I cannot erase her portrait from my mind. Neither hers nor that of others I have seen, day in, day out. That same picture, as if permanently fixed, repeating itself in Baghdad, Damascus, Amman…

She must have been around 70 years old. She looked thin. Her black abaya hanging loosely on her head. Her pale face showed no bitterness, no anger, no hate…I wished it did. They would have told me she was still alive. None of that. Just that lost look that has become like a stamp, a seal, a "made in Iraq" (or more aptly made in America or made in Iran) label, by which you can recognize us, us the "ordinary" ones.

Strands of disheveled hair escaped from under her abaya, covering one of her eyes and she let it be…

She was sqatting in the shade, propped by a cracked grey wall behind her. One hand was holding her head and the other freely hanging by her side.

She was talking to herself. A common thing these days. I personally engage in it often.

I heard her say:" What shall I tell you? They are gone. All gone and they left me behind."
Then she would stop and her gaze would drift somewhere far, somewhere beyond, as if visiting this place of no return…As if she was waiting for that moment…

She was no beggar. She begged for nothing. I do not think she was even aware that she needed anything anymore. She lost it all, she lost herself too.

I was discreetly observing her. A couple of kids passed her by and made fun. She raised her eyes and repeated that same sentence : "What shall I tell you? They are all gone…and they left me behind."
The kids ran away, frightened by what seeemed to be her "madness".

She was squatting on the edge, propping her head with one hand, whilst the other was free to reach out for "Life" in that place of no return, waiting for its final deliverance.

The other portrait which remains vivid and accompanies me all the time like some background wallpaper is the image of "another one". Another anonymous one.

Again she is around 70, a little more maybe. She has also taken up a corner, against a wall.
She, however sat on a small cardboard box. She too is not begging.

Cigarettes, not packs of cigarettes but single cigarettes, a few pencils, a rusty pair of tweezers, small packs of tissues are neatly placed in another large card box…too large for her.

She meticulously re-arranges her "goods", making sure to place them in the middle of the box, leaving the edges and margins very empty. Very empty, very much like her life.

Everytime I passed her by, she would say: " Bintee (my daughter). May God keep your family. Buy something from me. I have no one Bintee."

I call her Hijjia and she calls me Bintee.

And however much one gives, the need is so enormous, it is never enough.
Not just the material need which is great but also the other needs, the ones on the inside that virtually no one bothers to look at.

Sometimes I would take food and I’d say: " Hijjia, we just cooked this. It is fresh."
To which she replied: " Bintee, even if it is a week’s old, I’d take it. It is Food."

I have just given you two portraits of two elderly Iraqi women. You can multiply these two examples a thousand times…

These were women who once had a home, a family, children, grandchildren and now they have nothing and are nothing - Nothing.

They are nothing but shadows on a cracked grey wall…

And as they secretly wait and wish for another form of "liberation" that would set them finally free from being nothing but shadows on a wall. As they are waiting…

I would like to extend to you my heartfelt congratulations on a "job well done".

Bravo and a thousand bravos for each of these shadows that you have so carefully crafted on the grey wall of our cracked existence.

 

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/                                                                     (via www.signs-of-the-times.org)

Nonsense about terrorism

Twenty-Five Ways To Surppres Truth… 

 

The Ponerology of Apathy and War

I saw this clip and though it worth posting. It has the sound track of Mass Destruction from Faithless. All those evil thing happening out there …

Almost Human 

And the song from Faithless:

Mass Destruction 

 

 

yahoo article 

Sheehan threatens to run against Pelosi

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the slain soldier’s mother whose attacks on President Bush made her a darling of the anti-war movement, has a new target: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Sheehan, who announced in late May that she was departing the peace movement, said she decided to run against Pelosi unless the congresswoman moves to oust Bush in the next two weeks.

"I think all politicians should be held accountable," Sheehan told The Associated Press on Sunday. "Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership. We hired them to bring an end to the war."

Sheehan said she will run as an independent against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 if Pelosi does not file articles of impeachment against Bush by July 23. That’s when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting from the group’s war protest site near Bush’s Crawford ranch.

Although Sheehan has never held public office, she said she already has the name recognition and would not have to run against Pelosi in a primary.

"I would give her a run for her money," Sheehan said.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the congresswoman has said repeatedly her focus is on ending the war in Iraq.

"She believes that the best way to support our troops in Iraq is to bring them home safely and soon," Daly said in an e-mail to the AP. "July will be a month of action in Congress to end the war, including a vote to redeploy our troops by next spring."

Sheehan, who turns 50 on Tuesday, said Bush should be impeached because she believes he misled the public about the reasons for going to war, violated the Geneva Convention by torturing detainees and crossed the line by commuting the prison sentence of former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. She said other grounds for impeachment are the domestic spying program and the "inadequate and tragic" response to Hurricane Katrina.

The White House declined to comment Sunday.

Sheehan said she hopes Pelosi files the articles of impeachment. But if not, Sheehan said she is ready to run for office.

Sheehan plans her official candidacy announcement Tuesday. She was in Crawford over the weekend to ceremoniously give the keys of the 5-acre protest site near Bush’s ranch to its new owner, California radio talk show host Bree Walker.

"I’m doing it to encourage other people to run against Congress members who aren’t doing their jobs, who are beholden to special interests," Sheehan said.

Sheehan first came to Crawford in August 2005 during Bush’s vacation, demanding to talk to him about the war that claimed her son Casey’s life in 2004.

She became the face of the anti-war movement during her 26-day roadside vigil that drew thousands of demonstrators. But it also drew counter protests of Bush supporters, many who said she was hurting troop morale.

Sheehan recently said she was leaving the Democratic Party because it "caved" into the president. Last week, she announced her caravan to Washington, which she calls the "people’s accountability movement."

Sheehan said she lives in a Sacramento suburb but declined to disclose which city, citing safety reasons. The area is outside Pelosi’s district, but there are no residency requirements for congressional members, according to the California secretary of state’s office.

yahoo article

Bush denies Congress access to aides

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers’ demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege.

"You may be assured that the president’s assertion here comports with prior practices in similar contexts, and that it has been appropriately documented," the letter said.

Retorted House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers:

"Contrary what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally," the Michigan Democrat said in a statement.

The exchange Monday was the latest step in a slow-motion legal waltz between the White House and lawmakers toward eventual contempt-of-Congress citations. If neither side yields, the matter could land in federal court.

In his letter regarding subpoenas the Judiciary panels issued, Fielding said, "The president feels compelled to assert executive privilege with respect to the testimony sought from Sara M. Taylor and Harriet E. Miers."

Fielding was responding to a 10 a.m. EDT deadline set by the Democratic chairmen, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Conyers, for the White House to explain it’s privilege claim, prove that the president personally invoked it and provide logs of which documents were being withheld.

As expected, Fielding refused to comply. He said he was acting at Bush’s direction, and he complained that the committees had decided to enforce the subpoenas whether or not the White House complied.

"The committees have already prejudged the question, regardless of the production of any privilege log," Fielding wrote. "In such circumstances, we will not be undertaking such a project, even as a further accommodation."

Leahy also questioned the explanation.

"I have to wonder if the White House’s refusal to provide a detailed basis for this executive privilege claim has more to do with its inability to craft an effective one," he said in a statement.

The privilege claim on testimony by former aides won’t necessarily prevent them from appearing under oath this week, as scheduled.

Leahy said that Taylor, Bush’s former political director, may testify as scheduled before the Senate panel on Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee scheduled Miers’ testimony for Thursday, but it was unclear whether she would appear, according to congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were under way.

The probe into the U.S. attorney firings was only one of several Democratic-led investigations of the White House and its use of executive power spanning the war in Iraq, Bush’s secretive wiretapping program and his commutation last week of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby’s prison sentence.

Fielding’s letter welcomed lawmakers back to town with a clear indication that relations between Congress and the White House had soured during the break.

Bush’s counsel cloaked his tough rejoinder to the Democratic committee chairmen in gentlemanly language, but his message was unequivocal: the White House won’t back down, and believes the congressional legal argument to be far weaker than its own and its attitude less appealing.

Fielding dismissed the chairmen’s attempt to "direct" the White House to provide the legal underpinning of Bush’s executive privilege claims and a detailed listing of the documents he is withholding. He said the White House already has provided its legal argument and so does not need to do so again — and won’t.

"We are aware of no authority by which a congressional committee may `direct’ the Executive to undertake the task of creating and providing an extensive description of every document covered by an assertion of Executive Privilege," he wrote. Fielding suggested that asserting executive privilege on the testimony comes as a result of this impasse and the lack of good faith it demonstrates on the part of Congress.

More broadly, Fielding suggested that the congressional inquiry into the entire matter of the U.S. attorneys’ dismissals has no constitutional basis, in large part because the president has sole authority to hire and fire federal prosecutors.

"Although we each speak on behalf of different branches of government, and perhaps for that reason cannot help having different perspectives on the matter, it is hoped you will agree, upon further reflection, that it is incorrect to say that the President’s assertion of executive privilege was performed without `good faith,’ " Fielding’s letter said.

yahoo article 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Monday said it shared Turkish concerns about Kurdish separatist fighters in northern Iraq but urged Ankara not to take military action across its southern neighbor’s borders.

"We are certainly concerned about the PKK and terrorist organizations," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters, referring to the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

"On the other hand it’s also important, we think, to recognize the territorial sovereignty of Iraq," he said after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Turkey had massed 140,000 troops in a possible prelude to a strike in Iraq.

US officials declined to confirm the figure but acknowledged longstanding tensions between Iraq and Turkey on the issue.

Turkish leaders complain that Kurdish separatist rebels launch operations across the northern Iraqi border into Turkey and the Turkish armed forces say they are ready to strike back.

"The United States wants the problem to be dealt with so that the Turks to not have to deal with PKK terrorism. And so Turkey, Iraq and the United States are all working together to rout out terrorists," said US national security council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070709/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_turkey

Iraqi FM: Turkey massing 140,000 troops

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - Turkey has massed 140,000 soldiers on its border with northern Iraq, Iraq’s foreign minister said Monday, calling the neighboring country’s fears of Kurdish rebels based there "legitimate" but better resolved through negotiation.

The Turkish military had no comment to the remarks by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd from northern Iraq, and it was unclear where he got the figures. If they are accurate, Turkey would have nearly as many soldiers along its border with Iraq as the 155,000 troops which the U.S. has in the country.

Zebari’s comments came amid calls by Turkey’s military for the government to give it the green light to carry out military operations in northern Iraqi against the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

"Turkey is building up forces on the border. There are 140,000 soldiers fully armed on the border. We are against any military interference or violation of Iraqi sovereignty," Zebari said in Baghdad.

Turkey has been pressuring the United States and Iraq to eliminate PKK bases in Kurdish-controlled parts of northern Iraq and has said it will carry out a cross-border offensive if necessary.

"Turkey’s fears are legitimate but such things can be discussed," Zebari said. ""The perfect solution is the withdrawal of the Turkish forces from the borders."

He added: "No one wants a new military conflict in the region."

He said there had been no "Turkey military violation until now," citing artillery shelling and Turkish surveillance overflights.

Turkey has long complained of U.S. inaction against separatist rebels, who have escalated attacks inside Turkey in recent months. Last week, Turkey’s military chief asked the government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Friday confirmed that detailed incursion plans were ready.

Zebari said that his government cannot send its troops to secure the border with Turkey at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are fighting a deadly insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

"Our military forces are over-occupied with securing the streets and we do not have forces enough to open a new front. We do not want any conflict. However, no military violation has taken place till now," Zebari said.

Turkey has been battling separatist Kurdish rebels since 1984 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. There has been a recent surge in rebel attacks, and 67 soldiers have been killed this year. More than 110 rebels were killed in the same period, according to the Turkish military.

Zebari said the best way is to address Turkey’s "legitimate security concerns" and revive the security and military commission which is made up of the united states, Iraq and Turkey.

Comment: If this is true, well, what are they doing with these troops?! It doesn’t seem friendly to amass 144,000 troops on the border.  Is there going to be war?