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Sunday, April 4, 2004
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 Sunday, April 4, 2004
started 4/4/2004; 9:45:51 AM - last post 4/6/2004; 4:36:50 PM
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Doc Searls - Sunday, April 4, 2004 
4/4/2004; 1:45:51 PM (reads: 9597, responses: 1)
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No, I'm not a follower; I just subscribe to their RSS feeds 
| | Reading this makes me think the best bloggers are gurus of some sort. Note especially items 1, 3, 8, 10, 11 & 12. |
Rolling Iraq
| | Sallah tells us that Fallujah is the only place in Iraq where (even during Saddam¹s regime) there was never a ruling Governor. It¹s a real rebel town. Based on the traditional tribal system (which still exists). They are very proud and dignified people who WILL NOT accept within their multi tribal society, working out their own co existence, that there should be a person promoted to such a position that does not respect this equality and the diversity. The first Governor lasted a day before he was shot dead, the second, two. Rebel town. |
| | On the way into Baghdad, he told us that both Fallujah and Ramadi were the most dangerous places for Westerners, as the US forces had come down hard on them, showing no respect for their traditions, beliefs, culture, dignity, intelligenceŠ or the fact that they were actually, really, human beings. |
| | So we find ourselves stopped by the US forces on the highway. Sallah (who speaks very good English) calls to a GI to find out if the road is being closed. The charmer he speaks to doesn¹t take his hand off his automatic rifle and tells him to stay in lane. This is traffic control, GI style. |
| | A conversation in Arabic between the Fixer and the driver. Next thing we know, we are off — roading, trying to find a different route. We can hear automatic gunfire. |
| | And it sounds quite close. |
| | I refuse to be a part of the daily calls for avenge, as a reaction for what is happening in Palestine and Iraq. |
| | Violence is never the answer. |
| | All the images of a long history of violence above have become deeply ingrained in Iraqi society, and I'm afraid we have become desensitized to such scenes a long time ago. As disgusting and horrible the Fallujah images were, you could see bystanders children there watching casually, if not cheering, without blinking an eye. I would not call those children evil, because sadly they do not realise what they have become. The people that defiled the dead bodies were not technically terrorists, Ba'athists, or insurgents, they were common folk which makes it even more depressing. All respect for humanity has long been lost in a large section of Iraqis. I admit this concept is difficult, if not impossible, to explain to a western audience. |
| | A few days earlier, he wrote, |
| | Almost every family in Baghdad, particularly the rich, has had at least one case of a relative kidnapped at some time over the last few months, just as almost always every family has a relative living in exile. So common that the procedure to follow out has become routine; stay calm and don't panic, never contact the police, wait for a phone call (usually from a Thuraya phone) or a written note (if you still don't have a working phone line), meet with a representative of the kidnappers, bargain for all you're worth, and after reaching a satisfactory compromise deliver the money and wait a couple of days for your relative to return proudly home. So far, doctors and businessmen are the most attractive targets. Ransoms range from the ludicrous sum of $1000 to as high as $250,000 (impossible to afford even for the richest families in Baghdad). |
| | One person in our neighbourhood, whose brother was abducted, was asked for $5000 by some contented gang. He told them to go to hell since he could afford a funeral and consolation banquet for his brother at a much lower sum. The gang meekly halved the ransom and almost begged for it, so he agreed after much pressure from his brother's wife and children. This approach works in most cases with amateur gangs, but you have to be careful because if you were dealing with professionals, your kidnapped relative might be returned to you in a body bag. |
| | My initial reaction was to wish that everyone in that crowd of zombies be strung up on that very same bridge. So you see what we are up against, and have been for the last forty years or so? I try to think coolly if possible. It is difficult though. But I really think it was planned. Yes this was no random act of barbarism. This was planned. Remember how many times I told you things that later on you saw to be true. This was no random event. This was done with Somalia in mind to frighten off and disgust the American people. And they are all in it, the whole bunch of zombies and monkeys, including the propaganda media of the Wahabis and their employees, because we know who finance these media and who run them. They have execused the savagery of Saddam before, nay loved it; so it is not surprising that they don't mind this in the least. |
| | And we are sick and tired of the whole bunch of them: "Clerics" claiming to represent the people, politicians manoeuvering, thieves robbing etc. etc.; the same faces; the same worn out cliches and the same sickening noises. |
| | And where are we now, a year from the war? Sure- we own satellite dishes and the more prosperous own mobile phones... but where are we *really*? Where are the majority? |
| | We're trying to fight against the extremism that seems to be upon us like a black wave; we're wondering, on an hourly basis, how long it will take for some semblance of normality to creep back into our lives; we're hoping and praying against civil war... |
| | We're watching with disbelief as American troops roam the streets of our towns and cities and break violently into our homes... we're watching with anger as the completely useless Puppet Council sits giving out fat contracts to foreigners and getting richer by the day- the same people who cared so little for their country, that they begged Bush and his cronies to wage a war that cost thousands of lives and is certain to cost thousands more. |
| | We're watching sardonically as an Iranian cleric in the south turns a once secular country into America's worst nightmare- a carbon copy of Iran. We're watching as the lies unravel slowly in front of the world- the WMD farce and the Al-Qaeda mockery. |
| | And where are we now? Well, our governmental facilities have been burned to the ground by a combination of 'liberators' and 'Free Iraqi Fighters'; 50% of the working population is jobless and hungry; summer is looming close and our electrical situation is a joke; the streets are dirty and overflowing with sewage; our jails are fuller than ever with thousands of innocent people; we've seen more explosions, tanks, fighter planes and troops in the last year than almost a decade of war with Iran brought; our homes are being raided and our cars are stopped in the streets for inspectionsŠ journalists are being killed 'accidentally' and the seeds of a civil war are being sown by those who find it most useful; the hospitals overflow with patients but are short on just about everything else- medical supplies, medicine and doctors; and all the while, the oil is flowing. |
| | But we've learned a lot. We've learned that terrorism isn't actually the act of creating terror. It isn't the act of killing innocent people and frightening othersŠ no, you see, that's called a 'liberation'. It doesn't matter what you burn or who you kill- if you wear khaki, ride a tank or Apache or fighter plane and drop missiles and bombs, then you're not a terrorist- you're a liberator. |
| | The war on terror is a jokeŠ Madrid was proof of that last weekŠ Iraq is proof of that everyday. |
| | I hope someone feels safer, because we certainly don't. |
| | Are there more disgusting acts these ex-Baathists will try to show the world in the future? |
| | What the ex-Baathists are doing is helping people like me realize Iraqis are better off without Saddam. Today's photos show how brutal his party members were to the Iraqi people. What you saw today on the streets of Falluja was previously conducted by Saddam's henchmen behind closed doors. |
| | I'm sitting here and wondering if the "positive" Iraqi bloggers are really making a difference in this world. You read our posts and think Iraqis are great. Then, you turn on the TV or read the newspapers and reconsider your opinions. |
| | I know most Iraqis are like the Iraqi bloggers, who are trying to make a difference in this world. I know bad news makes more noise than the good news. I know I still have faith Iraq will have a great future. Then, I get depressed from time to time and wonder if this is just a fantasy, or it may become a reality in the near future. |
| | I feel more optimistic after reading my American readers' e-mails. These readers include Democrats, Republicans and Independents. They all share the same optimism and determination that America will not withdraw from Iraq because of the events in Falluja. The Americans grew stronger after 9/11. If you're not living in America, you could never know the meaning of this statement. |
| | Thank you all for believing in the Iraqi people. This hope is all the Iraqis need at this stage of their long walk to achieve freedom and democracy. It means a lot to receive these encouraging e-mails. |
| | May God bless the American people and the coalition troops. |
| | Me, I don't know what to think. I only know what to read. And I'm glad these people are giving the world reports and perspectives you won't find in any of The Media. |
| | Maybe that's because what they say is unmediated. Because it's speech, not "content." Because it's at the same time alive and archival. It has a memory of itself. You don't get that from radio and TV, or from publications that don't expose their pasts to search engines, and that charge money for last month's fishwrap. |
| | We're watching history being written while it is also being lived, with all its passions and contradictions. |
| | The history of Iraq today won't be written by winners or losers, but by people whose lives are involved with their subjects, and who cannot allow the facts of their lives to be abstracted exclusively to the rhetoric of sports and war. |
| | The same goes for America, too. Even when it's leaders and challengers are "in the ring" standing "toe to toe" and "sparring" with each other. (To pick a few metaphors just from one morning paper.) |
Cube day
| | It's 4/4/4. Or 04/04/04. Not ba big thing, but bloggable, it turns out. |
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Donald W. Larson - Re: Sunday, April 4, 2004
4/6/2004; 8:36:50 PM (reads: 535, responses: 0)
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Doc said:
"Me, I don't know what to think. I only know what to read. And I'm glad these people are giving the world reports and perspectives you won't find in any of The Media."
My thoughts are to support President Bush along with our military forces to keep the attacks up on the enemy until they are pacified to our satisfaction. Bomb them ,cut-off their food and water until they surrender and their asshole leaders and supporters are either taken into custody or killed.
Don
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