بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hi,
It seems to me that conventional armies and armaments are not designed for this kind of war against terrorism. For example, the tank may be effective when confronting enemy tanks and forces in well defined combat scenarios, in which case the range, fire power, accuracy and all the other specifications can be relevant and effective. However, when roaming the narrow alleys of "Sadr City" or the back streets of "Najaf", the tank is a vulnerable liability and an easy target for even the most pathetic R.P.G. wielding individual. Its massive fire power itself can be a disadvantage and rather like a surgeon trying to perform heart surgery with a Viking Axe. Many such examples and comparisons can be made to illustrate this fact.
What I am trying to say is that a fundamental and serious rethinking is required, of the military strategy and the kind of weapons and means necessary to deal with the kind of situation that we have here. I am not talking here about the complex totality of the problem, that is to say the sociological, economic, and political aspects, but purely the military side of the problem.
Long time ago I have stated my views regarding the kind of measures required to deal with the security problems. It is a strategy based on information, identification and denying the enemy freedom of movement; painstaking “inventorying” of the population and vehicles and the establishment of permanent security centers overseeing all the locations, especially in the troubled areas. Many protested then, that this kind of thinking is dangerous from the point of view of civil liberties and the democratization process. I don’t deny such problems, but the alternative of allowing the cities to fall to the terrorists and their dirty tactics is by far the more serious threat to civil life and the reconstruction of humans and country alike. The Government has decreed right at the start, that emergency measures may be declared when necessary, and if the present situation does not constitute one of these contingencies, I don’t know when will that be ?
Massive military action with tanks, aircraft, and the like may be necessary at times, but consolidating the situation and the establishment of permanent security structures to control the appeased areas are of paramount importance, otherwise you will see the infestation reappearing as soon as the forces withdraw. Najaf is one example where this has been done rather successfully, so far at least. The success in Najaf, is due also to the fact that the rebels lacked popularity, and that the police and local forces had some real basis of local support. But it must not be forgotten that the firm action of the American forces and close cooperation with the local forces were the really decisive factor, not to mention the timely intervention of the moderate religious leadership to provide the proper face saving exit for the rebels. The examples of the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala should be looked at very carefully, as these areas have become some of the most secured regions in the country. The success should be followed up with energetic economic and reconstruction efforts to consolidate these important gains.
We must not, however bury our heads in the sand and indulge ourselves in wishful thinking and rosy talk. The situation is serious, but in my humble opinion winnable. We shall win if we know how to use our brains right. There have been mistakes in the past as I have repeatedly said before, but there is no point on dwelling on these. The important thing is to learn from these mistakes, however regrettable they may be. For example, and since the enemy has the declared strategy of bringing the fight to Baghdad, which is the real key to this country; the Emergency Law may be declared in the Baghdad region for say, one month for a start. Curfews and restrictions may be put in place in certain well known areas; vehicles have to obtain new permits, information compiled about inhabitants, new identity papers for individuals, entries and exits from the capital properly controlled, etc. etc. At the same time, these “no-go” zones must be ended once and for all, by all means necessary. They must be secured after being taken, even if that requires extra tough measures. I am personally certain that much of the planning and logistical support for terrorist acts is being hatched in these places. It is a fact, though, that many in those areas are rather helpless and intimidated and essentially hostages to the gangs of terrorists and criminals of all kinds.
Another very important point: much criticism has been leveled against the ex-CPA for having disbanded the Army and Police. However, I must say that it is the abrupt and rather careless manner in which that was done, rather than the principle itself that is at fault. In the rush to build up the new Iraqi army and security forces, it is very important to remember that reliability is more important than numbers. Today only, one of the members of the “Association of Muslim Scholars” is calling openly, upon the National Guards and Police Forces to rebel against the Government. This man should be immediately arrested, regardless of turban and beard.
Well, these are some thoughts for all they are worth, and I look forward to hearing your views about them.
Salaam
Friday, September 24, 2004
Thursday, September 23, 2004
FAITH
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hi,
Where do we stand? Where are we going? What is to be done? So many questions! So many answers! How do you fathom the human heart? How can you understand cruelty? The beheading of an innocent human being in cold blood! The kidnap and brutalization of humanitarian workers such as the Italian girls, how can one reconcile oneself with all that? How can you understand the evil of others? The hatred and wrath; the suicide attacker; the lust for death and blood! In short; how can the psyche readjust and erect defenses to simply cope with such pain and ugliness, without descending into a paralyzing gloom and stifling anger, rage and disgust.
Only yesterday, the car bomb exploded quite near to our house. The house shook, a door lock was broken, so close was the explosion. They are roaming the streets and attacking at a fearful rate. Imagine two or three car bombing per day; this is too much. This is not just terrorism; it is a frenzy of hate and mass murder. One is surrounded by fear from all sides; fear seems to pervade the atmosphere; the air itself seems so thick with it; you smell it, you breath it, you live with it constantly. These are masters of terror. For as long as I remember we have been living in this atmosphere. It is not just now but in the old days of the regime also. Fear has been the weapon and method of these people. Of course the ones who are doing this now are the same, the same old operatives; past masters at intimidation and terrorism. One of the important principles of their art is to vary the methods of torture, so that people don’t get too accustomed to only one type and perhaps by this lose some of the poignancy of the feeling of fear.
By deposing Saddam, we were all hopeful that the days of fear would be over. But cruelly, it was not to be so. We are being treated with new forms of torture, and new kinds of horror. It was not just Saddam, but whole tribes and hordes of sick vampires. Saddam was removed and captured but the hordes and tribes are still there, let loose and now without even a Saddam to control them. They are running wild, unchecked and uncontrollable. God have mercy upon us. At these times the vision of the early Christians thrown to the lions comes to mind; the defenseless men, women and children clinging to each other while the Romans (in this case the Arabs), watched with sadistic pleasure the grisly spectacle from their comfortable seats in the amphitheatre. But the Christian faith was not defeated; soon afterwards it was triumphant all over the Western World. Triumph seemed to issue from the torn flesh and open wounds of the children of the early Christian Martyrs brutalized by the beasts of the cruel,decadent, expiring, pagan civilization. Although the lions did tear and devour, yet it was pagan Rome that died and Christianity that lived and conquered the world. Faith proved to be the more potent weapon.
And so it shall be here, so it shall be here, God’s willing, and in God we trust.
Hi,
Where do we stand? Where are we going? What is to be done? So many questions! So many answers! How do you fathom the human heart? How can you understand cruelty? The beheading of an innocent human being in cold blood! The kidnap and brutalization of humanitarian workers such as the Italian girls, how can one reconcile oneself with all that? How can you understand the evil of others? The hatred and wrath; the suicide attacker; the lust for death and blood! In short; how can the psyche readjust and erect defenses to simply cope with such pain and ugliness, without descending into a paralyzing gloom and stifling anger, rage and disgust.
Only yesterday, the car bomb exploded quite near to our house. The house shook, a door lock was broken, so close was the explosion. They are roaming the streets and attacking at a fearful rate. Imagine two or three car bombing per day; this is too much. This is not just terrorism; it is a frenzy of hate and mass murder. One is surrounded by fear from all sides; fear seems to pervade the atmosphere; the air itself seems so thick with it; you smell it, you breath it, you live with it constantly. These are masters of terror. For as long as I remember we have been living in this atmosphere. It is not just now but in the old days of the regime also. Fear has been the weapon and method of these people. Of course the ones who are doing this now are the same, the same old operatives; past masters at intimidation and terrorism. One of the important principles of their art is to vary the methods of torture, so that people don’t get too accustomed to only one type and perhaps by this lose some of the poignancy of the feeling of fear.
By deposing Saddam, we were all hopeful that the days of fear would be over. But cruelly, it was not to be so. We are being treated with new forms of torture, and new kinds of horror. It was not just Saddam, but whole tribes and hordes of sick vampires. Saddam was removed and captured but the hordes and tribes are still there, let loose and now without even a Saddam to control them. They are running wild, unchecked and uncontrollable. God have mercy upon us. At these times the vision of the early Christians thrown to the lions comes to mind; the defenseless men, women and children clinging to each other while the Romans (in this case the Arabs), watched with sadistic pleasure the grisly spectacle from their comfortable seats in the amphitheatre. But the Christian faith was not defeated; soon afterwards it was triumphant all over the Western World. Triumph seemed to issue from the torn flesh and open wounds of the children of the early Christian Martyrs brutalized by the beasts of the cruel,decadent, expiring, pagan civilization. Although the lions did tear and devour, yet it was pagan Rome that died and Christianity that lived and conquered the world. Faith proved to be the more potent weapon.
And so it shall be here, so it shall be here, God’s willing, and in God we trust.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Greetings Friends,
I would like to thank all of you who have expressed such warm sympathy. It helps and consoles when you know that there are so many decent human beings on your side. It is sad to compare the callousness of those who unfortunately are supposed to be of the same race and nationality as oneself with the kindness and decency of others so far away.
Well today, my relative was released and came home. It was a question of money; and unfortunately money had to be paid. But that hardly solves the problem. It is not easy to avoid this. When a gun is pointed at your head by some armed robber in a dark alley how many of you can avoid emptying your pockets?
This is becoming a very common situation and it is particularly the Baghdadi middle class and the better people who are most cruelly hit. For every foreigner kidnapped you must count perhaps a thousand Iraqis, and this is no exaggeration. The good people have become easy pray to merciless gangs with very little protection from the IP or any other form of Law Enforcement agencies, who can hardly protect themselves, let alone providing security for others. These gangs are part and parcel of the so-called “resistance” and “insurgency”; in many cases they are one and the same.
As I have said long time ago; without an effective security grip over the cities and particularly Baghdad, the situation will just continue to deteriorate. The kinds of measures that I have proposed then are yet to be implemented and could have been effective in preventing much of what is happening at the present time. Of course, the government and the MNF are working very hard and suffering many sacrifices, and that is something that must not go unappreciated. However, we must admit that there is still much to be done.
Very hard thinking of the required strategy is required; and with all the powerful, technically advanced people on the side of the majority of the Iraqi people who just long for a peaceful decent outcome of this situation; surely the right solutions can be found. This can’t be harder than reaching the moon or splitting the atom! When I recover a little bit from this latest ordeal perhaps I can contribute a little thinking of my own, too.
Salaam
I would like to thank all of you who have expressed such warm sympathy. It helps and consoles when you know that there are so many decent human beings on your side. It is sad to compare the callousness of those who unfortunately are supposed to be of the same race and nationality as oneself with the kindness and decency of others so far away.
Well today, my relative was released and came home. It was a question of money; and unfortunately money had to be paid. But that hardly solves the problem. It is not easy to avoid this. When a gun is pointed at your head by some armed robber in a dark alley how many of you can avoid emptying your pockets?
This is becoming a very common situation and it is particularly the Baghdadi middle class and the better people who are most cruelly hit. For every foreigner kidnapped you must count perhaps a thousand Iraqis, and this is no exaggeration. The good people have become easy pray to merciless gangs with very little protection from the IP or any other form of Law Enforcement agencies, who can hardly protect themselves, let alone providing security for others. These gangs are part and parcel of the so-called “resistance” and “insurgency”; in many cases they are one and the same.
As I have said long time ago; without an effective security grip over the cities and particularly Baghdad, the situation will just continue to deteriorate. The kinds of measures that I have proposed then are yet to be implemented and could have been effective in preventing much of what is happening at the present time. Of course, the government and the MNF are working very hard and suffering many sacrifices, and that is something that must not go unappreciated. However, we must admit that there is still much to be done.
Very hard thinking of the required strategy is required; and with all the powerful, technically advanced people on the side of the majority of the Iraqi people who just long for a peaceful decent outcome of this situation; surely the right solutions can be found. This can’t be harder than reaching the moon or splitting the atom! When I recover a little bit from this latest ordeal perhaps I can contribute a little thinking of my own, too.
Salaam
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Hi,
It has been some time that I have not talked to you. However, we have a family crisis at the moment since we have been struck by a kidnapping for ransom of one of my close relatives. You don't really know how it feels until it strikes you personally. They have even sent a video tape with the usual posture of masked men and the victim ( who happens to be my close relative ) shown sitting helplessly begging to be saved. It is unbearable, and my heart goes to all the relatives of kidnap victims.
There is no denying it; Baghdad is terrorised.
May God spare all my friends from all such disasters.
Salaam
It has been some time that I have not talked to you. However, we have a family crisis at the moment since we have been struck by a kidnapping for ransom of one of my close relatives. You don't really know how it feels until it strikes you personally. They have even sent a video tape with the usual posture of masked men and the victim ( who happens to be my close relative ) shown sitting helplessly begging to be saved. It is unbearable, and my heart goes to all the relatives of kidnap victims.
There is no denying it; Baghdad is terrorised.
May God spare all my friends from all such disasters.
Salaam
Friday, September 03, 2004
WAR OF THE ZOMBIES
Hi,
This is unbearable. As I am watching the horror pictures from Russia, I watch our little one, for we have a lovely young one in the house too. This is unbearable. Nothing and no cause can justify this, no way. And what is more unbearable is that these zombies carry out all these atrocities in the name of my own religion, in the name of my own God. What can one say? One remembers the famous poem of our immortal Iraqi poet Al Jawahiri:
أطبق دجى أطبق ضباب أطبق جهاما ياسحاب
أطبق على متبلد ين شكا خمولهم الذباب
مستنوقين ويزأرون كانهم أسد غلاب
لم يعرفوا لون السماء لفرط ماانحنت الرقاب
Yes: Descend Darkness, Descend fog, Descend Angry Clouds.
Descend Anger of the whole of decent humanity in one great convulsion to exterminate all the zombies everywhere once and for all. No more is to be said. I am speechless with grief and the faces of mothers haunt me as I watch our own little mother and her son here in the house.
May the Lord God preserve humanity and lift this scourge from the earth.
This is unbearable. As I am watching the horror pictures from Russia, I watch our little one, for we have a lovely young one in the house too. This is unbearable. Nothing and no cause can justify this, no way. And what is more unbearable is that these zombies carry out all these atrocities in the name of my own religion, in the name of my own God. What can one say? One remembers the famous poem of our immortal Iraqi poet Al Jawahiri:
أطبق دجى أطبق ضباب أطبق جهاما ياسحاب
أطبق على متبلد ين شكا خمولهم الذباب
مستنوقين ويزأرون كانهم أسد غلاب
لم يعرفوا لون السماء لفرط ماانحنت الرقاب
Yes: Descend Darkness, Descend fog, Descend Angry Clouds.
Descend Anger of the whole of decent humanity in one great convulsion to exterminate all the zombies everywhere once and for all. No more is to be said. I am speechless with grief and the faces of mothers haunt me as I watch our own little mother and her son here in the house.
May the Lord God preserve humanity and lift this scourge from the earth.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Hi Friends,
For those serious minded readers of our Blogs I recommend that they follow Ziad's Healing Iraq for some quite valuable inside information about events. His objectivity, accuracy and historical knowledge have always been highly admirable. His latest analysis of the various religious entities is really worth studying quite seriously.
Salaam
For those serious minded readers of our Blogs I recommend that they follow Ziad's Healing Iraq for some quite valuable inside information about events. His objectivity, accuracy and historical knowledge have always been highly admirable. His latest analysis of the various religious entities is really worth studying quite seriously.
Salaam
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Hi,
Today the Interim National Assembly held its first meeting. Several mortars fell near the place where the proceedings were taking place, some shaking the walls of the building. These explosions did not seem to bother those present in the slightest. For those who doubt the bravery and determination of the Iraqi people, just imagine this happening anywhere else. Would any other assembly in any other place just continue its work with such absolute calm and normalcy under similar circumstances?
Every Iraqi reporting to work every morning in broad daylight is challenging the vile criminals who are targeting the very daily life of ordinary citizen. Only in the last couple of days, a lady professor was assassinated in Mosul and the Dean of Anbar University Dr. Abdul Hadi Al-Heeti kidnapped from the front of his house as he was about to leave for work. The scum, who are perpetrating such a campaign of murder and terror against good people for no other reason than these latter wanting to go on with their daily lives, are being hailed by other scum abroad, especially from among the Arabs, as being “legitimate resistance fighters”.
The majority of the Iraqi people are being targeted as a punishment for their acceptance and support for this new project of freedom and liberation. There are reports, though, especially from some provinces in the South ( Diwaniya, Kut and Samawa for example) that the ordinary people are starting to strike back and that in some areas the criminals are being hounded and are cowering and begging for mercy and even returning some of the loot which they have previously stolen.
Sooner or later it will be the Iraqi people themselves who are going to cleanup their house.
Salaam
Today the Interim National Assembly held its first meeting. Several mortars fell near the place where the proceedings were taking place, some shaking the walls of the building. These explosions did not seem to bother those present in the slightest. For those who doubt the bravery and determination of the Iraqi people, just imagine this happening anywhere else. Would any other assembly in any other place just continue its work with such absolute calm and normalcy under similar circumstances?
Every Iraqi reporting to work every morning in broad daylight is challenging the vile criminals who are targeting the very daily life of ordinary citizen. Only in the last couple of days, a lady professor was assassinated in Mosul and the Dean of Anbar University Dr. Abdul Hadi Al-Heeti kidnapped from the front of his house as he was about to leave for work. The scum, who are perpetrating such a campaign of murder and terror against good people for no other reason than these latter wanting to go on with their daily lives, are being hailed by other scum abroad, especially from among the Arabs, as being “legitimate resistance fighters”.
The majority of the Iraqi people are being targeted as a punishment for their acceptance and support for this new project of freedom and liberation. There are reports, though, especially from some provinces in the South ( Diwaniya, Kut and Samawa for example) that the ordinary people are starting to strike back and that in some areas the criminals are being hounded and are cowering and begging for mercy and even returning some of the loot which they have previously stolen.
Sooner or later it will be the Iraqi people themselves who are going to cleanup their house.
Salaam
Hi,
So the venerable “Association of Moslem Scholars” has found it necessary to protest publicly in a press conference, for the first time, the taking of the French hostages. They pleaded with the kidnappers (in a rather loving manner) for their release. The learned scholars have not protested much, though, about the numerous other kidnappings murders and beheadings etc. involving other nationals including Iraqis. Thus, it seems that the practice itself is not particularly objectionable, but that the nationality of the victim is the main consideration. The murder and kidnapping of many doctors, professors and other prominent professionals has not even raised a single murmur from these “scholars”. This is yet one more shining example of the creative application of applied theology as practiced by the distinguished “scholars”, which is stunning and amazing as it seems to contradict all our notions of justice, equality and abhorrence of violence and murder.
Salaam
So the venerable “Association of Moslem Scholars” has found it necessary to protest publicly in a press conference, for the first time, the taking of the French hostages. They pleaded with the kidnappers (in a rather loving manner) for their release. The learned scholars have not protested much, though, about the numerous other kidnappings murders and beheadings etc. involving other nationals including Iraqis. Thus, it seems that the practice itself is not particularly objectionable, but that the nationality of the victim is the main consideration. The murder and kidnapping of many doctors, professors and other prominent professionals has not even raised a single murmur from these “scholars”. This is yet one more shining example of the creative application of applied theology as practiced by the distinguished “scholars”, which is stunning and amazing as it seems to contradict all our notions of justice, equality and abhorrence of violence and murder.
Salaam
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