The Carnival of the Liberated
Dave Schuler
Welcome to the Carnival of the Liberated, a sampler of some of the best posts from Iraqi and Afghani bloggers. This week we have a war game of a near-term U. S. withdrawal from Iraq, Afghan children, the new constitution, satire, dust, and much, much more.
Alaa, The Mesopotamian, war games a near-term U. S. withdrawal from Iraq. His analysis sounds pretty convincing to me. Khalid, Raed, you appear to believe in a near-term U. S. withdrawal. What do you think would happen?
Afghan Lord has a post with photos that should give you an idea of what life is like for at least some of the children of Afghanistan.
Several Iraqi bloggers are writing about the new constitution. Raed thinks the deadline is an unnecessary constraint:
“The Iraqi constitution shouldn’t be rushed through. Iraqis have the right to take as much time as they need to write their country’s constitution. Having a good constitution is important, but it’s not a priority in the Iraqi case.”His mom doesn't think much of the process. As Bismark said nearly 150 years ago, “Those who have respect for the law or who enjoy sausage should never watch either of them being made.” Omar at Iraq the Model has commented on the new constitution almost daily. He appears to have a pretty good understanding of and agreement with the same processes that Faiza, above, decries:
Power is moving practically to the hands of the people and we've seen how protests and pressure from the people in the last few weeks have forced the elected representatives to reconsider their decisions and change them in not a few cases. It's clear now to the government and the National Assembly that being elected doesn't give them unlimited authority and that voters are watching and will hold them accountable.
While we're on the subject of Iraq the Model, Omar's letter to Cindy Sheehan, the American mother whose son died fighting in Iraq who is now protesting down in Crawford, Texas, has already been cited by a hefty proportion of the blogosphere. Dean linked to it here and put in his own two cents so I don't have to.
Check out An Average Iraqi's post (with photo) on the explosion of a mine or IED.
Sunshine of Days of My Life has more photos. Hers are of the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a police station in Mosul. Milblogger A Candle in the Dark (whom Sunshine links to) provides the commentary, Sunshine provides the pictures.
There's some satire from Friends of Democracy in the form of letters to high-ranking officials in the new Iraqi government. Wry and, I'm afraid, to the point.
Ibn Al-Rafidain fills us in on the Bedouin legacy of treating women as chattel which continues to hamper women's achieving their full rights in Iraq.
IraqPundit complains about all the non-Iraqis who are speaking for Iraqis:
“For Iraqis these days, life is bizarre: Our country is occupied by foreign armies. Americans tell our useless leaders what to do. And religious lunatics are killing us to gain control of our land. And if that's not enough, we learn that people who know nothing about Iraq bomb and kill innocents on our behalf.”Read the whole thing.
Dust. With text and pictures from Dr. Saif of Iraqi Humanity.
Mama of Emotions… mourns the loss of a relative, murdered by the terrorists. His crime was that he had worked as a translator for the governor's office. Handicapped himself, he was now working for a humanitarian organization that assisted other handicapped Iraqis.
Dave Schuler posts regularly to his own weblog, The Glittering Eye. The Carnival was originally conceived by Ryan Boots.
Though I agree with the Mesopotamian's sentiments and read his blog daily, I don't think the new gov't is quite as fragile as he makes out. If every American went home today, I think they'd survive; the insurgency is weaker militarily than is generally appreciated, I think. That would not have been the case even six months ago, but things have progressed considerably.