAAAAOc/w_eyDL9L4oo/s72-c/smartass_on_phone.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4996731905203089148</id><published>2007-11-26T00:10:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-11-26T17:39:58.589+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Grubby John</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R0nk9OWW3uI/AAAAAAAAAOU/90SfD2MFRLI/s1600-h/John.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 315px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R0nk9OWW3uI/AAAAAAAAAOU/90SfD2MFRLI/s400/John.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136888590467784418" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;"It’s never too late for a pint of Fosters" (Gulped)… "I mean who cares if I were referred to as a loser Kangaroo for life?" (Gulped, gulped… hiccup and a burp) … "Hey, isn’t that Crocodile Dandy over there?! Good day mate, where have you been all these years? I guess we’ve got a lot of catching up to do"!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4996731905203089148?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4996731905203089148'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4996731905203089148'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-never-too-late-for-pint-of-fosters.html' title='Grubby John'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R0nk9OWW3uI/AAAAAAAAAOU/90SfD2MFRLI/s72-c/John.gif' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3583436498851166284</id><published>2007-11-17T08:38:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2007-11-17T23:41:25.406+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Andy Warhol’s Bad</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Lately news of the invaders sitting face to face with the Baathists (Younis Al-Ahmad branch) at the Dead Sea in Jordan or the release of a few Iranians accused of terrorist activities by the US authority is no longer hot headlines - not even the flip ‘flop’ Surge that has been replaced with the rad Sahwa (a few resistance &amp;amp; Al Qaeda units awakening) as they have finally realized that it’s worth working for the invaders as it holds profitable future (Oil@USD 95) rather than wasting their lives on some wretched Shiites. Today Baghdad sizzling news has a different palatable taste. The western hot-spots of Hai this and Hai that have over night become safe nocturnal exploits for their native neighbors -they even stay out late at one open café in Hai Al Jamiya despite of the curfew! &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;The east of Baghdad, however, has deteriorated a bit for a change. Sunnis – Sunnis and Shiites – Shiites tango and the terminology switch of ‘Debaathification law’ to ‘please tell us how naughty you’ve been so we could talk it over’! are a few pop news to mention.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Cool hypes in the provinces refer to Sadrists (ex- outcast fedayeen Saddam) vs. Al Badr brigade (ex-Saddam army POW) while Fedayeen Petraeus (the Sahwa – not the Sawa radio!) are waiting in vain for the vanquisher. As one Sahwa dude told BC “we’ve done our own part and stopped attacking them (the invaders), now they have to fulfill their promise and get rid of the Iranians”!! There is, also, the Mosel Dam crack and the Kurds Turks hip-hop gig while the PM calls it an invaders’ rap. A shark had swum up the Tigris River and caught opened jaw, and an alien one-eyed monster has landed in Basra (it’s not a joke). Even the refugees’ camps are looking cool joints similar to those dwellers of the Kerouac generation. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In Karbala the construction development is catching up pace with that of the rich Arab Gulf states. One developer calls it the New Qum city as 95% of its development is Iranian money. The Iranians are building giant clusters of residential and commercial complexes in Karbala whereas simultaneously Al-Abu Rishas of Al Anbar are supplicating for mere peanuts. When BC visited Karbala 2 weeks ago it witnessed one of the largest and fastest growing urbanization plans in Iraq (faster than those in the stale green zone) while the car bombs are rocking the people to the cranes roaring rhythm – 4 car bombs in three days! &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;It’s all part of the fad scene. The fuel price in some places has trickled even though the barrel of Oil is nearing USD 100 The electricity is no longer a craze because it’s not in summer fashion, and the water shortage is a distant past as we began to brush our teeth with mineral water to avoid the Cholera. Some shops are full of people who seem not to care about the inconveniences caused by a few car bombs here and there as most shopping  achievers get by with “Allah Al Sater” (god protects) giggle. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Nothing seemed to matter; road blocks, evening curfew, inefficient snipers, sniffing negro dogs, low flying copters, streets dead bodies (it's their fault, they should have stayed away from trouble!), unemployment jinx, Ezat El Douri radio address, 5 humongous permanent invaders’ military bases and ‘Kafka’ governing body all have become part of an outdated state of mind as most of us have better things to think about, as well as entrepreneurial &amp;amp; NGO ladders to climb. We have forcefully been to places that drew new plans. We have friends and relatives in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sweden, Australia and some are even in the USA. We can go places, with or without the G passport, to explore life possibilities. This is the Mesopotamia, where all conjured-up dreams and doctrines must first see light. However, there is one thing that remains certain, of which we have all unbelievably agreed to and that is we absolutely and positively TRUST NO ONE but God (optional for the Yazidis) &lt;span style=""&gt;          &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;I tell you people, things are looking in rare shape; even Udy’s Saddam Hussein son, Masood, from a Turkish mother has for the first time surfaced after years in hiding – who said Udy was impotent? See, didn’t I tell you? We have got tons of hypes and trends to be part of. &lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;        &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;     &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Masood Udy Saddam Hussein: &lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;       &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;        &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rz5-i-WW3sI/AAAAAAAAAOE/u-_0Vs6QIWI/s1600-h/massoudodaysaddamhussein.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rz5-i-WW3sI/AAAAAAAAAOE/u-_0Vs6QIWI/s400/massoudodaysaddamhussein.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5133679764566367938" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3583436498851166284?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3583436498851166284'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3583436498851166284'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/11/andy-warhols-bad.html' title='Andy Warhol’s Bad'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rz5-i-WW3sI/AAAAAAAAAOE/u-_0Vs6QIWI/s72-c/massoudodaysaddamhussein.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6860594425447573970</id><published>2007-11-15T11:04:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-11-15T11:07:49.001+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Centennial</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Jawad Ali 1907 – 1987 theologian and master Islamic scholar who was born in Al-Khadmiya (Shiite) and studied at Abu Hanifa (the strong hold of the Sunni Adhamiya) and was advocate of scientific theology and &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes"&gt;Ibn Rushd&lt;/a&gt; philosophies.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;He wrote tens of books and publications.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Al Maliki, honor him! &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6860594425447573970?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6860594425447573970'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6860594425447573970'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/11/centennial.html' title='Centennial'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5363906517001860472</id><published>2007-11-08T18:03:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-11-08T18:09:10.062+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Planet of the Apes</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Just another normal day for an Iraqi police interrogation unit!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="320" height="266" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-49cbe978312ef772" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v16.nonxt5.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D49cbe978312ef772%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D5BC63E9B34B6118072C31E436BFD6BD516A1F55E.515D9A6FAFBBEBD0924F4DE3FCC2E928D68DECA5%26key%3Dck1&amp;amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D49cbe978312ef772%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DCrMSgr7M8HTmeVrID-IpUo31mDE&amp;amp;autoplay=0&amp;amp;ps=blogger"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="266" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v16.nonxt5.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D49cbe978312ef772%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D5BC63E9B34B6118072C31E436BFD6BD516A1F55E.515D9A6FAFBBEBD0924F4DE3FCC2E928D68DECA5%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D49cbe978312ef772%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DCrMSgr7M8HTmeVrID-IpUo31mDE&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5363906517001860472?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='enclosure' type='video/mp4' href='http://www.blogger.com/video-play.mp4?contentId=49cbe978312ef772&amp;type=video%2Fmp4' length='0'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5363906517001860472'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5363906517001860472'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/11/planet-of-apes.html' title='Planet of the Apes'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2245461895984775781</id><published>2007-10-31T23:07:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2007-10-31T23:08:10.190+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Ryjgmcp3szI/AAAAAAAAAN8/YyxxktYaR28/s1600-h/spoooooky.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Ryjgmcp3szI/AAAAAAAAAN8/YyxxktYaR28/s400/spoooooky.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127595126892770098" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2245461895984775781?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2245461895984775781'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2245461895984775781'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_31.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Ryjgmcp3szI/AAAAAAAAAN8/YyxxktYaR28/s72-c/spoooooky.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5082700333638920723</id><published>2007-10-26T13:01:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-11-16T10:01:25.501+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Fedayeen Petraeus are ex-Al Qaeda members at mere age of 20!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;BC-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reminiscing of Fedayeen Saddam, the invaders have been experimenting to mutate the next generation of Fedayeen - Fedayeen Petraeus (Al Jihad Units), and specifically in the Dyala region.&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;After failing to directly deal with Al Qaeda and the Iraqi resistance in the aforesaid region, the invaders seemed to have managed to lure young armed ex-Al Qaeda boys &amp;amp; teenagers by recruiting them into new units to fight both the Iranians backed militias and whatever numbers left of Al-Qaeda’s un-recruited members! for a paid salary of USD 350/month. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;One leader – Abu Abdullah of Fedayeen Petraeus, 20 years, has recently spoken of the major tasks and challenges that are set forth by the invaders for his unit to forge. One major undertaking is to unravel the cover-up of Mr. Al Maliki for the crimes of the Shiite Militias in Dyala! and how the central government of Baghdad is liaising with the head of the Police forces there - Colonel Ghanim Al Qurashi, to assail Fedayeen Petraeus and accusing them of crimes committed against innocent people whereas in reality the remaining un-recruited Al Qaeda members and the Shiite Militias are the perpetrators!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Abu Abdullah, However, praised Colonel Abdul Kareem Al Rubaie – head of the joined US/Iraqi operation, for the great role he’s taken in tackling the ‘enemies’. And he adds “ Mr. Al Rubaie agrees that our unit’s comrades are being decisive elements in fighting ‘terrorists’ in the region, but unfortunately senior political figures in the government are partaking dirty games in reshaping the demography of Dyala by re-introducing Shiite Militias back instead of the legitimate refugees that were forced out of the region few months back, refugees that were forced by Al Qaeda terrorist leaders”- leaders such as Abu Abdulla himself!!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Abu Abdulla has elaborated further on the vague government course of action in Dyala to stop the remaining Al Qaeda members by "encouraging a resistance unit - Thawrat Al-Eshreen, to operate in the region just when the US forces showed some success in fighting Qaeda terrorists with our help and, unfortunately, it caused the deaths of thousands of innocent people"!!!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Abu Abdulla (just another reminder that he is a mere 20 years old) also called for serious dialogue between the concerned parties and the government!, and he stipulates that the regional authority must accept various sect-backgrounds units into the police forces other than the sole Shiite majority to combat Al Qaeda and the ‘criminals’ as the government has hitherto completely failed to do so. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;On the other hand a government spokesman has totally contradicted Abu Abdulla’s statement, and pinpointed that Al Jihad units (Fedayeen Petraeus) have joined the resistance units like Salahuldeen, Thawart El-Eshreen, Al Murabteen, and Hamas El-Iraq amongst others in an effort to recruit ex-Al Qaeda youths - more than 1400 nos. so far, and are in fact planning a major take over of the municipality of Dyala under the bless of various army ranks who are part of the joined operation to flush off Al Qaeda!! The spokesmen added “that during a major government operation the forces managed to free 7 hostages who were previously held by the Jihad Units.” &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Very, very creepy!!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Fedayeen Petraeus:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RyG7rsp3syI/AAAAAAAAAN0/Jls1rfBxRqY/s1600-h/Petraeus_Boys.jpg"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125584210319880994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RyG7rsp3syI/AAAAAAAAAN0/Jls1rfBxRqY/s400/Petraeus_Boys.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5082700333638920723?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5082700333638920723'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5082700333638920723'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/fedayeen-petraeus-are-ex-al-qaeda.html' title='Fedayeen Petraeus are ex-Al Qaeda members at mere age of 20!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RyG7rsp3syI/AAAAAAAAAN0/Jls1rfBxRqY/s72-c/Petraeus_Boys.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4703789264497225333</id><published>2007-10-19T09:49:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-10-19T09:51:04.772+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Standing ovation to our second NATO member invader!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Al Tarrar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;While Bush is &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbOWcWOBbiGrQ4QYTXBrRjgLqWwA"&gt;regurgitating out&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt; on Saddam’s past time rhetoric, and busily emulating the deceased dictator’s strategies by allying himself with western tribes (insurgents) against Shiite armed forces (current primary resistance), the north has been blessed yet with another NATO invader to tackle ‘terror’ – who says war on terror is a monopoly?!, of which the regional government of Kurdistan is appeared to not being able to resolve. In fact, I have no recollection of any other time when the regional power of Kurdistan has resolved any issue especially when it comes to foreign invaders – Iran (Halabja outcome), USA and Turkey. And even when the going gets tough between the warring parties within the Kurdistan region, their leaders usually have the audacity to supplicate support from tyrannies like Saddam himself as they did in 1994 thru1996 just so they could keep their clans’ wealth intact.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;And where does this &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/al-maliki-talabani-to-form-alliance.html"&gt;union&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt; stand from the Turkish invasion? And why the Beshmarga (the Kurdish militias) are sitting on their butts begging for help from the central government while months back they were showing off their phallic spears as they fought the ‘insurgents’ in the streets of Baghdad? Can they not defend (politically or militarily) their own cherished federal territories against an invasion with out the help of a bigger power? Mr. Talabani suggested that the PKK to leave Iraq! Where to?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Let’s cut the chase. The regional powers of Kurdistan - include the communists, are perfunctory and simply incompetent, futile and in continuous quenching process for their thirst to greed tribal wealth and inherited powers. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The current Turkish dilemma has proven that our current invaders (Bush &amp;amp; co.) have long ago passed into becoming simply a threatening and destabilizing regional force that serves no one interests but itself (Saddam’s alter ego), the Kurds leaders have no use but to fight proxy wars and make the Kurdish people pay the dues, and the central government has no business in sovereignty non-whatsoever but sure they are turning into low-life feudalists. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;If the Turks ever venture deeper into the north, would they be able to help free the hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners in Erbil and Sulaimaniya? What a novel thought!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4703789264497225333?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4703789264497225333'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4703789264497225333'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/standing-ovation-to-our-second-nato.html' title='Standing ovation to our second NATO member invader!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6231289002488547222</id><published>2007-10-15T10:12:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2007-10-15T10:19:52.852+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RxMT4HKMqFI/AAAAAAAAANs/yoavj3cONsU/s1600-h/EvolutionOfSarko.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 397px; height: 247px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RxMT4HKMqFI/AAAAAAAAANs/yoavj3cONsU/s400/EvolutionOfSarko.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121459055965808722" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RxMTPHKMqEI/AAAAAAAAANk/-pF3WMSLuBc/s1600-h/EvolutionOfSarko.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6231289002488547222?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6231289002488547222'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6231289002488547222'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RxMT4HKMqFI/AAAAAAAAANs/yoavj3cONsU/s72-c/EvolutionOfSarko.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7390510023966535789</id><published>2007-10-13T23:40:00.000+03:00</published><updated>2007-10-13T23:41:01.365+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://concerned.anthropologists.googlepages.com/home"&gt;Pledge of Non-participation in Counter-insurgency&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7390510023966535789?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7390510023966535789'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7390510023966535789'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/pledge-of-non-participation-in-counter.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-207565383644088551</id><published>2007-10-08T19:51:00.001+03:00</published><updated>2007-10-13T23:34:12.656+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RwpgKHKMqDI/AAAAAAAAANc/4cyfxCQVaFQ/s1600-h/kylie.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RwpgKHKMqDI/AAAAAAAAANc/4cyfxCQVaFQ/s400/kylie.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119009653296769074" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-207565383644088551?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/207565383644088551'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/207565383644088551'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-9-2007-che-comandante-por-toda.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RwpgKHKMqDI/AAAAAAAAANc/4cyfxCQVaFQ/s72-c/kylie.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-85112554122152323</id><published>2007-09-30T16:42:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-10-02T17:07:48.355+03:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;"Resolution advocating the division of Iraq into federal re›li‹gions."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2006/07/biden-meinhof.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;Yea:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rv-aGHKMqBI/AAAAAAAAANM/OYW8CYI8LnM/s1600-h/Monos.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rv-aGHKMqBI/AAAAAAAAANM/OYW8CYI8LnM/s400/Monos.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5115977131507886098" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Nay:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rv-aGXKMqCI/AAAAAAAAANU/HrXGWAhaxEQ/s1600-h/638954_toys_1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rv-aGXKMqCI/AAAAAAAAANU/HrXGWAhaxEQ/s400/638954_toys_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5115977135802853410" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-85112554122152323?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/85112554122152323'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/85112554122152323'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/banana-republic.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rv-aGHKMqBI/AAAAAAAAANM/OYW8CYI8LnM/s72-c/Monos.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-648953180240503532</id><published>2007-09-28T15:27:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-28T15:29:30.321+04:00</updated><title type='text'>The Malignant Realtor</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;From May 2004 and up to February 2005 the basement of Saddam’s presidential palace in the so called Green Zone was turned into one giant vault of blue prints and maps of Baghdad, while roughly 17 of Saddam’s ex-secret services and others that previously worked for the planning ministry, were sitting daily behind big tables covered with unfolded maps, busily doodling and making comments to geo-specify each and every neighborhood in our capital, and to segment out by family-business/area/region as every house was being marked by family name, numbers of people, occupations, ages, genders, and sect! Later, good number of satellite images was brought in to help in the map out processes.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Saddam’s Vault was left intact with its carpets, wall curtains, and luxurious furniture. However, the amount of invaders’ armed forces in presence was enormous.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The main objective was told then is to remap Baghdad for better future city services to include the voting procedure! And later computer software was brought in to aid converting blue prints into computer images. By May 2005 (roughly 7 months before the sect war commenced) the Saddam Vault project was completed and 6 Iraqis were kept permanently to help the invaders updating the maps due to Baghdad ever changing landscapes – devastations, road blocks and bombs, permanent diversions etc.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The people (of mixed Iraqis and foreign) that got involved in the mentioned project had later taken up real estate business in the city due to their good knowledge of the areas, and began to renting out empty houses - those that belong to the Iraqis&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;who were forced out of their residents due to threats from unknowns!! and mainly in Al Karada, Al Masbah and Al Jadriya areas - for the newcomers, which mainly constituted foreign security companies (there are 48 nos. of Black Water style companies in Iraq amount to roughly 125 thousands privately paid armed men), the CIA, Al Badar militias, and various rouge companies similar to that very peculiar firm that operates out of Al Jaderiya area where most of their western looking men employees wear those Jewish Kippot head covers.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The real estate biz becomes quite intriguing when some Iraqis who fled abroad do some times receive calls to their own cell phones by other unknown Iraqis that claim to being referred by close relatives or friends, asking them if they would like to rent or sell their houses in Baghdad! and what is even more outrageous as an example is that when one Iraqi professor in Amman and his family sought refugees status in the USA (this country is accepting Iraqis until end of 2007) he was shocked when the refugees center employees asked him if he would like to sell his house that he still owns there as they knew a few interested buyers!!&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Many private Iraqis who turned into real estate business had to flee the country by late 2005 and when Al Mujahdeen moved in closer into the capital.&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;This systematic methodology of plucking out of innocent people’s roots – those people that matter most to our nation, and replacing them with hired to kill foreign security firms, anthropoid CIA personnel, and Badar cult death squads can only demonstrate that everyone is playing the ball while our bleeding wound by the day is becoming a form of uncured gangrene.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-648953180240503532?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/648953180240503532'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/648953180240503532'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/malignant-realtor.html' title='The Malignant Realtor'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1726761848937519892</id><published>2007-09-24T21:11:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-24T21:11:59.462+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rvfvz3KMqAI/AAAAAAAAANE/07fCKO0P7Vg/s1600-h/Sarko_Bo.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rvfvz3KMqAI/AAAAAAAAANE/07fCKO0P7Vg/s400/Sarko_Bo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113819576161576962" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1726761848937519892?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1726761848937519892'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1726761848937519892'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post_24.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rvfvz3KMqAI/AAAAAAAAANE/07fCKO0P7Vg/s72-c/Sarko_Bo.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8407106014163601313</id><published>2007-09-22T00:01:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-22T00:31:40.402+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:times new roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" &gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:85%;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:times new roman;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Two months ago I sat with Mr. J. from Black Water in Kuwait over a cup of a tea – it was coffee for Mr. J. and when the subject of the Iraqi army and government readiness was brought up Mr. J. said the following: &lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:times new roman;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;[Iraqi government, ha, are you kidding me? There is no such thing as an Iraqi government. The entire set up there is privately contracted. We protect them, train their men how to defend themselves and how to fix their hardware; we tell them how to take cover and shoot insurgents (resistance) in hostile environment. In fact, we own their forces and the Iraqi government work for us and not the other way round. We are men mostly in our late 40s and got retired from the army, what you expect us to do, open some restaurant to make a living? For your own information both the democrats and the republicans (parties) pay for us, and they can’t do jack shit without our help as we did elsewhere. The US government is in firm contract with us which gets renewed periodically to protect VIPs, train armed forces and provide various logistics and ‘even to kill’!!!]&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:times new roman;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Next to me there was one Kuwaiti man who was listening too, and when Mr. J, finished the Kuwaiti man turned around to me and said in Arabic: you know I am not inclined towards Iraqi militias but if there is one man I wish they could get it is this son of a bitch Mr. J. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8407106014163601313?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8407106014163601313'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8407106014163601313'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/bc-two-months-ago-i-sat-with-mr.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4586052014370568587</id><published>2007-09-14T11:57:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-10-04T17:58:00.459+03:00</updated><title type='text'>Larger than you</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RupCtGLh3TI/AAAAAAAAAMc/eSGOTkIw6o8/s1600-h/Nawas.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5109970069725764914" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 157px; cursor: pointer; height: 69px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RupCtGLh3TI/AAAAAAAAAMc/eSGOTkIw6o8/s400/Nawas.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;When Bush stopped over at ‘Camp Abu Risha’ last week in the Anbar province he was making sure to acknowledge Abu Risha as one of the most powerful head of a tribe in the region. And by doing so Bush was emulating the foot steps of Percy Cox of the last century, when he favored certain tribes like Albu Essa over others to impose a tribal structuralism so he could clear the way for colonial Iraq, which lasted until 1958 when Abdul Karim Kassim temporarily brought material imperialism to an end for the first time since the fall of Babel 500 BC (Before Cleopatra) Nevertheless, the current form of post-1989 imperialism is working and can help create a second rate nation in Iraq – let’s face, this is about the best result that our invaders could have ever achieved due to their somewhat mediocre bureaucratic administrations (with all due respect to Hispanic and African American communities). Yet what has hitherto been accomplished and the bases upon which such accomplishment is attained (when the leader of the strongest army in the world is brought to his knees before slipper-footed men to beg for help) have consequently legitimatized the political ‘Forza’ of the ‘old ways’.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;When western-backed laws permit tribal rulers, clans and kinships, segmentary oppositions, sectarian parliament, Washington-support nepotism, cargo cults, hand-picked cultural material and all is under one common denominator and that is religion, then what left for the Takfiris so called Al Qaeda to do is to simply push the revolving door and usher right in. As a matter of fact, the Takfiris thrive in such medium, a medium when today one teams up with a brother against a cousin and tomorrow one teams up with a cousin against the foreign. And when Al Qaeda sees a daft world leader pulled by the nose ring before a tribal Caliph then he/she would certainly foresees a brighter future as they did in Afghanistan.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;5 days ago a Saudi backed Iraqi Takfiri unit have teamed up with head of a tribe of similar caliber to Bush’s Abu Risha in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, and planned an all out vicious attack against Sunni civilians who refused to cooperate and made them flee in hundreds to Shiite areas in Baghdad Al Jadida. The stories that the fleeing Sunnis brought with them are horrific crimes that are being constantly committed and as I write now. Perhaps this Al Qaeda head of tribe is dreaming of awakening call and a future courtesy visit from the head of a superpower! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;Yesterday Abu Risha was assassinated in El Anbar province and a major mainstream media in the UK lightly said it was done by the insurgents! Which insurgents, those nurtured by Al Qaeda? Of course, they couldn’t be those nurtured by the invaders! Or perhaps it was the resistance that everyone would like to smear off, or even Al Maliki who Abu Risha’s men claimed to be the perpetrator!! I tell how it was done; it was done the ‘old ways’. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;Today’s Iraq’s hell is much bigger problem than any Capitol House lawyer could ever conjure up, and the shapes of things to come are quite gigantic than a simple pentagon drawing. They are in fact the patterns of the ‘old ways’. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Petraeus spoke of long term Pentagon presence in Iraq to forge success (less enthusiastically backed by the ‘gayish’ Arabic speaking and soft Crocker), and he spoke of the surge advantages etc. etc, the fact is it was that little boy inside that sleeked aging body who seemed to fantasize that virtual war game behind those digitized goggles with his joy stick, in a bunker filled with the smell of Whoppers. However the reality is, dear little-big Petraeus, that the current game is much bigger than a surge or cut in number of troops, it is something larger than you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Ruo_imLh3RI/AAAAAAAAAMM/VWiBzqmCIak/s1600-h/9201.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5109966590802255122" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Ruo_imLh3RI/AAAAAAAAAMM/VWiBzqmCIak/s320/9201.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4586052014370568587?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4586052014370568587'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4586052014370568587'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/larger-than-you.html' title='Larger than you'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RupCtGLh3TI/AAAAAAAAAMc/eSGOTkIw6o8/s72-c/Nawas.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4487920636066472909</id><published>2007-09-07T13:16:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-08T00:55:44.173+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Karbala incident was pre-intent and government staged</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;AL Tarrar:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;BC has gotten hold of 6 nos. original copies of interior ministries reports that were raised days before the Karbala unfortunate incidents, which explicitly relate and reiterate a set of foreseen and forthcoming criminal activities to be taken place during the Muslim religious anniversary in the city of Karbala, that was met with absolutely no response or any immediate course of action by the government, which insinuates the Stalin style scenario that the regime of Al Maliki is implanting to exploit the presence of innocent people for its own cause.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The reports, written by lieutenant Saleh Malki - Head of Karbala Security Operations on July 4&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; and August 12, 07; and by Raed Judat –Head of Karbala Police Force on July 16, 23 and August 12, 07 talk of explicit details of how criminals were being embedded into the crowed and car bombs and other weapons were believed to be in areas near the religious sites to be used during the events to trigger a chain of violence. Also, the reports refer to criminal operation and breach of security by the Saudis, and the use of black market Iranian made weapons, and they implore the government to take the precautionary measures for this year anniversary. But the government, in stead of canceling the event or minimize the magnitude of the masses by detouring their march by means of preventive measures, had given a deaf ear to the reports and simultaneously was set and ready for such confrontation on the expense of the hundreds of innocent people who were unaware of such plot and who, as always, paid the price dearly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The government used a canon of two barrels to kill both the criminal and the innocent alike just to prevail forcefully on the ground for future political gains – a tactic favored by other schizophrenic politicians like Eyad Alawi, who is set to walk back into the premiership via Madison Avenue!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:11;"  &gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Yesterday a government army official and the head of Al Aqrab forces (famous for massacring Jund Al Islam group) were in a big row as to who will claim victory to shooting criminals embedded within innocent civilians groups, with total absence of basic judicial investigation i.e. pre-intent collateral damage: the most thuggish, fascist, cowardice and ‘Armageddon’ act that’s been set as a global trend due to our invaders’ lack of self-respect and relevant history. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;This government approach is infuriating, shameful and just as criminal acts as any other.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Young Al Maliki walks in Ayatollah Khomeini’s funeral in Iran:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RuEX0FTfoLI/AAAAAAAAALs/Eq_mI_IA_es/s1600-h/Maliki.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RuEX0FTfoLI/AAAAAAAAALs/Eq_mI_IA_es/s400/Maliki.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5107389635959431346" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4487920636066472909?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4487920636066472909'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4487920636066472909'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/karbala-incident-was-pre-intent-and.html' title='Karbala incident was pre-intent and government staged'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RuEX0FTfoLI/AAAAAAAAALs/Eq_mI_IA_es/s72-c/Maliki.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-995655532344528429</id><published>2007-09-05T12:35:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-14T12:07:24.576+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Brown: British forces withdrawal was pre-planned and not an act of Defe(c)at(e)</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rt5qklTfoII/AAAAAAAAALU/uK7Nlg2HMXg/s1600-h/attachment.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rt5qklTfoII/AAAAAAAAALU/uK7Nlg2HMXg/s320/attachment.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106636204206432386" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-995655532344528429?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/995655532344528429'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/995655532344528429'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/09/salutation-to-british-forces-withdrawal.html' title='Brown: British forces withdrawal was pre-planned and not an act of Defe(c)at(e)'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rt5qklTfoII/AAAAAAAAALU/uK7Nlg2HMXg/s72-c/attachment.gif' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7724316743696600893</id><published>2007-08-31T18:14:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-09-01T13:22:25.086+04:00</updated><title type='text'>The Refugees Gala</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When one ushers a refugees center he/she expects to see older men and women dressed in shabby clothes, looking despair, ambivalent and regretful, while the children inside might be clinging to grown-ups and seem quite bored and confused yet cleverly understanding of their parents ordeal, right? Wrong. Welcome to the Refugees Center for Iraqis in Amman Jordan, the place that defied the total meaning of the concept ‘refugees’. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Due to the persistence of the Jordanian government to treat the Iraqis in Jordan like subhuman – perhaps to reward the Iraqis for the best treatment and economic incentives that Saddam offered Jordan like no other country in the entire world!, Iraqis are finding ways to maintain their existence (residence visas and avoiding overstay penalties, housing, schools and universities – the Jordanian government hurdles all of the those in every step of the way) by finally agreeing to turn refugees in order to gain relative freedom, but they sure know how to do it with own style.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you park the car and walk up closer to the center you notice that most Iraqis drove there in their latest models of German and Japanese made cars. Some other Iraqis are being dropped off by their chauffeurs right at the gate. When you enter you immediately come across the Iraqi upper middle class tier who is dressed in vogue fashion – young boys, girls and mothers look as if they had just stepped out of an international brands week - Zara, Mango, MEXX, Elle etc.; the older women are gilded with jewelry and gold but are more in line with Versaci attire. Men, however, are dressed smart casual and looked a bit aloof so did the grandmothers. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;After a while you get to over-hear the conversations there and it’s all about the latest shopping sales at Mecca Mall in Abdoun, or that great get-together that lasted until 3 am, or you may even hear the latest critique about that wonderful Iraqi art show at some famous Iraqi lady-owned Gallery. Also, women hairs do are far from that of the under-occupation-veiled-style and women seemed as if they went to the coiffures just for the occasion. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;When one leaves the place he/she might feel as if life were normal again, and one thinks that it is not that bad after all being amongst the Iraqi bourgeois while for tiny bit of time one gets to forget the on-going misery of the Iraqis back home; after all, it is the same social class who did not mind and even supported free health care and schooling for everyone and for many years. I mean even Karl Marx recognized such a class, but later one realizes that it was all happening inside a Refugees Center!! And as I got farther away I began to feel that conscience-pinch: How did I ever become a refugee?! And I started to analyze and for some reason, at least to me; it was obvious, as it has always been, that the different Iraqi social tiers have always been in a state of refuge– whether home or abroad – while their neighbors have always been in a state of schadenfreude. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" &gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7724316743696600893?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7724316743696600893'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7724316743696600893'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/refugees-gala.html' title='The Refugees Gala'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8072532341691556532</id><published>2007-08-28T13:24:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-28T13:27:38.523+04:00</updated><title type='text'>HARBASCHI (HURRAH)</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;When the Human Rights Watch published its report about the prisoners abuse in Kurdistan it failed to address the problematic core issue, which is the lack of political freedom of speech and liberty for all political entities in the northern region apart from the kinship and clans of both Talabani and Barazani; as most of the political prisoners behind bars are those who voiced their objections to the existing rigidity of the political functionalism that dates back from last century. Also, to BC surprise those who are in favor of hindering polarized political views and free-thoughts are the communists of Kurdistan who had had long history of fighting Saddam’s armies in the 70s, 80s and 90s in the name of liberty and freedom. In fact, some communists there have long ago turned into CIA spies like Fahkri Karim Zangana (Kurd-of Iranian origin) – the personal aid of Mr. Barazani and the ex- chief editor of Tareeq Al Sha’b – currently the chief editor of the yellow journalism Al Mada, who is widely believed to be the open channel link between the CIA-Mossad and the government of Syria as he maintains bases in both Damascus and Beirut. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Today Kurdistan sits on ancient shale and the KRG is yet again cracking down on people’s lawful political activities, which is reminiscing of not Saddam’s days but those of the CIA installed fascist regime of Greece back in Nixon’s days. But the example could surpass that of Saddam’s if some one speaks of removing Barazani or Talabani. One kurd from Erbil told BC if you need a quick air-left just speak out about the government!! The invaders are paranoid and quite intolerant of any inclination in political views that could jeopardize the current establishment, and if any wrong signals have been detected then the war on terror’s tune is immediately amplified. The invaders long term plan for permanent bases in Kurdistan does not leave any room for such political freedom. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Hitherto it is believed that more than 800 people – mainly Kurds, have been shuffled to various jails in Erbil, Sulaimaniya and even Dhuk. The HRW were permitted to interview some prisoners who happened to be air lifted from Mosul, but there are more than 130 secular political Kurds who are under tight security due to their beliefs and political tendencies. Some represent newly established parties that until now have not seen the light like the center-left kurdish party and the patriotic youth of Kurdistan who are extremely critical of the invaders presence in the region.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;As the expired passed down in history so should its remnants. And Harbaschi for the new Kurdistan Order!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8072532341691556532?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8072532341691556532'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8072532341691556532'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/harbaschi-hurrah.html' title='HARBASCHI (HURRAH)'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7351264796887500751</id><published>2007-08-18T21:58:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-18T22:06:18.062+04:00</updated><title type='text'>And God said Let there be light… and only Shiite insurgents!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;As the Turks say ‘aman rubbi aman’ (exclamation for God wonders) when we review the invaders’ terminological equation since the dawn of the invasion.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;First there were irregulars and terrorists; right after there were insurgents and a bit later on they turned into vile Saddamists-Sunni insurgents that lived in the triangle. As time went by there were El Sadr/death militias and simultaneously! Al Qaeda-link-(Saddmists). More recently we have vile Sunni-Saddamists insurgents turned into ‘national patriotic Sunni resistance’! to fight both Al Qaeda-link-(?) and the Shiite death militias who turned resistance! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Today, however, there are Shiite resistance (previously Shiite death militias) turned insurgents, and the patriotic national Sunni resistance turning into official Patriotic Army, lawfully protected!, to fight both Al Qaeda-link-(?), and the Shiite death militia, which turned resistance that turned insurgents.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;So, in four years we have terrorists (irregulars) = insurgents = hateful Saddamists-Sunni insurgents = national patriotic Sunni resistance = official Patriotic Army; and El Sadrs/ Shiite death militias = resistance = insurgents!!! … E=MC² &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;’aman rubbi aman’!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:14;" &gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7351264796887500751?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7351264796887500751'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7351264796887500751'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/and-god-said-let-there-be-light-and.html' title='And God said Let there be light… and only Shiite insurgents!!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-586346604457667667</id><published>2007-08-16T21:18:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-17T18:37:52.358+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Al Maliki &amp; Talabani form an alliance</title><content type='html'>&lt;object width="320" height="280" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-3ce23678fdc44d2" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v8.nonxt6.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D03ce23678fdc44d2%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D29EAC1947228E70963056D1B4B21F9E359D81FD9.1E28C6F068C896394E004B95C1F1CD1B4603D7E8%26key%3Dck1&amp;amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D3ce23678fdc44d2%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DwByeYk-DlcNkqaVIyH9PbWG5k_0&amp;amp;autoplay=0&amp;amp;ps=blogger"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="280" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v8.nonxt6.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D03ce23678fdc44d2%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D29EAC1947228E70963056D1B4B21F9E359D81FD9.1E28C6F068C896394E004B95C1F1CD1B4603D7E8%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D3ce23678fdc44d2%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DwByeYk-DlcNkqaVIyH9PbWG5k_0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-586346604457667667?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='enclosure' type='video/mp4' href='http://www.blogger.com/video-play.mp4?contentId=3ce23678fdc44d2&amp;type=video%2Fmp4' length='0'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/586346604457667667'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/586346604457667667'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/al-maliki-talabani-to-form-alliance.html' title='Al Maliki &amp; Talabani form an alliance'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5883007852789271725</id><published>2007-08-11T11:15:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-11T11:17:49.490+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rr1ik5tdWoI/AAAAAAAAALI/G_sXdS8oIxw/s1600-h/malikiahmadi.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rr1ik5tdWoI/AAAAAAAAALI/G_sXdS8oIxw/s400/malikiahmadi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097338739359570562" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rr1iQptdWnI/AAAAAAAAALA/zSHoRczy5lI/s1600-h/malikiahmadi.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5883007852789271725?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5883007852789271725'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5883007852789271725'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rr1ik5tdWoI/AAAAAAAAALI/G_sXdS8oIxw/s72-c/malikiahmadi.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-948943837450867894</id><published>2007-08-09T13:00:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-17T11:38:37.479+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Invaders’ Insurgency widens to include the terrorist Takfiris (so-called Al Qaeda)!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;BC -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;As Baghdad gets hit by a curfew quake (The Khdamain march) through out this weekend, the Invaders widen their insurgency build up by recruiting more insurgent ranks, and their latest pick is the Janab tribe – the fiercest and one of the most vicious tribes pertaining existing Takfiri terrorists, just north of the Halla province. &lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;More than 2 years ago the Janab tribes were life-long-sworn infidles' foes that had one main objective: busting the invaders. However, as the sectarian war officially commenced in early 2006 – thanks to the Saudi (Cheney’s allies) Takfiris, the Janabs momentarily shifted their priorities to yet another sole objective and that is breaking the thorn of the pro-Iranians in Iraq. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;The Janab insurgents have been armed with American made advanced weapons to combat mainly the Shiite resistance in Halla. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;The Janabs pledge of allegiance to the invaders rhymes to the American proverb “old habits are hard to break” as the invaders are once again creating safe heaven (Afghanistan 1980s) to the Takfiris to help fight a proxy war. Furthermore, and since their debut (the insurgent janabs) the unknown mutilated bodies found in the province streets have tripled. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Until such time and as objectives achieved there will be another Zarqawi killed in daring and heroic action in Halla, so the Iraqis could cheer their daft destiny for a few days!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-948943837450867894?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/948943837450867894'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/948943837450867894'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/invaders-insurgency-widens-to-include.html' title='Invaders’ Insurgency widens to include the terrorist Takfiris (so-called Al Qaeda)!!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2325907899064775896</id><published>2007-08-03T13:25:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-08-03T13:31:53.280+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Insurgency – Los Rambos</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;BC -&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The invaders have finally managed to create the first pattern of insurgency (non-governmental organization – NOG!) based on most intricate and convoluted maze of tribal and ethnic interconnectivities, reminiscing of Saddam’s past time social ligature that stitched power hubs like flimsy beads.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;The insurgents’ primary objective is to penetrate the Iraqi resistance cells and to exterminate its leaders, however, and as it may seem, they are anything but focused.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;Case study is Al-Khadra area – north of Hai Al-Qudat (famous for Takfiri heaven). The invaders have scanned the entire area and literally broken every house-door searching for resistance and Takfiris. Entire neighborhoods were turned into open house over 2 days of ‘frisking’ under hovering copters. In the end the invaders pulled away and bizarre Rambo-style-ensemble dressed insurgents closed in and began to occupy houses in various areas to watch out for any possible Iraqi resistance activities. After half day of calmness a hell of fiery weapons descended onto Al Khadra area when a triangle of death between the Iraqi resistance, the Takfiris and the insurgents embossed itself resolutely. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;After 24 hours of living hell, motley mobs of non-defined armed men – some say they’re Takfiris (Saudi Islamic state of Iraq) other talks about resistance, took control of the entire area, and began to empty the houses and later proclaimed the district officially clean of any infidels! and invaders. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;One thing for sure, there were no sign of Los Ramobs left in the streets!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Cambria&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Meanwhile, and on the other side of the capital the Iraqi engineer - head of engineering division for rebuilding El Sarafiya Bridge has been assassinated.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Cambria&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:&amp;quot;;font-size:12;"  &gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2325907899064775896?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2325907899064775896'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2325907899064775896'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/08/insurgency-los-rambos.html' title='Insurgency – Los Rambos'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-318695423781658698</id><published>2007-07-30T00:45:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-30T00:45:30.112+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rqz8XZtdWmI/AAAAAAAAAK4/atp1_CmhG7g/s1600-h/flag.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rqz8XZtdWmI/AAAAAAAAAK4/atp1_CmhG7g/s320/flag.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092722757617932898" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-318695423781658698?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/318695423781658698'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/318695423781658698'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/blog-post_9356.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rqz8XZtdWmI/AAAAAAAAAK4/atp1_CmhG7g/s72-c/flag.gif' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4068662516247651325</id><published>2007-07-24T16:44:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-28T12:03:34.900+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Baath, the Next Generation.</title><content type='html'>&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;BC -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;The mediocrity of Bremer’s decision to dissolve the Iraqi army right after the fall had probably surpassed that of some fifteen century Europeans when they thought current America was India. In fact, the Iraqi army at that time was anything but total Baath, and the flatness of Mr. Bremer gave the Saddamists a golden opportunity on a titanium plate when he rid of the very institution that could have helped re-institutionalizing ‘Iraq sans-Baath’. Perhaps Bremer’s Knight Templar vision was bigger than that of Nixon’s four more years, which made him believe – at least for the first few weeks, that bulky ‘Pentagonistas’ with miserable war record – Hawaii, Hiroshima, Hanoi , Korea, Serbia … could rule the Mesopotamia with a saucy character like &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cfpeople.org/military/042203/capt.1051023311.iraq_garner_xkcf104.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;color:windowtext;"&gt;this man&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;… of course, the rest is rusty history. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;Al Kalasi, AL Baghdadi, Al Muradi (pro-Baath communist party), A. Al Zeebari (Kurdistan), EL-Douri faction, southerner Shiites. Al Dhari and Ulama Al Muslimeen will head an amalgam of resistance in Syria to discuss government in exile with wide political platform. The common objective is recognition after their unprecedented resistance success. Younis Al-Hamad is excluded from the gathering due to his inclination towards political dialogue with the invaders – AL-Hamad’s personnel attended the Prague meeting with a few invaders’ elements. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;The plan for the after-fall Baath resistance was well-thought in late 2002 and it entailed precise operations (240 efficient leaders) with logistic supports that will last for 25 years. Jalil Ahmed Haboush (the invaders’ Iraqi-Takriti rat before the war) has informed the invaders of such plan but his warning was passed unheeded. Weapons have been hidden in segments/areas that will make each resistance unit independent with its proper enabler tools. Dress codes are variables and a few ex-army Baathist officials have gotten rid of their uniforms until victory prevails. One of the most prominent confrontation with the invaders was during Falluja I when overtly-confident Baath resistance kept their uniform intact with the red-colored triangle badge on (the republican guards)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;The Baath’s objective after the total defeat of the invaders will be resolving the ‘pro-Iranians!’ problem in Iraq. As per one of their Islamist leaders from Muosel “if they don’t accept concessions then we may have to poison them all to death!)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;h2 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;The Sadrists are aware of future changes, and are maintaining course of resistance as a sole form of salvation. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4068662516247651325?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4068662516247651325'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4068662516247651325'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/baath-next-generation.html' title='Baath, the Next Generation.'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3637053424840039088</id><published>2007-07-21T16:01:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-28T11:59:45.587+04:00</updated><title type='text'>License to kill</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;BC -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;A while ago the invaders boasted their strategy of granting the Iraqi civilians license to kill members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. This &lt;a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HsJkiCnmmbc"&gt;video&lt;/a&gt; shows how a man is cheering - in foul language - his victorious triumph of killing what he deemed Al Qaeda members in total absence of the law – evidence, witness, defense lawyer, prosecutor, cross examination and a judge. The only obvious intention probably was retaliation or self-defense in lawless land!! &lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;BC wonders just who are the real victims in the above video: those who lived because they pulled the trigger faster or those who are laid dead? Or even those innocent who frequently get caught in between? Perhaps everyone has been victimized. The world citizens are once again fighting a proxy war and paying the price dearly for the vile and terrorizing works (Reagan’s Takfiri Freedom Fighters and Suicide Bombers) as outcome of the cold war between the invaders and the ex-USSR in Afghanistan.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Iraqis may have to get a grip to their reality and comprehend that War on Terror is a war against all the vice and havoc done by both the invaders and ex-Soviet Union to control global resources. And this war is rarely won like in Vietnam but in most cases it turns nations to poorest countries/regions in the world like in Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Chechnya, and many examples cover every continent in the world.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;It is a choice that we need to make; do we carry on with this war on terror and keep on cleaning up the feces behind the superpowers or to heed to reasoning and become a self-determined, Mesopotamian-constitutionalized nation? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;BC champions the latter. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" face="georgia"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092154267156699714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rqr3U5tdWkI/AAAAAAAAAKo/rit3iaiqdeE/s400/img.php.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3637053424840039088?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3637053424840039088'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3637053424840039088'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/license-to-kill.html' title='License to kill'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rqr3U5tdWkI/AAAAAAAAAKo/rit3iaiqdeE/s72-c/img.php.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1841984131718244724</id><published>2007-07-16T19:46:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-16T19:48:27.757+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Al Maliki : government can take control of security situation</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpuTGX19mQI/AAAAAAAAAKg/X8DrXVws5VM/s1600-h/Lol.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpuTGX19mQI/AAAAAAAAAKg/X8DrXVws5VM/s400/Lol.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087821941733955842" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1841984131718244724?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1841984131718244724'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1841984131718244724'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/al-maliki-government-can-take-control.html' title='Al Maliki : government can take control of security situation'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpuTGX19mQI/AAAAAAAAAKg/X8DrXVws5VM/s72-c/Lol.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1351458315434444682</id><published>2007-07-12T16:45:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-12T20:43:34.627+04:00</updated><title type='text'>The Water War</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;BC -&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Baghdad has become the first modern capital in the world to actually experience the Water War which is widely thought to be the future world war III&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;There wasn't any fresh drinking water in large parts of Baghdad and for 4 days. We had a mere of 5 liters of water a day in our house of 4 bedrooms. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;In some areas the water trickled down to zero since last week. The invaders had cut off the water in Al-Khadimiya area since morning as a retribution for Al-Khadimiya’s residents’ support for the Sadrists. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;The Water War commenced since the confrontation between the Sadrists and the invaders backed armed forces escalated in El-Shula, Al-Biya, Al-Thawra and Al-Ammel – all have been isolated separately. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Al-Maliki has, for the first time and unintentionally, uncovered the big game behind the myth of the Shia crescent, when he coined some Sadrtists elements as Baathists in disguise!! Which triggered the ancient struggle within the Shia sect between one faction that supports the Ayatollah state (in favor: Maliki, Hakim, Iran, the invaders, and the Baathists) and the counter faction that supports Ahl El-Bayt state - which stipulates a future emergent Imam that will rule the nation (in favor: Sardrists and Ahl El-Sahan) &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;When the invaders wage propaganda warfare by insinuating Muqtada’s escape to Iran, they are in fact playing the internecine deep-rooted faith differences between the Iranians and the Shia culture of Iraq. If Sadr is in Iran it means his large number of his followers are left without a divine providence and will be under the merci of Ayatollahs. Bear in mind, more than 70% of Iraqi soldiers that fought the Iran-Iraq war were Shiites! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Baghdad’s streets have turned empty and sordid. No heavy military hardware is seen as before. It is believed they are drawn into Diyala region. Areas like El-Dura and Hai Al-Adel have turned into regional Islamic governments with their own officials! Some Green Zone employees have not yet received their salaries and prices are going through the roof. People again are talking about an imminent change. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%;font-family:'Cambria','serif';" &gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;Al Maliki has finally thrown in the towel to the neo Baathists and their new allies – the invaders. But one thing remains certain and that is no voice can hitherto be louder than the resistance – not even the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-FAMILY: georgia" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7770269162169440105&amp;q=king+saud&amp;amp;amp;total=133&amp;start=10&amp;amp;amp;num=10&amp;so=0&amp;amp;type=search&amp;plindex=4"&gt;Takfiris&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt; suicide bombs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold" face="georgia"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1351458315434444682?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1351458315434444682'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1351458315434444682'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/water-war.html' title='The Water War'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6967173662980115080</id><published>2007-07-09T14:11:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-09T14:12:08.749+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Dream Team Resistance!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;A new front resistance line has been formed as a base to consolidate El-Dhari, Al-Khalasi and El-Douri’s forces to out-maneuver the recent invaders’ tactics to accommodate faction of Baathists ex-resistance under the former’s umbrella.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;A reporter informed BC that the new resistance management program has been drawn in emergency meeting between resistance groups in light of the aftermath of the invaders push into the Dyala region.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The objectives of the new operations are to be more elaborated, lethal and concise in different geo-specific areas; also, enormous resources have been dedicated for the same!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6967173662980115080?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6967173662980115080'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6967173662980115080'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/dream-team-resistance.html' title='Dream Team Resistance!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6035719724171013688</id><published>2007-07-08T12:11:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-08T12:13:51.461+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpCcpsQL6eI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/pZ_GCoW3S7k/s1600-h/bush_al_maliki_AFP.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpCcpsQL6eI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/pZ_GCoW3S7k/s400/bush_al_maliki_AFP.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5084736219368909282" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6035719724171013688?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6035719724171013688'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6035719724171013688'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RpCcpsQL6eI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/pZ_GCoW3S7k/s72-c/bush_al_maliki_AFP.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7982243515693389469</id><published>2007-07-06T14:43:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-07T13:45:14.508+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Jackass of the Month: Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;BC -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson, deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment of the so-called MNF-I (Multi National Force – Iraq) has boasted in an Arabic written &lt;a href="http://nahrain.com/d/news/07/06/12/thl0612a.html"&gt;communiqué&lt;/a&gt;, the great achievement of the invaders by hiring ‘200 nos’!! Iraqis in the last 4 years in the industrial sectors at Camp Eco. Also, he brags about hiring ‘two’! and up to 20 Iraqis for a few projects that are due to be completed after the summer 2007.&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;BC would like to know what kind of Mickey Mouse industrial projects are those that for the past four years managed to employ a mere 200 Iraqis?!! Before the invasion a fully-automated Iraqi factory (with high profits on return) for Air conditioning units hired more than 200 workers including the logistic team.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;Brig. Anderson adds that he is seriously encouraging ‘small’ projects for Iraqis so they can get their acts together – you bet, Brig. Anderson! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;Perhaps Brig. Anderson is ignoramus enough about the history of Iraq’s industrial power since the times of British colonialism of last century so he could pull an insolent stunt as such, but with similar employment figures he certainly won’t be missed out as a laughing-stock back in his home country.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#333333;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7982243515693389469?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7982243515693389469'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7982243515693389469'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/jackass-of-month-brig-gen-steven.html' title='Jackass of the Month: Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8873998564052053682</id><published>2007-07-02T21:03:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-07-02T21:45:44.259+04:00</updated><title type='text'>El Mozote - Iraq</title><content type='html'>&lt;object width="320" height="280" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-1efd3a27775fc728" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v23.nonxt8.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D1efd3a27775fc728%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D59D69B5309201520E22A70B05C72576067672CC1.74143BF44956056B27FE834990FFB1597B0BB8C2%26key%3Dck1&amp;amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1efd3a27775fc728%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3D_gNnQXypkZeCEarVaoJX2xGlSMM&amp;amp;autoplay=0&amp;amp;ps=blogger"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="280" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v23.nonxt8.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D1efd3a27775fc728%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330029410%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D59D69B5309201520E22A70B05C72576067672CC1.74143BF44956056B27FE834990FFB1597B0BB8C2%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1efd3a27775fc728%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3D_gNnQXypkZeCEarVaoJX2xGlSMM&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8873998564052053682?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='enclosure' type='video/mp4' href='http://www.blogger.com/video-play.mp4?contentId=1efd3a27775fc728&amp;type=video%2Fmp4' length='0'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8873998564052053682'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8873998564052053682'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/07/el-mozote-iraq.html' title='El Mozote - Iraq'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1576831188776182758</id><published>2007-06-30T12:56:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-30T13:28:00.916+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Bush: A Takfiri - Al Qaeda person is hopeful!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoYbQcQL6cI/AAAAAAAAAKA/F8XrU7l_p4E/s1600-h/Mash..bmp"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081779198810122690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoYbQcQL6cI/AAAAAAAAAKA/F8XrU7l_p4E/s320/Mash..bmp" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Ten years ago and in a fine spring day this man in the picture led a punch of Takfiri gangsters of 7 people, armed with hand grenades and assault rifles, and attacked a big liquor store in Al-Waziriya area near Al Maghrib Street and burned it down. He then fled to the adjacent Adamiya district and stayed there for a few days. But when Saddam’s security services (were extremely intolerant of any Takfiri – so called Al Qaeda activities) investigated the incident his name was implicated and they tracked him down. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;But by then he managed to flee north and the case was closed - He was once jailed by Saddam and in 2006 Bush called him a 'hopeful' person.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Today, under the invasion authority, he is Iraq’s Speaker of the House (parliament)!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1576831188776182758?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1576831188776182758'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1576831188776182758'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/bush-takfiri-al-qaeda-person-is-hopeful.html' title='Bush: A Takfiri - Al Qaeda person is hopeful!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoYbQcQL6cI/AAAAAAAAAKA/F8XrU7l_p4E/s72-c/Mash..bmp' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8281871617890842047</id><published>2007-06-29T11:13:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-29T21:52:03.198+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Israel: Garbanzo in every dish</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;Al Tarrar -&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;‘Democracies in both Iraq and Israel share common responsibility!!’ – Bush &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gee man; this president stings even more than I thought.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8281871617890842047?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8281871617890842047'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8281871617890842047'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/israel-garbanzo-in-every-dish.html' title='Israel: Garbanzo in every dish'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8419821740839059843</id><published>2007-06-27T10:15:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-27T10:19:09.688+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Hai Al-Jamiya - June, 2007</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBOMQL6YI/AAAAAAAAAJg/j_EJCTmJPSo/s1600-h/Hai.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBOMQL6YI/AAAAAAAAAJg/j_EJCTmJPSo/s320/Hai.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080624672946252162" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBOsQL6ZI/AAAAAAAAAJo/vbw7pI6xMPw/s1600-h/Hai2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBOsQL6ZI/AAAAAAAAAJo/vbw7pI6xMPw/s320/Hai2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080624681536186770" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBO8QL6aI/AAAAAAAAAJw/pljdrvxRzMI/s1600-h/Hai3.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBO8QL6aI/AAAAAAAAAJw/pljdrvxRzMI/s320/Hai3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080624685831154082" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBPMQL6bI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/9YbgYZGxfGw/s1600-h/Hai4.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBPMQL6bI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/9YbgYZGxfGw/s320/Hai4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080624690126121394" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8419821740839059843?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8419821740839059843'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8419821740839059843'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/hai-al-jamiya-june-2007.html' title='Hai Al-Jamiya - June, 2007'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RoIBOMQL6YI/AAAAAAAAAJg/j_EJCTmJPSo/s72-c/Hai.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6338831560601516233</id><published>2007-06-26T18:02:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-29T18:43:28.387+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Clamped</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;A &lt;a href="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6240384.stm"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;warrant of arrest&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; for the ex-Ministry of Culture &lt;a href="http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2006/06/dear-prime-minister-your-minister-is.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;Mr. Asaad Kamal Al Hashimi&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;(Baghdad Connect wrote about it one year ago)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6338831560601516233?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6338831560601516233'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6338831560601516233'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/clamped.html' title='Clamped'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-831386499248965945</id><published>2007-06-22T20:30:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-22T20:32:05.441+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Lives on</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rnv5Un8M81I/AAAAAAAAAJY/Yrm4xdzvglU/s1600-h/nazek.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rnv5Un8M81I/AAAAAAAAAJY/Yrm4xdzvglU/s320/nazek.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5078927137504555858" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-831386499248965945?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/831386499248965945'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/831386499248965945'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/lives-on.html' title='Lives on'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rnv5Un8M81I/AAAAAAAAAJY/Yrm4xdzvglU/s72-c/nazek.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1936970751130584748</id><published>2007-06-20T22:19:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-30T20:27:39.068+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Rollercoaster</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;BC-&lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;There has been a major crossing of young men from Jordan into Iraq since it was made public, for the first time, that the invaders are arming a legion of Baathists resistance to fight off ‘Al Qaeda’. The Baath party - Jordan branch (assumed dissolved) has called upon all active members in the region to heed to the invaders call, and head back home in order to be armed with American made weapons to battle Al Qaeda.&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt; Quite reminiscing of Saddam’s last call for Arab fighters to join his army right before the invasion. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" &gt;In a most bizarre move the invaders have publicly announced the arming of those who have once killed the invaders own soldiers! Or, did they ever kill any of the invaders' soldiers?! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1936970751130584748?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1936970751130584748'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1936970751130584748'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/rollercoaster.html' title='Rollercoaster'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5919598716876299552</id><published>2007-06-20T11:31:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-20T11:32:23.042+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.naba.org.uk/content/articles/HR/IraqHRM/Jalili_Reprt2007_Iraq_LostGeneration.pdf"&gt;Iraq’s lost generation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5919598716876299552?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5919598716876299552'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5919598716876299552'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/iraqs-lost-generation.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2409816693530111879</id><published>2007-06-14T12:43:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-15T11:13:28.626+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Literary illusion</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;When an &lt;a href="http://www.indiaenews.com/america/20070614/56059.htm"&gt;opportunity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.indiaenews.com/america/20070614/56059.htm"&gt; &lt;/a&gt;arises in a system that thrives on NASDAQ and FTSE readings then there are those who will leap right into it to secure capital gain. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Bush and Al-Maliki were quite ready (and perhaps due to the nature of their work!) to drum up support for more ‘surge’! and more PR shots to combat Al Qaeda!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;BC wonders just how many burning of mosques have gone unheeded, non-finger pointing and without any ethnographic PR photos as a result?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CQ6pCFKDJo"&gt;Here&lt;/a&gt; you have a burning of mosque that took place a while back, which was part of everyday’s normal activity. Hitherto, neither Bush’s scream nor Al Maliki's PR shots have been heard or seen, nor a minor reaction felt from the authority regarding the incident. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Higher capital gain calls for higher level of opportunism!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p face="georgia" style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;On a different note; why each time Negroponte is in town the Samara Mosque gets bombed and a Lebanese MP gets killed? What a jinx!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2409816693530111879?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2409816693530111879'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2409816693530111879'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/literary-illusion.html' title='Literary illusion'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4287316989241323570</id><published>2007-06-12T16:32:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-14T17:37:56.586+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Western media’s jet-lag</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Today’s &lt;a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2100698,00.html"&gt;news&lt;/a&gt; should have been yesterday’s. Also, it is a slice of reality at best. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;It’s been sometime since a few legitimate media companies began to limp on broken foot and we are sure they have got their own reasons for such amble walk. Furthermore, the aforementioned piece of news should have gone into publication since last year but hey, no body is perfect!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Should our readers care to read the above-mentioned link then we figure that the invaders are arming the ‘dissidents’!, unlike the ‘insurgents’, to fight the Takfiris (al Qaeda) in Iraq. The reality is, and as BC wrote about it long ago, the invaders are arming the invaders-backed Baathists to fight a proxy war against the non-invaders-backed baathists i.e. Younis Al Ahmad vs. Ezat El Douri –close links to the Saudi (Cheney’s ally) Takfiris, who had both represented two factions of the same resistance and until late 2006.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Since the doomed days of the invaders’ ex-ambassador a channel was created with Younis Al Ahmad, who resides in Syria – with various offices in the region, to join the political process under the invaders’ guardianship. Ezat Al Douri has opposed such course of action and in January 2007 he wrote a letter to disband Younis Al-Ahmad from his Baath party rank and called for his extermination. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;If Youins Al Hamad proven to be victorious in this vile conflict then he will take a major role as a Basthist in the future political process of Iraq…the risks are high so is the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;stake.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4287316989241323570?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4287316989241323570'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4287316989241323570'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/western-medias-jet-lag.html' title='Western media’s jet-lag'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6838528387722429837</id><published>2007-06-06T09:04:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-06T09:06:15.212+04:00</updated><title type='text'>History</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RmZAnH8M8zI/AAAAAAAAAJI/9fC3K9UOKwQ/s1600-h/lib.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RmZAnH8M8zI/AAAAAAAAAJI/9fC3K9UOKwQ/s320/lib.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5072813071170073394" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6838528387722429837?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6838528387722429837'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6838528387722429837'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/history.html' title='History'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RmZAnH8M8zI/AAAAAAAAAJI/9fC3K9UOKwQ/s72-c/lib.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-8831126646761707864</id><published>2007-06-04T14:59:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-06-04T15:01:06.945+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/iraq_oil_law"&gt;Oppose!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-8831126646761707864?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8831126646761707864'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/8831126646761707864'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/06/oppose.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-2305286916841062016</id><published>2007-05-30T10:50:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-31T14:54:21.882+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Saddam’s leading Nuke physicist heads Qatar’s tech tank</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span&gt;BC -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dr. Amir Al Saadi – head of the infamous Saddam’s military industries (Tashgheel Al-Askari) and a leading authority in Iraqi’s past nuclear research and development, is heading yet another a high governmental research and development institute located 60 Kilometers from one of the largest US bases in the Gulf (Adeed Base) and that is in the state of Qatar.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dr. Al Saadi was the first high ranked Iraqi official to surrender to the invaders a day after the fall of Baghdad. His surrender was witness-filmed by a German TV station and then he was taken to Baghdad Airport prison. His wife – German native – rigorously and adamantly brokered a deal with the invaders, through the help of the German government, for the release her husband. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In 2006 Dr. Al-Saadi was flown out of the Baghdad Airport prison to an unknown destination and later he was re-surfaced as the head of a science and research development center in Qatar, which is run by the owner of Al-Jazeera TV station, Sheikha Moza – the First Lady of Qatar. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"&gt;Dr. Al Saadi was prominent for his life style sophistication. His Victorian English accent and his love for delicatessen food and classical music amongst other delights had well-placed him in Baghdad's social avant-garde – when there was one.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rl0fMi7NX7I/AAAAAAAAAJA/Q5scxw72D3I/s1600-h/Amer-Hammoudi-al-Saadi.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rl0fMi7NX7I/AAAAAAAAAJA/Q5scxw72D3I/s320/Amer-Hammoudi-al-Saadi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5070243055883083698" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-2305286916841062016?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2305286916841062016'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/2305286916841062016'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/saddams-leading-nuke-physicist-heads.html' title='Saddam’s leading Nuke physicist heads Qatar’s tech tank'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rl0fMi7NX7I/AAAAAAAAAJA/Q5scxw72D3I/s72-c/Amer-Hammoudi-al-Saadi.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1091418624943756425</id><published>2007-05-23T12:36:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-23T13:03:28.807+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Congress nods to Bush, Bush nods to ‘anyone’!</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You break it you own it, and then you dumb it in a &lt;a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&amp;storyid=2007-05-17T083211Z_01_SP89695_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-USA-IRAQ.xml"&gt;garage sale&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlQA5i7NX5I/AAAAAAAAAIw/U6dUXQoh4Vc/s1600-h/39726928vh2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlQA5i7NX5I/AAAAAAAAAIw/U6dUXQoh4Vc/s320/39726928vh2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067676469326339986" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1091418624943756425?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1091418624943756425'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1091418624943756425'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/congress-nods-to-bush-bush-nods-to.html' title='Congress nods to Bush, Bush nods to ‘anyone’!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlQA5i7NX5I/AAAAAAAAAIw/U6dUXQoh4Vc/s72-c/39726928vh2.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1431920276535661347</id><published>2007-05-23T10:14:00.001+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-23T10:15:56.798+04:00</updated><title type='text'>History</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlPb-y7NX4I/AAAAAAAAAIo/DZUduVM3HhY/s1600-h/history.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlPb-y7NX4I/AAAAAAAAAIo/DZUduVM3HhY/s320/history.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5067635877590425474" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1431920276535661347?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1431920276535661347'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1431920276535661347'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/history.html' title='History'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RlPb-y7NX4I/AAAAAAAAAIo/DZUduVM3HhY/s72-c/history.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-7530508168726519062</id><published>2007-05-17T08:49:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-17T09:26:16.464+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Appallingly worse</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Taliya:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;El Sadriya bombing and El Biya’a vicious confrontation between the government/invader forces and the Mujahdeen have marked a new turn in the battle for dominating &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Baghdad&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;. The streets have never been as unreal as they are today. The minute the government forces pull away from an area and immediately heavy shooting commences. In El Biya’a alone 32 bodies were thrown into the streets right after the government/invader forces pulled back to a safe place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Al Amariya is literally fenced-in and similar to Al-Adamiya. Wall blocks are seen in every major road. Bigger part of Al Harthiya has been annexed into the Green Zone since long ago, and &lt;st1:street st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:address st="on"&gt;Haifa Street&lt;/st1:address&gt;&lt;/st1:street&gt; is relatively calmer due to the presence of unbelievable amount of military hardware. Yesterday BC counted more than 18 Hummers and two tanks swarming in an area of roughly 2 kilometers! And between them you could see children, grownups and cars. And when the forces move away the street suddenly becomes mortally still. As the curfew starts not a single sole is seen or else will be shot at by either the government/invaders or the Mujahdeen! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Similar scene is in Bab Al Mu’dam where the armed forces could exceed those that could be seen on a frontline war zone. The two only operating bridges left are that of Bab Al Mu’dam and Al Ahrar. Also, it is quite evident that the Iraqi government forces are showing signs of harshness in their look, and people are simply avoiding looking at them at check points!! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;        &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Prices are gone beyond believe. A taxi ride to certain areas could cost up 80 US Dollars per trip and you will be dropped off on a main road far from your destination. It is shear madness. Also, in our area we have been continuously without electricity for the past two weeks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The other painful sight is the large number of stray animals. People say that dogs are eating dead bodies and consequently turning vicious!&lt;span style=""&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;How could anyone manage the war like that? The government/invaders running full capacity and yet they fail to deliver. Who was that freaking idiot behind increasing the hardware to that extent as a solution? The invaders should have tremendously reduced their presence back in late 2005 and before they shredded our cities to pieces.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;The US and &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; have been sitting behind closed doors at the American embassy since March 2007. Mr. Al Maliki (who is due to depart in the near future!) was twice denied access into the ‘Iran’s affairs’ room at the USA embassy – CIA department, due to ‘meeting in progress’!! Nothing has been proliferated from such meetings except for more disasters.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkvfEy7NX3I/AAAAAAAAAIg/GTVNxl4gXIA/s1600-h/67cc1984c0i.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkvfEy7NX3I/AAAAAAAAAIg/GTVNxl4gXIA/s320/67cc1984c0i.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5065387479390838642" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-7530508168726519062?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7530508168726519062'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/7530508168726519062'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/appallingly-worse.html' title='Appallingly worse'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkvfEy7NX3I/AAAAAAAAAIg/GTVNxl4gXIA/s72-c/67cc1984c0i.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1894650808128930324</id><published>2007-05-13T11:58:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-13T12:03:30.047+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Talabani: Foreign Troops Required Until Iraq Can Recruit ‘Own Army’!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;Mr. Talabani with Blair, 2007:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkbFP90KvFI/AAAAAAAAAIA/IeJ8DZ187Q8/s1600-h/Tali.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkbFP90KvFI/AAAAAAAAAIA/IeJ8DZ187Q8/s320/Tali.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063951709106781266" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Mr. Talabani in the Golden Years:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkbFQN0KvGI/AAAAAAAAAII/neMIDc2VQS4/s1600-h/Tal.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkbFQN0KvGI/AAAAAAAAAII/neMIDc2VQS4/s320/Tal.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063951713401748578" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Young Mr. Talabani (left) with Ezat El Douri (Center) – ex-Vise President Saddam Hussein and current Baathist resistance, and Hussein Kamel - The chemical (right) during a leisure trip to the Sulaimaniya province in 1981!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1894650808128930324?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1894650808128930324'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1894650808128930324'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/talabani-foreign-troops-required-until.html' title='Talabani: Foreign Troops Required Until Iraq Can Recruit ‘Own Army’!'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkbFP90KvFI/AAAAAAAAAIA/IeJ8DZ187Q8/s72-c/Tali.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4615067178382806541</id><published>2007-05-12T14:51:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-14T09:43:10.771+04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rkf2wt0KvII/AAAAAAAAAIY/6CWypwp0VDg/s1600-h/vilei.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rkf2wt0KvII/AAAAAAAAAIY/6CWypwp0VDg/s320/vilei.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5064287622793968770" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkWcfN0KvEI/AAAAAAAAAH0/BQGorKbm3ck/s1600-h/vile.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkWcfN0KvEI/AAAAAAAAAH0/BQGorKbm3ck/s320/vile.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063625416146336834" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4615067178382806541?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4615067178382806541'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4615067178382806541'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/Rkf2wt0KvII/AAAAAAAAAIY/6CWypwp0VDg/s72-c/vilei.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1496071525100878369</id><published>2007-05-11T10:49:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-11T10:54:31.192+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Arrivederci</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkQSBN0KvDI/AAAAAAAAAHs/k0cJIUf_Jd8/s1600-h/young_tony_blair.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkQSBN0KvDI/AAAAAAAAAHs/k0cJIUf_Jd8/s320/young_tony_blair.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5063191693168917554" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;                                &lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Next time gang up with dudes of your own size, mate!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;.....Allah wyak Abbosy, Allah wyak Abbosy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1496071525100878369?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1496071525100878369'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1496071525100878369'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/arrivederci.html' title='Arrivederci'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkQSBN0KvDI/AAAAAAAAAHs/k0cJIUf_Jd8/s72-c/young_tony_blair.jpg' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4293170832672919161</id><published>2007-05-10T11:30:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-10T11:32:32.182+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Mausoleum – Saddam in Tikrit, 2007</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcN0Ku_I/AAAAAAAAAHA/DUXGt8WlRac/s1600-h/PHOT0001.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcN0Ku_I/AAAAAAAAAHA/DUXGt8WlRac/s320/PHOT0001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062831517211474930" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcN0KvAI/AAAAAAAAAHI/gtHOjEmk96w/s1600-h/PHOT0003%282%29.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcN0KvAI/AAAAAAAAAHI/gtHOjEmk96w/s320/PHOT0003%282%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062831517211474946" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcd0KvBI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/IOXF_peYj6M/s1600-h/PHOT0009.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcd0KvBI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/IOXF_peYj6M/s320/PHOT0009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062831521506442258" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKct0KvCI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Zqkzwi2cbxg/s1600-h/PHOT0004.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKct0KvCI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Zqkzwi2cbxg/s320/PHOT0004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062831525801409570" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4293170832672919161?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4293170832672919161'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4293170832672919161'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/mausoleum-saddam-in-tikrit-2007_10.html' title='Mausoleum – Saddam in Tikrit, 2007'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RkLKcN0Ku_I/AAAAAAAAAHA/DUXGt8WlRac/s72-c/PHOT0001.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-4922134948714574576</id><published>2007-05-05T20:33:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-14T15:02:30.556+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Jalil Ahmed Haboush</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;BC-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;It was this man, Jalil Ahmed Haboush that tipped the Bush administration and the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency about the would-be operation room of Saddam Hussein and his aids on the eve of the war back in 2003 when the invading forces smart-bombed a specific place that claimed the lives of others but not that of Saddam Hussein.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ahmed Haboush – native Tikrit, a Baathist and former Saddam’s head of intelligence with religious tendencies, had provided the US with details of 18 of Saddam’s secret hid-outs eight months prior to the invasion. Also, he passed on contact details of high ranked ex-republican guards who many of them received phone calls to their private homes a few weeks before the invasion, to talk them into not taking part in the fight against the invaders in return for future political power.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; A few days after the fall of Baghdad Mr. Bush declared that he was pleased to have saved the one Iraqi man that had most helped the Pentagon with secret materials. It was Jalil Ahmed Haboush that Mr. Bush’s men had airlifted on a copter from Haboush’s home in Al-Amariya with his entire family and close relatives, and were immediately flown out Baghdad airport amongst others while the whole world were watching Saddam’s statue’s being pulled down at the Fordous square.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Jalil Ahmed Haboush - one of the closest aids of Saddam’s during the latter’s last three years rein, is deemed to first met with the Pentagon Defense Intelligence Agency in Amman, Jordan back in 1999 and it is believed that the invasion plan was underway since 1998! - an Iraqi who worked as a political consultant for one of the Gulf states told BC that two Gulf rulers knew about the invasion plan since that date!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;It is not clear if Ahmed Haboush was in direct contact with the invaders during the invasion process but on April 8, 2003 an Iraqi accomplice briefed him of the rescue plan.     &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;When Saddam appeared on Iraqi TV while was being cheered by a small crowed in the 14&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Ramadan street in Baghdad two days before the fall of the capital, half an hour later the invaders maliciously ‘smart’-bombed a near-by house that took the lives of 13 innocent lives but not that of Saddam’s. In fact, the target was somewhat accurate as there was a pretty close hideout (near Al Sa’a restaurant) for the ex-president of Iraq and based on secret info previously furnished by Ahmed Haboush.&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Haboush, 56, not quite a political savvy with a minor health problem, currently maintains a residence in Virginia, USA but he is a frequent flyer to Baghdad airport. His house in Al-Amariya area is quite an intrigue (on the corner junction of Union and Al-A’ml Al Sha’bi street). The occupiers had kept the house intact (including the furniture) under high security and until the area fell in the hands of the Islamic resistance – Mujahdeen in early 2006. Since then the house was turned into an immaculate Islamic Health Center to treat the wounded resistance, and the invaders have never approached that place again!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-4922134948714574576?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4922134948714574576'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/4922134948714574576'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/ahmed-haboush.html' title='Jalil Ahmed Haboush'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-6640146335530564129</id><published>2007-05-01T13:29:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-05-01T13:37:17.677+04:00</updated><title type='text'>May Day</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RjcIsd0Ku5I/AAAAAAAAAGM/h0Nw-3if6o8/s1600-h/May+day.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 427px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RjcIsd0Ku5I/AAAAAAAAAGM/h0Nw-3if6o8/s400/May+day.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5059522266384743314" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-6640146335530564129?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6640146335530564129'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/6640146335530564129'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-day.html' title='May Day'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/RjcIsd0Ku5I/AAAAAAAAAGM/h0Nw-3if6o8/s72-c/May+day.JPG' height='72' width='72'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-1111804046129852562</id><published>2007-04-30T15:05:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-04-30T16:28:48.478+04:00</updated><title type='text'>Anthropoid behind wheels</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Al Tarrar -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="shw" style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;anencephalic&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; invader was apparently &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgTAf2rCNCI"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;showing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; his California Highway Patrol disciplines in our streets while driving a Hummer. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;The above clip demonstrates the uncivilized psycho-mentality of some of our invaders; complete absent of mannerism, total lack of respect for human lives, and freaking poop-in-pants life-preserved paranoia.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;strong&gt;Could our readers tell how did this Pongidae invader get his driving license, and what was he on during this madness flee? &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;BC recommends him as a personal chauffeur for Mr. David Petraeus!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-1111804046129852562?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1111804046129852562'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/1111804046129852562'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/04/anthropoid-behind-wheels.html' title='Anthropoid behind wheels'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-3932675935538122488</id><published>2007-04-29T11:32:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-04-29T11:42:41.780+04:00</updated><title type='text'>The young wife of Ba’shiqa</title><content type='html'>&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Al Tarrar -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The story of the horrific ethnographic killing of the woman of Ba’shiqa, which was inaccurately told by a popular Iraqi website, is one of the most damning examples of &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; bleak future.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Ba’shiqa is a town situated between Dhuk and &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Mosul&lt;/st1:city&gt; in northern &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and it is 100% inhabited by Yezidis (is a grafted religion of Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish, Nestorian Christian and Islam) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;During the Saddam era the Yezidis enjoyed total religious freedom to include practicing their own scared rituals and, also, the rights to taking up jobs in the rest of the communities.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;A couple of months back a Yezidi young lady converted into Islam with the consent of her parents, to marry her Muslim lover. And later on she married him in &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Kurdistan&lt;/st1:city&gt;,  &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;. The conversion of a Yezidi into any other religion is a punishable sin!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;When the young husband was taking his wife back to her town, Ba’shiqa, they were stopped at a government military check point at the town border, and they were denied a permission to travel together because as the check point security told them: ‘Please spare us the headache of the Yezidis’ affairs!!!’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;They let the wife to pass and ordered the husband to turn back. However, the wife was kept for three days at a police station pending the arrival of her parents to pick her up, but they parents were never informed!! Instead a mob of angry Yezidis turned up and rampaged into the station and drag her out into an open public place and tore her cloths off and crushed her to death. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The killing scene was filmed on mobile and was later sent across to people in &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Irbil&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt; and Mosul&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;. BC yesterday received a copy of the devastating clip which shows the young wife’s head (she was bloody semi-naked) crushed to death with a concrete block by angry unmasked men, and BC refrains from showing it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;A few hours after the killing scene the parents were told about their daughter demise, which made them to angrily seek immediate revenge for the madness, and they informed the Mujahdeen of Mosul about the malicious killing of their Muslim daughter. The &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Mosul&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;’s Mujahdeen (Baathists-Douri faction, Saudi (Cheney’s ally)-financed terrorist Takfiris, Islamic resistance and elements of the ex-CIA Afghan Takfiris) took the matter into their hands and retaliated by killing 11 Yezidi workers.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p  style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Years back matters as such were never blown out of proportion, and when such incident occurred the central authority would have intervened to resolve this delicate matter rather than ‘sparing the headache of the Yezidis’ affairs!’&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h1&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:11;" &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-3932675935538122488?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3932675935538122488'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/3932675935538122488'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/04/young-wife-of-bashiqa.html' title='The young wife of Ba’shiqa'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24918861.post-5272487602394498132</id><published>2007-04-27T13:15:00.000+04:00</published><updated>2007-04-27T16:30:44.170+04:00</updated><title type='text'>The Diyala Job</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;BC-&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The Diyala job, which took the lives of several soldiers from Jaish El-Pentagon, is the work of what appears to be the first sign of cooperation between the Takfiris and the Iranian backed resistance.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;A while ago a local reporter informed BC that there is in fact an existing channel in place, through which the Islamic state of Diyala is procuring weapons via a Kurdish connection from &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Iran&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; to combat the invaders.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The Islamic state of Diyala – independent of the Saudi-financed terrorist Takfiris (those who car-bomb both the Shiites and Sunnis civilians in &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Iraq&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;), is a mix of neocon hard-line Baathists (in direct cut-throat conflict with the recently recruited large number of invaders-backed Baathists) and home grown Takfiri resistance (Saddam’s past life-time enemies). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"  class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Diyala has literally been sect-cleansed 6 months ago. Also, the Kurds reside in the northern part of it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24918861-5272487602394498132?l=baghdad-connect.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5272487602394498132'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24918861/posts/default/5272487602394498132'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://baghdad-connect.blogspot.com/2007/04/diyala-job.html' title='The Diyala Job'/><author><name>Al Tarrar</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02319216707194419708</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='18' src='http://bp0.blogger.com/_dL4f8KiD4h0/R52SpGBlsGI/AAAAAAAAAPw/sgYf5vys9Jo/S220/image002.jpg'/></author></entry></feed>
