ihath

I would never brag that the occupation of Iraq is better than Saddam. I would, however, say that I am glad that Iraqis are finally free from the Tyrant. I hope that the troops will be able to leave Iraq soon, in a much better state than it was in when we arrived.

I too hope that Bush wins the election.

I really enjoy your blog and hope you continue for a long time to come. :)    

I agree, at least now, there is hope. With endless sanctions and lazing around, there would never be any hope.

I guess it comes down to a logical choice between:

1. An infinite crap-fest
or
2. A finite lesser-crap-fest.

Both are bad choices, but technically, the second one is better.    

How to say: sometimes your texts are like going into a church for relief in harsh times; different is that your texts on rough news make me laugh, where churches can't but fail, i avoid them, or just go in to see the art objects. I'll send a Patti Smith text that stands as a church, like the song *Guerra di Piero* of indeed dear Fabrizio de Andre.


Radio Baghdad Lyrics

Patti Smith

(Smith/Ray)

Suffer not Your neighbor's affliction
Suffer not Your neighbor's paralysis
But extend your hand Extend your hand
Lest you vanish in the city And be but a trace
Just a vanished ghost And your legacy
All the things you knew Science, mathematics, thought
Severely weakened Like irrigation systems
In the tired veins forming From the Tigris and Euphrates
In the realm of peace All the world revolved
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
City of Baghdad City of scholars
Empirical humble Center of the world
City in ashes City of Baghdad
City of Baghdad Abrasive aloof

Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
Deep in the veins of the great rivers
That form the base Of Eden
And the tree The tree of knowledge
Held up its arms To the sky
All the branches of knowledge All the branches of knowledge
Cradling Cradling
Civilization In the realm of peace
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
Oh Baghdad Center of the world
City of ashes With its great mosques
Erupting from the mouth of god Rising from the ashes like
a speckled bird Splayed against the mosaic sky
Oh, clouds around We created the zero
But we mean nothing to you You would believe
That we are just some mystical tale We are just a swollen belly
That gave birth to Sinbad, Scheherazade We gave birth
Oh, oh, to the zero The perfect number
We invented the zero And we mean nothing to you
Our children run through the streets
And you sent your flames Your shooting stars
Shock and awe Shock and awe
Like some, some Imagined warrior production
Twenty-first century No chivalry involved
No Bushido

Oh, the code of the West Long gone
Never been Where does it lie?
You came, you came Through the west
Annihilated a people And you come to us
But we are older than you You come you wanna
You wanna come and rob the cradle
Of civilization And you read yet you read
You read Genesis You read of the tree
You read of the tree Beget by god
That raised its branches into the sky Every branch of knowledge
Of the cradle of civilization

Of the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates
Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
The face of Eve turning What sky did she see
What garden beneath her feet The one you drill
You drill Pulling the blood of the earth
Little droplets of oil for bracelets Little jewels
Sapphires You make bracelets
Round your own world We are weeping tears
Rubies We offer them to you
We are just Your Arabian nightmare
We invented the zero But we mean nothing to you
Your Arabian nightmare

City of stars City of scholarship
Science City of ideas
City of light City
City of ashes That the great Caliph
Walked through His naked feet formed a circle
And they built a city A perfect city of Baghdad
In the realm of peace And all the world revolved
And they invented And they mean nothing to you
Nothing to you Nothing

Go to sleep Go to sleep my child
Go to sleep And I'll sing you a lullaby
A lullaby for our city A lullaby of Baghdad
Go to sleep Sleep my child
Sleep Sleep...
Run Run...

You sent your lights Your bombs
You sent them down on our city Shock and awe
Like some crazy t.v. show

They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization

Suffer not The paralysis of your neighbor
Suffer not But extend your hand
###

best wishes
cecile    

May your enchantments linger, ihath.    

Hmm.. I wish more of us (Americans) felt as you do. I honestly couldn't have said it any better. I'm not pro-Bush, by any stretch, but I would much rather vote for him than Kerry. Iraq is a mess right now, but at least Bush will continue to try to fix it without giving up. Kerry wants to dump the problem on the UN, who we all know, could give a rat's behind about Iraq, other than to get their hands on, and destroy all the evidence that implicates them in the graft, theft, and bribery schemes they have had going on for years with Saddam and the OFF program.

Being from Mass, I know a bit more about Kerry than most others from outside our screwed up little state.. he's done very little for this state, beyond fattening his own wallet with lobbyist money, collecting his Senate paycheck, but not showing up for most important state involved meetings, and since he's aspired to presidential status, he has been missing in action for well over a year now.

I don't know much about the rules of politics, but I don't think running for president allows you to take a permanent vacation from such an important job as Senator, at the taxpayers expense. We're paying him to be a Senator for our state, and he hasn't actually "been" one for something like 15 months or so now... but don't just believe me, see for yourself. Take a look at the public record of Senatorial Rollcall attendance. He's missed so many, in fact, that the LT Govenor of my state has asked for him to resign so that he may be replaced. He's attended only 14 out of the 112 from this year alone.

http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/june/0617_kerry_preempt_ethics.shtml

We also know that he hasn't bothered to show up for the vast majority of Senate Intelligence meetings either. So, if he is elected president, will he even show up for that job?

Bush is busy campaigning too.. BUT, he's still doing his job, while he does it. To me, that says more about a man's work ethic than anything else.

So, for me, I'm voting for the devil I know by seeing actions instead of empty words (Bush) versus voting for the devil I know by living here in a state that is short one of only two senators (Kerry). Technically, we're short both of our 2 senators, as Kennedy is MIA quite a bit now, trying to get his boy Kerry, elected as president.

And there you have it, my 2 cents worth :)

Peace and long life to Iraq!    

yay!!!!(i can comment)

mmm I don't understand women...
why feel insulted if told you ARE prettier than Janet Reno?
technically it's true
:*) (©Raed)

...
well to be honest US foreing policy sucks on too many levels to describe here but I'm kinda hoping that Kerry will win and flip-flop again massively and turn out to be the most liberal president in the history of the US.

well a guy can dream...

Javier aka turey    

About those non-existent weapons...

Saddam's CW and BW capabilities were well known immediately after the 1991 Gulf War. The war ended in a cease-fire.

The terms of said cease fire that ended said war
stipulated that said weapons had to be destroyed.

Saddam was given 12 years and 14 "binding" Security Council resolutions to comply with these terms. Meanwhile, the sanctions and a brutal regime killed thousands of innocents.

In general, when the terms of a cease-fire are violated, as in the case of Iraq, hostilities automatically recommence. This is not the same as breaking a peace treaty to invade a sovereign nation. "Gulf War II" was ultimately a resumption of the first Gulf War.

Whatever the contortions the administration went through to sell the war, in my mind, these were -- and still are -- the preeminent legal and humanitarian justifications for the war.

There were also sound geopolitical reasons. Most importantly, the US seeks to move its force posture off the Arabian peninsula while still preserving access to and stability of regional oil supplies.

Secondly, an inevitably Shi`a-dominated Iraq (if it stays together) would also be a de facto ally against the Salafi and Wahhabi fundamentalists who hate 'heretics' and the West about equally.

In the mean time, while it is certainly stirring up hate, Iraq is also serving as a roach trap. Mujahideen don't have to hijack jets to fight the infidels anymore; they can just go Iraq. Convenient for them, good for us. At least the violence is directed against prepared soldiers rather than civilians.

Ultimately, however, the alternative to the war -- maintaining sanctions while waiting around for inspectors to find non-existent weapons without cooperation from the regime -- was just absurd. Equally absurd would have been lifting sanctions without any improvement in behavior.

Any parents out there should know the importance of this.

If anyone against the war comes up with a more reasonable alternative than either of these, I'm willing to listen.    

Ihath you have to admit, those b4 and after are great,;-).hmmm maybe I should consider going under the knife and change my looks, then go and spy on hubby,lol,what a briiliant idea....politically speaking, I dont think Bush nor Kerry are capable of becoming "good"presidents. Bush takes things too far and so does Kerry.And yes I know politics is a dirty game, and they end up staining their clothes in the mud, but dont stain other people's clothes in the process.....    

The implication that Reno is pug-ugly is very unfair. Her looks are no worse or better than average.    

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.    

I'm hoping that Bush wins too. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000 - but this time I am.

In my opinion - we need to continue to give the Iraqi people hope - even at the cost of my tax dollar. I think it's worth it. I want the Iraqis to have the freedoms and opportunities I've had.    

Ihath:

Hey, you remind me of Kate Winslet.

Your right, stories are often better than opinions. This obersvation is particulaly apt when considering the many well written stories that you have shared.

Your post today didn't have too many kind words for anyone. I suggest less caffeine and perhaps a massage.

I hope to find you in a better mood when you next post.    

"....[Bush] is offering a glimmer of hope where there was none before."

I think that's the only thing that has ever been important. I've listened to middle easterners complain for days on end, and I always end up wondering - why don't they see the hope? Why don't they run after it? How can anything else matter?

If Canada is a better place for people to live than Syria or Iran or Gaza, why don't Middle Easterners spend their effort trying to make their contries like Canada instead of spending it blaming and hating everyone else? If countries like Japan with very little resources of their own or Germany -ruined after two wars can rebuild great economies and peace and freedom, what's holding the Middle east back? certainly not Israel, a country with less people and less resources than Las Angeles! And certainly not the Americans or the West which only wants to buy some oil and be able to ignore you, really!    

Oh and one more thing. Yes of course America hasn't brought Iraq peace and freedom.

Until Iraqis fight off their own thuggish theocrats and thugish thugs and demand freedom from them. Until they understand the need for representative government and a rule of law over even Sadr and over even the Muslim council this and that, they will be oppressed. As long as they haven't ejected the Iranians fighting to prevent freedom, and the Syrians fighting to prevent freedom and the Saudis fighting to prevent freedom - until they've arrested everyone who accepted money and guns from these despots, Iraqis will have blood, blood and more blood!

You can't have peace without freedom and you can't have freedom if you've never had a revolution! And you know what, you can't have a revolution without having an army on your side. Well guess what, America just lent you the world's best army to use if you want.

What are you waiting for? You want to retire without ever working. You want to graduate without ever studying. What a baby!

You want peace and freedom? Then fight your damn enemies. Hint, that's not America, that's everyone who will lose power if there's ever democracy and rule of law in Iraq. That's everyone running guns and making fatwas!

Sorry, I know it was romantic to think that God deliniate who is good and who is bad. All Muslims good, all infidels bad. Then you always know how to be good without the pain of learning, thinking or knowing anything.

Well time to grow up and forget the fairy tale and fight your actual enemies.

Good luck.

Josh    

Oh one more by the way. I'm having infinite trouble with my blogger account. It won't let me log in. But the last two posts were by Joshua Scholar
joshscholarREMOVETHIS at yahoo.com    

Damn Josh, if those stupid Iraqis just LISTENED to you.... and everything will be fine.....

sorry...
failed trial of sarcasm...
what i meant to say was: opinions are like assholes... everybody has one....    

Damn Josh, if those stupid Iraqis just LISTENED to you.... and everything will be fine.....Nah. They would only find themselves standing shoulder to shoulder with Josh and grappling with the real challenges of humanity, like logging in to their blogger accounts.    

omg, ihath, you can't be serious? poor Janet Reno!

btw ~ as far as elections go, i could never be persuaded that one is better then the other. they both give me the heebies. doesn't the US have any other candidates? perhaps an independent weblogging virago? i would vote for her!    

btw ~ you really weren't kidding about plunging into the heart of darkness huh? well, if you need a light down there just give a yell and i'll throw down a torch or something, while i'm above ground that is, before i trip over some pit or another of my own.    

Emigre, I am just timidly approaching the waters before the blunge. Are you sure you have the stomach for what is to come?    

O! and a torch would be welcome.    

When the French tried to overthrow their aristocrats, they were attacked by the countries on all sides, because the idea of a republic was a threat to the powers in the region. Iraq has exactly that sort of problem.

You don't make freedom among unfree people uhm for free. You know what I mean...

Unfortately Muslim culture is to always look for an infidel to blame. A Muslim tyrant or group of fascists oppresses a bunch of other Muslims - and instead of fighting for their freedom they whine and look for a foreign satan to blame. Or Jews.

And Iraq is full of people fighting for theocracy or for some other tyranny because they have no concept of the worth of freedom! And truthfully neither do most of the people on the other side of these battles.

Talking to Muslims I'm often shocked that they don't understand the great value of freedom. Don't they know that a real democracy with rule of law wouldn't have gassed the kurds, wouldn't have filled the prisons with innocent people, wouldn't have tortured everyone Saddam was worried about, would have allowed them the freedom to raise their children to be sane instead of as Saddam worshipers etc etc etc... Freedom is worth fighting for. It is worth dying for even. But more Muslims think a bigoted myrterdom that does nothing more than killing infidels is worth dying for than think freedom is worth dying for.

France had to fight all of her neighbors to gain actual freedom, and freedom has a similar price in Iraq.

Even at that price freedom is still a great deal!

Joshua Scholar    

Joshua, You are so smart. These pearls of wisdom are wasted on this blog. Oh! I think you should travel to the middle east in order to spread that wisdom with those that need it the most. Every day that goes by without your message being spread in the middle east is a travesty. You are a shining example to the rest of us. Your bravery astounds me. I am speechless.    

I prefer sarcasm that is backed up with some logic.

Can you make any actual arguement - answer any points?

Joshua Scholar    

Joshua, I had a point and an argument but then you came into my life. I was blind and now I can see. I wish you had come into my life 20 years ago. It would have saved me and millions of people so much suffering. "Freedom is worth fighting for" -- oh oh oh, why haven't somebody told me that before. "Democracy is better than a theocracy", Where do you get this stuff from. Please don't stop. Please give us more of your wisdom and understanding. It would be mean to give us only a sip from this ocean. Now that I had a small hint, I want more. Please share.    

Ahh... Your people have a chance to fight for freedom and win. For the first time.

And you don't complain about the enemies of freedom, no you complain that Americans are ugly.

That takes courage among Muslims doesn't it? I was wrong about you. You're SOOO couragous yourself!

No one could mistake your whining with the propaganda from Al Ahram, Al Jazeera, Iran's press or any other yellow press from the enemies of freedom.

Violence and oppression are Americas fault. And Americans are ugly too! What insights. You've solve all of Iraqs problems in a single blow.    

<- Joshua Scholar    

Yes, yes Joshua. That is wonderful. Please tell me more. Set me on the right path. Do not underestime your greatness nor your ability to change this world. Please accept me as one of your humble pupils. I want to become your student, your padawan. I will dedicate the rest of my life to living in accordance to your teachings. I know you must be busy but surely you can spare just a little bit of time towards those of such desperate need. Please, I know I am not worthy, but I promise that I will try hard. Yes I know that I have done so many things wrong upto now, but....but I can do better, I know it. Please show me the way.    

If I sound unbearably sarcastic it's partially because I've been copying your own angry writing style.

I find that it usually speeds communication to write to people in their own idiom. They usually understand that better.

Obviously that doesn't work with you.

Ok, you've let me know that you don't respect me enough to consider my arguement. What a waste of time.

But may I point out that with all this blaming you've never proposed any possible solutions to Iraqs problems. That's always the problem with these arguements. I've never heard a single angry Muslim propose a realistic, politically workable solution to any problem - they only complain that whatever us infidels do is never good enough. Oh and we're obviously evil too. I'm sick of empty headed useless arguements.

Where are the useful ones? Where are the solutions? Where is the vision of the future.

Where, for God's sake, is the vision of how you get there from here?

Ok, we're bad, evil infidels, just the way God said. Now, oh wise Mulsim, tell me what we SHOULD be doing. Realistically. Not bull, but realistically, what should we be doing?

How exactly do we get there from here?

Josh    

O! master Josh. I am deeply honored to be accepted into the realm of your faithfull followers. I know you have taken a leap of faith on me but I assure you that I will not disappoint. I know how hard it has been for you to take this leap of faith. After all, I am one of them arabs and a muslim to boot. Plus I had all those years of al jazeera brain washing, which I never watch by the way, but I do confess to reading their website on a few occasions. O! I know my kind has made master Josh weary and tired, you try, you try hard but we keep whining and complaining and we don't do the right stuff. But, I promise you to rid myself from the filth of my origins and childhood conditioning. Yeah! I know, hard to believe, can there be a good arab? One that doesn't whine and complain all the time? Can we evolve in the realm of the civilized? I know, it is strech but I am determined to prove that it is possible. You will not be disappointed in me master. I want to fight the enemies of freedon with you. I will stand there shoulder to shoulder in the battle field ready with my exalibur, fiercly slaying all those horrid enemies of democracy. Just point me in the right direction and I will be there.    

Don't sidestep.

You say America's answers aren't good enough. Our best is ugly, fine. I think that's bigotry speaking, but actually that would be an awfully boring thing to talk about.

I think having a chance to fight for freedom is beautyful - is a gift. And you think it's phony and ugly...

Fine, for once show you can have a useful thought.

What is possible that would be beautiful?    

And yes, I know that the situation in Iraq IS ugly..

Iraq is surrounded by authoritarians and fascists - both secular and theocratic.

It's also riddled with both.

So freedom will be hard to create.

It's possible that Iraqis will fight for freedom and lose!

It's purgatory.

But I think that having a future with hope is always heavenly compared with having no future and no hope.

What you had before was actual hell. No hope at all. No future.

Imagine after Saddam's sons took over, eh?

What you have now is tragic, but infinitely less tragic than before.

And you know, that tragedy isn't America's it's the Middle East's.

You want to blame America? America's decisions haven't always been perfect?? How shocking. "Democracy is the worst form of government - except for the others." That's the truth. It doesn't make America a bad country. Our system is a reasonably functional democracy, and "reasonably functional democracy" is infinitely better than anything that's ever existed in the Middle east.

And Don't tell me we're ugly.

The American public is one of the least bigoted on the planet, because we've been improving ourselves for a while now. Can you say the same for Middle Eastern societies?

Americans are some of the least ugly people on the planet.

That's not my ugliness you're looking at, that the ugliness of job you need to do and haven't done yet.

"Politics is the art of the possible."

The point of freedom is that you DO have a say... But complaints without no plan, no realistic solution are useless, even in a democracy.

If you have complaints, but you have no vision of something better that's actually possible then you're just whining.

And if you're doing this and blaiming the some convenient scapegoat, then you're just a common bigot.

...................................................

But here's the rub. It's easy to be bigoted in little ways. It's easy to complain, as long as no one asks you to have a workable solution.

You look at it all, at all of the constraints in the real world, at the constraints of domestic and international poltics and maybe you will decide that you have no better answer. That's what I think.

If you do have an better ideas, I want to know them!!! They could be useful!

So, do you have any vision for how things should be?

At all?

Do you have any better ideas for how to bring those about?    

Wow. This is encouraging. It's always good to see bile take the place of reasoned discourse.    

And so ihath went into deep contiplation. Knowing that master Josh wouldn't be asking all these questions over and over again unless there was a deep and hidden purpose. Or maybe it is one of those trick questions like "what is the meaning of life?" "Who came first the chicken or the egg?". Surely master doesn't expect his pupil of less than one day to have enough wisdom and knowledge to resolve the problems of the world. ihath was expecting direction and guidance, she was not expected to be asked questions about how to solve world's problems. Hmmmmmmm! Well master, I have laid out my phase A for solving the middle east's problems in this post (http://www.ihath.com/2004/04/operation-enduring-purchase.html) Phase B and C of my grand plan will be laid out in future posts after the ideas crystalized a little better. In the mean time, everybody is welcome to make donations to "ihath's save the world fund". I have collected 40 dollars so far.    

lol

i just stopped by to drop of that torch but then i saw you had seen the light and probably wouldn't be needing it anymore.

not wanting to interrupt your meditations during this special time i must tip toe quietly away... is there any chance we could gather around candles later on and drink to flippancy?    

Ihath, you're funny and I like your posts. I understand your frustration and anger, but I don't think that scholar was trying to be insulting originally. no one has got all of the answers, but some things through the course of history have worked better than others. there's no denying that. don't get angry at me, because i don't want to offend you. i don't live in iraq, so i can't imagine how hard life is there. all i really would like to say is that whenever things get tough and hard, and you don't want to go on, you should think of the future. and i don't mean the
"you" as you personally, but you, me, everybody. how will it get better? i'm sure you've thought of it. what do you think? what choice is there now? i think, like it or not, America is the only thing standing between you and a bunch of fanatics who have no vision for the future, but only desire death and destruction. americans don't think muslims or arabs are all bad. we recognize that there is a minority of the society that is corrupted. there are people like that everywhere, and from time to time they have to be dealt with. nazis, communists, anarchists are all examples. don't give up.

A different Josh    

OMG
the comment section is almost better than the blog
I'm definitely joining ihath's master Josh cult
hehe


btw what's wrong with anarchists and communists?? They seem like a nice enough lot

turey    

Gee, ihath. Come on back, would you? I miss the old you.    

I would like to oficially go on the record as agreeing with Ihath: Janet Reno is pug ugly... or as we used to say "FUGLY". :D

Awesome blog, totally on my daily read list.    

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.    

It staggers me how people can condemn the "unjustified" sanctions, but wave off the multi-billion theft of moneys by SH that actually caused the collapse of food and medical supplies. All this makes me wonder, are you prettier than Waffa Bin Laden?    

Dear Sweet ihath,

Please don't curse us any more than we humanly deserve.

We must defeat Bush for many reasons beyond Iraq. I don't know if Kerry will make better decisions re Iraq. I just have to trust that he will.

What disturbs me -- even beyond the mess in Iraq -- is that while all of our attention is focused there Bush and his bastards are making environmental and economic and legal and social decisions that are fucking us up royally.

Sneaky little changes in wording that rarely get noticed, (example: coaltop mountain removal waste reclassified as "fill" so that the slag can just run down into mountain streams without the control that's afforded to "waste", etc, etc, etc) because they receive little public review.    

*update*
alright, after reviewing your photo I can honestly say you ARE prettier than Janet Reno
hehehehe

and you do look a little like Kate Winslet, combined with Catherine Zeta Jones

there...
happy now?
;>

Javier    

Dear Ihath,
I was shocked and saddened to see that you support Bush. The man has lied and broken more laws than I can list here. He does not care about democracy or freedom in Iraq. He does not care about security in either Iraq or the USA. He is caught up in his evangelical beliefs that require the Jews to be in Israel and a world war to start in the Middle East so that Armagedon can commence.
He cares more about his anti-gay agenda then security as 7 scarce translators have been fired because they were gay. (so much more important to punish gays than try and translate possible terrorist messages)
He knowingly included the false Niger yellow cake claim in his state of the union address, when even I knew it was a poor forgery.
And Negroponte as UN ambassador? I guess it helps to hire convicted felons and liars from the Iran Contra scandal because they've already proven that they will lie under oath to protect the president.
Bush swore to uphold the US Constitution but has ignored the writ of habeous corpus which was one of the reasons the US went to war with Britain in the first place.
Bush seems to have pulled us out of the Geneva conventions and simply ignores laws he doesn't like

So the idea of Bush leading any US force to "teach" Iraqi's the joys of a democratic rule is laughable. He can teach hypocrisy, but is that what Iraq needs to learn?