Dean's World

Welcome to the Carnival of the Liberated, a sampler of some of the best posts from Iraqi bloggers. It's been a busy week in the Iraqi blogosphere. There's excitement and anticipation about the upcoming election, Ali explains his departure, a death in the family, and a lot more.

First off, Ali explains his departure from Iraq the Model:

I owe my readers and many others an explanation. I used to post before at "Iraq The Model" blog and then I quit without offering a clear explanation for why I did that. First let me say that I was not hiding here. I did quit my original blog but I did not quit the struggle in anyway. I know I'm on the right side and my disagreement was not with America. I just wanted a break away from the noise that I have wrongly created and I was getting only few readers a day who never read me before.

Rose of Diary From Baghdad has lost her 100-year-old grandmother. You might want to go over and offer her a good word.

In a brief profile of Kurdish feminist Roya Toloui, hajir wrote something so good about Islam and feminism that I thought you would want to read it:

The first message of Islam is to reject false gods. The unversal message of Islam started with 'laa' i.e. 'No'. No to the idols, No to the false beliefs of our forefathers, No to our ego and No to oppression. For many muslim women 'God' is replaced by 'Husband', 'Father' or 'Brother'. I believe a muslim woman who rejects to wear hijab has understood the liberating message of Islam better than a woman who wears hijab only to follow the orders of her husband or her culture.

From this perspective (i.e. rejection of male dominance and rejection of submitting to male dominance) I can associate Islam to Feminism. That's why I admire a woman like Shirn Ebadi who openly removes her hijab, not because I don't believe in hijab but because I think she is much worthier than those hypcorites who wear hijab without believing in it.

Hammorabi has given his site a face-lift. You might want to read what he has to say about imminent attacks in Iraq and the United States.

Kurdo's World has also received an attractive renovation. His explanation of why he will not vote in the election probably deserves a comment or two. Go over and encourage him.

neurotic iraqi wife, Riverbend, and Khaleed Jarrar consider the upcoming Iraqi elections.

neurotic iraqi wife:

One month from today a historical event will take place. A day that millions of us are looking forward to. A day that Iraq has never encountered before. I know its not gonna be all honky dory, I know that major problems will arise, but at the end of the day I know that the "Real" Iraqis who really want Iraq to be peaceful again will come together and unite against all the odds.

The elections are set for the 29th. It's an interesting situation. The different sects and factions just can't seem to agree. Sunni Arabs are going to boycott elections. It's not about religion or fatwas or any of that so much as the principle of holding elections while you are under occupation. People don't really sense that this is the first stepping stone to democracy as western media is implying. Many people sense that this is just the final act of a really bad play. It's the tying of the ribbon on the "democracy parcel" we've been handed. It's being stuck with an occupation government that has been labeled 'legitimate' through elections.

without real guaranties that the elections will be clean and honest, without giving all parties a fair role in the poletical game, this elections are only a dor to hell.

There's an Iraqi election post round-up from Iraq Blog Count.

Finally, Abu Khaleel of Glimpse of Iraq has posted a reflection on Arab poetry that's worth a look. Petrarch's poetry, which laid the foundation for the Western poetry to follow, is influenced by classical Arabic poetry.

Dave Schuler posts regularly to his own weblog, The Glittering Eye. The Carnival was originally conceived by Ryan Boots.