Dean's World

Over on my blog, The Glittering Eye, I've written that I thought the blogosphere was inhaling, waiting for the results of the presidential election that's just one week away now. The Iraqi blogosphere seems to be inhaling, too.

Dr. Saif of Iraqi Humanity is having some experiences that I suspect are common to med students everywhere

We took history from her then we presented it to the Doctor & I was astonished for the 1st time bcz she told the doctor she had vomiting also but she didn't said that when I asked her, when I told the doctor he told not make the patient misleading me bcz her in Iraq most of popular people used to tells lies either to make the doctor become sad(very merciful) & try to help them only (extraordinarily) or to take more drugs which they think it is better, & also he told me that they trust illegal medicine (used in country side regions or deserts where no hospital are there by those who pretended the ability to cure patients & they use fire burning or some readings on patients to make the devil out of his/her soul J this bcz of incivilization of those people especially in our hospital bcz most of patients come from regions outside Baghdad ) or what ordinary people said more than what doctor says. I toughed this lesson & I wish I will not doing again J.

Abu Khaleel of A Glimpse of Iraq has an interesting post in which he describes some of the effects of what I believe to be one of the greatest tragedies of the Arab world: tribalism. Check out his post Mischief and Revenge.

The Iraqi bloggers are waiting for the American elections, too. Riverbend of Baghdad Burning is pulling for Kerry.

Several of the Iraqi bloggers were much affected by the recent murders of 49 new Iraqi national guardsmen by insurgents. This got passing mention in the Western media. It's a pretty big deal for the Iraqis. Sam of Hammorabi has some pretty harsh words. Omar of Iraq the Model thinks either that it was an inside job or that Iranian intelligence was involved.

Omar of Iraq the Model has an extremely interesting post in which he quotes the participants in a BBC forum on the upcoming American presidential elections. Some of the participants have a really good handle on what's going on over here. Some have no clue. All are interesting. Here are some representative samples:

"John Kerry cannot change the policies of the US in Iraq because the American policy (unlike the countries of the ME) is not monopolized by individuals. And no matter how high the price America is going to pay in Iraq, it will be for the best of the American people. I think that Bush is America's best choice"

Khalid Abdullah-Kuwait.

"The story is clear; Bush and Kerry are two faces for one coin and their goal is to humiliate the Arab countries for Israel's benefit so that the latter can impose her conditions on arab countries and enslave them. It's time to wake up, as we know Americans don't like us and there's no hope that one day they would. They're after their interests using different means including the stick, which they're good at, and which we seem to love already"

Hasan-Beirut.

"Bush is a better choice than Kerry. Regardless of the reasons behind the war in Iraq, I'm hearing news about Iraqis happy with the liberation and frankly speaking, some of the Arab media are very hypocritic when it comes to the situation in Iraq and they exaggerate things greatly. We-the Arabs-are getting to understand many new subjects"

Mohammed Kerim Al Sabti - Oman.

"There won't be a big difference; the American policy has constants and fixed principles and there are institutions that decide America's interests not a group of people (administration) who do whatever they want. It's the congress who plays the major role in the decision making process. America is staying in Iraq whether it was a democratic or a republican man in the white house, besides, we all know that the law of the liberation of Iraq was released in Clinton's days back in 1998. The American interests in Iraq and in the region demand a permanent existence for American forces to protect these interests and also to help and support the Iraqi government which is still weak and depends much on the American forces in managing the security situation in Iraq. We may see only a reduction in the number of troops and this depends on how the security is going to improve in Iraq and on the Iraqi government gaining more control over the country and only then, the troops may be reduced but a total withdrawal is impossible. The American vision about Iraq is that Iraq is the no.1 ally and the most important country for American interests in the region and consequently the American presence will remain strong and active"

Mohammed Al Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.

Probably my personal favorite of all of the Iraqi bloggers is Ibrahim Khalil of Iraq Today. He doesn't appear to be pro-American. He doesn't appear to be anti-American. I think he's a mature, honest commentator on life in Mosul as he sees it. Last week he commented on fuel shortages and proclamations by insurgent groups in Mosul. This week he tells us the fallout of both of these problems. I've linked to a post of his on the shortcomings of the Arabic language media:

That just shows how the Arabic media interprets the news. This is not the only sample, but most news which appear in most of the Arabian media are malformed and all news are shown as a fabrication and not shown the real truth.

I never trust the Arabian TV channels. These channels are the most famous in Iraq and we have no other choice to see in our TV as we can not get the European or American channels. Also most Iraqis can't understand English well enough to get the news in English.

It's the six month anniversay of neurotic iraqi wife's blog and she seems to be down in the dumps. You might go over there and offer her some encouragement.

Alaa of The Mesopotamian is clearly one very smart guy and equally clearly, IMO, the best essayist in the Iraqi blogosphere. Every so often he pops up with insights that are sharper than any talking head on American TV. Here's an example:

But the logic and "dialectic" of historical evolution does seem to conform to the old "Hegelian" concept of thesis and antithesis. That is to say historical forces will inevitably tend towards the emergence of New Poles (not to be confused with the Polish people) and New rival powers. And it is not difficult to guess the powers and countries who are candidates for this new polarization. I believe, this is already happening in front of our eyes. However, "Religious fanaticism", or if you like this pseudo-Islamic extremism, represented by, for instance, Al-Qaeda or similar groups, do not qualify as serious candidates or serious rivals for the predicted new polarization of the twenty first century. As I see it, this "War on Terror", important as it may be, is nothing but mop up operations of some the side effects and consequences of the "Cold War".

You may wonder: why the above preamble? And what bearing does it have on the present situation? Well, I shall answer you very briefly and concisely. Any concept that there is possibility of a wide alliance that will support U.S. efforts and be amicable to its goals and national interests is a false hope which profoundly misinterprets the logic of historical realism. The battle lines are clearly drawn, and ally, foe, and opportunistic bystander are all quite well defined, and any notion that these can be appreciably changed by diplomacy or otherwise is an illusion.

Are you a sports fan? There's a blog by an ex-pat Iraqi blogger in Johannesburg devoted exclusively to Iraqi sports. It's called, as you might expect, Iraqi Sport. For everything you wanted to know about Iraqi league football and more, check it out.