THE GATES OF HELL ARE OPEN IN IRAQ

I could have used another fancy title, like "THE STAVDA WATCH" , "BELGIAN COMMIES ARE AT IT AGAIN", or "GULP???". Instead I chose this one. It’s the literal translation of the caption above the article shown below, as it appeared in this weekend’s edition (April 9/10, 2005) of leading Belgian newspaper "The Daily Crap", aka "De Standaard" aka "The Stavda" aka whatever wait till we smoke your rat’s hole out.





The caption is capitals under Talabani's photo reads: "THE ATTITUDE OF THE US TOWARDS SYRIA AND IRAN IS NOT AT ALL MEANT TO STIMULATE DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM".


Said article is the rotten fruit of a imperfect brainstorm inside the head of a fella named Ayatollah Jawad al-Khalisi, who is the Secretary-General of an outfit called the Iraqi National Constituent Congress. On June 17, 2004, Auntie Beeb had this to say about the INCC:


The Iraqi National Constituent Congress has brought together prominent Sunni and Shia figures to oppose the US-led occupation of Iraq. It was formed in May 2004 and is led by the respected Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalisi.

On its 16-strong leadership panel are other Shia leaders, and also Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, leader of the Sunni Muslim Ulema Council (note from MFBB: the Association of Muslim Scholars).The group's 500 members also include Kurds and Arab nationalists.
It has pledged to boycott any US-sponsored political group, including the Iraqi Governing Council, to re-establish the national army and to restore sovereignty under the auspices of blah blah blah...


Ok, now that you know that, I’ll have the honor of providing some translated excerpts. Watch out though:

"The US-British occupation of Iraq is poisoning all political processes in my country and across the Middle East. The elections held under the control of the occupying forces in January were neither free nor fair.

The occupying powers are now following a policy of divide and rule, encouraging sectarian and ethnic divisions and imposing them on all the institutions they have created.

Incidents such as the recent kidnapping of an Italian journalist, released only to be received by a hail of bullets from the US liberators, have fuelled widespread suspicions in Iraq as to who is in fact responsible for many of the terrorist acts - kidnappings, assassinations, and indiscriminate bombing and killing -that are engulfing the whole of Iraq...

Not one of the terrorist crimes has been solved and not a single perpetrator put on trial. After each major terrorist crime, the arrest of perpetrators is proclaimed, using names and personalities spread by the US-controlled media...

These crimes are a taste of the hell created by the US project in the Middle East..

In the same way, the Iraq crisis cannot be resolved by patching up a detested occupation with fraudulent elections and sectarian and ethnic caucuses supported by the occupiers...

The US today is still the ally and backer of many such tyrannical regimes in our region and elsewhere..."


Had enough? I certainly do. Now, take a look at how this article was published in the Guardian, since "De Standaard" copyrighted it from that newspaper in the first place. I'd say that Belgians beat Brits in opinionmaking.


…and compare it with the way The Pride of Belgian Journalism puts it, above. The format you see is the one used in the "Opinie & Analyse" pages (Opinion & Analysis, I’m sure you were smart enough to figure that out). In these pages, De Standaard’s selected, ahem, analysts review global political issues and offer, well, opinions and analysis, in other words informed comment. The way Mr. al-Khalisis ramblings were trusted onto precious Flemish recycled paper however tends to lead the innocent, or shall we say, the silly reader to take what is printed for granted. The article and the way the layout is done leaves no room on the page for other topics, since below it (not shown), there’s just an overview of De Standaard staff explaining who does what.

My point is, I’ve been looking on the Web for more info on Jawad al-Khalisi. I’ve been querying on ITM and Big Pharaoh, searching for election results here and there and, to cut a long story short, found no evidence whatsoever that this dude represents anything more than "vijf man en een paardekop", or five blokes and a horsehead, as we here in Flemingland say. Meaning the INCC Secretary-General weighs in on Iraqs political decisionmaking about as heavily as Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Now the question is: WHY for God’s sake would newspapers like the Guardian or De Standaard be willing to spend so much attention to a dipshit raving Khomeini clone whom they think worthy of offering his insights on Iraqi democracy while he can’t in all likelihood tell the US’s electoral processus from, say, Zimbabwes? The answer is simple: a nice rant fitting exactly in the gloomy picture they so LOOOOOOVE to present. Looooooooots of sappy quotes castigating the evil US of A.

Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake. Drivel like this is no exception. Like I said time and again before, "news" like this is the rule. Comprendo? Now if you feel ever so apt to blame the euroweenies for their ungrateful attitude towards Uncle Sam, try to imagine for a moment how YOU would look at your government if you were fed nonsense like this not for two months, not for two years, not for two decades, no, for FORTY GODDAM YEARS!!!!

Oh, I know how proud you all are of your "winner-takes-all electoral system". And frankly, you have every right to. It makes for clean and straight politics and quick formation of administrations. No mess like in Europe or Iraq (ok, forget 2000, blame that on, uh, Bush). We all know the fancy maps of the States with Jesusland colored bright red and some fringe areas on the east and west coast in blue huh? Now, while that’s a nice way to illustrate Dubyas victory, you’d maybe do well to ponder how the map would have looked if you had adopted Europes representative system. The States would be Purple from LA till Bangor and from Anchorage to Nogales folks.

By which I mean to say: you had FOX. You had Power Line. You had the WSJ. You had Buckhead. You had Rush Limbaugh. You had LGF. You even had Sandy Bergers, Joe Wilsons and Dan Rathers screwups. AND STILL Bush won only by a – admit it – narrow margin!!! Now, over here in the Union of Nanny States we have NOTHING of all that. But we have PLENTY of stinkin sh*t like The Stavda. Why are you surprised Europe is anti-American?

The media is the key people. Take my word for it. I won't say it twice. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. the media is the key. The media is the key. We need a European FOX. For starters. Presto.


MFBB


UPDATE:

In Iraq The Model's comments section, I asked the Fadhil Brothers and the other posters if they knew who this Jawad al-Khalisi was. Omar was so kind to answer me by email not two hours later:

Hi Michael,
regarding your question on the comment section:

I actually don't think that this Ayatollah is a member of the National Assembly because he was against the elections in the 1st place.
but still, the constitution drafting society may include many members from outside the Assembly. I will do more research on this and update you if I happen to find any further information.

Best my friend,

--
Omar.
www.iraqthemodel.com


So. This guy al-Chalico is in all likelihood not even a member of the 275-strong Iraqi Assembly. I gather he means doodley-squat in Iraqi politics. The Graudian and De Standaard see fit to give the A-hole a FORUM.... just because he says what they LOVE TO HEAR. Thanks Omar. May you eat Belgian Fries at least once in your lifetime.