4 posts tagged “iraq”
This report from Layla in Iraq. She has been traped there since the invasion and has maintained a blog of the events. I did some stuff with another person on a video by her from Iraq but it has been removed from the web. Her family is falling apart.
From Layla Anwar, my conscience in Iraq in her attempt to communicate with Americans. If this does not move you to some sort of action…
From an Arab Woman Blues Blogspot.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Papier Mâché...
An acquaintance approached me the other day and suggested I join the world of media/journalism. Utilize my writing skills and whatever intelligence I have left, to good use...
Good use? Because the media is good news? And I am not only talking about mainstream media here...
Besides, becoming part of some media - and that includes some of the “alternative media” also known for its share of blatant lies - means I will no longer be allowed to tell you some basic truths.
And I don’t want to miss out on the fun by being clustered and cooped in some box writing news reports when I can sit here and spill it out all, without having to be so " objective, impartial and fair ” about it.
I know, some may think it is very important to get the Truth out. Big deal.
The Truth is out and knowing the Truth out there is not ENOUGH. ACTING on that truth is what brings results.
And acting on that truth does not consist of signing petitions and joining a protest once a year either.
And acting on that truth does not consist of reading articles and passing them on and filing them in your inbox under the "truth."
All of this remains words on paper...
Daily, you read words and papers. A bulimia of words and papers...So ?
Daily, I read thousands of words and write them too...So?
Has it changed anything? Has it improved anything? Has it given me and millions of other Iraqis any hope...?
Sadly the answer is NO.
Why is that?
History shows that words followed by actions moved masses and produced change.
How come you are still asleep when a Genocide is happening in your name?
And repeat that word GENOCIDE, until it sinks in deep, into your thick skulls.
How come you are still asleep when you are regurgitating words daily ?
How come you are so sunk deep into some lethargy unable to move yet you go on babbling away about the intricacies of politically correct definitions?
So in reply to this acquaintance and his suggestion, my answer is NO. I will not join any media.
I know you will say because the media manipulates, etc...We are not being told the truth, we are fed lies, we have been robbed of what this country - yours - stands for and what our founding fathers - yours - fought for and after all we are suffering too, we are overstressed, overworked, underpaid, riddled with hormones, numbed, etc...etc...etc...
More words again...Delusional words and delusional beliefs.
I have news for you here and they are not good.
You are not only being fed lies, you entertain those lies by constantly lying to yourselves as well.
The ILLEGAL invasion and occupation of Iraq. Its massive, irremediable DESTRUCTION. Its untold suffering. Its deaths in the millions. Its refugees in the millions. Its plundering in the billions of $. Its rape and torture; physical, geographical, psychological, social, spiritual...right down to the individual body. Its contamination with the most lethal chemical weapons in history; DU, phosphorus bombs, Neutron bombs, cluster bombs, Napalm...
Its stripping it away from any identity, from its history, from its roots, from its people...and I can go on and on and on...
ALL of that has failed to MOVE YOU TO ACT.
And that despite your knowing "alternative medias" and reading hundreds of articles, and joining hands in prayers, and participating in conferences and giving speeches and showing up on you tube, and blogging and interviews... and, and, and...
And you want me to believe your lies of how you have been robbed of the ideals of what your nation stood for ? Who are you kidding here ?
You are kidding none but yourselves.
Iraq was the golden opportunity that you have deliberately or stupidly failed to seize. And I call that BAD FAITH.
Iraq was the golden historical opportunity for you to finally put into practice those ”ideals of your founding fathers” that you o' so preach about all the time...
But you did NOT. And that is a FACT!
And I will tell you why you did not. Simple. Because you have no such ideals. You are deluding yourselves.
You have forgotten that your so called "democracy" has been nothing but a SHAM, a travesty from the very beginning.
And you have also conveniently forgotten that your so called "democracy" only gave rights to "african americans" in the late 60's. And that is just 40 years ago.
Until then, you were living segregated lives...preaching “democracy.”
So what ideals are you exactly talking about?
And I can go on and on about your own history but your history does not interest me...anymore. You do not interest me either. Nor you, nor your collective or individual stories...
Words and more words...and more words.
Files of papers filled with words, riddled with words like bullets. And this is exactly what your words ended up as, they ended as...BULLETS.
Bullets that ripped through us, through our being, our psyche, our identity, our culture, our very existence...
So spare me your words, articles, news, analysis, research, theories...papers.
And remember you are not to preach to me, someone whose ancestral fathers invented the letter and the word and taught you how to write.
You are nothing but words on paper. And we have become nothing but a target people riddled with your bullets.
Take your words and your papers and make some papier mâché.
And here is a definiton of what papier mâché means
"...shreds of paper mixed with glue or paste, that can be molded into various shapes when wet and becomes hard...when dry."
They make boxes out of papier mâché. So make boxes out your words and papers...and store more words and paper in them.
Or if you feel terribly charitable and want to give yourselves a good conscience, ship your papier mâché boxes over to Iraq as...coffins.
Only then can you truly pride yourselves by remembering your “founding fathers."
And let it go down the annals of your glorious "history" as - and don't forget to quote me...
"We killed them with bullets, covered them in words and buried them in paper boxes."
Congratulations to you and your founding fathers.
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/
The White House may be firmly backing Iraq's controversial oil law but US company Hunt Oil isn't. In defiance of the government, it's just signed a regional oil deal which undercuts the proposed law.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich called for an investigation into an oil deal a Texas firm connected to the Bush administration signed with Iraq's Kurdistan government.
The Ohio Democrat said in a speech Wednesday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives the oil deal with Dallas-based Hunt Oil "raises questions" because of the company's founder's ties to President Bush.
He also said a deal between a U.S. firm and an Iraqi regional government undermines the U.S. policy to stand up the federal government.
"The deal also appears to undercut the goal of oil revenue sharing but is predictably consistent with the administration's attempt to privatize Iraqi oil assets," Kucinich said. He and a growing chorus of the anti-war movement say U.S. economic policy in Iraq is geared at breaking up the longtime nationalized oil sector.
Iraqi politics over oil policy are at a standstill over just this issue, whether the federal government or regions/provinces can sign oil deals and to what extent foreign/private firms should be allowed access.
Kucinich, one of the most vocal congressional critics of the Iraq war, especially as it concerns fears Iraq's vast oil reserves played some role in the war's motive, has called for a congressional investigation into any role the Bush administration played in the Hunt Oil deal.
He also wants to investigate how it will affect Iraq's proposal to redistribute oil revenue and what the administration is doing to promote oil privatization.
In a statement released Tuesday, Kucinich outlined Chief Executive Officer Ray Hunt's Bush connections:
Hunt was appointed by Bush twice to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board -- "which is said to have access to intelligence that experts acknowledge is advantageous to the international energy interest of the Hunt Oil Company," the statement said -- as well as other Bush and Republican Party fundraising positions.
It comes as former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote in his new book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," released Monday, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq War is largely about oil."
"He is wrong. Oil was not and is not a motivation for our actions in Iraq," the U.S. State Department's coordinator for Iraq, David Satterfield, said Monday when asked about the Greenspan line.
Today Our Glorious Leader, The Ayatollah of of Democracy, The Champion of the Free West, Saint George. W. Bush, Slayer of the Beast of Baghdad Has once again become the Target of ridicule in the International Media. When Lindsey Brancher, who serves up the News In a “Proper China Cup” for BBC, actually Rasised her Voice in Anger at their own Washington Democrat Corespondent. As he was explaining about the coming Troop Surge™ (For That Fresh Lemony Smell of Victory) for Iraq, It became apparent even to some one such as herself that Democracy was finished in the US, and that, when we see those American corespondents throw their heads back, look slightly down their nose and start their lips moving at the speed of sound, to stop listening because only a great gush of verbal Diarrhea is to be heard and we have all heard it for over 20 years.
After the first Verbal assault with the Bullshit levels only at No.4 She was clearly left shaken by the fact that, the new congress has planned to do nothing, and asked again, angrily what were the Democrats going to do about this problem? Clearly the Stream of Verbal Diarrhea was to low in volume. So he cranked it up to No.11 in his response. Talking so fast that he could not be interrupted he then proceeded to Chew up the rest of the interview time with his Carefully crafted Bullshit, to which no one was listening.
Of Course it does not stop with BBC, A.F.P. ABC Australia, SBS, Deutsche Welle, and Al-Jazeera have all had the oportunity to give thier cartoonists a holiday over Xmas because the Biggest Laughs are to be found in the American Congress and from the Mouth of Our Glorious Leader, The Ayatollah of of Democracy, The Champion of the Free West, Saint George. W. Bush, Slayer of the Beast of Baghdad.
But for the Leader it was a Day of Celebration and the Champagne Corks were Popping. Yes Its the FIVE YEAR Anniversary of that Beacon of Freedom Guantanamo Bay. Were all the Wise Monkeys can look to and feel SAFE from those Evil Terrorists, and comfortable in the Knowledge that America does not Kill people (Without Trial) or poison them. They are much more subtle than that. They Blindfold, Gag and Clap them in Irons in an orange Jumpsuit for life, Or, A cruise missile for example. A much kinder & gentler way of giving someone a hint that “Your here to Help.”
But Seriously The reason why Grandma Pelosi is to scared to tell Master Bush “He Cant have Another war because he has not Finished the one he’s already got” and then sends him to bed without his supper is because American Democracy has descended into a bloody game of saving your own Arse.
If Pelosi did block supply, she would be blamed for everything bad that has ever happened in America because the Evil old Witch did not let Bush drop that one more bomb that would of won us the war. Will she save America and show the world the American people’s vote actually matters ??” Or, will she save her own Arse and go with Bush”s new “DOUBLE or NOTHING” strategy ??
