Suheila

Here are the captions supplied by Reuters:

1. A resident cleans soft drink bottles before refilling them in a house in Baghdad’s Sadr City July 30, 2008.
2. A resident refills soft drink bottles in a house in Baghdad’s Sadr City July 30, 2008. Picture taken July 30, 2008.

Yes cleaning them in the water contaminated with faecal matter that is all we get in Baghdad. I have forbidden my children to drink this stuff and refuse to buy it as it gives them diarrohea every time they drink it. This refusal has not made me popular with them but they and I like diarrohea even less. I will be very glad when they are old enough to work out cause and effect for themselves :-)

Until that day, and may God hasten it, mother is going to keep on saying very loudly whenever the subject comes up:

NO! You CAN’T drink THAT! No I am NOT buying it for you!

Suheila

Suheila

العراق: ضعف نظام توزيع الحصص الغذائية مع اقتراب شهر رمضان

أفاد بعض المسؤولين بأن نظام توزيع الحصص الغذائية، التي يعتمد عليها ملايين العراقيين، يعاني من خلل. كما حذروا من أن يؤثر التأخير في توزيع الحصص على صحة الصائمين خلال شهر رمضان المبارك الذي من المتوقع أن يبدأ في 13 سبتمبر/أيلول الجاري.

وقال محمد علاء جابر، مدير مكتب غرب بغداد لتوزيع الحصص الغذائية بأن “هناك العديد من الأسباب التي تقف وراء المشاكل التي يعاني منها نظام توزيع الحصص الغذائية، كنقص المواد الغذائية نفسها حيث أن المتوفر منها رديء أو أحياناً منتهي الصلاحية، بالإضافة إلى تأخر وصول هذه المواد إلى مكاتب التوزيع”.

ووفقاً لجابر، استمر نظام توزيع الحصص الغذائية المتبع في بغداد بالتدهور مع تصاعد وتيرة العنف الطائفي منذ شهر فبراير/شباط 2006، إلا أن الأزمة وصلت ذروتها في الأشهر الأربعة الماضية.

وأضاف جابر موضحاً: “نادراً ما يتوفر حليب الأطفال ضمن الحصص الغذائية، وهذا لم يحدث قط خلال نظام صدام، حيث كانت وفرة حليب الأطفال أمراً عادياً. أما الأرز المتوفر فهو رديء النوعية، في حين تحتاج البقوليات إلى ساعات على النار حتى تنضج. كما تدهورت جودة الدقيق والشاي الذي يتم توزيعه على الأسر، وفي 20 بالمائة من الحالات تعود الأسر التي تبحث عن حصص غذائية إلى بيوتها خالية الوفاض”.

وأفادت وزارة التجارة التي تتولى توصيل الحصص الغذائية بأن انعدام الأمن يعتبر السبب الرئيسي وراء النقص الحاصل في المواد التي تدخل ضمن الحصص الغذائية. وأوضح عبد العزيز حيدر، المسؤول الإعلامي لدى الوزارة، بأن “العديد من الشاحنات المحملة بالمواد الغذائية تتعرض للتوقيف في طريقها إلى بغداد وغيرها من المدن ويتم نهب محتوياتها. كما يمكن أن يحصل تأخير في تسليم المواد من خارج البلاد”، مضيفاً بأنهم يعملون جاهدين لضمان استمرار برنامج التوزيع في العمل بطريقة جيدة.

وكان برنامج الحصص الغذائية قد طٌبِّق لأول مرة في عهد صدام حسين للتخفيف من آثار العقوبات الاقتصادية التي فرضتها الأمم المتحدة على العراق بعد غزوه للكويت عام 1991. وكان شراء المواد الغذائية يتم ضمن برنامج النفط مقابل الغذاء التي كانت تشرف عليه الأمم المتحدة.

واستمر نظام توزيع الحصص الغذائية، الذي يرجع إليه الفضل في إنقاذ الملايين من العراقيين من الموت جوعاً، في العمل حتى عام 2003 عندما أطاح الغزو الذي تقوده الولايات المتحدة بنظام صدام. ويقول العديد من المستفيدين والخبراء بأن الحصص الغذائية كانت في عهد صدام ضعف ما هي عليه اليوم تقريباً من حيث الكم، كما أنها كانت تضم مواد غذائية ذات نوعية جيدة.

حصص غذائية أصغر حجماً وأسوأ نوعاً

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المنتخب العراقي يحقق انجازا تاريخيا بتأهله لنهائيات كأس آسيا لكرة القدم

لاعبو العراق يحتفلون بالفوز فور انتهاء المباراة

25/07/2007 14:15 (توقيت غرينتش)

تأهل المنتخب العراقي لكرة القدم الأربعاء لنهائيات بطولة آسيا لكرة القدم بركلات الترجيح 4-3، بعد أن صد حارس المرمى نور صبري عباس ضربة جزاء للاعب الكوري الجنوبي يوم كي هون في كوالالامبور.
وقد استطاع هداف الفريق أحمد منجاد تسجيل أربعة أهداف في مرمى الفريق الكوري، ثم جاء حارس المرمى العراقي ليصد الضربة الكورية الأخيرة.
ويلتقي العراق في مباراة القمة الأحد المقبل مع السعودية أو اليابان بطلة الدورتين الماضيتين اللتين تلتقيان اليوم أيضا في هانوي في مباراة نصف النهائي الثانية.

المنتخب العراقي يحقق انجازا تاريخيا بتأهله لنهائيات كأس آسيا لكرة القدم

Two journalists were murdered in Irak one in al-Anbar and one in Maysan. 4 senior customs officials were abducted in a part of Salah Ad Din governorate that has not had any green zone government security presence for five months. The pay of an army unit was stolen in Karbala. 23 unidentified bodies were found in various parts of Baghdad. There have been numerous incidents in Diyala including one in Al Khalis when gunmen “dressed in police uniforms” then stormed the hospital and shot four brothers dead. And in Arbil the American invaders transferred “responsibility” for security in Irak’s Kurdistan region to the Kurdish Peshmerga during a ceremony at which Najirfan Barzani, prime minister in the government of Iraq’s Kurdistan region said

“We thank and appreciate the coalition forces for liberating the people of Iraq.

and expressed his appreciaton of coalition “sacrifices” he also expressed support for the Maliki regime.

Suheila.

Baghdad

Sadr City: May 30, 2007
A boy walks through the rubble of a damaged
house after a raid by U.S. soldiers in  Sadr City
During the raid 2 civilians killed and 4 others
wounded as they slept on the roofs of their
houses the green zone government police said.

The American campaign campaign of raids and searches in Sadr City continues and has intensifeid following the abduction of a British consultant and his mercenary bodyguards from the Finance ministry. 

On Tuesday evening two people were killed as a result of missile launches by American military vehicles which had encircled the city entrances. Two greenzone government police were detained during the raids ( مقتل مدنيين واعتقال اثنين اخرين جراء حملة مداهمات في مدينة الصدر )

Gunmen assassinated three green zone government police officers in South Baghdad on Wednesday evening. The gunmen riding in a civilian vehicle opened fire on the three officers as they stood at a checkpoint dressed in civilian clothes. ( مسلحون يغتالون ثلاثة من ضباط الشرطة جنوبي بغداد  )

The car bomb that exploded in sector 15 of Sadr city around 20:00 hours this evening killed one civilian and wounded five others according to first reports. The toll is expected to rise.

Sadr City was raided by American armored vehicles and patrols, a day after the abduction of five Britons on Tuesday. Palestine Street in particular adjacent to Sadr City. ( مقتل وإصابة ستة مدنيين بإنفجار سيارة في مدينة الصدر  )

23 unidentified bodies were found in various parts of Baghdad most had been shot in the head.

• 10 bodies in Amil
• 3 bodies in Dora,
• 3 bodies in Bayaa,
• 2 bodies in Mansour
• 2 bodies in Sadr city
• 1 body in Kadhimiyah
• 1 body in Shalchiyah
• 1 body in Ali Al Salih

( العثور على 23 جثة مجهولة الهوية في بغداد )

Incident Reports from the governorates are below the fold:

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BAGHDAD, 30 May 2007 (IRIN) - When Suha Abdel-Azim, 38, received a letter from her boss saying she had to stop working for security reasons, she couldn’t believe it. After three years as an engineer for a local company, she was fired without compensation.

Photo: Afif Sarhan/IRIN

Many Iraqi women say they are discriminated against

“I was shocked when they told me I was being fired. I was an excellent worker and had done many fantastic and profitable projects but they didn’t want a woman with them any more. They tried to explain, saying it was too dangerous for the company to employ women: the company had received threats,” Suha said.

“I tried to convince them that I could work from home. I have two children to bring up, and have been alone since my husband was killed by insurgents in 2004 for working for a foreign company, but in vain. They just sent me home,” she said.

Suha is now unemployed. She has been trying to find a job but as a woman she is finding it difficult.

“When they see my cv [curriculum vitae] they get excited but later they say they cannot employ me because I’m a woman and it could be too dangerous for them. Most of the local construction companies in Iraq now have only men working for them,” she said.

Unemployment affects children

“In about 14 percent of families in Iraq women are the main breadwinners, and often they care for a large number of children. The increase in unemployment among them just means more children without support,” said Sarah Muthulak, a spokeswoman for the Baghdad-based Women’s Rights Association (WRA).

“Discrimination against women today is unprecedented. They are being sacked because of their gender; that is unacceptable,” she added.

Women say they are being threatened for working outside their homes and in places which are mostly patronised by men.

“Insurgents and militias want us out of the work environment for many reasons: Some because they believe that women were born to stay at home - cooking and cleaning - and others because they say it is against Islam to share the same space with men who are not close relatives,” Nuha Salim, spokeswoman for the Baghdad-based NGO, Women’s Freedom, said.

Forced to divorce

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Suheila

• Kirkuk
• Basrah and
• Samawwah

are holding protests and strikes to demand that the green zone gone government honour its pay commitments, reactivate some services, roll back the “self financing” imposed by the American invaders, and provide protection.

The strike in the rubber industries plant in Diwaniyah continues.The workers have been protesting for the last two months including the damage done to their livelihood by the decrees of the American invader government  run by the American “governor” of Irak - Bremer. There have been many strikes and protests at this plant for the last two months.

Scenes from An Iraki Childhood

The mortar attack on Sadr city today killed four people and wounded another 11. The photograph to the right was taken today outside Imam Ali hospital and shows relatives waiting to receive the body of one of the victims   

The “green zone” in Baghdad used by the American invaders as the centre for their continued illegal occupation of Irak came under mortar attack again today. Columns of smoke were seen rising from the place where the missiles struck in the direction of the American “embassy” so far neither the American invaders or their green zone government underlings have made a statement. Four foreigners who came to make money out of Irak’s misery by working with  the American army were killed in a similar mortar attack recently. (Later reports say that there were casualties from today’s attack but I have not been able to verify this - Suheila)

The green zone government army announced today that it had received the first batch American-made M-16s and M4 type rifles,as part of armament program initiated by their American overlords to “develop their abilities and skills.”

[According both to Saba Ali and markfromireland this is an extremely stupid move as these weapons although they are very good weapons are very high maintenance and poorly suited to Iraki conditions. I also asked somebody else who laughed very hard at the news and said they were prone to jamming. - Suhail ]

Three soldiers of the American invader army in were killed and eight others wounded in separate incidents in  Baghdad, the U.S. said in several statements today. The three fatalities raises to 3396 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Irak since the U.S.-led invasion of Irak in March 2003. Of the 3396 U.S. soldiers killed in Irak since the U.S.-led invasion of Irak in March 2003, 45 were killed since the beginning of this month while 104 soldiers were killed in April 2007.

A cascaded bombing attack in Bab al-Sharqi (central Baghdad) where vendors gather to sell their produce every day killed 5 people and wounded anoter 15. The area has been attacked by bombers repeatedly. Green zone government police fired into the air to threaten reporters and photojournalists at the scene.

The body of Bassem Abdul Illah Institadidi who was the general manager in the Systems Company was found in Baghdad today along with the bodies of his two bodyguards. They were kidnapped on Sunday. 

15 bodies many showing signs of torture were recovered in various parts Baghdad today.

Green zone government police colonel Mohamed Shihab was shot dead in front of his house West Baghdad today.

Two civilians were wounded in a mortar attack on Abu Nawas street in central Baghdad this eveinnig the wounded were transferred to Ibn Al Nafees.

A bomb placed inside a minibus exploded in Mahmudia south of Baghdad killing one civilian and wounding four others.

A bomb that exploded as a patrol of green zone government troops passed by it inAl-Huwaiyjahh (70 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk) killed one civilian and wounded another.

The Arabic text on the badges is:
“Department of security  for religion and tourism.”
The women in this  force are mostly widows or
are houseswives who have husbands so badly
wounded that they can no longer work to support
their familys. Nearly all of them have children
 - Suheila.The 207 women police who help protect pilgrims to the holy places in Najaf continued their protest that they have not been paid in 18 months for a second day.

A further ninety-one unidentified bodies were buried today in al-Wadi al-Jadid cemetary, 5 km south of Karbala after being brought from a morgue in Baghdad. They have been numbered and photographed so that they could be identified in the future by their next of kin. The number of unknown bodies buried in al-Wadi al-Jadid since June 2006 is 2,440 .

Diala residents ended their sit-in the area between the two holy shrines in Karbala after 21 days of peaceful protest that yielded positive results, the head of the committee that organized the sit, Abdul Baqi al-Shamri, said. There are more than 820 families in Karbala officially registered as displaced from Diyala governorate and 40 unregistered.

Green zone government and the American invaders forces have started to deploy in Diyala for the largest operation in three against gunmen fighting the American invasion of Irak. Troops from the green zone government’s 2nd and 4th Divisions, under the control of 3000 U.S. troops have begun trying to defeat groups that have strongholds in the Hamrin mountains and spots adjacent to the area of al-Aazim.

Gunmen driving by killed two civilians as they walked down the street today in Hibhihb West of Baquba.

The bomb targeting a green zone government patrol in Muqdadiyah killed four troopers also civil defense headquarters was stormed by gunmen who planted and then detonated enough explosives throughout the builiding to blow it completely to pieces.

In Salah ad Din governorate a man who was originially from Kirkuk and was one of the transport operators catering to American forces was killed by gunmen. As was a cleryman who was driving in the Hamrin mountains. The gunmen then followed the police who had taken the victim’s car to the police station in Yathrib and engaged the police in a gun battle. They were able to storm the poice compound and set fire to the car. The morter attack last night on the headquarters of the Directorate of Police in Baiji wounded four people.

Also in Salah ad Din a civilian and a policeman were killed and a woman wounded in an armed attack on the green zone government army checkpoint at the al-Bu Ojail intersection in eastern Tikrit. Three civilians two of them brothers were kidnapped in al-Ishaqi at a fake checkpoint. Earlier in the day five civilians were kidnapped on the road linking the city of Tikrit to Tuz Khormatou. The kidnappers were wearing the uniforms of the green zone government army.

In al Anbar a bomb planted on the side of a road exploded today as an American patrol passed and destroyed an American tank in the village of Luz. There are casualties among the American invaders according to eyewitnesses but the number and severity is not yet known.

A suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into a green zone government army patrol that was about to enter their barracks in Fleifal in northern Ninewa, on the Dohuk road.The attack caused severe damage to the barracks and wounded four soldiers.

A green zone government army patrol was ambushed in the al-Ubaydat district to north of Al Hillah the capital of Babil governorate one of the troops were killed, two were wounded and two civilians were wounded in the crossfire also. The report says the patrol was “showered with bullets” the attackers escaped without casualties.

Suheila.