- ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts
can heal and souls can mend...
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- The Cruel Month
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- Thousands were demonstrating today all over the country.
Many areas in Baghdad were cut off today for security reasons and to accomodate
the demonstrators, I suppose. There were some Sunni demonstrations but
the large majority of demonstrators were actually Shia and followers of
Al Sadr. They came from all over Baghdad and met up in Firdaws Square-
the supposed square of liberation. They were in the thousands. None of
the news channels were actually covering it. Jazeera showed fragments of
the protests in the afternoon but everyone else seemed to busy with some
other news story. Thanks to E. for sending me this link. Check out the
protest here.
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- BBC and EuroNews were busily covering the wedding between
Prince Charles and the dreadful Camilla. CNN was showing the Pope's funeral.
No one bothered with the demonstrations in Baghdad, Mosul, Anbar and the
south. There were hundreds of thousands of Shia screaming "No to America.
No to terrorism. No to occupation. No to the devil. No to Israel."
The numbers were amazing and a little bit frightening too.
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- Ever since Jalal Talbani was named president, there have
been many angry Shia. It's useless explaining that the presidential chair
is only symbolic- it doesn't mean anything. "La izayid we la inaqis."
As we say in Iraq. "It doesn't increase anything, nor does it decrease
anything." People have the sense that all the positions are 'symbolic'-
hence, why shouldn't the Shia get the head symbol? The disturbing thing
is how the Kurds could agree to have someone with so much blood on his
hands. Talbani is known for his dealings with Turkey, Britain, America
and other and his feuds with Barazani have led to the deaths of thousands
of Kurds.
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- The weather is warm now. We often turn on the ceiling
fan (or panka) in an attempt to move around the muggy air. April is a month
of fresh beginnings all over the world but in Iraq, April is not the best
of months. April is a month of muggy warmth and air thick with dust and
sand- and now of occupation. We opened the month with a dust storm that
left the furniture in our houses sand-colored with an opaque layer of dust.
We breathed dust, ate dust and drank dust for a few days. The air is clearer
now but everything is looking a little bit diminished and dirty. It suits
the mood.
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- Two years and this is Occupation Day once more. One wonders
what has changed in this last year. The same faces of April 2004, but now
they have differing positions in April 2005. The chess pieces were moved
around and adjusted and every one is getting tired of the game.
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- Who was it that said April was a cruel month? They knew
what they were talking about...
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- http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
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