political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Yes, it is this bad and worse, as anyone who reads the Iraqi bloggers could tell you.
The 25 Nov 2006 post on the Healing Iraq blog includes translations from Iraqi message boards.
The Healing Iraq blogger is now in the US on a journalism course; his younger brother, Nabil, a pharmacology student, is still in Baghdad. The blogosphere is raising money to get him out to New Zealand, where a professional couple are prepared to sponsor him. Please consider contributing (see PayPal button on Nabil's blog).
If you still find it difficult to believe, then read this account published on 27 Nov 2006 of what made a young woman Iraqi journalist,Shatha al-Awsy, flee Iraq.
It's just our Tone, forging a liberal democracy in Iraq, in accordance with his God-given mandate, and with the complete support of the British people, who were given the most full and correct information before they unanimously supported his wise decision to invade.
There is no civil war. It's a handful of insurgents, whom the properly constituted Iraqi Government are presently subduing.
Kendall Myers put it perfectly. Blair is an actor, when he should have been an historian.
Blair should be paying reparations to the Iraqi people. Iraq under Saddam was a brutal, murderous, totalitarian regime. Blair's made it worse, along with Hoon and Straw, who both failed to ask questions about the post-invasion planning is appauling. Quite how the entire cabinet are still in office depresses me, but I suppose they don't want to rock the boat, ministerial perks and all that. But why can't those backbenchers pluck up the courage to ask some more questions?
Talking of 'shout out Liverpool, I hear that Kelvin Mackenzie is saying that he still backs every word he put in his paper about scousers over Hillsborough, and only apologised because Rupee Murdoch told him he had to."
So the truth can be bought in our media? Quell surprise?!
"Zappy", of the Where Date Palms Grow blog was nearly caught in the Sadr City bomb attack a week ago and fled Baghdad on Monday this week, to join his wife and daughters in Amman.
Attawie left Iraq some time ago and keeps up with her family in Baghdad by mobile phone/text, one of whom wrote yesterday, there no longer is a country called Iraq. Hence, you'll have to obtain passports from either the Shia region or Sunni region. It is not worthy to mention that men entering these regions must be wearing head turban, and women in Booshi. It is also preferable to wear traditional slippers instead of regular shoes to avoid embarrassment.
Last one from me. Baghdad Treasure (now in the US, too, as a student) in his 10 Nov 2006 entry, "Unforgettable Week", translates an e-mail received from his friend Ahmed. I wish that we could get Ahmed out.
Damn right it's as bad as this. And it's getting worse day by day. What's so grim and disturbing about this internecine, almost random, slaughter is that it was entirely predictable. Indeed many did exactly that.
What is even more distressing is the certain knowledge that this will not cease for a very long time. It will take hundreds, if not thousands more of these disgusting killings before things subside into a semblance of civilisation.
Well, Messrs Blair and Bush, what are you going to do about that, short of mouthing platitudes and wringing your hands?
Iain, Thanks for posting this and to everyone posting details of other Iraqi blogs. It's gives us a true perspective of what's going on over there, and not the daily shit we get fed by nu-lab.
All this and in a few months, the Americans are going to be on the chicken run out of there, after asking outsourcing the statecraft to "axis of evil" members Iran and Syria. Who will be the cheese-eating surrender monkeys then?
According to a couple of people I know who've come back from there it's absolutely as bad as this in Baghdad, but nothing like as bad as this (though not exactly Henley) in the Kurdish areas or Basra and the south. I've nothing to go on besides those reports from friends.
I have been reading The Iraqi Roulette blog and Treasure of Baghdad. I found them deeply moving. I was struck by how intelligent, educated and westernised the bloggers are. (If I've understood correctly Treasure of Baghdad has now left Iraq and lives in the west). This begs the question I am almost ashamed to ask: Are these blogs genuine? I apologise for posing the question as there is very real suffering in Iraq but in any war there is a great deal of propaganda.
Charlotte Corday: well, if you really want to know the answer to your question - This begs the question I am almost ashamed to ask: Are these blogs genuine? - this is the wrong place to ask it. Why don't you e-mail them all and ask them? You won't be the first to question their authenticity so, if you receive a rather testy response, you must forgive them because it's many, many months since the bona fides of the best-known Iraqi bloggers as been established to most people's satisfaction.
I have been reading Iraqi bloggers for three years - and been in touch by phone and e-mail with five of them (and the relatives in the UK of two of them) - and the only Iraqi blog that has been tainted with the suspicion of being not what it appeared was Iraq The Model.
suggest if anyone can get a copy of the saturday guardian magazine, they read the soldiers' letters home to their loved ones. as well as giving an insight into the situation on the ground, some are heartbreaking.
One from a Yorkshire red-cap to his parents listed what he wanted to do when he got home. With typical 'up north' humour many included 'wine, women and song'. But he will not get the chance to do any of them - he was killed shortly after the letter was written. Does beg the question what we are trying to do out there.
"Is it really this bad?" says Iain Dale. I suggest you read a bit more about foreign policy Iain. More people get killed in Iraq each day than were killed in the tube and bus bombings in London. If you thought "7/7" was horrific, imagine if it happened every day in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and even Norwich...
Forgot to add: the Healing Iraq blogger has written for the Guardian Comment Is Free, Zeyad A. If you are a Conservative, please don't be put off by the fact that he wrote for the Guardian: his student grant for the journalism course doesn't cover everything.
And please consider making a contribution, however small, to his brother Nabil's escape fund. In the event, God forbid, that Nabil perishes before he can leave, you can either ask Zeyad for your donation to be returned or let it be used to help other young Iraqis.
Given the UK's role in this disaster, it is the least we can do, I can't help feeling.
Just to add something to what Reiko Mizutani said, if I may: during the last two months, an Iraqi civilian has died violently every 15 minutes. At least four per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week.
I hope that the UK will be required to make reparations.
Keep your hair on, tax exile. Iain is on a learning curve. Don't you, too, believe in life-long learning or do you think that you already know all that that is to know? (Long ago, I came home one day and told my new husband that I would like a set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, please, then currently on special offer in a well-known bookshop in Trafalgar Square; his reply was, "Why - you've got me" - and, dear readers, he wasn't joking.)
dear oh dear- in your little bubble are you?
ReplyDeletetry this one too, then you can see what right thinking voting does to other people (and I include both the major parties in that)
http://aliveinbaghdad.org/category/video/
Yes, it is this bad and worse, as anyone who reads the Iraqi bloggers could tell you.
ReplyDeleteThe 25 Nov 2006 post on the Healing Iraq blog includes translations from Iraqi message boards.
The Healing Iraq blogger is now in the US on a journalism course; his younger brother, Nabil, a pharmacology student, is still in Baghdad. The blogosphere is raising money to get him out to New Zealand, where a professional couple are prepared to sponsor him. Please consider contributing (see PayPal button on Nabil's blog).
If you still find it difficult to believe, then read this account published on 27 Nov 2006 of what made a young woman Iraqi journalist,Shatha al-Awsy, flee Iraq.
John Wilkes blog also highlights ome of this. A link to John Wilkes is found on my blog.
ReplyDeleteIt's just our Tone, forging a liberal democracy in Iraq, in accordance with his God-given mandate, and with the complete support of the British people, who were given the most full and correct information before they unanimously supported his wise decision to invade.
ReplyDeleteThere is no civil war. It's a handful of insurgents, whom the properly constituted Iraqi Government are presently subduing.
Kendall Myers put it perfectly. Blair is an actor, when he should have been an historian.
Blair should be paying reparations to the Iraqi people. Iraq under Saddam was a brutal, murderous, totalitarian regime. Blair's made it worse, along with Hoon and Straw, who both failed to ask questions about the post-invasion planning is appauling. Quite how the entire cabinet are still in office depresses me, but I suppose they don't want to rock the boat, ministerial perks and all that. But why can't those backbenchers pluck up the courage to ask some more questions?
ReplyDeleteTalking of 'shout out Liverpool, I hear that Kelvin Mackenzie is saying that he still backs every word he put in his paper about scousers over Hillsborough, and only apologised because Rupee Murdoch told him he had to."
ReplyDeleteSo the truth can be bought in our media? Quell surprise?!
This is perhaps the most accurate daily report coming from Iraq. Lots of news dozens of attacks reported. A full blown civil war by any other name.
ReplyDeletehttp://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/
This link gives a break down with hundreds of different facts and figures.
http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index20061030.pdf
"Zappy", of the Where Date Palms Grow blog was nearly caught in the Sadr City bomb attack a week ago and fled Baghdad on Monday this week, to join his wife and daughters in Amman.
ReplyDeleteAttawie left Iraq some time ago and keeps up with her family in Baghdad by mobile phone/text, one of whom wrote yesterday, there no longer is a country called Iraq. Hence, you'll have to obtain passports from either the Shia region or Sunni region. It is not worthy to mention that men entering these regions must be wearing head turban, and women in Booshi. It is also preferable to wear traditional slippers instead of regular shoes to avoid embarrassment.
Last one from me. Baghdad Treasure (now in the US, too, as a student) in his 10 Nov 2006 entry, "Unforgettable Week", translates an e-mail received from his friend Ahmed.
ReplyDeleteI wish that we could get Ahmed out.
Damn right it's as bad as this. And it's getting worse day by day. What's so grim and disturbing about this internecine, almost random, slaughter is that it was entirely predictable. Indeed many did exactly that.
ReplyDeleteWhat is even more distressing is the certain knowledge that this will not cease for a very long time. It will take hundreds, if not thousands more of these disgusting killings before things subside into a semblance of civilisation.
Well, Messrs Blair and Bush, what are you going to do about that, short of mouthing platitudes and wringing your hands?
Iain, Thanks for posting this and to everyone posting details of other Iraqi blogs. It's gives us a true perspective of what's going on over there, and not the daily shit we get fed by nu-lab.
ReplyDeleteAll this and in a few months, the Americans are going to be on the chicken run out of there, after asking outsourcing the statecraft to "axis of evil" members Iran and Syria. Who will be the cheese-eating surrender monkeys then?
ReplyDeleteAccording to a couple of people I know who've come back from there it's absolutely as bad as this in Baghdad, but nothing like as bad as this (though not exactly Henley) in the Kurdish areas or Basra and the south. I've nothing to go on besides those reports from friends.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading The Iraqi Roulette blog and Treasure of Baghdad. I found them deeply moving. I was struck by how intelligent, educated and westernised the bloggers are. (If I've understood correctly Treasure of Baghdad has now left Iraq and lives in the west). This begs the question I am almost ashamed to ask: Are these blogs genuine? I apologise for posing the question as there is very real suffering in Iraq but in any war there is a great deal of propaganda.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Corday: well, if you really want to know the answer to your question - This begs the question I am almost ashamed to ask: Are these blogs genuine? - this is the wrong place to ask it. Why don't you e-mail them all and ask them? You won't be the first to question their authenticity so, if you receive a rather testy response, you must forgive them because it's many, many months since the bona fides of the best-known Iraqi bloggers as been established to most people's satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading Iraqi bloggers for three years - and been in touch by phone and e-mail with five of them (and the relatives in the UK of two of them) - and the only Iraqi blog that has been tainted with the suspicion of being not what it appeared was Iraq The Model.
suggest if anyone can get a copy of the saturday guardian magazine, they read the soldiers' letters home to their loved ones. as well as giving an insight into the situation on the ground, some are heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteOne from a Yorkshire red-cap to his parents listed what he wanted to do when he got home. With typical 'up north' humour many included 'wine, women and song'. But he will not get the chance to do any of them - he was killed shortly after the letter was written. Does beg the question what we are trying to do out there.
"Is it really this bad?" says Iain Dale. I suggest you read a bit more about foreign policy Iain. More people get killed in Iraq each day than were killed in the tube and bus bombings in London. If you thought "7/7" was horrific, imagine if it happened every day in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and even Norwich...
ReplyDeleteForgot to add: the Healing Iraq blogger has written for the Guardian Comment Is Free, Zeyad A. If you are a Conservative, please don't be put off by the fact that he wrote for the Guardian: his student grant for the journalism course doesn't cover everything.
ReplyDeleteAnd please consider making a contribution, however small, to his brother Nabil's escape fund. In the event, God forbid, that Nabil perishes before he can leave, you can either ask Zeyad for your donation to be returned or let it be used to help other young Iraqis.
Given the UK's role in this disaster, it is the least we can do, I can't help feeling.
Just to add something to what Reiko Mizutani said, if I may: during the last two months, an Iraqi civilian has died violently every 15 minutes. At least four per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the UK will be required to make reparations.
Keep your hair on, tax exile. Iain is on a learning curve. Don't you, too, believe in life-long learning or do you think that you already know all that that is to know? (Long ago, I came home one day and told my new husband that I would like a set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, please, then currently on special offer in a well-known bookshop in Trafalgar Square; his reply was, "Why - you've got me" - and, dear readers, he wasn't joking.)
ReplyDeleteGod, you're a shit. How can you ask such a crass question?
ReplyDelete