Breaking News: Saddam possessed WMD, extensive terror ties

Here's a final one, but I can post more if requested.
http://www.ccmep.org/2003_articles/Iraq/031903_cheneys_lies_about_halliburton.htm

well, there is info ou there. here are some you can start with;

washpost/ cheney/halliburton

texas observer/ cheney/halliburton

oil and gass investor / sept. 2000




trust me, everybody takes it quite seriously. i sure as hell do. what i do not take seriously is the competence of the bush administration



not "evil", but through their own actions, i certainly don't trust them. my right to think what i want about them, as it is your's.




<sigh...>



you are just parrotting a conservative buzz phrase. there are truly very few people that blame or hate their country.

i am not one of them. for the mess in iraq, i blame the bush/cheney team.

so i want to fire them and hire someone else.

simple democracy

You had seemed to me to have said that the UN efforts delayed the war, to the extent that it gave Saddam time to move weapons (you even hint at lingering phantoms of WMDs) to Syria.

That the efforts in the UN coincided with the war preparations was my point, as they did not, as you had claimed, waste our time and give Saddam time to move things.

Incidentally, our UN efforts gave the inspectors an in. And since we were not ready to attack at that time one could make the case that our UN efforts made difficult the conspiracy theory scenario of the WMDs being moved to Syria.



But it doesn't counter the dates. It predates them, but the steady flow of troop movements tht postdate it illustrate a timeline in which our UN efforts were not being made at a time in which we were "ready" to go to war.



Nah, I only called you on the notion that the UN efforts were a delay that allowed nebulous WMD to be moved. We seem to be closer to the same page on that point now though.

i've been thinking about it, and based on some of the insights offered here by real americans, have come to the conclusion that; if we would just nuke everybody but florida and texas, freedom would reign.

There is not the MESS you people would like to believe there is. That's what you get for not looking past what the Democrat leadership and the main stream media is telling you.

The good news from Iraq most others somehow forgot mention

http://911familiesforamerica.org/

The Iraq of never-ending strife--the insurgency, terrorism, crime and all-too-slow reconstruction makes for interesting news stories and exciting footage. The Iraq of steady recovery, returning normalcy and a dash of hope rarely does. By the way, the Newsweek story did not mention even one positive development in Iraq. So here is another story--"Iraq: Not Quite as Bad as You Thought." Read the stories below in addition to--not to the exclusion of--all the bad news. Only by knowing both sides of the story you can make an informed judgment about how things in Iraq are really going.

Economy. John Taylor, a U.S. Treasury undersecretary, recently had some good news to report on Iraqi currency reform: "Before the fall of Saddam, the Kurdish region in the north of Iraq used 'Swiss' dinars while the rest of the country used 'Saddam' dinars, Taylor said. Taylor said the exchange rate of the new dinar appreciated about 25 percent in the months following its introduction in late 2003, while prices have been stable and inflation low. 'This stability is providing the basis for much-needed public confidence in the management of its currency,' Taylor said. The under secretary said at the time that the new dinar was introduced, the Central Bank of Iraq was made independent of the Finance Ministry, which had been under the control of the Baathist Party."

There is also good news at the Iraqi stock exchange:


There's an old Arab proverb: Throw a lucky man in the sea and he will come up with a fish in his mouth. As Iraq rebuilds its economy, the country's businessmen are hoping that Mr Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam will prove to be a lucky man.
This 40-year-old's onerous task, the lucky fish he's been asked to deliver, is the new Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX), a centrepiece of the country's financial reconstruction. (It's a replacement for the former Baghdad Stock Exchange, a now-defunct plaything of Saddam Hussein's family, especially his late son, Uday.)

The news so far is good: At a time when many Iraqis find themselves in very stormy seas, the ISX, of which Mr Taha Ahmed is chief executive, is able to report progress.

For another look at the Iraqi Stock Exchange see this story.

The Ministry of Trade is currently setting up a series of bilateral committees to facilitate commercial relations with the U.S., Europe and Japan. In banking news, "National Bank of Kuwait, the Arab lender with the highest credit rating, agreed to buy the Credit Bank of Iraq in what may be the first foreign purchase of an Iraqi lender in at least four decades." Ibrahim Dabdoub, National Bank's chief executive is positive about the future: "Iraq's medium-term prospects are very good, because in the end, this insurgency has to end." The Arab Banking Corp. is also planning to shortly enter the Iraqi financial market.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which has been doing a lot of excellent work in Iraq, has recently awarded a $20 million contract to Virginia-based BearingPoint Inc. "to develop and implement international economic practices aimed at improving economic governance in Iraq and developing a policy-enabling environment for private sector-led growth in the country. The three-year contract is expected to assist in reforming tax, fiscal and customs policies as well developing an IMF acceptable monetary policy through building the capacity of Iraq's Central Bank. Under the terms of the contract, BearingPoint will also assist the Iraq Ministry of Finance to develop a modern, well regulated banking sector. BearingPoint will also work with the Ministry to create an environment that promotes private sector-led growth through housing finance reforms and commercial law and institutional reforms." More here.

Britain and China have expressed their willingness to cooperate in rebuilding Iraqi communications infrastructure; Britain wants to build communication networks, while China is interested in training communication specialists. Singapore's e-Sys Group is already unrolling its IT network through Iraq: "Plans are to have multiple channel partners in the country which, despite the present problems, could emerge as one of the bigger regional markets for technology requirements over the medium term."

Meanwhile, at the Iraq Reconstruction 2004 conference held at the Bahrain International Exhibition Center, Batelco offered to assist with rebuilding Iraqi telecommunication infrastructure. Israelis and Palestinians will be able to use their cell phones in Iraq without switching networks, thanks to a roaming agreement reached between the Israeli company Cellcom and Kuwaiti-owned Asiacell, which supplies cellular phone services to Iraq.

In oil news, Iraq is planning to lift its output to 3.25 million barrels a day at the end of next year, from 2.8 million currently. This would bring the oil production to the levels not seen since before the first Gulf War. Overall, according to the Oil Ministry, the authorities are planning "oil infrastructure projects worth $20 billion to boost production and exports. . . . The projects include developing the Basra and Khor Al Amaya oil terminals." Another refinery in central Iraq, capable of processing 200,000 barrels per day, is in planning stages.

In transport news, direct flights are expected to start soon between Iraq and Syria. In addition, "the minister of Transportation singed with his Syrian counterpart during his visit to Damascus an agreement memorandum of activating the joint cooperation in field of transportation by sea, air, land, and railways. The memorandum dictated to facilitate transport of imported goods to Iraqi lands through Syrian harbors, activating Iraqi Company for Naval Navigation, mutual work to implement development programs and exchange expertise and technical studies in scope of harbors, and considering buying a ship to invest in transporting goods."

Meanwhile, the first Iraqi Airlines flight in 14 years has flown from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad. Several Turkish airlines are also eyeing the Iraqi market. And the Malaysian Merchant Marine Berhad is planning to set up a joint venture company with Iraqi Oil Tankers Company to provide bunker fuel and other shipping services in Iraq and other Arab Gulf ports.

• Reconstruction. The Iraqi authorities are making an effort to better organize and coordinate the reconstruction effort:


The Iraqi Ministry of Planning has formed a supreme body to lay down reconstruction strategy for the war-torn country. . . . The body would be responsible for laying down an international mechanism to finance the reconstruction projects and to help coordinate the efforts of the Iraqi side and the donor countries in the fields of loans and financing.
In the south of the country, a reconstruction conference has already heard some detailed plans for the region's near future:


Nearly 200 Iraqi and international construction contractors heard this week how reconstruction efforts in the country's southern region will soon quicken, providing a renewed infrastructure and additional jobs. The demands and opportunities that come from the planned massive surge in reconstructing the south served as the keynote of the region's first reconstruction forum at the Basra International Airport. . . .
The more than 10 new medical clinics, 400 renovated schools and new police stations planned for the region are slated for construction before the end of the year; each is aimed at improving the aging infrastructure of southern Iraq and adding thousands of jobs across the region.

Najaf, which has seen much trouble recently, is now receiving 12 billion dinars ($8.2 million) of a World Bank grant towards urgent reconstruction works, in addition to 100 billion dinars ($68.5 million) recently allocated from the Ministry of Labor and Municipalities for emergency reconstruction.

As physical reconstruction moves ahead, plans for social reconstruction are also being drawn up:


The Planning Ministry and Development Cooperation has discussed the strategy of social development to create suitable environment for comprehensive humanitarian development. . . . Dr. Mehdi al-Hafdhi said that the reform plan includes putting limits for long-term social reform representing in realizing protection and social justice and participation through judicial mechanisms to eradicate poverty, make work chances available and realizing the social incorporation. "The ministry's middle-term preparations took into consideration the role of the government through shifting to the market economy without neglecting its role in supplying requirements of security, health, primary education," he confirmed.
With more reconstruction projects, foreign donors come up with additional funds. The International International Monetary Fund has hinted at additional emergency financial aid for Iraq later on this year. "IMF experts have estimated that Iraq may be eligible for about 850 million dollars in reconstruction assistance." The talks are progressing well. And international donors pledged over $2 billion for development of housing in Iraq at a recent conference in Tokyo. Omar al-Farouq al-Damlouchi, the minister of housing and construction, says the ministry is planning to construct 2 million units over the next 10 years and is currently researching housing needs around the nation.

There is also some much-needed relief on the way for Iraqi economy:


The Paris Club of creditor nations has agreed in principle to a major reduction of Iraq's outstanding debt, with a final announcement expected before the end of this year. . . . Officials from the Paris Club's 19 members, including the United States, France, Russia, Germany and Japan, met last week and agreed to cut Iraq's estimated 120 billion dollars (97.9 billion euros) of debt by at least 50 percent

says who? you? bush/cheney? right... they are totally unbiased and always honest about iraq...

actually, i've gotten most my feeling about post war iraq from a pretty credible source. an iraqi friend with lots of family still living there.

being a registered libertarian, i don't really listen too much to the democratic leadership.

the mainstream media?? jeez, make up your mind wouldja? alternative media; not credible. mainstream media; no good either, huh?

i asked you before what media you considered credible, but you never answered the question.

so???

You aren't the only person who knows someone in Iraq.My cousin has been there for almost a year now. He is helping in the reconstruction and works for the State Dept. I also read other sources of the media. Yes, I watch Fox, CNN, MSNBC and any other news show. Fox does a better job of bringing the war to TV. They actually show other things than the most tragic aspects. I have noticed that more people in Iraq, Kuwait and our allies in the war have a better outlook than most here in America. That is the sad part. If you would look past the nose on your face and start actually looking for the good, you will find it.. You have to do your own homework, because you won't find it on the main stream media or in the libby newspapers who have no other agenda than to bring down the President..


http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/


Monday, September 13, 2004

What do Fallujans think?
It looks like there's determination to solve the crisis in tension foci in Iraq as a key step before holding the elections. It's become more than clear that the terrorists are an obstacle created by known external powers to delay the desired political process in Iraq and the public opinion here agrees with the measures taken by the government to destroy the strongholds of crime and terror. There's a pole at the popular " New Sabah" newspaper that demonstrate this clearly as about 93.65% voted as agreeing with the government policy in Iraq. (Link in Arabic)
Of course everyone knows that asking for back up from the multinational forces is unquestionable.
Anyway, what I want to say here is that yesterday I received some information from a reliable source, that I'll refrain from mentioning his name or position, about what's going on in two of the hottest, probably most dangerous spots in the mean time; Talla'far and Fallujah.

Talla'far's name has been repeated more often recently and the news I heard confirm that the town has become an exclusive haven for the Baáth party where the party's members gained full control of the streets to the degree that no one would dare to say a word against Saddam in public.

The Baáth formation there reminded me of Saddam's days; the same old pyramid structure of units and ranks has been reformed but the most important is that the command center for this structure lies in the Syrian city of Al-Hasaka and the chief commander is, "Ahmed Younis Al-Ahmed", a member in the former "Revolution Command Council", and who's believed now to be the secretary of the reformed organization in Iraq and this man is well supported by the Syrian government who provided shelter for a whole lot of mid-ranking party officials who escaped Iraq and still ranting with slogans of making a come back and re-controlling the country.
In Fallujah the situation is totally different where control is in the hands of the radical Islamic groups together with Arab fighters from across the borders. The latest information I received indicate that seven major "armies" have united their efforts; the "armies" are: Mohammed's army, Al-Farouq's battalions, the Salafies, Ansar Al-Sunna and three other groups I couldn't get their names.

There was a dispute about who should lead the "army" and whether this commander should be a cleric or a military expert. Abdullah Al-Janabi, one of the significant Sunni clerics there was a candidate for that position but the dispute was settled and an agreement was reached to assign a military professional as the chief commander because the war is against a well organized and highly trained army, so they chose an ex-colonel in Saddam's army to lead the fighters. The new commander began organizing the "army" and planned a redeployment for the units and gave orders that ammunition must be used only according to the "102 rule" which was a protocol used in the old Iraqi army. Also, many of the concrete walls that were constructed to protect some facilities were dragged and used by the fighters to construct safe positions and they painted the roofs of the position with pitch and ground glass which are supposed to distract surveillance aircrafts and in addition to that, new weapons were introduced including some anti-aircraft batteries (including SAM 6 missiles) were reportedly assembled and prepared in positions.

The "army" commanders know for sure that these preparations will never grant them victory but the primary objective they've agreed on is to level Fallujah with the ground as part of a plan to ruin the reputation of the government and the multinational forces by forcing them to enter a bloody and destructive battle that will end with negative consequences even for the winner in a critical time where events and news have a strong impact on political field in both Iraq and America.
This subject however, cannot be resolved by talks, the terrorists have made up their mind to confront the legitimate authorities.

I want to point out that the citizens of Fallujah have had enough of those fighters who lost a great deal of their support, if they had any, but the problem is that they still have the power and they still get support from the clerics and the extremists.

We will always be faced with this problem, as it has been clear that it is a basic tactic used by the terrorists to hide among innocents and use them as shields. Saddam used it, Taliban and Sadr and all the other terrorists and dictators. However, I believe that this sick tactic has become rather useless lately and cannot fool all people anymore, and not even the majority.

We in Iraq accepted the sacrifices needed to remove Saddam, in Afghanistan we didn't see any real demonstrations protesting against the American Army for the accidental death of civilians when targeting Taliban fighters and the same applies for Iraq lately. Isn't it amazing that many people in the west and some Americans blame the American army and administration for the life losses and mess in Najaf, while Najafies are strongly blaming Sadr in their latest demonstration without a word to condemn the American army!? Aren't people, even seemingly simple people, smarter than what some media elite thinkers and reporters want us to believe!?
It's also worth mentioning that the news I heard from inside Fallujah confirm that the bombarded targets we hear about in the news every now and then did belong to Zarqawi followers and those targets were identified and chosen according to reports from the Fallujans most of the times.

This does not, by any means, mean that the military power should be set free without any monitoring or questioning, but we simply should not overestimate the danger because we'll be underestimating the people's lust for freedom and how much they are ready to give to have it, and this will be an insult to them. I've always felt insulted by the anti-war and human shields who came to Iraq before the war telling me that they were here to protect me! That was very insulting to my intelligence, my dignity and humanity. Protect me from what? Freedom and having a dignified and honorable life?!
I think there is no other choice but to confront them and this is the choice they want to impose on the government, so this is going to be a tough challenge but unfortunately, there's no other way.

By Mohammed.

IRAQ THE MODEL
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Hearts and minds.
I guess we all agree that hatred is probably the main precursor of violence, so a full understanding for this unpleasant feeling is needed if we we're looking for a way to end the violence, and finding answers for questions like: why hatred appeared? when did it begin for the first time? what are the related factors? and who contributed in provoking hatred? Is a key step in curing hatred.

As the world is living the 3rd memorial of the 9/11 attacks, the BBC opened a forum for Arab readers to allow them to voice their feelings about the "hatred wave against America". This time the forum has a special significance because Arabs are directly related to this topic and the largest part of this "wave" comes from Arab countries.
I've found that all Iraqi participants (except for two) carry no hatred for America, not to mention the admiration and gratitude for America that were clear in some Iraqis' comments.

Anyway, I decided to translate most of the comments posted by Iraqis along with some of the Arabs' comments that caught my attention so that you can view some opinions that can rarely be seen in the media and I decided not to translate any of the offensive comments which you can find almost everywhere. I must add that most of these posters with offensive comments said that their comments were directed "against the American government, not the people".


"America is not an enemy of Arabs and Muslims, on the contrary, on many occasions she backed Muslims when other Muslims did nothing like in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. America helped us get rid of the worst dictatorship in history and despite the unstable security situation now in Iraq we breath freely and say whatever we want to say without fear from Saddam and his dogs
I was-and still-working as a teacher and Saddam was paying me 2 dollars a month, can you imagine that? while he paid thousands and thousands to his followers. Things now are much better for me and I feel grateful for America and the coalition for what they did to save us"
Amjad Al Ubaidy -Baghdad/Iraq.

"The Americans are peaceful and smart people. Unfortunately, this hatred was created by some clerics who try to brain-wash the youth every Friday after the prayers so many would go out with hatred in their hearts and anger toward America"
Reemon A'adil Sammi-Iraq.

"The truth is that people who encourage the dialogue and call for friendship with the US are the people who have reached a conclusion that the era of arrogance, fake heroism, ridiculous Baáthist
slogans and Arab stubbornness that made Arabs the most backward among nations, has come to an end. It's enough to acknowledge that the economy of a European country such as Spain is stronger than the economy of the Arab countries collectively. The pro-American youth are the best and the most educated while those who consider them traitors can bring only death and doom."
Yugene-Baghdad/Iraq.

"First of all I'd like to send my condolences to our American friends on the third memorial day for the terrorist attacks. And I send my condolences too to my Iraqi fellow citizens who have been suffering from terrorism every day and every hour for nearly two years on the hands of people who hide behind slogans of religion and patriotism.
I call all Iraqis to build strong relations with the Americans. Hatred has to be eradicated especially between Iraq and USA (if ever existed) and between Arabs and USA in general.
The false slogans of Arab nationalism that emerge here and there calling people to hate America are all against the interests of our people. We followed these slogans for decades and look what we've ended up with; poor countries ruled by dictators. We must head to the other side and hopefully we can find our goal there and put an end to the poverty and oppression that are ruining our nation"
Mohammed Abu kelel-Najaf/Iraq.

"The Arab youths are living under cultural, religious and even sexual repression while people in the West enjoy all aspects of freedom and this motivates the Arabs to immigrate to the US or Europe to be able to live in a civilized environment but unfortunately most immigrants fail to merge with the western communities because of the effect of the religious heritage they accumulated since childhood therefore they tend to establish a closed Islamic-Arab community in America or Europe and this will eventually lead to a conflict between the two cultures"
Mohammed Othman-Syria.

"I had finished my studies in America and lived there for years and I sensed how advanced is that country but I was shocked when I returned back to my country to see how the governments are humiliating our people. I chanted anti-American slogans against my will and I long for living there again and I'm sure that some of those who have spoke against America on this forum wouldn't mind living in America in spite of all the hatred their words contained"
Hisham-Cairo.

"I believe the West has a lot of good qualities for which we should show respect and love and perhaps its being a shelter for runaways from oppression and poverty in our Arab countries is the most admirable thing.
Arabs' hatred towards America is primarily attributed to the political and religious system in Arab countries which is feeding this hatred because of the belief that any proximity between Arab and American people would weaken its (the system's) position among its people. The losing party from this hatred remains the Arab people that needs the West's help in many fields while the West needs us in very few ones and that's why who opposes the West is in fact opposing his own interests.
The question remains: shall we let the hatred provokers use us?"
Mohammed-Baghdad.

"The problem lies inside us, the Arabs; whether governors or citizens. We're still living the era of backwardness, ignorance and crying for the past. We don't understand how decisions are made in America and the defect is within ourselves.
I'm a big admirer of America and the progress that America had achieved in such a short period.
One more thing, those who offend America must not forget that it was America who helped the Muslims in Albania, Bosnia, Kuwait and Sudan. Where is the Arab civilization? We never saw the Arabs offer help but we all saw the food packages and flour sacks carrying the letters USA.
The problem with Arabs is that they always have find someone to put the blame on."
Fadi-Libya.
"America should not be blamed for the hatred that grew against her. If an Arab country (with powers similar to those of America) have suffered what America had suffered from terrorism and if it was some Americans who carried out the attacks on that Arab country. The Arabs would've terminated America and slaughtered every American woman and child just like what the Islamists are doing now in Iraq"
Yusuf Al Muhandis-Iraq.

"America is the leader of the world and she represents the tip of the pyramid in economy, science, sports, military power and many other fields and if someone is looking for progress, justice and freedom then America is his destination while those who want to bring back the dark ages consider America their enemy.
It's true that America and her society have some negative points but these look tiny when compared with the positive ones.
America's success is a success for the civilized world and her failure is a failure for the whole world. If you don't trust my words take a look at America's allies and friends and see how they live and then take a look at America's enemies, they're living in poverty under oppressive tyrannies. Just make a comparison between the two Koreas to have a closer view"
Mohammed Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.


"America offers freedom for free. It's true that I've never been there and I don't have friends living there either but I keep America in my mind and sole. Hatred was brought to us by the extremists; the enemies of mankind.
I and every true Iraqi love America because to us she represents freedom and liberation. America untied us from Saddam's chains and also liberated Yugoslavia from her dictator and liberated Germany before that. History is full of events that support my feelings"
Hazim Al Shammari-Bafgdad/Iraq.

I have a secret to share with you; we (my brothers and I) used to hate America some years ago, just like the vast majority of Iraqis and that was the result of being isolated from the rest of the world by the thick walls Saddam built around us. We used to be reading one newspaper, watching one channel and hearing one voice; the voice of the "mighty leader" that looked eternal but those feelings gradually changed after we started to see more clearly who was actually responsible for Iraq's misery and began to open our eyes, ears and minds to other points of view and to other sources of information in a seriously dangerous search for the truth.

Later, the uncertain feeling changed to a more positive one when we realized that our only chance to get rid of the tyrant was in America's hands especially after 9/11 and the events that followed that day as we saw that America is determined to fight terrorism and terrorism-supporting criminal regimes.

During the eighteen months that followed 9/11 we were dreaming of the day when the "zero hour" finally comes and nothing will ever match what we felt when we saw the first missile strike Saddam's palace.
After we started this blog, we had the chance to meet many Americans, both civilians and soldiers and we discovered the noble feelings and the warm wishes they have for Iraq and Iraqis and that made me believe more than ever that we've put our trust in the right place.
Yes, I love America and I'm a friend of all American, and I'm truly proud of that, and so are many, many Iraqis who owe their freedom to the great sacrifices made by American people.


- posted by Omar @ 20:45
Comments (544)

One of my friends asked me to post his thoughts about the "Fahrenheit 9/11" film.
He'd be glad to read your e-mails in responce to it.
*This post represents its author only.


Fahrenheit 9/11

Maybe it's a little bit late to write about Fahrenheit 9/11 but I couldn't put my hand on a good copy of the movie to watch and to write about before now. I don't know where to start but I think I'll let the film guide the way. I think that Mr. Moore tried in every possible way to show that there was some kind of conspiracy or at least manipulation behind Bush winning the presidency, well if the man had won the electoral votes and (all) the members of the senate were supporting or at least didn't sign any objection to be raised against him so as the supreme court (the people who decided the result of the elections) then I guess that's more than enough for anyone to be a president and I believe that if there is something wrong then it might be the system and we shouldn't blame the candidate for it.

Criticizing the men in power is something the whole free world does but it should be in reasonable way not by saying that the president is taking long vacations!! Or he sat doing nothing when they told him about the attacks on the world trade center anyway it's better than getting panic in front of them or leaving them disappointed by getting out at once coz they are children after all. I don't know about the domestic policy of Mr. Bush and its up to the American people to say whether they are good or not but I'll give my opinion just like Mr. Moore did in the president world wide policy and lets start with the relationship with the Saudis, what the hell is wrong in attracting the capitals to the country!! This is something the whole world dream about and Mr. Moore found it wrong! I know he tried to picture it in a different way and to raise question about Mr. Bush's loyalty to his country but the fact remain the same nobody can deny how the American economy benefit from that same money Mr. Moore didn't like.

Well the best part goes when he suspected that the war against Taliban was to build a pipeline through Afghanistan!! With this level of assessment I won't be surprised if future wars will happen for building a bridge or maybe paving a road!! And I really was shocked when he pictured Iraq like peaceful country where children play and people laugh happily, guess what Mr. Moore you are wrong coz I live in Iraq and children weren't playing they were working to live and people weren't smiling they were either afraid of getting killed or arrested for no reason or just because they don't like Saddam and they dared to say so.

I really don't know why you have to cheat to make the people believe you coz the whole world knew how the Iraqi people suffered from Saddam and you try to show that they were happy with him! In the same superficial manner you used to show that Iraq was a happy place, one could use the pictures of children singing around Stalin celebrating his birthday to show that people loved Stalin and they were happy. Now that was one real documentary shot you took from Iraqis' life prior to the war! And I liked your idea when you said" A nation that never attacked the united states a nation that never threatened to attack the united states a nation that have never murdered a single American citizen" well a (nation) like Iraq started a war with Iran for 8 years with casualties of 1000000 dead people on both sides and killed his own (nation) with toxic gas and then invade another country and killing its people (Kuwait) and threatened to burn all the oil fields if they tried to kick him out
Don't you think Mr. Moore that burning the oil is a threat to the whole world not only to the united states and in your opinion how long this (nation) will need to burn whole America. No Mr. Moore Iraq wasn't a (nation) it was a movie just like yours but it was written, produced and directed by Saddam Hussein. Still I have too many things to say but I think the article will be too long to read so last to say to Mr. Moore being a writer doesn't mean that you write lies and being a producer doesn't mean that you cheat people for their money and being a director doesn't mean that you have to be silly and for the best of all please find another job!!.

By: I. Adnan




Monday, September 06, 2004
My God..what a great news..at last the Iraqi people got out to the streets of AlNajaf in a demonstration against Muqtada, they want him to get out of the city and also do not want any one of his followers to pray there..
They were cursing his militia, courts and they looked so angry..
AlHurra channel met few of them who said ?'we don't want him..they are thieves'
The people were repeating words that support the ING and IP and wanted the government to put an end to what they called ?'a disgrace' and ?'crimes' that happened in AlNajaf especially the courts of Muqtada..
Let the world know the real Iraqi people, the people who look for peace and justice, security , freedom and democracy..not those criminals who are shown on the channels kidnapping and killing the innocents in the name of ?'resistance and Islam'…there is NO ?'resistance' in Iraq, there are AlQaida, Saddamis, Arabs and criminals who are destroying our country and the MNF, ING, IP and the IRAQI PEOPLE are fighting them….
OK?

From Ali at Iraq the Model. I'm posting in its entirety as it hugely important that we all understand what's being said. BTW his comments about why we are in Iraq are "exactly" what I've believed from the very beginning. I also think GWB and the Administration believe the same thing but can't say so because the requirements of diplomatic doublespeak

Quote:
Just a guess.
About a month ago, I was watching Al-Iraqyia TV. They were hosting a spokesman of the coalition and the secretary of the Muslim Sunni Cleric Council Harith Muthanna Al-Dhari. They were talking about the revolt in Falujah. That guy was an extremely anti-American fanatic cleric and he didn't even try to hide his feelings. Still he had two valid points in his argument. They discussed the mutilation of the bodies of the four American contractors and the host asked the sheikh the following questions:

-Do you approve of this action?

-We certainly do not and we have condemned this action.

-How do you explain what happened?!

-As for attacking the contractors, I've learned that the people who did it had some relatives killed and imprisoned by the American army. It was a tribal revenge issue, and as far as I know these were not contractors, they were serving with the American army and thus they are legitimate targets for the resistance. What happened later was an act of the mob and you know common people don't usually consider what they do and follow any stupid and enraged action that release the pressure they have especially when there's no police to fear.

-Is it true that Fallujah harbor most of the ex-Baathists and Saddam followers and that these are the bulk of the so-called resistance?

-No, that's absolutely not true. We were always against Saddam and his regime.

-Come on Saddam named Al-Anbar as one of the "white governorates" because its people didn't take part in the uprising in 1991, and you have had many pro-Saddam demonstrations since the 9th of April there!

-Now that's not true and let me tell you something you may not know. First there were only two demonstration supporting Saddam after he was caught and that's how they happened: Soon after Saddam was captured, a reporter from one of the Arab satellite channels, and I don't want to mention its name, came downtown, gathered a bunch of teenagers, handed each one of them 20US $ and gave them some pictures of Saddam. He then asked them to shout and dance and made a great report out of it. The same thing happened again in exactly the same manner!

Such perspective seems to be valid as it comes from such a source, and I'm quoting this today because I think that what happened yesterday doesn't differ much from what happened in Fallujah and most of the ugly scenes the media was so keen to show us. The people who were dancing and throwing rocks at the burned cars were common She'at (as it was obvious from their Latmia; the religious ceremony that's practiced by the common She'at) who ?'happened' to be there and I guess that these were mainly Muqtada's followers. As to how they knew about what was going to happen, then I guess this is something that the reporters can help us with. It's also well known that Muqtada have very strong -and very unexpected- relations with the Wahabbis.

Such disgusting actions happen everywhere in the world and they are only very evident in Iraq because of the difficult security problems and the fact that the media concentrate on this particular scene. These people want us to believe that Iraqis are not worth it, that they hate America and that this process is a total failure, but what should we believe? Can we just dare and question their perspectives? Do we have independent minds that can guide us to see the whole picture? Aren't there so many positive achievements that happened in Iraq in the past year? If all Iraqis were against the change or they were dormant, then how come all this has been accomplished!? Can we just stop and ask ourselves why the terrorists are so interested in showing their actions filmed to the world?!

These people want us to lose faith in each other and they get help from many countries in the region who are afraid of the change and from some democratic countries that hate the fact that America is on the top. They also get help from many of the major American media who seem to care for nothing other than money.

They tell us that GWB want the world to live in fear through his continuous preach for war on terror. I want to say that GWB and his administration have done the right thing for America, Iraq, the region and the whole world. You may disagree with the way they are managing this but we shouldn't let your feelings stop you from seeing the truth, and I'm very heartened when I see so many democrats supporting their governments in Iraq. On the other hand, the anti-war people, media and governments want us to give up, they want us to believe that it's useless, that Iraqis don't deserve the sacrifices, that the Americans are in Iraq for the oil and that all the American soldiers abuse and hate Iraqis. They want us to live in peace, their peace, with each one of us hiding behind a wall and pointing his gun to the others, "all Muslims are terrorists" "Iraqis are barbarians who don't understand democracy" "Americans are in Iraq to control oil wells" "this is Hlliburton's war not ours" they keep shouting. It's amazing that these people always claim to support peace, freedom and democracy when they don't even have a vision of how to make that happen! But the truth to be told, they're one hell of a chorus!

I've decided long ago not to trust what these people say and what the media shows me. I've decided not to even watch Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabyia. I decide to love and trust the others and not to allow small events committed by few ignorant to shape my views about a whole nation. No my friends, I refuse to be trapped in this momentary dark picture that's far from convincing and that's not just because I'm an Iraqi, it's because I can't let anyone tell me what to believe in.

-By Ali.

The Iraqi trap
Some people think that the American officials didn't expect such fierce fight from the Islamic groups that keep flowing into Iraq from almost all directions after toppling Saddam. They say that the American army have fell into a trap in Iraq. I want to say that I agree on Iraq being a trap, only it's a trap for the terrorists not the Americans.

Given their belief in that the war on Saddam and establishing democracy in Iraq was the key stone in combating terrorism, the American administration surely had expected (not planned) this situation as a result of freeing Iraq. The American administration said it more than once that it's better to fight terrorism outside America than wait until being forced to fight it inside her borders.

This war is good for America in many ways; it eliminated a potential danger, it gives America a good and very much needed ally in the heart of a hostile area, one that is a ?'member of the family', unlike Israel and Turkey, it secures American interests in the region and makes America safer by attracting the main efforts of the terrorists away from her borders and by building a sort of a nucleus for a democratic Arab Muslim world that will surely diminish the dreadful threat of a combined terrorism and WMDs.

Here comes the question: why Iraq? What's there about Iraq that makes here the best location for such a battle?

To start with, and from the political point of view, Saddam' regime was one of the weakest regimes in the world with a very limited support whether from outside or inside Iraq and this fact made that regime much easier to topple than any other dictatorship. The other fact is that in almost all Arab and Muslim countries, the opposition is mainly formed of Islamic parties which makes the change rather dangerous, as it may well result in a theocracy that's if those parties were ready to accept the change and didn't fight the "infidels" side by side with their oppressors the dictators since "they're still Muslims".

It's true there are Islamic groups in Iraq and some of them are radical but they're still much weaker than anywhere else in the Muslim world and are far from being the majority and most of them have accepted democracy even if they dream of a theocracy since they know they have no chance in making their dreams come true with only a minority of Iraqis on their side. Even geography favors Iraq being a plain area with no jungles or mountains that favors the guerrilla fighting (except in the very friendly northern parts).

Now America is of course paying a high price in this battle but it has to be done and it's incomparable to what she would lose had she decided to leave the terrorists alone. Not only the American officials have agreed that they can afford this high price, as most of the soldiers I've met or heard seem to accept and respect their mission along with their families, friends and many other Americans.

That's about the Americans, but what about the Iraqis? What will they win and what will they lose? Well, the Iraqis have lost and will lose many lives as a result of the terrorist attacks in addition to the economic losses. In return, and at the end of this struggle, they will win their freedom, democracy and prosperity.

From the technical point of view and if we count on numbers and statistics, Iraqis' losses in lives are much less than the regular losses during Saddam's times with different reasons, and regarding economy and despite the damages that the terrorists are causing, Iraqis' average income is increasing day by day. Iraqis' money was never their money, it was Sadam's and now it's back to them. Still this sounds cruel, as does anyone have the right to put Iraqis lives into such "chaos" and risk just because he saved them from a worse situation?!

It's still up to the Iraqis to decide between going the hard way or giving up, ask the Americans to leave and go back to "safe" sheep's life, to the organized and controlled torture, rape, murder and humiliation. This is not very difficult to acieve, it's enough to stop cooperating with the coalition and demonstrating to ask them to leave. The coalition may not oblige but they will certainly lose.

I, being an Iraqi have accepted the challenge and I'm not alone; hundreds of thousands of IP, soldiers, officials and workers in different fields have decided the same by doing their job, cooperating with the coalition and marching persistently towards building their country, maintaining their freedom and embracing the changes towards democracy. Other Millions of Iraqis are supporting this process each in his own way.

We didn't take the decision of the war, that's right, but we've accepted it with full knowledge of the consequences and that's why you cannot see one large demonstration asking the coalition to leave. We gained our freedom, after Saddam's fall almost for free, as most of the enormous losses we suffered before that time were not the result of real attempts to gain freedom; they were in most times the result of mere disapproval with the Ba'athists or were part of the systematic killing to maintain the paralyzing fear at a maximum. Maybe it's time to pay and this time we are ready because we are free from that fear after seeing the weakness of our enemies and we have seen what we were missing and are not ready to lose it no matter what happens. We will pay the price and we will not surrender or compromise, we will fight and we will win.-By Ali.
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