Can somebody tell me what the hell just happened? I seriously feel that someone hit me hard on the head with an aluminum baseball bat.

There has never been such tension in Baghdad since April 2004. Something tells me that all hell is going to break loose very soon.

How can it be??? How could those Iranian mullahs win those votes? Even higher than last january when his excellency grand Shitheadstani himself ordered people to vote for them?

It just doesn't add up. It defies logic and reason. No way Iraqis are such brainwashed fools.

How could the mullahs get 58% of the votes in Baghdad? Last time, when the Sunnis boycotted they got 60%, but millions of Sunnis voted this time and hordes of Shia said they wouldn't vote for the mullahs this time so how could they get the same result? What the fuck happened?

What about the truckloads of ballots that entered from Iran? Where did they end up? How did they get hold of the ballots? Who the hell is running the "Independent" Electoral Commission? Iraqis? Americans or Iranians?

What about Kirkuk and Mosul? What of the stories of busloads of Kurds from Suleimaniya voting in Kirkuk? of people younger than 18 voting? Of Kurdish authorities encouraging Kurds to vote several times? Of Peshmerga preventing Turkmen from voting? Of counting over 50 thousand ballots from villages with less than 20 thousand people living in them?

What of the stories of commission workers spoiling ballots voting for lists other than 555 in Sadr city and openly joking between themselves that the Sunnis would have done the same in Fallujah if someone there voted for 555? Of the Sayyid standing in front of the polling station forcing people to swear on the Quran and in name of al Abbas that they would vote for 555? Of Badr militiamen running the stations? Of announcing the same results on SCIRI's Forat tv the very same day of the voting?

Is it possible that 555 would get an average of 90% of the votes while they couldn't get 80% the last time?

Are Iraqis that dumb? Those are not the Iraqis I know. The Iraqis I know love beer, sex and loud music. I never knew Iraqis who kiss the mullah's hand and hang out at husseiniyas.

If this is democracy then I spit and shit on democracy.

Congratulations everyone. I congratulate everyone who participated and cheerleaded this farce, including myself.

Now we are stuck with the mullahs for 4 FUCKING YEARS. Who know's what the hell would happen after that. We might as well do away with elections altogether and the Sayyid - may Allah bless him - would just give us his opinion instead of sheeple going to vote under his directions.

Soon we will have Sharia courts. Soon all the girls will covered from head to toe. We might as well cut the bullshit and start calling the army and police by their real names: Badr and Peshmerga.

Longlive Hakeem, Ja'fari and Solagh. Longlive the mullahs. Longlive Iran.


We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Can somebody tell me what the hell just happened? I seriously feel that someone hit me hard on the head with an aluminum baseball bat.

There has never been such tension in Baghdad since April 2004. Something tells me that all hell is going to break loose very soon.

How can it be??? How could those Iranian mullahs win those votes? Even higher than last january when his excellency grand Shitheadstani himself ordered people to vote for them?

It just doesn't add up. It defies logic and reason. No way Iraqis are such brainwashed fools.

How could the mullahs get 58% of the votes in Baghdad? Last time, when the Sunnis boycotted they got 60%, but millions of Sunnis voted this time and hordes of Shia said they wouldn't vote for the mullahs this time so how could they get the same result? What the fuck happened?

What about the truckloads of ballots that entered from Iran? Where did they end up? How did they get hold of the ballots? Who the hell is running the "Independent" Electoral Commission? Iraqis? Americans or Iranians?

What about Kirkuk and Mosul? What of the stories of busloads of Kurds from Suleimaniya voting in Kirkuk? of people younger than 18 voting? Of Kurdish authorities encouraging Kurds to vote several times? Of Peshmerga preventing Turkmen from voting? Of counting over 50 thousand ballots from villages with less than 20 thousand people living in them?

What of the stories of commission workers spoiling ballots voting for lists other than 555 in Sadr city and openly joking between themselves that the Sunnis would have done the same in Fallujah if someone there voted for 555? Of the Sayyid standing in front of the polling station forcing people to swear on the Quran and in name of al Abbas that they would vote for 555? Of Badr militiamen running the stations? Of announcing the same results on SCIRI's Forat tv the very same day of the voting?

Is it possible that 555 would get an average of 90% of the votes while they couldn't get 80% the last time?

Are Iraqis that dumb? Those are not the Iraqis I know. The Iraqis I know love beer, sex and loud music. I never knew Iraqis who kiss the mullah's hand and hang out at husseiniyas.

If this is democracy then I spit and shit on democracy.

Congratulations everyone. I congratulate everyone who participated and cheerleaded this farce, including myself.

Now we are stuck with the mullahs for 4 FUCKING YEARS. Who know's what the hell would happen after that. We might as well do away with elections altogether and the Sayyid - may Allah bless him - would just give us his opinion instead of sheeple going to vote under his directions.

Soon we will have Sharia courts. Soon all the girls will covered from head to toe. We might as well cut the bullshit and start calling the army and police by their real names: Badr and Peshmerga.

Longlive Hakeem, Ja'fari and Solagh. Longlive the mullahs. Longlive Iran.


We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

So It's Elections Day..

I slept till 3 pm. The phone kept ringing and parents were yelling downstairs for me to wake up. I vaguely recall my younger brother showing me his purple finger and telling me to snap out of it before the poll stations are closed. I was having a wild dream about me sucking my girl's toes and pleading with her to give me a blowjob. Unfortunately though, someone woke me up before I got to the juicy part.

It was a weird night before that. The local mosque kept warning people on the loudspeakers not to drink tap water because there were a few reported cases of poisoning. This went over and over again and then other mosques picked it up. It was 3 am for fuck's sake.. Can't they keep this stuff to themselves until daylight? Anyway, it seemed that this was going on all over Baghdad. Someone on Yahoo chat told me that police patrols first started this rumour in the Sha'ab district.

Later, the Water and Sewerage Directorate confirmed the rumour on tv or radio. Hmm, I wonder how could they put 'water' and 'sewerage' in the same department, unless they were interchangeable?

You would imagine that people would all wake up and start freaking out.. Nah, not in Baghdad habibi. Everyone just went back to sleep. Someone was bellowing from his window "Why Rusafa? Why not Karkh?" He obviously thought it was a conspiracy against the citizens of Rusafa. I went over this for some time trying to figure what's so special about Rusafa anyway.

Funny thing, there were police patrols at 5 am who denied the whole thing.. just as people were trying to get some sleep.

But enough of the poisoned water rumour.

We walked to the polling station about an hour before closing time. It was like a field trip.. one lady brought sweets and chewing gum among other stuff, just about everything except the Dolma pot.

Kids were playing football and army patrols offered their services to drive people to their polling stations. There were a few thuds and bullet shots here and there, but all in all it was very peaceful and tranquil.

Some guys took the opportunity to check out the girls. A chance like this rarely happens in Baghdad unless it's a ziyara or an election so why miss it.

We did the usual thing.. most of it already familiar by now. The purple ink was not as bad as the last times. One lady at the polling station had forgot her glasses and asked me to point out Allawi's list to her. Something that bugs me whenever I vote is that no one checks my finger to see if I'd already voted. What's worse is that you can find your name in every room at the polling station. So theoretically, one can vote in several rooms, although I never tried that personally.

In case you're wondering.. I voted for the seculars. Always do. Not that I like any of them. Most of them are either thieves or drunken buffoons. But rather a drunken buffoon than a headbanging mulla with a black turban.

I guess that's it.. nothing exciting. I took a few pics on the road. I might post them later tonight.. or maybe tomorrow. We'll see.

Ok so I kept my promise. Here I am drunk and munching peanuts at an alarming rate while listening to music. The power should be out in about 20 minutes. I'll just drain every last ampere in the inverter and the laptop battery. Then I'll probably masturbate and pass out.

Tonight's playlist: (I know it's long but who cares)

Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic
Allman Brothers Band - Ramblin' Man
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Ben E. King - Stand By Me
Black Sabbath Iron Man
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Bob Dylan - Positively 4th Street
Bob Dylan - Fourth Time around
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue
Booker T. and the MG's - Green Onions
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth
Cat Stevens - Wild World
Cream - White Room
Cream - Crossroads
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Who'll Stop The Rain
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
David Bowie - Space Oddity
David Bowie - Fame
Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
Derek and the Dominos - Layla
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Elton John - Tiny Dancer
Elton John - Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters
Elton John - Your Song
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee
Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child
John Lennon - Imagine
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
Led Zeppelin - The Immigrant Song
Led Zeppelin - Rock & Roll
Led Zeppelin - Four Sticks
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2
Pink Floyd - Time
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds Of Silence
Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The Beach Boys - Feel Flows
The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
The Beatles - Hello Goodbye
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl
The Clash - London Calling
The Doors - Touch Me
The Doors - Light My Fire
The Eagles - Desperado
The Eagles - Hotel California
The Four Tops - Reach Out
The Mamas and the Papas - California Dreamin'
The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash
The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up
The Rolling Stones - Heaven
The Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
The Who - Sparks
Them - Gloria
U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Yes - Your Move

i fucking hate iraq.. i hate the moment i was brought to this country.. i just want to live in peace and to not care about anything in the world.. i can't escape the madness.. i try to do stuff and an explosion is there in front of me and i have to duck for cover.. i try to go to work and i find fucking americans in their tanks blocking my fucking road and shooting people if they come near them.. i try to visit a friend and a pickup full of policemen drives by shooting in the air and freaking the shit out of me if i don't pull over.. i try to watch tv and i find every fucking loser who came from london and teheran blabbering about democracy while they hide in the green zone and put our money in their swiss bank accounts... i want to watch a movie or listen to a song but the fucking electricity is out and i can't use the generator much because of black market petrol.. i go online trying to chat to a friend or surf for porn and everyone is asking me about fucking iraq.. even fucking saddam is laughing at us safe in his cell while we keep getting killed.. i can't escape the madness.. i can't do a thing about it.. i seriously need to just get drunk and cry..

d.a.y.e.z

Taxi Conversation

Taxi driver: Wow. Look at all these posters. They must have spent fortunes on all this
advertising.
Me: (Thinking *Oh, not again*)
Taxi driver: What do they get in return once they're in?
Me: (resigning to my fate) Well, the pension is more than worth it. A retired parliament
member gets $5000 a month for the rest of his life.
T.d.: (whistles) That's a lot of money.
M: It is.

*long pause*

T.d: So you're gonna vote or what?
M: depends.
T.d: Oh, I see.

*another pause*

T.d: So who do you think would be best?
M: (not falling for it) depends on how you see things.
T.d.: I know. I think we should vote for the secular lists.
M (shrugging)
T.d: (Probably thinking I might get him wrong) Look, I have all the respect for sayyids but
I don't think that's what we need at this moment.
M (nod)
T.d: (gesturing at a nearby poster) You know. I think Mithal al Alusi is a good choice. I
mean he has the courage to say the truth. No complimenting and all that.
M: (more interested in reading car registration numbers than the conversation) true.

*long pause*

T.d: You know what. I think the country is divided now. Saddam the bastard managed to hold
it together. Now all hell is breaking loose.
M: uh huh.
T.d: If only he paid a little more attention to his people, we wouldn't be in this mess.

..

T.d: (gesturing at another poster) See that guy Mutlag. Do you know what the hell he wants?
Yesterday he was talking about pulling out American troops from Iraq. Did you see it?
M: No, I don't think so.
T.d: Well, what do you think? Would it be a good idea for them to pull out? I mean without a
strong Iraqi army or a strong government?
M: (guessing that the guy wants to see me say no) No, it wouldn't be a good idea.

..

T.d: (pointing at an overhanging advertising banner) Look! The Tawafuq list says "With your
vote, we will change the constitution." Have these guys even read the constitution? Why
would they want to change it? To make it more Islamic?
M: I think it couldn't get more Islamic than it is now.
T.d: No. Islam should be a private thing.
M: Well, many politicians use Islam as an excuse for their own personal interests.
T.d: That's wrong man.
M: It's true. Why do you think some groups are blowing up barber salons and DVD stores?
T.d: No. I mean some Islamic clerics even say that it is allowed to watch porn to spice up
your sex life in the privacy of your home. What's wrong with that? It's not like you're
going to go out and tell everyone that you're not having an erection or something.
M: Yes, I like that. We should have more clerics like those.

..

M: This is my stop. Thanks.

الوطن

الوطن جكليت وهلاهل دوم .. الوطن جوبي وهجع ودبكة كلدانية

الوطن صبة وشبك أحرار ... الوطن آشور وشيعة ويزيدية

الوطن عيد وصلاة وصوم .. يجمعنا الوطن، إسلام ومسيحية

الوطن كوت وموصل وكركوك .. والمشخاب تحضن سليمانية

الوطن نخل البصرة والعشار .. وتين من الجبل للحلوة راوية

الوطن عرس وأخوة دوم .. والكاكا لو عرّس ، يخطب كربلائية

وابن العاصمة يصيف بأربيل .. ويشوي ابن العمارة سمجة بنية

ولو عبد المسيح يحتاج للجيران .. توكفلة أم حمود وهية سنية

ولو ثابت الصبي عرس ابنص بغداد .. تهلهل بالنجف خيتة الشيعية

ولو كاكا حمه عرًس على سفين .. تركص بالعمارة بت عمه صبية

ولو زاخو صاحت هذا الوطن مخطور .. اول المتقدمين تركض البصرية

Sunni and Shi'i

You know, all this fuss made in the media about Sunnis and Shia has really been getting to me lately. Iraqis are almost always categorized as one or the other. For example, Fulan al Fulani, the Shi'i politician; Fulan al Fulani, the Sunni cleric.

The same can happen with geographic areas, towns and provinces, e.g. Basra, the largely Shi'i city; Ramadi, the Sunni Arab stronghold; Salah al Din, a province with Sunni majority; Sadr City, the Shi'i district; Amiriya, the largely Sunni district of Baghdad, etc.

The media is so obsessed with these distinctions that I am sure they will soon start to come up with new ideas just to show off they know all about Iraq, like say:

• "the Iraqi family was at the Fulani restaurant having Kabab for restaurant. Kabab is a largely Shi'i dish."
• "Kadhim al Sahir, the Sunni singer raised in a Shi'i district of Baghdad, held a concert in Cairo."
• "Malayeen, the Shi'i belly dancer, opened a dancing school in Beirut."
• "Sunni peasants have tishreeb with rice in it. Shi'is do not."
• "Nissan pickup trucks are generally purchased by Sunni Arab farmers. Shi'i farmers prefer Toyota pickups."
• "Abd al Aziz al Hakim's great grandmother was a Sunni Turkomen from Tuz Khormatu."
• "Harith al Dhari's cleaning lady is a Shi'i from the Shu'la district of Baghdad. His grandson's best buddy at school is also Shi'i."
• "At the Jadriya club, a duet composed of a Sunni and a Shi'i sang for a largely elite Sunni audience. The majority of the band members were Shi'i from various Shi'i districts of Baghdad. One of them is a Fayli Kurd from Khanaqin who are also Shi'i. The waiters were mostly Assyrian Orthodox Christians from Batnaya and Ainkawa. However, the club manager is a Shi'i from Hilla. The district of Jadriya itself is a mixed one but leaning towards a Shi'i majority."

So you get the point.

I am not saying that Iraqis never noticed these differences, it's just that recent events have somehow accentuated them. In the past, we just used to joke about the differences. And since most Iraqi families and tribes are mixed, there is no point in creating imaginary differences.

For most of my life, I rarely knew which of my friends was Sunni and which was Shi'i. It might have been easier to notice which was Kurdish or Christian because of language differences. Sometimes, Shi'is from the south, say Basra or Amara, can be recognized from their accent, but then even Sunnis and Christians in Basra share the same accent. Most of the time it's a regional difference rather than a sectarian one.

My mother told me once that she asked her father when she was very young if they were Shi'i or Sunni after she had heard the terms in school. Her father slapped her hard in the face. That was how far Iraqis were willing to go in order to supress their perceived differences.

It's also considered rude to ask if one is Shi'i or Sunni. If you ask, most people would respond saying "I'm Muslim," or "I'm Iraqi." Some nosy people get around it by asking "Where are you from?" If you say "Baghdad," he would ask "Which area of Baghdad?" If your answer is a mixed district, he would squirm and ask "Ok then, from what tribe?" If you reply with a mixed tribe like Jubur, he would really start to get uncomfortable because he can't find out whether you are Sunni or Shi'i and he might start asking from which clan or which family you belong to. Some are really good at finding out though if they try hard and they are obsessed with it.

There were areas however in Iraq which used to be considered purely Sunni or Shi'i. I heard an old relative of mine once saying that he visited a village near Amara and the people there asked him what a Sunni looked like. When he explained to them that Sunnis look just like them or anyone else, their jaws fell to the ground in disbelief and they said "You mean they don't have little tails in their behinds??"

The "tail" story is a known one. People who lived in isolated Shi'i villages would refer to a Sunni as Abu Dhuwail (the one with the tail). Similar beliefs exist in isolated Sunni communities, also in Arab countries with no Shia communities. I was chatting once with a taxi driver in Amman and we discussed politics and other stuff. He then cautiously asked me what I thought about the Shia, and if they are how people describe them. When I told him that he was talking to one, he was really embarrassed. He kept apologizing and saying that he was wrong because he thought Shia were Persians. He seemed to have thought that Shia looked like strange creatures from outer space.

Iraqis now have no problem with their differences. They intermarry all the time and they publicly make jokes about it. Times have changed, there are rarely any pure communities in Iraq now. There are Shia in Mosul and Ramadi, just like there are Sunnis in Najaf and Amara.
It bugs me continously to see bloggers like say Juan Cole to stress those differences so much and to philosophize about them to the extent that he almost writes stuff like the list I mentioned above.

The media also imagines that one's political opinion is decided by what sect he belongs to. If a Shi'i says he is against the constitution or the occupation or the current government, the media and political pundits start scratching their heads trying to figure out what's wrong. The same if a Sunni says he is glad that Saddam is gone and that the country is fine the way it is now. It just doesn't fit in with their ready made equation and it confuses them.

I have been so annoyed with this recently that I made up a list of all my friends from primary school to the present day and wrote down who was Sunni and who was Shi'i. I didn't get anywhere and couldn't prove anything. Here is what the list looked like (names slightly changed for anonymity):

primary school:

• Ali Ahmed, Shi'i
• Sinan Mohammed, Sunni
• Harith Ghassan, Shi'i
• Rafi Bassam, Christian, Armenian Orthodox

secondary and high school:

• Dana Nazar, Sunni Kurd
• Zaid Riyadh, Christian, Assyrian Orthodox
• Saad Ameer, Christian, Chaldean Catholic
• Sadiq Abd Allah, Saba'i
• Ali Mohammed, Shi'i
• Hayder Radhi, Fayli Kurd, Shi'i
• Ahmed Raad, Sunni
• Hani Latif, Sunni
• Osama Mahdi, Shi'i
• Ahmed Abd al Zahra, Shi'i
• Ahmed Sideeq, Sunni
• Omar Mohammed, Shi'i

college:

• Saddam Mohammed, Shi'i
• Meer Jabir, Sunni Kurd
• Ahmed Ali, Sunni
• Uday Faruq, Christian, Chaldean Catholic
• Muhsin Abd Allah, Shi'i
• Sami Sadiq, Shi'i
• Zaid Ameer, Shi'i
• Sarmad Bakr, Shi'i
• Omar Ali, Sunni

etc.

..

And the point is what? There is none. Iraqis have been living together for centuries and they will not allow some foreigners to come now and start making differences between them or to try and pit brother against brother.

And if someone asks me if I'm Sunni or Shi'i again, I swear I'll choke them to death.

Saddam's Trial

Was at work this morning when someone asked me out of the blue: at what hour will the trial be? I was like huh? what trial? Then I suddenly remembered that we are trying our former dictator in court and that the second session was today.

At first I was disinterested and tried to focus on my work but then we heard someone screaming on tv and we all jumped up to see what was going on. The bailiff was shouting for the defendants to enter the court room. The tv anchor mentioned that 2 foreign lawyers were attending the proceedings this time. Two former justice ministers, the American Ramzi al Clark and the Qatari Najeeb al Ni'aimi.

I went back to work for a while so I missed a few details. I was expecting to finish as fast as possible so I could watch the rest of the trial. The other girls and guys at work were reading their horoscopes in the newspaper. Obviously no one was that interested in what was going on tv.

The taxi driver that drived me home gave me a speech. I don't know why I always end up with taxi drivers who want to talk politics when it's mostly the last thing on my mind. "What had they expected him to do? I mean even if Jafari or Talabani almost got assassinated at some small town, how do you think they would respond?" he was almost talking to himself, and I was nodding silently while watching the hundreds upon hundreds of election posters on the walls.

"Look what they did to Falluja. It was razed to the ground because of four Americans. Will someone put Bush or Allawi in court for that one day? People keep repeating the same mistakes."

I don't know why but Bob Dylan's song The Times They Are A-Changin' came to my mind.

Many Iraqis are impatient and think this trial is a farce. The Kurdish judge has been called all kinds of names on the street because they think he looked like he was almost taking orders from Saddam. Others think he is being too lenient. I do think it was an embarrassing moment when Saddam mentioned the American soldiers guarding the court room and then transmission was cut for a few moments. Censors at work :)

It's such a mess, but if you ask Iraqis you would probably get one of the following reactions:

• The country is going the right way and this fair trial is just another step forward. Hail democracy!
• I don't give a fuck about Saddam, just give me a job already.
• Saddam is a lion and a hero. Did you see how he looked so strong and defiant?
• This whole trial is a tool of the occupation.
• It's all political and the Americans and Israelis are running the show.
• It's all political and the Iranians and their stooges are running the show.
• Saddam killed three of my sons. Cut the bullshit and hang the criminal!
• Saddam is god.
• What's the electricity schedule today?
• Hey! It only takes 3 hours at the --- gas station to fill up your car. Let's go there.
• I don't know man. I'm hungry, let's go eat some felafel or something.
• Saddam should pay for the blood of all the Shi'i martyrs he shed.
• I hate Sunnis. Why do they love Saddam so much?
• I hate Shia. Why do they hate Saddam so much?
• I hate Kurds. Why did the judge have to be one.
• I hate Americans. Bush is a war criminal and he should be the one who get's tried.
• Saddam hated Shia. He should be executed for that. Anyone who hates us should be tortured and executed in the most horrible way.
• It's all Saddam's fault. He should have wiped out the Shia from Iraq. Wiping out the Kurds wouldn't hurt either. They're all traitors.
• *yawn*
• variations of the above.

Another irony was the fact that one town was demonstrating calling for Saddam to be executed and another was demonstrating calling for his release. That's just how divided we are today.