The latest from Baghdad: Free Iraqi

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Some good news and some bad ones.

As usual, these days there are good things and bad things happening in Iraq. I cannot possibly list all the good and the bad but I thought of commenting on some of the things that happened in the last couple of days since I haven't done any newsy posts in a while (Well I know I haven't done ANY posting in a while but hopefully this will change, especially if the electricity improves).

-The worst news these days are the continuous suicide bombings that affected even the capital despite the strict security measures resulting in dozens of deaths in Baghdad alone. This was not unexpected, as it's not realistic to expect security to return to normal (whatever that means since I can't remember any real peaceful time since the 70s) but still security has improved in Baghdad as far as I can tell and from what I'm seeing although it's not what we all hoped.

-Another bad news is the continuous assassinations of Sunni and She'at figures at the hands of extremists from both sides. Yesterday 4 Sunni figures were killed (Radio Nawar/Arabic link). These were part of the Sunni delegation that is negotiating with the committee that was chosen by the parliament to form a draft for the constitution. There's no doubt in my mind that such attacks are carried by terrorists connected to Zarqawi or the Ba'athists, as they announced themselves that they would kill any Sunni who negotiate with the government, but still there are incidents were extremists She'at were involved in such assassination, particularly the Sadirists in hope of inciting a civil war.

-Another bad thing is that we have had no water supply for the 4th day in a raw due to a sabotage of the major water treatment plant by the animals that some still call insurgents, and this includes all Baghdad although government officials said yesterday that "the problems that resulted in a shortage in water supply in Karkh (the western side of Baghdad) were solved" (from Al Sabah/Arabic link).No word about the shortage in the eastern side though and they didn't even acknowledge that there's such a problem!

Some Good:

Anyway, things are not all gloomy as there are some really good things happening too, as many attacks are being stopped, terrorists get caught and the efficiency and number of Iraqi troops is improving day by day.-Yesterday a car loaded with bombs was discovered near a police station in Kirkuk (Radio Nawar/Arabic link). The bomb was removed by IP and multinational soldiers and was then destroyed in a remote place.

-The Iraqi people are also doing their part in reporting suspicious activities more and more these days. According to "Iraq Directory" (Arabic link) sources in the multinational forces said that an Iraqi citizen helped them in arresting a group of terrorists two days ago. The man saw about 10 people running fast from a location near the ministry of interior to a nearby house with guns and RBGs in their hands. He was quick to report this and soon a unite from "Baghdad Task Force" raided the house and arrested 8 suspects most of whom rushed to hide and were found hiding in toilets with loaded guns in their hands.

-Also one particular news that I found very encouraging although may seem not that significant is that the ministry of education started distributing 300 air coolers to the schools in Fallujah (Radio Nawar) to improve the conditions for final-years students that are going to do their final exams on the 1st of June.

I find this as a very good development, as I never ever went to a school that had air coolers and I studied in the best highschool in Iraq that Uday and Qusay studied in too! Of course their classrooms had air conditioners not just air coolers and they had heaters too for the winter while the rest of us had to settle with what ceiling fans can offer in summer and nothing in winter but our clothes. And now schools in Fallujah are getting air coolers? That was just unimaginable before the war.