November 21, 2004
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Prozac Nation
Every now and then, I get a little annoyed with people my age who complain of problems in the world, and yet fail to do anything about it.
It seems that it's these same people who mock those who would see the world for its possiblities. I would hope that these cynics would not mock those in Iraq who are attempting to create a democracy.
It was hard enough for me to get sailing club members to form an opinion long enough to draft our club constitution. How much more difficult must it be for a country that has been suppressed so long by Saddam and his cronies?
Iraqis are fighting people who are so hard-hearted that they'd set fire to their own oil fields before allowing those who disagree with them to claim them.
(Their war tactics remind me terribly of one of my patients who claimed she attempted suicide by heroin overdose because she couldn't make the man she loved stop doing cocaine. Talk about borderline personalities. . . .)
Corie: "There are Watchers in this world and there are Do-ers. And the Watchers sit around watching the Do-ers do. Well, tonight you watched and I did."
Paul: "Yeah. . . Well, it was harder to watch what you did than it was for you to do what I was watching."
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
An Iraqi blogger at http://ibnalrafidain.blogspot.com
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Media FabricationsArafat is a remarkable man. His death was useful for the current events in Iraq. It drew the Arabic media attention away from what's happening in Fallujah. This media pours oil on the fire by spreading lot of fabricated news. Aljazeera satellite channel is one of these which has great role in increasing the Iraqis sufferings. As an example of that is the news which Aljazeera showed on the news bar, few days ago, about fierce fighting claiming that it had happened in my district in Baghdad. I did not read the news; I try to avoid watching Aljazeera since it causes lot of annoyance to me. A series of phone calls (which had just been repaired) to our house and the neighbors from relatives and friends in other districts, cities, abroad asking about our safety, drew our attention to the news. On ground nothing had happened of what Aljazeera said.
Another story, the chief editor of an Arabic newspaper located in London, widely read in Arab world, recounted an incident which happened to him with one of the editors in the newspaper. He said that a picture, shows an American soldier speaking to an Iraqi girl, was to be published with an article. A comment which says (An American soldier instructing an Iraqi girl) was to be under the picture. What happened, the junior editor changed it to (An American soldier hitting on an Iraqi girl). Such comment stimulates a very conservative religious society as the one in Iraq.
Now, what happened yesterday of showing an American soldier shooting an injured man in Fallujah will be the tambourine on which Aljazeera and Arabic media will play on for a long time.
The crimes of breaking into hospitals, snatching injured Iraqi policemen and soldiers, cutting them into pieces by the insurgents are not criticized by Aljazeera. I am not justifying the American soldier conduct but people should be objective.
Observing carefully the American performance in enforcing law shows the difference between them and us. Mistakes or crimes happen in any society but, in the US, they never stop pursuing the wrongdoer. It is an outcome of freedom. On the other hand we are ready to overlook lot of crimes that happen in Iraq.
The crimes committed by Saddam's closest assistants against the Iraqi people, many are filmed, had never been spoken about. No one dared to raise a voice to demand a trail because of fear. And the same fear is used nowadays by the insurgents to keep mouths shut.
A society which can not enforce law should admit it and ask for help. I can say that the silenced Iraqi majority needs who can help to develop a better society.
I hope that the Americans would help the Iraqis to, at least, touch the concept of democracy. The transparency in dealing with what happened in Iraqi prisons was marvelous. It is a very dynamic system which looks always forward to achieve better life. And I believe that freedom, democracy and justice made the great American nation.
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