list of iraqi academics – قائمة بالأكاديميين العراقيين الذين أغتيلوا منذ الغزو

Here is a list of Iraqi academics who had been murdered since the Iraqi invasion. Hmmm… I wonder why  they were murdered? Can you guess? [original link published also here].

shaabolla and obama – شعبوللا وأوباما

هذه أغنية شعبان عبد الرحيم الجديدة:

أنا شايف الإبتسامة والفرحة ع الوشوش
اياك بارك اوباما ما يكونش زي بوش

مين يعرف ولا يعلم في ايه جوه النفوس
بلاش من بدري نحلم لا يكون الحلم كابوس

خلينا زي ما احنا ما الهم خدنا عليه
راح بوش وجه اوباما ايه يعني هيحصل ايه

لسه فلسطين محتله والحرب في العراق
والناس عايشه في مذله وعداء يجيب عداء

مهما هيعمل اوباما ويلف شمال ويمين
لا يرجع الحريري ولا حتي الشيخ ياسين

عرفات مش جاى تانى اللى عاش ايام سواد
ومات والكل عارف بحركات من الموساد

يا عربى الف سلامة يا عربى يا عينى عليك
قاعد مستنى اوباما علشان ياخد بأيديك

ولا بوش ولا اوباما هيفكروا ابدا فيك
يا عربى مفيش غير ايدك هى اللى راح تحميك

بوش يخرب بيت سنينة باعنا وضيعنا سنين
وأوباما الناس فاكرينه هيكون صلاح الدين

ما هو بوش ابن المجنونة شعللها في كل مكان
افغان وعراق وغزة واخرها سوريا كمان

هيعمل ايه اوباما في مصايب بوش وابوه
ما سابوش مكان في العالم الا ما خربوه

مجاعات وأزمة ماليه وخرب ودمار وحروب
اهو غار ابن المؤزية وسايبهالنا ع الطوب

obama and gitmo

That is the first thing Obama should do: dismantle Gitmo. This is  the only way to prove that his administration will truly abide by the US law and constitution as well as by international laws. Not only that, but it is the only way to restore America’s image across the world.. an image that has been tarnished by wayward activities and lawlessness.

Why do we even care about America’s image before the world? because the security of Americans depends on it.. if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. If America continues to defy international law, nothing will protect it when its own people are subjected to the same. International law was created to protect all peoples from wayward and random acts of violence. Breaking it was the Bush administration’s biggest judgment error, and it will be Obama’s. As a show of good will, Gitmo has to be closed and the rule of law restored.

prepping for a new war: Iran continues to be on the agenda

Behind the backs of American voters, top advisers for President-elect Barack Obama have been setting the stage for a dramatic escalation of confrontation with Iran as soon as the new administration takes office. A report released in September from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, argued that a nuclear weapons capable Iran was “strategically untenable” and detailed a robust approach, “incorporating new diplomatic, economic and military tools in an integrated fashion”. [link]

I don’t want to rush to judgment here, but what concerns me in this alarming article is that if Obama surrounds himself with the same hawks of the previous administration his hand may be forced into war. And yet Obama is no idiot. It is way too early to know what he will do in spite of campaign rhetoric. He has made some clear declarations in the campaign [to AIPAC, and about Georgia/Russia etc. and others] showing that his policies will not change much from his predecessor, but he is still the better choice – a choice of ‘perhaps not’ and ‘perhaps there is hope’. He is still better than a McCain.

[Thanks Chris for the link to the article].

we don’t care if your wife dies…

Fauziyah died because of the insensitivity of soldiers who would not allow her to be rushed to the hospital in Tul Karm after she suffered a serious heart attack. She lay in the back seat of a taxi (the army had not allowed an ambulance to pick her up at home), breathing with difficulty and moaning in pain, her husband pleading with the soldiers, trying to persuade them, trying to explain to them that his wife was about to die – all to no avail. “Get out of here, we don’t care if your wife dies,” one of them said.[Haaretz]

We hard the stories before and have become, it seems, desensitized. No one cares if Fauziyah dies or lives. She is, after all, from Tul Karm. So what if she dies? she is just another ‘terrorist’. But America pledges to stand by its ‘ally’ Israel. No matter who is elected. No matter what violations happen there. Israel forever victim. After all, it is only violating the rights of Rashid Khalidi’s people who are all terrorists.

It’s a boy!! it’s a lovely, promising black boy too!

Barak Obama… congratulations!! what a road it has been, what a road lies ahead of you – and us! I warn of course of the disillusionment that will afflict many who have chosen you in a few months because expectations are set to enormous heights… but we all won with you. We will NOT have to go through another 4 years of stupid utterances and insane policies and political gaffes. Hopefully we will gain back the respect of the world that we lost at some point. To say the LEAST, we will have someone intelligent in the White House for a change! and what a change!!