There is nothing original in either the New York Times or the Washington Post about Iraq, which is unusual. The main piece is a view of Iraq from the vantage point of Jane Arraf’s nearly 20 year career as a correspondent in Baghdad. Technically, it was published on May 3rd, but did not appear on the Christian Science Monitor’s web site until after yesterday’s US Papers Roundup posting, so is being included today.

From Baghdad
Jane Arraf’s cover story (on the now-weekly Monitor paper edition that just came out) tracks the lives of two Iraqi friends she has known throughout her tenure as the longest-serving Western correspondent in Baghdad, and how their lives have changed.

She tells of the contradictions of a vibrant, Saddam-era Baghdad “aware of its unique place in history”, the free-seeming days following the US invasion, the horror that followed, and the current contradictions which face both Iraqis, journalists, and those who are in both categories.

It is not a story of a bombing or any particular such event that will make headlines. It is as close to the “real” story of Iraqis as one is likely to get (if there is such a thing) – about change and adaptation over time, while one’s city and culture go crazy around them. Many watched this happen behind them, if they fled Iraq, as is the case with an Iraqi journalist named Nermeen, a friend of Arraf’s from the old Baghdad.

I knew dozens of Americans and Iraqis who died in this war. For Nermeen, it numbers in the hundreds. The challenge is to find meaning in it. On a recent day, I went with her to her apartment on Baghdad's Haifa Street, scene of some of the worst fighting in the war. She has only been back here four times in three years after moving to the relative safety of her parents' Kirkuk house.

"Welcome to my dusty home," she says, her high-heeled boots clicking on the parquet, coated in a layer of fine sand. The kitchen window has shrapnel holes. Seeing Nermeen again is like having a part of my life back – a part I'd lost while covering the war embedded with the US Army and Marines.

Stateside
Kim Thai of USA Today covers a State Department program called Musical Overtures, a cultural exchange program which sends American musicians to other countries, and vice versa. An effort is being made to include Iraq and Afghanistan. The experiences of an American pianist who found that, music really did function as a universal language, and that he and Iraqi musicians could work cooperate while belting out some Duke Ellington.

Funding for the State Department bureau that runs Musical Overtures and other cultural programs expanded dramatically under President George W. Bush, from $900,000 to $10 million in 2008. The budget for 2009 is at $8.5 million.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has spoken of the need for such cultural exchanges as part of the Obama administration's emphasis on "smart power" — using non-military means as a way to expand American influence.

New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, no Iraq coverage.
Comments on the US Papers roundup are welcome at ds@iraqslogger.com

BAGHDAD – This week in Sadr City’s Gayara district, two family members of 27 year old Nadia Ahmad hung her with a rope. The motive was “to protect their family’s honor,” according to a source within Sadr City.

So-called “honor killings” can occur when a female is accused of having a boyfriend, engaging in prostitution, or being the victim of sexual assault, thus shaming her family’s name. In Iraq, mere rumors of a relationship with a male can lead to the label of prostitute, and her death. The same does not happen to males.

Two male family members are now reportedly in police custody for the killing. According to the source (who is familiar with the family), they were not arrested, but turned themselves in, expecting leniency. Honor killings are often looked at by law enforcement officials as family matters. Even if there are strong laws against the practice, perpetrators are sometimes given very short prison sentences, or must simply promise not to do it again.

The family’s reason for deciding that Nadia Ahmad had brought shame to them was unknown. Her mother was said to have been arrested five months ago for alleged involvement in a kidnapping.


Members of Iraqslogger’s network of Iraqi staff contributed to this report, but choose to remain anonymous, for security reasons.

BAGHDAD – During Wednesday’s afternoon rush hour, there were six explosions throughout Baghdad, most of them car bombs.

According to a member of the Iraqslogger network, the first explosions happened in late afternoon, close to Sadr City’s al-Maridi Market. The dead and wounded were taken to Sadr City’s Imam Ali Hospital, but the large number of incoming wounded took up all the beds, and the children’s hospital was used for overflow.

According to the source, there was a spontaneous demonstration of residents, who attributed the blame for the bombings to different sources. Most common were condemnations of the Iraqi Army, (who have a heavy presence in Sadr City) for not preventing the blasts. Vehicles which enter the huge neighborhood were said to not be searched enough, but most seemed to agree that the bombs were made within Sadr City.

Al-Maridi Market is often frequented by young people. It is also know as a place to sell equipment often found in dumpsters at US military bases, or sold by US soldiers such as laptops, Play-stations, American magazines, DVD’s, boots, and cans of food or MRE’s. Fake documents and IDs are also available there.

A member of Iraqslogger’s staff witnessed a car bombing at 6:30 PM in Western Baghdad’s al-Shurta al-Raba’a area (Fourth al-Shurta district), while he was driving through a nearby checkpoint with his family. After the blast, a large black cloud rose into the air, and Iraqi security forces immediately forced all vehicles to leave the area by the way they had come in, snarling the already heavy traffic. Six people were said to have been wounded.

An IED also went off in al-Doura, and two bombs went off at the same time near a Sunni mosque in al-Hurriya.

By Daniel W. Smith and Yousif al-Timimi

There weren;t a lot of new items, but there were developments in ongoing stories. After their boycott of Ninewa’s provincial council by the Kurdish-led Brotherhood List (for receiving no key posts in the council) the make-up meetings which al-Maliki had pushed for actually seem to have started, but further ones have been “postponed to an unknown date.” Governor Atheel al-Najafi (pictured) showed a slightly softer side, saying “Our talks with he Brotherhood List so far... were positive.” Ninewa-based MP Hanin al-Qaddo, an ethnic Shabak and outspoken critic to Kurdish parties in Ninewa, described the boycott as a “mutiny.”

Sahwa leader and Anbar boss Ahmed Abu Risha demanded that new Karbala governor Amal al-Din al-Hir “avoid” statements like he made last week – namely that two regions of Anbar which were part of Karbala until the 1970s be returned. Abu Risha said that such proclamations “instigate tumult.” He added, “What Abu al-Hir should do is to demand the return of the areas which were taken by Iran, such as Om al-Rasas Island (a disputed island in a waterway shared by Iran and Iraq).

Though getting on board with all the stories about the government claims of the capture of Islamic State of Iraq leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Al-Sharqiya keep repeating that the US military refuses to confirm it.

The Interior Ministry was reported to have arrested three members of al-Qaeda in the city of Diwaniya, one of whom is employed by the ministry. (MP Taha Dirah Al-Saadi said that the ministry “lives in managerial chaos"). The detainees are said to have confessed to killing, kidnapping, and IEDs throughout Iraq. One of them is said to be Shi'a, not Sunni, and worked for the group for purely financial gain.

As far as the public uproar over two Iraqis killed in a raid in Kut on Sunday morning, the news keeps coming, but it is mostly more of the same. A formal apology from Gen. Ray Odierno is being demanded by Iraqi government spokesmen, and a new statement came out, urging the American government “to be committed to the text of the security pact.” Apologies from military brass not quite as shiny as Odierno have been made, but Al-Baghdadiya reported that family of the victims “reject the American apology, and demand punishment instead.”

The IIP’s Baghdad TV gave lots of coverage to another incident involving at least the wounding of another Iraqi at the hands of US forces in Taji, north of Baghdad, but no one else seems to be covering it.

One big story, especially after al-Maliki being snubbed by the leadership of Saudi Arabia, is that Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal promised to visit Iraq “as soon as possible," to establish a Saudi ambassador to Iraq, and work on relations between the two countries.


Comments on the Iraqi TV roundup are welcome at ds@iraqslogger.com