Merbed , Festival in Basra

Merbed is the name of the annual Poetry Festival in Basra, in the south of Iraq. This year was the first time after the fall of Saddam and brought together Iraqi poets, writers and other artists from all parts of Iraq and from the diaspora.
Until last year Saddam exploited this well known festival for his own political purposes, but this time it was free: a celebration of liberation, a meeting of old friends. It was a first attempt to deal with past pains and articulate a future for free artistic expression and contributing to enlightenment and development of Iraqi society at large.

Again , increasing insurgency...

Mostly in the last three days, insurgency accidents were increased in my city, insurgency was started when a university professor was assassinated by two criminals in a car, after a while the area was surrounded by Iraqi security forces and about (100) suspects with criminal records were arrested.
Later two policemen were assassinated also followed by two ambushes to kill more of the Iraqi security forces in city urban sites.
Also ISF with MNF has arrested four students from the University, next day the University student Started a peaceful strike against that action, after that a car was exploded without any casualties.
Today I saw arresting procedure from my work window for two citizens riding a motor cycle after explosion of motor cycle last afternoon near a security patrol.
During my return home today, I heard a high explosion, with a traffic jamming which caused me to take 130 minutes of delay before reaching my house, later news on TV say, it was a bombed car exploded in a public market causing heavy casualties among women and children during their shopping this afternoon .The local hospital asked help for blood donation.
Insurgents from Arabic countries usually are committing bombing suicides; we never expect to hear about an Iraqi citizen committing a bombing suicide because it is not from our manners, even criminal won’t do something like that.
It’s really frustrating to see all that terror against Iraqis, our country was suffering for 35 years, we passed 4 wars for nothing ,then came through UN sanction difficulties and now facing every day terror without any sign for help from the world that enable us to live average peaceful life again.

Considerations and Obligations

I am glad to return again for sending new posts after the new arrangement applied by our server provider to achieve better internet connection with the server.
So far it is great, but, the bad news to say about increasing in service prices which will make it more difficult to bear the monopoly of the cyber space when you hear every one saying, it was invented to make life easier!!
During a discussion in a meeting with friends, they are all wondering, what will be the next steps for USA to improve the life in my country after the new government starts it's duties in Iraq.
Our discussion reached a dead end, because we could not found any light in the end of the tunnel.
Hearing nothing about infrastructure reconstruction yet, but we can hear always long speeches about democracy and its benefits to the people in Iraq, but we still need to know something else?
USA Government (for any reason) did not prepare any typical projects for the post-war stage...
Then what about the USA, and UK nations, they have a lot of (NGO) societies helping many countries in the world... are we listed on their programs or not?
You always send me emails, giving your thanks, but I still owe you to know the truth about real feeling regarding this point and how you can be effective in pushing your governments to think seriously about that.
We are a wounded country for only one reason, (Bad ambitious politics), and I am sure that western countries are one of the players, and still responsible for making this country get up again.
You as civilians in free countries, have obligations to make this point clear about your practical opinions to produce reasonable suggestions.
Any discussion on this blog is very useful as a helping method that will give honest answers from the people of involved countries who are setting up our destiny and future.

To my readers : More about my city diaries

Today in the morning at 8 AM, the traffic movement was very slow causing jams every where especially near the bridges.
I have to cross the bridge from my house to the work place every day; I saw that security conditions applied by Iraqi security forces were dense this morning more than usual.
We heard later from the city mayor that they are expecting explosion-trapped cars to enter the city suddenly.
At about 9.30 AM all bridges were under search points, each car should cross but with much attention.
These kinds of security precautions are needed but can you imagine how much frustration and anger generating inside each driver on the road.
We hardly reached our work place after spending one and half hour for only 5 kilometers distance.
All the day, patrols of Iraqi national guards and Iraqi police and some times accompanied with MNF are moving inside the city expecting any hostile action against them.
After returning in the afternoon, I passed one check point on one bridge, they were looking for each car carefully, but they were searching only the suspected cars.
Later TV showed us a new bunch of terrorist who have been captured few days ago.
Two leaders for these terrorist groups are from Syrian intelligence system, according to their confessions. They came to Iraq to encourage terror groups in their action to frightened people by kidnapping, killing, beheading and planting explosives.
They succeeded in the last three months in making our city completely out of control by government, with much horror for every one as I mentioned in my past posts.
The city mayor apologized for any annoyance caused by security forces asking people to endure the situation for a while until they can clean the city, surrounding urban and villages from any insurgency and terrorism.
City is feeling much better now, announcing a new curfew time from 9 PM from today which means a progress in security condition.
I must tell that I began to describe the situation in my city because I get many emails requesting me to continue posting this news, Ok no more to tell you for now.

Security conditions and our families

As a reaction on TV show of terrorist and criminal who used to terrified the city in the last three months.
Two police officers were assassinated today, and yesterday a local media photographer was killed also after he was tortured and finally shot in head.
Too much terror, enough to keep our citizens frightened, but majority realized that if they don’t cooperate with Iraqi security forces, they will pay a very high price with their lives in future.
My wife told me today that she had a miracle for not being hurt by a roadside explosion during her way back to house.
These kind of daily accidents made our average life just like a nightmare, you have to stay worry all the day until the whole family gathered again afternoon safely.
The big threat for us as a family, when children are usually going or returning from school, we must worry about them not to be kidnapped or killed by explosion or by a random fire among security forces or American soldiers and the insurgents, just in the middle of any street crowded with civilians.
The tension in our nervous system changed our emotional sensor to danger to the (Red Alert Degree) 24 hours in the day!
We became very nervous, always upset, and ready to fight for simple reasons, much of depression inside each one of us, and this behavior is affecting our kid’s personalities .
Every one now having his own dream in obtaining a normal stable life condition, without blood or fear, perhaps it is impossible to make this dream comes true with this mess in Iraq.

Curfew benefits for Iraqi bloggers

Perhaps 2005 will be the year of the Iraqis Blog...! Even with the fair number available today.
As our Blogs are new, the idea of optimizing and submitting them to search engines (Search Engine Optimization) is not enough , but we still have many other things to determine.
I began feeling a serious interest in blogging when my own readers began to show their courage and interest in my posts (The english post readers only) so I realized that my posts were not dead in the cyber world.
Excludeing the fact it was only written to people who’d requested it, or it was getting lost in the daily mass of boring posts !!
People were my indicator to calibrate my writings , with more signals coming from them, I can set my path correctly reducing my mistakes to minimum.
Frankly speaking , my story with blogging started when the terror waves hit my city in the last few months.
A curfew has been applied to manage the city security from ( 4 PM to 6 AM).
This curfew provided us with additional spare hours to stay online after I decided to subscribe to the relatively expensive wireless internet connection .
In fact , that curfew changed the emotions and behavior of the people in the city.
After returning home early , people do not have time to spend it together in this conditions. They stopped visiting each others , no more families dinner together , no meal parties during wedding celebrations and no restaurants meals at night.
Just wishing to start our normal life that we forgot it's taste long time ago .

Reader survey for blog advertising

Blogads have released the results of their reader survey for blog advertising.
Looking forward to having a look through their results Adrants summarizes it as follows:
• 75% are over 30
• 75% are men
• 43% have HHI over $90K
• Most, 14%, are employed in education
• 71% have signed a petition
• 66% have contacted a politician
• 50% (highest of any media) rank blogs tops in usefulness for news and opinion
So we’ve got middle aged, men with pretty decent wages who are politically aware/active…. Interested in what others are thinking about the results ?
What conclusions can we draw - what are the signs that we as pro bloggers need to take note of ?
I’m expecting ALL the answers here in comments below

Time but not you , makes your future

If the wars on Iraq did not happen, I would have continued living my life the way it was.
I would have to learn more about the new companies and products, and sales duties.
For life never stops, and learning and development are very important factors for success.
However, the war took place, all that happened to Iraq hurt me, and the Iraqis, and I could not live on as if nothing has changed…There are still a lot of remaining evils in Iraq now, and the Iraqis, in spite of all their suffering and tries for passing over it.
Yesterday I see that evils increased in Iraq, and all doors are open for them... One crazy suicide carrying two belts of explosives killed about 50 persons and wounded about hundred of innocent civilians.
No reasons for this nonsense, it is only sick needs to kill.
We must contribute to decrease the effects of evil upon us, and extend a helping hand to people, regardless of facing dangers..I would have had a flourishing future in my career, if I would have becoming an agent of companies, or stay on a research analysis center. Now I no longer can stay on a single path only …
I want to help as much people as I can, through work, not business based on interests, as a first priority.
I do not even like politics, because it is dishonest, and untruthful, and lies are more frequently used than truth.
I am looking for a clean field to deal with people in need… the poor and crushed, who were the victims of the injustice, those who had no chances to gain a good childhood. It could be through a humanitarian societies, or governmental programs in the future, to support and care for them, I wish to extend a helping hand, to help them for their own good.
The most social category worthy of interest, are children, who will be responsible for bringing up the future generations.
Experience, education, and better social medical care, are what they really need.
As for other channels needed in our new society, I have another thoughts in my mind may be there will be a chance one day to find an investor to help me in some solutions for digital technology transfer to Iraq. There is a shortage for digital printing color offset, digital photo labs, as new tools to set better-educated society.

لم يشوه صورة الاسلام على مر العصور الا الخوارج

إن المتتبعَ لتاريخ الإسلام منذ عهد الخلافة الراشدة, وحتى يومنا هذا, ليعلم أنه لم يُبتلَ أهلُ الإسلام بطائفةٍ هي أشدُّ وأخطرُ مِن الخوارج, الذين أضروا بالإسلام وأهله, وأفسدوا على الناس دينهم ومعيشتهم, فأزهقوا الأرواح واستحلوا الأموال, ولم يَسلم مِن شرِّهم أحدٌ, حتى أفضل الخلقِ بعد الأنبياء, ألا وهم الصحابة رضي الله عنهم, فقتلوا عثمان رضي الله عنه وعلي ابن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه, وجمعاً مِن صحابة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم. وما زال هذا ديدنهم على مرِّ الأزمنة, وتصرم الأعوام,
وها هم اليوم يعودون مِن جديد ليخرجوا على الناس ويستحلوا الأنفس المعصومة, والأموال المُحرمة - باسم الجهاد - باحثين عن دولتهم المزعومة, التي لن تتم, مصداقاً لحديث المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم:
(كلما خرج قرنٌ قطع) قال الراوي -ابن عمر رضي الله عنه-: سمعتُ رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: (كلما خرج قرنٌ قطع) - أكثر من عشرين مرة - (حتى يخرج في عِراضِهمُ الدجال).
وليس أدلَّ على خطورة هذه الفِرقة مِن أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم لم يُحذِر مِن أحدٍ أشدَّ مِن تحذيره مِن هؤلاء الخوارج, كقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم:
(يأتي في آخر الزمان قومٌ حُدَثاء الأسنان , سفهاء الأحلام , يقولون من خير قول البرية , يمرقون من الإسلام كما يمرق السهمُ من الرمية , لا يُجاوز إيمانهم حناجرهم , فأينما لقيتموهم فاقتلوهم , فإن في قتلهم أجراً لمن قتلهم يوم القيامة). وكقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم: (الخوارج كلاب النار).
وعن عبيد الله بن أبي رافع رضي الله عنه مولى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:
أن الحرورية لما خرجت, وهو مع علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه, قالوا: لا حُكم إلا لله.
قال علي : كلمة حق أريد بها باطل , إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وصف ناساً , إني لأعرف صفتهم في هؤلاء:
(يقولون الحق بألسنتهم لا يجوز هذا منهم - وأشار إلى حلقه - مِن أبغض خلق الله إليه).
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم: (يخرجُ فيكم قومٌ تحقرون صَلاتكم مع صلاتهم, وصِيامكم مع صيامهم, وعملكم مع عملهم, ويقرؤون القرآن لا يُجاوز حناجرهم, يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرمية..).
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم: (يخرجُ ناس من قِبل المشرق, ويقرؤون القرآن لا يجاوز تراقيهم, يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهمُ من الرمية, ثم لا يعودون فيه حتى يعودَ السهمُ إلى فوقه).
وعن زيد بن وهب الجهني: أنه كان في الجيش الذين كانوا مع علي; الذين ساروا إلى الخوارج فقال علي رضي الله عنه أيها الناس إني سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: (يخرج قومٌ من أمتي يقرأون القرآن ليس قراءتكم إلى قراءتهم بشيء, ولا صلاتكم إلى صلاتهم بشيء, ولا صيامكم إلى صيامهم بشيء, يقرأون القرآن يحسبون أنه لهم وهو عليهم, لا تجاوز صلاتهم تراقيهم, يمرقون من الإسلام كما يمرق السهم من الرمية) لو يعلم الجيش الذين يصيبونهم ما قضي لهم على لسان نبيهم صلى الله عليه وسلم لنكلوا عن العمل.
ثم قال عليٌ رضي الله عنه:
(والله إني لأرجو أن يكونوا هؤلاء القوم فإنهم قد سفكوا الدم الحرام وأغاروا في سرح الناس).
وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم: (سيكون في أمتي اختلاف وفرقة, قومٌ يُحسنون القيل, ويسيئون الفعل, يقرؤون القرآن لا يُجاوز تراقيهم, يمرقون من الدين مروق السهم من الرمية, لا يرجعون حتى يرتدَّ على فوقه, هم شرُّ الخلق والخليقة, طوبى لمن قتلهم وقتلوه, يَدْعُون إلى كتاب الله وليسوا منه في شيء, مَن قاتلهم كان أولى بالله منهم).
قال الإمام أبوبكر الآجُرِّي رحمه الله: (فلا ينبغي لمن رأى اجتهاد خارجيٍ قد خرج على إمام, عدلاً كان الإمام أو جائراً, فخرج وجمع جماعة وسلَّ سيفه, واستحلَّ قتال المسلمين, فلا ينبغي له أن يغترَّ بقراءته للقرآن, ولا بطول قيامه في الصلاة, ولا بدوام صيامه, ولا بحسن ألفاظه في العلم إذا كان مذهبه مذهب الخوارج).
رحم الله الإمام الآجُرِّي, فوالله لكأنه ينظرُ إلى واقعنا هذه الأزمنة, فيُسدي هذه النصيحة العظيمة لأولئك الذين اغتروا بهؤلاء المرجفين, الذين لم يقنعوا بما نحنُ فيه مِن الأمن وتحكيم الشريعة, فأبوا إلا الخروج إلى الشرق والغرب, وأخذوا يؤلبون على دولة التوحيد, وهم يحتمون بدول الكفر والقبور والوثنية ...!
وهذا مذهب الخوارج وهو يتكون من ثلاثة أشياء :
أولاً : تكفير المسلمين .
ثانياً: الخروج عن طاعة ولي الأمر .
ثالثاً : استباحة دماء المسلمين .
وهناك من يفتي الناس هذه الأيام بوجوب الجهاد بالهوى والمزاج ويقول : لا يشترط للجهاد إمام ولا راية ؟ و هذا رأي الخوارج
أما أهل السنة فيقولون : لا بد من راية ولا بد من إمام
هذا منهج المسلمين من عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فالذي يفتي بأنه لا إمام ولا راية وكل يتبع هواه ، هذا رأي الخوارج " فهو يشيع الفوضى وسفك الدماء والاموال والاعراض لانه يفتح بابا كبيرا من ابواب الفتنة حين يكون اغلب العوام من الجاهلين بامور دينهم ودنياهم فيفسدون ولايصلحون . طهر الله بلادنا منهم وعصم اولادنا من فتنهم.

Untold daily stories from Iraq

For the fifth time, Ibn-Alatheer children hospital in Mosul which is opposite to Mosul University was hitted with mortars in one week.
May be the hospital is not the supposed target, because there is a police station about 100 meters away from it but that is not the point.
I am wondering, where are the American plane patrols, or Airbone monitoring systems ,and other high tech. sensors used by US army?
Why can only two or three helicopters in any city in united states monitor a speedy car in the streets , but not here ?
Are these technologies only a science fictions on screen? Or, because this is just concerning an Iraqi civilian hospital and not a military target, so they do not have to pay so much attention To it?

Now in this hospital , all the doctors, Patients, workers, and Volunteers in Thalassemia Society, flee from hospitals to nowhere !
They refused to return until full security achieved again... That is good to keep them alive , but what about daily visitors of sick children?
Where they should go to take their necessary doses of medicine that keep them alive,? Moreover this is the only hospital in Mosul for the Thalassemia disease ,and the small clinic in hospital is run only by a Volunteer doctors and workers .
Every day we are as Iraqis expect our problem to be decreased or solved, but the fact, it is getting more complicated and very difficult to be resolved.
I can find no answer for the present security problems, we are in Iraq floating the middle, and US military cannot been increase to the maximum limit so that they can keep the life conditions in Iraq acceptable.
Also Iraqi security forces still lacking many things until it will be able to keep Iraq as Calm region.
Moreover, Iraq now is just like a magnet for terrorist from all over the world, it is now the preferred conflict area to settle all accounts between USA and her enemies.
The only payers as a result , are poor Iraqi civilians from different ages and religions.
What are the expected solutions for our attached problems?
I don’t know, and no one can reply on this question, because it is beyond our control, and world politics made us pay and still paying our blood as an ordinary price.

Children , rising prices we are still paying

A friend of mine who is working in a children’s hospital as a doctor, told me that in the last four days ,this hospitals was hit with mortars in around middle of the day , causing the death of tow mothers and one kid , destroying a car , and thanks God few a shells didn’t exploded .

There is no explanation for that, but I do believe that insurgents now are trying to apply (mass punishment) against Iraqis after they began to loose any kind of acceptance in the most cities of Iraq.

TV showing confessions of insurgent gangs , made viewers see the savage and terrible crimes committed against Iraqi citizens, changed the attitudes of Iraqis 180 degrees in the opposite direction.

Now, insurgents are trying to send a message to every one: we are still present and can continue destroy you daily life, so don’t cooperate with the elected government or you just Think that freedom and democracy are blood free!!

From my observations, I began to see that people are getting stronger, not frightened as before Three months and began to give any tips to security officials just to keep the city safer everyday.

Repair damage as much as you can

At a conservative estimate in Iraq, around a million books from Iraq's libraries, and many thousands of manuscripts and documents, have been burned or looted after occupation of Iraq.

Almost all of Iraq's major museums and libraries are out of action, and will be for many years.

It will cost vast amounts of money, time, and expert labor to reverse the effects of two weeks of Post-war chaos and thirteen years of sanctions.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy Antiques or Arabic manuscripts you may see for sale.

It has been illegal in the UK to handle any Iraqi antiquities that do not have an export license.

If you do come across anything that you think might be an illicit Iraqi artifact do not challenge the dealer.

Just Photograph it if you can ; make notes on what you have seen, and where and when, as soon as possible, and report it to the Metropolitan Police Art and Antiques Team in the U. States , by this way You can help us to return our stolen culture to home.

Happened in Iraq now

( Iraqia) is the name of the Iraq's TV station and satellite channel broadcasting on Nile sat.

Recently, this channel start showing in daily series the groups of terrorist and criminals who terrified Citizens in last months.

Most of the criminals are young, uneducated, suffering from brain washing by their leaders who are from the generation that supported last regime in his three wars.

Each one of the gang’s leaders is called (Prince), and for being a prince, he must kill TEN people at least by cutting their heads!!!! then throwing the body in the middle of the highways ,with the cut head over the chest , attaching warning paper in the mouth , and leave it two or three days in the street .

No one dare to bury the body.

Just think how this event can terrify people in big cities in Iraq, Like Mosul, Kerkuk, and others.

These events happened in Mosul for the last three months, after about (8000 policemen) abandoned their positions on purpose because of fear, bribes, and careless.

Can you imagine any city in the world, of two millions, been left one morning without any policemen?!!

These gangs’ confessions show on TV that they are working for the favor of Syrian intelligence

To destroy security condition in Iraq and been paid by them together with former escaped leaders of Baath party who stay in Syria after occupying Iraq.

The gangs admitted of killing policemen, Iraqi national guards, and multi national forces soldiers. Also they raped women after kidnapping them and shooting them in heads.

I saw a criminal said that he kidnapped a kid of 8 years old near his house door, killing him, and putting his body in the street, for no reason, only to make people frightened.

Also they killed a two workers ladies in the TV station as a revenge from the public media .

All these Savage actions were recorded on video CD s and uploaded to certain websites on internet, and to make people accept it they make it (By the name of Allah) as a (Jihads).

Islam real concepts are respecting other’s opinion, and religions, and nothing in Islamic rules Accept any bad action like this.

Now after a big security operations were started against those criminals, USA pushed Syrian officials to reveal all information about the terrorist groups, and all news indicate that (35 groups) of terror were captured in Mosul and Baghdad, Kerkuk, and Samaraa.

The most important man accused of giving financial support to the terrorist is (Sabaawi), Sadaam’s brother who was staying in Syria and controlling the criminals in their actions in Iraq.

Poor Iraqi citizens, they suffered a lot in the past and still suffering until today.

People after seeing them captured on TV, they get their self confidence again and refused to stay frightened any more, so they start giving security tips about the criminals every day which helped the government in capturing them in dozens in the last week.

Today news said that a young teenager who is the son of the Police commander in Mosul was kidnapped by terrorist asking his father to release six of criminal leaders but he refused to negotiate them, this is the second time this brave man refused to give up , because they kidnapped his brother also before one month ago but he succeeded in releasing him and arrested his kidnappers .

Now , most important thing to any iraqi is the security problem and how to keep society safe , so I think this will be the most important job of the new elected government in iraq to win the trust of the nation.

To my readers : somethings to tell you

The truth telling is to write what you see, and nothing else, but as an Iraqi , sometimes I should follow my passion in describing some emotional events but I never stopped being rational at any time .
I used to watch the news about Iraq and get frustrated with the amount of lies and deception in the majority of reports from both Arabic and western media.
What was worse is that everyone was speaking on behalf of Iraqis.
But now as a blogger no one can prevent me from saying what I believe is the truth.
The hardest part of doing a blog from a hot or occupied zone is figuring out a way to write without violating any body and to not pollute my writings with any political slant.
Probably the most satisfying aspect of blogs has been the out pouring of support from readers for both foreigners and Iraqi readers, in giving certain reactions about what’s happening every day.
For me personally, I get great feelings of confidence by the response I have received from readers of my blog and also from reading the comments people have left on the comment boards.
Other’s informed opinions give me compliments on my writing and views. My writing on Iraq is very limited because I only want to be neutral to the maximum.
The hardest part about blogging is finding the time to sit down and write it with all daily barriers around me .
Readers support is beyond words. They quote feelings, recite sayings from life or share their own experiences. I am humbled by the people who visit my blog.
Yesterday, I took decision to write a short story about how is the daily life of Iraqi family going on, this kind of information is scarce in the media.
The bad thing in that for most of you , I wrote it in Arabic only , ( you can see it previous to this post ) , because I was very tired and electric power did not give me enough time to translate it to English , I am sorry.

كيف تعيش العائلة العراقية يومها

وسط هذا الكم الإعلامي الهائل والمتناقض والذي غالبا ما أصبح يركز على أحداث العراق السياسية والعسكرية ضاع المواطن العراقي في صراع العولمة والتنافس على الخبر.
نادرا ما أرى أو اسمع شيئا في الميديا العالمية يخبرنا كيف يقضي المواطن العراقي حياته اليومية بكل معاناتها ومشاكلها والتي أصبحت ابسط مفرداتها تنغص حياته ليلا ونهارا
العراقيون كأغلبية شعب متحرك, ليس كسولا لمن أسعده الحظ بامتلاك عمل يسد به رمقه مع عائلته فهناك الكثيرين فقدوا أعمالهم التي امتلكوها يوما أو خسروها في فوضى الاقتصاد التي أصابت العراق بسبب مغامرات وحروب بلا طائل .
حين يستيقظ العراقي صباحا يصبح همه الاول أن يصل أطفاله إلى مدارسهم بسلام دون أن تنتظرهم سيارة مفخخة قد تمزقهم أو أن يقتلوا في تراشق نار عشوائي بين المسلحين الذين لم يجدوا ساحة معركة أفضل من الشوارع الغاصة بالمدنيين الأبرياء وبين قوات الاحتلال والأمن العراقية.
هم العراقي الثاني هو كيفية الوصول إلى عمله في زحام مروري هائل وفوضى لم يشهد العراق لها مثيلا فمعظم الطرق أصبحت مليئة بحواجز وكتل إسمنتية هائلة وضعت لحماية الدوائر والمؤسسات ومراكز الأمن ومواقع القوات المتعددة الجنسية. يضاف إلى ذلك دخول ما يقارب مليوني سيارة مستعملة وجديدة بعد احتلال العراق لان استيراد السيارات بشكل شخصي كان ممنوعا في السابق وأصبحت معظم سيارات الناس تزيد أعمارها عن الخمسة عشر عاما مما ولد حاجة كبيرة لاستيراد السيارات المستعملة من الغرب لتعويض النقص دون أن يصدر قرار لحد الآن بإقصاء السيارات القديمة جدا .
غالبا ما يحصل أن تتعطل إحدى السيارات في الطرق والجسور الضيقة مسببة بذلك اختناقا مروريا هائلا لايمكن تحمله. في كثير من الأحيان يتم قطع الشوارع في الصباح للشك بوجود عبوات أو ألغام ناسفة على جوانب الشوارع مما يستلزم قطع المرور والانتظار لفترات طويلة حتى يتم رفع تلك الألغام .
ولمن أسعده الحظ بعدم التعرض لكل ما ذكر فان أي اشتباك مسلح يقع في احد الشوارع سيجعل الطرفين المتقاتلين يتعرضان لرصاص عشوائي لا يرحم أحدا والذعر الذي يصيب المدنيين في حالة كهذه يجعلهم يحاولون الفرار إلى أي ملاذ اّمن مما يجعلهم أهدافا محتملة لان إطلاق النار يكون على كل شئ يتحرك.

تخيل أن يكون أطفالك في باص المدرسة قرب حادث من هذا النوع فما هو رد فعلهم أن بقي لهم وقت في الحياة لكي يقوموا أساسا برد فعل وقد حصل ذلك فعلا قبل شهرين مما أدى إلى مقتل طلاب ومدرسين أيضا.

إذا ما وصل العراقي إلى مقر عمله ستبدأ معاناة من نوع اّخر فانقطاع التيار الكهربائي لساعات طويلة في اليوم يربك معظم الأعمال التي تحتاج إلى الكهرباء كضرورة لعملها وقد استطاع العراقيون من التكيف نوعا ما لهذا الأمر منذ أكثر من عشرة سنوات حيث نصبت مولدات كهرباء في الأحياء التجارية والسكنية لتعطي لكل محل وبيت بضعة امبيرات من الكهرباء لإدامة الحياة بأدنى صورها.

وإذا ما سار أي شخص يزور العراق في الشوارع فسيعجب من امتداد الاف الأمتار من الأسلاك الكهربائية بشكل عشوائي وسيحدث نفسه بان فيلم الرجل العنكبوت حقيقة وليس خيالا وان العراق هو موطن سكن رجال يملكون قدرات الرجل العنكبوت.!!

الوضع الاقتصادي تأثر كثيرا بالأزمات والحروب التي مر ولا يزال يمر بها العراق ويمكن مشاهدة اثر ذلك على حركة السوق التجارية التي تأثرت بذلك مسببة ضعفا كبيرا في النمو التجاري ورغم الازدياد الكبير في مدخولات الناس بعد انهيار النظام السابق إلا أن غياب الأمن ولد شعورا لدى الناس بعدم المخاطرة بالنزول إلى الأسواق إلا في حالات الضرورة.

العراقي معرض في أي لحظة في مقر عمله أو سكنه لان تهاجمه عصابة مسلحة إما لقتله أو لاختطافه والمطالبة بفدية كبيرة من عائلته وقد ظهرت مؤخرا حالات إجرامية جديدة على سجل الإجرام العراقي متمثلة بخطف الأطفال من على أبواب المدارس أو حتى من داخل الصف في المدرسة أو بإيقاف الباص أو السيارة التي تقل الأطفال وأخذهم منها.

البالغون يتعرضون لحوادث من هذا النوع كثيرا ولاتنتهي ألازمة الا بعد عودة المخطوف لأهله وحتى حوادث الموت تصبح بسيطة مقارنة مع حوادث الاختطاف التي تجهل فيها عدوك ونواياه الحقيقية من ذلك وفي أحيان كثيرة لا يكون الاختطاف المصحوب بالقتل لأسباب شخصية أو سياسية ولكن فقط لإشاعة الرعي بين الناس وهو ما اقر به العديد من المجرمين الذين القي القبض عليهم واعترفوا بأنهم قتلوا أطفال واختطفوهم لإشاعة الفزع لدى الأهالي وبتشجيع من مخابرات دول مجاورة لزعزعة الوضع الأمني العراقي.

في الأشهر الأخيرة حددت الجهات الأمنية العراقية منع التجول مع ساعات الغروب في المساء لذلك تغلق المحلات أبوابها مبكرا في الثالثة عصرا ويعود الناس إلى بيوتهم قبل الغروب وسوف تتعجب إذا ما نظرت إلى المدينة في الساعة السابعة مساءا فانك ستراها مدينة أشباح ولن تفكر أبدا بالخروج من دارك لأي سبب خصوصا إذا ما كانت أضواء الشوارع مطفأة لعدم توفر الكهرباء.

في أحيان كثيرا تحصل حالات مرضية طارئة أو حالات ولادة مستعجلة يحتاج الناس فيها إلى الذهاب للمستشفيات ولكن انقطاع الاتصالات الهاتفية العادية والخلوية لأسباب فنية أو أمنية يجعل الناس تغامر بالخروج في ساعات منع التجول وكثيرا ما يقتل ركاب السيارات من هؤلاء الأبرياء لوجود تعليمات بإطلاق النار على أي سيرة تسير بعد فترة منع التجول وقد قتلت عائلة من ثلاثة أفراد أثناء اضطرارهم للذهاب إلى المستشفى في عملية ولادة مستعصية وقد قتل كل من الأم والأب والجنين الذي لم يولد أبدا.

حين يعود العراقي لبيته فهو لا يملك شيئا من وسائل التسلية إلا التلفزيون ومشاهدة المحطات الفضائية التي لم يراها أبدا على شاشة تلفزيونه المنزلي إلا بعد سقوط النظام السابق. كان محرما على أي عراقي اقتناء أي جهاز التقاط بث فضائي والمغامرة بذلك تكلف المخالف فترة ستة شهور من السجن مع غرامة مالية تصل إلى مائتي دولار ومصادرة الجهاز وأنا شخصيا جازفت باقتناء جهاز فضائي واستعملت كل أساليب الغش والاختفاء التي تعلمناها في خدمتنا العسكرية الإلزامية ( والتي كانت مقررة قانونا بثمانية عشر شهرا لكني قضيت تسعة سنوات في خدمتي وسرحت في حين بقي زملائي ممن كانوا معي لمدة إحدى عشر عاما بالتمام والكمال ) .

كل أنواع التسلية والسفرات والعطل والنزهات لم تعد موجودة في قاموس العراقيين بل إني احتار كثيرا حين ارغب بشراء هدية لأحد الأطفال في أي مناسبة كعيد الميلاد لان أسواقنا ببساطة خالية من أي هدية صالحة لأني لا أجد شيئا غير المسدس والبندقية والدبابة ونادرا ما تجد لعبة فكرية تنمي روح الطفل السلمية وإذا ما سالت البائع لماذا لا تبيع أشياء مفيدة للأطفال بدل ألعاب تشجع على ثقافة العنف فسيخبرك بان سوقها كاسد.!!

أرجو أن يتخيل القاري كيف تصبح الحياة في المنزل ليلا حين تتوقف المولدات الكهربائية التي أصابتها الشيخوخة عن العمل لعطل فيها أو لإعطائها فترات راحة قد تمتد لساعات, تعلم الأولاد في العراق في القرن الحادي والعشرين على كل أساليب تشغيل وإصلاح وإدامة المصابيح النفطية والغازية بعد نفاذ بطاريات الشواحن الكهربائية لان فترات توفر الكهرباء تكون غير كافية لشحن البطاريات تماما مما يجعلهم يلجاؤون إلى إيقاد مصابيح النفط والدراسة عليها !! قارنوا ذلك بأي طفل آخر يعيش في مدن أخرى بالعالم خصوصا إذا ما استمر الأمر لسنوات طويلة فكيف ستكون نفسيته العامة ؟
كثيرا ما تنام الأسرة في الشتاء البارد ذو الليل الطويل المعتم في الساعة التاسعة مساءا حسب نظرية نم مبكرا واستيقظ مبكرا بسبب الملل.
في هذا العام زادت معاناة العراقيين بسبب شحة المحروقات من الكازولين والكيروسين وأصبحت تباع بالسوق السوداء بعشرين ضعفا وكل ذلك نتج من مهاجمة المسلحين لمحطات التصفية والتوزيع وأنابيب نقل النفط في عموم العراق وصرت ترى مئات السيارات في صفوف طويلة تنتظر ملئ خزاناتها بالوقود.

لا توجد لدينا منتزهات ولا مدن ألعاب ولا ساحات ولا ملاعب ولا مسابح في معظم مدن العراق المتوسطة والصغيرة وحتى ما هو موجود فقد أصبح مدمرا من فرط الإهمال
بالنسبة للانترنت دخل الخدمة في العراق في آخر سنتين وأصبح لمن يريد العمل على الانترنت أن يذهب إلى مقاهي الانترنت لتكلفه الساعة الواحدة دولارا أمريكيا وهو مبلغ كبير قياسا على متوسط دخل العراقيين.

في المنازل لا تتوفر خدمة الانترنت عبر الهاتف لان بدالات وخطوط نقل الخدمة الهاتفية قديمة جدا ولا تخلو من التشويش لذلك نشأت شركات خاصة تقدم خدمة الانترنت اللاسلكي لكن بأسعار عالية جدا قياسا بدول العالم فمثلا لكي تصبح الخدمة متاحة لك يجب أن تدفع 250 دولارا ككلفة تأسيسية بالإضافة إلى مبلغ 75 دولار شهريا وهو مبلغ كبير يعادل ثلث متوسط الدخل للعراقي العادي وهذا ما جعل قلة فقط من العراقيين في المدن تستعمل خدمة الانترنت من المنازل.

شركات الانترنت العالمية اراد قسم منها تقديم خدمتها في العراق وباسعار مناسبة لكن الوضع الأمني المتردي وعمليات اختطاف الأجانب جعل الشركات تغير رأيها حول هذا الأمر

أرجو أن أكون قد وفقت في عرض الوضع العام للحياة اليومية لمعظم العراقيين وأرجو أن أرى ردود أفعالكم وتعليقاتكم على ذلك عبر تفاعلكم مع صفحات موقعي المتواضع.

Let us heal other's wounds together

Before three years, I can remember very well, how much eager I was just to use something called (internet), at that time internet was one of the unknown, and forbidden tools in Iraq.
Keeping the world media like satellite dishes and internet connections beyond the reach of the Iraq’s people to prevent them from being open- minded was a usual action at that time.
But now, Happy like a kid with a new gift , I have a private internet connection and a blog to post my thoughts on it, is really a big victory for me.
This thing gave me a great motive to use this peaceful weapon for posting best ideas that could improve Iraq’s people conditions as far as I can go.
Frankly spoken, your emails to me as my readers , in the past few days gave me more courage to continue giving my best for my family, My Neighbors, my work colleagues, other bloggers, and whole Society.
I am quite sure now that there is a mysterious relationship established between the writer and his reader, this relationship become as a magic stick to heal other wounds if it has been used perfectly.
I hope God will give me enough power to achieve what I really believe is the best.