Iraq Army Support

I dislike the Iraqi prime minister as much as any other person but this blame game does not take us anywhere, I don’t want him to stay but the only way we can can get Iraq back on its feet is if we support the army against those religious militant. Its just a matter of stabilizing Iraq and then turning the tide around

Iraq suffering

Iraq have been suffering tremendously year after year, the real problem is within the culture that Saddam created (this is not a single blame point). He destroyed the sense of “our country good” and turned into “Our religion good”, “our sect good” , “our Arab good”, “our Kurd good” , “our city good” or even worse “our tribe good” and now even our Iraqi cries for help only come out when one of these “ours” happen and never when all Iraq in need. The bloodshed will not end till all those “our” go away and only “our country” stays.

Iraq Elections Results

Iraq elections and choices should not be analyzed by calling the public ignorant, to the contrary we should accept that even our secular behavior is very single minded and either force their views or call the rest stupid. Its an acceptance problem not a political problem. I think Iraq needs a well organized and respectful opposition and not a militia that disrespect the laws unless they get what they want. Also our liberals should gather together to fight corruption and sectarian appointment and make them very visible, I think this would be the first step toward better Iraq.

10 years after

By Laith Yousif

10 years ago, The days that changed the course of our lives as much as July 16 1979 which is the day Saddam took power.Despite the fact that most Iraqis hated Saddam, the way that the war got conducted could never be worse. from choosing a pathetic not knowledgeable person like Paul Bremer to lead a country that he have no idea about (his book claimed he went and bought books about Iraq 14 days before his assignment to understand the country ) . To hiring incompetent and partisan aides then they allowed sectarian Iraqi politicians to enter the governance counsel. And after all that allowing elections way before security which ensured all the thugs and the religious idiots would get elected as a result of the war since intimidation and lack of trust of people they did not know made the religious win the votes.

All that may sound political, but to me its personal, those who lost their lives are human beings who did not have the opportunity to live, to see their family anymore, to continue to love and be loved. I was here during those days. I lost connection with my family on March 25th 2003, i did not know what happened to them till May 2003.

Thats why while moving away from Iraq and living the US for now almost 12 years I hold dearly to me the same believe that I had when I was there.
I understand that war seems ok for many people, but its not to me , if you wanna go to war you do it without attacking cities , you do it on the borders man to man, and fix issue by issue far away from civilians, if you gonna bomb cities you are a coward who care less about human lives no matter whats your reasoning is , religion or politics, at the end all those who cause civilian deaths and argue that it was necessary are pathetic to me.

How much is an Iraqi worth for the world, The story and hopefully the end

BY Laith Yousif

I usually refrain from writing a post about issue and provide links to other views, mainly because I see a lot of repetitive information, this post will be an exception because I feel very passionately about this era and most of my beliefs today was shaped based on how humane the world have been in the last 2 decades toward human lives when they look differently than yours. Today I opened my eyes to read the news that the economic sanctions against Iraq are to be lifted, something that took Iraq toward total collapse and got millions of Iraqis to flee the country.

Sadaam the guy who by his practices and disgusting politics dragged Iraq into invading Kuwait for what he described in his speech who he addressed the “honorable” in this world, he said the action was needed because Kuwait played an unfair economical rule that got Iraq to lose a billion dollar of revenue for each dollar the price of barrel went down. Now some may see the economical effect as a huge deal but what he cared about at that moment was really grabbing more power, as he never cared about the economical game, in fact under his rule Iraq went broke right from the get go with Iraq-Iran war.

Now lets see how the civilized world reacted to Saddam’s stupid behavior after invading Kuwait, first economical sanctions (which is the reason I felt I need to write this), and then a war in 1991 that killed many in Iraq, then they allowed Saddam to use his Helicopters to attack civilians in the North and South of Iraq (All this under the name of the (Civilized world),  then bombing through the 90’s that killed many , one of them is one of Iraq amazing artist “Layla Al Attar”, who got killed during one of those bombings in the 90s.

One of the “most civilized” reaction to the sanctions came from someone I thought at that time she could be a force for good.

When asked on US television if she [Madeline Albright, US Secretary of State] thought that the death of half a million Iraqi children [from sanctions in Iraq] was a price worth paying, Albright replied: “This is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it.”

I could not believe that she said that but then remembered as long as you are not portrayed by the media as a “bad guy” like Saddam was , its OK to make a screwed up policy and  the media would keep calling you sweet names, at the end of the day half a million Iraqi children don’t have a media campaign behind them that will make the world stand against such words or actions.

Now many will start blabing about the Oil for food program and how corrupted it was,  It was supposedly intended to be there to help Iraqis to survive, I usually tend to think of those who come up with this argument as “brain dead” at their best. That program was a tool to look less inhumane by politicians and it opened doors for companies to benefit from the huge oil resources of Iraq, through giving Saddam cash. It was never intended to help Iraqis, the only benefit that Iraqis got out of it was simply more food on their table through the government rations that made few more survive another year or 2, Iraq was crippled economically to a point that kids at schools were coming to school without breakfast because their parents could not afford it.

Then we fast forward to 2003 when the evil Saddam was taken out under the promise of “Freeing the Iraqi People” which only the naive believe, even though if you read and educate yourself about the situation you will see that many politicians disregard human lives beyond belief, I have heared so many politicians say these exact words without  hesitation

Its better to fight ALQAIDA  over there than we fight them here

I have been disgusted by Saddam so many times, but I expect him to be like that because from day one no one beleived he was a good guy, well except for idiots in the Arab world who never lived , but politician who call themselves civilised and humanee and talk about freedom , saying that is beyond disgusting especially when you associate yourself with mainstream politicians.

Iraqis today are reading the news that  the sanction that was installed on Iraq because of Invading Kuwait is nearing an end, guess why this time. So that companies can sell civilian nuclear technology to Iraq.

Brilliant, 20 years of suffering and more than a million Iraqis dead, and what move the civilised international community to remove sanctions is simply money.

Now we know what the word civilized really mean!.

Iraqis, the kidnapped generation

By Laith Yousif

In 1979 Saddam took power, his first act was kidnapping and killing a few of his close comrades or whatever you call them. In 1980, the Iraq-Iran war started to drag the people into worthless 8 years of war that Iraq closed its borders for and made it near impossible for Iraqis to travel and see the world. So people are locked in for 8 years with no real breathing space. Iraqis had a breathing period from 1988 to 1990 when the Iraqi government opened the restriction on travel after the war. And then Iraq went into Kuwait and Iraqis get locked again, a nation of about 24 million at that time locked by its own government – again. And then world super powers bombed these people. Iraqis were under fire for saddam’s decision to invade Kuwait. At that time, president bush, the father, encouraged Iraqis to rise against the system. Rise they did and a mass slaughter by saddam’s regime followed. The United States did not intervene. If you think that Iraqis were not targeted in that war you are just plain wrong. Pointing a bullet at someone is one way of targeting them, but there are so many other ways to hit people hard without pointing the gun on there face.

With saddam’s army in Kuwait, the US goal was to kick him out. How can a water purification unit be a legitimate target when the goal of the mission is to get Saddam out of Iraq? An oil refinery next to a residential area in Baghdad got hit many times as well – the refinery that made gas available to “normal” Iraqis, not the regime. Those in the regime never needed anything. They were protected. In fact, services including fuel to those who were close to the regime were never cut, while ordinary Iraqis got stuck in dealing with inhumane behavior of the “peace loving coalition” and the inhumane behavior of the Iraqi regime.

Bridges, hospitals, communication center, electricity power plants, sewage system units and water purification units in many Iraqi cities were targeted and many in Baghdad (330 miles from Kuwait) were destroyed. That is a lot more than the distance between New York and Washington dc.

So Iraqis go through this, then they are de-humanized by saddam’s regime again, as he continued to rule with an iron fist. Of course, we should not forget how the UN sanctions against Iraq used Iraqi as Ginny pigs for their own experimental policy on how to get a nation down on its knees. The experiment proved that the only group that got affected is simple and ordinary people, while the government of the sanctioned nation would never get affected. We saw after the 2003 war how Saddam used oil money for his own benefit one way or another without caring about the nation and what the people were going through.

During the years between 1991 and 2003, Iraqis suffered tremendously from the sanction. Over one million kids under 5 died during that period for the lack of medication and the malnutrition. Iraqis in general starved during that period, many killed by the regime which simply became stronger as a result of those sanctions.

After all this comes 2003, a war that Iraqis welcomed and hated at the same time. Welcomed because they were trying to get rid of a system that put them in a struggle to survive every day and hated because it was war yet again.

As Iraqis had to endure this new war, ironically the same scenario happened again. Destruction on a large scale: power plants, sewage facilities and bridges although not as extensively as in 1991, because they needed to use them to reach Baghdad. Throughout Iraq, the invasion took a toll on Iraqis, ordinary ones, which were simply classified as “collateral damage.”

Iraq was declared free in 2003. In the speeches that were given around that time, it was said that it’s better to fight the terrorists in their instead of fighting them here. Wow! Such amazing words especially when coming from elected officials who think of Iraqis as second class human beings. Who simply live there and it’s ok to fight in their neighborhood

The fight between al-Qaida and the US materializes on a large scale and almost in every city in Iraq. Iraqis are again in the middle. When the US kills innocent people, they call them “collateral damage” and when al-Qaida or other insurgents groups kills them they are called “infidels” who help the invader. So again, a new cycle starts and Iraqis are in the middle with no hope.

Many Iraqis have left in the past eighteen years and most of those who have not wish they could. It is near impossible for Iraqis to obtain visas to leave and very costly as well, so they are simply stuck.

The world has failed the Iraqi people repeatedly. Iraqis have been kidnapped from any sense of normalcy and freedom that we all expect and deserve. Iraq the regime kidnapped Iraq as a home from its people. The international community did their part through making Iraqis suffer under sanctions, and the coalition and al-Qaida kidnapped Iraqis from peace in their neighborhoods by fighting each other on Iraqi streets.

So now millions of Iraqis, mainly middle class, left Iraq to take refuge in Syria or Jordan and are waiting for other nations to accept them. Maybe after reading all this, you can understand why many Iraqis don’t really want to go back home. They do not have faith in anyone anymore and all they want is the peace of mind that any human being deserves. I think the western world is their only hope and I mean people more than governments. Those Iraqis are asking to be freed from the years of struggle, tyranny and war that they have lived through. They want to breathe freely and enjoy the simple life were they can be happy and productive.

Lets be humans again

By : Laith Yousif

Yes this what we have at this point, a culture that is so filthy that i feel disgusted writing this article about how we treat human being inside our society, in fact we do not treat anyone the way they deserve, we do treat them based on filthy centuries old of empty slogans and empty minds.

I read few articles about what is happening to Iraq right now and the news Sabreen Al-Janaby, a girl who accused the Iraqi police of rapping her, and all the following response to that, and i was desperately looking for one decent voice that give this story in reasonable way and not through sectarian divide, but no all arguing against her or for her, no one asked the question, even if she is not truthful, why not we give her the chance of proving her case, she is human being, and she deserve the right of any other human. As much as I disagree with using TV channels to expose the story, but put yourself in her shoes , she have no one listening to her and she had to do something with a practice that need to be changed inside our daily lives. If I was in her shoes even though no one can claim they know the pain that others go through, i will make as much noise, and i will not care about all those hypocritical voices who treat women as if they are half human, if she is touched then she is not good anymore, if she got attacked its more appropriate for her to shut up because if she did something about it she will look like a reckless girl, what a filthy culture, what a pathetic stage we reached with all this backward mentality.

When we gonna grow out of this and teach the next generation how we can respect humans, one prominent blogger who i agree with her in most of the occasions took the story into a level that forced me to finish the article to just see what she is aiming at, at the end it was a barrage of slogans that have no meaning at all. another article question the girl credibility just because she used graphic details. what the heck is our problem, I think we are so sick in many ways. especially when it comes to how we treat humans.

I was hopping that some voices will be more toward how the girl should be treated, even if she is supporting insurgent, even if she was used by insurgent. that do not give anyone to abuse her, this is a matter that is very important and personal to her and only her. and those who involve family inside it are just bunch of hypocrites. our family structure is exactly like our dictatorship leadership in our lands, they want to have the last say without questioning. and here we are against judging the human value of this person by her cry for justice (even if she is making it up, we all know that this issue is covered inside our god fearing hypocrisy culture), we need a change in this attitude, we badly need a change, we need to stop covering up our faces into whats happening in our culture, why girls have to have no emotions till whenever their family and and the society approve.

I am not calling for equality, because taking right and giving them are different sides of the same coin, but we have to be human and respect each other and appreciate each other and run away from the culture of prejudice and inhuman behaviour.

I wish that one day i can see more open society, and get away from the filthy and stupid mentality that we are living in. We came from the cradle of civilization, I am sure we can be humans again.

February 24, 2007

Laith Yousif