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This name is not for a new brand or for cars' spare parts manufacturer, clearly. It's not for a company although they might be considered a company that played a great role in the daily deterioration of the Iraqi life…well; it might be a bit strange to talk about Bremer at this time but some events which occurred at the same time that draw me to write about this.
As I said before it is Ramadan now and in Ramadan most dentists (including me) spend their time meditating instead of treating people and do their jobs because most people have a false idea and believe in a myth that if they are injected with dental anesthesia then they can't continue their fasting for that day, I'm not a religious cleric but from what I have read and heard from many religious people that it's OK to take a dental anesthesia and continue fasting as long as you don't swallow blood or water…any way, since I have no work and I got really bored from sitting in the clinic and staring at the walls I decided to take advantage of this time and read some books that I wanted to read long time ago but didn't have time and I decided to start with the book "My year in Iraq" for Paul Bremer (The Arabic version) because I couldn't find the English one…I took it with me and went to the clinic but before I started to read I though it would be a good idea to hear some news in the radio first and I turned on the mobile's radio and the first thing I heard was about the recent decision of the US administration to withdraw 3800 soldiers for now and a total of 8000 soldiers in the coming few months to be deployed in Afghanistan and how McCain is happy for that and encouraging Bush to do it and how they are talking about the situation in Iraq and how "Back to normal" it is!! And that started a conclusion in my head…why now? Who are they fooling, it's a clear political maneuver…I think that Bush decided to do that motivated by his arrogance or his desire to own a good page in the disgraceful book of modern human's history, he wanted to look like the great leader of the "modern free world" who started a war (that most people see it as big mistake or at least had big mistakes) and ended it or at least started it's end and achieved victory in his presidential time and I must admit it's a really smart move. I began thinking to my self "What will happen when they leave?", "will they really leave? I think they will reduce the number of their troops but it's a sure thing they will keep their bases and control over any Iraqi government whether it was patriotic or not otherwise why do they insist on signing the deal that insures their staying in Iraq for god knows how long" and "can a new Iraqi government arise that is composed of honest and real Iraqis, that is composed of people who loves their country or at least try their best to serve it and it's people…is it possible that we will be able to walk in the streets without fearing for our lives?" and that's when my childish dreams were interrupted by a conversation between two technicians in the clinic "did you hear about Ahmed? He was taken by the Iraqi commandos in a raid yesterday where they captured people randomly…you wouldn't wish what happened to the young men to happen even to your enemy, you should see the kicks and boxes they have taken, you should see how they used the back of their rifles….man, they were treating them as if they were sheep" I asked:" Where they looking for someone specific or just a random raid…how many did they took? Who did they took?" and he answered "they weren't looking for anyone specific, they took most of the young men despite that they haven't found anything in their homes" and I laughed with myself and said" they haven't even started their withdrawal and Mr.Bush is taking with his Buddy McCain about how normal the situation is in Iraq" and I got back to my book and started reading, I finished about 60 pages and I must say it's a well written book and I really enjoyed my time while I was reading it despite that it gives some false ideas and contains many fancy words like "freedom", "free world", "helping the Iraqi people" and "democracy" because I really get sick when I hear those words , it also gives the idea that all the Shiites were so damaged, persecuted and abused by Saddam's regiment while the Sunnis were living like kings and the truth is Sunnis and Shiites suffered almost the same but since the Shiites are a lot more than Sunnis then a sure thing they will appear more persecuted, that's what I think added to that he didn't allow the Shiites to have their right in having their religious rituals and so many other things that I don't want to mention here in order not to drift from the subject but that was what I didn't see as truth in the first 60 pages….as I was reading the book it took me back to the time that he was talking about and I almost lived in it, I was able to smell and feel like I did at that time, I remembered my feelings when I saw the first US marine in my block, I remembered the ugly looting and how the US soldiers stood their doing nothing, I remembered the days of war and how it felt like.
Now it's time to get back home and I was getting in my car that I parked in front of a concrete block and I remembered what my friend said once and I laughed so loud "if they take all those blocks that is filling every inch of Iraq and put them on the borders, just put them on the borders and make one opening to each neighboring country with a thousand soldiers I swear Iraq will be great in one month"
As I said before it is Ramadan now and in Ramadan most dentists (including me) spend their time meditating instead of treating people and do their jobs because most people have a false idea and believe in a myth that if they are injected with dental anesthesia then they can't continue their fasting for that day, I'm not a religious cleric but from what I have read and heard from many religious people that it's OK to take a dental anesthesia and continue fasting as long as you don't swallow blood or water…any way, since I have no work and I got really bored from sitting in the clinic and staring at the walls I decided to take advantage of this time and read some books that I wanted to read long time ago but didn't have time and I decided to start with the book "My year in Iraq" for Paul Bremer (The Arabic version) because I couldn't find the English one…I took it with me and went to the clinic but before I started to read I though it would be a good idea to hear some news in the radio first and I turned on the mobile's radio and the first thing I heard was about the recent decision of the US administration to withdraw 3800 soldiers for now and a total of 8000 soldiers in the coming few months to be deployed in Afghanistan and how McCain is happy for that and encouraging Bush to do it and how they are talking about the situation in Iraq and how "Back to normal" it is!! And that started a conclusion in my head…why now? Who are they fooling, it's a clear political maneuver…I think that Bush decided to do that motivated by his arrogance or his desire to own a good page in the disgraceful book of modern human's history, he wanted to look like the great leader of the "modern free world" who started a war (that most people see it as big mistake or at least had big mistakes) and ended it or at least started it's end and achieved victory in his presidential time and I must admit it's a really smart move. I began thinking to my self "What will happen when they leave?", "will they really leave? I think they will reduce the number of their troops but it's a sure thing they will keep their bases and control over any Iraqi government whether it was patriotic or not otherwise why do they insist on signing the deal that insures their staying in Iraq for god knows how long" and "can a new Iraqi government arise that is composed of honest and real Iraqis, that is composed of people who loves their country or at least try their best to serve it and it's people…is it possible that we will be able to walk in the streets without fearing for our lives?" and that's when my childish dreams were interrupted by a conversation between two technicians in the clinic "did you hear about Ahmed? He was taken by the Iraqi commandos in a raid yesterday where they captured people randomly…you wouldn't wish what happened to the young men to happen even to your enemy, you should see the kicks and boxes they have taken, you should see how they used the back of their rifles….man, they were treating them as if they were sheep" I asked:" Where they looking for someone specific or just a random raid…how many did they took? Who did they took?" and he answered "they weren't looking for anyone specific, they took most of the young men despite that they haven't found anything in their homes" and I laughed with myself and said" they haven't even started their withdrawal and Mr.Bush is taking with his Buddy McCain about how normal the situation is in Iraq" and I got back to my book and started reading, I finished about 60 pages and I must say it's a well written book and I really enjoyed my time while I was reading it despite that it gives some false ideas and contains many fancy words like "freedom", "free world", "helping the Iraqi people" and "democracy" because I really get sick when I hear those words , it also gives the idea that all the Shiites were so damaged, persecuted and abused by Saddam's regiment while the Sunnis were living like kings and the truth is Sunnis and Shiites suffered almost the same but since the Shiites are a lot more than Sunnis then a sure thing they will appear more persecuted, that's what I think added to that he didn't allow the Shiites to have their right in having their religious rituals and so many other things that I don't want to mention here in order not to drift from the subject but that was what I didn't see as truth in the first 60 pages….as I was reading the book it took me back to the time that he was talking about and I almost lived in it, I was able to smell and feel like I did at that time, I remembered my feelings when I saw the first US marine in my block, I remembered the ugly looting and how the US soldiers stood their doing nothing, I remembered the days of war and how it felt like.
Now it's time to get back home and I was getting in my car that I parked in front of a concrete block and I remembered what my friend said once and I laughed so loud "if they take all those blocks that is filling every inch of Iraq and put them on the borders, just put them on the borders and make one opening to each neighboring country with a thousand soldiers I swear Iraq will be great in one month"
9 comments:
THey are doing it now, because Afghanistan is going very badly. I've always been with the camp that thought our fight against AQ was in Afghanistan and having a war against Saddam made no sense at all. There is the saying, "you reap what you sow." They ignored Afghanistan. The Taliban have strengthened in their hideouts in Pakistan. Pakistan is in a precarious state at the moment. Patraeus is now in charge of the region, so of course the troops finally will go to Afghanistan. I hope the people in Anbar province find their way to continuing to rebuild their lives and don't backslide into an insurgency as The Awakening transitions. All these people need jobs and a hope for their future.
BTW, I've read cholera has returned to Iraq. Don't forget to boil water a full 10 minutes. Maybe they'll have more chlorine for your water this year. One can imagine, eh?
I don't think American troops will be leaving anytime soon. What we can hope for is a regime change in the Americam government that will bring most of the troops home. The sad thing about this is that most Americans strongly disagree with this war. Unfortunately, America is not a true democracy. If it were, we would not be in Iraq killing innocent people.
Neocons are zionist evangelical christians and jewish elite controlling the bush adminstration.
They are fomenting civil wars between muslim as in
1)Iraq between sunni and shia muslims.
2)Palestine between fatah and hamas,
3)Somalia between islamic courts and warlord government
4)Afghanistan between pppet government and insurgency.
Their aim is DIVIDE TO CONQUER, it is not to support one party over another.
The dutch movie "fitna" is part of the psychological warfare,
to increase tension so muslims can kill each other.
The dilema is this: many arab/muslim leaders are puppets and willing to go a long
with the neocon's plans of killing their citizens and/or other arab citizens.
An example would be Maaliki, karzai, musharaf.
Muslims need to find a solution to this dilema.
Organization of islamic conference OIC should become muslim union like european union,
if muslim masses unite nobody can stop them from forming MU,
in muslim countries people should take to the streets peacfully to demand a MUSLIM UNION.
that is the only way to protect different muslim countries from invasions and ethnic
cleansing as in iraq. If a new colonial power wants to invade a muslim country like iraq
and divide it into three waring secreterian countries, the mere existance of MU would prevent it
becasue eventually the 3 countries would join the MU.
Dr. Mohammed:
I would not be able to buy Paul Bremmers book,knowing it put money into his pocket. I blame him personally for at least half of Iraq's problems today. He made so many mistakes, it is almost criminal.
I'm surprised they aren't looking to bring even more of the troops home. I had expected to see the number be closer to 20,000 or 25,000. I hope Iraq's government will continue to support the awakening as the Americans have. The alternative would be a catastrophy.
I see corruption is not getting any less in Iraq. It seems to me that Iraq is being overtaken by "mafia-types" similar to what happened in Russia back in the 40's and 50's. It is still prevalent in Russia and Russian politics today.
well, the price of the book here i 5,000 ID which is about 4$!!!
and yes he started many troubles and I'm enjoying reading the bok because of that...because I want to know how do the US politicians thinks...or at least wants the world to know how do they think.
and about the awakening I'm hearing rumors that they will be discharged pretty soon and that would be as you said a real catastrophy.
and you are right about the corruption...it's everywhere even if you want to join the army you must pay 1000$ at least to get accepted...it's mafias everywhere.
What will happen when they leave?", "will they really leave?
The answer to your questions lies in history. Look at other countries we've invaded and overrun. France, Phillipines, Italy, Japan, Germany to name a few. We use to have bases in France and the Philipines until they asked us to leave...and we did.
American military doctrine since World War II has been one of forward deployment. It seems we've been dragged into 2 major wars in the 20th century far from home.
North and South America have no real need for large standing armies. If we wern't deployed in foreign countries, we'd have to reduce our military. Traditionally Americans don't like a large standing army, so we'd be at risk of trying to reconstitute a military in the event the world decides to go crazy again.
Americans would rather not be the "world's policeman", but at least our presence has reduce the chance of a major conflict like WWI and WWII.
> why now?
Good question. First, obviously, because the election is coming up RSN.
But there are additional factors too. One interesting factor is that the McCain campaign, against all odds, now appears to have at least some chance of success. That wasn't expected. (McCain would not have received the party nomination if the GOP thought they had a real chance at this election. They let him have it because the election was thought to be a lost cause.) If McCain has a decent chance at winning the election, that changes things for Iraq.
If Obama wins (or if Hillary had won for that matter), you would have expected to see U.S. military support in Iraq greatly reduced over the next four years, and the current Iraqi government would have been hard pressed to maintain any level of control at all and very possibly would have been ousted altogether in a coup. That could still happen. But if McCain is elected, you would expect to see continued US involvement for the next four years. (McCain is liberal in a lot of other ways, but on this particular issue he holds the standard Republican party position, i.e., that it's important to ensure that the elected Iraqi government is able to stay in power.)
It is also likely that this move is at least partly intended to improve the chances of McCain's being elected. Whether it actually does that, I'm not sure, but it's probably part of the thinking that went into the decision.
> it's a clear political maneuver
It is. You're going to see a certain amount of that in election years.
> I think that Bush decided to do that
> motivated by his arrogance or his
> desire to own a good page in the disgraceful
> book of modern human's history,
I'm not sure I agree there. I think Bush is more concerned with what happens than with who gets the credit. Most men in his position probably would have called the whole thing a success and withdrawn the troops as soon as the capture and trial of Hussein was completed. That would have been a disaster for Iraq, but it would have been *much* more popular in the western world.
> "What will happen when they leave?",
It is difficult to predict the future with any certainty, but I have serious doubts about the elected Iraqi government's ability, at this point in time, to maintain itself without US support. With time that would eventually change, but gradually. Real change of this kind does not (and can not) happen instantaneously.
> "will they really leave?
Eventually, of course. The real question is, when? And I'm afraid that's going to depend on the domestic political situation in North America. I realize this isn't a very pleasant answer, but it's the truth.
My estimate is that if the elected Iraqi government can be kept in power for thirty years, the whole thing will be a success. The "thirty years" figure is very approximate, of course, but I figure that's about how long it takes before the overwhelming majority of the fighting-age men have grown up under an elected government and view it as normal. As you approach that point, you'd expect to see things finally start to get better, in terms of there being less violence and more rule of law. It's a long and difficult road to get there, but if you *do* get there, it'll all be worth it. At that point there would be no need for any significant foreign military presence, because the Iraqi soldiers would be loyal to the people of Iraq. That's the vision.
Whether it's actually going to happen, that's the question. If too many of the US troops are pulled out too soon, can (and will) the Iraqi army prevent a new despot from taking over? If not, you could end up with a real mess then. (You think things are a mess now, and they are, but believe me, it could get much worse. For example, an extremist Shiite dictator seeking to purge the nation of non-Shiites is one potential outcome.)
So yeah, the future of Iraq right now is uncertain.
Afghanistan is another kettle of fish. Honestly I think Iraq has a much better chance.
In my opinion Bremer was a principal cause of the damage that Iraq has sustained since the invasion. He and his idiotic cronies wanted to turn Iraq into a "Model" for future US interventions in the Middle East - eg, Syria, Iran - and this meant a complete makeover of Iraq's social and economic structures. The Neocons which advocated this insanity also thought that they could use the sectarian card to their advantage. They were the ones that brought the most radical sectarian groups straight into power, like SCIRI and the Badr Brigade. Bremer personally requested that Badr be brought into the core of the 'ISF' when talking to Hakim. While normal people might see the insanity in this approach, the Neocons and Bremer are not normal. They act like God, playing their games and running their experiments on others as if they are ants in an ant farm. Their big idea was to use the Shiite pilgrimage to Najaf to show Iranian pilgrims how great the "freedom" in Iraq was and to use them to overthrow the Iranian government. How foolish! Instead, exactly the opposite happened, with Iran getting its claws deep into Iraq and the Americans powerless to do anything about it. I suppose they could, but that would mean getting rid of Maliki and their only current allies in Iraq, while showing that they were wrong all along. Not likely.
Hi Dr M
They will never leave, you know that in your heart. Every Iraqi know it deep down.
How does it feel to be told that Iraq is "not a major conflict"? Tell that to all the Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, and Grandparents. Tell it to the victims of DU.
Apart from that, how is your family progressing? Are you feeling the kicks yet?
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