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U.S. troops in Iraq are told never to adopt stray dogs and cats as pets. Too many potential problems.
But an animal that can contribute to the U.S. mission, that's a different story.
So the five or so cats found prowling an abandoned hotel at a former British Royal Air Force base in Habbaniya that the Marines are using as a headquarters have been assigned official duties as mouse removal specialists.
Marines, sentimentalists that they are, have given the cats endearing names. One cat is called Fathead. He sleeps days and is on duty at night.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
Photo: Fathead, one of the cats at Habbaniya assigned to keep the mouse population under control. Credit: Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times
Iraqis are nervously awaiting Sunday's visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
According to the National Iraqi News Agency, hundreds of people in the provincial capital of Baqubah protested in the streets and held up placards saying: "Iraq is not for sale."
Continue reading "IRAQ: Ahmadinejad visit stirs passions " »
There are few signs that Iran is going to back down on U.S. demands ahead of possible U.N. Security Council sanctions this weekend. Washington is in a tizzy over Iran's continued enrichment of uranium, a step in the process for making a nuclear bomb as well as fuel for a power plant.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati is a high-ranking cleric close to the highest echelons of power in Iran. He delivered a fiery and defiant Friday prayer speech directed at the West: The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that Iran has replied to all questions. The Security Council and the U.S. and its allies should be ashamed of taking our dossier up. But whatever you do, our people will not back down and our borders are a nuclear weapon. Except for nuclear weapons, all other peaceful nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, are open to us. Our people in the rallies of the revolution are our bombs. We do not need nuclear bombs. You make bombs.
Maybe to lighten the mood, Jannati also advised the Iranian people to avoid "committing sins" during the upcoming Persian New Year holidays.
— Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran
Photo: Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a high-ranking cleric who often speaks for the Iranian government, is shown speaking at a Friday prayer service last year. Credit: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
The Times' trusty correspondent in Hillah, south of Baghdad in Babil province (which is Arabic for Babylon and the namesake of this blog), supplies us regularly with notes about the security and governing challenges in what was once one of Iraq's most troubled regions.
Earlier this week, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Shiite pilgrims. Officials at the Hillah Health Dept. upped the death toll from 43 to 61 in the devastating attack. Almost 100 people were also injured by the bombing near the town of Iskandariya.
But this was unusual. These days, the problems in the area are more humdrum. Local officials in the Imam district informed our stringer (whom we can't name for security reasons) that a long-anticipated new bridge can't be completed because of an architectural defect in its foundation. An official also said that the bridge is being built in the wrong place, "because it is near another adjacent bridge and does not help in the transport of civilians at all.”
The province struggles to make ends meet. Nasser Abdul Jabbar, director of the local center to help displaced people, told our stringer his department will start paying $115 per month to 3,650 families resettling in the province to escape sectarian violence.
A smattering of bloodshed continues daily. On Friday, a roadside bomb targeting a passing security patrol hurt three people. On Wednesday, authorities discovered the body of an unidentified man.
It could be worse. Police this week arrested dozens of suspected Al Qaeda operatives in the area, uncovering 10 plastic containers loaded with ammunition and guns.
— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad
Photo: Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders attend a conference south of Baghdad in January. Credit: EPA/Alaa Al-Shemaree
Is the U.S. beating the war drums in Lebanon? U.S. officials revealed Thursday the unexpected deployment of American warships off the Lebanese coast "to bolster stability" in the region. But in Lebanon, the move was slammed as a military threat to the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and its backers, Syria and Iran.
According to media reports, the famous U.S.S. Cole was heading toward Lebanese waters from Malta. The stated reason was said to be growing concerns in Washington over the political deadlock in Lebanon and Syria's meddling in Lebanese internal affairs.
"The presence is important. It isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that but in fact it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
Hezbollah denounced the American decision as a "failing attempt by the U.S. administration to support its [Lebanese] allies with its military apparel." Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told one local newspaper that this "proved the real confrontation [in Lebanon] is with decision makers in Washington."
A drawn-out political crisis has pitted the U.S.-backed Lebanese government against the Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Iran and Syria. As a result, the country has been without a president for the past three months. Tensions between the two feuding factions are rising on the streets.
Local pro-Hezbollah newspapers attacked the U.S. show of force. One virulent headline talked about "a direct military threat" and one editorial slammed the Bush administration for repeating its "humiliating" deployment of warships along the Lebanese coast in 1982. The U.S. pulled out its troops then from Lebanon after deadly attacks against its embassy and its Marine barracks in Beirut.
"It is wishful thinking if the US thinks that the Lebanese people will adore this exhibition of military force," wrote a French-Lebanese blogger at Les Politiques.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora tried to diffuse the impact of the U.S. move. He told reporters that "there are no foreign warships in Lebanese waters," adding that the government did not request any military support.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Photo: U.S.S. Cole sails the sea. Credit: Ship website
The biggest question in Iraq may be: When can the Americans go home?
The short answer from military officials involves getting the Iraqi army and police capable of standing on their own.
Marine Gunner Stuart White, now in his third tour in Iraq, runs the training program for Iraqi soldiers at Habbaniya. "I think we have a clear vision of what we want," he said. "It's like teaching a man to fish. It cannot be done overnight."
So how long?
"I just can't say it'll be done in a year. Time is the biggest thing. They have a desire to do this. The difference from last year is night and day. I don't think there's a lack of heart to fight on their part. Now it's a matter of education for their leadership and their officers."
As a gunner, White is an expert in weaponry. He also knows what fighting is like. He was part of 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, one of the lead units in the bloody battle in Fallouja in late 2004.
Ask him, as I did, about Fallouja and his eyes mist over with thoughts of young Marines who died to retake the city from the insurgents.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
Photo: Iraqi officers learning about the AK-47 from Marine instructors at Habbaniya. Credit: Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times
"With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's departure on a diplomatic visit to Japan, we have decided — for the first time — to post a blog on the Prime Minister's Office website," says a statement from the prime minister's office. The blog, it says, is aimed at allowing surfers to learn about the visit and get regular updates, as well as serving as another means of increasing transparency of the PM's activities. Comments will be welcome.
With this, Olmert joins President Shimon Peres, who has been blogging for the Israeli daily Haaretz for several months. Peres, now turning his famous one-liners into onliners, posted this in October: "In order to maintain our identity, we pray, throughout the world, in Hebrew, and in order to maintain our modernity, we use English."
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
Operational security — OPSEC — is important: it keeps the enemy from knowing details about upcoming missions, troop movements, etc., that could help them mount an attack.
But keeping troops focused on its importance is difficult at a time when attacks are way down.
So an official poster at Marine bases throughout Anbar province warns: "Every Time You Don't Use OPSEC, God Kills a Kitten."
Pictured is a kitten frolicking in a field followed by two menacing-looking Gumby figures.
— Tony Perry in Camp Fallouja
The U.S.-Iraqi army training camp at Habbaniya is about 60 miles from Baghdad, and so few U.S. officials or politicians make the trek.
One who did was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who visited in December to be with son, Jimmy, an enlisted Marine in his first tour in Iraq. No press was allowed, in keeping with McCain's policy of never appearing to use his son's service as a prop for his presidential bid.
The younger McCain is back in the U.S. now, after finishing his seven-month deployment.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
The relationship between the Marines and the Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province is delicate. Each side wants something from the other.
The Marines want the sheiks to continue their fight against insurgents and to follow the rule of law rather than tribal vengeance. When a sheik hosts the Marines for lunch or dinner, he usually has a list of wants: a gun permit, a government job for a relative, a passport, help getting a construction contract, etc.
One sheik had something more personal in mind. After a sumptuous feast, he asked the Marines if they could help him get Viagra.
Sorry, sheik. U.S. foreign aid is not quite that generous.
— Tony Perry in Anbar
 Modesty is at times an issue in Israel ,too. Its self-appointed enforcers are perhaps less institutionalized than in some of its neighbors. Shopping malls are safe. But ad-hoc patrols have been known to scold, intimidate and even assault women failing to conform to strict modesty standards — mostly in ultra-Orthodox circles.
In January 2007, a rally attended by rabbis in Jerusalem ended with the burning of 'impure' clothing. "We will get rid of the tight clothes," read a sign held by one protester. Among the abominations was, of course, lycra. Actually, I know several liberal dressers who'd agree.
"Your modesty [is] for your own good," reads the graffiti. Whether merely a brotherly piece of advice or missing an "or else," this slogan appeared on several walls in the town of Beit Shemesh this week.
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
 Iraqi Minister of Electricity Kareem Waheed al-Aboudi is not a popular guy. His government agency can barely provide enough power to keep the country lighted up for more than 12 hours a day.
But his bodyguards sure can pack a punch, according to a group of Iraqi police officers who got into a bloody knock-up with his entourage on Wednesday.
Iraqi police say his convoy nearly hit a police patrol in east Baghdad. The minister's bodyguards got out of their vehicles and began to open fire on the cops.
Then in a scene that could have been from the movie "Goodfellas," the guards started pummeling them, the police officers say. They broke the arm of police Capt. Majid Hameed, ripped off his uniform and tossed his badge onto the roadway within sight of passersby and the minister himself, police allege.
The guards also began bashing in the head of police Capt. Haidar Shaiaa with their rifle stocks, leaving him covered in blood, and roughed up police officer Abbas Khadim.
The three policemen have filed charges against the minister and his bodyguards.
— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad
Photo: Iraqi Minister of Electricity Kareem Waheed al-Aboudi. Credit: Ministry of Electricity
One of the goals of the U.S. in training the Iraqi army is to alter the relationship between enlisted personnel and officers. It's a slow process: Habits ingrained over decades are difficult to change.
Like a lot of armies, particularly those in the old Soviet model, the former Iraqi army worked on the premise that the enlisted existed to serve the officers. The U.S. military works on the premise that while rank has its privileges, it also has its responsibilities.
When a problem arose and workers in the Iraqi chow hall at the Habbaniya training camp refused to admit the enlisted Iraqis, one of their officers breezed past and enjoyed his meal while dozens of hungry soldiers waited outside.
A Marine trainer quietly told the officer that this was not a good way to win the respect and loyalty of his men. Several days later, the same officer went to the Marines to complain that his enlisted men did not have enough blankets in the barracks.
"I consider that a victory," said Marine Gunner Stuart White, who runs the training program.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
Iraqi politicians on Wednesday threw a wrench into U.S. plans to correct a major imbalance in the nation's political institutions. The three-member presidency council sent back to parliament for reconsideration a law that was meant to pave the way for a new round of provincial elections.
Sunni Arabs and other political groups largely boycotted the last round of local elections in January 2005. As a result, Shiite Muslim factions dominate provincial governments. Sunnis argue that the Shiites now have more local power than their numbers merited, dominating provincial governments in places such as Diyala province, which are mostly Sunni.
U.S. military and political officials in Washington and Baghdad had long pushed for a new election law and touted parliament's recent approval of the measure as a major step for Iraq.
Now it looks like the elections, which were set for Oct. 1, are again imperiled.
The Bush administration downplayed the setback. "This is democracy at work," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
The reasons for Presidency Council's rejection of the law were unclear.
The Shiite political party led by cleric Abdelaziz Hakim, along with Iraq's Kurds, were the main groups opposed to the current law. Hakim's party has long dominated the provincial governments of southern Iraq and is nervous about the prospect of an electoral challenge by the followers of rival Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr.
— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad
Photo: Sgt. Richard Courtney, of the Army 2-1 Cavalry and of Louisiana, stands by a burning brush in Diyala province. It is a violent area where U.S. officials hope new provincial elections will ease political reconciliations between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Each day, my wife passes the Baghdad Zoo on her way to work. When the weather is nice, crowds of people are there, so a few days ago, she suggested we take our 20-month-old daughter for a visit.
The last time I had visited the zoo was 15 years ago, when my sister, brother and I begged our mother to take us there so we could see a real live lion. When we finally saw the zoo's only lion, we could not believe how skinny it was. We didn't think this was a real lion from Africa. We thought our mother was trying to trick us.
So on a recent afternoon, my wife, our daughter and I went. I was curious to see how it had changed.
Continue reading "IRAQ: A trip to the Baghdad Zoo" »
 For two decades, the Royal Air Force base at Habbaniya was considered the jewel of British overseas bases: acres of well-tended greenery, dozens of stylish buildings, housing for families, a swimming pool, a polo field, a theater, stables and more.
But the British left in 1959. All but the nearly 300 British subjects — and a few from the Commonwealth — who are buried in the base cemetery.
By the time the U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and took over the base, much of it was in ruins, including the cemetery. Many of the gravestones were broken and strewn about, and trash was piled high.
The disrespect toward the British dead annoyed U.S. personnel who cleaned up the site. "How about you get ... over here and fix this damned, forgotten place?" Marine Gunner Terry Walker, who led the cleanup drive, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper.
Now there's an effort by the RAF Habbaniya Assn. and the Commonwealth Graves Commission to do just that. Contractors are expected in coming weeks to do a survey.
Among the gravestones they'll find is that of Wing Cmdr. E.K. Piercy, killed Jan. 25, 1949. The inscription: "Man's Desperate Folly Was Not His But His the Sacrifice."
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
Photo: Aerial picture of Habbaniya as it once was. Credit: RAF Habbaniya Assn.
In a new bid to curtail Islamist influence in society, the Egyptian government is on the verge of passing legislation to prohibit nurses in public hospitals from covering their faces. The proposed law would affect nearly 10,000 nurses who wear the niqab, or face veil.
The Health Ministry considered the move after a poll showed that 90% of patients disapproved of nurses who covered their faces. Officials also contend that the niqab stands as an obstacle to interaction between patient and nurse. The decision has reignited the debate over whether Muslim women are obligated to cover their faces. Most scholars insist that it is not mandatory, but some hard-line clerics believe the niqab is required.
The matter is not strictly religious. The veil has long been a bone of contention between Islamists and the government of President Hosni Mubarak. There appears to be a campaign within the government targeting the face veil; the minister of religious endowments has challenged the veil in the past. The Egyptian media report that Islamist lawmakers, who occupy one-fifth of the People's Assembly, have vowed to prevent the imposition of any restrictions on the niqab. If the legislation is passed, it will be implemented next month.
— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo
Photo: Muslim women in Egypt wearing the niqab, or full face veil, walk to Friday prayers at a mosque in Cairo. Credit: Amr Nabil /AFP
 Nearly 100 tons of chocolate spread were stolen Monday night from a factory in Haifa, in northern Israel. And it wasn't just any chocolate spread.
It was 'Ha'Shahar Ha'Oleh' (in Hebrew, 'the rising dawn'), beloved by kids and the local equivalent of the peanut butter and jelly. It is believed to make its way to Israeli schools on one out of two sandwiches daily.
At any given time, the 50-year-old secret formula is known to only two people in the unassuming family business (assumed, nonetheless, to earn $10 million annually from this single product). For hundreds of thousands of Israelis long past their school days, its taste amounts to a collective memory of childhood. It travels around the world with expats and is considered near-medicinal for serious cases of the munchies. Nutritional value? Not really. Anyone care? Nah.
Local websites reported that the sweet spread had been earmarked for marketing for Passover, during which leavening-deprived Israelis heavily indulge in Matza with a generous coat of the stuff. If the factory doesn't step up production to make up for lost production, well, the holiday just may not be the same this year.
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
 Human Rights Watch has asked King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to rescind the death penalty imposed on an illiterate woman convicted of witchcraft. Fawza Falih was accused of involvement in supernatural occurrences, including the sudden impotence of a man she is said to have bewitched, according to the human rights organization.
Falih admitted to such powers under police interrogation, but retracted her confession, claiming it was made under duress. In 2006, an appeals court ruled that Falih could not be executed because she had recanted. But a lower court, which is guided by the strict interpretation of Wahhabi Islam, reinstated the death penalty to "protect the creed, souls and property of this country."
Joe Stork, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said: The judges' behavior in Fawza Falih's trial shows they were interested in anything but a quest for the truth. They completely disregarded legal guarantees that would have demonstrated how ill-founded this whole case was.
An Egyptian pharmacist working in Saudi Arabia was executed in November after being found guilty of attempting to use sorcery to break up a married couple. King Abdullah has occasionally pardoned those convicted of what many in the West see as outlandish charges, including a rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes last year for being in the company of men other than her husband when the crime occurred.
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Art credit: "A Child's Book of Holiday Plays," by Frances Gillespy Wickes, 1916, from Openclipart.org
The sign along the road at the Marine base in Habbaniya advises that the speed limit is 5.56 mph.
It helps to know that the M-16 assault rifle uses 5.56-millimeter ammunition. Marine humor. Hey, they're infantry, not stand-up comedians.
— Tony Perry at Habbaniya
One of the more idiosyncratic aspects of the lives of young Marines is the superstition about finding a package of Charms, the small square candies, in a Meals-Ready-to-Eat package. Skittles or M&M's are fine, but Charms represent imminent mayhem.
Supposedly some Marine who got Charms in an MRE was soon killed or court-martialed or found out his girl was cheating on him. If a Marine finds Charms, he is not to touch the pack with his hands. Instead he must wear gloves while disposing of it.
I've seen this with numerous companies over several years, starting with the assault on Baghdad in 2003.
Now comes Lance Cpl. Sean McGinty with a new variant of the Charms phobia: The guy who gets the Charms will not be harmed, but his buddies will face trouble, such as a rainstorm during outdoor maneuvers.
There's a new way of geting rid of the candies, too. "We burn them," McGinty said.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
 The gap between Israel's Jews and the 20% of its population who are Arab citizens has been measured in many ways. The Arabs' rates of unemployment and infant mortality are twice the national average; investment in public education is about twice as high per Jewish pupil compared with per Arab pupil.
Asmaa Ganayem, director of the technology center at Israel's Al Qasemi Academic College of Education, has turned up a new indicator: the digital gap. She found that 72.5% of Jewish households are connected to the Internet, compared to 52.5% of Arab homes. Her research, reported this week by Israel's ynetnews.com, shows that the gap widened between 2002 and 2005, but has narrowed since.
A separate study by Gustavo Mesch at the University of Haifa offered explanations for the disparity: lower exposure to the Internet at Israeli Arab workplaces and more negative attitudes toward new technology among Arabs. The researchers said the gap could be reduced by integrrating the Internet into Arab school curricula and adding the Arabic language to more Israeli government websites.
— Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem
It wasn't your typical military mission. For starters, the soldiers leading the patrol had four legs each, one of which was frequently lifted.
They were Army Staff Sgt. Iron and Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Pluto, two of about 200 dogs deployed in Iraq to sniff for bombs, chase down insurgents, hunt for human remains or just offer comfort to soldiers in need.
For the first time, therapy dogs have been sent to a combat zone, and two are in northern Iraq working with stressed-out troops.
Iron and Pluto are not the warm and fuzzy type, though.
Continue reading "IRAQ: Dog duty" »
To the surprise of no one, Lebanese politicians this week again failed to vote for a president. That makes it three months that the country has been without a president because of a political deadlock.
This time, representatives from the two feuding blocs sat around a table to discuss the distribution of power in the next government. They smiled for the cameras before closing the door to the press.
Finally, after long hours, the sponsor of the meeting, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, announced the failure of talks.
"We want to save Lebanon, not to score points," he told reporters without hiding his irritation.
As Moussa left the country empty-handed, the speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, set March 11 as the new date for lawmakers to choose the nation's new head of state.
But will the 15th attempt be the final one?
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
When the Marines spotted an undernourished, lethargic donkey wandering around the firing range where they're teaching marksmanship to Iraqi soldiers, naturally they wanted to adopt the beast.
A military veterinarian gave her a check up. Marine family members contacted saddle shops in Twentynine Palms and Temecula that sent donkey chow and vitamins. A Marine named Walker called her Patricia. Her new home thus became known as Patricia Walker Ranch.
She's now fatter and more energetic. "When the Marines found her, she didn't want to do anything but lay down," said Gunnery Sgt. Hank Rimkus.
A bridle is on its way from the U.S. so Patricia Walker can go jogging with Marines. There's also talk of getting her a blanket made out of camouflage fabric.
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
The Muslim Middle East tolerates religious minorities practicing their rituals to some extent. But the tolerance doesn't extend to so-called "infidels" attempting to convert "good Muslims" to another faith. Missionary activities are illegal in many Muslim countries, as illustrated by several recent controversies.
In Jordan, last week, authorities expelled a group of Christians accused of trying to convert Bedouins from Islam. The eight foreign missionaries were allegedly distributing fliers that promote Christianity and were acting under the cover of charity work.
This comes amid reports by Compass Direct News, an organization that documents the persecution of Christians in the world, that Jordan has deported expatriate Christian families over the last year partly for "working with local churches or studying at a Christian seminary." The kingdom has dismissed these reports as unfounded.
In Algeria, a Catholic priest was sentenced to a year in prison a few weeks ago. He was accused of praying with a group of Cameroonian immigrants outside an institution authorized for religious worship. The sentence, which was later suspended, came under a 2-year-old law prohibiting proselytizing, which is viewed by authorities as a growing threat.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Photo: Palestinian Christians pray during a mass service at the Latin Holy Family Church in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Credit: AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen
 The first book that Marine Col. Robert F. Castellvi turned to when he was assigned as a senior advisor to the Iraqi Army's 1st Division was T. E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," first published in 1922.
He also asked the Marines in his 45-man team to read it. The book, an autobiographical account of war experiences by "Lawrence of Arabia," is a perennial on the Marine Corps' official reading list.
Castellvi's team is assigned to help the Iraqi army in western Anbar province get ready to continue the fight against insurgents after the U.S. leaves. It's a slow process that can be undermined by impatience.
One of Lawrence's rules that Castellvi abides by is: "Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war and you are to help them, not to win it for them."
— Tony Perry in Habbaniya
Art: Portrait of T.E. Lawrence. Credit: James McBey
Saudi Arabia's religious police ordered the arrest of 57 young men last week for "flirting" with members of the opposite sex while hanging out at shopping malls.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, often called the mutaween by locals, accused the young men of "wearing indecent clothes and playing loud music and dancing to it to attract girls' attention," according to the Saudi Gazette, an English-language daily published in the kingdom.
The young men's defenders said they were just trying to "have fun" without "imposing themselves" on women.
The mutaween are often at the center of Saudi Arabia's controversies over sex, morality and women's rights. This month they banned florists from selling red roses on Valentine's Day. According to Agence France-Presse, a leading Saudi cleric seven years ago declared the celebration of love "a pagan Christian holiday."
One blogger, Intlxpatr at Here, There and Everywhere, who wrote that he or she had once lived in Saudi Arabia, wondered what the arrests might have looked like: I remember the mutaween were NOT police, but sometimes they took on the prerogatives of the police. So I have to wonder, like, who made the arrest in the malls? Was it the police? Was it the mutaween hitting the boys with their little sticks?
— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad
Photo: File picture shows young men at a Starbucks in a shopping mall in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia. BILAL QABALAN /Agence France-Presse
Each year about this time, Iraq's roads fill with clusters of Shiite Muslims walking to the holy city of Karbala, often from more than 100 miles away. The pilgrimage is part of commemorations marking the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
Last year, more than 200 Shiites died in sectarian violence as they converged on Karbala, but this year, with violence down, devoted Shiites are making the trek again and hoping it will be far more peaceful.
[Feb. 24, 2008 update: Looks like hopes for a peaceful pilgrimmage have already been marred by an outbreak of violence on Sunday that left dozens dead. — B.D. in Baghdad]
 "We are peaceful people and have no guns," said 23-year-old Hussein Abd al-Khadim Hussein on Friday. He was among the pilgrims starting the long walk from Shaab, his Baghdad neighborhood. Hussein missed the pilgrimage in 2007 because his parents feared for his safety.
Gazwan Jabar, 25, made it to Karbala last year and remembers passing through neighborhoods where Shiites had been killed by attackers using guns, car bombs, and explosive vests. "But now we feel safe, because the Awakening elements are securing the road," Jabar said, referring to civilian security groups who now protect areas not well covered by Iraqi police or soldiers.
Jabar said he was grateful to the fiery Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr for calling a halt to his militia's activities last August. The cease-fire followed bloodshed in Karbala between rival Shiite groups. On Friday, Sadr renewed the truce for another six months.
"God bless Muqtada," Jabar said.
Although things are better, Hussein says there still are major problems to be solved. One of them is the rebuilding of the revered gold-domed Shite mosque in Samarra, he said. The mosque's bombing two years ago is blamed for a lengthy escalation in Iraq's Sunni-Shiite violence. The mosque was targeted again last year.
Hussein also voiced another demand of many Shiites as he embarked on the pilgrimage."We demand the occupation to pull out of Iraq," he said, referring to U.S. troops.
— Saad Khalaf in Baghdad.
Photo: Shiite Muslim pilgrims head toward Karbala for an annual religious celebration. Credit: Saad Khalaf
 Much of the heavily monitored Iranian media gave glowing portrayals of International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei's latest report on Iran's nuclear program.
Tightly controlled state radio and television channels broadcast a continous stream of comments from pro-government experts congratulating the Iranian nation for the "successful" report. "Iran has managed to prove that Iran's nuclear activities were peaceful and based on native domestic technology and know how," said one analyst.
The bold, black headline across the front page of Kayhan, the hard-line Persian daily, read "ElBaradei's report has challenged the prestige of the West."
Of course, the report presented a far more ambiguous picture of Iran's nuclear efforts, as Maggie Farley and Borzou Daragahi report in Saturday's L.A. Times: The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency says it has "serious concern" about Iran's potential to assemble a nuclear bomb because the country has not addressed questions about weapons designs, but it credited Iran for clarifying all other issues about its nuclear program history...The report strikes a delicate middle ground, providing fodder for Security Council members who demand new sanctions, as well as ammunition for those who argue that Iran deserves a break for its good-faith efforts.
And in an illustration of the value of Iran's much battered reformist press, one liberal-leaning daily in Tehran, Etemad, casts doubt on the report's benefits for Iran.
"Again, ElBaradei gives an ambigious report about Iran," a headline read, in small type on the front page.
— Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran
Art: The daily Etemad was one of the few Iranian news outlets that delivered a nuanced account of the International Atomic Energy Association's latest report on the country's nuclear program. Credit: Etemad.com
 One could be excused for believing that a civil war is under way in Lebanon.
On Friday, a flurry of automatic-weapons fire rattled across the skies of Beirut the instant after Hezbollah' chief Hassan Nasrallah concluded a speech to honor the "martyrs" of the Shiite Muslim militant group, including Imad Mughniyah.
Such "applause by gunfire" has become a habit. Every time an important political figure starts or ends a televised speech, his supporters express their approval by firing into the air.
In the last weeks, average Lebanese have been terrorized by prolonged gunfire marking declarations by a leader in the opposite political camp, Saad Hariri, son of the slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There were media reports that at least one person was injured and property damaged.
This ritual has long existed in Lebanon, but the country is so tense that violence can erupt at any moment. Last Saturday, clashes between followers of the country's feuding parties broke out along many streets of Beirut, and a dozen people were hurt. In the end the army was capable of containing the violence.
The streets have calmed, but a political deadlock is keeping everyone on edge. Lebanon has been without a president and under a caretaker government since November. Politicians have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement that would pave the way for a new Cabinet.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Photo: Thousands of people, most of them Shiite Muslims, gather on the streets Friday as they watch a televised speech by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburb. Afterward, supporters shook the city with celebratory gunfire. Credit: AFP PHOTO/MAZEN AKL
When it comes to tradition, the 169th Military Police Company of the Rhode Island National Guard takes a back seat to no one.
The unit lays claim to being one of the oldest National Guard units in the U.S. By 1745, the company had a hundred men and was guarding the coast of Rhode Island. It served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Now the 169th is attached to the 5th Marine Regiment and is mentoring Iraqi police. Several dozen members of the company are police officers from Providence, R.I. Others are teachers, construction workers, paramedics, and college students.
The 169th has a tradition of families serving together, and they're doing so in Iraq. Two sets of fathers-and-sons (in one, the father also has a brother deployed), two married couples, another father-and-son (the son is with another Rhode Island unit in Baghdad), and a father-daughter-cousin are deployed to Iraq.
The husbands and wives are billeted separately, no conjugal privileges. And steps are taken to make sure troops never are in positions to give military orders to family members.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad
He is hailed as a hero by some people and loathed as a terrorist by others in the same country. In Kuwait, controversy over Hezbollah's slain military commander, Imad Mughniyah, has awakened political tensions between the country's dominant Sunnis and its Shiite Muslim minority.
The small oil-rich Persian Gulf country officially held Mughniyah responsible for the hijacking of a Kuwait airline flight and the death of two passengers some 20 years ago.
Still, Kuwaiti supporters of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah eulogized the elusive man as a martyr in a ceremony last Saturday. Two days later, the Cabinet harshly chided the mourners who took part in the ceremony. It issued a statement Monday condemning "the awful behavior of the few that eulogized and glorified the terrorist who killed the innocent. With his death came the justice of Allah."
In addition to Kuwait, many other countries were after Mughniyah for a string of attacks that claimed hundreds of lives in his native Lebanon and abroad in the 1980s and 1990s.
Strong reactions to the Kuwait eulogy continued on Thursday Wednesday when an opposition parliamentary bloc expelled two Shiite lawmakers for mourning Mughniyah and filed a lawsuit against them. Some members of Parliament have even called on the two to resign from the 50-seat House.
Also on Thursday, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Beirut received anonymous threats of rocket attacks against its premises. As a response, the embassy's personnel were evacuated from the building.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
Video: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah eulogizes slain militant Imad Mughniyah (with English subtitles).
Marine Pfc. Carl Abernathey, 22, of Mukilteo, Wash., was startled when one of his buddies told him he resembles a young Bill Clinton. It had never occurred to him.
True, he's tall, blondish, and broad-shouldered with a wide smile. Also he plays the saxophone and likes to party.
Abernathey decided to conduct a poll while he was doing chow hall duty to see if other people saw the similarity. The results: 10 no (mostly young enlisted), 10 maybe (officers) and 11 yes (mostly civilians).
He thinks it would be fun to get a Clinton mask from back home and wear it on patrol to see how the Iraqis react. But he figures some buzz-kill sergeant would probably nix the idea.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad
As the court-martial approaches for Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, charged in the killings in Haditha in November 2005, prosecutors warned the judge in Camp Pendleton this week that testimony from fellow Marines would be contradictory and "begrudging," according to news reports.
But prosecutors will not be relying solely on testimony from Marines who were in Wuterich's squad the day 24 Iraqi civilians were killed after a a Marine lance corporal died in a roadside bombing.
A team of prosecutors and Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents is in Haditha this week to videotape depositions with witnesses to the shootings and also relatives of the dead Iraqis. Military defense attorneys will be present.
The team left from Al Asad in a heavily guarded convoy. Wuterich faces voluntary manslaughter and other charges. The videotaped depositions are meant to be used in his trial and those of another enlisted Marine and the battalion commander, prosecutors said.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad
After three recent bombings carried out by women who appeared to be either paupers or mentally disabled, Iraqi authorities have announced plans to round up beggars, the homeless, and the mentally ill, a move they say will make the streets of Baghdad safer.
"These kinds of people belong in ... either social welfare institutes or hospitals," the spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry, Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, says.
Khalaf says those pretending to be down on their luck, either to dupe people into giving them handouts or to disguise evil intentions, will be arrested and prosecuted.
Iraqi law forbids begging, but police have been too busy dealing with attacks and other war-related crimes to enforce anti-begging legislation, said Tariq Harb, a prominent Baghdad attorney.
With U.S. and Iraqi officials accusing insurgents of recruiting juveniles and women, Harb and Khalaf say it makes sense to start cracking down.
But enforcing the law will be difficult. Beggars and street people are part of life here, and their numbers have grown dramatically since the war.
In addition, the Koran encourages people to help the needy, and Iraqis see nothing wrong with giving money to people who ask for it. In fact, beggars here often go door-to-door in residential neighborhoods seeking handouts. Others walk the chaotic streets hitting up people in passing cars when traffic slows.
The problem for Iraqis is figuring out who is genuinely needy, and who is merely stuffing already fattened pockets. "I know many men who sit in cheap motels smoking water pipes ... while their wives and kids roam in the streets of Baghdad begging for money," said Harb.
Skeptics question whether Baghdad has the facilities to care for throngs of mentally ill and homeless people. They also say Iraq's leaders have a history of targeting street beggars while tolerating official begging in the form of bribe-taking and other means.
Under Saddam Hussein, for example, officials of his ruling Baath Party would visit people's homes and strong-arm them into handing over their gold, ostensibly to support Iraq's effort in the war with Iran.
— Baghdad bureau
Photo: A woman receives a handout at a Baghdad intersection. Credit: Saad Khalaf/Los Angeles Times
Here comes the sun!
Israel may not have the energy resources of many of its neighbors, but it sure has sun -- roughly 300 days a year of it, according to some accounts. Thanks to research initiated in the 1950s, it has become a pioneer in harnessing the sun for domestic water-heating purposes.
Now, the Bedouin village of Drejat has got the power. Twenty of the village's houses run solely on soleil, from refrigerators to laptops. The local school uses solar lighting and the village boasts what is probably the world's first solar-powered mosque.
According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the pilot project started in 2005 with support by government ministries. But funding has run dry before the implementation of phase B, connecting another 60 homes.
Before going solar, the village (population 900) had to rely for power on generators operating on costly fuel to provide only four hours of electricity a day. More than 150,000 Bedouins live in the Negev, a 12,000 square kilometers of desert. The tribes had lived in the area for centuries prior to Israel's establishment in 1948.
The people of Drejat haven't forsaken tradition, in spite of sporting shiny solar panels atop their roofs. Besides continuing tradtitional practices, the village's tiny tourism venture invites visitors to enjoy folklore in traditional cave dwellings and the hospitality for which Bedouins are famous.
— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
 In the U.S., thoughts have turned to spring training. The same is true at Al Asad, despite the cold weather.
Games will soon be played at the Flying Diamonds Bloomfield-Martino Baseball Field, named for Major Gerald Bloomfield of Ypsilanti, Mich., and Major Michael Martino of Oceanside, Calif., both Marines killed in November 2005 when their Super Cobra helicopter crashed.
The field is dusty and has a few pebbles. But helicopter squadrons have their logos painted on the outfield walls, and there is a bench for the home team and one for the visitors.
And behind each bench is a bomb shelter in the unlikely event a game is delayed by a rocket or mortar attack by insurgents.
— Tony Perry at Al Asad
Art credit: Openclipart.org
On land and by air, Marines are hunting for insurgents in the barren stretches of western Iraq's Anbar province. In an area of 26,000 square miles with hundreds of miles of international borders, it's not easy.
Before they leave Camp Pendleton, Marines are getting an advanced course in tracking — taught by a big-game hunter from South Africa.
The Combat Hunter course at the School of Infantry is meant to teach Marines how to notice the slightest change in the landscape that shows a person has passed by, no easy trick in a desert where winds erase footprints in an instant.
The Marines are taught to be hyper-aware of their environment: What's there that should not be there? What isn't there that should?
The project is the brainchild of the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway. "If we create the mentality in our Marines of the hunter, and take on some of those skills, then we'll be able to increase our combat effectiveness," he has said.
While Iraq is the immediate focus, the course is also applicable to Afghanistan, where several thousand Marines will soon be deployed. But while the ways of the hunter may be old, the instructional methods have been updated. Each Marine, along with lectures and field work, gets a 15-minute CD: "Every Marine a Hunter."
— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq
Photo: U.S. Marines break through a door inside a Fallouja home where they were battling insurgents in 2004. Credit: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times
The Iraqi national parliament has its share of outspoken female representatives. But in the fiercely tribal farming region southeast of Baghdad, the rough and tumble of politics is still considered a man’s domain.
U.S. soldiers in the region were used to hearing men tell their female counterparts on the local councils to keep quiet during meetings. But they were taken aback when Hawr Rajab’s first representative for women’s affairs announced that she would not attend council meetings at all. She preferred to form a parallel women’s council, which meets weekly at her home.
"I’m sorry," said the veiled woman in a long corduroy skirt and matching jacket. "Men speak very loudly and they fight."
The soldiers were impressed with how quickly the women came up with proposals to help the many left widowed and orphaned from fighting during the nearly three years that Sunni Muslim militants had dominated the town. But they worried that the women would miss out on important information conveyed at the men’s meetings.
The chairwoman was ready with a solution. Her husband would attend in her place and relay what happened. At the next town council, he was there, diligently scribbling notes on a yellow manila pad — the only representative who bothered to record the proceedings.
— Alexandra Zavis in Hawr Rajab, Iraq
Photo: Iraqi women line up to buy rationed cooking oil on Feb. 9 in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. Credit: AP Photo/Loay Hameed
For incongruity, it's hard to beat the oasis at the far reach of the massive Al Asad air base.
After miles and miles of a barren landscape comes a small pond surrounded with tall reeds and hundreds of date palms. Minnows swim. Birds and bullfrogs abound.
Legend holds that Abraham, patriarch to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim peoples, stopped at this oasis with his family while traveling from Mesopotamia to Canaan. A small village grew up at the oasis in the 20th century but Saddam Hussein had its residents ousted when he built the base.
When the Marines took over, they cleaned up an accumulation of trash and put up concertina wire. A signpost in English and Arabic says believers find that visiting the oasis is "a step toward God."
It's also a step toward something else: the Iraqi army is building a base across the street.
— Tony Perry in Al Asad
Photo: Abraham's Well in 2005. Credit: From the Flickr page of freelance reporter Kimberly Johnson
When U.S. soldiers started handing out new uniforms to the Iraqi tribesmen helping them to secure Hawr Rajab, the men on the checkpoints were not impressed.
The bright orange jackets and jumpsuits bore an uncanny resemblance to the uniform at U.S. detention facilities.
“If you make me wear that, I quit,” the leader at one checkpoint told the Americans, only partly in jest.
Continue reading "IRAQ: You want me to wear what?!" »
 The lovers sat amid collapsing mausoleums and broken-winged angels. They had slipped behind the walls of the Coptic cemetery for a moment of privacy in the frenzy that is Cairo. They were Christians and Muslims, escaping society's strict dating rules, which discourage public displays of affection, by lingering among the dead. A whisper, a kiss, gifts exchanged. All far from the prying eyes of families. It was a nice day, the sun out, the wind through the trees; pilgrims crossed flagstones to light votive candles in the church at the edge of the tombstones. But, unlike death, dates don't last forever and, one by one, the couples unclasped hands and left their marble sanctuary, stepping through the portal and into the roar of the city. — Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
Art: "Endless Love" by Alfred Gockel
 I look at my cell phone several times a day -- to check the time, and not just in Baghdad. I also keep track of three other time zones around the world where my relatives live.
Besides Baghdad, I display the times in Sweden, London and New Jersey on my phone's world clock. I have a brother in Sweden, a sister in London, and a sister-in-law in New Jersey. My family was scattered all over the globe because of the situation in Baghdad after the invasion in 2003.
Until I discovered the world clock four months ago, I was checking the Internet for the time difference between Baghdad and my relatives'homes. I didn't want t to wake anyone up late at night.
Most likely, Nokia intended its world clock for international businessmen, not Iraqis. But it still helps us.
— Saif Rasheed in Baghdad
Marines and State Department employees in Iraq are adjusting to Iraqi hospitality, particularly a communal style of eating the Americans refer to as a goat-grab.
The Iraqis lay out a feast of go | |
