he was detained by mistake !!

Oh...... get out of here. Mistake? Abdul-Hameed? You don't know who Abdul-Hamid is? Where the hell have you been the last two years?
and could you have chosen a better time? This was the last thing we needed, while we try to heal a wound you jab your finger in it?

It is very difficult to argue for your good will as it is and with the "mistakes" you keep making.....

I don't think the Islamic Party is going to do what they did during the elections and boycott the process of writing the constitution, even though the arrest was very humiliating, but with actions like these you have given them another point for their argument that there will be no way we can move forward while you won't respect political figures and even worse you bypass the Iraqi goverenmnt with decisions that have direct influence on how successful their mission is.

You talk the talk but habibi, you need to do the walk as well.
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and now ladies and gentlemen the US forces perform for your pleasure The Bravery's "An Honest Mistake".
all together now:

Don't look at me this wAAAAAaaay
It was an honest mistAAAAaaake

Really guys this was not funny at all and saying yet again "ooops sorry" is getting a bit tedious.

So finally they sit down and write something on paper.
The first thing the Constitution Committee put down on paper are 16 short paragraphs they are calling Principles for the constitution. It looks like a number of guidelines or things everyone basically agrees upon and would form the skeleton of future discussions.
Until yesterday they were only 15, paragraph 16 was added today after more heated discussion.

It was decided to set the following principles as guidelines, and they are to be called “constitutional principles”;

1. the principle of the republican system
2. the principle of Democracy
3. the principle of federalism and decentralization of governance
4. the principle of Islam being the official religion of Iraq and a source of legislation
5. the principle of equality in rights and freedoms
6. the principle of the separation of the three powers and the independence of judges
7. the principle of peacefulness in international relationships and the rejection of violence and terrorism
8. the principle of the unity of Iraq’s people and land
9. the principle of civilian power over military
10. the principle of Iraq’s independence and sovereignty
11. the principle of natural resources being owned by the people
12. the principle of acknowledging that Iraq is a multi-ethnic, mulit-religious country
13. the principle of the family forming the forming unit of society
14. the constitution and the law is above all
15. the role of civil society organizations in monitoring the work of governmental institutions.
16. for the articulation of paragraphs 3 and 4 what has been stated in the Iraqi Transitional Law should be observed

It seems that during the past two days the 3rd and 4th principle have caused a lot of debate in the Constitution Committee with the Kurds wanting to put in a line about a voluntary federal state (which makes Arab-Iraqis a bit uncomfortable because if they choose to be in a federal state now they might not want to be in some point in the future). And the Islamists wanted to bring back a line which has already caused a lot of shouty arguments during the drafting of Iraq’s Transitional Law. They wanted to put the ‘THE’ back in, as in [Islam is THE source of legislation]. And that’s why paragraph 16 was added, which in theory puts an end to both groups arguments.

For the Islamists Article 7 section A states:

Islam is the official religion of the State and is to be considered a source of legislation. No law that contradicts the universally agreed tenets of Islam, the principles of democracy, or the rights cited in Chapter Two of this Law may be enacted during the transitional period. This Law respects the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and guarantees the full religious rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and practice.

And for Kurdish separatists Article 4 says:

The system of government in Iraq shall be republican, federal, democratic, and pluralistic, and powers shall be shared between the federal government and the regional governments, governorates, municipalities, and local administrations. The federal system shall be based upon geographic and historical realities and the separation of powers, and not upon origin, race, ethnicity, nationality, or confession.

No mention of opting to chuck the rest of Iraq not only for the region of Kurdistan but any region that might be formed (The Transitional Law) allow for any three governorates outside Kurdistan to form a “region” – and there are rumors about Basra and two adjacent governorates forming a southern region.

So in fact if these 16 principles were to be followed we might be able to at least discuss new issues not spend time with things that were discussed before but somehow from all the squabbles I hear about I don’t think this is going to be so easy, all sides have just conceded to these basic principles but the devil will be in the details I guess.

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Die Gedanken Sind Frei (the thoughts are free) - Brazillian Girls

What the hell do you think you’re doing?
So while the current Iraqi government is trying REALLY hard to bring in the Sunni factions which boycotted the elections into the fold again to sit down and work on the constitution what does the US forces do? They go and arrest the head of the most important Sunni political party.

Iraq Sunni political leader arrested.
(AFP) - The leader of Iraq's main Sunni party was hooded and arrested by US forces in Baghdad, along with his three sons..

and this after the party he heads (Iraq Islamic party) expressed its interest in taking part in the political process.
Now, if this is done with the knowledge of Jafari’s then way to go sir. You have just set an example on how to be all inclusive and open minded about the future of Iraq. And if this was done by US forces without consultation with the Iraqi government (which I somehow suspect) then Habibis, GET WITH IT! We are trying to limit damages here and while we take a step forward your actions have just thrown us four steps back.


This really isn’t good news. And al-Sharqiya just reported from the press conference at the Islamic party headquarters where the spokesman said that the translator with the American forces arresting Hameed and his sons told Hammed that this is what happens to you when you don’t take part in the elections. Now that is a translator that needs bitch slapping. Even worse if this was something the American soldiers told him to translate.

I don’t get it. So Condi comes to Iraq preaching that Sunni parties are included in the constitution writing process and a week later they arrest the head of THE one party who might be able to see sense?

The arrest happened after a day of intense fighting in al-Ameriyah district, west of Baghdad, where Hameed lives. Al-Sharqyia also reported that the Kubaisis mosque in the same district was surrounded by Iraqi police this morning but no reasons were given, and a second Sunni mosque in north of Baghdad was raided.

Our favorite firebrand cleric has made an appearance on Iraqi TV. It was two days ago, 10 minutes just before the “Terrorists Horror Show”.

Interviewer (asking from an obviously agreed upon list of questions):
- So is this a comeback to the political arena?
- Habibi, Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years rockin' the mic, puttin' suckers in fear.
(So I paraphrase a bit. But I swear he did say “don’t call it a comeback”)

There we are, sitting in the living room waiting for the daily Terrorist Show when the little news ticker at the bottom of the screen announces that al-Iraqia is going to show an interview with Moqtada al-Sadr. Yippee and frickin’ hooray. From where I am sitting no news from him is always good news but he has been up and about lately and it seems it is time to make an announcement.

I have to admit that I have rarely heard the man speak. When he shot to prominence after the war he was for a while criticized for his mumbling and incoherency but that soon went away. He was given sage advice on What Makes a Girl Fierce and started “rocking mics, putting suckers in fear”. It also helps that it is often people delivering statements on his behalf to the media.
Well, mumbling is gone but I guess it would have been more difficult to make sound very eloquent. There is something amusingly thug-ish about the growl he uses. And he manages to use “Habibi” even more than I do, which was a bit distracting.

What did he talk about? Ah…well…stuff…you know…dammit, I can’t remember. I was too busy looking at the hideous curtains behind the guy and wondering why the interviewer was sucking up so obviously. But I did snap to attention when the word ‘constitution’ was mentioned. He obviously wasn’t too happy about the fact that it was going to be written under occupation. Fair enough, touché and ouch so stop rubbing it in, when the masters of the universe hand you lemons you make sour democracy lemonade, that’s what I think.

But what was really interesting was his remark after that. He said that it was obvious and clear that the constitution can only be Islamic. That there at the core of Iraqi society there are two mainstays (is that the word? I mean things that won’t be changed) the Koran and the life of the prophet. Hence the constitution has to be Islamic “ and anyone who doesn’t agree with this send him to me and I will have a word with him”.
Not only is he Fierce but a comic as well. A word. And the last time he had a disagreement he took a whole city hostage for weeks.

It is interesting that he decided to make this statement just as the National Assembly finally agreed on how the constitutional committee is going to look like, let’s not forget his ability to rally the masses behind causes he thinks are worthy. It looks like the constitution is going to be where his next battle will be fought.

The debate over which day the weekend should be extended to is not over yet. Basra’s governing council has decided it doesn’t like Saturdays and announced that starting June the weekend will be Thursday and Saturday. Now I am trying to figure out what job I need to apply to so that I can have a three day weekend. Thursday/Friday in the south and Friday/Saturday in the rest of Iraq.

Ok, the whole podcast thing didn’t work out. Too much work and my iPodder refused to catch the two I’ve posted. Music and other things will be posted randomly and you can stitch the words to the music if you wanna. It is like a podcast you buy at a DIY place.

Listen to The Fat Whiner

(recorded 17/5/2005)
In today’s podcast:
I wonder what happened to the deck of cards.
I get a bit upset at how sectarian the Iraqi National Assembly is acting.
I unashamedly admit being smitten by Australian pop Divas who wear feathery headgear. And there is a song about fantastic cats.


Music Links (in order of appearance)

• Aiwa (Iraqi-French hiphop thingy)
• Takako Minekawa
• Massive Attack / Kylie Minogue mash-up (I know. I also said: 'Sir, this is highly illogical!' but Slow Angel works)
• Erase Errata
• The Postal Service
  

Links to Things I Talk About

• Deck of 55

Amer Rasheed is the 6 of spades in that deck and he used to head the Military Industrialization Corporation. He was minister of Oil when the war started. His wife Rihab Taha, is not actually on the list of 55 but she was considered an important target because of her work on developing biological weapons hence the Dr. Germ title.

Anyway it has been 5 days now since that report was broadcast on al-Sharqiya and nothing happened so I guess it was just a rumor. And there is also no news about Tariq Aziz’s lawyer either. They are probably all busy now getting the case against the Sun ready for showing Saddam in his underwear.
For god’s sake, the front page? Yikes and ewwww! How many people decided to skip breakfast after seeing that?

So we know how he washes his underwear now but what I really want to know about him and the other high level detainees is are they talking? And what the hell are they telling their American captors?

• U.S. Presses Iraqi Government to Broaden the Role of Sunnis

I swear the most fun news you get these days is coming out of the National Assembly.

Although the Constitutional Committee’s missing Sunnis Drama has been going on for a week there still seems to be no resolution anytime soon. Actually the whole Assembly hasn’t gone down to business yet because they are still squabbling about committees and who heads them. The number of committees within the Assembly has swelled beyond control they realized they needed to do away with a couple of them, that’s after having spent way too much time inventing them. First to go was the De-ba’athification Committee, which I found a bit surprising considering how keen the Jafari government is on pushing this through.

According to the Time Line laid down by one of our previous government, can’t be bothered to look up which, the National Assembly should have a draft constitution in August or latest September for Iraqis to vote on. May only has 10 more days left in it and the committee hasn’t yet met once and it doesn’t look like they are going to during the coming week. So at best they have 90 days to write Iraq’s permanent constitution and have a national referendum on it. Ha. Fil mish mish.

I would like my constitutions well done and gently cooked please, no medium raw for me, thank you.

If the NA does manage to get the job done would we get an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for fastest written constitution?

Check. One. Two

recorded 13/05/2005
(The title of the post is actually a direct link to the mp3 file. I am still figuring out how this is going to work. For the moment you can subscribe to the feed here. I am not yet sure it works so hold your horses until I find my way around this. thanks)

Music Links (in order or appearance)

• The Robot Ate Me
• Client
  
• OBI
• The Donnas
• The City Lights

Links to Things I Talk About

• Journeyman.tv this is actually a distributor’s site but there are always many really good documentaries on the homepage it is worth taking a look at. You can either watch the clip (ram) or read a transcript. And if you really really like what you see you can order a DVD of it.

• Blogger 10 - The Battle for Women's Rights - 11 min 39 sec

• Equality in Iraq / Yanar Mohammed

This is the site for Yanar’s organization. I had so much footage of her but in the end I had to use so little because of time restrictions and because it wasn’t a film about her, but this is something I am doing in the future. She is trying to do so much with the little she has. For example she is trying to keep a shelter for women who are under the threat of honor killings and the organization doesn’t really get as much support as you would expect. She told me that at one point there was just enough money to keep them going for two weeks at a time. It’s a bit better now, they can think in terms of months instead of weeks.
Although you might find it surprising that not many western organization are stepping in for support I think it has to do with her background. She was (is?) a member of the Worker’s Communist Party and maybe this makes a number of donors a bit uncomfortable but I might be wrong. At the moment she is my heroine.

• Blogger 11 – UK elections report (ram)

This is off the Newsnight site, the quality is not as good as the journeyman clips but this didn’t have an international release.

You know, I think in the end it wasn’t the three meetings with Galloway that made making this report such an interesting time - the meetings were dropped because they thought he might file a suit. It was meeting Muslim Brits.
For example that guy from Hizb ul-Tahrir (and this is a link to their manifesto - pdf), this is a person I would never actually be able to sit with in Baghdad. They are a Salafi group who wouldn’t touch someone like me with a 10-foot pole.
We talked for an hour and most of the talk wasn’t really about the elections. They opposed it. Period. It is not an Islamic model and it should be rejected. What I found interesting is that although he was advocating very strongly for a Muslim government based on Khilafah he wasn’t prepared to go live under one. He was just happy sitting in this infidel country sipping on his latte while telling *ME* that I should rejoice because it is people like him calling for a true Islamic government for me to live under.
This happened a couple of times while talking to people outside the two mosques near Brick Lane. Muslims living in secular countries have no idea what it is like when your barber suddenly puts up a poster saying he is not allowed to shave beards anymore, they just don’t understand that while they live under a law that allows them to pursue whatever beliefs they want to, that gives them the right to make choices, the form of government they are advocating for isn’t going to be open minded at all. But I guess that’s OK because they don’t have to live there.

And to think that all of them are second or third generation immigrants, People who left their countries because they were too oppressive. Why don’t you come and jump into my nightmare? Come get a taste, it’s going to be an eye-opener. You think you can walk around here with your ‘rude boy’ attire and talk about your Muslim ‘brovas’?

I gave up arguing after I got shouted at for my ignorance of how Muslims live.
And if I hear the words “The True Islam” one more time I am going to self-destruct. “The True Islam” is always brought up when I ask them to explain why Muslims are killing Muslims if it really is such a religion of understanding and compassion. True Islam doesn’t allow the killing of brother Muslims. True Islam gives women more rights than they can handle. Brova, talk to the prayer beads!

P.S.1 for those who are planning to use this in their kill-all-Muslims rant on that site with footballs: DON’T YOU DARE! Remember my mother is a Haja who has been to Mecca twice and prays 5 times a day. Does she cut one of my fingers off every time I open the fridge to take out a beer? No. We got a separate refrigerator. This is a post about hypocrisy. Not an Islam bash.

P.S.2 for those Muslims who plan to petition for another Fatwa on my head: see above. I know there was a stage in the history of Islam that was all about adaptation and assimilation, we call it the Golden Age. But you have to admit this age isn’t exactly golden.

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