"An overstretched military? You bet. Things going terribly in Iraq? No kidding. Why only yesterday, Jill Carroll and Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor reminded us that, with 140,000 troops (and untold numbers of mercenaries) in Iraq, the Americans can't defend a crucial six-mile stretch of highway between the two lodestars of the American occupation -- Baghdad International Airport, a vast, fortified military encampment, and the Green Zone in the heart of the capital, another vast, fortified encampment. Carroll and Murphy write:
"The danger of the airport road also speaks to the wider problem of securing a country in the face of a dispersed and committed insurgency blended within the civilian population. Millions of cars traverse Baghdad's roads every day, and just a handful of them are carrying suicide bombers. For the Iraqi government and US forces, it's a needle-in-the-haystack problem with few practical solutions. There is limited US military manpower for adding checkpoints, but even if it was logistically possible, stopping every car on Baghdad's roads would bring the city to a grinding halt and make the airport journey even longer than it is now... The airport road is a direct link to the US headquarters in the secured Green Zone. But rather than risk the road, US diplomats fly by helicopter from the airport to the Green Zone."
As Patrick Cockburn of the British Independent commented last week, the inability to stop attacks along this stretch of highway has "become a symbol of the failure of the US in Iraq. Heavily armoured US patrols, prone to open fire unpredictably, are regarded as being as dangerous as the insurgents." On this highway, in the last week, five foreign "contractors" and the young aid worker Marla Ruzicka all died and others were wounded. The Americans undoubtedly dream of bringing in Iraqi troops, sooner rather than later, to help with the security task. Unfortunately, these highly touted, newly trained troops have evidently been deserting their posts in significant numbers in embattled parts of the country. "On the Syrian border, US troops in the Sunni city of Husaybah report mass desertions," writes Oliver Poole of the British Telegraph.
"An Iraqi unit that had once grown to 400 troops now numbers a few dozen who are 'holed up' inside a local phosphate plant. Major John Reed, of the 2nd Marine Regiment, said: 'They will claim that they are ready to come back and fight but there are no more than 30 of them on duty on any given day and they are completely ineffective.'"
In the last months, the Americans (as happened in the latter part of the Vietnam War) have also hunkered down in their bases, attempting to reduce casualties, among other things. In response, the insurgents have recently been launching more sophisticated operations, including, for the first time, serious attacks on isolated bases.
In the meantime, Baghdad continues to be an occupied city -- even at the level of symbolism. A report, translated from the Arabic and appearing at Watching America, an interesting new site featuring pieces about the U.S. from around the world, states:
"Iraq's new president has said he will not reside in the Presidential Palace, which for many Iraqis is a symbol of the country's sovereignty. Jalal Talabani said that the interim government has agreed to rent the palace to the Americans for two years. The presidential complex on the banks of the Tigris River is a maze of palaces, green lawns and orchards... President Talabani said that the Americans 'might' evacuate the palace when the lease expires."
Sovereignty anyone? In order to gain legitimacy, the Iraqis who were elected on January 30th would need to put some real distance between themselves and the American occupiers. However, as Middle Eastern expert Robert Dreyfuss comments in a canny piece at Tompaine.com, "doing so... is impossible, since the newly elected regime wouldn't last a week without the protection of U.S. forces." In any case, the new government, such as it is, will be a familiar one. "[V]irtually all of its leading actors," Dreyfuss comments, "are retreads from the IGC, which was appointed by L. Paul Bremer, and from Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, the exile-dominated coalition that included Chalabi, Talabani, Abdel Aziz Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and other officials and members of the just-elected National Assembly."
To the frustration of the Bush administration, the Iraqis have proved incapable for almost two months of forming a government, in part because of the nature of Article 38 of the "interim constitution" that Bush officials so cleverly imposed upon them, as Justin Raimondo, columnist for Antiwar.com pointed out recently. And, of course, they too must meet inside the Green Zone where, Rory Carroll of the Guardian observes, "the 10,000 Iraqis who also live in the zone need passes to enter and must negotiate several checkpoints, as if they are in quarantine." Even the legislators are not immune from the indignities of occupation. As Carroll reports:
"Last week an assembly member named Fattah al-Sheikh said he was roughed up and humiliated by US troops on his way in. One allegedly grabbed him by the throat, another handcuffed him, and a third kicked his car. 'I was dragged to the ground,' he told parliament, weeping. 'What happened to me represents an insult to the whole national assembly that was elected by the Iraqi people. This shows that the democracy we are enjoying is fake.'"
Juan Cole offered the following on this incident: "[It] will seem minor to most Americans and few will see this Reuters photograph [of the legislator wiping away his tears] reprinted from al-Hayat... But such an incident is a serious affront to national honor, and Iraqi male politicians don't often weep." Naturally, Brigadier General Karl Horst of the 3rd infantry division "expressed regret" and promised "a thorough investigation"; but we've just seen, in the case of kidnapped Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena and Nicola Calipari, the agent who died on the Baghdad Airport road after rescuing her, how such investigations generally turn out -- even when those who have suffered at American hands are citizens of the administration's second closest ally, Italy, with its government in desperate shape and its deployment in Iraq at stake.
This seems to be more or less the state of things -- impunity and quiet desperation -- as the Bush administration tries to keep the world it dreamed of dominating under some kind of control; and yet, as Michael Schwartz has made clear, it faces a daunting task simply keeping boots on the ground in Iraq. By the way, General Eric Shinseki's prewar comments -- which more or less got him laughed out of Washington by the neocons -- that we would need "several hundred thousand troops" to succeed in a post-war, occupied Iraq have often been quoted by critics, who invariably point out how right he was. I've never, however, seen anyone explain where exactly those 200,000-300,000 extra troops were going to come from. What we can now see is that, before the invasion of Iraq ever began, the Pentagon had already traded in those boots-on-the-ground for its high-tech army. (This is why, as the Boston Globe reported recently, ill-prepared Air Force and Navy personnel find themselves assigned to duties like "protecting supply convoys traveling along Iraq's violent roadways" -- and dying.)
It wasn't simply that Rumsfeld was wrong in his decision. After all, to do otherwise than he did, he would have had to strip the empire of troops. I suspect, given the numbers, that he had little choice -- of course, he and his cronies also believed in those strewn flowers and that "cakewalk" -- and that Shinseki's "several hundred thousand" statement was his way of saying exactly what they didn't want to hear: Don't do it, guys! So much for retrospect. As for the future, the Bush administration, backed into a military corner, may turn its thoughts to a future draft."
Iraq Watch is a ZNet subsite providing alternative news and analysis of past, present and ongoing events, conflicts and crises in Iraq.
"Unexpectedly perhaps, the rural-urban division evaporates when it comes to malnutrition, with children no more malnourished in the countryside than in the towns and cities. Ready access to locally produced food and higher incidence of breastfeeding provide at least some protection for rural children who, according to the survey, lag behind in so many other areas."And if remember what I have been said
"The amount of these foods sections are insufficient for ordinary person, but it supported the poor families, and it did prevent malnutrition in Iraq to an acceptable level."The report above spoken about specific area ( The governorate of Mesan) in southern and central Iraq.
"So you're basically saying malnutrition was not a major problem during the "sanctions" period of 1991-2003?"It is definitely a problem, specially when added to lack of other food stuffs not involved in the program of (oil-for-food and drugs), the lack for drugs, for sanitation specially in the rural areas, and other goods necessary for ordinary living.
"The MICS also reveals serious problems in rural areas, where only half the people have access to a water supply from a network, public tap or well, compared to 96 per cent of people living in towns and cities. Only 34 per cent have a sanitary type of latrine, compared to 97 per cent of the urban population. Immunization rates are some 10 to 15 per cent lower in rural areas and the survey found similar gaps in the proportion of rural children who have received Vitamin A supplements and on the numbers entering primary school."But the level of vaccination was satisfactory:
"The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey does reveal some positive, as well as negative, trends. About half of all children surveyed had received at least one dose of Vitamin A, and immunization coverage remains adequate, with at least 80 per cent of children aged one to two years immunized against measles. The survey reveals no significant gender disparities between boys and girls in any of the areas examined. "Thank you for the link to this report anon.
"You mention security as a problem. Did security in Mosul become worse after Falluja? "Yes, it become worse, I guess, there were two reason for that;
"Is is there any real improvement in security in Mosul recently? Are Iraqis in Mosul becoming more safe or less safe? And do you see any benefit to security from recent meetings of the elected assembly? Is the political situation becoming more acceptable or less acceptable to most people in Mosul?"Yes there is a clear improvement in security during the last weeks, but from yesterday and this morning there are a lot of explosions and shots in our neighborhood. There was an explosion of bombed car less than 100 m from our house, thanks God we were out of the house at that time. We don't know the exact situation right now.
"Truth Teller, tell me the meaning of your words "the situation of vaccination in Iraq. It was perfect before the war." Do you really know of what you speak? That goes completely against what the world now knows and understands."Read the above answers, I think it will satisfy your inquiry. The rest of your questions were answered by John, I think.
"Are you suggesting that your country was better off under the rule of Saddam? "It is not fair to compare the condition right now with that under the rule of Saddam!!
"But in my opinion if your country is so much worse now maybe they should free Saddam and let him get it back to the good life you all enjoyed!"I will not comment on this phrase. Ask your government. Who asked for the occupation.
"I don't believe in the statements by Bush saying we are in Iraq to bring "freedom and democracy" any more than I believed the "Saddam has WMDs and is a threat to the USA" crap.You said all what I have to say. But in better English than mine. Thank you.
According to what Perle said the other day to the US Senate, they were fooled about the WMDs because of "double agents".... which means double agents are influencing and directing our federal government!
And no appologies from any damn one of them... to Americans or Iraqis! They don't give a rip who dies, as long as they make a bunch of money."
Note to moderators-- this is an e-mail that is intended to be spread around.
Dear Friends,
I have been out of touch. I have been in Iraq and would like to
share a little of my story with you today.
I got back from Iraq a few weeks ago where I stayed inside the city of Falluja and lived with the refugees of that city for over two weeks. I decided to go there because it seems to be the heart of the trouble in Iraq and the place to see if any sense or peace can be found. I had also heard that the city had 250,000 citizens in it who
were told to leave when my government attacked, yet there had been no stories of their situation in our media. As an American, I felt responsible for this and decided to take a look myself.
On February 10th 2005 I flew into Iraq and drove to the city of Falluja. For over two weeks I was a resident and a refugee of Falluja and I am honored and privileged for that experience. They hosted me in their homes, and cared for me because they believed that I was there to listen to them and to honestly bring home their stories to the American people. I came to Falluja without military escort or armed protection in any way. I think because of this they thought I was crazy, but they honored what they thought was courage and they trusted me. Trust means everything there and they look deep into your eyes as they decide who you are. I lived with them and listened to their stories. They told me they do not trust American journalists to accurately tell the story of Iraq. They believe that the American public does not know what is really happening there, and that if they did they would feel differently about the war. They feel that the American people are their brothers and sisters and they are asking them for help. They wanted me to tell you their story.
The horrors of war have been brought to the people of Falluja. The people there say the city had 500,000 people in it, not the 250,000 quoted by our media. The refugees told me that they were given one week notice to leave the city. After three days, they were told they could no longer drive out, they had to walk. No camps were established for them and no refugee location was given. There was no planning by the American government for the people, no food, no shelter and no water. They were just told to leave or be killed. Anyone who stayed in the city after one week would be considered a terrorist and would be killed.
For five months these people have been living in any location they could find, nothing was established for them in the surrounding areas of the Falluja countryside. They are living in tents in the mud, schools, abandoned chicken coups, burned out buildings, cars and other buildings that people were not using or where others have
made room for them. The weather is bad, with much rain and it is very cold. When they were told to leave the city, it was summer and they were not dressed for this cold and many could not carry out their clothes. Some lucky children are going to school in tents and all the classes have been shortened to 2 hours per day. Food is
short and they are eating what the farmers grow and the surrounding community can spare. Again, even after five months they have received no outside aid from either the American government or the new Iraqi government.
The city itself has been devastated. Most houses have been seriously damaged, with about 65% of them totally destroyed. Evidence of depleted uranium (DU) shells is everywhere. This leaves radioactive contamination behind which has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. (See note1). Unexploded ordinance is a common sight. Many residents who were there speak of chemical weapons, napalm, cluster bombs and
phosphorous used by the Americans. These are all illegal weapons and considered war crimes by the international community. Many of the houses were fired, meaning that the troops burned them down after searching them. Many houses with white flags and markings stating "Family Here" were destroyed.
Some families who had nowhere to go stayed in the city during the fighting and have paid dearly. I interviewed many people who were there and their stories will live forever in my mind. Here are some samples:
· A mother whose son was killed by DU shells. He was in his bed sleeping when the shells came through the walls.
· A father who at 65 years of age was shot during a raid of his house, whose son was arrested during that raid and has not been seen since (he states that his son was not a fighter.)
· A 17 year old girl who hid under her bed with her 13 year old brother during a raid of her house and witnessed her father, her cousin, and her two sisters 18 and 19 years old, all shot to death.
She hid for three more days with the dead bodies of her family and then they returned and shot her and her brother after finding them under the bed. Her brother died. She survived and told me her story.
· A Family of ten who lived through all the fighting. The kids were 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12. They were a mess. These kids will never be ok. Their faces were marked with open and oozing sores and they were exhibiting serious signs of emotional damage.
There is presently very little medical aid available to the residents and refugees, and again, no aid has been provided to the refugees in the surrounding area. The medical centers in the city have been destroyed and have not been rebuilt. The main hospital has been reopened, but to get there you have to walk, as the ambulances are still being shot by the Americans and the Iraqi National Guard. The doctors have been beaten and their lives have been threatened by the Iraqi National Guard. These are the security forces that the Americans are training. The new government has warned them not to talk to any journalists about the conditions in Falluja. They
understand this threat to be very real and a direct threat on their lives and the lives of their families.
To walk to the hospital you must go through checkpoints, sometimes through fighting, and only at certain daylight hours. The checkpoints are manned by the Iraqi National Guards and they are very hostile to the residents of Falluja. When we were at the hospital, an old man died of a heart attack because he was not allowed through the checkpoint. A woman gave birth in the ambulance because they would not let the ambulance back to the hospital after 5 pm and instead turned it away with her in labor.
We delivered by hand the medical aid provided by some of you to the hospital in Falluja. Me and one Iraqi woman, WE were the international medical aid to Falluja. We carried these boxes one at a time through the checkpoints, across the bridge and into the hospital. They would not let us drive in, we had to walk these boxes in. We did it every day for a week, one box at a time.
All of the people I talked to had messages to the American people.
They said: "We did not attack you! We have done nothing to the Americans. Why have you done this to us?"
These are the people who hosted me, fed me, and worried about my safety. They took care of me and I will never forget their generosity, compassion and grace. They want peace with America and they want the fighting to stop. They feel they are the ones being attacked and that the Americans are the terrorists. They see absolutely no justification for this war and were constantly asking me to explain how the American people can support these acts against a civilian population. For the first time in my life, I was ashamed to be an American.
There are so many more stories to tell you and I will be making a film about it all. But for now, what I want you to know is that I spent two weeks in the heart of the beast. The place where our government and media said is the heart of the resistance, terrorists and Saddam Loyalists, and guess what; the place is full of people. People like you and me. Kids are everywhere. The average Fallujan family has 10 people in it. That means about 8 kids. 500,000 people in the city, you do the math. That is a lot of kids.
There are fighters in Falluja. That is a fact. But they are surrounded by some 490,000 innocent people. As a country, we have decided the damage to the innocents is worth the end result, whatever that may be. These people are being shattered by this very serious situation that they have no control over. They are the
innocent victims of this war.
I cannot tell you what to do. This is a story of just one area in Iraq. These stories are all over the area we call the Sunni Triangle. But I was there and lived with these people and they taught me about love, forgiveness, truth and compassion. They, after all that has happened to them, still have the ability to differentiate between the acts of an enemy and the people of a nation. They cry out to us to save them from the ignorance that has brought this destruction on them. They have suffered 33 times 9/11. Over 100, 000 Iraqis have died at the hands of the American invasion (note 2) and still they say that they have nothing against the American people. This is grace. I learned from these people how to find peace. By deeply listening to my "enemy" I have found that the real enemy is ignorance and fear and acting from that place ofweakness.
I will never forget the people of Falluja.
Thank you for listening to them.
Your Friend,
Mark Manning
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's wildly popular new television hit features a nightly parade of men, most with bruised faces, confessing to all kinds of terrorist and criminal acts.
''Terrorism in the Hands of Justice" is the Iraqi government's slick new propaganda tool; its televised confessions, police say, aim to discredit the armed resistance and advertise the government's success at cracking down on gangs.
If it is meant to showcase a brave new Iraq, the television show is starkly reminiscent of the bad, old Iraq. Part ''Oprah Winfrey Show" and part ''Cops" -- with a strong flavor of Saddam Hussein-era strong-arming -- the show airs six nights a week on the state-run Iraqiya network.
Since its debut a month ago, ''Terrorism" has become a fixture in Iraq's cafes and living rooms. Iraqi government officials brag that the show has ruined the image of jihad, or holy war, in the country, exposing the resistance as a racket of street criminals and thugs who attack Americans and Iraqi security forces for pay.
It also raises a host of questions about Iraq's treatment of the suspects and the reliability of their confessions.
The bruised, swollen faces and hunched shoulders of many of the suspects suggest they have been beaten or tortured. The neat confessions of terrorist attacks at times fit together so seamlessly as to seem implausible. And the suspects are presented to the public without any legal process to protect them, presumed guilty, with no word about rule of law as a weapon in the arsenal against terrorism. US officials have sidestepped questions about the program airing on Iraqiya, a network still run by an American contractor hired by US occupation officials nearly a year ago.
There is no question, however, about the program's popularity and wide reach. Men at cafes debate the details of certain gang members from ''Terrorism." Others interrupt soliloquies about recently murdered relatives to declare: ''I expect to see his killers on TV." The show aims to change the minds of Iraqis who see insurgents as noble, patriotic Muslims.
Powerful politicians have blasted the show: Mohsen Abdul Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni party that gets support from Arab nationalists, tribes, and the insurgency, called a press conference recently to accuse the show of airing lies, outraged not that a party member was presented as a terrorist, but that the man confessed that he drinks alcohol and does not pray.
Footage is provided by the Interior Ministry and edited by state-owned Iraqiya. After the US invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority restarted the state-owned Iraqi television network as the Iraqi Media Network and renamed the main state channel ''Iraqiya."
Colonel Adnan Abdurahman, the Iraqi police official in charge of producing taped confessions for the show, dispatches a camera crew wherever police commandos make a lot of arrests. In the last week, his staff has filmed confessions in Mosul, Baqubah, and Baghdad
''Previously Iraqi people saw the resistance as fighting the occupation," Abdurahman said. ''But when people saw how they talk, and the details of their actions, they became despicable in the eyes of Iraqi society. They're not resistance. None of them say they are fighting Americans. They are killing Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police, only Iraqis."
In the show's opening montage, the theme song from ''1492: Conquest of Paradise" by Vangelis plays over images of hooded members of Tawhid and Jihad about to execute an American hostage in an orange jumpsuit, a bloodied corpse, and finally two smiling Iraqi children holding paper signs that say ''No to Terrorism."
Then a police special forces trooper in camouflage uniform and a red beret extols the work of ''our brave, noble Iraqi law enforcement brothers."
Who are the perpetrators of the daily bombings and ambushes that have killed hundreds of civilians, Iraqi police, and soldiers?
According to the taped confessions, the answer is, essentially: lowlifes.
The fighters almost never describe themselves as patriots or holy warriors; they say they fight for pay. Many of the men admit to homosexual acts, considered particularly shameful in Iraqi culture. They frequently admit to rape and pedophilia, and clips often end with the unseen interrogator excoriating the detainee for having no honor.
On a recent episode, alleged members of an insurgent cell from Mahmoudiya -- a town south of Baghdad in the dangerous ''Triangle of Death" --admitted to murdering and raping several Iraqis.
A man who identified himself as Azawi Hassan Azawi said the leader of a criminal cell induced him to kidnap and kill a young boy by offering Azawi his sister in marriage.
Another man, identified as Hassan Mahdi Hassan al-Kafaji, said he used to fight in the Saddam Fedayeen militia. After the war he joined Tawhid and Jihad, the jihad group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as a killer for hire; he said he pops pills before each mission. ''They pay me $100 or $150 for each person I slay," Kafaji said
Talal Ra'ad Ismail al-Abassi came next; he said he led an insurgent cell in Mosul.
According to the interrogator, Abassi had been imam of a mosque but was fired by religious authorities under Hussein for having sex with men inside his mosque.
Abassi said his group had killed a dozen Iraqi ''collaborators" -- once a leader can claim 10 kills, he becomes an ''emir," or prince -- to earn $1,500 a month from Saudi financiers of the insurgency. ''I do not believe in jihad in Iraq," Abassi told the camera. ''It was important for my group to kill enough people that I could become an emir and get the $1,500 salary."
On another episode, a group of men from Samarra took responsibility for a series of strikes that killed Iraqi police and interpreters for US forces. In quick succession, the men detailed how they were paid less than $200 to kill and mutilate five Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
Qahtan Khalid, the last man to appear before the camera, was skinny and hunched over, his face more bruised and sunken than the rest. He said he was a policeman who had collaborated with insurgents in 10 killings. ''I joined them so they would not slaughter me," he said.
Yesterday Khalid's father told the Agence France-Presse wire service that Interior Ministry police commandos delivered his son's corpse to him.
The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry has opened an investigation.
US and Iraqi officials said that airing confessions on television is completely legal.
The 2004 State Department's Human Rights report, which was released two weeks ago, noted that hundreds of cases of alleged torture are pending against the Iraqi government. ''Reportedly, coerced confessions and interrogation continued to be the favored method of investigation by police," the report said.
Mishan Jabouri, a Sunni tribal politician elected to the new national assembly on Jan. 31, said he had evidence that the confessions are bogus.
A constituent from Mosul wrote Jabouri last week to say that his brother appeared on the show on Feb. 22, and confessed to killing four men. But the names of the victims he listed were all relatives who are still living.
''All these deceased are alive and not dead. They are ready to stand in front of your excellency," Muthana Abdullah Khalil wrote. ''I don't know the reason that led my brother to these untrue confessions, but we are ready to bring the living dead in front of you to prove our allegations."
Abdurahman, the police colonel who provides the confession footage, dismisses such accusations. The judicial system will punish any police who torture suspects or elicit false confessions, he said, impatiently brushing aside questions about the treatment of detainees.
''Our work is being appreciated. That's the biggest objective," he said. ''People are demanding that the cruelest punishment be inflicted on those shown on TV."
"yesterday I visited one of my relative, who was arrested for suspicious of being terrorist, he appeared on the TV and confessed during the inreview that he killed so many people and did other offensive acts. When we asked him how did they released you and you did so and so, he answered that the police officers had tortured him and beat him almost to death, and dictated the answers for him befor asking them, and forced him to say that confession in the TV conversation."This remind me in a note from one of the commenter to my post "In the hand of justice" who said "In the west it is believed better to release 10 suspected criminals than to mistakenly punish one innocent. Without indisputable evidence or testimony even the most evil and vile people are set free."
GLOBAL ECONOMICS DE-MYSTIFIED
SOCIALISM:
You have two cows, and you give one to your neighbor.
COMMUNISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and gives you some milk.
FASCISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and sells you some milk.
NAZISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both and shoots you.
BUREAUCRATISM:
You have two cows, the Government takes both, shoots one, milks the otherand throws the milk away.
TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM:
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, andthe economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow dropped dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clevercow cartoon image called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eatonce a month, and milk themselves.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION:
You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge others for storing them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim fullemployment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION:
You have two cows. You worship them.
A BRITISH CORPORATION:
You have two cows. Both are mad.
A DUTCH CORPORATION
STOP: The cows are not ready yet
Hassan in his first post write about some strange structure of iraqi personality. It is hard to confess that he was write about most of what he said. I have to add that iraq personality is somehow differ from others.
Some called it double personality, not like schizophrenia, they did that intentionally, propably the causes is related to their cultural and educational as well as environmental backgrounds.
There is some thing unique to the Iraqi people, and that they like challenges and don't accept to loose, but they will not accept to win without opposition.
simple example; few days ago, there were a severe shortage of fuel, kerosine and gasoline, there is a long line on the gas stations , the cars arranged in 3-4 lines, only one line is enter the station, so at the enterance there were a mess, every one wants to enter first, some time they fight with guns for that, but if you were in line and stoped to let the one beside you to enter first, he will refuse and insist that you will enter first. This behaviour will be applied to different aspect of daily life. Between the good guys he is the best, between the bad he is the worst.
They do silly things and they know for sure that those things are wrong.
Other thing, is that the people here, accept any thing they heard, especially if this thing meets their wishes, or close to their believes.
I remember a funy story happened about fifty years ago,
at that time the peoples were very simple, there were no TV, even the radio set was new and only limited persons have radios in their houses, I was a child at that time and I remeber the story very clearly.
I was with my father in his place of wark in the downtown, we noticed a lot of peoples go in hurry toward the main police station (called at that time the general police center, because it contains all the divisions of police even the traffic police), some people are comming back with strange expression on their faces, a woman stopped near us and started to explain what happened, "there is a man changed to a donkey, the police took him (the donkey) to the general center, I saw him sitting on a chair there" the woman said in confidence !!.
off coarse no body beleive her but the people still going to that direction in waves.
My father asked me to go there and look what is the matter. I saw a hundreds of people in front of the general center, the police men pushing them back, there was an officer told the peoples that there were nothing, it is only a rumer. But they still there looking for mor news.
Later we heard the real story.
A police man trying to arrest a man who was guiding a donkey behind him, the man escaped leaving the donkey, the police man took the donkey to the police center, people in the way asked him " why you arrested this donkey" he answer joking with them "this is not a donkey, this a man changed into a donkey !"
The simple poor people believed him at once and started to distribute this news. Every body wanted to witness this miracle.
