Losing a friend

Haider is my closest friend in Baghdad and the entire world. He was my friend from childhood when I was 6 years till we finished the high school. We had had great time. We used to play soccer , play ping-pong, chess and fishing small fish from the lake near by from Tigris river in Missan province in the south of Iraq.

He chose the engineering college while my choice was teaching. That thing forced us to see one another only in week ends when coming home as my college was in Basra and his was in Baghdad . In week ends we went on with our habits playing the same games adding driving cars with high speed in the open and wide streets in the area!!!We were lucky that we didn’t made even one single accident.

After graduation from college , I came back to my home town while Haider was appointed in the farthest point on the map of Iraq ( H3 ) which is a spot or an airport. He had to fix the planes’ engineers. The period to see each other decreased to once every two months. A year later he was put in prison as one of the planes fell down accusing him of the incident .

He spent two years in prison because of that.He told me that the plane crashed not because of him but the new pilot who new in his job, but the pilot had some relation with the former regime’s guys that made my friend get the responsibility instead. He was forced to leave his job as an engineer and he worked as a fitter for his one work shop he opened in his home town .But when he just came tobring our old days together my father decided to leave Missan and go to Baghdad ( my father’s home town)!!!

I tried to convince him give up the idea ,but the bad situation of the area after the uprising of 1991 of killing youth and random arresting made me agree to leave my home town and my great friend Haider.

In 2003 , Haider came to Baghdad to settle down as I did 12 years ago. He did it too late ,but he made it as it was impossible to be done during the former regime as he or his father didn’t register in Baghdad in 1957 !!!! I was so happy to see my friend again sharing me life in good and bad .

I saw him a father of two lovely kids and a great wife. He fixed almost all my relatives broken cars as he was a brilliant fitter

From my side I started teaching his kids. We came to our former habits having chats and playing chess and dominoes this time ,but that thing didn't go for long. Poor Haider, we didn’t stay long to share me this life as he died by a car accident two days ago. I hardly believe that I have no Haider in this life.

Definition of Democracy

Again we return to what called Democracy and its definition in language and on the ground. At least I wonder about its meaning in country like Iraq.

What it is mean for Iraqi people and for the Iraqi government?

Every day we heard about the tragedy stories that happen here and there in under the tent of Democracy. Four years passed and Iraqi people suffer all kinds of tragedies that became part of their new Democratic life … four years and Iraqi people lose their beloved for nothing ...Oh sorry, for democracy’s sake.

We got rid of Saddam … Yes, but we still live with same kind of tragedy that reminded us of former regime’s crushing forces. The tragedy of today is committed by Iraqis themselves who killed their brother in cold blood…. May be I use this phrase a lot in my blogs (cold blood)….. Sorry but we are forced to use it because it has good relationship with the tragedies that we live in tragedy of blood.

Today morning when I was reading the wires’ news I saw a picture of Iraqi child who was killed in southern governorate. The child killed by hand of Iraqi policemen (according to the site).

Those Iraqis(sorry may be I shouldn’t name them as Iraqis because their loyalty not for but to their Parties) were looking for the child’s father who was accused of belonging to militia. The attackers stormed his house but they couldn’t find the father that provoked their anger against the innocent family. This anger resulted of killing the two children and the wife who struggle death in hospital.

Does the Democracy means murder the innocent people to frighten the guilty or may be it is mean use mass punishment to stop violence….Yes that happen every day and every where in Iraq when the innocent people pay their lives as a price for the terrorists’ crimes.

Again and again I wonder is that what Democracy mean????? If that the meaning of Democracy....thene me and all Iraqi people say …”no we don’t need your Democracy”. And if it is mean people’s rule then I wonder again “where is that” because in my country it is mean people’s death.

In the barber shop

One of the most difficult things I do in my life and I like to call a very hard mission is cutting my hair. I really plan for this event in my life for about three days before accomplishing the mission. About a week ago, I looked in the mirror and I decided that it was time to have a hair cut

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After long term planning, I went to the barber shop in my neighborhood. I found two men waiting for their turn. Having a quick look, I found out that my friend the barber had bought a new satellite receiver and everybody was watching a songs channel. I didn’t care much about it because I don’t like the songs of these days which basically depend on half naked girls.

Anyway, things were fine until a young man came and he decided to change the channel. He chose the official Iraqi channel and it was showing a parliament session. One of the men who looked about 7-10 years older than me said quickly “please change the channel, I don’t want to see those people”. I asked him why do say so and he said because they do nothing but talking and they did nothing until now. I couldn’t talk to the man any more because he is right.

Our parliament was discussing yesterday the Turkish threats while they didn’t ever discuss the internal threats, the militias threats, the poverty threat, the corruption threat and above all, the threat of loosing the humanitarian values. I wish that our political leaders realize that they will not stay forever in there positions and remember that everything on this earth has an end

At the end, I involved in the big issue and took the remote control from the young man hand and changed the channel to another songs channel but this time with sweet girls dancing like love birds and you know, although I don’t like these songs but it was only million times better than watching our failure politicians.

Mighty Allah, our political leaders and the US administration who said that they came to help us , they both disappointed us. Its more than we stand. Please Allah, do something because we became too weak to help ourselves

One more wound to be cured

According to the Iraqi society, I can call myself a new married man because I didn’t even finish my second year. And that is why my wife’s demands never end.

About two weeks ago and while we were watching TV, she said “laith. Do you remember the restaurant we had launch in during our engagement?” I answered her quickly “yes. Its called Filis restaurant. It’s in Mansour neighborhood and I also remember that we had hot drinks in a close café which was so romantic.” Then I added “why do you ask ? and she answered quickly “I like to have launch there, in the same restaurant.”. I laughed loudly and asked her sarcastically “did you live enough and you want to end your life quickly?

She was shocked when I talked to her like this and asked “why do u say so?” I told her that the whole area of 14 Ramadan street is dead now and the part of the street where the restaurant lies is not safe at all because its controlled by the insurgents.

I remembered this incident because I had to pass through the same street yesterday. When we I was going back home, I found out that the street I used to use was closed and the taxi driver had to change his route and to go through Mansour neighborhood. When I reached 14 Ramadan Street, I swear I Wished to cry.

It was Ghosts Street. 90% of the shops were closed including Filis restaurant.I kept moving my eyes looking for the running children, for the mothers shouts addressing the children and the fathers' instructions to their kids "don't run, be ware, watch your steps". Once upon time,this street was one of the most beautiful and full with life.

Families used to start coming to the street from sunset and stay there in the different restaurants and cafes until 2 am. Iraqi families used to spend their nights happily in that sweet street but not anymore. Now and according to a close friend who live in the same neighborhood, people who stay late in the street might be targeted by a sniper or an IED explosion. He told me in a very sad voice “laith, my lovely street died”.

I don’t know who can bring life back to our lovely streets after the failure of both, the US army and the Iraqi Security Forces. I don’t know when I can take my wife again to have a special launch in Filis restaurant again.

Surrounding minutes

It was about 9 am when I reached one of the most crowded areas near one of the main bus stations in Baghdad. Our mini bus was stuck in the crazy traffic jam.

During our 10 minutes waiting to pass the intersection, I saw a US army convoy, four Humvee vehicles and two 4wheel drive cars among them. OMG, Not again. Everybody was watching the convoy carefully praying so hard that they pass over peacefully. While we were watching, one of the passengers turned back and suddenly he said “death in front, death behind”.

Everybody said “what is wrong with you?” and he said “look what is coming from behind”. I turned back and I saw another US army convoy of four big green tanks, I think it’s the type that is called the striker tanks. It was the longest ten minutes I ever lived.

24 eyes of the 12 men in the minibus were watching every single movement very carefully. The first convoy which was coming from the other side passed and the first reaction came from the old man who was sitting beside me who said “Al Hamdu Li Allah = Thanks God.”

But a young guy answered him quickly “wait until the second convoy passes. The other convoy of the tanks went through the wrong side and the traffic police did his best to open the way to them. When they passed, the young man said “now we can say Al Hamdu Li Allah”

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For myself, I was thinking about the incident of Al Nosoor square and the scene of the shooting and the bullets that tore the bodies of the innocent people came to my mind. I imagined the shouts of the woman whose son was killed in the same car with her. I saw the wreck of the car few days after the incident. I also remembered the tears of the old man that we met who lost his wife in the incident

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I don’t how long we will live with these daily fears.

Bombings and bullets reminds me of your love

An Iraqi blogger, Nabeel, wrote a love story he once lived… a girl he met in a bus and a clash started near by. She couldnt move out from the bus because of fear and he helped her. They ran to a near by building to take cover with other passengers. he falls in love and she does the same.

She had to leave , her father was threatened, she had to leave the country with her family.

He stayed, he said: bombings and bullets reminds me of your love…

He once liked a girl in 2003. As the invasion started many families left Baghdad to other provinces and he met here their... he recalls how seeing her gave him a relative peace and belief.. he told her: "now I know that love is like God we find Him every where and in all times"...

Eid Pictures

The Eid finished yesterday and it was different a little bit this time. For the first time since four years, I have this quite nice feeling about the Eid. So, instead of drawing sad pictures from Iraqi daily life and since we used to these sad pictures to the extent that we consider them as a part of our daily life, I decided to make a kind of balance this time. I’ll reflect two pictures that attracted my attention during the two days off I had (Sunday and Monday).

The first picture is the crowded streets of Baghdad. It was really nice to see so many big number of families moving going to the parks, giving their kids a chance to run in the yards, to play soccer and even to fight in a funny way with each other. I don’t know how to explain it. Is it because these families felt bored of the bad ideas and fear that control them or because they decided to break this fear and fight these bad ideas. But, anyway, the result was so positive that I felt Baghdad streets are so happy with the steps of the children and their parents.

The second picture is related to the first one in one side only, the kids. Its really nice to see the kids playing in the streets but we miss our old peaceful games like soccer or marbles. Instead, I saw the kids specially the boys play with the fake guns. In each street, I saw a battle and kids shouting like” hey wait, I’m out of ammunition, let me refill my machinegun, its unfair to shoot me” or “my machinegun is bigger than yours and I have more bullets”.

OMG, some of them look like real guns because they are made with the same size and same details accept for being made of plastic and they don’t kill innocents. When I saw these kids playing with the fake guns, I felt happy because they at least could have some fun but I felt so sorry because its not the type of fun I wished for them. Such a violent game destroys their personality because it teaches them that the only way to deal with life is by violence.

I wished they play some games that can improve and increase the positives sides in their personalities like spirit of team when we used to play soccer. I blame both the government and the tradesmen who brought these games. I hope that the government issue more roles and criteria for importing the kids game especially in such a country that is already rich with violence.

Its only bad luck

This is the third time I miss an important occasion. The first one was the most dangerous one for me because it was my marriage anniversary and I had to spend the night in the office doing the late work.

Thanks Allah, my wife was really understanding and supportive. She realizes that my job is not limited to specific time and I may need sometimes to spend more than one night in the office. The second occasion was my sweet son birthday. Again, I had to stay in the office for the late work and the violence report. My sweet baby is not old enough to feel angry and I hope that his mom never even think about telling him in the future that his dad had missed his first year birthday because he is already an angry boy and always scratch my face and follow the scratch with a sweet wet kiss.

Today is the first day of Eid and again, I spent the last night here in the office. All the families gather early morning and congratulate each other but not me. I had to use the phone to congratulate my wife and my brother. I didn’t congratulate my parents yet because I hate to do it by phone. I prefer to congratulate them face to face.

I think I need to do something to fix my bad luck which appears strongly during the occasions, otherwise, my wife might have some strict procedures against me. I just forget to tell you that we (Iraqi men)call the wife (the private ministry of interior affairs) and that is why we take in consideration to avoid committing any mistakes in order not to be sued.

The permanent danger

The streets of Iraq are full with all kinds of dangers that Iraqi citizen used to live with like car bombs, EIDs, random killing, and private security companies that some of their members kill Iraqis in cold blood. I know some people may not accept these words but this is the truth that we saw in Al Nosoor square and in the last incident of Arasat, part of Karrada neighborhood.

Few days ago, I was about to face the same fate of the innocent civilians in Al Nosoor square when my bad luck put me in intersection with one of the security companies but Allah save me when they hardly stopped their vehicles that almost hit my car but they didn’t kill me … Yes they didn’t kill me ….Oh God that is great. I’m alive.

I was driving my car near a high way when four vehicles (4 wheel drive vehicles) came from the high way. They were in my side (driving in the wrong side) and they faced me. I didn’t expect them because I didn’t expect to see cars coming in the wrong side on a high way. There was a sedan car leading the convoy and covered faces men waving to the cars. At the last moment, I saw them. I cant describe my condition but all I can say is (I was totally lost). I was so confused to the extent that I stopped my car in the intersection. OMG, Im a dead woman but the miracle happened, the convoy stopped or to be more specific, Im a hero because I forced the convoy to stop. YES, Im a super woman.

At that time I thanked Allah thousands times because they didn’t shoot me. I think they adjusted some of their roles after the last two incidents but my dreams vanished with the new that a security private guards killed two Christian women in. Why they were killed?

What kind of danger that two innocent ladies were carrying to those guard. They had nothing might threaten the convoy but it was their bad luck that put them in that street at this moment….. Now I believe that this danger will accompany Iraqis as long as the occupier is still in their country and as long as the Iraqi government is unstable to protect its people. We will keep paying our lives as a price for the weakness of our government but we will always blame the (bad luck).

blast walls

“As long as the government and the Americans are building these blast walls, we will have no security”. This is the summery of my conversation with the taxi driver who picked me home. The man said “The Americans don’t want the security situation to be settled because they will have no more reasons to stay in Iraq. And our government shares them this ideology”. I couldn’t discuss the man any more because we Iraqis are very well known that we don’t give up our ideologies simply. So, if I would spend a full day and night to change his mind, I wouldn’t achieve any progress.

When I move in some neighborhoods in Baghdad, I see the blast walls increasing day after day and when I write the violence reports, some simple questions came to my mind and I think most of my people ask the same questions. If we have this daily violence in the different neighborhoods of Baghdad, why do the Americans and the Iraqi government insist on building more blast walls? Why do we lose more cement, more sand and more water for useless thing?

The government could build thousands of houses and give them to the unemployed young men whom some of them involve in the daily violence because they have nothing in this country. Another question comes to my mind also about the benefit of the blast walls, to protect civilians or to protect the US and Iraqi troops? I have other questions in my mind but I hope first that someone gives me answers for the written ones here.

My cousin

Today during my trip to work, I met one of my cousins whom I haven’t seen since last June. I was happy to see him after all that time exchanging greetings with him asking each other of the latest news about our families.

The last time I saw my cousin was during the funeral of his brother Qasim who died in June. His brother died while they were playing soccer which was a disaster for him, mom and his wife. My cousin told me that Qasim’s small family (a wife and two little daughters) are suffering now as Qasim died leaving nothing behind to help them in this difficult life.

Qasim was a young guy of 32 years old when he died last June. He was an active guy preferring all kinds of sports with special care to tennis and soccer. He graduated from the college of physical training 9 years ago with A grade, but as he has a brother who was killed by Saddam’s former regime accusing him of being a member of Islamic Dawaa party made him have no chance to be a lecturer in the college nor to go on with his studies to get the master degree having a less chance to find his way of life by renting a small shop of food stuff. He suffered a lot to go on with his new job which is totally different from the job he wanted to be after all those years he spent in studying.

The big problem is that in Iraq we don’t have the social insurance that takes care of such a case or another one which I heard yesterday inside a mini bus on my way home for an old man of about 60 years who used to be a porter but as he grew older he started working as a guard for a garage near the Iranian Embassy having a daily payment of about 5 dollars , 2 dollars of them go to transportations.

He was talking all the way home and when we passed the central court of Baghdad he said “ You suppose to spread justice and to give an old man like me a pension or a fund to stop working after all those years. Where is the government which supposes to be elected to help Iraqi people? “. I am really upset for such cases that law or government do not give any interest.

Sorry to be late

To be punctual is something great and all the people all over the world be happy of doing so, but in Iraq the situation is so different due to the situation we live in.

Today I faced such a thing of being late which I didn’t expect to do so as I hate it, but it happened. My daily work as a reporter starts with a meeting at 9 a.m.to have the main ideas, headlines and frame the work of the coming day while in Ramadan we have exception of one hour late to be at 10 a.m.

I always come to work before 9 as I like to be punctual reading the newspapers and checking the wires in advance .But today I came 25 minutes after 10 which is too late and the meeting was over. I had phoned my colleagues in the office 15 minutes before the meeting telling him of my case and that I would do my best to be at the office despite the crowded streets I was in.

I blamed myself besides those I got from my colleagues of that delay.

I really didn’t expect that such a thing would happen as I organized my time to be at the office on time. The problem is of being a teacher and the school year started eight days ago which means either going back to teaching despite all its difficulties or having a one year holiday without salary to keep working with McClatchy.

I began the procedures to have this holiday 40 days ago during my days off, but the routine of the governmental institutions and the carelessness of the employees forced me to get this delay.

Also the headmaster of my school was impatient with me telling me on the phone that I have only today to settle the case otherwise I would be out of the teaching staff having no rights after all that thirteen years of hard working with no improvement in the conditions of the teaching staff (whether in the past or in the present time) which let me choose working with media ( which took place only after Saddam’s collapse) to improve my conditions.

I really felt sorry for that thing, but from the other hand I felt relief , after all that suffering, to get the one year holiday to work with my agency properly right with no more delay.

Cheap as Sheep

Coming back from Fallujah to Baghdad is not the favorite route for me… any way we worked on Black Water story and traveled through Al Anbar to the borders... long week.

Arrived to Al Mansour area and we were driving in peace, suddenly men in a parking; white 4 wheel drive Nissan took out their Kalashnikovs as their car started to move…

The man behind the driver seat from his high position pointed his weapon to my head trying to stop our car from moving to make a space for their PARKING car on the side road… NOTICE they can not wait for three seconds to move normally.. any way I saw that weapon pointed to my head and the man carrying it yelling STOP, STOP, I AM TELLING YOU STOP…

But we can not stop the area is crowded and a traffic jam a head of an Iraqi army checkpoint; there is no way for us to stop unless we pass another parking car… the Peugeot taxi driver I was with stopped the car and both cars stopped. I turned to him and asked him to continue and pointed with my two hands to the man with the Kalashnikov and half body outside the window (TAKE IT EASY)…

Ala Keifak, Ehdaa (Take it easy, calm down) I told him but I think when he looked to the road a head of us he realized we have to continue…

One civilian car with civilians carrying weapons yelling and threatening people and shooting in the air…

Few seconds they passed us and an Iraqi army soldier saluted the man sitting in the front seat… I asked the taxi driver to stop at the check point… opened the door and two soldiers came towards me I think they thought it is weird to stop in the checkpoint without being asked to..

Who are they? I pointed to the car driving away…

Why? The soldier replied as he was smoking (many of Baghdad residents are not fasting)

Is every thing alright? He said.

Because they were about to kill us and I want to know who they are? You saluted them!!! I said to him…

They are Chalabi people and I swear to God if you told me before they pass the checkpoint I would have stopped them…

I thanked him and left the place and all what all what I was thinking in was:

If foreign protection companies have killed people these officials’ protection convoys killed also few meters ahead I stepped down from the first taxi to find another taxi (we do that as a security precaution, take more than one taxi); a bullet broke the relative calmness in the area as someone of the government or political parties was passing… another bullet from the guards.

My people’s blood is cheap for the private protection companies and others because our leaders think the same way… cheap as sheep.

Joke

If you go anywhere in the world, you can find out that any nation make jokes about a specific group of them. In Iraq, we usually make jokes about Kurdish people. Of course, we don’t aim to humiliate or to underestimate them because the jokes are basically based on the different way of using the Arabic language.

Anyhow Iraqi president Mr. Tlabani used to make jokes to make funny atmospheres and to convince the people round him that he isn’t against telling jokes about his character too and this behavior made him so beloved by Iraqi people especially if we compare him with Saddam Hussein who used to kill anyone makes jokes about him.

The last jock that Mr. President made it was about the division law that suggested by the Congress (but this time, really funny. He was telling fact that he convinced of.

Everyone in the world understood this project as a call to divide Iraq to three parts. Some people accepted it and others refused it. In general everyone understands it in the right way even the parliament of Kurdistan when they vote to support this law. They said this law is not against the Iraqi constitution and that is why we welcome it. May be it is right that Iraqi constitution allow to make federalism in Iraq depend on administrative bases not depend on sectarian or racial bases.

But I laughed from my hearts when I heard Mr. Iraqi President stated that this law is not a call for dividing “no it is call for unity” I thought he was telling one of his joking as he used to but he was not……Again, I think it is the language no more no less. At this moment I remembered old say “the worst problem what make you laugh."

Happy Birthday to You My Son

It is not something new for me to stay out of home for one night or more. In fact, I spend full seven years out of home but the different thing for today is the birthday of my sweet son Haidar. Today, my sweet baby finished his first year.

I remember the first day he was born, I was at work and my former boss Nancy was really mad at me because I was at work. She tried hard to convince me to go back home. I hardly could convince here that I would do nothing if I were there because at that time, I was really afraid of touching my son and if I did so, my mother would really get mad and she would say angrily “don’t touch the infant Laith, you don’t know how to hold him, you hurt him laith”.

So, it took me about two hours to persuade her. For about a week, everything was so normal. After that, I told Nancy that I want to leave early and when she asked me why, I said “frankly, I miss my sweet baby”. There was a real lovely smile on her face and she said “ok but stay for a while and she went to her room quickly and came back with a small box and said this is your present for your son.” It was a very nice piece of gold. Days passed quickly and my son became the only real smile of my life.

When I came to the office today morning, I checked my personal e-mail and I found the first congratulating letter from an American friend. I was so happy with the letter but my happiness shrank when I remembered that I have to spend the night here because its my turn to do the late jobs.

I wish the security situation is as normal as it is in any other Arabic country, I would take my wife and my sweet son to one of the restaurants to celebrate this happy day and I would hug him as much as I miss him this moment

Happy birthday my sweet angel. Happy birthday my only happiness and sorry son because your dad is too busy with counting the dead bodies rather than celebrating life but remember one thing please, I do everything to make you happy because you always make me the happiest man on earth when you receive me with your lovely smile when I go back home.

Life and Death

  Yesterday I got a phone call from a friend of mine that made me so upset. Hussam, our former stringer in southern Iraq, told me with torn up words that his mother died just few hours ago. I was so sad for hearing this bad news and I passed my sorrow through the phone praying to God to forgive her having her in paradise and giving Hussam and the rest of the family patience to endure this loss. The point is an ordinary one till now as death is our fate soon or later whether in Iraq or somewhere else.

The point is that Hussam’s mother is an old woman and if dies it is an ordinary one, but the problem is that she died in Iran during her visit to Mashhad (north east of Iran) to see the shrine of the eighth Imam Ali Al-Ridha   (the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad ). Sadness with bitterness were bigger than usual as she was abroad and so far from her family. I told him of his father’s situation after hearing the news, Hussam said” Hussein , I can’t describe his situation as I am away from him having a duty in another province to do . Father told me.. please son let her body bury in Iraq".

Hussam told me that he should spend two days on his trip to have his mother’s body as he should go to Baghdad to have the Visa from the Iranian embassy and then he would go to Iran to get his mom’s body. I felt sorry for the situation that my friend was put in. Do troubles seek for Iraqi people or Iraqi seek for them. Mt friend’s mother went to Iran looking for comfort which she found by death only leaving her family struggle in this miserable life.

Poor Duck

Duck is one of the most beautiful birds that everybody love especially those who care about nature. There are many kinds of ducks all over the world.

In Iraq, we have few kinds of duck. People in some of the southern area have duck in their houses and when they have visitors, they made the best food and one of the main dishes would be duck meat. But did anyone hear about duck that eat people! I bet no one did. It happens only in Iraq.

In Iraq, we used to give local names especially animals names for many different things. For example, the German small car (the Volkswagen) we used to call this car (the turtle). Also we used to name one of the Russian cars (the camel). Now it’s the turn of the Japanese cars.

As everybody knows, Toyota Motors Company is one of the biggest Japanese motors company and they have great cars. In Iraq, we have few Toyota marks and one of them is (Crown), Iraqis gave the name (The Duck) to some of the nineties models of this kind of cars. Toyota Crown Sedan is not any more Toyota. Its now very well known as The Duck.

Now, some readers may ask about the relation between the ducks and eating people.

The duck and here I’m talking about the car is used by some insurgents to kidnap people. As some people said that the gunmen put the kidnapped people in the trunk of the duck. Some of these kidnapped people were found dead in one of the neighborhoods of Baghdad.

This is how those gunmen corrupted the pure reputation of this lovely bird in Iraq. Now when the Iraqis hears the word duck, they don’t think about that lovely bird with the beautiful colors, they think only about the views of the dead bodies and one color only, the red color.

Iraqi Budget

I heard and read as most of the Iraqis did the latest statements of our minister of finance which proved with no dispute that the ministries and governorates are not serious in investing the amount of money being given for them by the government from the budget of this year which is more than 41 billion dollars ensuring that more than two ministries didn’t spend more than 1% of their budget!!! .

That thing totally matched with the president Talbani’s speech during a meeting with some journalists and writers saying “We have lots of money in our treasury, but we can’t find the proper ways to use them in rebuilding and having service projects giving blames on the security reasons and others”.

With the confusing of the executive offices in investing all these amounts of money which increase day by day, we were surprised to have the parliament approved the Japanese loan which is about 860 million dollars. This loan as compared with the billions that Iraq has in its treasury or in the reverse of the state which is about 21 billions for the Iraqi development fund in New York  would be useless.

So after knowing the amount we have with loan we will get it will be fair enough to ask why do the Iraqi government demand the Arabic and other countries to abolish their credits after having Paris Club abolishing more than 100 billions in a condition of keeping the governments hand off from oil products?Is this a new demand by the officials to open a new list for credits having the Japanese on the top?

I don’t know what benefit we shall have from that loan to be compared by the billions we have which are not invested in projects to be useful for the Iraqi people. It might possibly be used as tips for those who deserve it from officials who work day and night out side their country.