Compass Direct News: "Islamic kidnappers in Kirkuk, Iraq last week dumped a Christian doctor in critical condition in front of a mosque after 29 days of torture and threats to him and his family.
Thanks to his 23-year-old daughter’s negotiations with the terrorists, 55-year-old Sameer Gorgees Youssif was freed but with wounds, hematomas and bruises covering his body; throughout his captivity, he lay bound and gagged." click here for the rest of the story.
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September 23, 2009
August 26, 2009
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July 26, 2009
April 28, 2009
April 25, 2009
Iraq's Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Selling Their Own Daughters
Time: "She goes by Hinda, but that's not her real name. That's what she's called by the many Iraqi sex traffickers and pimps who contact her several times a week from across the country. They think she is one of them, a peddler of sexual slaves. Little do they know that the stocky auburn-haired woman is an undercover human-rights activist who has been quietly mapping out their murky underworld since 2006." Read more.
Kurdish women seek football freedom
BBC: "Women's football teams are still pretty new.
The first only started a couple of years ago, but they are being seen as a way to prize open the door to more equality in a male-dominated society that takes a dim view of women in sport.
In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish administration that rules Iraq's northern provinces, there are eight women's teams, with around 20 members in each squad." Read More .
This can also be said of girls tennis teams, of which I recently met some of the best players in Iraq at the local club here in Erbil.
April 19, 2009
Visit to an American Village in the Heart of the Middle East
This past week I traveled to a unique American village, some call the ‘IZ’ (pronounced “eye-zee”) in the heart of the Middle East. It is inhabited by thousands of men and women from distant countries like Nepal, Uganda, Ukraine, Georgia, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Australia. There are also not a few Americans and some Iraqis.
It’s landscape is marked by palm trees and concrete walls and many, many English signs some of which say things like: “Deadly Force Authorized”, “Clear Guns Here”, “Turn Off Warlock”, “Muzzle All Guns”, and “STOP Here.”
The most common vehicle is the Chevrolet Suburban, but the Hummer and some larger tank looking vehicles also dominate the road ways. With the amount of antennas sticking out of them, one would think there were no radio towers in the village whatsoever.
It’s a land of peace, where one can walk down the streets without concern from pushy beggars, hording tourists, or crowded sidewalks. Sometimes it feels entirely deserted, then a happy entourage of cars with special flashing lights parades down the thoroughfares.
Monuments, huge statues, and museum palaces dot the landscape though they are seemingly hardly noticed by the locals.
Many of the people enjoy carrying guns and wearing trendy vests, but largely it is a place where one doesn’t feel that strong need to toe the proprietary line. Sunglasses and basic sandy-colored clothing seem to be the trend at this time of year.
Finding the locals generally requires passing through multiple checkpoints where a small navy blue folder with a golden eagle emblazoned on it seems to draw respect and more importantly a pass to continue into the next neighborhood.
Walking into a restaurant it was not uncommon to see a print of the famous painting, The Last Supper, hung in a prominent location. It would appear the locals have a keen sense of Classical art.
The lodging is on the Spartan side. We stayed in small aluminum dwellings called trailers that were covered in leafy webbing that considerably cut down on the glaring rays of the sun. A couple visits to the main hotel indicate that we were there during the ‘off season’.
An interesting local custom I picked up was to place one’s hand at a 45 degree angle with one’s forehead when greeting certain individuals. This custom was not always observed, however, and the timing of when to do this and when to refrain remained a mystery to me.
Pertaining to the local cuisine, we found it delectable. Fine cuts of meat usually cooked over flame, mixed with rice and tasty beans with freshly baked bread was a favorite of mine.
Instead of alarm clocks, we were awakened early each morning by the sound of multiple sharp, staccato instruments from the ‘concert hall’ next door. At first, we thought that there might be a problem in this friendly city but were reassured that people were simply practicing.
Still, I can’t quite give the place full praise, it does have some drawbacks. For example, apparently, there is no speed limit on the helicopters that fly overhead, seeming to try to trim the gracefully tall palm trees. Within seconds they swoop by, which has somewhat an unnerving effect. Surely, these aggies would do a better job if they simply slowed down.
Also, the vehicles that we traveled in, though quite comfortable, often felt squished and enclosed; even the windows were as thick as a good Tom Clancy novel. In such a sunny environment, a convertible seems a better fit for this desert land.
If you’d like to travel outside of the village, you’ll encounter stiff traffic and basically only Arabs. It would seem the village is some kind of international zone ringed by a homogeneous population of millions of Arabic-speaking, turbaned peoples. If you like Arabs, there’s plenty of them literally surrounding the village. If you prefer the diversity of a land with peoples from scores of countries the IZ is the place for you.
April 08, 2009
First Western tourists visit war-torn Iraq
March 21: "The two-week trip was the first officially sanctioned tour outside the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region since the U.S. invasion. NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports." Read more.
March 24, 2009
Newroz
March 21 kicks off 3 days of celebrating in the Kurdish/Iranian new year. It's called Newroz and involves fireworks, picnics, and days of feasting throughout the countryside.
I was awoken early on the first day to a phone call telling me that the perfect place had been secured for our picnic that day. So, we lazily rolled out of bed, got the kids ready and off we went.
It was just 8:00 in the morning, but already on this first day of the holiday, there was a mad race of cars heading out of the city. People hanging out the windows, bus loads of folks blarring out music, and Kurdish flags streaming from every vehicle. We felt like we were in a parade. But, this was just the beginning.
As the day wore on the city emptied into the countryside as the roads surged with traffic. All roads leading out of the city suddenly became one-way thoroughfares as tens of thousands of cars converged on the ideal spots on the grassy covered hills surrounding the city.
When we got to our 'perfect spot' I was shocked to learn that it was very much indeed an ideal place. One of the only gazebos on the hillside overlooking the city was now our grand picnic area where we enjoyed eating, laughing, playing, and dancing.
For more pics of our time click on the photo album to the left.
For more on the history of Newroz, click here.
