Random Thought for the Day

Prediction: A social-conservative backlash in country music will inspire a single titled "Mamas, Don't Let Your Cowboys Grow Up to Be Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other."

Let's blogroll!

City of dreams: Michael Totten looks into the future of Kurdistan. It's located in a place called Dream City, a fitting name for a city located in a nation whose borders exist only in the minds of its inhabitants. But that's not stopping the Kurds, and Dream City is fast becoming a very concrete reality:

The heart of the new Kurdistan is soon to be known as the Dream City, a massive construction site going up on the outskirts of Erbil.

The Baath regime’s agoraphobic totalitarian urban planning model will be replaced with a cityscape fit for human beings. Neighborhoods will be built for people, not cars. Tree-lined streets will be pleasant to walk along. Open public green space will beckon people outside their homes and into their community. Restaurants and shops will add the perfect grace notes. Erbil, as a city, is a hard city to love. That may not be true for very much longer. ...

Read the rest - and view the pictures! - at the link.

Thanks to AmbivaBlog for the link! Don't miss Amba's latest roundup on religion - and this post on mortality in 19th century America.

Somewhere on A1A, Ocean Guy thinks the Mideast is going to get worse before it gets - hopefully - better:

A few days ago, I asked if it was starting already... it wasn't. Those incidents were simply a continuation of the low grade conflict the Arabs have been engaging in against Israel. The bigger fight is coming sooner rather than later... and it will come regardless of what happens in Iran. ... Two dates to watch will be Purim on March 14... and Passover begins on April 12...

Read the rest at the link.

"We are America." That's good enough for Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, and it's good enough for me. We can make a difference ... you, me, and John Bolton. You know what this is about ... so don't wait any longer.

After you have fulfilled your obligations as a human being, you have Dreams Into Lightning's permission to enjoy the refined entertainments offered by Friday Fishwrap and Samantha Burns.

Do this now.

First, read Jonathan Gurwitz in the Jewish World Review:

The death toll from the Sudanese government's three-year campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans in Darfur is now approaching 400,000. The Sudanese military and their Janjaweed allies have driven more than 2 million refugees from their homes. Last year, an investigation by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights found as many as 2,000 villages and towns had been depopulated by a brutal scorched-earth policy.


Beyond the abstract numbers are the horrific violations of human dignity taking place in Darfur. The High Commissioner and numerous human rights organizations have documented a widespread, deliberate campaign of terror and sexual violence: women and young girls taken into slavery or gang-raped in public; men castrated and left to bleed to death. ...

This month, the United States holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council. Ambassador John Bolton is in a unique position to dispel the council's inertia and initiate actions that will save lives on the ground in Darfur.


Bolton has already accomplished something of consequence. The Security Council has approved a statement that would initiate contingency planning for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur. The proposed U.N. force would replace a poorly equipped, undermanned and largely ineffectual African Union force of 7,000 monitors whose mandate runs out at the end of March.

At the moment, however, a U.N. peacekeeping force is only hypothetical. And despite Bolton's modest achievement, there's little reason to believe the Bush administration's policy of benign neglect has changed. In a Feb. 7 interview with journalist Jim Lehrer, Vice President Dick Cheney offered this deplorable assessment of the U.S. response to Darfur: "I am satisfied we're doing everything we can do."

Whenever I write about the situation in Darfur, readers ask me: "What can I do?" Invariably, I refer them to aid organizations such as the Save Darfur Coalition or tell them to contact their representative and senators.

This month, my answer is different. Contact the White House. ...

Here's all the information you need:

Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
E-Mail
Please send your comments to comments@whitehouse.gov.

Go have a quick chat with the nice folks at the White House switchboard. They've heard from me; they're waiting to hear from you.
Darfur
Sudan

Condi: A Nice Big Chunk of Cash for Iranian Democracy

... and I hope Congress comes through with it, and quickly. Via Free Iran News:

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
10 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rice_12

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is asking Congress for $75 million in an emergency spending bill to support U.S. efforts to build democracy in Iran, Bush administration officials said Wednesday.

The money, to be included in a supplemental 2006 budget request the White House is expected to send to Congress as early as this week, will be used for radio and satellite television broadcasting and for programs to help Iranians study abroad, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because Rice had not yet announced the request.

"The United States wishes to reach out to the Iranian people and support their desire to realize their own freedom and to secure their own democratic and human rights. The Iranian people should know that the United States fully supports their aspirations for a freer, better future," Rice was expected to say based on remarks prepared for delivery before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Over the past two years the State Department has invested more than $4 million in "projects that empower Iranian citizens in their call for political and economic liberty, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights" and in the current budget year will invest at least $10 million in such efforts, according to Rice's remarks.

The $75 million is in addition to that money, which Congress already has approved. ...

Go read the rest at the link.
Rice
Iran

Morning Report: February 14, 2006

Where is the love? Part 1: Pakistan riots target US officer. Pakistani Muslims turned their anger against Colonel Harland Sanders and other Western business interests, according to news reports. 'Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan’s worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured. Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company, Telenor.' (MSNBC, KFC)

Where is the love? Part 2: Basra council breaks coalition ties. Feeling wounded over allegations of British abuse and offensive Danish cartoons, the provincial government of Basra, Iraq, has temporarily cut ties with the UK and Denmark, CNN reports: 'Basra's provincial government temporarily has cut ties with the Danish and British contingents in Basra, the council's head told CNN on Tuesday. The move -- which calls for what a British official referred to as a "period of noncooperation" -- comes amid the Muslim protests over Danish cartoons and the alleged beatings of Iraqis by British troops. Mohammad Zaher Sadoun said the Basra Provincial Council demanded the withdrawal of Danish troops and an apology to Muslims worldwide from the Danish government amid the publications of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. ... The council also demanded that soldiers accused of beating "innocent Iraqis" be brought to justice and demanded clarity from the British government on the incident seen on the videotape.' (CNN)

Where is the love? Part 3: Heartsick Saddam refuses to eat. Devastated at the prospect of facing trial for genocide, torture, and various crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein has declared a hunger strike. 'Saddam said he had not eaten in three days, while his former intelligence chief, Ibrahim Barzan, said he had been on strike for two days. Their claims of a hunger strike could not be independently confirmed.' LATE-BREAKING UPDATE: Nadz has exclusive coverage. (AP via MSNBC; Nadz)

Where is the love? Part 4: US, Israel to play homewrecker to Hamas and PA. Washington and Jerusalem are working to engineer a breakup between Palestine and its new beau, Hamas. Debka reports: 'The United States and Israel are working on ways to destabilize the Hamas-led Palestinian government, the New York Times reported Tuesday, Feb. 14. The plan is said to center largely on money and on Mahmoud Abbas playing his part. The Palestinian Authority payroll amounts to $100 m per month. Israel will withhold its regular $50-55 million a month in collected revenues and place the money in escrow, creating a large cash deficit. The US and Europe will follow suit. In other words, the US, Europe and Israel propose to impose economic sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, even before putting them in place against Iran. ...' Read the rest of Debka's analysis at the link. (Debka)

Where is the love? Part 5: Hindu, Muslim fundamentalists burn valentine cards. Also via MSNBC, 'Hardline Hindu and Muslim groups burned Valentine’s Day greeting cards on Tuesday and held protests across India against celebrating the festival of love, saying it was a Western import that spread immorality.' No word on whether chocolate-covered cherries were also consigned to the flames. (MSNBC)

It must be love. Irshad Manji treasures her readers' love notes. Go to the link for the heartwarming details. (Irshad Manji)

news
February 14, 2006
Where is the love?

"They stuffed the corpses of children with explosives."

Letter from the mayor of Tall 'Afar:

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful
To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.

I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.

The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. ...

Read the rest at the link.
Iraq

Zeyad: The New Government

Zeyad is back at Healing Iraq and he's got plenty of complaints about the new government:

The Kurd and Sunni brats want to create a Council of Elders with executive powers to oversee the government and parliament, probably to guarantee their own shares. Have they not read the constitution? Do they not understand Democracy? Do they not realize that it is our Allah-given, Sistani-endorsed, Iran-protected right to run this country the way we see fit? To hell with those newcomers who pester us about shares exceeding their electoral constituencies.

By the way, it is good governmental practice to label anyone we don't like as a Ba'athist, a former regime official, a supporter of the insurgency or terrorism. Call our friends in the good ole Deba'athification Commission to bar a few winners from entering parliament, because we have suddenly discovered their past now; never mind that they were members of last year's parliament. It also doesn't really matter that our own slate contains former Ba'athists, they have all repented their past sins, and his Excellency Grand Ayatollah Sistani himself has given them his blessings. Who are you to question that? ...

Read the rest at the link.

Iraq

Ays: No Fan of Jafari

Following a referrer thru Sitemeter, I stopped by Iraq at a Glance. Ays hasn't posted since December (we miss you! come back!) but his last post is troubling:

AlJa’fari is clearly taking control of most of the departments and suppressing others rights by different professional ways.. I see him the most cunning man in the scene now, much more dangerous than Saddam, the one who will set the fire among different sects in the Iraqi society and lead Iraq to the civil war.

I don't know where is the US from all of this mess and chaos, I can not believe that US lifted her hand (or can not control anymore? Since Alja’fari is getting stronger).

Anyway, I completely lost the ambition and hope about a secular Iraq where you can express your feelings and thoughts freely especially the religion, but it seems for the coming three centuries the Islamic acts of beheading in the name of God for fundamentalists in Sunnis, and the sadist whipping as a punishment (till death) for Shia will improve and continue enthusiastically. And might go further to cutting hands and keeping women inside the houses, who knows what is inside the dirty sick minds of the Islamic politicians..God damn them all.
No need to speak about the Iranian style celebrations on monthly basis since there are tens of anniversaries in Shia’s calendar..we are going to see much more wheels with their black and white kinds on heads..I hate that.. I hate it.

What about the rights of Christians in Iraq? They constitute 5 percent of Iraq population..what about the other religions? Don’t they have rights? Or shall they convert to Islam?
What about secular Muslims?
What if someone wants to convert and embrace the religion he believes in? or be an atheist?

We got out of Saddam’s prison and got in a new one with a ‘democratic’ door..
Dreams will never come true as long as Islam is ruling countries and fundamentalists are leading them.
Iraq is far away from being free.

I'll be watching for more Iraqi opinion on Jafari.


Iraq
Jafari

Morning Report:: February 13, 2006

Jafari named Iraqi PM. Sabah: 'United Iraqi Alliance has passed a significant milestone as it succeeded in nominating Dr. Ibrahim al-Ja'ferri as prime minister by voting when Dr. Adil Abdul Mehdi won 63 votes in less than Jaferri with only one seat of the alliance who gave Ja'ferri 64 seats.Following this step there should be convention of the House of Deputies and achieving transaction by forming presidency post and speaker of the parliament let alone nominating the ministers via hard compromise so as to be acceptable from others.People waiting for the news would be happy for hearing the last news as they wait for presenting services to them by the political class.The political class would burden legislation and implementing all of laws that were approved by the parliament to get rid of disruption of nearly half a century and make the government free of every thing save people's services. Ja'ferri would hold such burden as a challenge basing on legible representation of people.' Iraq the Model: 'Earlier observations on the conditions within the UIA predicted that each of the two candidates had ~55 secured votes leaving approximately 20 votes undecided. Those remaining 20 votes represent the Fadheela Party that until Friday had its own candidate. Jafari had the support of the two wings of the Da'wa Party as well as that of the Sadrists while AbdulMahdi had the support of the SCIRI and the independents within the UIA. Knowing that Jafari and AbdulMahdi got 64 and 63 votes respectively indicates a division among the members Fadheela Party over whom to support after their candidate withdrew his nomination and apparently the votes of Fadheela were split equally between Jafari and AbdulMahdi. There is a theory that the UIA decided to make Jafari win in a compromise to avoid an internal conflict over the chairmanship of the UIA because the charter of the UIA states that chairmanship of the bloc and that of the cabinet cannot be granted to the same party, which means al-Hakeem wouldn't be able to keep his position as head of the bloc if AbdulMahdi was chosen for heading the government. It is unclear how other parliamentary blocs are going to react to the results of this voting. Both the Kurdish alliance and the Accord Front expressed publicly more than once that they would prefer AbdulMahdi over Jafari. The Accord Front now is part of a larger bloc that has 80 seats in the parliament after they allied with the Iraqi list and the Dialogue Front and it is believed that the latter two share the same attitude towards Jafari and AbdulMahdi. Even though Jafari won the vote inside the UIA, he still needs to win support of the parliament by 50%+1 of the 275 votes. The Kurds and the United Congress for National Work (the Sunni+Allawi) collectively have 133 votes and if joined by the Kurdistan Islamic Union who has 5 votes they will have a total of 138 votes which is 50% of the parliament seats which means that their votes are essential for the cabinet to be approved. Choosing Jafari will most likely complicate the process of forming the government and longer negotiations will be needed if the UIA wants to convince the others to accept and support Jafari's cabinet. It's worth mentioning that the Accord Front at an earlier time asked the UIA to let them take part in the voting since they (the UIA) will eventually have to get the support of other blocs for their candidate. But the UIA refused this suggestion.' Debka: 'Our sources in Baghdad report Hamas leaders are making a point of being received and recognized by an Arab government backed to the hilt and sustained by the US government and army. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources note: An invitation from the democratically-elected government in Baghdad to a democratically-elected Palestinian (terrorist) party would place the Washington in a cleft stick, after having initiated both elections.' (Sabah, ITM, Debka)
news
February 13, 2006
Iraq

Michael Totten is back from Iraq ...

... and blogging from Lebanon. Here's his latest post:

I just spent two weeks in Northern Iraq and have arrived back in Lebanon safely. Sorry for misleading everyone about my travel schedule. For those of you who forgot...a few weeks ago I said I was beginning my Iraq trip today.

At least one organization on the U.S. terrorist watch list already monitors my Web site, and a Lebanese friend of mine convinced me that it would be smart not to advertise to the entire planet when I would be in that country. That’s why hardly any new material has been posted on this Web site lately.

Once I arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan and spent a little time there, it didn’t seem like the ruse was actually necessary. I kept it up anyway, though, because I had almost no time to write in any case ...

Go to Michael J. Totten's homepage for the full story, and watch for new posts.
Middle East
Iraq
Lebanon

Morning Report: February 10, 2006

Iranian solidarity demo in DC. Via Doctor Zin, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions calls for solidarity with the striking bus drivers in Tehran, Iran: 'ICFTU Department of Trade Union Rights joined the global labor movement in calling for the release of more than 500 Iranian bus drivers and invited members of the Iranian-American community in Washington DC to join the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center and the DC Metro Labor Council in a solidarity demonstration with striking bus drivers in Iran, February 15, 2006.' (Doctor Zin)

Journalists as citizens. Armed Liberal at Winds of Change has a fascinating post on the roles of journalists, citizens, and those (like Michael Yon) who cross over the boundaries. (Winds of Change)

Southeast Asian officials: terrorist backed out of West Coast plot. Sean Young at AP, via Yahoo, reports: 'A Malaysian recruited by al-Qaida to pilot a plane in a second wave of Sept. 11-style attacks on the United States pulled out after observing the carnage of the 2001 assaults, Southeast Asian officials said Friday. ... The plan never appeared close to the stage where it could be put into execution. Scores of arrests in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks severely curtailed al-Qaida and its Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah.' Full article at the link. (AP)

news
February 11, 2006
terrorism

New to Blogroll: Just Some Poor Schmuck

Often read but never heretofore cited, Just Some Poor Schmuck makes a debut on the Dreams Into Lightning blogroll. Here's JSPS (alias John Dunshee) on the subject of, wait for it, cartoons:

Most make the point that riot and murder is not the normal response to a cartoon, even if you find them offensive. Many people found the recent Tom Toles cartoon in the Washington Post offensive. But the Joint Chiefs of Staff with all their soldiers, planes, ships and missiles did not flatten the Post building. They wrote a letter.

Some of the cartoonists seem to have decided that writing a letter expressing your displeasure is exactly the same as burning an embassy.

Others take the position that it was irresponsible for the Danish cartoonists to draw the cartoons and for the newspapers to publish them. A strange position for editorial cartoonists whose work is always offensive to someone. At least if they're any good it is.

Go pay JSPS a visit.