csua.org/u/5id -> healingiraq.blogspot.com/archives/2004_01_01_healingiraq_archive.html
Wendell Steavenson, a former reporter for Time magazine, has been in Samarra interviewing Zayduns family, his cousin Marwan, an Iraqi ICDC lieutenant, as well as the American Colonel in command of the US force in Samarra. UPDATE: I cant stress how disgusted and dissapointed I am with the people who are still in denial: Oh no our soldiers are good and educated, they would never do that! Suppose I had published a similar account of Iraqi Fedayeen pushing two American soldiers in a river, drowning one of them in the process. Would all you armchair analysts say Oh no, lets not rush to conclusions. No, you would be jumping all over it crying and condemning the murderous Fedayeen. And Im getting more convinced day by day that some of you are not any different from the leftists you are all so happy to bash, and that you are not really interested in hearing the TRUTH, youre only interested in hearing what you NEED to hear. Meanwhile I leave you with this quote: Have we not already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those ideal theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the imperfections, weaknesses and evils incident to society in every shape? Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue? Alexander Hamilton, 1789 posted by zeyad : 1/31/2004 06:17:21 PM postCount107556224173584718; Friday, January 30, 2004 New Iraqi blogs Iraqi Spirit is the latest kid in town. Hes a 30 year old Iraqi expat living in the UK and describes himself as only Iraqi.
I was naive and conceited enough to believe that posting entries into this page would actually achieve something. When I started I had huge determination to correct all the misconceptions, sterotypes, and preconceived notions the world held of us as a people. I wanted to bring out the good news from a torn and beaten country that the rest of the world had unanimously regarded as a source of only trouble and bad news. I wanted to convey the daily life, dreams, fears, hopes, and aspirations of Iraqis. I wanted the rest of the world to see us as more than mere news items. I wanted to put a face to my country, a country that millions of people couldnt point out on a world map. I had great hopes that someone high up in the CPA hierarchy would listen and take notes. I had hopes that coalition soldiers patrolling our streets would read and realize that there was no need to be scared of us. I had hopes that other Iraqis both inside and outside would look and take heart in my words. I had hopes that I would encourage other Iraqis to write and share whatever they had to share. I had hopes that the whole world would stop crying over spilt milk and move on. I had hopes that we would just all understand and accept each other and stop pointing fingers. Maybe I was too optimistic or maybe I was just trying to justify my own views of the situation. It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into. I put that quote up there beneath the title because I knew the blog would always be plagued by people whose sole purpose in life is to disagree with anything that doesnt fit with their world view. Many people tend to visualize this world in terms of Good vs Evil, Us vs Them, Good guys vs Bad guys, Protagonist vs Antagonist. Sometimes I just chuckle at them, sometimes I give them a deaf ear, and other times I just blindly lash out at everyone so please forgive me for that. Ali Al-Wardi, an Iraqi scholar, once wrote The truth never comes in one package. Different people look at different sides of it and each one thinks his side is the ONLY truth and that the rest are wrong. They should look at the pyramid from above to see all sides and get the collective truth. No blogger speaks for all Iraqis, and I have been trying to say this for months now. Iraqis are the most diverse people in opinions that has ever graced this planet. So how am I supposed to explain Iraqis to other people, when I sometimes, even as an Iraqi, dont claim to quite understand them myself. I wasnt raised as an Iraqi, actually until the age of 8 I was a typical British child. My parents and I hold that against them never taught me a word of Arabic or anything about my country or religion when we were living in the UK. I used to listen to them converse in this weird language and shake my head. However I remember having an overwhelming nostalgic desire to go to this strange place called Iraq which was supposed to be my homeland. I was made fun of at school and by relatives my age because of my broken Arabic. But I never complained, I wanted to blend in and make myself belong to this society. None of you can even start to grasp the essence of what Iraq has been into. Not just from Saddam, or his predecessors, but from long centuries and millennia of abuse. The last five centuries of Ottoman rule left Iraq a divided country in ruins, the British came and tried to stick together the bits and pieces. If you were here now you would almost feel Iraq bleeding from its wounds. You would almost hear the two rivers murmuring and moaning in pain. You would smell the tension in the air which even rain is unable to wash away. You would sense the years of deprivation and negligence in its soil. And is this going to be the end to all its sorrows or is there more? Despite all of the above I am proud to belong to this ancient land. A few days ago I noticed somewhere on the walls of Baghdad a slogan that said Raise your head high, you are Iraqi, so I did. Whatever people may think of me or my nation I will sneer at them and say I am Iraqi. There were times when I was ashamed to be associated with it or its people. There were times when I just didnt care about whatever happened to Iraq. And there were other times when I wept with my face in my hands and begged Iraq to forgive me for my weakness and selfishness.
Raja Al-Khuzai, GC member, stated her opinion on resolution 137 and the position of women in post Saddam Iraq: I stand with Iraqi women. I suffered with them and I know very well the difficulties they faced over the last 3 decades. I will support them until they achieve the position they truly deserve. At the moment Im working on supporting young widows in the south of Iraq by collecting donations. I found out that there is a high percentage of young widows over there, in just one area in Diwania, we found 1500 young widowed women. And regarding the resolution 137, I was shocked when I heard about it later as I was in Washington when the resolution was passed. And if implemented it would definitely put women into an unfavourable position since the resolution would annul many laws that women worked hard to put into effect over the last decades. They have to understand that not all laws issued under the former regime were ungood. But inshallah well work on it, there is always time for retraction or compromise. And judge Zakiya Ishmael gives her view on the situation: We strived for years to defend the Iraqi family institution. Women alone cannot progress without assistance from men, and how can a bird fly without both wings?
The issue of family affairs is one of the most important issues that reflect progress or retardation of society, especially in the case of the relationship between men and women and personal circumstances alahwal alshakhsiya . The Iraqi personal circumstances law which has been in effect for over 40 years represents an advanced one in its advocation of woman rights. We hoped for more reforms on the existing judiciary code in order for women to obtain additional rights which would conform with the prerequisites of the new Iraq, we did not expect to go steps backward as is the case today in Iraq? The transitional GC recently passed a decision to abolish the personal circumstances law, and according to this decision which reflects the desire of Islamic parties the GC agreed that Islamic Sharia Allahs law would rule in cases of personal circumstances of man instead of the...
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