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I recently attended a Blues concert in Amman, with my Iraqi friends Uday, Muhanid, and Ali.

Afterwards I went out for a couple drinks with Uday. He seemed a bit despondent while we were out. When I asked him what was up, he explained that things like this concert weren’t so rare in Baghdad just 6 or 7 years ago, and before 10 or 15 years, were really common.

I hope by posting a small clip of a concert in Amman featuring a Spanish Blues band I can help to better describe the nuanced reality of life in the Middle East.

When we talk about the situation in Iraq, we need to be clear that not only have they lost stability and security and descended into sectarianism and in-fighting, they’ve also lost their access to a wide array of cultural heritage, from as near as the Tigris and Furat to as far away as Japanese Butu dancing and American metal bands.

Please visit http://aliveinbaghdad.org for more information about Iraq, and consider making a donation to support our work, we are totally funded by donations, so if you want our work to continue, be generous!

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Brian Conley and Omar Abdullah

BAGHDAD, Jul 3 (IPS) - More than three years after the invasion, Iraqis seem increasingly to want to leave the country. Reports come pouring in about Iraqi refugees overwhelming Syria, Jordan and other nations in the region.

Last month the United Nations released a report that more than 150,000 Iraqis have been displaced since February.

Iraqis who do not have a passport head for the Mansur Passport Office in Baghdad. Most spend the night there to be in with a chance.

“I had to spend the night in here just to make sure I’ll be listed as one of the first 50 who arrived here,” Um Ali, a 40-year-old mother of four told IPS. “If they don’t list my name in the first 50, I will lose my chance to get a passport, and I’ll be forced to wait until I have a second chance.”

Um Ali explained the system; no one at the passport office would.

“Each neighbourhood in Baghdad has one day in the month for it. For example, Mansur has the tenth and al-Khadra is on the ninth and it goes on like this for six months, and if someone loses his turn, he will be forced to wait another six months.”

[Editor’s note: Please click “read more” under the title line, to view the full post]

But no one believes this system works perfectly well. Several people in the queue suggested that the government hands out about 100 passports a day, the rest sold on a sort of black market.

Sataar Jubouri and his wife Najla were lucky enough to make the first 50. They had slept the night in their car, just round the corner from the office.

“We slept near the trash and it smelt so bad, and there was flies all over the place,” Najla said. But that was better than violence, she said.

The violence seems the biggest reason driving Iraqis out of the country.

“My two brothers were killed in the violence after the shrine bombing (in Samarra on Feb. 22) and two of my best friends were killed right in front of my eyes, so I think this is enough reason for me leave the country,” said Um Ali.

Sataar and Najla want to leave because Sataar’s sister was kidnapped by one of Iraq’s many criminal gangs.

“They asked for a huge sum of money that we couldn’t afford,” he said. “We couldn’t find the money in time, so that group raped her, then they killed her. I don’t want the same thing to happen to my wife. I can’t even imagine such a thing might happen to my wife.”

Najla sounded shaken by the killing of her sister-in-law. “It was a big shock for all of us. It was something we just couldn’t take. It was a big crime and I hope god will punish them for what they did.”

Not everyone was lucky enough to be among the first 50. One man got into a scuffle with a police officer because families were being given priority over individuals.

“He doesn’t want to place my name on the list, and if I don’t get my name on that list I’ll be forced to wait for the next five months,” said the man, Mazen.

“I don’t think this is fair. He says family first so that means I will have to wait until all the families in Iraq sign their names on this list before I get my passport. Just because I don’t have a family doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have the right to have a passport.”

Sataar and his wife are a little more hopeful, though they do not know what they will do with themselves once they leave Iraq. “If I die from hunger outside Iraq, I’ll feel a lot better than being afraid day and night of being killed by some unknown person,” Sataar said.

Curfew in Baghdad normally starts at 8 pm most days. This means no cars are allowed on the streets after 8pm, and you shouldn’t be wandering outside your house without extremely urgent business.

These days Iraqis tend to be at home by 5 or 6pm.

Before the war, even during the sanctions, Mansur was a hip, lively, exciting area. Think of it as the East Village or Mission District of Baghdad.

Now the curfew begins at 11am on Fridays, and doesn’t end until 6am Saturday. This means Iraqis are prevented from travelling the city for almost 24 hours one day a week.

When you include this with the other 60 hours Baghdad residents are under curfew, this means you are under curfew about half of your life in Baghdad.

The rest of the week curfew starts at 8pm and runs until 6am.

See some photos of curfew’s affect in Mansur here!

Iraqis are fleeing their country in record numbers. One of the biggest hindrances to leaving, however, is the passport department.

Only fifty passports are given each day, and each area of Baghdad is apportioned a specific day for their neighborhood.

Because there are so many neighborhoods, you must wait six months for your day to come around again. This difficult process leads Iraqis to spend the night in the street, just to be the first in line for their passport.

Here are some photos from our Iraqi correspondent Omar Abdullah, depicting the scene outside the Passport Department.

View the Photos Here!

[Editor’s note: Brian will be travelling Monday and Tuesday. If possible he will upload a new video early Tuesday morning.]

One of the most unusual things happening in Baghdad is the curfew which it starts from 8pm and ends at 5am. On Friday it starts from 11am and ends at 4pm to protect the people who go to mosques for prayers. I asked some people about the curfew and there answers were different. Ahmad, 21 years old, said “Now we don’t have night in Baghdad and you know that the night is most beautiful part of the day.”

I asked a woman, her name is Thekraa, about her opinion of the curfew and she said, “I think Iraq will be in a good condition if the government removed the curfew because I don’t see any differences between the old security plan and the new one. The curfew locks us in our home at night time and I think 8pm is a little too much. If the government will make it start at 12am it would be good for us as people live in Baghdad.”

I asked an Iraqi police officer, who refused to say his name, about the new security plan and about the curfew and he said “I think the curfew is good for the people’s safety but it prevents them from shopping at night time and I hope Iraq becomes clear from terrorists and clear from bombs so everybody can come and go safely. I’ll be very happy if this thing comes soon ”

Well for me I want everybody in Iraq to become happy, because the people here are really sad from what is happing in their country.

Brian Conley and Omar Abdullah*

BAGHDAD, Jun 26 (IPS) - The trial of Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein has been wracked with controversy and spectacle. Now entering its final phase, the question for all Iraqis and the world is whether he will be executed for the deaths of 148 Shiites, killed in Dujail in 1982, as requested by prosecutors.

Perhaps the better question is how Saddam’s execution will help Iraq move forward.

In the past, “The rule of the gun was more powerful than the rule of law in Iraq,” wrote David Crane in ‘The Jurist,’ a web-based legal news service, earlier this year.

“Saddam’s trial could reverse this and begin a process whereby the Iraqi people will begin to respect the rule of law. Get it wrong and the fledgling democracy that is the new Iraq is in trouble,” he added.

In fact, many Iraqis see too many similarities between Saddam’s trial and that of other former Iraqi government officials: the allies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Said and Crown Prince Abdul-Ilah.

In 1958, after Abdul Karim Qasem’s forces overthrew the monarchy, he established a court to try ministers and members of the army who collaborated with Britain and the king. This court, known as the al-Mahdawi Court, essentially conducted show trials, say lawyers and historians.

“It was just a kind of comedy or theatre for these people. They judged the leaders of the regime, but at least it was a national, Iraqi court,” a member of the Iraqi Lawyers Association told IPS. This attorney, who refused to give his name out of fear for his family, met with IPS in Amman, Jordan.

Like the trials by the al-Mahdawi Court, Saddam’s trial, too, seems to reflect theatre more than jurisprudence, Muhammad Tareq, director of the Monitoring Human Rights in Iraq network, told IPS.

“These two courts were both established by the enemies of the previous regime. They are not independent. What is the difference? Mahdawi pushed for execution, the same with (this) new trial,” Tareq said. “We must establish an independent committee to bring all the evidence out and move toward a real democracy.”

The new Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) was established to try Saddam Hussein, and civil society groups have said it has some disturbing similarities to the al-Mahdawi Court, and it is difficult to perceive fairness due to these similarities.

“Two of the crimes listed in Article 16 appear to have their origins in the military tribunal after the 1958 revolution. This tribunal, known as the Mahdawi Court, conducted overtly political trials, more concerned with discrediting the monarchy than with establishing the guilt or innocence of the accused. It is troubling that these offences have been included in the substantive jurisdiction of the SICT,” says Human Rights Watch in an October 2005 briefing paper.

Saleh Mutlaq, head of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, the second largest Sunni party in Iraq’s parliament, also questioned the veracity of the court, suggesting that Saddam should have been tried in an international tribunal.

“We do not think this government is fair or this judge and this court are fair. The best thing is to take Saddam outside Iraq and question him in a respectable court, then he will get what he should get. Questioning Saddam in this way is an insult for the Iraqis and it is an insult to the law in Iraq,” he told IPS in Amman.

In addition, Mutlaq and others said the Iraqi governing council should have appointed non-Iraqi judges with experience in these types of tribunals, as allowed by Iraqi statutes.

It is difficult to understand why even this small concession was not made to provide the trial greater legitimacy in the international community, observers said. Were the trial to employ Iraqi prosecutors and investigators, as well as internationally recognised justices, its impartiality would be much harder to assail, Mutlaq said.

Throughout the trial, Iraqis and other Arabs throughout the Middle East have been glued to their televisions, radios, and even computers for the latest updates. Early on, Saddam and his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim made repeated outbursts, some of which made it to the international press.

Much of the excitement and spectacle in the trial has been reported only to the Arab world. When four defence witnesses testified that at least some of the 148 in question were still alive, for instance, judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman had them arrested.

Other, more sobering, news has made the world press. To date, three defence lawyers have been assassinated. The remaining jurists live in Amman and fly to Iraq only for the trial. The Iraqi government will not even provide the first name of the prosecuting attorney who presented its side of the closing arguments.

Non-governmental organisations and anti-death penalty activists have come out to oppose the capital punishment for Saddam, but have focused mainly on the egregious issues surrounding his trial.

An influential Vatican official, Cardinal Paul Poupard, has asked those sentencing Saddam Hussein to abstain from the death penalty. “No one can consider himself the proprietor of another’s life and death, except the Creator,” he told a Catholic web site.

Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament for Italy’s Rosa nel Pugno party, called on the Iraqi government not to kill Saddam.

“The crimes Saddam Hussein is charged with are extremely serious. The answer, though, lies not in capital punishment,” he said in a released statement.

“Those who, like Saddam Hussein and like Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor, denied their own people the right to exist, still have a right to a fair trial, preferably one conducted under international jurisdiction: a trial that ‘brings to justice’ whilst fully respecting the rights of the accused and without resorting to the death penalty,” he said.

Saleh Mutlaq disagreed, saying that if Saddam is guilty of the charges, then he should be put to death. However, Mutlaq added he would only support such a sentence from a legitimate court.

On July 10, the defence will present its closing arguments, but the world now is preparing itself for the eventual outcome of Saddam’s trial.

If Saddam is condemned to die, the Kurds hope his sentence will be postponed until they can prosecute him for crimes committed in their region. If events up until now are any measure, Arabs can be expected to continue to tune into the trial in large numbers.

Iraqis such as Abu Salih, whose brother was killed by the Saddam government in 1992, are looking forward to the day when the former president is executed. “I want him to die just like he killed my brother, and I think this is justice because if a man kills anyone that man deserves to die.”

Perhaps many in the world hope for a third way, where justice will be served without adding Saddam to Iraq’s body count.

[Editor’s note: Sunday night there was an attack by gunment in Baladiyat Refugee Camp, a camp for Palestinian Refugees in Iraq, that is situated in East Baghdad, on the border with Sadr City. Our correspondent Omar reached two residents by phone, here are their accounts of the events.]

Mr. Mohamed Jamal

51 year old Palestinian man married to an Iraqi woman

Omar: Sir, can you tell us a little bit about the Baladiyat Camp in Iraq and how did you get here?

Mr. Mohamed: The baladyat is a camp for Palestinians refugee in Iraq who came from Palestine in the year 1948 and those people were forced to leave there country by the Israel forces, then UN inhabit these buildings the make us live in it.

Omar: So what happened after the war?

Mr. Mohamed: Most of the Iraqi people think that Saddam used to give us money and power all the time, but in real there was no money and no power that what make most of the Iraqi people hate us so much.

Omar: Were there any abuses or attacks which happened after the war?

Mr. Mohamed: Yes, there were so many attacks that happened after the war, and most of these attack were by the Badr Brigade or the Iraqi National Guard, they used to come as convoys and detain young men from the camp and tortured them to death or put them in secret prisons, so the detainee’s family cannot find them, and we don’t know if they were really the Iraqi National Guard or a gang and we really want from the Iraq government to do something about it because we can’t live like this anymore we can’t send our children to schools and we can’t go to the markets because we are afraid from being kidnapped or killed by those people.

Omar: So can you tell me what happened last night?

Mr. Mohamed: As I remember I saw 3 cars with armed people in it, they were trying to kidnap a young man by force then he started to run so they simply shot him, after that, most of the young people in the baladyat camp came out when they heard the sound of the gun shots. After that they started to shoot on the crowd, two men were killed 3 were injured. The Iraq police came after a short while and they started looking for those 3 cars.

Amar

24 year old Palestinian (one of the eye witness)

Omar: Can you tell us what happened exactly?

Amar: Three cars came into the camp and they wanted to kidnap someone, but he ran from them and he called his friends to beat them. But they stated to shoot at them and the folks stated to throw rocks at them, and after that the police were here and they took control of the situation in here.

Omar: Who do you think did it?

Amar: Well I don’t know exactly, but I think that they are from one of those groups whom they hate Palestinians very much.

Omar: Thank you very much.

RUWEISHID REFUGEE CAMP, Jun 20 (IPS) - A small stretch of desert, sandwiched between the borders of Jordan and Iraq, is a “no-man’s land”, created by the Iraqi government’s decision to cede part of its western frontier to Jordan. It has become a place where refugees from the war in Iraq bide their time, desperate for resettlement.

For many, it all started when refugees from the Kurdish region inside Iran’s border fled their homes in 1979, after the Islamic revolution, and initially found a relative haven in Kellar in northern Iraq.

Not all were civilians fleeing government repression. Some sympathised with the separatist Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, and some are believed to have been involved with the PKK in Iran. Fearing reprisals from Iranian agents for their actions or association, many were resettled to Al-Tash camp, outside Ramadi, Iraq, in 1982.

Azad Gvanmiri described some of the refugees for IPS: “We are a group of neighbours and supporters of Iranian organisations and parties against Iran. We have been refugees for 27 years, and one year and six months ago we left, because of our fear of being attacked by the Islamic regime of Iran.”

Sadr, an Iranian Kurd refugee who successfully made it to Jordan in 2003, recalled life in the Al-Tash camp: “There population of the camp was more than 10,000 people, and the camp was surrounded by barbed wire. The Iraqi government gave us ID cards on which was written, you don’t have the right to go outside Ramadi city. During all these years we had no facilities, formal schools, or health services. And unfortunately no organisation helped us.”

As the war progressed, many of them fled Iraq and were given refuge inside Jordan, at the Ruweishid refugee camp, where they await resettlement in Europe and other countries.

Those who remained have not been so lucky. After the United States’ second assault on Fallujah in 2004, life became very hard in that area of Al-Anbar province in western Iraq.

In January 2005 around 200 of the Iranian Kurds in the Al-Tash camp left Iraq, hoping to find refuge with their friends and relatives in Jordan.

The Jordanian government refused entrance however, feeling it had already reached its top capacity for admitting refugees from Iraq. Palestinians have also been denied entrance in recent months, and have opted for Syria instead.

The Kurds were able to leave Iraq, but found themselves stranded in this border region, known locally as no-man’s land.

Khabat Muhammadi is only 20 years old, but his colleagues have described him as a leader and spokesman for the residents of the camp. “On Jan. 11 we left the camp to meet the UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency). They didn’t receive us, and we had no food, there was bad weather and many problems,” he told IPS in an interview.

Nearly a year and a half later, they are still waiting for a chance to find a peaceful existence away from the war and turmoil of Iraq and their homeland.

Each day the camp’s children — who make up about half the population — go to the Amman-Baghdad highway to beg for water and food from the constant stream of truck drivers traveling between the two countries.

The camp has tried to send adults for this task, but found the truck drivers only seemed to show sympathy towards the children.

“When I wake up, I go beside the Iraqi trucks with a jerry can for water and reach out my hands for water but they won’t give me even a little for drinking,” Gvanmiri said.

The children don’t always wait to ask, and simply take water or fuel from the trucks. “Many times the children took water without asking, and sometimes the truck drivers have beaten or punished them,” said Muhammadi.

The children in the No-Man’s Land camp are a ubiquitous presence. Fifty-one percent of the camp’s members are under 18, and more are on the way. There have been seven births in the camp. One of these children was still-born, due to the mother suffering bleeding during the birth.

The UNHCR has made repeated contacts with the camp in an attempt to solve the impasse over the refugees, but they have failed to devise a solution which the refugees themselves consider acceptable.

Just this week a representative from the UNHCR and the Kurdistan regional government visited the No-Man’s Land camp to again broach the offer of resettlement in northern Iraq. The refugees refused.

Many remember family members who were hunted down in Kurdistan by agents of Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime. “I was three months old when the Khomeini regime killed my father in Suleimaniyah. Iran killed him in 1986,” said a man giving his name as Barzan.

The UNHCR did not return IPS’s e-mails seeking information about the refugees in the No-Man’s Land camp. According to the Iranian Kurds, the UNHCR is treating this as a problem of economic refugees, but they stress that they are political refugees.

“We named our camp the Orphans of the International Community Camp,” said Gvanmiri. “We want our rights, we cannot live in Iraq after 27 years with no legal rights or identity, because we are the victims. Our problem is not starvation, our problem is a political problem. We are human and we should live as all the humans in the world.”

The refugees are running out of options. They have issued a threat to begin a hunger strike if the Jordanian government continues to refuse them safe haven, and if the UNHCR fails to intervene on their behalf.

Barzan explained that their lives are becoming very desperate. “The situation is very hard and we need water. Yesterday a five-year-old girl was burned by a campfire. Our situation is very bad, our babies are begging for food and water.”

Khabat Muhammadi says he will not accept silence from the UNHCR and Jordanian government. “On May 2 we held a peaceful demonstration, but they didn’t answer us. We told them if you do not support our human rights within the next days, we will begin a hunger strike in front of the UNHCR. We cannot live in this situation — it’s like a prison now. We cannot live another 27 years in No-Man’s Land.”

Azad Gvanmiri notes a personal irony in his condition as a refugee: “My name in English means ‘free’, but unfortunately I am not free. I am between two countries, but they refuse us; they will not allow us into Jordan. The UNHCR told us it is not their problem, it is up to Jordan, but the Jordanian government told us it is UNHCR’s problem.”

Barzan hopes members of the international community will come to see their situation and tell others, “Second by second we are suffering. We have a very good story, and you should come to see it, with your own eyes.

[Editor’s note, please click “read more” just above, to see the entire entry]

Here is a summary of some security occurrences in Baghdad, from Arab news sources, Al-Khaleej Times, Al-Rafidain, and a few other agencies:

The violence show in Baghdad is still ongoing and the security plan and the curfew(Operation Forward Together) on some neighborhood ended its fourth day, also five explosions happened and some attacks north and south of Baghdad and that resulted for 34 people killed and at least 73 wounded and one American soldier killed and two soldiers considered as lost, and the American troops arrested 130 gunmen and killed three of them after an raid as they said.

And the most violence attacks happened on the corporate checkpoint for Iraqi police and the Iraqi army at the Al – Olwiyah neighborhood which in Baghdad and that result 11 from the soldiers and security men, and 15 wounded from a suicide bomber by car

Another explosion happened from IED at Haraj market in Baghdad and that resulted for 5 people killed and 25 wounded, and there are 4 people killed and 7 wounded from an explosion of a bomb inside a bus at Al Ameen neighborhood east south of Baghdad

And there is one civilian killed and 5 wounded from a car bomb targeting a police patrol near the national theater at Al Karadah neighborhood.

Three mortars exploded in Al Sarabadi market at Al Kademiya neiborhood in Baghdad (north) and that resulted 2 Iraqis killed and other 14 wounded ..yesterday Saturday

In Al Mahmoodiya (30km south of Baghdad ), a security source said there are 7 killed and 6 injured from an explosion of car bomb which was on the side of the road near Al Sader office , and killed a city councilman in Diwaniyah, the police said” unknown gunmen shot Rasim Musa the councilman and his two sons killed with him in Al Daghara (east of Diwaniyah) yesterday “

There was an IED explosion targeting an iraqi army patrol placed on the side of a road in the Jurf AL Sakhr neighborhood northwest Hillah, that resulted in the death of 1 soldier and 1 officer was injured as well as damaging one military vehicle.

And the Iraqi defense ministry said there is three”terrorist” killed as they mentioned and thery detained other 130, three of them, were wonted, in the last 24 hours according to security operations in many places in iraq

There was one American soldier killed and two soldiers considered as lost after attak happened in last Friday.. and from a American military source, “after an attack against the soldiers at the checkpoint near Al Yousfiya north of Baghdad and the army sent an rapid response team to search about them”

The leader of 8 groups of resistance in Iraq “ Majlis Shoura Al Mujahideen “ said in Iraq by a voice message “the fighting against the coalition troops which are leaded by the American will be more tough and violence”

The American army arrested 10 Iraqis at sun rise on Saturday and injured one woman during a raid operation north of Falluja after they landed(apparently a minor air assault), and A policeman called Ali Hammad said “the force of American army dropped obove three houses in Abi Sadeera Village (5 km north Falluja) at 2 am and that resulted one woman injured and detained of 10 persons and burned one car and destroyed, burned the furniture of some houses by sound grenades under this operation which is still to 5 am

and by car bomb explosion at 7:15 pm today against a patrol of special forces of interior ministry in Al Jihad Neighborhood and that resulted of killing 5 soldiers and injured others

I was on WBAI today, speaking about an interview Alive in Baghdad did with an acquaintance of Abu Musab Az-Zarqawi, as well as the unfolding situation in Ramadi, Iraq.

Go here to hear the interview and audio segment:

WBAI: Wake Up Call Monday June 19th

Stay tuned for more on Ramadi and colleagues of Abu Musab!

At 11:30PM Local time here in Amman, the local version of CNN ran a headline:

Insurgent Crackdown Begins

A CNN Embedded journalist reported on the beginning of the Ramadi assault. Unfortunately there were many errors in CNN’s report.

CNN implied that phonelines and electricity were only just cut, despite copious evidence, and on-the-ground reports from Ramadi’s residents that these services were cut well over a month ago.

According to CNN, US forces entered a suburb just south of Ramadi, and found that at least half the residents had vacated their homes. He implied that US Military forces expected intelligence that these residents had fled was false.

We have not been able to reach Qasem, since hearing that his brother was killed, nor have we been able to contact anyone else in the city.

We are still endeavoring to make contact with Ramadi, and if we can locate news coverage outside of embedded reports, you can expect to see them here immediately.

There are currently some conflicting reports, although most reports have suggested that there are no plans for a “full-scale assault,” it’s unclear what exactly this means.

Until then, here is one report from IRIN, as well as several embedded reports from the press:

IRIN
US pressures insurgents in Iraq’s Ramadi
US bid to curb Ramadi militants
US, Iraqis plant new outposts in Ramadi

[Note: “Lurky” is working as a correspondent for Alive in Baghdad, inside Baghdad. We expect he will begin posting regular entries about life on the ground.]

As usual I was doing my work like every day, spending a lot of time trying to make some interviews with people about Iraq and what’s going on in Iraq. Today I was trying to set up an appointment with a woman who owns a book shop in Tahrir square in the middle of Baghdad. In the morning I was trying to get there on time but its Baghdad you can’t get anywhere in Baghdad on time because of the traffic and the large number of checkpoints which prevent anyone from getting to an appointment on time, anyhow I got there late after 30 minutes. Then I started little chat with the women in her shop, about books and how many people buying these books. At 12pm I left her shop to go home, I was riding in a cab, it was too hot and the cab didn’t have air-conditioning. I started to think about the questions I’d ask that lady on the next day, then I remembered that my girlfriend asked me to bring her a love story from that shop. I totally forgot about it, after that I was looking in my notebook, trying to organize some meetings. Well, we got out of the traffic jam that we were stuck in, suddenly I heard such large noise from people yelling, “A TIME BOMB!” Then a big blast takes place I couldn’t see anything because of the dust, people started to run everywhere and in every direction, the cab driver start to screaming “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” then I felt that there was something liquid on my face. I wiped my hand on my face and looked at my hand one more time. And it was bloody, the glasses scratched my face but not too bad. My hand was scratched too, then I wiped the blood with a little piece of cloth. At that time I noticed that the bomb this time was too close, and when I get home I just washed my face with some water. I had lunch with my family just like nothing happened, and that was another nice day in Iraq.

So today I decided to take a little break, I’ve been here almost a month and a half, I think I deserve a vacation!

I went to Amman’s Citadel, a ruin dating from around the 8th century A.D.

I’ll be uploading photos tomorrow with some background on Qala’a.

Unfortunately, Iraq doesn’t wait for you to go on vacation. We were supposed to receive the tapes today, finally!

Our driver left Baghdad this morning, transporting 10 or 12 MiniDvs shot by Omar in Baghdad over the last few weeks.

As of 3am local time here in Amman, we still haven’t heard from him. Could be something happened to him, or it could be he was just tired and wanted to see his wife and will call us tomorrow, we don’t know.

At this point we’re still waiting.

The security situation is greatly increased these days on the border between Jordan and Iraq, we’ve even heard about a giant X-Ray machine, supposedly used to examine cars for weapons and other equipment that might be smuggled between the two countries.

With Zarqawi’s death a storm of controversy has arisen. We’ve begun seeing checkpoints on roads late at night with the police checking cars, after the detention of 4 Ministers of Parliament.

A recent article by Aaron Klein, a noted conservative columnist and correspondent for World Net Daily, security information has suggested that Egypt, Israel, and Jordan are being considered for terrorist attacks in the near future.

Accounts such as these continue to weaken the already difficult border relations between Jordan and Iraq. The rest of the press appears to have not picked up this particular story yet however, so its contents is certainly still questionable.

All we can do is wait and see.

I was only able to speak briefly with Omar tonight and heard upsetting news, apparently he was hit by an IED attack and was injured. I am still unaware of his degree of injury, but I assume if it was serious I would know more.

When we have an update tomorrow it will be quickly forthcoming. Once again, waiting is all we have.

Yesterday Jordanians were again shocked to hear that four MPs from Jordan’s House of Representatives were detained by the public prosecutor.

In Islam, its expected that you offer condolences to families that lose sons, particularly when the son is considered to be martyred while engaged in Jihad. It is also particularly important when the family member comes from a very large tribe.

Abu Musab’s tribe is considered to be one of the largest in Jordan. After the detention of these MPs as well as his brother-in-law, and the refusal to allow his burial in his home country, its anyone’s guess what might happen next in Jordan.

The MPs were from Jordan’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Action Front. Other branches include the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in Palestine, and the Iraqi Islamic Party, in Iraq.

Read more about the detenion of these ministers here:

Khaleej Times

Al-Jazeera

Reuters

Brian Conley and Isam Rashid

The Bush Administration’s final verdict is that the United States attacked Iraq to help spread democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people. Throughout the length of the conflict and the slow process to select a government, the idea of democracy has been increasingly questioned. Muhanad Subhi, an unemployed Iraqi, said that, while the Iraqis have the freedom of speech now, there is not a democracy, which is an important element to liberating speech.

“Nobody listen to us, for example, many times Iraqi politicians hear Iraqi people asking them to make a new government and they did not do it, because they didn’t care for Iraqi situation-most of them are not Iraqi, they came with the occupation’s tanks.”

In the United States, freedom of speech is considered one of the major hallmarks of democracy, and is enshrined as the first amendment to the Constitution. After riots broke out all over the world in response to cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish paper, the place of free speech has been increasingly questioned and re-assessed. This is particularly true in countries that have majority Muslim populations, where there was a backlash against these cartoons, which were seen as an abuse of free speech and an affront against Islam.

Ibrahim Faisal, a 21 year-old student thinks it is important for people to understand the implications of their speech and to be respectful. He also said that free speech was a good thing to have but, “some people use it for evil because you can use it in two ways.”

A guard who was on duty at the Abu Hanifa mosque during large demonstrations against Denmark last February heard the Danish paper thought it would be acceptable to print the cartoons of Muhammad, since they had previously printed cartoons of Jesus. “They must be careful before saying that because that means this was wrong and to draw caricatures of our prophet is very wrong too because we respect all prophets.”

Condoleeza Rice, while Secretary of State for the United States, has declared the Middle East to be living with a “freedom deficit.” The United States’ publicly professed policy is to work toward democratization of the Middle East.

Isam Hamdi, an engineer who, at 55, is old enough to have seen many changes in his country, said, “I don’t believe there is real democracy anywhere in the world now. Even in the US look what happened in their last election, it was a fake election.”

With each democratic motion in the Middle East, the United States finds itself increasingly alienated. First Iraq voted in primarily religious hard-liners, close to Iran. Then Hamas swept the elections in Palestine.

Raghad, a housewife and student, feels that, “Free speech means democracy, but some times we feel there is no democracy in Iraq because of Occupation and their violence.”

The United States’ heavy hand appears to be making some “progress” however, with the selection of a Prime Minister, and movements toward a 4 year initial government. For a few Iraqis, such as Raghad, democracy feels inevitable, with or without the presence of the occupation.

“In the west they have a real democracy, they have elections to vote for the government. In the Arab world there is no real democracy, there is no real election. Democracy is a new system. I think in the future free speech will be better in Arab countries. It only takes time.”

Raghad’s words appeared to ring hollow with her fellow Iraqis. Muhanad hopes the freedom of speech will be better after the occupation ends, “because the new Iraqi government will have to be a democratic government.” However, he, like most Iraqis, stressed there would only be a true democracy if there is an end to sectarianism and in-fighting. If this doesn’t happen, he fears, “they will use their militias to kill anyone who speaks against them.”

Iraq’s long history of being led by strongmen and dictators has made Iraqis cynical of the idea of democracy. Ibrahim agreed with Muhanad and he explained, “At the end of occupation there will be a strong Iraqi government, they will investigate anyone using free speech, especially against them.”

Although Iraqis remain suspicious of the prospects for democracy and free speech, they also recognize the steps taken today. Iraq is no longer under a direct totalitarian regime, and for that most Iraqis seem grateful.

Despite the end of the regime, Isam Hamdi wanted to emphasize that free speech is still a very dangerous thing in Iraq, “No one can speak freely because Iraqis are afraid of the militias and occupation forces, so how can they speak?”

Ibrahim and Raghad agreed with each other, both rushing to express their happiness with the removal of Saddam before the other. Under Saddam’s government, no one could speak freely, they were always being watched, and spies were always close by.

Ibrahim offered one example of a change by freedom of speech, saying there are some good accomplishments, “like what happened when the Iraqi government changed the salary for retired workers.”

Raghad chimed in her agreement while offering an opposing point, “Yes, but not always, like what happened with the Iraqi flag, most Iraqi people did not agree to change the flag but the change succeeded.”

Again taking the long view, Mr. Hamdi still hopes democracy will return to Iraq, and to the world. “This government, is not an Iraqi government, they came to Iraq with the occupation. Iraq will stay in this dark tunnel for a long time at the end of occupation. Iraq will see the sun again, after that we can build democracy and real free speech.”

It seems that even with Zarqawi’s death, misstatements and propaganda about Iraq’s resistance still abound. I recently lodged a long comment at Robert Lindsay’s blog, which focuses mainly on the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

Although Robert provides a great service in describing the situation in Afghanistan as well as providing a level of analysis often missing in the press, I feel that many of his statements reflect the continuing misunderstanding of Iraq’s resistance by many in the United States, and elsewhere in the “West.”

I left a long response to this recent entry, and felt it would benefit my readers here at AiB as well:

I have to lodge some friendly disagreements with you here. Al Qa’eda in Iraq took a subservient role to the Iraqi nationalist resistance some months back, with the formation of the Mujahideen Shura, or Mujahideen Council.

This “Council” is essentially a “unified command” of most of the major resistance groups, excluding Jeish Al Islamiyah, or the Islamic Army in Iraq.

A really essential detail that much of the media has overlooked is the change of perspective in the Iraqi populace towards the resistance.

When I was last in Iraq, nearly everyone outside o so-called Salafis and fundamentalists, utilized the arabic word Maqowamah, which literally means “resistance” to describe the fighters resisting the US with a focus on coalition forces, as opposed to those who are fighting a “Jihad.”

Unfortunately in recent months more and more Iraqis are using the word “Mujahideen” which directly translates as “fighters for god” either exclusively, or at the least interchangeably, with the term “Maqowamah.”

This should be understood to be a really negative change in the Iraqi civilian perspective. It appears to reflect a change of opinion regardin the resistance.

Rather than seeing hope for a return to secularism in Iraq, more and more Iraqis are seeing the Islamic forces as a last resort against the occupation.

This also exacerbates the possibilities of civil war, given that Muslims on either side can refer to Mujahideen from their own religious perspective.

This brings us to my other major concern with your post, the so-called “Shi’a resistance.”

Prior to the middle/end of 2005, Shi’a and Sunni nationalist “guerrillas,” to use your term, could be seen fighting side by side in many of Iraq’s largest battles, in particular Najaf and Fallujah come to mind.

Now that all major Shi’a parties have joined the government, we have seen the inclusion of militias in Iraq’s security regulars.

The Shi’as have not been “caught up in the sectarian struggle.” Instead, I would argue that Falek Badr, or the Badr Militia, has always been involved in “sectarian violence” against Sunnis.

In January 2003, Ayatollah Bakr al-Hakim, then spiritual leader of SCIRI and particularly Badr, informed Zalmay Khalilzad and the US/West generally, that when he decided the US was intending to occupy and not “liberate” Iraq, he would order his ten thousand strong Badr forces to begin attacking Coalition regulars.

Unfortunately, Hakim’s view of liberation directly chafed with that of Iraqi Sunni and Shi’a civilians, as well as those members of Iraq’s resistance intending a nationalist movement.

The situation now in Iraq seems more and more to have been inevitable given the US and UK’s actions in Iraq, the writing on the wall was there far longer than a few months or years back.

Let’s remember that all of the Shi’a parties now controlling Iraq were united and trained in Iran in 1982, at the height of the Iran-Iraq war.

Today Al-Jazeera interviewed Ibrahim Shimeri, a representative from the Islamic Army in Iraq.

Here is what he had to say, about Zarqawi and Al Qa’eda in Iraq

We are very sad for his lost. We are sad to lose a dear brother. It is hurtful and bad news, we have been brothers in religion and against the occupation of Iraq.

AJ - How will this affect the resistance?

IS - It will not afect us, we will keep fighting until we are victorious, or we are martyred.

I want to ask Al Qa’eda to concentrate on their security because what happened proves there is serious security penetration and what happened last night confirmed it.

AJ - Will you join the political process now in Iraq?

IS - We will never do this. The political process is not clean. We are mujahideen and the US are liars. We will keep fighting until we kick the US out of Iraq and return the rights of Iraqis from this government and the previous government(of Al-Jaafari).

—-

I post this to increase an understanding of the resistance in Iraq, not to give support to Jeish al-Islamiya fi Iraq, or to Al-Qa’eda fi Iraq. The Islamic Army is the second largest resistance group in Iraq, after the Mujahideen Shura, or Mujahideen Council. This group is widely attributed in the press to be “Al-Qa’eda” or a “front for Al-Qa’eda.”

In reality the Mujahideen Shura is a unified command of Al-Qa’eda in Iraq as well as other smaller resistance groups throughout the country. We will try to provide more insight to this in the future.

Finally, the Jordanian government released a statement claiming that they worked with the Coalition to assist them with information and intelligence on Zarqawi, but were not involved in the actions directly leading to his death last night.

Today Abu Musab Az-Zarqawi was pronounced dead, first by coalition forces and later in a report from al-hesbah, a website regularly utilized by Al-Qa’eda for transmissions from Iraq and other areas of influence.

Until we see a body however, this shouldn’t be considered to negate previous reports from men close to Zarqawi that he died in Afghanistan or in north Iraq early on in the war.

We haven’t seen a body, and so far CNN in Amman has only carried some random pictures of what is allegedly the location of the “safehouse” where Zarqawi was meeting with seven colleagues, all of whom are presumed killed in the US airstrike yesterday evening in Hibhib, a village near Baquba in Iraq’s Diyala province.

While CNN was musing over the possible implications of Zarqawi’s death, and really providing little newsworthy, Al-Jazeera travelled to Zarqa, Abu Musab’s place of birth.

CNN provided us some real insight into how the news media work now in Baghdad, speaking with their correspondent in Baghdad. Although CNN acknowledged that their correspondent was not travelling outside the Palestine Hotel compound, they still asked him to give a “sense of the feeling of Iraqis” in response to news of Zarqawi’s death.

Today as the announcement came of Zarqawi’s death, Iraq’s parliament finally named Ministers of Defense and the Interior, as well as someone to preside over issues of national security.

It is unclear whether the decision to put forward the nominees was confirmed before Zarqawi’s death, but it seems likely the fast nomination and acceptance was pushed through by Nuri Al-Maliki on the heels of this announcement.

CNN decided to spin the Zarqawi death by saying, “This is the kind of message this government needs.”

Meanwhile in Zarqa, Al-Jazeera was conducting a live interview with Abu Musab’s brother-in-law, Abu Qudama. He spoke well of Zarqawi, saying he was always looking for martyrdom and he was happy to die for Allah.

At 2:20 PM, Jordanian time, he was arrested by Jordanian police. Just before he was arrested he was denouncing members of the press for not always speaking the truth about his brother-in-law, making him into an evil man, and not just a fighter for god.

After Jordanian agents stopped the interview they arrested Abu Qudama as well as at least one Al-Jazeera correspondent on the scene. We are waiting to see what will happen next in this incident.

Please contact CPJ.org and Reporters Without Borders, requesting they look into this incident and immediately contact Jordanian authorities about the detention of a journalist simple doing his work.

Two blasts and the assassination of five policemen occurred in Baghdad’s Mansur neighborhood today.

The first blast occurred at 8am. It was followed by heavy gunfire from a car near a police checkpoint, targetting the Iraqi police. The blast apparently targetted a police convoy, but missed and seems to have resulted in no casualties or injuries.

The five policemen were killed by gunfire, it is unknown what happened to the men who fired on them. A few hours later, around 11am a second blast occurred, targetting another convoy, and also missing. Omar witnessed this second blast, and reported no casualties or injuries.
At this time this area in Mansur was surrounded by Iraqi National Guardsmen, who locked down the neighborhood. The blast scenes were cordoned with yellow tape, and the neighborhood was locked down until approximately 5pm Baghdad time.

What Omar felt was most noteworthy about these events in Mansur was the complete lack of US support presence, neither helicopters nor humvees or US soldiers were visible in the area of the blasts.

Photos from Mansur are on the way, and should be up tonight or tomorrow morning local time in Amman.

Meanwhile in Ramadi today, events appear to be heating up, possibly heading for a major operation.

We reached two sources there who explained the situation. Both of whom wish to reamin anonymous for the safety of themselves and their families.

The first reported a US soldier shot in front of his home, during an operation. Apparently he was hit by a sniper.l

The other wanted to report that he and his family, along with dozens of others have fled the city to outlying areas, fearing a major assault is imminent. We are working hard to bring updates from the Ramadi area and will provide them as they come in.

BAGHDAD, Jun 7 (IPS) - Baghdad’s central morgue received more than a thousand bodies each month this year, a doctor has revealed. The body count here gives a more accurate picture of the story in Baghdad than any official statistics.

Baghdad’s central morgue received more than a thousand bodies each month this year, a doctor has revealed. The body count here gives a more accurate picture of the story in Baghdad than any official statistics.

Before the war this morgue located at Bab al-Mu’atham near the city centre received only about 200 to 300 bodies a month, Dr Kais Hassan who has worked at the morgue said.

There are only three storage rooms, and two doctors at the centre. Today the morgue is overflowing. On some days more than 100 bodies are interred at the morgue.

The capacity became stretched particularly during the term of Ibrahim al-Jaafari who took over as prime minister after the January 2005 elections but was finally persuaded to stand down earlier this year. The ministry of interior was then under Bayan Jabr..

Killing in Baghdad increased after the occupation, but it has flourished under the militia explosion and the creation of what Iraqis commonly refer to as death squads.

“Most of those brought dead here have been tortured by beating, electricity, acid, drills, and by other horrible ways,” said an Iraqi who refused to give his name. “When any Iraqi is arrested by police now it means we will find his dead body in Baghdad’s streets after some days. Because of all this killing, this morgue is not enough.”

The smell of death is all around the morgue. That and the crowds of crying families searching for their dead are now a ubiquitous sight around the morgue.

IPS was refused access to the morgue, and was told journalists are forbidden to report on the conditions inside.

“The last manager for this morgue, Faik Bakr, received death threats because he said there were more than 7,000 Iraqis killed by death squads in recent months,” an employee told IPS. “Most of the dead arrived with their hands tied behind their backs.”

The employee advised the IPS correspondent to leave immediately.

Ahmed, who was in the crowd outside the morgue with his family, explained why so many families were waiting.

“All of them are here to look for their sons, fathers, mothers and friends who disappeared some days before. Also they look for them because militias wearing police uniforms arrested them. Now in Iraq, if anyone is arrested by militias wearing police uniforms, his family looks for him in the morgue.”

Bodies arrive at the morgue in the custody of the police convoys many times throughout the day. While IPS was speaking with Ahmed, two police vehicles arrived, carrying many bodies.

After a few minutes of chaos, one man began shouting, “This is my son! He was tortured and killed, I lost him forever!” Many people gathered around to comfort him.

The body showed many holes. One of the eyes had been removed.

The father, Ali, spoke with IPS after the body was taken into the morgue. “He was a shopkeeper, his shop was in al-Rashid street, and three days ago he was arrested by police, and I find him here, killed.”

Ali believes his son was killed only because he is Sunni. He said his son was not wanted by the police for any crime. “He was loved by all his friends, and everyone liked him. He was innocent and he did nothing wrong.”

Near the morgue is a large parking lot. Ramadan, a guard in his forties, is able to watch what goes on all day.

“A week earlier they brought more than 100 bodies in one day from al-Taji north of Baghdad, and another day they brought just 20 bodies. There is an average of 50 to 60 bodies everyday.”

Ramadan is not always an observer from the parking lot.

“Many times I helped the workers at the morgue carry bodies inside. It isn’t cold enough in there, and they keep the bodies piled one over another. Some of the bodies are on the floor and everywhere else inside the morgue.”

He says the bodies are from both Sunni and Shia families, “I see their families when they came to take their bodies. They are from both because of the sectarian war that is being waged in Iraq.”

Ramadan added, “I hope one day I can find other work and leave this place.”