dear_raed.blogspot.com -> dear_raed.blogspot.com/
Their hands reach every where and you dont want to be on their shit list. Every body, even the GC is very careful how they formulate their sentences and how they describe Sadirs Militias. I was listening to a representative of al-sadir on TV saying that the officers at police stations come to offer their help and swear allegiance. Habibi, if they dont they will get killed and their police station liberated. Have we forgotten the threat al-Sadir issued that Iraqi security forces should not attack their revolutionary brothers, or they will have to suffer the consequences. Please dont act surprised and what sort of timing is that: planning to go on a huge attack on the west of Iraq and provoking a group you know very well I pray to god you knew that they are trouble makers.
My mind doesnt seem to be able to multi-task any more, I am in filming mode, and with a certain person here with a whip in her hand, I cant even get a chance to check my emails. Karbala was one of these things I will never ever forget in my whole life, I dont care what you think of the rituals that are practiced, the fact is that the atmosphere was beautiful. Peacful and so much passion and devotion, it brings tears to your eyes. I, my mother and my cousin were out of the center of the city, running, by the third mortar.
I am not sure I am more phased out by the rituals I saw and witnessed there or by the attacks and their consequences. I have gone thru the footage I have from the 4 days over and over again. The world being a very unfair place I cant show you the 400 minutes I have and tell you about them, people will chop it down to 12 minutes. There was such a feeling of solidarity and unity and peacefulness, you had to be there to feel it. People were sleeping on the street, stands giving out everything, from tea and milk in the morning to full meals, for free.
So I assume you have been reading the blog and already know that the prophet announced before his death that whoever sees a leader in him should see a leader in his cousin Ali. Which the Shia took as a sign that the rule of the growing Muslim empire should be in the hands of the descendants of the prophet. The revolution that was led by an orphaned man to make all believers equal in the eyes of Allah wasnt gaining much ground with the big rich families of Mecca. If you have read Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses youll see how he hinted at the disgruntlement of the big rich families, they were calling it a revolution of water bearers and slaves. This gap between the old and the new power, the author suggests, has always been at the heart of Sunni/Shia trouble in the early days of the Caliphate. Four Caliphs down the line, as we get into the Ummayad period, things are getting more and more decadent and. When Yazeed comes to become Caliph in Damascus he wants to make sure that there will not be anyone from the Prophets family to contest his right to the throne. In the mean time al-Hussain is getting messages from Kufa/Iraq telling him that they support his cause and wish he would come to Kufa and lead the believers there. He takes with him all his family, the prophets family and followers of al-Hussain ie Shia. It is a small entourage since he is expecting the help of the Iraqis in Kufa.
Before he arrives a messenger is sent to check things out in Kufa, the messenger is a family member. The first day he arrives all the city prays behind him, a sign of respect. The Sunni Caliph sends his envoy to warn the people of Kufa from following this man. When the messenger comes to pray the next day, no one from the city is in the mosque and when he is killed and hung from a minaret no one from Kufa rises to avenge his death or bring him down for burial. Bad sign for the Shia on their way but with no wireless internet the word doesnt get to al-Hussain. He doesnt know that those people who have pledged support are all hot air. Surrounded for 10 days, his few followers try to protect him and die one after the other. Zain al-Abideen was too ill to fight and this saved him from death. The story of the battle has been told on the blog before, will dig into the archives and post a link and some of it. Every 10th of Muharam, the first Islamic month, is a day of deep mourning for Shia. He is seen as a symbol of Shia struggle and the story with all its gory details gets told and re-enacted every year. There is also a deep sense of regret for abandoning al-Hussain in his most difficult hours, hence the flagellation. That is because so many of the Imams died on that day there is no chance to commemorate all their deaths in one day. The laments on each day tell the story of one of the Imams building up to the big day on the 10th of Muharam. The scenes I saw today are things I have never seen before, my mother and uncles would tell me about them but the event was banned. This is of such significance to Shia in Iraq this year it should not be missed. You can bet your ass that the Sunnis will see this years Ashura as a provocation and you can bet your friends ass that the Shia will use it to provoke. So we be there wearing black and a pious beard with a camera in hand.
Is it to have driven Saddam out which requires a war, but with a truly United, worldwide coalition, along with a master-plan for the post-war? Or should he have been left in power, isolated from the international community, and basically allowing the maintenance of the status quo? Although I know most of Iraq wanted him gone, is it realistic to believe that Iraqis would have pushed Saddam from power? I think-but dont know-that Saddam had consolidated so much power over the masses that it would have been impossible for Iraqis themselves to deal the death knell to his regime that would pass on to his progeny? Basically, should the issue of Iraq been left 100 to the Iraqis from the beginning no war? Doesnt it usually do good things with its power, or does it screw up as much as it helps? There was a war almost a year ago and we have to deal with its consequences, there was time for debate much earlier. The powers that be made their decisions, whether right or wrong, at that time. I am a very pragmatic person, Raeds nickname for me was Salam the PragmaPig I deal with the shit as it happens, never a moment of regret well almost. The various documents that were produced to show how much of a bully he has been on the international playground were treated as if they were so new and startling. What the US administration didnt put in those records and documents was the extent of its own involvement in building up this monster and now that he has grown bigger than they thought he could they thought it was time to get rid of him. Well yes but that would have involved something the US administration didnt see necessary at the time. The scene was set and all the players were ready to play there part in Iraq. There was a sense that people have achieved things for themselves, truly proud revolutionaries not the scared people who had to be helped by an outsider they are now.
Even the political situation would have been easier to handle, the rift between Shia and Sunnis wasnt as big as it is now. The country still had its secular educated class, which now is all over the world having turned to political and economic refugees trying to escape the claws of Saddam and the difficult economic situation in Iraq after the war and the sanctions. But as I said it is no use crying over spilt milk, we have to deal with what we have now. You say Or should he have been left in power, isolated from the international community, and basically allowing the maintenance of the status quo?
But that policy didnt just isolate Saddam but the Iraqi people and gave him more power over the destinies of Iraqis, we became so dependant on a government that wasnt at all fit to take care of us. We all know that it got to a point where we would have never been rid of Saddam without foreign intervention; NO, because I dont believe there is any altruism in politics and the way he sees the world scares me. What I do really and sincerely hope for is that the day you and other soldiers and US civilians here dont have to stay be...
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