Gorilla’s Guides

This is a summarisation of the main news in Arabic from Aswat Al Iraq for February 19th 2007 it is delayed. To make up for the delay I have written you a postcard. There is also also a feature article about conversations between Irakis on the buses in Kut here is a small sample:

A sound of a woman broke from among the passengers, saying “I am Shiite and two of my daughters are married to Sunni men,” followed by a young man saying “I am Sunni and my fiancée is Shiite and my sister is married to a Kurd.”

The bus driver, Ali Kazem Hassoun, said “I got used to these conversations on a daily basis. They mirror the Iraqi reality and the Iraqis’ cares and problems.”

I am a Muslim I am Iraki like the majority of Irakis my tribe is a mix of Sunni and Shia. One of my parents is Sunni one is Shia. I live in Baghdad. Our neighbourhood has Sunni and Shia arabs, Sunni and Shia Kurds, we have some Christian neighbours such as the goalkeeper in my football team, we have Shabaki and Yezhidi in our neighbourhood also.

Postcard From Baghdad Sent February 20th 2007:

Ana Iraki Ya Irak

Mohammed Ibn Laith

Puppets on Strings Part 1:

A statement was issued by the Green Zone Puppet Prime Minister’s Office today, Monday saying that Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the formation of a special committee to investigate the attack on the Iraqi woman subjected to immoral behaviour of by soldiers and officers during a search of a house in west Baghdad. The Green Zone Puppet Prime Minister’s Office also issued a statement condemning bombings calling on people who have fled in fear for their lives to return to their homes and hailing the “success” of the security plan. (I do not want to even begin to think what this “government” would call a failure - Mohammed.)

Puppets on Strings Part 2:

Green zone puppet government Oil minister Shahistrani announced a plan to protect the Irak’s largest oil refinery at Baiji. The Baiji refinery, Iraq’s biggest refineries has a design capacity of 300 thousand barrels per day.

Kurdish officials played down the threats launched by Ansar Al Sunnah published on the internet against Kurdish forces taking part in the green zone puppet governments’s plan to control Baghdad. (He said that such threats did not frighten the Peshmerga Kurdish forces!!! - Mohammed)

The American predator government mouthpiece Ambassador to the “government” in the green zone made a statement condemning all the murders by the recent bombings. The mouthpiece forgot to mention all the Iraki people murdered by the predator invaders. Because introducing Iraki sand niggers to force comes under the heading of “collateral damage” and so does not count.

Sultan Abdul Samad Rahman, issued a statement saying that returning refugees who return as part of the green zone government security plan for Baghdad and the home areas and who need assistance will be offered 250 thousand dinars. A special form for the inventory of the property of these displaced families will be distributed through branches of the Ministry in Baghdad and in the governorates. [250,000.00 IQD is 194.719 USD at official rate of exchange from the money changers - Mohammed] The president of the Baghdad municipal council made a similar appeal but without mentioning money, promising that video surveillance would be installed, and calling on the clergy who have fled to return.

The two Kurdish separatist parties the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who control the Kurdish region with American help using their Peshmerga militias denied in a joint official statement supporting the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and accused the Turkish government of making baseless accsuations.

Death And Destruction:

A British helicopter fired five air-to-surface missiles on Monday evening close in the area of a densely populated housing complex north of Basra without causing damage according to eyewitnesses. They were apparently responding to a katyusha attack on their base in the airport.

Basrah Helicopter Bombing Update:

There is more news and the feature after the link below:

This earlier report gives more detail the first part of the report deals with the shootout between British invader troops and Irakis at a checkpoint in al-Hussein. The driver of the car was killed and five fighters detained. The helicopter attack by the British invaders was part of tactics to escalate adopted since the beginning of the new security plan in the city. Residents say the city and suburbs have turned into a “battlefield” since the start of the new British plan for security. They describe every niht as a “storm” and complain of indiscrimnated raids by the British on homes:

without regard for the sanctity of the home or for the most elementary standards of human rights.

The report quotes Mohammed Hussein a resident in the area as saying that the British made their helicopter bombing flight around dawn that 3 civilians are dead and 4 seriously wounded and that none in the neighbourhood know why those homes would have been targetted by the British invaders.

Death And Destruction Continued:

The oil slick on the river Tigris means that water treatment for the city of Mosul will remain suspended for another two days. Treatment has been suspended because the water treatment plants cannot cope with petroleum pollution. Most of the city is without water. Two green zone government police have been shot dead three unidentified murdered people in civilian clothes have been found. (One of the police was on vacation - Mohammed)

The “elite” scorpion brigade who report to the SCIRI controlled Ministry of the Interior, are concentrating their operations in Bābil and Al-Karbalā [this is the same “elite” force that had to get the American invaders and the British Invaders to come running to their help recently - Mohammed.] These continuing operations by the “elite” American allied SCIRI Death Squad scorpion brigade demonstrate the importance of the Green Zone puppet government prime minister’s deadline for these operations to end which has expired. Four suspected members of the Soldiers of Heaven were arrested in Karbala. In An Najaf the 10 year old girl who was kidnapped for US$20,000 has been found and freed her kidnappers are now in jail.

A child who was sheep herding sheep 50 kilometres west of Basra was seriously wounded when he stepped on a landmine (many mines are left over from the war with Iran. Because so many people are extremely poor many people especially children in the border governorates try to take out the copper wiring from mines and sell it to scap mechants see this posting by markfromireland called “Death in a Garbage Dump” - Mohammed.)

Muqtada Al Sadr’s office confirmed detentions of self-styled members of Jaish al-Mahdii In Samawah governorate capital of Al-Muthannā by forces loyal to the green zone government. an anonymous source in those forces told Aswat Al Iraq that an arrest list of 75 persons was in existence.

11 people were killed and 10 others woundied including several women and children in the mortar attack on Abu Dashir in south part of Baghdad. Southeast of Baghdad in al-Qura Ghawli 49 persons have been detained in a raid three bombs were also seized. In another raid this time south of Baghdad the invaders and their green zone allies arrested two members of the Jaish Al Mahdi. The statement made by invaders’ press office did not say where they were arrested and said they were suspected of being involved in kidnapping and murder in particular of the assasination of a green zone officer in December last. The bomb hidden in the bus that exploded in al Karradah killed 7 people and wounded 8 all of them were civilians. The car bomb that was detonated by remote control in the al Mahmoudiya market killed 2 people and wounded six, the roadside bom in al Zafanaariyah killed 2 people and wounded 24 people 4 green zone police were wounded also.

In Kut the capital of Wasit governorate a lieutenant in the green zone government police rapid reaction force was shot dead in the street. Two others were wounded in this attack.

The American invaders announced the killing of two of its soldiers and injuring of seventeen others in today’s, (Monday’s) attack on one of the American invader forces’ outposts north of Baghdad. The attack started with a car bombing and was followed up by a sustained assault. The invaders also announced that another invader a U.S. Marine was killed in fighting in al-Anbar. This brings the total of American invaders killed this month to 54 and and the total of American invaders killed to 3139 since America invaded Irak in 2003.

An American invader patrol was bombed 5 kilometres south of Fallujah leading to the destruction of an armoured vehicle according to eyewitnesses. The green zone government army barracks in Fallujah was attacked the attack started at 3:30 consisted of a mortar barrage under the cover of which gunmen and RPG launchers sustained their attack. There were casualties (number unknown) among the green zone troops the attackers escaped.

In Salah ad Din governorate close to Tikrit American invader forces detained seven members of one family, including two brothers, claiming that they were in the resistance. A civilian was wounded during the invaders’ raid. The same report says that there were also two bombings near Tikrit one destroyed a mercenary company vehicle the other bombing attacked an American invader armoured patrol. Another attack near Tikrit between Tikrit and village of Hila in the Touz district on green zone government police patrol killed a captain three of his men and wounded 4 others in the patrol.

10 people were abducted by gunmen at a dummy checkpoint leading to the main commercial street and at Al Khalis hospital near Baquubah in Diyala governorate the corpses of 22 murdered Iraki people were received . All had been shot two were tortured before they were murdered. The hospital spokesman in that report said the hospital morgue could not cope it was getting so many murdered people and new plant and machinery was needed to process so many murdered people. The head adminstrator of the Sadiyyah qadha near Baquubah has been shot dead.

There were several rocket attacks and one bomb in Kirkuk - no damage or loss of life.

Culture and Life:

Sheikh Jamil Al Hadi Alaouidien a clan chief who is helping the hosting of the book first book fair and exposition in Ad Dīwānīyah of books for children and young people, expressed pleasure at the success of the exposition of the more than 350 titles of books of poetry, stories and religious books for children and young. The Sheikh explained that the much of the culture and piety of the young had been lost because of slogans and political partisanship and that books such as these were an important weapon in protecting young people from “political polemics and false slogans.” [Diwaniya is the capital city of Al Qadisiyah governorate - Mohammed.]

Feature Article: “Public buses act as mobile chatting assemblies for Iraqis”

This feature article about conversations on buses in Kut has been translated into English here I just copy and paste :-)

Kut-Society (Feature)

Public buses act as mobile chatting assemblies for Iraqis

By Abdul-Jabbar al-Safarani

Kut, Feb 19, (VOI) – Public buses became one of the meeting points for Iraqis discussing their ordeals and cares, with a variety of themes from the occupation of their country, security, bombings, assassinations and relocation to lack of services like power and energy.

Jalal Salman Hassan, a 46-year-old engineer in the oil ministry, said dialogues on public buses have become a hallmark of Iraqis, adding the chatting is usually confined to daily problems and suffering faced by the people as a whole.

“The daily tough conditions we go through became a common denominator for us all and also became our main obsession,” Hassan told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Hassan Ali Hussein, a civil servant at the agricultural department in Wassit, a predominantly-Shiite province 180 km southeast of Baghdad, said the view-exchanging conversations among bus passengers are marked by a high sense of patriotism as everybody agree that what is happening now in the country will sooner or later vanish.

“Passengers often speak of Iraq’s unity and they express their views so freely despite certain differences in opinion,” said Hussein.

A passenger enthusiastically interrupted and said “Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are all Iraqis. This emphasis on differences among the people of Iraq was created by America to drive a wedge among Iraqi groups.”

A sound of a woman broke from among the passengers, saying “I am Shiite and two of my daughters are married to Sunni men,” followed by a young man saying “I am Sunni and my fiancée is Shiite and my sister is married to a Kurd.”

The bus driver, Ali Kazem Hassoun, said “I got used to these conversations on a daily basis. They mirror the Iraqi reality and the Iraqis’ cares and problems.”

“Sometimes the discussions grow into heated arguments when ideas and views intersect,” said Hassoun, adding the loveliest of debates are when they reach a high level of common understanding and awareness of freedom within its acceptable limits among the passengers.

In heated debates, the driver is the only one harmed because passengers sometimes forget to pay their fares, he said.

Sport:

Iraq’s national soccer leaves for the safety of a training camp in Jordan before travelling to Thailand where they are expected to play a friendly match with the the Thai team on the 24th of the month before going to Taipei in Taiwan to participate in the Asian championship. Plans are being drawn up to permit small numbers of fans to attend league football matches in Baghdad. [This has been forbidden for a long time for safety reasons - Mohammed] Numbers will be 200 to start rising to 1000 if successfull. It is hoped that even a small number of cheering supporters will help the players morale. An attempt to start a basketball league is to be made.