Fresh From Najaf

Latest joke from the ground.

Q: Why did Hakim lose the recent elections?

A: Because his slogan "Ma'akum Ma'akum" (with you, with you) was misheard by the people of Iraq as "Ma'a Qum Ma'a Qum" (with Qum, with Qum).

Dogs & Politics

Last week just on the outskirts of Diwaniya I saw something very weird. I knew there was something different about Iraq the moment I set foot on its soil. I could smell it in the air and I could see it on the faces of the people. But what I saw was my first proper sign. Near a police checkpoint a stray dog ran up to an officer, careful not to be within kicking distance, and wagged its tail. The officer who was enjoying a sandwich threw it on the floor and gave the dog a snack. For those that remember, there used to be special curfews in place not to curb suicide car bombs and terrorism but to give police space for their periodic dog culling. Sometimes all you can hear is a single shot and silence, but sometimes after the bang comes the moaning and agonizing cries and you just know the dog is bleeding to death. In anycase this time the dog was not given poisoned meat or thrown into a cage as food for the big cats. It was a nice thing to see.

Despite the recent lapse in security, things for the most part have been steadily improving. If only the terrorists knew that with every car bomb and suicide attack their chance of a future in Iraq goes further and further down the drain. I mean all the terrorists. The Ba'athists still dreaming of a united Arab nation, the Arabs still dreaming of a Caliphate, and the Shia militia still dreaming of their own country. The recent attacks in Baghdad have not been different from previous attacks. Still cold-blooded, still indiscriminate, still cowardice.

On the political side there is now a stalemate with regards to the next Najaf Governorate. There was a meeting on Saturday between the main parties concerned and each sides stubbornness was only matched by the other. The Sadrists are not worried about positions in the council but they want to head the security effort in the province. SIIC who would rather drop dead then see their arch nemesis ask them where they are going at checkpoints have refused outright. Although Maliki has allied himself with Sadr's men he is also determined not to risk even more lapses in security by handing the security keys over to the side who went to war with the Government several times. Da'wa will keep security firmly in their hands and will likely tempt the Sadrists with a few key positions.

The biggest problem now is the number one spot. No one knows who exactly is going to be the next Governor. SIIC, who have won 7 seats, have threatened to pull out altogether if they do not get the no.1 prize. Da'wa, who have also won 7 seats, have been saying that they have formed a coalition (something SIIC could not do) and so it should be they who dictate the terms. SIIC's counter is that Abdul Hassan Abdan, the previous Deputy Governor, came second in Iraq in terms of votes to his name. He was beaten only by Haboobi in Kerbala. Da'wa do not care if Abdan came second or last. They do not want him to be in charge. As an ex-member of the Badr militia, Abdan has strong ties with the Iranian regime and Da'wa do not want the future Governor of Najaf to 'open the doors' to Iran. The tension in the room was rising and neither side was willing to give in.

Today the issue is still not resolved but a decision is going to be made very soon.

6 Years Today

I can't believe it has already been 6 years. It seems like yesterday I watched the statue of Saddam fall in a symbolic ceremony that indicated the Ba'ath regime was finished. Three years ago I wrote the post "3 Years On". At the time I was angry that people had given up on Iraq. Many journalists wanted to portray Iraq as a failed state because that type of news sells well. I was angry because they did not understand Iraq and they did not understand what the people of Iraq had already gone through in the past. Iraq is a great nation and its proud people cannot be destroyed no matter how hard the Sheikhs from Saudi, the terrorists from the Levant or the agents from Iran try. Iraq will prevail and it will become strong and remain a thorn in the eyes of its many enemies. I wrote:

"Why do people expect so much so fast from a country whose people had to suffer 3 decades of unimaginable terror!?

"It took Great Britain 500 years to agree on a constitution (that isn't even written) and to unite. Over 600,000 American's died during 5 years of bloody war fighting for freedom and for their constitution. How long did it take Germany to recover after Hitler and his Nazi party!? How long did in take for Japan to recover after WWII!? How long has it been since Baghdad fell!? 3 years...Only 3 years. It will take at least a generation of time before we can finally have peace in Iraq."

Basically my message was give Iraq a chance. Today, I am glad that the last sentence I wrote 3 years ago was wrong. Completely wrong. We will have peace much sooner. Time will never heal the scars but the country will return to normal before long. When the youth of today grow up and read/hear about the chaos that spread through their country they will be upset and angry but at the same time they will admire the courage and determination of their people.

At the time of writing Iraq was almost slipping into an all-out civil war. The terrorists had just blown up the holy shrine in Samarra and that was the trigger that caused even more chaos in Baghdad. Many Shia were unwilling to show restrain in their retaliation. It was indiscriminate, violent and at times, simply barbaric. The journalists were not making things up but the bias was clear. This was Bush's war. Bush is bad so the war was wrong and nothing good could come of it. It was that type of news that was regurgitated so many times it made you sick.

A year later, when the terrorists finished off what they started in Samarra and blew up the shrine (again!) Maliki put it much more eloquently in an article in the WSJ. America had its civil war. Why expect freedom to come easy to Iraq?

I don't know how Iraq managed to survive. I don't know how the Iraqi's managed to survive. But they did. Every morning bad news and then in the evening even more bad news. The instinct for survival was probably just as vital as the surge and Maliki's jihad against the terrorists.

During the battle for Basra I was in Najaf waiting for a friend who was stuck in the south because of the fighting. The people of Basra, who must have been living through hell, stood firm and they prayed for the Iraqi soldiers. I remember in every phone call I could hear loud gunfire and explosions and my friend was not phased. He would say that people had already stocked up on food, couldn't leave to go anywhere and on top of that they would have soldiers storm their houses one by one in a bid to cleanse the city. Yet they were not complaining. They were in fact happy that finally someone was doing something about the criminal gangs that controlled the city like war lords. In a couple of weeks Maliki had defeated the militias and less than a year later had a swift victory in the local elections.

Many people deserve praise for turning Iraq into what it is today; The coalition soldiers whose blood has been shed on Iraqi soil and mixed with the blood of Iraqi policemen and soldiers fighting a common enemy. The Iraqi politicians who had many sleepless nights trying their best to make sure Iraq does not free fall to disaster on their watch. Perhaps no one deserves more praise than the people of Iraq who are truly the unsung hero's of this tragic story. Hopefully a story that will have a happy ending. They sacrificed for their family and they sacrificed for their country. They stood strong against foreign powers and today the message is as clear and strong as ever. A new Iraq was born in 2003 and it is here to stay.

LOL

This is what one senior SIIC official had to say about the election results to a group of Iraqis when he recently visited Iran.

"Does Maliki really have a strong mandate in Iraq? How many votes did he actually manage to get? One million? More? Well in the general election Allawi managed to get a very similar number of votes. Most Shia parties were against Allawi, the marja'iya was against him too, and yet he still managed to get over a million votes. There is nothing special about Maliki this time.

"It was a conspiracy against SIIC. The election results were fixed by people who wanted to make sure SIIC failed. In many areas in Baghdad where we had a strong footing the people were forced to vote in a different area to where they were living. This of course means not everyone could go out and vote. We lost many votes like this.

"Even after the votes were cast, our observers would call us immediately and tell us we did very well, yet when the containers get sent over to the central office for finalization, strangely our numbers decrease dramatically. This happened many times. Something went wrong and we are sure many of our votes were deliberately not counted and ignored"

Although this is comical it is no surprise. I was in my home in London watching the elections with friends on different Iraqi channels. Mainly Iraqiya, Forat, and Sharqiya. Three channels all with a different agenda to push. We sat for hours switching between these channels and they were pretty consistent. Iraqiya was all Maliki, Maliki and more Maliki. Sharqiya was having a heart attack over fraud and vote rigging and Forat was airing good news about how smooth things have run. Then something very strange happened. Forat suddenly put breaking news that there have been security breaches (i.e. rigging) and Sharqiya was now airing opinions that for the most part the elections were transparent. Sharqiya turned into Forat and Forat turned into Sharqiya. We couldn't believe our eyes and ears.

This is the Bush/Kerry 2004 conspiracy...Iraqi style. The million dollar question is who is going to be the Iraqi Obama and put the fake Prime Minister Maliki to the sword. And who says politics is boring?