I TOLD YOU SO!! shgal bahlool?

Remember my last post titled "NO" which i posted before the results of the voting count were announced? i will remind you of what i said:

"this constitution will pass anyways, i promise you, and i hate to say that but in a day or two, when the results come out i am gonna say: i told you so."

I am defenately not an oracle or a fortune teller, I just live in Iraq, and i know the occupation well enough to risk posting the result of the votes on my blog, before they were published.

on a side boring note, i just turned 23 two days ago, i feel old though.
23 only? i keep wondering.

Have you read the secret poll that the British Army made and leaked to the Telegraph?
hmmm..
one of the first real indicators coming out of the regular people in Iraq to the west, no fake bloggers, no fat polititians, regular Iraqis:


• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops ( I am sure it's higher though , 82% only? i don't think so )
• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security
• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation
• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened ( i suspect this one, it doesnt say compared to when? last month? cause if compared to before the war it sure would have been much higher)
• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

The nationwide survey also suggests that the coalition has lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, which Tony Blair and George W Bush believed was fundamental to creating a safe and secure country.

what can i say? numbers talk!
Khalid*

NO!

I have been thinking that we have a very good chance to vote the constitution out, since all what we need is two thirds of the voters in three cities only, perfect! Anbar, Mosul and Salahiddeen will do the work for sure, that's all what we need, three cities! too easy, too do-able, almost guaranteed results already...go people, go my friends, go my brothers..vote NO to the constitution...do this effort for your own country and your own future...
we have a very good chance! i was thinking.
and then it hit me like a vase on the back of my head: WAIT A MINUTE.
why did "they" make it so easy? why why why why?? they know that it will be rejected for sure with this kind of rules!
and then my cloud of hope was pushed by the wind of thoughts.
this constitution will pass anyways, i promise you, and i hate to say that but in a day or two, when the results come our i am gonna say: i told you so.
The idea is to make rules that make it look very easy to vote the constitution out, so sonna (last men standing) participate and vote, while the shea stand, driven again by sistani telling them they are going to hell if they don't vote yes, and the Kurdish stand, driven away with their leaders telling them they will go to the hell of shame and humiliation and Saddam-isim if they were even close to Arabs in one country on any level, stands are well known and expected.
the trick today, is that while sonna did the right thing and didn't participate in the last elections, so that any puppet government that would be appointed ("elected") doesn't at least have their votes, now are going to vote, and the results will be yes anyways, what you are going to hear now for the coming few years is that: Iraqis approved the constitution in democratic elections, see, the laws were too easy, but those insurgents that don't support the liberation, couldn't even get two thirds in three cities only, see how easy? three cities out of eighteen only! and they couldn't do it! while the very majority of Iraqis are peace loving good pro democracy Iraqis and voted freely and approved the constitution!
Now it's going to be done with the names of Sonnis in it, too sad.
i Have already got news from people that were supervising the voting centers and other people living in Iraq: in Sonni areas voting centers were relocated many times, people were confused and didn't know where to vote, in many centers people went to vote and they weren't allowed to, their names somehow weren't there, some centers didn't make the voters dip their fingers in ink, which means they could vote more than one time, in other centers by noon there was almost none of the supervisors that are supposed to supervise the "honesty" of the process and report violations, there were large numbers of police and national guards, in other centers, a bus from Badr brigade came full of men that took over a voting center and asked the supervisors to leave and told them they will take it form there, said Hatam abu Ahmed, one of the supervisors in the voting center of the school of Ashawis in the Zaafaraniya, Baghdad. the police of Kirkuk issued arresting orders against representatives of most of the political parties, and the officials in the voting centers, for clear violations in the voting process. stories about mass transfer of people from Kurdistan to vote in Kirkuk, and mass transfer of people from the south to vote in Baghdad, and particularly to one voting center that is going to be counted as an Anbar center, although it was in Baghdad, and particularly in al Mansour,
in the "female-teachers institution" voting center, a convoy of cars full of voters coming from the south (Shea majority) protected by police cars, shouting yes for the constitution, voted in that center too, coming fromt he university of baghdad which was assigned as a gathering point for them, where voters were then taken by cars protected to vote inspite of the curfue, according to the Iraqi rabita.
Abd Arrazaq al Joboori, the head of the " Iraqi independent front " (my translation) in Mosul, said that 80- 85% of people voted in mosul with NO, he gave specific examples with numbers, for example the voting center of Osama bin Zaid, in the Orooba neighbour, 6 000 people voted, 5 000 among them voted with no, and the rest of centers are close to this ratio too in Mosul, and he says that people in mosul are willing to use all legal ways to chalenge the results if they were manipulated.
Mosul wil be the city that determines the results of the whole voting process, since Anbar and Salahiddeen are a sure NO. you can read the post of Najma, a star from Mosul about that too.
According to Al-Jazeera, an official in the "independent committee for the elections" (my translation) which is responsible of organizing all the elections process, said that the magorioty of voters in Anbar and Salahiddeen voted with no, while early estimations say that about 95% voted with NO in Samarra, he said, which is another governorate with magority of sunna.
Baghdad has a very good chance of being a NO if shy Al Sadir, was less shy and clearly ordered his followers to vote no, Sadr tries not to look as clear opposition to the Hawza, which is the shea leadership in Najaf headed by Sistani, Sadr tries to confirm always that he is part of the Hawza, but still he was against the constitution so he adviced his followers to ask the advice of grand Ayato Allah Alha'iri who is located in Qum Iran, if they should vote with yes or no, Hai'ri said, i will quote and translate " I prefer to be cut into parts, rather voting with yes to this constitution " Al Ha'iri added that this constitution is going to divide Muslims and strengthen the occupation.
Sadr followers then distrubited papers in Iraqi, specially the city of Nasiriyya, a copy of the fatwa of Hai'ri, the Sadr stand led to that the Italian army came to the Sadr office in Arrifa'i city, and asked everyone to evacuate the office, and when they refused Italianos openned fire, which lead to the Sadrists to fight back leading to a small battle.
people went to vote and lined up under the strong sun while they were fasting, to reject the constitution.
ohhh...occupation, when is it going to end?
Khalid*(

The Fresh senior...

I am in my senior year, but fresh in this uinversity, and i walk around in the huge university asking people where to find this building or that, and people look at me confused and ask " first year? " while their tone and eyes add " you aren't are you? you look way too old for that ".
haha:)
confusing to me too, but interesting at the same time.
I am busy with ramadan and university...
I hope that you miss me as much as i miss you. (cheesy superstar-bloggers kind of statements, you know) hahaha;)

An interesting blog...
i am sure you will do just like i did, and read recent and then old posts then older then oooolder posts.
take care all of you my freinds, God bless.
Khalid*

Rape and Resistance, a conversation.

I had conversation with someone the other day, and I decided to publish it.
We talked about violence in Iraq, and I want to share this conversation, along with some recently added thought from me, with all of you...
This person, X, said: I don't believe in violence, I think resistance people in Iraq are wrong, killing is wrong, I can't agree with them, war is wrong I agree, but I think that if resistance people just stop fighting and drop their weapons, then fighting will stop, and people will stop dying, I feel so sad for all Iraqis that are dying...
I had two options, shut up and have an ulcer, or reply, so for health reasons, I decided to talk, and I did, for nearly five hours.
I started with the *who started the war? Who is attacking and who is defending himself? Who is the invader? Who is the one that doesn't have the right to be here? Who's country Iraq is?* well, only in a very detailed way, and then moved to the * The occupation is killing more Iraqis everyday, the occupations is the reason of ALL the killing in the field, there are 60-70 operations against the occupation everyday and a minority of them hurt civilians by mistake and those ones the only attacks you ever hear about in your media, those who target innocent civilians in purpose are not from the resistance: those are terrorists and the only reason they existed, and the only reason they came to Iraq from all over the world is the occupation* well, in details too, and then we reached a part where X said:
I don't care, let the resistance just stop the fight, so many people are getting hurt.
I said: they won't and they shouldn't, and the war isn't their fault, and they didn't choose to make a war, they didn't travel thousands of miles to make a war, they are only defending: defending their countrymen and women, defending their lands, defending their homes, women and children, dignity and pride.
X said: this same pride that you are talking about, made Bush not admit his mistakes and not pull out of Iraq.
I paused...
* Ouch! That was mean! It's a blow under the belt, it doesn't even give you a point! *
and then I said:
Alright, let me put it this way, women might understand it better though:
If someone is trying to rape you, wouldn't you fight back? And then he tries and tries, and you fight and fight and fight, and he insists and you try to hurt him, even if a little to make him go away, you are bleeding, and he tries and hits you, over and over, to make you surrender, your nose is broken, you are screaming in pain, you push and kick, you cry for help, he beats you more and more and more, your tooth is broken, you hit him on the stomach as hard as you could, you see pain on his face, he tries to cover it and look strong, you cant see with your left eye, your throat hurts you because of the screaming, people pass by and do nothing, and you scream and fight with every drop of power, with every piece of strength, with everything, and anything, you realize your life is in danger, tears and blood are all over your face and parts of your body, your clothes are torn in many places..Every part of your body hurts....
and then someone on the window, right behind you, drinking ice tea, sitting on a comfortable chair, relaxing and watching the whole scene right from the beginning opens the window and says: hey, what's the matter of you? Why are you so violent? Let him do it honey! It's a lot of fun, enjoy it, and he will probably pay you good money too!
and you feel stabbed in the back, and his words hurt you so much, you wonder in shock: how is this my fault? How do I let him do it? What is wrong with you? Why aren't you helping me? Why isn't anyone helping me? How do I let him do it? What about my honor, pride and dignity? How am I gonna live and face myself everyday? How am I gonna face my children? How am I gonna face my grandchildren? How am I gonna face the history?
So simple, so tragic.
me*