Gorilla’s Guides

For centuries the Tigris River has provided Baghdadis with a rare delicacy: the famous Iraqi Samak mazkouf, a grilled fish.

The Tigris was the main source of the fish, kept alive in a tank and you only needed to pick one for the restaurant owners to grill it for you on open fire.

But a recent fatwa, or religious decree, issued by Muslim scholars in the city, forbids eating fish from the Tigris River. It is not because of pollution as the Tigris was, before the 2003 U.S. invasion, one of the cleanest rivers in the world.

The fate of Iraqi interpreters serving Denmark has become more uncertain after it was discovered that one of their colleagues was tortured and murdered

The Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that an Iraqi interpreter who had served Danish troops in Basra had been abducted, tortured and and killed by insurgents.

Ulla Tørnæs, the minister of development co-operation, stated that the interpreter, Mohammed Ismael, was apparently kidnapped in December while working for an aid agency.

In the days following the announcement, Tørnæs claimed that officials at the ministry failed to inform her about the incident. Law experts noted, however, that Tørnæs was nevertheless responsible for keeping tabs on such an important matter.

The killing was also a stark reminder of the danger the interpreters face on a daily basis for assisting the Danish troops and puts pressure on the government to find a way to protect the interpreters after the scheduled troop withdrawal in August.

The interpreters fear that without the protection of the military they will be hunted down by insurgents, who consider them traitors for helping the coalition.

In January, a group of Danish officers called on the defence minister, Søren Gade, to grant residency permits to the scores of local interpreters who have assisted Danish forces in Iraq.

Arbil, June 22, (VOI) – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s son said having U.S. forces in Iraq would “spare the Kurdish people any forms of injustice,” stressing that setting up a U.S. base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region “is in favor of both the United States Kurdistan.”

“We have to explain to our American friends that their interests with the Kurds are not just political. They are also economic and military,” Qabbad Talabani, the representative of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s government in the United States, said in a press conference in Arbil, capital of Kurdistan, on Friday.

Several Kurdish officials had expressed readiness to accept a U.S. military base in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, in the northern part of the country, which is nearly Independent from the Iraqi state since the end of the 2^nd Gulf War in 1991.

On the reasons for the Kurds’ fears about their future in Iraq despite the presence of a constitution and a government where the Kurds are active, Talabani said “history has left its imprint in our memories. We have to have fears about the emergence of a dictator, whether in Iraq or in a neighboring country.”

Despite some tactical successes, U.S. voters are increasingly convinced that U.S. forces will be unable to restore stability in Iraq. As political disillusionment with the Iraq war gradually forces a troop drawdown, attention is turning to the likely consequences for Iraq and the region of a reduced U.S. military presence after 2009.

According to the latest (June 1-3) Gallup polling data, 71% of the U.S. public believes the campaign in Iraq is going “badly or very badly,” a record high, and a majority now support a timetable for withdrawal. Conscious of these political realities, U.S. officials–including President George Bush–realize that time is running out on the U.S.’s Iraq campaign. While there is little prospect that the bulk of U.S. forces will be withdrawn before Bush leaves office in January 2009, it is equally certain that a major drawdown will occur before the next presidential election cycle in 2012. This pullout will likely occur before the U.S. has achieved its strategic objectives, which will have significant consequences on Iraq, the wider Middle East and the outlook for U.S. foreign policy.

A substantial near-term U.S. troop pullout from Iraq is unlikely as long as Bush is president. It would represent a humiliating defeat for the administration and an admission of failure on Bush’s signature effort in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The president remains the commander in chief, and there are no signs that he believes even a phased withdrawal is compatible with U.S. national security interests.

Equality and democracy in higher education must be practiced, not preached.

Higher education in Iraqi Kurdistan could prove to be a shining example to universities in the rest of the country, if significant changes are made to the way it is administered.

The Kurdish government has promised a bright future for its youth, with opportunities to study at excellent new universities, such as the American University of Iraq, to be built in Sulaimaniyah.

At the same time, higher education has benefited from the arrival of Arab academics, who have fled sectarian violence in central and southern parts of the country, and Kurdish intellectuals, who have returned from the Europe and elsewhere.

But the university system requires extensive reforms before it can serve Iraqi students. The region’s universities are hindered by politics, corruption, a lack of resources and a culture that does not promote critical or independent thought.