The New Islamic Republic of Iraq

Iraq has officially become like Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is now a country that bans music, theater and alcohol, a country that I can call the New Islamic Republic of Iraq.

What a tragedy! Why don’t they call it “banning life”?

Is that art?!

Last week, the Iraqi government shut down social clubs that serve alcohol in Baghdad, enraging the educated class who demonstrated against the extreme Islamic-inspired order. Today, Iraqis woke up to hear a far worse order; the Iraqi Ministry of Education has banned theater and music classes in Baghdad’s Fine Arts Institute, and ordered the removal of statues showcased at the entrance of the institute without explaining the move.

In a country that went through wars, sanctions and a horrific totalitarian regime, art remained defiant against Islamic extremism throughout centuries. Art has always been an integral part of Iraqis’ lives. Yet today the turbaned Mullahs, who are turning secular Iraq back into the Stone Age, have denied Iraqis’ the right of keeping art part of their country, erasing the Mesopotamian heritage that we inherited thousands of years ago. I wish the Sumerian makers of the Golden Guitar were alive, 3000 years later to see what has happened to their country.

Iraqis raised their voice and democratically elected a secular slate last March, but the Islamic fanatics who wrote the post-Saddam constitution wrote it in a way that they will always be the winners who will get the majority of the seats in the parliament.

We need two things: a new constitution and an atheist regime. Not secular, atheist. That’s how we can achieve success in arts, science and modernity. As long as there is a religious regime, no country will ever progress! Gods and politics will never reconcile. I choose not to side with religion. I choose to side with sanity.  

WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs Are Out. Nothing New! Now What?

We all knew it. We all experienced it. We all weren’t surprised by it. And by ‘We’ I mean Iraqis who went through the successive years of mayhem since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. 

The information in the 391,832 U.S. military documents that were released yesterday by the Whistle-blower website WikiLeaks did not come as a surprise to me. You shouldn’t be surprised either. Iraqis have been talking about this over and over for years on blogs, newspapers, TV and radio stations and through human rights organizations.

The Iraqi people have been frequently complaining since ever about torture conducted by the Iraqi police. They have said it nonstop that the foreign security contractors have been killing civilians haphazardly, and sometimes for no reason. Shiite militias controlled the streets of many cities in Iraq and appeared to be well trained by Iran to kill and torture.

Many thought we were exaggerating or saying things that are not supported by facts, but now our words are finally backed up by evidence! I’m happy these WikiLeaks documents finally came out. However the questions remains: Now What?!

The U.S. government apparently knew all about the killings of innocent Iraqis, Iran’s training of Shiite militias and Iraqi security forces’ abuse and rape of teenagers in prisons. Nevertheless, they decided not to take actions, not to intervene!

So what will the United States do in response to the that? Apologize to Iraqis? I don’t think so. Even if they do, will this bring back the lives of the thousands of civilians killed in the war? It won’t. Will it make Iraq safer? It won’t either. Will it change the current miserable political situation there? Not at all.

As an Iraqi, I don’t need an apology. I need justice. I need to see those who committed crimes against my fellow Iraqis get what they deserve. As for the Iraqi torturers, I don’t see them being brought to justice anytime soon, simply because they are under the same sectarian government that let this happen under their watch. We need a new government. We need new people to run the country and make this happen. Iraqis made their choice in last March elections, but the sectarian powers are refusing to give it to the moderates who were elected. Until this happens, I don’t think justice will ever be achieved in Iraq.

Demodictatoriyah: New Online Cartoon Criticizes Maliki’s Clinging to Power

A new online satirical cartoon,  depicting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and his competitor Ayad Allawi arguing about who rules Iraq as a Prime Minister has emerged on the Web recently.

The cartoon, entitled “Demodictatoriyah,” is made by a recently-launched Facebook group, called “Only for Iraqis.” It is posted on the group’s YouTube channel which has more than 100 subscribers already since its launch on October 11.

The cartoon is the latest criticism on how Iraqi politicians failed to establish the new Iraqi government since the parliamentary elections held more than seven months ago.

The slate led by Maliki trailed one led by a former interim leader, Allawi, by 89 seats to 91. In the seven months that followed, neither side was able to pull together a coalition that would allow them to create a new government. But on Oct. 1, Maliki struck a deal with a Shiite faction that had previously opposed him, putting him within striking distance of a majority in the new 325-member Parliament. (Read the full New York Times coverage here for more on this election)

This development helped shape the online cartoon which obviously is anti-Maliki. It starts with the Pink Panther famous music, followed by Maliki walking to a stage to recite a poem. In it he, threatens and mocks Allawi while the event is broadcast on TV. In the background, people are heard clapping, while Maliki recites the poem. However, when he finishes a man’s hand pauses a cassette player which apparently was the main source of the cheering and clapping audience.

The cartoon is hilarious. The sarcasm in it is to the point and expresses my views and the views of many Iraqis who did not vote for Maliki’s slate.

Here is the translation of part of Maliki’s poem as heard in the cartoon. It’s the closest I could do but you’ll get the point:

The [Prime Minister] seat is mine
Everybody should go away
If the people object
I swear with my mother’s soul I will exterminate them
The party that does not want us
We don’t want it either
We are about to finish the oil
And I’ll make you [Iraqis] broke
But whoever voted for me
I will give him more than he stole
And those voted for the other man [Allawi]
Let’s see how useful he’ll be to them

Enjoy the cartoon!

Visiting the Prez’s House

In two successive days I had great things to witness. Yesterday, I voted in my country’s major parliamentary elections, and today my friends and I had the chance to take a tour at the White House!

What great experiences, vote for my country on one day and visit the house that supports democracy the next day!

For more pictures, visit my flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bassamsebti/.

I Voted for Iraq

Today, I fulfilled an important task: I voted in my country’s parliamentary elections. As an Iraqi citizen who adores his country, I couldn’t be happier and proud after I cast my ballot.at the polling center in Arlington, Virginia in the United States. A sense of relief and optimism rushed into me after I did that. There is nothing in this world that can make me happy than seeing my beloved Iraq heal its wounds and be a better place so that I return and stay there forever.

By voting today, I have become part of the change Iraq is awaiting. Even though I’m thousands of miles afar, I still work hard to make Iraq a better place. It may take five, ten and maybe twenty years to rebuild the country but the thousand-miles road starts with one step.

Long live Iraq.

The Battle for Kirkuk

Iraq is still in a transformational form. The post-Saddam era is just at its beginning and the struggle for power in the war-torn country is moulding how the Land of Two Rivers is shaped.

Among the things that are yet to be solved in Iraq nowadays is Kirkuk. The oil-rich northern Iraqi city has been fought for by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans, each claiming it is theirs.

Josh Rushing of Al Jazeera English’s Fault Lines travels to Northern Iraq to look at one of the most serious divides the country faces.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/MQtTkGOj-ok&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00

Déjà vu

It feels like 2006 all over again. Déjà vu. A flashback. Call it whatever you like, but the way violence has made its way back to Iraq is making me extremely worried, enraged and sad.

Because of the election and the unbelievable dirty politics being played behind it, innocent people are losing their lives and the sectarian war is not far from happening again. Many of the parties and candidates are playing the ‘sect’ card again, pressing on the fresh wounds of people who a few years ago were going through the horror of a bloody sectarian war.

As a result of the election wars, gunmen in Iraq have shot dead a family of eight and beheaded some of the bodies, amid a wave of pre-election violence, reported the BBC. The gunmen killed the family, who were reportedly Shiite Muslims living in a majority Sunni area just outside the capital, Baghdad, early on Monday.

On the same day, assailants burst into the home of an Iraqi campaign volunteer before dawn Monday, fatally shooting the man before they stabbed his pregnant wife and their five daughters to death, reported The Miami Herald. A sixth child, the only son, was found hanging from a ceiling fan with key arteries severed, a cousin told the paper.

Those are just two examples of the horror Iraqis have to face, something very similar to that they witnessed for years. I really hope what was built in the last year or so won’t collapse and that we don’t go back to where we started.

CNN: Using Fear to Get Votes in Iraq

While I was checking the latest news on my iPhone on my way back home from work, I came across a very interesting video report about the latest propaganda war appearing on some Iraqi TV channels.

According to CNN, Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s satellite channel “Afaq” is broadcasting images of Saddam’s regime’s horrific torture methods that were used against many innocent Iraqis and political opponents. Images of beheadings and torture are connected to the election campaign Maliki is running in with a slate called, “The State of Law Coalition.”

This left me thinking deeply about how fierce the elections campaign has become. It looks like the old-fashioned bribing method candidates still use to buy votes is no longer that effective. Apparently, gruesome images are more powerful. I think they are.

I’m wondering if this is the right time to show such images on TV when Iraqis are forcing themselves to forget their past and move on with their lives to salvage whatever remained in this country and build a better life among each other. The wounds of the years of civil war are still fresh and the last thing we need now is to open them again.

I wonder if what Salih Al Mutlak, the banned Sunni politician, said is true that they are doing this “because they don’t have anything else to deliver to the people.” It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?

Click on the video below to view the entire report!

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=international/2010/02/18/bs.damon.iraq.bomb.dogs.cnn