Our Arab Friends

PM Maliki has been recently repeating calls to the Gulf states to cancel Iraq's debts. A good chunk of Saddam era debts have been written off by most of Iraq's major lenders but Iraq still "owes" around $70 billion mostly to Arab Gulf states. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia who did the Arab world proud by playing the biggest role in helping fund Saddam's war with Iran in the 80's now want the new government to pay them back. The Iraqi government has already set aside 5% of its oil revenues for these repayments, but this is something Baghdad clearly does not want to continue doing.

Kuwait, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, gave Saddam over $14 billion to help him fight Iran and Saudi Arabia gave Saddam $1 billion every month for almost 2 years to help the war effort. The money they gave Saddam that helped him destroy his own country has to be paid back, and they want Baghdad to pick up the tab.

Thankfully my surname is neither Al-Saud or Al-Sabah but if it was I would be ashamed to ask for this money. I would probably hold my head down in shame and apologize to the Iraqi people for the damage my family inflicted on them. But no, the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families are apparently not content with what they already have and they have their greedy eyes set on Iraq's wealth. They have the nerve, cheek and gall to demand the new democratically elected government for the billions they gave the dictator to help kill more people.

Dr So'ad Al-Sabah, the cousin of the Emir of Kuwait, wrote a famous poem titled "Poem of love to the Iraqi sword". Here are a few lines:

I am a women who decided to love Iraq,
Why Iraq?

...

Because the mornings here are like no other mornings.
Because wounds here do not look like wounds.

...

Why does Baghdad fight for our lands on our behalf?
And defends our gates on our behalf?
And protects our wealth on our behalf?
Why does an Iraqi die carrying a message?

...

Why do I love Iraq, why?
I wish I had a choice.
Was Baghdad not a shield for the Arabs?
And a wall for the Mongols?

She read out this poem in Baghdad on 26th November 1985, in the middle of the Iraq-Iran war while the Kuwaiti royal family was sending billions of dollars in aid to Saddam...how ironic and tragic it is then, that less than 5 years later this Arab protecting "Iraqi sword" was to find a new target...them!

It amazes me that most of the non-Arab 'kaffir infidel' countries have written off the debts while our Arab Muslim friends will not rest until they take their piece of the pie. I have some advice to these Arab countries: Start setting up your embassies in Baghdad, that way you can constantly harass the Iraqi government for your money.

I'm not so sure what the official Iranian demand is now but a few years ago they wanted Iraq to pay a "substantial" amount in reparations for the $1,000 billion (thats $1 trillion right?) in damages. I am in the mood to give free advice, this time for the Iraqi government: When Tehran wants you to pay them for the Iraq-Iran war you should cut a deal with them. Tell them Iraq is willing to pay (in full and in cash) for the damages suffered by Iran in the first 2 years of the war if Tehran pays for the damages suffered by Iraq in, lets just say, the last 6 years of the war. If the Iraqi government isn't bothered for deals, they can just give them the finger and tell them most of the damages they suffered was because of Khomeini's arrogance and not Saddam's stupidity and so the Iraqi people don't feel it is their religious duty to pay for the bills.

If Ahmedinnerjacket Ahmedinejad insists, tell him to put his demands in writing and throw it down the well in Jamkaran.

Najaf Al-Ashraf

Sistani Becomes Militant

It beggars belief that some people actually think Sistani has issued fatwas that condone attacks on the US forces in Iraq. The man who tacitly approved the US invasion in the first place and who conveniently decided to go to London for medical reasons at a time when the US and Iraqi armies overwhelmed the Mehdi Army in Najaf has now suddenly become "militant". Or so we are told.

As Sistani was coming out of the plane in London, an aide rushed towards him nervously and said "Your moving too fast" to make it seem that he is in desperate need of medical attention and to reassure his followers that he did not come to London because of the pre-planned attack on Najaf, where Sistani lives. Of course when word spread about this phenomenal "coincidence" Sistani overcompensated by returning to Najaf while it was still being attacked by the US and Iraqi forces, much to the annoyance of the US and Iyad Allawi who, after unsuccessful attempts at pleading with Sistani's son Mohammed Ridha to give him more time to cleanse Najaf, slammed the phone so hard he broke his hand.

Sistani constantly dodges in and out of politics (somewhat reluctantly) because he feels forced to act in the best interest of Iraq (e.g calls for elections). Sistani absolutely loathes politics, in London, when he asked me what I plan on studying I said "Politics", he shock his head in dismay and said "Politics is no good, politics killed your father and it is going to kill you".

When push comes to shove he feels obliged to enter the political fray, but to issue a fatwa saying killing members of the foreign occupiers is legitimate just isn't Sistani and it is therefore not surprising that these dubious "fatwas" have come from anonymous sources who claim Sistani spoke of his approval at attacking foreign troops in private. Sistani is extremely vague when it comes to these sensitive issues and we only hear from officials who have met him who tell us what happened behind the closed doors. Sistani, his son and his office never say anything, so don't hold your breathe for a comment from them.

Juan Cole is certain that a 'expulsion fatwa' from Sistani will "restore the respect for the grand ayatollah in the Shiite south, which has slipped as a resentful population has turned to the Sadr Movement" as if his respect in the south has been compromised by a 35 year old Moqtada who has far less religious credentials than his son. The type of people who follow Sistani are not the same as those who follow Sadr, and that is something Dr Cole's friend Patrick Cockburn seems to understand. Juan Cole goes on to say "Sistani's two likely successors, the Afghan Ishaq Fayyad and the Pakistani Bashir Najafi, may have different views than Sistani on this matter" not realising that the most likely successor is actually Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakim.

If "The" Fatwa does come from Sistani, it would have a massive impact on the future of Iraq, that much is pretty straightforward and acknowledged by all, but when will such a fatwa be issued? Bearing in mind the blood that will be shed and the chaos it will cause, I think never.

The Islands

While Iran is relentless in its support for the militias in Iraq it seems to have a problem with the Iraqi governments decision to support the UAE in its claim of the 3 islands that were controlled by the Shah of Iran in 1971. The Iraqi Ambassador in Tehran was summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry who have asked the Iraqi government to "correct its position". i.e When it comes to making decisions regarding Arab Gulf countries the Iraqi government should take orders from Tehran and if they don't, Iraq's Ambassador is asked to notify his bosses in Baghdad of the need to "correct" their mistakes.

According to the Emirates media, the Iraqi government stated they would support peaceful efforts from the UAE to reclaim the islands. I dread to think what Iran's reaction would be if Iraq funded and supplied Bedouin militia to re-take the islands but then publicly claim to support the regime in Tehran.

The Iraqi embassy in Tehran is a bit of an enigma, you cannot enter the building without being cleared by a very arrogant and ill-mannered Iranian agent who stands at the door and demands to know what you need from the embassy (he cannot speak Arabic). When I asked one of the officials at the embassy why he stands at the door and acts like he is guarding the President, he replied "The [Iranian] foreign ministry have forced him on us, we cannot do anything about it". As I walked out I saw 2 smartly-dressed Iranians who made no effort to make sure they were not overheard by the dozens of Iraqi's standing at the door. One turned to the other and with a smile said "This isn't the embassy of Iraq, it is the Ministry of Iraq".

In T View

The Eye Raki In T View. If you have issues with the pictures please forward your complaints to Mr G.

Gurna

I recently spoke to a friend who I was supposed to meet in Najaf a few weeks ago but didn’t because he was stuck in Basra due to the fighting that was going on. He spoke of an interesting encounter with the Mehdi Army at a checkpoint they had set up in ‘Gurna’ (a beautiful and serene town in Basra where the Tigris and Euphrates meet to form the ‘Shatt Al-Arab’). He was with his cousins on their way to see their uncle and the militia manning the checkpoint were all wearing IP uniforms. They were probably actually IP’s loyal to Moqtada, like the hundreds of IP’s who “switched sides” during the fighting. What many westerners fail to realise is that hardly anyone actually “switched” sides, they were loyal to Moqtada from the day they joined the IP which they did simply to feed their families.

When they were asked for their ID’s everyone but my friend showed them an ID. They asked him to produce an ID and he had nothing except his British passport which he produced (a very stupid thing to do). He tried to explain he had the same surname as his cousins but none of the militia could read English and soon they called out “Abu Omar, Abu Othman…come here”. Two armed men dressed in all-black who were obviously not really called “Abu Omar/Othman” (Sunni names) soon came out from the small concrete structure at the checkpoint and explained to him that he needs to be taken to their HQ in Gurna to their commander to see what he has to say about this.

After pleading his cousins were finally allowed to accompany him and the gun-men went along with them to the Mehdi Army HQ which turned out to be the Police HQ in Gurna. A turbaned “cleric” soon walked in the room but the strange thing was he was wearing a shirt and trousers, and not the robes a cleric is supposed to wear. He sat down and shouted “Where is the criminal Safa?”. After he pointed himself out the commander turned his attention to his cousins and said “So what are you doing here? Get out, now!”.

My friend was then taken to a cell and told to wait until a sentence is passed. He was lucky they did not confiscate his phone and when he was alone he immediately called his uncle in Qum who is a friend of Moqtada and within an hour he was given his passport, given a full apology and even asked if he wanted protection for the journey back. After he arrived in one piece his uncle called again and (needless to say) said “They would have killed you, never take your British passport with you again”.

In Iraq a few trigger-happy gun-men who are willing to kill “foreigners” so easily can turn into a few polite men, who are willing to protect the person they most-likely discussed how they would execute, with a single phone call. Only in Iraq.