Iraqi blogger: America behind the image curtain. A few look through the curtain holes to reality.

[madfloridian]

I had so much trouble watching the video clips from the Republican debate last night. It was the applause for torture that was the most appalling, with the cheering for the 9/11 reference a close second.

I have lived a long time, and I never remember America being like this. Many last night seemed unaware of our loss of moral standing in the world.

I often go back and read an Iraqi blogger. Tonight I found this gem. It describes us so perfectly now.

America behind the curtain

He leads into the post by talking about the way he was watching the Plame case unfold here. He has such a grasp on how our country gets its picture of the world. He speaks of the Iron Curtain, then says this:

In America, and in other democracies, iron curtains are not possible. Because of the vision and decency of those who originally designed the political system in America (perhaps even because of the nature of America itself) darkness and iron curtains are simply not possible. They are incompatible with the very concept of the system. However, in America there is another curtain that is more difficult to demolish… because it is not ‘solid’.

Imagine a huge room full of light and noise, called the United States of America. People in that room are free to come and go as they please. They are free to talk, to listen, to say yes or no. But they are not totally free to know.

The room is surrounded by huge, white velvet curtains. On those curtains are projected images of what goes on in America and in the rest of the world; a lively, noisy, entertaining world of images.

And this part is describing much of our culture now so well. Note the reference to the larger "corporate" screens, and the smaller screens with more unpleasant images.

There are numerous screens projecting on those curtains. The numerous larger ones are all owned by only a few big corporations, and consequently follow the bidding of a handful of individuals. These screens project images of the real world and of reality that does not always reflect that reality truthfully. The images pass through a number of selective filters. There are many other, smaller screens, but few people bother to watch them. They strain the eye, are usually full of unpleasant images and are generally thought to be less reliable.

And this, my friends, refers to people like those of us on DU who are unrelentingly curious about the world, and are willing to look through the "holes" to see the true reality of what we have done.

There also numerous holes in those curtains. Anybody in America is absolutely free to have a peek at the real world through those holes. But not more than 10% of adult Americans actually do: scholars, academics, the inquisitive and the discontented. Some of those choose to or are paid to retain the filters they are accustomed to when having a look. For the bulk of the population, those holes are not even visible from the living room couch.

I think this blogger is very aware there are those of here who detest what we have done to their country in the name of lies and deception. But I doubt that eases his pain at all.

He has not posted at either of his blogs since last November. Perhaps, like Riverbend, the heartache was too much for him.

[madfloridian]

1. He hoped the election would be the "beginning of the end of a mad era."

This one made me cry when I posted about it. They watched our election closely. This same blogger had high hopes for what it might mean for their country.....I hope his hopes are not in vain. But I fear they might be.

The Beginning of the end of a mad era

I would love to meet this man. He is intelligent and perceptive.

I wasn't particularly jubilant earlier today! I didn't even follow the election results as closely as I should have: Bush was adamant to 'stay the course', the Democrats did not have a clear policy on Iraq. Some of them were even advocating the break-up of the country – a recipe for disaster...

But less than an hour ago this evening, and for the first time in more than a year, I listened carefully to what George Bush, the de-facto President of Iraq, had to say! It brought an unfamiliar warmth to my old heart to see that man, who brought so much death and destruction to my country, broken. He couldn't hide that. It was written all over him!

Can an Iraqi hope now? Perhaps a little.
Time for accountability? Dare we hope? Perhaps too soon for that.
The beginning of the end of a mad era? Perhaps too soon for that too.

To Americans I say: to see the man who has done so much damage to your country in that position in that press conference… I only have one word: Congratulations! Your democracy may have many illnesses; you have a long way yet to go… but tonight many of you have shown the rest of the world that It and you are not dead yet.

He is more understanding of our culture than many here are. No, we are not dead yet....but we are so...slow...in getting out of your country.

You, sir, whatever your name, sound more decent than the ones who attacked your country. May your country see some kind of hope again some day. I apologize for us.

[Ghost Dog]

2. As a European (exiled Brit) who pays close attention to U.S. "reality",

but whose one and only, so far, visit to the Americas was to the island of Cuba, I can certainly endorse what this blogger, and madfloridian, are saying.

Although, I would add, "Anybody in America is absolutely free to have a peek at the real world through those holes" - and be 'profiled', registered in a 'stasi'-type database, get on a 'blacklist' - for your pains.

Freedom should never be taken for granted.

"...The internet, an American invention, is bringing some change. It has introduced a few more holes in that curtain. But we have a long way to go. Most are still too small for people sitting on those couches. We will have to wait for those velvet curtains to have enough holes in them, to become more like lace curtains… for the other side to be seen from the couch.

"It is only then that America and the rest of the world will live in the same world… hopefully in peace."

Peace.

edit: and do notice the date on the referenced blogger's post: Sunday, October 30, 2005. The last post on the home page - http://iraquna.blogspot.com/ - is dated Wednesday, November 15, 2006.

[madfloridian]

7. His other blog....A Glimpse of Iraq...he says he wants to die in Iraq.

That it is his country.

http://glimpseofiraq.blogspot.com/2005/11/my-iraq-this-is-where-i-want-to-die.html

""I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have."

Abraham Lincoln"

All those 6000 years are there. I see them in little things people do, in their everyday gestures, in their unique way of handling impossible hardships. Those years are there. They come to the rescue… and most people don’t know it!

I see them in date palm trees, tall, proud and beautiful… with their fruit only accessible to the skilled and their beauty only maintainable through expertise and hard work. Yet, they can survive unendurable neglect, and be ready to shine again with care.

Yes! I feel sad and angry and bitter most of the time. But these people remind me every single day that I cannot lose hope. It is only a question of scale. We have to think in longer terms. And that, that is what this country is all about.

This country can be invaded, and it has been, more times than I would care to count. It can be ravaged, bombed, looted and ruined. But I know, in my heart, that it will never be permanently crushed. Six thousand years of experience tell me that it will rise again… and that it will be a lantern to show the world yet again the missing link between mind and soul, between knowledge and spirit… for the world seems to have largely lost that link.

This is where I want to live. This is where I want to be buried when I die… in the hope that my decomposed body will one day be food for a tall and proud palm tree.

[Roland99]

3. Anyone here who dares peek thru a hole is labeled a left-wing loony

at the same time while those few corporate screens are constantly termed the "liberal media". That phrase has become so ingrained into the American psyche that I think only another and more disastrous Great Depression could snap the country out of its hypnosis.

[Marie26]

4. White velvet curtains

That's a beautiful metaphor, isn't it? It sounds like Plato's allegory of the cave, with the American public chained to the Lazy-Boy chair, watching the false images flicker across the screen.

[madfloridian]

12. It's eerie and beautiful

And very perceptive.

[Time for change]

5. That Iraqi blogger has quite a bit of insight into what goes on here

I hope he starts posting more.

My great fear is that those in power will fill in the holes with things that make them impenatrable.

[bdamomma]

6. that Iraqi blogger is more aware of our situation than some of our

population.

[madfloridian]

8. I know what you mean.

Filling those holes, that is.

I do fear that. They will try to do it using terms that confuse us until we are not sure what they are doing.

[madfloridian]

9. He writes of his children who have left Iraq one by one.

Goodbye My Boy



My eldest boy went away 16 months ago. Six months later, it was my daughter. We were left with the little one, not yet 17.....
This summer he started working on his all-important Baccalaureate exams (the equivalent of high school). All we wanted was for him to pass that hurdle. But that was not to be. All the many forces of darkness on the loose in Iraq today went into an orgy of killing and senseless violence. It was too much for us. I don’t know how many people can fathom the depth of agony of seeing a loved one in eminent danger and not being able to do a thing about it.

Now my little one too has gone away.

Goodbye my boy.

An average parent in present-day ‘free Iraq’ spends a good portion of the day and night worrying to death over his or her children going to school, going out with their friends, being a shade late in coming home or strolling to the neighborhood shop to buy crisps and coke. Their resentment of restrictions over their comings and goings is a constant, never-ending source of friction and battles. Their agony in their sleep soaking wet in their sweat during the long power cuts in the mercilessly hot summer nights of Baghdad is a dull pain of helplessness and fury in the heart.

Most of the time you are sick with worry over their safety and well-being. The knowledge that they are in constant danger consumes you. It eats you alive. You then realize that it is your love for them that is killing you. You begin to hate that love.

The blogger's anger and fear show through in these next paragraphs. I don't think we will be forgiven even by people this intelligent and wise.

As for those responsible for your suffering, may those of them who believe in God taste His wrath in Hell for all eternity. May those of them without a conscience acquire one to torment them with their own deeds for as long as they live. May the rest of them taste the medicine they recklessly prescribed to others for as long as their hearts are sick.

Goodbye my boy! There is a new, fresh pain of loss in my heart . Yet I hope I won’t see you soon.

Now I can start loving you again.

[file83]

10. All his children have been killed!?

Am I reading that right? That is the worst.

[madfloridian]

11. I think they left Iraq....got that impression from other reading.

I think he is referring to that with his son as well. I think he had to word it carefully, but he might be saying that the "occupiers" which is us have unleashed anger in the young. I think he is saying his son left. Sad, isn't it.

[file83]

13. Yeah, that's still sad. Can he leave, I wonder?

[madfloridian]

14. He had an "open thread" with comments in May 2006.

http://iraquna.blogspot.com/2006/05/open-thread.html

"Let me start this off by a few personal remarks about life in Iraq at present:

A ‘usual’ day:

Yesterday started with an sms message on my mobile from my brother who is now in Jordan asking if my young son went to school. It turned out that there were three (later confirmed to be only two) car bomb explosions in Adhamiya, the district where his school is. It took some doing to get in touch with him to make sue that he was safe.

He came back in the early afternoon visibly shaken. The minibus bringing them back from school was only a few meters away from a police car with two policemen standing on either side. A car from across the road slowed down, two men with machine guns shot the policemen. My son saw the man nearest hit by two - one in the chest and one in the leg – and fell down and started bleeding. He was only a few meters away. It was his closest encounter with a violently dying human being. He is only sixteen and a half."

"A conversation I hear frequently these days runs roughly as follows:

- “My son was taken yesterday.”
- “By the new security forces?”
- “No, by the Americans”
- “Well, that’s better!”

I think that gives you an idea of what people are going through. Now the American army has informed most neighborhoods in Baghdad that they can attack Iraqi security forces if they come late at night unaccompanied by the US army. Most neighborhoods are now barricaded at night… just like those “looting” days immediately after the fall of Baghdad."

"Hello Abu Khaleel,
At the risk of repeating the obvious, stay safe. All the bloggers seem to be making plans to get their families to safety.
The Algerian sectarian war lasted for 10 year!

I wonder if the people of Baghdad could maybe rally around Alaa Al-Tamimi, the Mayor of Baghdad? He doesn't have charisma but he needs to project a more confident image for the city. It's PR but the people need a leader.
Of course, you'd make a good mayor too, Abu."