Back in Baghdad

Hi folks. Sorry for not blogging for ages - if its any consolation I haven't been calling my mum so often, and I'm afraid you guys are second in line... but I'll try to be more a more faithful blogaspondant in the future.

I've actually had three gorgeous, though hectic, weeks in the US & UK meeting my habibti's family and introducing mine to her. I was a few hundred miles north of New Orleans when the Hurricane hit, and my heart goes out to all those who have suffered. How strange that a large section of the Southern US has, as many have noted, been transformed into a situation of chaos reminiscent in some ways of Iraq.

On the course of my travels I was fortunate enough to attend the inaugural conference of the International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies (IACIS) and met many old friends and was impressed by the contributions of new faces. I presented a paper on the role of the IMF in Iraq (some of my Iraq colleagues in Jubilee Iraq will be attending the IMF Autumn meetings next week to argue the case of economic justice and self-determination) and read out a friend's paper on US involvement in the Constitutional process (as he was unable to attend himself). This created quite a minor diplomatic incident as it was reported by the media and made its way to the US Embassy in Iraq, who were not best pleased.

I left Iraq on the 17th August, by which time the Constitution was scheduled to have been completed, and learnt on my return that it was still up in the air... and even now its still not confirmed. We expect that tomorrow it will be formally agreed in the National Assembly (although of course significant segments of the population are unsatisfied with the drafting process) and then the printing and distributing of 5 million copies with begin in haste. The referendum is exactly 4 weeks away, and unfortunately almost any outcome in it is likely to be divisive. For this reason I'm working to support Iraqi initiatives towards reconciliation.

In the few days I've been here hundreds of Iraqis have died in bombs, not to mention assassinations and random shootings by Coalition soldiers. About a year ago I would have been able to list off the dates and circumstances of every major bomb and, whenever a new one went off, I'd be up on my roof looking for the smoke and desperately calling all my friends living near the area of the explosion. But these days I've got to admit I hardly notice the blasts, sometime a dozen a day, which are now a kind of routine background city noise like ambulance sirens. I'm surreally insulated from it all.

If any of you are coming out here this year, do get in touch, and I'm always willing to be of whatever small help I can to any organisations or individuals doing positive things for Iraq.

Consitutional guessing game

So we're sitting here in Baghdad on tender hooks waiting to see if a Constitution will be approved today. So far I get a different view from everyone I speak to. Apparently there is going to be a leadership meeting in about 30 mins to decide on whether to ammend the Transitional Administrative Law to get a week's extension. The Americans are furious of course and twisting arms to get it signed and sealed today. It's hard to know what's best. On the one hand if there's a week's extension they might be in the same situation next week but without the spur of an almost sacred deadline (to some). However if a text is pushed through today with major objections, including probably much of the Sunni Arab community, then that could generate big problems down the line. A third option is that everyone, including Sunni Arabs, will sign up to a text, which will form the basis of the referendum and elections, but with some of the outstanding elements being on a provisional basis. I'd always argued that there should have been an extension of a month or two made back on the 1 August, since then there would have been time to plan for more input from the Iraqi public, something which a rolling extension process does not really make possible, being geared just to the delibarations of the politicians. Anyway, it's anyones guess what will happen. In any case we'll probably know by about 4pm Iraqi time what the decision is.

Iraqi joke

If it wasn't so incredibly serious I would say the constitutional drafting process is a complete joke, particularly now that the US Ambassador has bullied the Iraqis from taking the one month extension that most wanted. But it wouldn't be diplomatic of me too say too much, so I'll give you a joke that has been circulating in Iraq:

A Brit, an American and an Iraqi died in a carbomb and went to Hell. As they sat around talking about their situation, they began to think about their homelands, the Devil mentioned that they'd just got inter-dimensional dialing hooked up and suggested that they call home, but they'd have to pay.

The Brit said "I really miss England, and I need to call and find out how the cricket is going." So he called and talked for about 5 minutes and asked the Devil "So Satan, old chap, how much do I owe you for the phone call?" The devil replied wickedly "Five million pounds"... "Five million pounds!!!" exclaimed the Brit, but he handed over his credit card and went to sit back on his chair.

The American was soo jelalous, he starts screaming: "me too, I wanna call the US and, I wanna hear what's happening in the NFL." So he called and talked really quickly for about 2 minutes, and then he said: "Well, Devil, how many bucks is it." and the devil goes "For you habibi, just ten million dollars."... "f$&k, Ten million dollars!!!!!!" he cursed, but he handed over his credit card and went to sit back on his chair.

Finally the Iraqi gets to call home and, being Iraqi, he talked and talked for about twenty hours. Finally he finished and said "So how much is it?" And the devil says "One dollar". "Only one dollar?!" the Brit and American exclaim together. "Yes" replies the devil, "From Hell to Hell, it's a local call."

Expanded Kurdistan claim

A few days ago the Kurds unveiled an expanded Kurdish region which they want enshrined as an appendix to the new constitution. As I understand it the claim represents not simply areas which currently have a majority Kurdish population, but areas which they believe did so at some point in the past 50-100 years.

I'm afraid I only have this low resolution photo of the map which is confusing as it changes the boundaries of the existing Kurdish governorates while adding in new regions. I've drawn in a red line which roughly represents the current boundary of the existing Kurdistan Regional Government region (Dohuk - the top brown region, Erbil - the central green region and Sulimaniya - the brown region on the right).

Working from top left to bottom right: A chunk of Nineveh governorate has been added to Dohuk (the brown area below the red line, and another large section of Nineveh is coloured as a new (mid-green) goverorate including Sinjar and part of Mosul, I think just skirting the large Turkoman city Tel Afar. The whole of Tam'im governorate (with Kirkuk at the centre) has been included with parts of Diyala, Salahadin and Sulymania added to produce the large dark green region. A large slice of Diyala along the border has been marked as a sixth region (light green) and finally a chunk of Wasit (including the towns of Badra and Jassan) is the seventh and smallest region in the expanded Kurdistan. In all this would represent a doubling of the Kurdish region and include areas which currently have majority arab, chaldo-assyrian and turkoman populations.

For some background, here is a Google image search for maps of Kurdistan. Some of the most ambitious mark out a region reaching to the Meditaranian, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Gulf. Edinburgh University has an interesting linguistic map which matches reasonably well with the most detailed map on kurdistania.com. There are excellent summary maps on Globalsecurity.org showing past claims and autonomous regions and a rough guide to the Kurdish percentage of the population in different areas on Globalsecurity.org.

P.S. In case you haven't heard the good news, Khalid Jarrar is now free, after 10 days of interrogation. Sadly he had to shave his beautiful beard which seems to have been the main reason for his arrest. He'll promises he'll write about his ordeal shortly.

Free Khalid!

Ashkur-allah! Thank you for everyone who prayed for Khalid. We heard the good news this morning that he is safe, albeit in a mukhaberat (secret police) cell. He was picked up from university on tuesday as he arrived there to collect his final exam results. We don't know why he's been taken exactly, perhaps for what he writes against the occupation on his blog. Whatever the reason, I am sure it is unjustified and if he is not release swiftly then his friends and family will launch a campaign for his freedom.

Missing in Baghdad

Please could you urgently pray for a freind, K, who vanished in Baghdad yestarday. We were due to meet today and he was going to bring a supply of chocolate he had bought for me in Jordan. His family have searched hospitals and morques, thankfully without result. The most likely explanation is that he has been detained by one of the many branches of the US army, Iraqi Police, Iraq National Guard, Iraqi Special Forces etc. We are in the process of checking with all of these to see if they are holding him, something which may take some time as they generally have poor and uncoordinated records of detainees. Please pray for his safety wherever he is, and that he can be returned to his family soon.

Clarke is wrong about the bombers' motive

Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the BBC: "There is no evidence [it] had anything to do with the Iraq war." But he went on to assert, without giving any evidence himself and in very Bushian language: "the people who make these kind of attacks are about destroying the very essence of our society: our democracy, our media, our multicultural society and so on. That's not about Iraq or any other particular foreign policy issue, it's about a fundamentalist attack on the way we live our lives."

If indeed this was the work of an Al-Qaeda style group (which seems likely, though far from proven) then, as I argued yesterday, their motive is not to destroy "our democracy, our media, our multicultural society... the way we live our lives." A few bombs clearly have no power to destroy any of these things (except perhaps the multicultural society if we succumb to a racist backlash). Although Bin Laden and his associates do indeed have a critique of the decadence of Western society, the explanations for their terrorist attacks have always been expressed in terms of very clear foreign policy objectives (The end of occupations in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, the removal of foreign troops from the Middle East, the ceasation of support for dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia etc.).

The only hope we have of preventing future attacks is not a further shift to the right in immigration policy and an increasing erosion of our civil liberties through surveillance, detention and ID-cards, but rather cleaning up our foreign policy. Fortunately the foreign policy objectives of Al-Qaeda, unlike its actions, are by and large just. Even if Al-Qaeda didn't exist we should be working towards the things, because they are actually a reflection of the Christian values of justice, peace and freedom which are (or should be) the true "essence of our society".

P.S. The help line for information about missing friends & family is 0870 156 6344. BBC news coverage here. Mil Rai of Justice not Vengence is doing a sterling job providing a daily analysis of the UK media coverage of the aftermath and challenging any tendancies to Islamophobia. You'll also find good analysis on Juan Cole's blog, and listen out for anything by Michael Scheuer who is speaking a lot of sense on this. Also keep an eye on Arab Media Watch and CAABU.

The answer to terrorism is justice

I stood hypnotised by BBC World, part of my brain knew people in the room were trying to talk to me but I couldn't resolve their words while I struggled to comprehend what was happening. I was sitting in Baghdad, on a remarkably calm day (with a coolish breeze and little background small arms fire) watching scenes of devastation back home in London. I tried to call my sister but the mobiles network was down (it turns out she was in Kings Cross when the bomb there went off, but in a different underground tunnel, and didn't even hear it). Bombs and broken communication are part of the daily routine here, and you take them in your stride but when its happening at home, which you thought was safe, it's a different kettle of fish. An Iraqi friend called me to express his deep concern for my family, almost forgetting to mention that there was a gun battle raging outside his home in Mansour neighbourhood.

9-11 gave Americans an opportunity, sadly wasted and perverted, to ask themselves the question "why do 'they' hate us". Instead of admitting to the uncomfortable reality that Al-Qaeda's grievances, about which it has been very open, relate to American aggression against Muslims and support for oppressive Middle Eastern kings and dictators, all we got was this unsubstantiated rushish from Bush about "they hate our freedom" and then a serious of wars which have made things much worse. No less an expert than Michael Scheuer, who headed the CIA Counter-Terrorism Centre’s Bin Laden task force (1996–1999), wrote: "Bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. None of the reasons have anything to do with our freedom, liberty and democracy, but have everything to do with US policies and actions in the Muslim world." If America had admitted that, although the actions of Al-Qaeda are deplorable, theigrievanceses are justified, and seriously addressed them, then there would be thousands of more people alive in Baghdad, Kabul, Madrid and London. There would be no motivation for terror and no need for an unending unwinnable War on Terror.

So now it is our turn in Britain. As we mourn our dead and seek to bring the culprits to justice, let's not respond with racism, aggression and an incorrect analysis (see my friend Mil Rai's excellent critique of the British media's initial coverage of the bombings). Let's review our policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. Let us make some historic steps towards tackling poverty and injustice and promoting genuine freedom - from dictators who are allies as much as from those we consider enemies, from the economic imperialism of the IMF as much from territorialal imperialism. As Noam Chomsky explains: "The answer to terrorism is justice, not more terrorism. London and Washington must also stop practicing the terrorism of the powerful - invasion, occupation, and indirect terrorism via oppressive states." Jesus, who both Bush & Blair claim to respect, put it even more strongly "Love your enemies as yourself."

Much of Blair's rhetoric in the run up to the summititt was supportive of the aims of the Make Poverty History coalition, but already it is looking like this summit, of countries with a combined GDP of nearly $25 trillion, is not living up to expectations. We make not be able to persuade Bush to act rightly, but we can at least get our own house in order.

As a final note, to caution us against kneejerk Islamophobia, the National Association of British Arabs, which condemns the attacks, points out "the bombing at Edgware Road was in the heart of London's Arab community, as the bombing in Aldgate East was in the heart of a Muslim community."

Marla film

So it seems that Paramount is planning a film about my friend Marla Ruzicka's life. I find the idea that millions will see her story at the cinema quite surreal (and reliving the horrible day of her death will be really painful). But then Marla's life was surreal in the extreme, and perhaps this could be a great memoral for her, particularly if it stimulates real international action for the ordinary people who are victims of conflict in Iraq and worldwide. Her family support the project which is encouraging.

Israeli settlers seek asylum with PA

"If the state of Israel doesn't want us, we don't want it," 28-year-old Drori Stuan told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. His family has lived in the Kadim settlement in the northern West Bank since 1983. It is one of four small settlements in the West Bank that the Israeli government is planning to evacuate later this year. Drori's family has applied for political asylum in the Palestinian Authority: "We are people who intend to carry on living in Samaria under Palestinian rule and not under Israeli rule." He continued: "Palestinian sovereignty does not scare us. We believe that everything will be OK and we will live in security like other Jews around the world."

I think this is an incredible positive development, though I doubt the PA will be able to grant the request, given that its authority is heavily limited by Israel. The desire of religious Jews to live in areas of historical significance is understandable - providing they do not do so at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian population, as is currently the case. If the Stuan family is truely prepared to live as Palestian citizens, rather than as agressive and exploitative colonialists, then this is the attitude which could finally bring a lasting peace.

The only long term solution, in my opinion, is a single pluralistic state, perhaps called something like"The Holy Land of Palestine & Israel", in which all citizens have equal rights and a fair distribution of wealth. There is a precedent in the 1 million Israeli Arabs, decendents of the Palestinians who remained within Israel during the Naqba (the 1948 war), who in theory have the same rights as Jewish Israelis. The barrier to the establishment of this state has always been Isarelis democraphic fear of living in a country with a majority Palestinian population, as well as the economic benefits they gain from exploitation of Palestinian land and water. But it looks like some settlers are finally realising that their ability to live in the Land depends on a good relationship with Palestinians, and that it is okay even to live under the authority of a majority Palestinian governmetn.

Please pray that the Stuan family could indeed become citizens of the PA and thereby demonstrate to other settlers and Israelis that there is nothing to fear from Palestinians when they are treated with justice and respect. May this lead to a lasting peace in which Palestinians are granted full citizenship rights in a new united state.