« December 2007 |
Main
| February 2008 »
 For once, it isn't just terrorist attacks and political intrigue making headlines in the Middle East, but a subject everybody can relate to: the weather. The whole area seems to be more at the mercy of a rare snowstorm than any political crisis.
In Jerusalem, the snowy weather almost overshadowed a government report on Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon. Large parts of the Holy City were covered in white, causing schools and stores to shut and children to engage in snowball fights. Public transportation was grounded.
In Amman, even adults gave in to the rare pleasure of pelting each other with snowballs after almost a foot of snow blanketed the city. Here, too, vital business also came to a standstill. News reports said that flights were grounded for a few hours Thursday at the Jordanian capital's international airport, where de-icing machines worked frantically to clear planes for takeoff.
Lebanon's central areas were cut off from its coastal cities. Snow blocked roads leading to the Bekaa Valley and covered most of the country's mountain villages. The snowstorm crippled an already poorly performing power system, increasing the long hours of electricity outtages in many areas.
The mountains surrounding Damascus were also blanketed in snow and many roads in Syria's rural areas were blocked.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Photo: A Syrian family enjoys the snowfall in the capital, Damascus. A wave of cold weather and snow storms is hitting the Middle East, closing mountain roads and hindering traffic in some regions in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images
It's not enough that Iraqis have to contend with stray mortar shells and suicide bombers. On Wednesday, police and residents in Kut, south of Baghdad, reported three earthquakes. The first temblor at 2 p.m. shook the town for about a minute, but caused no serious damage. There was an aftershock at 2:15 p.m. and another quake just after 10 p.m.
Police in Kut said people were scared and remained indoors, though most assumed the tremors were the result of a bombing or large explosion. There were no casualties.
The Arabic language website, Council for the Development of Iraqi Gulf Relations, reported that witnesses heard announcements from the mosques, urging them to offer up a special prayer — called the Salat al Ayat — reserved for catastrophic events such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
One police official said they are waiting for a fourth earthquake. So far, nothing greater than 2.5 magnitude has registered on the U.S. Geological Survey website.
— Kimi Yoshino in Baghdad
Two cables beneath the Mediterranean Sea have been damaged, which may seem quaint and old world, but the result is a major slow-down in Egyptian cyberspace. Connecting to the Internet may take minutes, surfing is a disaster. Bloggers, judging by the scenes at cyber-cafes, are restless balls of nerves, sipping espressos, their fingers still, forlorn. With limited accessibility, the Egyptian government has asked Internet users to stop downloading songs and movies, to make connectivity better for businesses.
"Two of our cables are affected; everyone will go onto a third cable," Mohammed Taymur, Egypt's Telecommunications Ministry spokesman, told AFP. "But that will not be enough bandwidth. The cable will be overloaded and no one will be able to get access. . . People should know how to use the Internet because people who download music and films are going to affect business who have more important things to do."
The guy downloading the most recent episode of Lost, or those unmentionable films that are short on dialogue but big on, shall we say, passion, may not find Taymur's argument convincing. They may find it LOL. But it's slow going, either way. The damaged cables are also affecting service across the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Repairs may take days. It took seven minutes to open up the page to write this post. How long it will take to actually file it, no one knows, but (my apologies to big business) here goes. . . .click
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Cairo is a symphony of clatter, ragged, loud, fuming, insane. It is relentless noise through the day — car horns, the tin hum of machines, the metal prattle of engines, the barking of vegetable vendors, the clop of hurried footsteps. The call to prayer can barely be heard through the cacophony; even the leaves shudder.
So it's not surprising to learn that, according to a study by the Egyptian National Research Center, Cairo's noise levels reach 90 decibels. Health officials advise 55 decibels as the maximum safe level. To beat the noise, one must roam deep into the night. Around 2 a.m., the clamor subsides, the traffic clears and the boats quiet on the Nile. The footsteps you hear are likely to be your own. But that can be deceptive. Cairo is a city of tricks. In the instant you're enjoying the silence, you can turn a corner, and suddenly, like a windstorm lifting from nowhere, you're scurrying through traffic.
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
One Iraqi prisoner held by the U.S. military who would not say much during interrogation found another way to convey his feelings about America.
The prisoner secretly spent hours drawing a picture of New York's Twin Towers on the back of his prison jumpsuit — just as the towers looked before Sept. 11. Guards were amazed at the detail, since the prisoner had no materials in his cell.
Sensing the drawing was meant as a hostile act, guards seized the jumpsuit.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond, who took command of U.S. troops in the capital and surrounding areas just a few weeks ago, likes to remind people that he is a simple guy from Hattiesburg, Miss., despite the complex job he has. That was clear in his opening statements to journalists invited to meet him last week over a lunch of roast chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and other traditional American fare.
"My No. 1 most important title that I have in my life is 'Daddy.' That outranks any other title such as major general. It gives you a perspective into what's important in my life," said Hammond, who has a 10th and an 11-grader back home and is on his fourth deployment.
With Army deployments now extended to 15 months, Hammond noted that things are not easy for those on the road, or those left behind. "Our families are equally as deployed back home. The challenges that go with raising a family in the absence of a key element of that family for 15 months is something most of us never really realize," he said.
But many in the Army's 4th Infantry Division, which Hammond commands, are being forced to confront the difficulty as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stretch the military's resources. According to Hammond:
12,747 of his soldiers are on their first deployment; 10,016 are on their second; 5,016 are on their third; and 2,247 are on their fourth. Since the division deployed late last year, 860 babies have been born to soldiers' families back home.
— Tina Susman in Baghdad
The Marines and the tribal sheiks are working at strengthening an alliance in Anbar province to keep the insurgency on the run.
At a sumptuous feast this week in Haditha, a tribal sheik revealed what he said was the perfect plan: The tribes would find additional wives for Marines, and the Marines would encourage American women to marry members of the tribe.
"This way we will truly be brothers," announced the sheik.
On behalf of the Marine Corps, Maj. Kevin Jarrard, commander of Lima Company, 3rd battalion, 23rd regiment, politely turned down the offer.
The sheik, anticipating the turndown, had a backup plan. He said he will name his next three sons after Marine officers.
—Tony Perry in Haditha, Iraq
Indeed, white men can't jump.
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
Photo: Snow storms have turned the Holy Land into a winter wonder land.
 The Facebook craze in Lebanon is widespread. People here use the social networking website to share vacation photos and frivolous thoughts with their friends.
But sometimes what starts as a puerile joke on Facebook can turn into a real nightmare. Four Lebanese college students could actually face jail time for writing nasty remarks about their female classmate on Facebook.
Newspaper reports said that the four male students were detained for a week in January in their hometown of Zahle, a Christian enclave in the Bekaa Valley.
They were arrested after their classmate accused them of "defamation" over the Internet, which could be a serious offense in a society torn between its traditional roots and modern longings.
 As proof, she presented a meticulously compiled document containing all the Facebook posts concerning her, which she printed out before the four accused erased them. These remarks were not released in the media.
Despite pressure from the students' friends and family against it, the girl in question has insisted on pressing charges against her classmates, maintaining that their crude comments had tarnished her reputation.
Advocacy groups saw this unprecedented case as a breach of freedom of expression, especially with the absence of laws pertaining to the Internet. The final hearing for the case is on Feb. 28. Whatever the verdict, one lesson seems clear in Lebanon: Don't mess with someone's reputation on Facebook.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
 Many consider the middle-class neighborhood of Karada, in south Baghdad, to be a religious area because the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council 's headquarters is there. But it's also home to recreational clubs like Alwiya, Hindiya and Sharook, where people can enjoy an alcoholic beverage after a stressful day at work. (The clubs also have basketball and tennis courts and swimming pools, but many people visit purely for social reasons.)
The bars at the clubs are open only from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m, just enough time to grab a drink and hurry home before darkness and the curfew.
In Iraq, the most popular liquor is arak, a transparent, anise-flavored liqueur served on the rocks. The biggest arak factory is in Baqubah, north of Baghdad, but is also produced in other northern factories in areas with Christian populations.
When mixed with water, arak turns a milky white. It has a strong flavor and the scent of black licorice. One watered-down glass is strong enough to give you a high-flying buzz; a second will have you sobbing in your glass. A third can knock you off your stool.
It's customary for Iraqis to snack while drinking arak, to help soak up the liquor. The most popular appetizers are baba ganouj, hummus, tabbouleh and pistachios. This is followed by a decent meal with a meat entree.
Younger Iraqis prefer beer. The two most popular Iraqi brands — Faridah and Loiloa — come in large, 750 ml (25 oz) bottles. Most men drink five or six in a sitting. Western alcohol is also available, from draft beer to Johnnie Walker Black Label.
These bars offer a rare escape from reality, even if it's only for a couple hours.
— Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad
Photo: Iraq's favorite alcohol, the milky, anise-flavored liquer, arak. Credit: Saad Khalaf, Los Angeles Times
 Palestinian Brothers, please go home.
That is the message in Egypt, where over the last week more than 500,000 Palestinians from Gaza have shopped, binged and stocked up on supplies in the Sinai. Palestinians have changed an estimated $100 million into Egyptian pounds.
But Egypt is weary and wary of its spendthrift guests.
To ease them back across the border wall, which was blown up by Hamas during an Israeli fuel blockade, government authorities have ordered many shops to be closed and have tightened checkpoints along the roads between Rafah and El Arish. More than a few Palestinians have stolen cars in Egypt; Bedouin farmers have responded by shooting into the air to scare the Gazans away.
Ammar Mohammed, a Gaza baker, sensed an evaporating hospitality: "The police arrest [Palestinian] people in the streets and send them back home. They chase us in apartments and resorts to send us back home," Mohammed said while roaming with a few of his compatriots who crossed into Egypt last week. "We are leaving today. What else can we do? Would we spend our time hiding from the police? We came here to get some relief not to run and hide from the police."
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo and Noha El-Hennawy in El Arish
Photo: Palestinian shopper heads through the mud toward his home in Gaza. Credit: Nasser Nasser/Associated Press
The food at dining facilities at the larger military bases in Iraq tastes pretty much the same from camp to camp, like restaurants from the same franchise.
But the quality at lesser outposts, where preparation is done by troops rather than the Halliburton offshoot KBR, can vary widely. Which explains why food preparation specialists such as Marine Gunnery Sgt. Benny Fontenot at the Haditha Dam become minor celebrities among their customers.
Troops debate which of Fontenot's meals was the best: the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the Marine Corps 232nd birthday (Nov. 10) spreads. That's somewhat unfair since at the birthday meal, beer was served along with turkey, ham and prime rib.
Some votes might go for his barbecue lamb for the South African guards, the goat and lamb dishes for the Iraqis, and the special meal for the Azerbaijani troops at the dam. They like fresh vegetables and fruit.
Near the spot on the 7th story landing where troops line up cafeteria-style for their meals is a sign: "Best Dam Chow Hall in Iraq."
— Tony Perry at Haditha Dam, Iraq
The best meal in Iraq is Mahzgouf fish. Many Iraqi families gather after Friday prayers in the mosques to feast on the succulent, river bottom feeder.
But because of the chaotic security situation, people frown upon mahzgouf that is caught from the Tigris River. People whisper that those fish have fed on human flesh. Now, a discerning customer will opt for a fish bred in a hatchery.
People will pick out a live fish from a restaurant or a street vendor’s water-filled wheel barrow. The mahzgouf is promptly clubbed and then roasted on its side and cooked over a wood fire. The disc-shaped fish will then be served with a flat bread, called khubz. Everyone digs in with clean hands and puts fingerfuls of the oily fish in their mouth.
— Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad
Photo: A roadside vendor prepares the popular mahzgouf fish to roast. Credit: Saad Khalaf, Los Angeles Times
 It seems that the Syrian government is clamping down again on homegrown dissidents.
On Monday, Syrian authorities arrested a leading opposition figure, Riad Seif, hours after putting 10 other critics of the ruling Baath Party on trial, according to international human rights groups.
The link between the detained opposition figures is a high-profile political meeting they all attended at Seif's residence in Damascus in December.
We caught up with Ausama Monajed, a London-based Syrian dissident and member of an opposition group, for a phone interview: It is obvious that the regime wants to eliminate any seed of democracy that could grow and endanger it. But with international pressure and growing local support, the opposition cannot be easily shut.
Seif and the 10 other dissidents face years-long jail sentences for charges such as "weakening the national spirit and awakening racism and sectarianism," and "spreading false information," and "involvement in a secret organization."
Monajed described these charges as "outrageously unfounded, tailor-made accusations."
Seif has already served five years in prison for his political activities. He recently formed an umbrella opposition group, called the Damascus Declaration National Council ,to lead the way "peacefully" for democracy in Syria.
Prying open a small window of hope for democratic reforms in Syria, the group was celebrated for encompassing an unprecedentedly large range of political entities, including leftists, liberals, conservatives, Kurds and moderate Islamists.
Apparently the Syrian government is not yet ready to tolerate such opposition.
The Movement for Justice and Development, a vocal opposition group with representatives in Syria and Britain, said that the arrests were widely seen as "an attempt by the Syrian regime to forestall the development of a strong pro-democracy movement in the country."
The arrests also provoked the indignation of Human Rights organizations. The U.S.-based Freedom House accused the Syrian government, in a press statement released yesterday, of "trying to conjure up some legal fiction to mask its blatant repression of any independent expression."
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Photo: Syrian dissident Riad Seif, also spelled Riyad Saif, has been jailed. Credit: Forsyria.org
A bomb attack in northern Algeria Tuesday killed at least two and injured 23.,according to the official Algerie Presse Service. Other news services said four were killed in the 6:30 a.m. explosion, which damaged half a dozen buildings.
It was the latest in a string of attacks in the North African country. The target this time apparently was a mobile unit of the country's judiciary police in the town of Thenia, in an area about 30 miles east of the capital, Algiers.
On Jan. 2, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Naciria, 75 miles east of Algiers, killing four policemen and wounding 20 others.
As many as 41 people were killed on Dec. 11 when two suicide truck bombs rammed into a United Nations building and a court complex in the capital. Seventeen of those killed were U.N. employees.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for both attacks.
The United Nations has offered to help Algerian authorities investigate that attack, but the government has spurned the offer.
To combat Al Qaeda's influence, Algerian television stations have aired a program in which clerics lambaste suicide bombings and attacks on civilians, according to a summary of clippings posted on the blog of Memri, the Middle East Media and Research Institute.
The Algerian government in the past ordered army airplanes to drop leaflets on pro-Al Qaeda neighborhoods with a fatwa by a Saudi Arabian cleric denouncing the struggle against the Algerian government.
— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photo: Algerian women comfort each other after their house was seriously damaged by a suicide bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Algerian city of Thenia on Tuesday morning. Credit: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images
 More bad news for press freedom in Iran.
On Tuesday word emerged that Iran's leading women's magazine has been ordered to close.
Zanan Magazine, a reform-minded feminist magazine has been active in promoting women's rights for the last 16 years. Authorities revoked its license and folks in Tehran say there's no hope for appeal.
Managing director Shahla Sherkat was once a hard-line supporter of the Iranian government but became disillusioned after the Iran-Iraq war. Zanan managed to survive previous crackdowns by cautiously avoiding general politics and focusing on women's issues.
But that didn't work, apparently.
According to preliminary reports it was banned for allegedly portraying a negative image of women in Iran, but no official word has emerged yet.
The Iranian Journalists Assn. condemned the closure. In the last two years, 40 periodicals, including Zanan, have been banned across the country by the Press Supervision Board, which is controlled by hard-liners.
The closure inspired cynical commentary from Iranian bloggers. "I think the average life of a magazine is no longer than the time required for getting the 'publishing licence,' wrote Jadi, a blogger at Inside Iran: Zanan (means women) used to be a "moderate" magazine. It never wrote anything extreme to prevent its closing. But now, after 16 years the only Persian women's magazine is closed.
— Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran
Photo: A recent cover of the Iranian women's magazine, Zanan, which was ordered to close by authorities. Credit: Zanan magazine
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's feuding with President Jalal Talabani and others in the Iraqi leadership is considered a hindrance to national reconciliation, but at least three men are benefitting from it. In fact, it is keeping them alive.
The men are former associates of Saddam Hussein, and they were sentenced to hang for taking part in military atrocities that killed as many as 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s. They include Sultan Hashim Ahmad Jabburi Tai, a former Iraqi military officer; Ali Hassan Majid, aka Chemical Ali for his use of poisonous gas on the Kurds; and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who was Hussein's deputy head of army operations.
But Iraq's president and two vice presidents must sign off on executions, and therein lies the rub. Talabani, who is a Kurd, and Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, have argued against the hangings — Talabani because he opposes the death penalty and Hashimi because he says sparing the lives would foster Sunni-Shiite-Kurdish reconciliation.
As a result, the sentences, which were passed in June and should have been carried out in the fall, cannot go ahead, even though Maliki's Shiite-led government has made clear it would like to see the convicts go to the gallows. During a meeting with journalists over the weekend, government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said this was one of the downsides to democracy: having to abide by rules that one does not like.
He challenged people who would overrule the tribunal that sentenced the men to explain how they could ignore the ruling without violating the constitution. "Let them show us how to do this without breaking the law. You cannot do it this way," he said. "This is not the way to deal with Iraq. Once we open such doors, this will make the constitution a piece of rubber," to be bent any way that suits people's desires, Dabbagh said.
In the meantime, the men remain in the hands of U.S. officials, who say they will not be turned over to Iraqi officials until the government has settled the issue.
— Tina Susman in Baghdad
 Ever since I arrived in Baghdad, I've been amazed at how readily accessible American culture is here. "Oprah," "Dr. Phil" and even "Grey's Anatomy" are all broadcast regularly on satellite television.
One day, I was channel surfing and one of our interpreters said, "Oooh! 'Seinfeld!' I love that show!"
On the street, vendors peddle pirated DVDs for as little as $1, with current films such as "Sweeney Todd" and "No Country for Old Men" already available here. Maybe it's because the interpreters are penned in with nowhere to go, but they've seen more current American movies than I have.
So it should have been no surprise to me when staffer Saif Hameed started talking to me about Monopoly. We were quibbling over the rules, which he knew better than I did. I never knew, for example, that if you don't buy a property when you land on it, it gets put up for auction. Of course, as a kid, he saved up and bought the official Parker Brothers edition for $75, so I guess it makes sense that he memorized the official rules.
In Iraq, they have their own version in Arabic with Boardwalk replaced by Baghdad's formerly-ritzy Arasat Street, but he said the American game should be easy to find.
He had thrown down the gauntlet. We would have a Monopoly match.
A few hours later, when the drivers came back with the game in hand, there was just one problem.
Our "Monopolio" was entirely in Spanish: "Go! (Adelante!) Cobrense $200 de sueldo al pasar."
"Welcome to Iraq," Mohammed Rasheed, our staff writer and technical whiz, told me. "Nothing makes sense here!"
— Kimi Yoshino in Baghdad
Photo: Found in Baghdad, a Spanish-language edition of Monopoly. Credit: Kimi Yoshino
 Well, that was quick. 
Russia on Monday delivered the last batch of nuclear fuel for Iran’s light-water reactor in the southern city of Bushehr. That’s a little more than a month after the first batch arrived.
The West worries that spent fuel from the 1,000 megawatt reactor could be reprocessed to make fissile material for a bomb and that the nuclear plant is a reward Iran doesn’t deserve. They fear such deals undermine efforts to pressure Iran to give up its drive to master nuclear enrichment, a process that is the trickiest part of building atomic weapons, but is also a component of nuclear power generation.
But there are other worries about the plant, too. Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Mother Nature put a big exclamation point on that fact on Monday when a mild earthquake struck close to Bushehr. There were no reports of casualties or property damage from the tremor, which measured 4.2 on the Richter scale.
 But the combination of antiquated Russian technology (remember Chernobyl) resting on teetering tectonic plates operated by newly trained Iranian engineers makes a lot of people nervous, especially in the oil-rich Persian Gulf city-states near Bushehr. As analysts and politicians in the Gulf like to point out, Iran’s first experiment in nuclear power is 750 miles from Tehran but less than 200 miles from the capitals of Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar
The next milestone is to get the plant up and running. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and others have boasted that the plant would start producing power sometime in the middle of this year. Russians say it’ll be more like the end of the year. Russian officials told Itar-Tass news agency that they’re going to try get the reactor up and running as soon as possible. Sergei Kirienko, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, said they’ll begin loading the fuel into the reactor this summer: Russia’s stand is the quicker the better, since the station has a high degree of readiness...We shall do our utmost to complete this work as soon as possible.
Russia had been stalling for years on sending the 82 tons of fuel rods for the plant. But deliveries began just days after a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate in December concluded that Iran had likely ended a secret atomic weapons program in 2003. Russia insists the timing was a coincidence as Tehran and Moscow agreed to finish the deal in October.
— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photo: An unidentified Russian technician rides his bicycle in front of the main reactor of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran. Credit: VAHID SALEMI/AP
Hebrew has one word for snow: sheleg. But it definitely has several synonyms, among them "major news." (Kids here have a word of their own for snow: vacation!)
In fast-paced Israel, talking about the weather is a luxury — and there's nothing small about this talk. Preparations for the infrequent snow that is expected to grace hilltops about 2,000 feet above sea level between Tuesday and Wednesday are in full motion — grocery shopping, frantic searches for that missing glove and much forceful shoving of feet into last year's boots. It's dominating headlines too. During last week's bitter cold spell, a resourceful radio anchor interviewed the country's only known Eskimo resident. (You call this cold?)
There are also more serious, practical preparations. The Jerusalem municipality has its snowplows revved up to keep more than 300 miles of emergency routes open, and the city's welfare department is helping move homeless people into shelters. Several people died of exposure recently as temperatures have been unusually low this last month.
True to Israeli style, nothing is ever entirely divorced from politics. The Winograd Commission, appointed to investigate how the government and army conducted themselves during the 2006 war in Lebanon, is publishing its final report Wednesday. The political system is bracing for tremors, as the report is expected cite lapses of judgment. Protestors seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over the war are planning around the harsh Jerusalem weather. "How to topple a government in the snow?" asked a headline on a leading Israeli news site. (How indeed? One possibility is that protesters would gather outside Defense Minister Ehud Barak's house. He lives in Tel Aviv. It last snowed there in 1950.)
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
The tendency of some troops in Iraq to add patches and other unofficial adornments to their uniforms, and to carry non-standard gear, has gotten on the nerves of other troops.The annoyance is greater when the troops seeking to make macho fashion statements are those who spend most, if not all, of their deployment inside the forward operating base or FOB, rarely venturing outside the wire.
A kind of backlash has occured. At the the Haditha Dam, where Marines, sailors, and soldiers are assigned, a satiric drawing has appeared of Fad Man with the caption "Dressing for Success On the FOB." It is followed by a critique of various doo-dads. Among them:
"Nothing says 'I'm a walking safety hazard" quite like wearing a bad...knife on your belt. Fad Man will only end up cutting himself while he's playing with it."
And, "Nothing says 'I've got money to burn' quite like sporting a $150 brand-name protective eyewear. Sure, they're just like the standard issue $7.95 models but these are 'laser protective.' You never know when the insurgents will start using lasers." — Tony Perry, at Haditha Dam, Iraq
The 2-year-old Iraqi girl flown last week to the U.S. for possible life-saving heart surgery thanks to the efforts of Marines is now undergoing tests at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.
But pediatric heart specialists said Saturday that Amenah Ala Thabit's condition is more serious than initially thought. Her heart is backward in her chest, constricting her breathing, doctors said. She also has a serious infection
The Marines of the 3rd battalion, 23rd regiment, Regional Combat Team Five met the girl and her family while on patrol in Haditha. After raising $30,000 for the trip, the Marines sent Amenah — earlier reports put her name as Amina — to the U.S. for treatment, accompanied by her mother.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
Has Iran's government been reading "The Rules," the quaint guidebook that advises women seeking relationships to play hard-to-get when suitors come calling? According to Iraqi and U.S. officials, Iran is keeping them waiting as they try to arrange a date between the American ambassador and his Iranian counterpart to discuss Iraqi security issues in Baghdad.
The meeting originally was scheduled for mid-December. It never happened, something that U.S. officials attributed at the time to mere scheduling conflicts. Lately, though, the tone has changed. The U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, was quoted recently as saying that the United States was eager for a date but that Iran was holding back.
Continue reading "IRAQ: Sorry, I have to wash my hair that day..." »
Baghdad's electric company may have hit on the magic to better fitness: power outages. For millions of weight-conscious Americans, this could be the solution they've been looking for. The only problem is they'll have to come to Iraq to try it.
Here is how it works. Turn on your DVD player and insert an exercise program — ideally one that runs for about 45 minutes and includes a variety of exercises. About 20 minutes into it, you are virtually guaranteed a power cut. The DVD machine shuts off. After the power kicks back in, the machine restarts, but the DVD has to be reloaded.
Instead of fast-forwarding to where you were when the power went out, start over. This guarantees a far longer workout than one gets with an interrupted flow of power. On a good day, you might have to restart the program three times for a full 90-minute sweat fest.
This unscientifically tested method is particularly effective on a treadmill. Once the power cuts and the treadmill stops, whatever program you were using ends. When the power comes back on, start your jog from the beginning. Before you know it, you'll be running half-marathons each morning.
— Tina Susman in Baghdad
The air terminal at Al Asad was particularly busy Saturday.
Security guards from Uganda were on their way home. Construction workers from Turkey were en route to bases throughout Iraq. Various civilian employees of the U.S. government were waiting for rides.
Hundreds of Marines crowded the terminal, some waiting for C-130 cargo planes to begin their journey home, others for helicopters to take them to outposts across Iraq.
Among the troops newly arrived "in-country" were Rex and Boniface, military working dogs from Camp Lejeune, N.C. They're experts at sniffing out explosives. They accompany Marines on patrol and, on command, will go for the throat of an enemy.
Rex, a Belgian Malinois, and Boniface, a German shepherd, are headed for Rawah in the Euphrates River Valley. Each is on his third seven-month tour and is considered an honorary gunnery sergeant. This will probably be their last deployment.
"Seven months is a long time in dog-years," said Cpl. Quincy Jones, one of the handlers.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
Mauritanians were bummed when organizers canceled the famous Lisbon-Dakar Rally because of fears of a terrorist attack after militants killed four French tourists in December. Al Qaida of North Africa took the credit for the attack and warned that it would also target the annual off-road rally as an "infidel" event.
But organizers of another rambling desert car race went ahead this week, undaunted by the threat.
The Budapest-Bamako race, which begins in Central Europe and winds its way down into North and West Africa, today completed its Mauritania leg, apparently without a hitch.
Continue reading "MAURITANIA: Racing against Al Qaida" »
Exiled Iraqi musician Rahim Al Haj has his share of fans back in the home country all cheering along his nomination for a Grammy at next month’s awards ceremony, but there is good bit of angst among musicians left behind. Due to travel restrictions, the central government’s deteriorating support for the arts and general mayhem, most can only dream of reaching any audience, much less a global one.
Al Haj’s album, “When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq," is competing for the Best Traditional World Music Album prize. The album is a gorgeous rendering inspired by the artist’s immigration to New Mexico and is performed on the oud —the pear shaped, string instrument. Pronounced “ooood,” it is the nation’s most treasured instrument and has existed in one form or another in the Middle East for more than 5,000 years.
When Salman Shukur, Iraq's last traditional master of the oud died recently, no mention was paid by the country’s culture ministry, a fact recalled bitterly by Sami Nasim, the leader of the most famous remaining group of oud players in Iraq, the Munir Basher Group.
“Even in Saddam’s time, we got more support and attention,” he said.
— Garrett Therolf in Baghdad
Video: Expat Iraqi musician Rahim Al-Haj plays the oud, a traditional Middle Eastern instrument, for a Smithsonian recording.
It was one of the coldest days this winter. I arrived home from work and in a normal situation you would think that the work was done, but in this case, that wasn’t true. Taking a shower sitting in warm place and having a hot drink takes major work.
It has been more than three weeks since we have had any power from the national grid at our house. We don’t consider it that much of a difference because even in "normal'' times we get just one hour of power during the day and another hour at night. We don’t bother anymore to ask about the reasons behind this or when the electricity might be fixed and come back.
Continue reading "IRAQ: Baghdad's eternal blackout" »
At the larger U.S. military bases in Iraq, there are no chow halls. The phrase preferred by the Department of Defense is Dining Facility, known as a DFAC, pronounced "dee-fact."
Also, latrines are no more. There are portables with sinks, toilets, and running water. Official name: ablution unit.
Of course, at smaller outposts, the accomodations are more primitive and so is the language used by Marines to describe them.
— Tony Perry at Al Asad, Iraq
Six shipments down and just two more to go before all 82 tons of Russian nuclear fuel to fire up the light-water reactor in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr are delivered.
Number six arrived Thursday morning, according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iran's Atomic Energy Production and Development Co. said the the 11-ton Russian shipment has already been sent down to Bushehr, a Persian Gulf port city once known mostly for its lively music and traditional architecture instead of as the site of the Muslim Middle East's first atomic reactor.
Continue reading "IRAN: More nuclear juice" »
A recent resolution by the European Parliament criticizing the human rights situation in Egypt has caused a fuss and triggered a diplomatic counteroffensive. The resolution released last week called on Egypt to honor its obligations under the international human rights accords it has ratified, urging an end to the imprisonment of journalists and political activists and to all forms of torture and ill-treatment.
The declaration was quickly dismissed by the Egyptian government as an infringement on its domestic affairs. Although this is not the first time Egypt's human rights record has been criticized, the government's reaction was angry and quick. The Egyptian People's Assembly decided to cut ties with the European Parliament. The Foreign Ministry summoned ambassadors from 27 European Union countries to complain about the resolution. The ministry also tried to throw the same accusations back at European states.
"It would be more appropriate for these countries to look at the systematic violations of human rights which their own citizens suffer before they rule on the state of other countries," it declared.
The EU resolution called for the immediate release of Ayman Nour, the runner-up in Egypt's 2005 presidential election, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence on fraud charges that rights activists have questioned. The European statement came shortly after President Bush visited Egypt, during which he praised the country as having a "vibrant civil society."
The resolution elicited a mixed reaction among Egyptian activists. While several welcomed the statement, many opposition leaders rejected any "foreign intervention" in Egyptian affairs.
Yet the motion was seen by many as a clear embarrassment to Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Egypt's foreign services.
"The European Parliament's decision, the rising tension between Cairo and Washington, and the waning of Egypt's role in the region are due to the failure and the impotence of Egypt's diplomacy," Magd el-Gallad, the editor-in-chief of Egypt's most respected independent daily, al-Masry al-Yom, wrote this week.
— Cairo bureau
The on-again, off-again move by the U.S. Embassy into its new, riverfront home is off again until further notice. Plans to occupy the State Department's very own McMansion on the banks of Baghdad's Tigris River have faced hiccups for months.
The new Embassy, which resembles a sprawling shopping mall, had originally been scheduled for completion in June 2007, nearly three years after 104 acres of land was turned over for its construction. That date was set back to September 2007 because of delays encountered working in a battle zone.
Asked Thursday when the new move-in date was, Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said she did not know. "We may be looking at late spring, but we don't have anything yet," she said. Later, Nantongo suggested that even spring was an optimistic guess. "There's no date yet," she said.
Since last fall, the $600-million project has been undergoing revisions, which depending on various accounts were the result of either shoddy construction or simple alterations. The changes have added another $140 million to the price tag.
In October State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was natural to make last-minute changes during a large construction project. But Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the Los Angeles Democrat who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said documents showed hundreds of building code violations in the Embassy, making it unfit to occupy.
Embassy officials have mainly cited security reasons as they dodge questions on when they plan to move.
The current Embassy is housed in one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces, within Baghdad's fortified International, or Green, Zone. The chandeliers, mosaics, and marble bathrooms are impressive, but employees are crammed several to a room.
The new compound is only about three miles away, also within the Green Zone. In addition to its river view, it might offer close-up views of another symbol of Baghdad — the occasional mortar shells that zoom across the river into the Green Zone.
— Tina Susman in Baghdad
When the Marines left Haditha in 2004 to fight insurgents in Fallouja, insurgents regained control of the Euphrates River Valley town. Dozens of police and others who had worked with the Americans were rounded up, marched to the local soccer field, and beheaded — some while their families were forced to watch.
Now that same soccer field is under control of the Iraqi police, with Marines in "over-watch" nearby. It's used as a helicopter landing site for Marines bringing reinforcements or local politicians.
The Marines have plans to restore the dusty, rocky field to playing status, including erasing the anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans painted on the fences.
— Tony Perry in Haditha, Iraq
Mamoun Sami Rasheed, the jumbo-sized governor of Anbar province, walked briskly through the narrow halls of Haditha's hospital, hearing complaints and pleas for help. An aide took notes and, at Rasheed's nod, dispensed money to the neediest cases, usually women with sick babies.
Later Rasheed, dressed in a floor-length black overcoat, held three town meetings where Haditha residents begged for help from the provincial government, based in Ramadi.
The sessions were part of what the Marines call "helicopter engagement," an attempt to introduce provincial politicians to their constituents.
The Marines provide the transportation — Rasheed arrived in an Osprey — and the security. Dozens of such sessions have been held in the last year across the sprawling province as the danger from armed insurgents has lessened.
The goal is to "restore a balance" between the tribes and the government, said Maj. Gen. John Allen. "People want to be led by the sheiks but governed by technocrats," he said.
—Tony Perry in Haditha, Iraq
It's been a bad week for Yemen. The the Arabian Peninsula nation has been fighting hard to lure tourists, international donors and foreign investors to give its struggling economy a lift. But it's been beset by turmoil.
First there was a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence that left hundreds of people displaced in the country's impoverished north. Then came the Jan. 18 killing of two Belgian tourists visiting the country, allegedly at the hands of Al Qaeda.
The renewed clashes between security forces and a small Shiite group caused the most consternation. A 2004 uprising by a group of Shiites rebels led by Sheik Abdul-Malik Houthi had ended in June 2007 with a peace agreement moderated by Qatar. But the peace fractured in December. Dozens of people on both sides have died.
Continue reading "YEMEN: Vexed by Al Qaida and sectarian troubles" »
Some things are universal, like the way a rainy day slows down a city.
The cold drizzle that blanketed Baghdad on Wednesday made the gray city even grayer. It turned the dirty streets into muddy messes, including in the fortified Green Zone, one of the few places in the capital suitable for walking. That meant even longer waits at Green Zone checkpoints as would-be walkers opted to drive in.
These checkpoints are not luxurious to begin with, and they are downright wretched when it is cold and rainy. At the first of four search points I had to pass, a crowd waited in a bunker-like area while dogs sniffed their vehicles. They shuffled their feet and rubbed their hands to keep warm. They watched their breath as it formed little white puffs in the cold air.
Continue reading "IRAQ: Scenes from a soggy checkpoint" »
A 2-year-old Iraqi girl with a life-threatening heart defect was flown by Marine helicopter to the Jordanian border Tuesday to meet U.S. officials and medical personnel who will escort her to the U.S. for surgery.
Marines from the 3rd battalion, 23rd regiment, a reservist group with headquarters in New Orleans, encountered Amina Ala Thabit while patrolling in Haditha. The girl's feet and lips turn blue with the slightest exertion.
The Marines, part of Regimental Combat Team 5, initiated the trip with help from the State and Homeland Security departments. Amina and her mother will be flown to Nashville, where the surgery will be performed for free at Vanderbilt University Hospital.
—Tony Perry in Haditha, Iraq
 Uh-oh... The clash of civilizations may fire up again with the possible release of a short film by an ultra-rightwing member of Holland's parliament who has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf."
Geert Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker, has made a movie that has raised alarm bells across Europe even before it's been screened. Political leaders worry about another flare-up of cross-cultural conflict like the one that erupted in 2006 after the Danish publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
The film purports to show the dangers of the Koran and Wilders has threatened to air his movie during a segment on Dutch television alloted to his Freedom Party. Wilders has a less-than-stellar record when it comes to cultural sensitivity on the issue of Islam. He has demanded an outright ban on Islam's holiest book, which he calls a "fascist" text. And he means it when he says ban, according to his website: Not only the sale, but also the use in mosques and ownership in a household context should be punishable. If the current legislation does not allow that, then a new law on banning the book should be introduced. This book incites hate and murder, and therefore does not fit in with our rule of law. If Muslims want to participate, they must distance themselves from the Koran. I know that is asking a great deal, but we have to stop making concessions.
Continue reading "MIDDLE EAST: Dutch film about Koran could spark new clash" »
The mayor of Al Qaim on the Iraqi side of the border with Syria has accepted an invitation from Laguna Niguel to visit as part of the sister city relationship between the two cities. For Farhan Fetekhan Farhan, it will be his first visit to America.
Laguna Niguel formed the relationship with his city as part of the Orange County suburb's attachment to the Camp Pendleton-based 1st battalion, 4th regiment. Marines of the one-four spent much of last year assigned to the Qaim area and found the mayor to be a key ally.
Laguna Niguel has sent a load of school supplies and soccer balls. The mayor said he appreciates the concern, particularly given the cold shoulder his city often receives from faraway Baghdad.
"Laguna Niguel cares more about Al Qaim than the central government in Iraq does," he said.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
Servers in the chow hall today were from Sri Lanka, Kenya, India and Nepal. The guy behind me was an electrician from Bosnia. His buddy, from Croatia, missed breakfast. He was having an equipment problem fixed at the Gilgamesh Tailors, run by Turks.
Tony Perry at Al Asad, Irad
Israel's Army Radio broadcast an unusal exchange between Yossi Belisha, an Israeli, and Jamal Khudari, a Palestinian, during a call-in debate Monday about Israel's cutoff of fuel and other essential supplies to the Gaza Strip. Israel imposed the blockade last Thursday in response to near-daily Kassam rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory. The broadcast came during a lull in the rocket fire, before Israel agreed late Monday to a temporary easing of the blockade.
Belisha lives in Sderot, the Israeli town hit hardest by the rockets. Khudari lives in Gaza City, which has suffered most from power blackouts caused by the fuel cutoff. Here are excerpts from their on-air debate hosted by Army Radio's Razi Barkai.
Barkai: Describe life today where you are.
Continue reading "ISRAEL: Twin cities by fate" »
 So again, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri postponed the sesssion to choose the country's next president. Lawmakers were supposed to convene today, but the session has been delayed until Feb. 11. That's the 13th postponement.
Although Lebanon's two feuding camps say they agree on army Gen. Michel Suleiman as the man for the top job, they continue to wrangle about the composition of the next government. In the background, Iran and Syria compete with the US and other Western powers for influence in this tiny country.
Lebanon has long been a proxy battleground. Today it struggles in vain to remain independent of the region's many conflicts.
Continue reading "LEBANON: Putting off vote, yet again" »
Informally, the project is called Home Depot in Al Qaim, a way to replace farming equipment stolen or destroyed by insurgents in the once agriculture-rich region near the Syrian border.
It's one of dozens of mini-projects being organized and funded by the Provincial Reconstruction Team embedded with Marines at Al Asad, a joint effort of the military, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Other teams are in Fallouja and Ramadi.
The philosophy is grassroots: micro-loans to shopkeepers, help for sheepherders whose flocks are sick, classes in budgeting, tutoring in community organizing, home repair, cellular telephones. About $500,000 has been spent in three months.
It's separate from big-ticket Seabee projects involving water, electricity and sewage. John Matel, team leader in Al Asad, finds the residents in his portion of Al Anbar welcoming.
"They're sick of being poor in a rich country" that has oil, water, and decent farmland, said Matel, who blogs his experiences at his website.
It's unclear whether there will be a grand opening when the equipment-rental place opens.
"It's only been a year since it's been deadly dangerous to even be seen with us," Matel said.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
The Arab media is still assessing, mocking, analyzing, bemoaning and lampooning President Bush's trip to the Middle East, which ended in Egypt last week. Years of vitriol over U.S. actions in the region have been unleashed in opinion pieces and political cartoons, including one that depicts Bush wearing an Israeli tie while holding up a peace sign with blood-drenched fingers. Another shows Bush racing with a bag of cash, symbolizing the weapons contracts he brought to the Gulf.
Much of the criticism is Arab columnists fuming about the U.S. while glossing over the corrupt and disastrous policies of their own governments. But some writers have conjured the past colonialism of the British and French to suggest that the West, especially this president, repeatedly fails to understand the region, choosing instead to buy it off with aid and contracts and promises. Or war. There are allusions to Napoleon and British occupiers. Under the headline, Bush's Swan Song, Ayman El-Amir wrote about Bush's trip in the current edition of Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly:
"Judging by his meetings, reactions and statements, President Bush looks very much like a Western colonial ignorant on safari to a strange land, reading lines from some dubious travel guides written by his neo-con partners. What he will bring back is only a collection of strange photographs of exotic places and curious people, if he even pauses to reflect and look back. Before he knows it, the swan song will have been sung on his failed presidency."
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
One of the tribal sheiks in Anbar province whom Marines are depending on to fight the insurgency is Hatim Gaoud of the Albu Nimr tribe.
Although younger than many sheiks, he has assumed a place of prominence. At a gathering with Marine brass, other sheiks let him sit next to the top Marine, Maj. Gen. Walter Gaskin. The sheik is not reluctant to speak his mind.
On the impact of the insurgency: "There is not one house in Anbar that has not had a tragedy."
On the Baghdad government, particularly the Ministry of the Interior, which controls the police: "The problem is that they are not with us."
On a promise to screen police applicants to eliminate insurgents: "We will not send you anybody with the stain of life on his hands."
Gaskin promised help. "You must understand we are all in this together," he told Hatim and the others.
— Tony Perry at Camp Fallouja, Iraq
 There have been several recent developments on the human rights front in Iran. Altogether, they show how tough it can be to figure out whether the situation for prisoners and dissidents in that country is getting better or worse.
First the good news: Iranian authorities in recent days released Emadeddin Baghi from Tehran’s Evin Prison, where he’s been held since October. Baghi is one of Iran’s most outspoken advocates for human rights, especially the rights of prisoners. He’s also a staunch opponent of the death penalty, which is frequently imposed in Iran. He was supposed to serve one year of a previously suspended sentence, but was let go for health reasons. He had been hospitalized three times in Evin.
Continue reading "IRAN: Tallying a human rights scorecard " »
Kilroy has not been to Iraq but the actor Chuck Norris has. His tough-guy image and modest off-camera demeanor have made him a huge favorite among Marines.
Chuck Norris graffiti and Chuck Norris pictures are widespread. And this notice posted to the door of a sergeant's room:
"The Best Part of Waking Up Isn't Folgers in Your Cup, It's Knowing that Chuck Norris Didn't Kill You In Your Sleep."
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
| |
