هذيان

الى
الحبيبة زوجتي
و العراق
و ما تبقى في كأس المنافي


لي بقلبك مهد
يلفني كلما داهمني
برد المنافي
...
العربات خرز
و السكة خيط طويل
يا رب كم علي أن أسبح
كي اصل اليها
...
يتقاسمنا المنفى
أنا و أنت
و ما أن ينالنا التعب
نجد العراق عكاز مكسور

The Wall of Terror

"All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall"

*Roger Waters (outside the wall)

Cheer up Iraqis, federalising Baghdad has begun and the plan of “The Great Wall of Terror” is moving on. The Americans say it is only a temporary measure to curb the sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiis. Al-Maliki shyly ordered the work to be halted but as expected, his words were ignored by the Americans as well as Iraqis working with them in the frail Baghdad security plan. But is it really a temporary measure? History has different thing to say. The Berlin Wall stood almost three decades against the will of the German people until its destruction in 1989. The Israeli wall of separation is also there to stay despite local and international condemnation. in our “Brave New World” where values of Globalization, inter-continental giant companies and Capitalism are prevailing and determined to shape our grandchildren’s future, there seems to be a growing fear from outsiders. This fear was the driving force behind the creation of physical barriers and subsequently segregating communities and creating Ghettos. So the “Wall Mania” is thriving and “Concrete industry” is booming. The United States established a long fence separating its borders from Mexico to prevent “Illegal Immigrants” from entering the sacred American soil. Britain launched its E-Boarders scheme; Saudi Arabia is planning to build a wired fence along its boarders with Iraq to prevent terrorists in Iraq from infiltrating its territories. Another plan is going on its southern boarders with Yemen. United Arab Emirates also wants to do the same on its boarders with Oman to tackle illegal workers hoping to reach Dubai for work. The American legacy in Iraq first started with Paul Bremmer when large “concrete masses” were seen gradually increasing on the streets of Baghdad trying to protect American bases and government buildings from suicide bombers. Iraqis call them “Bremmer’s walls”. Now The Great wall of Al-Ahdamiyah. A kind of collective punishment for the people of this old Baghdadi district who will be segregated from their neighbours and their biometric details will be saved on small chipped IDs in order not to be forged (the same procedure used with Asylum Seekers in the West) and used by “insurgents”. On one hand, The American tried to justify their move towards Ahdamiyah people by saying that the aim behind this wall is to prevent Shiaa death squads and Al-Mahdi gangsters from killing and kidnapping Sunnis. On the other, they tell the Shiaa that the main reason is to prevent Sunni insurgents from hiding in Ahdamiyah and taking its houses as a shelter after they carry their attacks against Shias in neighbouring areas. The last thing that Imams Musa Al-Kadhim and Abu Hanifa Al-Nu'man want to see is their followers killing each others under their names. These two Imams were the victims of the same dictatorial “Abbasid” regime. Abu Hanifa paid his life as a price for his support to Mohammed Bin Abdullah (Known as Thu Al-Nafs Al-Zackiya) Bin Al-Hasan Bin Ali Bin Abi Talib, a revolutionary rebel against the Abbasid regime and a descendent of the Prophet’s Family (Ahlu Al-Bayt). For centuries, Tigris River was the only natural barrier separating the spirits of these two great Imams and the domes of their shrines. In 1920 great revolution of Iraq, Shiaa and Sunni delegates in Ahdamiyah and Khadhimya exchanged visits and united against the British occupation. In 1963, Hadi Hashim Al-Ahdamyy, a veteran Iraqi communist found refuge in Al-Khadhimya and remained there for two nights after the bloody coup of February the 8th, fighting the Ba’athists with his followers (most of them were Shiaa communists) until his capture on the 10th of February when he was tortured to death in the notorious Qasr Al-Nihaya. Othman Al-Ahdamyy, the heroic youngster who rescued seven Shiaa pilgrims from drowning after Al-A’ema bridge stampede and then he himself drowned because of exhaustion. These bright spots in the history of relations between Ahdamiyah people and neighbouring areas should be remembered and learned by the Americans and Al-Maliki's government. We must not allow the Americans to turn Sahat Antar and Omar Bin Abdul-Aziz Street and Al-Gre’aat (where one day most Baghdadis ate Samak Maskouf) and other places in Ahdamiyah to be cut off from Baghdad’s Body and isolated from the Baghdadi community and confined in a large prison. The children in the picture above should not face this giant dead-silent concrete wall when they go to school every morning. This wall must be destroyed in order to let these children go to school and to play with fellow children from neighbouring districts and share a dream of one united Iraq for all Iraqis. A dream that their parents wished to fulfil and their current leaders failed to achieve.

Response from Peter Sluglett on"Sectarianism: Our Miserable Reality"

Dear All,

Please find below the response I had received from Mr. Sluglett about my latest post titled "Sectarianism, our miserable reality". Prof Peter Sluglett is the British historian who was debating this sensitive subject with a group of Iraqi "Academics" on other blogsite.

for details about Prof. Peter Sluglett, please click below:

http://www.hum.utah.edu/display.php?module=facultyDetails&personId=637&orgId=302

Mr. sluglett's response ( in dark blue and bold letters):

(Recently I have noticed that there is a growing trend by many academics, Arabs as well as Iraqis, journalists and even bloggers interested in Iraqi political history, to paint a rosy picture of Iraq prior to the American invasion in 2003. It was a very good tactic, as on one hand, they denounce the whole political process endorsed by the Americans in Iraq and criticises the failure of subsequent Iraqi governments (which is right as things are moving from bad to worse in Iraq now), But on the other hand, these strategies work intentionally to “polish” Saddam and the Ba’ath dictatorship. In addition and through a process of “desensitization”, these people deny, or at least, try to lessen the impact of Saddam’s regime atrocities by comparing them to what is happening now.
I am well aware of the dangers of that and I don’t think I can be accused of doing so.
For example, when Abdul-Bari Attwan of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, was asked in an interview about the mass graves and Saddam’s Mukhabarat torture chambers, he purposefully answered the question by a comparison with what the Americans did in Abu Ghraib prison. These attempts are seriously dangerous as conclude that Iraqis do not deserve a decent, peaceful and prosperous life. Furthermore, it states that we always must be ruled by dictators otherwise we will end up with what we currently have under the American occupation. This is a variant of the strong man theory beloved by, among others, the absurd Majid Khadduri This issue is very complicated and has many aspects that needs to be addressed and discussed thoroughly but I am trying to highlight one fundamental problem that dominated the modern Iraq History: Sectarianism. If you regularly follow popular Iraqi blogs (some are listed on my blog site) and the way they handle the “Sectarianism” issue in Iraqi society, you can admit that most of them try to persuade us that Sectarianism was not known to Iraqis until the Americans invaded Iraq. Ma kan farq baynana etc So it was a post 2003 phenomenon. Obviously nonsense.
Moreover, they insist that previous regimes that ruled Iraq from 1921 to 2003 was not sectarian-built and the Shia of Iraq in particular, were well represented in all parts of the government. Neither of these two things is correct, but it is much more nuanced.
Look at the following excerpts: “The reality is, back then, the British did not use the divide and rule among the Moslem population so you never new who was a Shia and who was a Sunni” Nonsense again “Iraqis at the time and later never considered themselves as Sunni or Shia but as Muslims. That was the reality” Also rubbish “We, Iraqis, do not identify ourselves as Sunnis and Shias, not even as Moslems or Christians, not before the occupation anyway. When asked about our identity we would say: Iraqis. The 1970 Iraqi Constitution, which is still valid, as we do not recognize a constitution written by the occupier, states that Iraq consists of two main ethnic groups: Arabs and Kurds, in addition to Turkmen and other groups. We do not consider a sect or a religion is an identity” Again this is an invention “The Iraqi non-sectarian approach to Iran and Da'wa party and other similar parties was obvious from the fact that most of the Iraqi troops which fought Iran during the 8 years war, were Shias defending "not their faith" but their own country against Iran” There is a certain amount of truth in this “The intifada which took part in the south during the crisis of the Kuwait war and after the withdrawal of the Iraqi army, while the state was at its weakest, was run by the Iranian guards and militias, the same which are conducting now the crimes of mass kidnapping, torturing, and killing.” This reflects an anti-Iranian bias which both does and does not have substance. “All what we hear now is how the Shiites were excluded from the government jobs and the high ranks in the baath party and the Iraqi cabinets under the rule of baath party. We don’t hear about how the Sunnis suffered too, and the Turkumans and the Kurds and everyone”. Again, sentence 1 is fairly accurate and sentence 2 we tried to address in Iraq since 1958 .. The above were extracts from correspondences by Iraqi academics (and one from another popular Iraqi blog) debating the issue of sectarianism with a British historian dealing specifically with modern Iraqi history since the 70s. It is obvious that they deny any sectarian elements in our history especially when it comes to the sensitive issue of Shia and Sunnis. The point is, not to deny sectarianism, but to look and see how it actually functioned. Iraq 1920-6t3 for instance wasn’t Northern Ireland where the largest political fact was the Catholic/Protestant split. Now, let’s look at facts and stop hiding things under the carpet. We have to admit that sectarianism is deeply embedded in our society since the Othoman-Safavid wars era. It was intensified with the creation of modern Iraq in 1921 and it was the ONLY stable Iraqi political phenomenon that successive regimes, including the current government (except Abdul Kareem Qassim’s’ regime) agreed upon. BUT it was a political sectarianism manipulated by the state against its citizens and not obviously apparent (although present) on grass root levels. Again even this seems a bit strong because for most of the time it was a government run by Sunnis rather than a Sunni government.
Covering the aspects of this issue from 1921 until now needs books to be written rather than a blog. Exactly; it also benefits from comparison with Bosnia, Lebanon etc.)

Sectarianism, our miserable reality

Recently I have noticed that there is a growing trend by many academics, Arabs as well as Iraqis, journalists and even bloggers interested in Iraqi political history, to paint a rosy picture of Iraq prior to the American invasion in 2003. It was a very good tactic, as on one hand, they denounce the whole political process endorsed by the Americans in Iraq and criticises the failure of subsequent Iraqi governments (which is right as things are moving from bad to worse in Iraq now), But on the other hand, these strategies work intentionally to “polish” Saddam and the Ba’ath dictatorship. In addition and through a process of “desensitization”, these people deny, or at least, try to lessen the impact of Saddam’s regime atrocities by comparing them to what is happening now. For example, when Abdul-Bari Attwan of Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, was asked in an interview about the mass graves and Saddam’s Mukhabarat torture chambers, he purposefully answered the question by a comparison with what the Americans did in Abu Ghraib prison. These attempts are seriously dangerous as conclude that Iraqis do not deserve a decent, peaceful and prosperous life. Furthermore, it states that we always must be ruled by dictators otherwise we will end up with what we currently have under the American occupation. This issue is very complicated and has many aspects that needs to be addressed and discussed thoroughly but I am trying to highlight one fundamental problem that dominated the modern Iraq History: Sectarianism.
If you regularly follow popular Iraqi blogs (some are listed on my blog site) and the way they handle the “Sectarianism” issue in Iraqi society, you can admit that most of them try to persuade us that Sectarianism was not known to Iraqis until the Americans invaded Iraq. So it was a post 2003 phenomenon. Moreover, they insist that previous regimes that ruled Iraq from 1921 to 2003 was not sectarian-built and the Shia of Iraq in particular, were well represented in all parts of the government. Look at the following excerpts:

“The reality is, back then, the British did not use the divide and rule among the Moslem population so you never new who was a Shia and who was a Sunni”

“Iraqis at the time and later never considered themselves as Sunni or Shia but as Muslims. That was the reality”

“We, Iraqis, do not identify ourselves as Sunnis and Shias, not even as Moslems or Christians, not before the occupation anyway. When asked about our identity we would say: Iraqis. The 1970 Iraqi Constitution, which is still valid, as we do not recognize a constitution written by the occupier, states that Iraq consists of two main ethnic groups: Arabs and Kurds, in addition to Turkmen and other groups. We do not consider a sect or a religion is an identity”

“The Iraqi non-sectarian approach to Iran and Da'wa party and other similar parties was obvious from the fact that most of the Iraqi troops which fought Iran during the 8 years war, were Shias defending "not their faith" but their own country against Iran”

“The intifada which took part in the south during the crisis of the Kuwait war and after the withdrawal of the Iraqi army, while the state was at its weakest, was run by the Iranian guards and militias, the same which are conducting now the crimes of mass kidnapping, torturing, and killing.”

“All what we hear now is how the Shiites were excluded from the government jobs and the high ranks in the baath party and the Iraqi cabinets under the rule of baath party. We don’t hear about how the Sunnis suffered too, and the Turkumans and the Kurds and everyone”.

The above were extracts from correspondences by Iraqi academics (and one from another popular Iraqi blog) debating the issue of sectarianism with a British historian dealing specifically with modern Iraqi history since the 70s. It is obvious that they deny any sectarian elements in our history especially when it comes to the sensitive issue of Shia and Sunnis.

Now, let’s look at facts and stop hiding things under the carpet. We have to admit that sectarianism is deeply embedded in our society since the Othoman-Safavid wars era. It was intensified with the creation of modern Iraq in 1921 and it was the ONLY stable Iraqi political phenomenon that successive regimes, including the current government (except Abdul Kareem Qassim’s’ regime) agreed upon. BUT it was a political sectarianism manipulated by the state against its citizens and not obviously apparent (although present) on grass root levels. Covering the aspects of this issue from 1921 until now needs books to be written rather than a blog. However, there is a document dated 28th October 1965 proves that Sectarianism was a major issue for most Iraqis especially the Shias even before the Baath came to power in 1968.
The document was a letter written by the prominent Shia figure Mohammed Ridha Al-Shabibi to the Prime Minister Abdul-Rahman Al-Bazzaz, expressing his concerns about many problems looming in the political atmosphere at that time. Below is the complete text of the letter in Arabic:

تحية طيبة.. وبعد، يسعدني أن أشير إلى محادثتنا التلفونية الموجزة غداة اضطلاعكم بأعباء المسؤولية وما تضمنته من التمنيات الطيبة لكم بالتوفيق، ويطيب لي كذلك أن اعزز ذلك الحديث بهذه المذكرة الموضحة لطائفة من القضايا والمشكلات الخطيرة التي تواجهها البلاد راجين ان يحالفكم التوفيق في درسها فقرة فقرة، تمهيداً للأخذ بمضامينها قدر الامكان، ومما شجع على تقديم هذه المذكرة في هذا الظرف بالذات ان رئاسة الحكومة يشغلها احد رجال القانون وتلك الخطوة حسنة، واحسن منها ان يكون المسؤول ذا سند شعبي متين وهو امر يساورنا الشك فيه الان.كان الشعور الوطني في العراق يتجلى بالغيرة الوطنية والحب العميق لأرض الاباء والاجداد وكان هذا الشعور الحافز الاول لصيانة وحدة البلاد، ولكن الاحداث والكوارث التي حلت بها نتيجة تصارع الاراء وتضارب الاهواء وتشجيع التفرقة عصفت بهذا الشعور النبيل واقصته الى ابعاد واعماق سحيقة، يخشى ان تتيح للاجنبي المتربص الفرصة للنيل من وحدتنا الوطنية المقدسة، ولم يعد خافياً على احد ان البلاد العراقية تجتازفي ظروفها الحالية مرحلة لا تحسد عليها من مراحل حياتها، وكيف تحسد على مراحل موسومة بكثرة مخاوفها ومشكلاتها، وما يتخللها من شكوك واحتمالات. وقد تسنى لي اخيراً ان اتصل بجمهرة من ابناء البلاد، وان المس مواقع الالم منهم والاحساس بما يخالجهم من سخط وتذمر، وفي وسعي بل ارى ان من واجبي ان اسجل ملخصاً مظاهر ذلك في الفقرات التالية:1- جاء على لسان السيد رئيس الوزراء في مؤتمره الصحفي قوله (ان الحكومة عازمة على اعادة الحياة الدستورية للبلاد واجراء انتخابات حرة وبهذا كما لا يخفى ستنتهي الفترة الانتقالية وتستقر الاوضاع في البلاد ويتمكن الشعب من ممارسة حقه القانوني في انتخاب من يراه صالحاً لادارة البلاد وتحمل مسؤولياتها الجسام).واننا نؤكد على ضرورة القيام عاجلاً بوضع اسس قانون الانتخابات العامة وعرضها على الشعب ليبين رأيه فيها حتى تتم الانتخابات المباشرة خلال فترتها المحددة في الدستور المؤقت، على ان يجري ذلك بإشراف سلطة معروفة بالحياد والاستقامة سلطة تضمن للجمهور حرية الصحافة والرأي والتعبير.2- تناول السيد رئيس الوزراء في مؤتمره الصحفي موضوع الوحدة العربية والاتحاد واجاب عن التساؤلات الكثيرة التي اثيرت حول تصريحاته. وفي رأينا انه مهما كانت اتجاهاتنا السياسية والاجتماعية في القضايا العربية، فان الوحدة الجغرافية ووحدة التاريخ والمصير قادرة في اي وقت على ان تخلق بيننا وحدة عمل، نواجه بها التحديات والمخاطر، ان الوحدة العربية في رأينا هدف يتم باستفتاء الشعب عليه، وان التضامن العربي وسيلة لحمايته.3- ما انفك حكم العراق في عصرنا هذا بالذات مشرباً بالاهواء والاغراض وان كانت تلك الاغراض مقنعة او مغلفة بالفاظ خلابة. ولم يكن الطعن في الحكم المذكور سهلاً، لأنه في ظاهره مستمد من مبادئ بنيت عليها القوانين المرعبة وقد اعتبرت الطائفية بموجب هذه القوانين جريمة تعاقب عليها.. ولكن العبرة ليست بالالفاظ المجردة والتشريعات المقنعة.. بل بالتطبيق السليم والادراك الصائب لروح تلك القوانين، ولم تكن التفرقة الطائفية مشكلة سافرة من مشاكل الحكم كما هي اليوم، ولم تكن مصدراً باعثاً على القلق المستحوذ على الشعب طالما استنكرت التفرقة وكافحتها وطالبت بالاقلاع عن هذا الاسلوب الممقوت، وطالما تنادى المخلصون باتباع نهج اخر تراعى فيه المساواة المطلقة التي اكدت عليها الشرائع السماوية والقوانين الوضعية.
الانتقاص من سياسة التفرقةومن الواضح ان الشعب العراقي انتفض اكثر من مرة على سياسة التفرقة النكراء، وعمل منذ ثورته الاولى عام 1920 على اقامة حكم وطني ديمقراطي يسهم باقامته وينعم في خيراته ابناء الشعب كافة لا يفرقهم عنصر او دين او مذهب.. وقد بارك الشعب ثورة الرابع عشر من تموز وعلق عليها امالاً كبيرة وتوقع المخلصون ان تستأصل جذور النعرات المفرقة باستئصال قواعد الاستعمار وركائزه. غير ان الاحداث الاخيرة برهنت مع بالغ الاسف على انبعاث روح التفرقة بشكل اشد واعنف من ذي قبل بكثير.ولا نذيع سراً اذا قلنا ان كثرة الشعب ساخطة جداً من جراء ذلك، وانها تعتبر كرامتها مهانة وحقوقها مهضومة، ولاسيما وقد وافق ذلك سوء اختيار بعض من يمثلونها في جهاز الحكم. واذا كان من الممكن ان تغض هذه الكثرة الشعبية نظرها عن بعض حقوقها في وظائف الدولة، وترك شبابها المثقف من حملة الشهادات العالية وغيرهم دون عمل، اذا كان من الممكن ايضاً ان تغض هذه الكثرة النظر عن التقصير المتعمد في انعاش مرافقها الثقافية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية، واذا كان من الجائز ان تغض نظرها عن مواقفها المشرفة في الجهاد والتضحية، فانه لا يسعها غض النظر عن التعريض بعروبتها واصالتها وكرامتها واخلاصها للوطن وللدولة التي اقامتها على جماجم شهدائها الابرار بذلك التعريض المثير الذي يلوح به بعض المسؤولين والصحف الاجيرة.هذا ومادامت الحكومة السابقة قد اعلنت عن التزامها الصراحة في القول وتصحيح الاوضاع المنحرفة، بادرنا تذكيرها بهذه الحقيقة، اذ ليست الدولة واجهزتها ووظائفها ومجالات العمل فيها وقفاً على طائفة دون اخرى انما توزع واجباتها حسب الكفاية، ولعل نظرة فاحصة الى الدواوين الكبيرة في الدولة ومن يشغلها تكفي دلالة على سياسة محاباة، خصوصاً وان كثيراً من المقربين محرومون غالباً من المؤهلات والكفايات والاخلاص.4- لاشك ان صيانة الوحدة الوطنية وحقن الدماء واعادة الطمأنينة والسلام الى ربوعنا في الشمال العزيز يتطلب منا درساً دقيقاً للقضية الكردية التي طال عليها الامد، ولما كان العرب والاكراد شركاء في هذا الوطن يتقاسمون غرمه وغنمه، فاننا نرى ان لاخواننا الاكراد حقاً في التمتع بحقوقهم المشروعة، وذلك عملاً بالادارة اللامركزية ضمن الوحدة العراقية، هذا الاساس الذي تقضي ضرورة الاخذ به اسلوباً للحكم في العراق من الناحية الادارية.5- تعرضت النقابات في العراق لمختلف اوجه الضغط السياسي الامر الذي حرفها عن خدمة منتسبيها في حدود صلاحياتها واغراضها المهنية. كما تحملت الفئات العاملة تبعات ذلك ففصل وسجن كثير منهم وحرمت عوائلهم من مصادر عيشها. لذلك وجب على الحكومة ان تعيد النظر في احكام قانون العمل، آخذة بنظر الاعتبار التي ظهرت لدى تطبيق القانون المذكور، وان تفسح المجال لقيام نقابات مهنية تراعي مصالح المنتسبين اليها رعاية حقة.6- لا نريد الدخول في جدل عن الاشتراكية من حيث كونها صالحة او غير صالحة للعراق، ولكننا نكتفي بالرجوع الى حقائق الاشياء، وبما حصل فعلاً من نتائج ليصدر الحكم مبنياً على الواقع دون الخيال، فعند تطبيق القرارات الاشتراكية في 14 تموز 1964 نلاحظ ان اوضاع العراق المالية والاقتصادية تزداد تخبطاً وارتباكاً، زيادة في البطالة وقلة في الانتج وتبذيراً في اموال الدولة وتهريباً لرؤوس الاموال الوطنية وعجزاً في الموازنة.لقد اشار السيد رئيس الوزراء الى طبيعة هذه الاشتراكية بقوله في مؤتمره الصحفي (ان هذه الاشتراكية لم تغير في الوضع الاقتصادي والاجتماعي في البلاد بقدر ما تحسنت احوال طبقة من الموظفين والمنتفعين على حساب الاخرين.اننا نؤمن بالديمقراطية الاقتصادية هي النظام الذي يلائم ظروفنا وحاجاتنا، واننا نؤمن بالعدالة الاجتماعية ونعتبر الفروق الاقتصادية البعدية في مجتمعنا خرقاً لقواعد هذه العدالة، فلهذا يمكن العمل على تقليل هذه الفروق عن طريق توزيع الضرائب وزيادة مكاسب الطبقة العاملة، ووضع خطة شاملة للتنمية الاقتصادية وزيادة الدخل العام.اننا نطالب الحكومة بتدارك ما أدت اليه تلك السياسة المرتجلة من بطالة وذلك بايجاد عمل للعاملين يكفل لهم مستوى من المعيشة يتلائم وكرامة الانسان. كما نطلب اعادة النظر في الاوضاع الاقتصادية مع تعيين مجالات القطاع العام والقطاع الخاص لكي ينصرف المواطنون الى مزاولة اعمالهم بحرية تامة واطمئان كامل.
القطاع الزراعيان القطاع الزراعي في العراق يمثل مصدراً اساسياً من مصادر الثروة العامة، ولقد ظهرت في قانون الاصلاح الزراعي اخطاء ادت الى تخلف الزراعة، لهذا نطلب اعادة النظر في اسس القانون المذكور وذلك في ضوء الاخطاء التي ظهرت في مرحلة التطبيق وندعو للعمل على تطوير شؤون الزراعة وحماية الانتاج وتحديد واجبات الزراع والعمل على تعويض المستوى على اراضيهم ومنهم اصحاب حق اللزمة، اذ اننا لا نقر مبدأ المصادرة مطلقاً.ونطالب بإعادة النظر في موضوع الضرائب خاصة ضريبة الدخل وضريبة الشركات والتعديلات التي جرت عليها اخيراً ونحث على دراسة علمية مبنية على التجارب التي مرت بها تلك القوانين لدى التطبيق ونطالب ابعادة النظر في القوانين الاخرى التي شرعت في ظروف مستعجلة فجاءت مخالفة لاحكام شريعتنا الاسلامية وغير ملاءمة لأوضاعنا وتقالدينا الاجتماعية ان الشريعة الاسلامية هي الاساس الراسخ الذي يقوم التشريع عليه وان اي قانون او انظام يتعارض معها يعتبر تحدياً لشعور الامة وعقيدتها الراسخة.7- لاتزال مفاوضات النفط بين الحكومة العراقية والشركات العاملة في العراق طي الكتمان ولم تعرف تفاصيلها بعد.ومع تقديرنا للجهود التي تبذل لاستخلاص حقوق العراق من الشركات الاجنبية، الا اننا نرى في القانون رقم 80 سنة 1963 وشركة النفط الوطنية مكسباً وطنياً يلزم الحفاظ عليه. لذلك نهيب بالسلطة ان تعرض نتيجة المفاوضات قبل الالتزام بها على ممثلي الشعب حيث تعود الحياة الدستورية الى البلاد ليقول الشعب كلمته فيها.8- كان الهدف الاساسي من تكوين الاتحاد الاشتراكي العربي في العراق ان يضم منتسبي النقابات ومختلف الفئات العاملة، غير ان هذه المنظمة لم يحالفها التوفيق على الرغم من اسناد السلطة لها مادياً ومعنوياً، ذلك لان الاهواء تنازعتها منذ البداية، يضاف الى ذلك انها قامت على مبدأ احتكار العمل السياسي وفكرة الحزب الواحد ولا نقر ذلك منهجاً للحكم في البلاد، ولهذا نطالب بأن تبادر الحكومة الى تعديل القانون الذي قامت بموجبه هذه المنظمة لتتمكن الفئات التي تستمد اراءها من صميم هذا البلد من ممارسة نشاطها السياسي.هذا ووفاء لأمتنا وقياماً بالواجب المفروض علينا وابراء لذمتنا بادرنا الى بيان اهم مشاكل الساعة التي تخالج افكار الجمهور مؤملين ان تعنوا بدراستها وبذلك الجهود في سبيل الوصول الى الحلول السليمة للمشاكل المذكورة كافة، وختاماً نبتهل الى الله العلي القدير ان يسدد خطانا جميعاً انه ولي التوفيق

.محمد رضا الشبيبي

As you can see, the letter is very detailed and discussed various important and sensitive problems which if you look at them even now, forty two years later, many of them are still lingering and unresolved. However; I underlined the points related to the issue of sectarianism as it is our main subject.
1. In the first highlighted sentence, Al-Shabibi clearly stated, contrary to the excerpts mentioned above, that sectarianism is a very obvious political problem at that time more than ever and it is a source of serious concerns to the majority of the people of Iraq. Whether you agree with him or not, this will not change the fact that this issue was a major concern at least for him.
2. In the second highlighted paragraph, he highlighted in details the grievances of the Shiaa population in Iraq (he did not mention the word “Shiaa” in his letter but you can simply realise that he was expressing their worries):
1.He pointed that the majority of the people were already very annoyed and angry because their rights were not preserved and they were “misrepresented” in the government.
2. leaving many of its highly educated young people unemployed, and
3. intentional neglect and underinvestment in its various cultural, economic and social establishments, and
4. Forgetting and ignoring its patriotic role in Iraqi history.
If these grievances were to be tolerated, Al-Shabibi then mentioned that the Shiaa of Iraq can not accept the accusations by some people in “responsible” positions and some newspaper of putting our “U’ruba” (Arabic origins and identity) and OUR LOYALTY TO OUR HOMELAND AND THE STATE under suspicion (this sentence verify that he was addressing the Shiaa of Iraq because Iraqi Sunni Arabs were never accused about their identity or considered as “of suspicious non-Arabic origins”).

Does this letter leave any doubts that “sectarianism” was an adopted policy by the Iraqi government at that time? Can we deny that the Sunni Arabs now are facing nearly the same problems that their Shiaa counterparts suffered from in the last decades? And if you look at the other issues highlighted in this letter, don’t you find them more or less similar to the highly controversial points in the new Iraqi constitution which gave an idea about how different sects in our society are deeply divided? And finally don’t you think that we desperately need someone like Abdul Kareem Qassim to teach those who are in the government how to build bridges between different Iraqis irrespective of their sects, religion or ethnicity? We have to stop lying on ourselves and face our miserable reality.

* details about Mohamed Ridha Al-Shabibi can be found on this website:

http://www.oudnad.net/09/yaser9.php

Our Biggest "April Lie"

When we were kids there was a common tradition in Iraq known as “Kithbat Neesan” or (April’s Lie). In the first few days of April we used to be cautious from believing any surprising or unusual news from friends as we were afraid of being dragged into and caught by “April’s lie” mockery. It was seen within the context of our innocent childhood with no intention to cause any harm but I do not know why we were celebrating lying on each other. In addition, I got no clue where this myth of “April’s Lie” came from and whether other nations have the same tradition of lying and cheating in April every year.
May be for that reason I have not posted anything on the blog for the past ten days, fearing that nobody will believe a word I have written. I left many drafts unfinished and waiting hopefully to be completed and published on the site. No, I am just joking. the main reason behind my hesitation was the rapid developments on the Iraqi scene over the two weeks. These developments proved that “April’s Lie” is not only limited to Iraqi kids but shared by adults and particularly those in the Iraqi government and parliament with their American allies.
April is not like other months in Iraqi history. It is very important for the current government as well as the old regime. Look at the following dates and you will realise the significance of this month. It is already packed with many anniversaries:
1. On the 7th of this month the Ba’ath Party celebrated its sixtieth birthday anniversary.
2. On 17/04/1988, we liberated Al-Faw peninsula from the “Persian Occupation”
3. On 28/04/1937, Saddam Hussein was born.
And there are anther two but not very well famous celebrations:
Baghdad’s day is on the 21st of this month and for those who graduated from Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, the 2nd of April is its day.

And if April was a very important month for Saddam and Ba’athists, it was much more significant for our “new Ba’athists”. Four years ago at this time we celebrated the toppling of the statue of Saddam but later on many Iraqis regrettably were disappointed with what the Americans have brought. The 9th of April is a public holiday since 2003, so another anniversary was added to the already stretched April’s list. However; this does not stop Al-Maliki from “inserting” another celebration. this time is to commemorate “the martyrdom of Mohamed Baqir Al-Sadr and his sister Bint Al-Huda”. In situations like this one, ordinary Iraqis use to say “Kim’let Al-Sib'ha Ou Chanet Bess Ay'zeh Shahool”* (the string of beads now has been completed and it was only lacking the “Shahool”). It is clearly obvious that Al-Maliki’s move was taken to please Muqtada Al-Sadr and his followers who constitute the only mass currently backing the prime minister.

Going back to “April’s lie” tradition and by looking at the above mentioned dates, most of these holidays lack the insight into the present or the future and almost completely indulge themselves in the past. The Ba’ath party is currently banned in Iraq and its ideas of Unity of Arab countries, Freedom of its people and Socialism proved to be the biggest April’s Lie that had never been fulfilled in its 60 year history. About Al-Faw, It was estimated that approximately 50000 Iraqi soldiers were killed and lost in fierce battles in 1986 for the sake of this piece of deserted land while at the same time Saddam rewarded many of Iraqi neighbouring countries with possession of Iraqi soil (the boarders’ settlement with Saudi Arabia). In mid nineties when Iraqis became accustomed to eating animal diet, Iraqi TV channels used to broadcast footages showing the President “The Necessity”, cutting a 4x3 meters cake on his birthday anniversary. In fact we were witnessing and celebrating our humiliating demise. But do things changed with the liberation/occupation of Iraq in 2003. Four years of continuous onslaught and the Iraqi government and the Americans are still coming with “April Lies” convincingly trying to make us believe them. The appointment of Ryan Crocker as the new American ambassador for Iraq replacing Khalil Zad was portrayed by the media as the magical solution for the complicated Iraqi situation whereas in fact Crocker was nothing but like “a Bedouin in a Baghdadi mosque”. With violence erupted in Diywania, curfews imposed in Baghdad and Diywania, destruction of the Sarrafiyah Bridge and the suicide bombing inside the Parliament, the Baghdad security plan seems to be on the verge of collapse and Al-Maliki’s response was only to distract people from thinking about their miseries and keep their attention focussed on past grievances. The absence of a clear prospect for the present and the future drives him and the Americans behind him to glorify events of the past. One American Lieutenant was asked about the tens-of-thousands rally in protest against the occupation few days ago, he exactly did the same thing as Al-Maliki and said “this kind of protest was not allowed for Iraqis before 2003, but now they are free to protest and express their opinions”. Most Arabic regimes and movements, particularly in Iraq, are obsessed by the idea of re-introducing past events and gain from their reflections on the present or the future. Moreover, we always tend to refer to “them” as being an obstacle preventing us from moving forward to achieve a decent and prosperous future. But in fact it is “us” who do not have any clear vision or an ideal framework to work within to achieve our aims. It is “we” who are empty. And if we ask ourselves who is “them”, the answer will be a very long list of enemies like Imperialism, The West, The Zionists…etc. the Iran-Iraq war was simply between two rogue regimes but it has been re-introduced by Saddam as a threat to our “precious” Nationalistic Arab ideals and it has been portrayed as being a war between Persians and Arabs and the diversion to the past was obvious when he decided to name that war “Qadissiyat Saddam”. Khomeini did the same but in a slightly different way. As a religious Shia’ cleric he exploited the concept of Al-Hussain Martyrdom to serve his goals and the Iranian media always referred to Saddam as being “Yazeed” and the Ba’ath regime as “Banu Ummayah”. Likewise, Al-Maliki and the Americans try to hide behind a shield of the past in attempt to free themselves from the responsibility of the current plight of Iraqi people and always try to accuse Saddam and his supporters as the main causes of our crisis. If Saddam himself was executed, what is the point of celebrating the martyrdom of Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadder? He is not the only religious cleric, whether Shia or Sunni, to be tortured and eliminated by Saddam’s brutal regime and also he is not the only Iraqi who was executed by Ba’athists. For how long we are going to gulp our past to escape a confrontation with future challenges and for how long we are going to cope with our government’s lies. It seems to that we are living our ever biggest April’s lie.


* this aphorism is usually mentioned when someone has many complicated problems, very difficult to be solved and waiting eagerly for a glimpse of hope that everything will be fine one day but instead, another miserable thing happens and adds to his ongoing despair. “Shahool” is a big and almost flat bead. Two of them are added to each string of beads to divide it into three equal parts.