Dean's World

Welcome to the Carnival of the Liberated, a sampler of some of the best posts from Iraqi and Afghani bloggers. This week we've reflections on independence, a call for regime change, reactions to President Bush's speech, and much more.

Truth Teller of A Citizen of Mosul was stopped and searched by U. S. forces there. Read his account of the experience.

Abu Khaleel has a pair of posts about the Kurds in Iraq, one for each of his blogs. His post on A Glimpse of Iraq gives a profile of the Kurds and his post on Iraqi Letters gives his view of Kurdish politics.

Aunt Najma of A Star from Mosul is pretty unhappy about the conditions there.

Riverbend of Baghdad Burning comments on President Bush's speech last Tuesday. So does Abu Khaleel of Iraqi Letters:

I usually try not to post when I am angry. I didn’t wait up last night to hear Mr. Bush’s speech. I followed it this morning. I wish I didn’t.

Ali of Free Iraqi reflects on independence:

When I was a kid the word independence meant almost nothing to me. It was mainly because I rarely heard the word given any real importancein our media. The reason was that we got our independence through the cooperation between the British and the constitutional monarchy they helped establish in Iraq. That wasn't something the "nationalists" who ruled from 1958 were interested in presenting to the public in any good way.

Saad al-Omari of Friends of Democracy has decided he wants the new Iraqi constitution to be like an eggplant. To find out what he means you'll have to read the post.

Hammorabi is calling for regime change in Syria.

Ibn al-Rafidain sends Independence Day greetings and reflects on the difference between the U. S. experience and the Iraqi experience.

Omar of Iraq the Model has some advice for American politicians:

So my advice to the American politicians on both sides but especially those on the left side is: grow up, this is not the time to seek political wins and it's not the time to use other's mistakes to get some publicity.

Two of the Iraqi bloggers are saying “I told you so”. Raed Jarrar of Raed in the Middle says he told us that the new interim Iraqi government wouldn't work. Kurdo says the whole Iraqi state won't work. He wants an independent Kurdish state.

Dr. Hajeeb Hanoudi of The Hanoudi Letter has reflections about a year of Iraqi sovereignty, the current situation there, and President Bush's speech that are worth your attention.

Wafaa' Al-Natheema complains about Iraqi teenagers wearing T-shirts with (sexually suggestive) English-language slogans on them and calls for a boycott of Western products. I suspect if she looked more closely she'd find that the T-shirt in question was made in China.

Alaa, The Mesopotamian, posts a translation of a letter from the head of the Da'awa party that you should read:

What is significant about this article and the Jaafari visit, is that this man represents the leadership of one of the main stream conservative religious parties in Iraq, the Da’awa party. To pronounce the words of thanks is a formal declaration of alliance and negation of the notion of Occupation and affirmation of the Liberation by one of the recognized leaders of the main current of the Shiaa movement in Iraq. You don’t thank an occupier, but you can thank a liberator. Also the donkeys that he is talking about are not in the extremist enemy camp, but some in the Shiaa camp. The hypocrites are the likes of the followers of Muqtada Al Sadr. The enemy is boiling with spite which explains the murder of one of Sistani's agents and the attack on a house of the Prime Minister today.

Politically, the U.S. has made an important conquest so far: That of the hearts and strategic alliance of both the majority of the Shiaa and certainly the Kurds; that accounts for at least 75% of the Iraqi people. And I am sure a sizable part of the Iraqi Sunnis can be won over eventually. The undercurrent of largely unspoken popular support and gratitude remains despite all the hardships, mistakes and even harshness in the relationship between the troops and the population due to the mistrust created by the terrorists. This is something that no amount of Media bias and enemy propaganda can shake off. This is the decisive factor, and this is what is going to prevail in the end of the day.

neurotic iraqi wife continues to post from the Green Zone. It sounds like she's toughening up.

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