For the next 2 days the workshop will open a discussion about laws and regulation in Iraq that concerns freedom of speech and censorship laws. Bloggers will work together to discuss new media applications and technologies and how they can use it to share information and building each other’s blogging networks and capabilities. The conference in held by help of IMS and HR institutes to develop new media in Iraq.

Several Arab and Iraqi bloggers had sent a video message that will be shared during the lectures, and several speakers will discuss media, freedom of speech and blogging.

wameeth@gmail.com

raq has been one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists since 2003….this did not improve in spite of the new freedom of speech and many international reports documented attacks on media and its people in Iraq .. according to gulf center for human rights many journalists pay heavy price for their words , it said in an articel in in 16th of jan 2012

On 2 January 2012, Al-Sabah, a State-owned daily newspaper based in Baghdad announced that it had dismissed the head of the cultural section, Ahmed Abdulhossain and journalist Ahmed Hossain, who also writes for the cultural section from their employment. Their dismissal comes less than a month after the Editor-in –Chief Abdulsatar Al-Baithany was fired from his position with Al-Sabah.

The dismissals of the three journalists took place without any prior warning to them and no procedure of investigation was followed

The three journalists were dismissed under a direct order of Mohammed Al-Shaboud, director of the Iraqi Information Network supported by Ali Salamn, head of the trustee council for the Iraqi Information Network.GCHR believes that the three journalists Ahmed Abdulhossain, Ahmed Hossain, and Abdulsatr Al-Baithany have been targeted because of their writings in the Al-Sabah newspaper and as a result of the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression. GCHR also believes that the dismissal from their positions is directly linked to such writings and considers the dismissal as a shameful effort by the Iraqi government to curb the rights to freedom expression and the freedom of the press. GCHR calls on the Iraqi government to meet its human rights obligations and stop targeting journalists in Iraq and should ensure that the right to freedom of expression is respected.

links

http://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/57

http://www.alsumarianews.com/ar/iraq-insights/-4-35582.html

by wamith alkassab ..

wameeth@gmail.com

Earlier this week declared Wuterich is guilty of misconduct, and Tuesday he met in court at the military camp Pendleton near San Diego in California to find out the sentence.

He was initially sentenced to 90 days in jail, but do not have to zone as a result of an agreement he made with the military prosecutors. Instead, he was demoted to Private.Prosecutors have emphasized that the 31-year-old lost control after seeing a comrade killed in a bomb explosion in the Iraqi town of Haditha 19 November 2005.

It is a big shock to iraqi people that the ministry of human rights is planning to call for appeal ,,the victims families can not understand how this just happened …many in iraq thought that the legal system in US  is better than iraq ,but to act with such disregard of the death of all those people makes them lose faith in the democratic system that they “brought” to Iraq.

wamith al-kassab

wameeth@gmail.com

Today in Baghdad  the Iraqi people celebrated the memory of the great iraqi sculptural  Jawad Salim, the clebration was orgnize by Al-mada   Foundation  of information  culture and the arts in collaboration with the secretariat of Baghdad on Friday night in Tahrir Square under the Monument of Liberty by the late Jawad Salim on the occasion of the passage of half a century of his death where the ceremony was attended by a large number of political figures, cultural and artistic by playing pieces of the music by Iraqi  Symphony and  reading poetic pieces in his honer ,this was a message from the people to the world that in spite of all the violence in Iraq they still believe in hope ,art and better live and future

You can see an Arabic copy of the new regulation below, it consist of 4 paragraphs, each one is restricting wearing certain clothes and shoes to females employed in the ministry and signed by the women affairs coordinator.

We need painters, musicians, writers; we need people to have dreams and faith in the possibility of it coming true…

My friend Mohamed Amer had a dream , his dream was no to tell the story of his country, but to tell the world that his country is still have good sons, who can rise from the middle of war and death, to tell the world good stories, he always tried to help others who he believed got the talent to stand by their side and help of building new generation, so this young Iraqi youth decide to use his ability of writing to make one step to achieve his dream and he wrote a book, the book title is God Is In The Rain , is a story about an old man who tells stories to children in a fantasy and realistic way to grab their attention , a story a bout an amazing journey into the worlds philosophy about life and religion, romance and war.

I advice you to read it, and to help this 26 years old Iraqi engineer who lived most of his life in Iraq, waiting that someone, finally, hear all the talented youth calling, so how you can help him ??

Well you can buy his book, which is available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com ,,, and you can spread the word, share the link for this article and help other who like to support Iraqi youth to find a chance to do so.

Believe me in the end you will read an amazing story and feel good for helping g to induce change for Iraq future

This is link to the writer book and blog page

http://www.iraqistreets.com/talented-youth-blog-mohamed-amer-book

This is link to the book on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/God-Rain-ebook/dp/B006R90QHU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1325344110&sr=8-5

This is link to the book in Lulu

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/mohamedamer

The spokesperson for the Safety Authority in Baghdad, Qassim Atta, blamed the attack on some unknown power (in past times he used to blame al-Qaeda or the Baath party). There is a connection between the attacks and the U.S. withdrawal, but we don’t know not yet who is behind it. Some think that as the U.S. has withdrawn, al-Qaeda will show that it is present and that the Iraqi government can not protect the population, as the terrorist network’s goal is to carry out an attack that could destabilize the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama said “we leave with a sovereign, stable and independent Iraq with a representative government that was elected by the people” during a celebration of the military withdrawal last week, but it seems his vision will not be as stable after all that the U.S. has done  in recent years. Iraq still  needs to introduce democracy in a country where, even after the US left, while the last American soldier left the Iraqi soil, almost nine years after the invasion, there was an end to the peace between Shia and Sunni Muslim politicians. The political crisis came to a head when an arrest warrant was issued for Tariq al-Hashemi, the country’s vice president and the most prominent Sunni politician in Iraq. Hashemi is accused of having ordered terrorist attacks against Shia leaders. The politician has sought refuge in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq and the Shiite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has asked to have him extradited. This has led ministers from the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc to boycott both the government and the parliament, which makes many fear the shadow of civil war .

If the political situation improves, then it is a confirmation that Iraq is less democratic than the United States has indicated, and if leadership  fails to take control, the situation can grow to be very violent. Many have seen signs that Maliki’s dictatorial tendencies have degenerated in recent months, especially during the so-called Arab spring. Some call him the new Saddam Hussein, for he rules on the basis of the minority, but instead we can see it is a dictatorship based on majority rule.

There is a slightly different constitution, but there is no better framework and a new dictatorial regime in Iraq has become clearer and clearer in recent years. The fact that Maliki is in the throat of the opposition, can be very risky. There is not any real opposition because of the political persecution.

The future is held between the thin hands of destiny to build a state or destroy one.

The power struggle among  Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish political factions has began in different forms since Saddam’s fall, but it appears to have entered a new phase in recent years, once the clock began ticking down towards the U.S. withdrawal.  PM al-Maliki has been created a new dictatorship inside the green zone, particularly through his control over the security forces, government banks, the official state media. When his Sunni deputy said he is a dictator as Saddam, the difference Saddam used to build and this one just destroy, he removed him from office and prevented him from entering the green zone.

Ten violent explosions in a short time: in the middle of the power struggle among the leaders ,it took lives of hundreds of Iraqi people and destroyed the interior department and all the leaders open cases of corruption , you may consider it a small gift to them as they fight alone in their rich offices inside green zone and leave the rest of people to die in these holy days , a normal price for freedom for Iraqis from old dictator and living under a new one , and a gift of power to Iran to live happily without their old friend Saddam and to US to drag al-Qaida in Iraq so they can play war together on the cost of thousands of Iraqi lives, thousands of US troops lives, billions of tax payers money ,and the destruction of a country that holds a 25 million person who lives today in the worst and most corrupted place on earth according to all humanitarian studies. Plus the Iraqi lives that disappear within a short timeframe, on a whim, when the leaders of new Iraq gets upset on Christmas for example.

I know it is just a waste of time to write. You must be busy in making sure to give freedom to other Arab people ,who will join Iraqi people in paying the price of freedom and safety and power to Iran and the west , but this is just a reminder that when you go and enjoy Christmas. We are crying tears of blood in Iraq on our long gone country thanks you for freedom ,democracy and giving us the pleasure of killing one another.

wameeth@gmail.com

The spokesman of al-Hashimi has responded by saying that the three men in the video had actually worked for Vice President, but denied all allegations claiming that it is government action against the Sunni political leaders: at least 13 bodyguards Al-Hashimi has been arrested in recent weeks. it is important to mention that in 2006 Four gunmen killed  the Vic presidents sister  Maysoon al-Hashimi  and her driver in an ambush in the Alam neighborhood , The killing of al-Hashimi’s sister comes two weeks after his brother Mahmood was gunned down while driving with a friend on a Baghdad highway. the killing was by death squads which today he is accused to supported ,which shads a strong feeling of doubt on the accuracy of such accusations

The spokesman of al-Hashimi has responded by saying that the three men in the video had actually worked for Vice President, but denied all allegations claiming that it is government action against the Sunni political leaders: at least 13 bodyguards Al-Hashimi has been arrested in recent weeks. this came as part of large governmental arresting campaign among of  Iraqiya slate supporters in the government specially those who work in the army and security forces on the allegations of being bath party members, which leads to the the Iraqiya slate,   the second largest group after the Iraqi National Alliance formed by Shiite groups in the Parliament,  to leave last Saturday accusing the al-Maliki to combat the democratic process through the wave of political arrests targeted in recent weeks. The action was the last act of clashes that have been going on for months and marked a break now exists between the two major political camps in the country. ”The decision to move away from the Parliament was taken because of the deterioration of the political process and to prevent the country from descending into a disaster if the dictatorship of Maliki continues,” said Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Moutlak that compared to Nouri al-Maliki dictator Saddam Hussein. now al-maliki is asking the parlamint to remove Moutlak from  his post for this remark .

in an article in the Italian ilopst.it   the New York Times cites Reidar Visser, an analyst of Iraqi politics and editor of the bloghistoriae.org, who has called the current situation as “the worst crisis in Iraqi politics” over the past five years: “Every political leader of the Sunni seems to have become a target of the campaign of Maliki, “said Visser, and” it seems that every Sunni is in danger of being labeled as a terrorist. ”

Meanwhile,The arrest warrant puts Mr. Maliki on a possible collision course with the Kurds,  the Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani invited the leaders of the country to meet at an emergency meeting to avoid a “collapse” of the national unity government warning that “the situation is heading towards a deep crisis.” ”Unfortunately the situation is heading toward a deep crisis and the government partnership is under threat,” said Masoud al-Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government 

For the U.S., this development is very sensitive, the last U.S. troops withdrew just a few days ago and President Barack Obama said then that Iraq is now a stable country that can handle itself.

United States expressed its concern today over what happens, the White House urged all parties in Iraq to resolve conflicts through dialogue. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest U.S. has in any country, has the last days have been in contact with the leading politicians in Iraq to try to defuse the conflict.

As for Iraqi people some are happy that the government can accuse high officials and they can be arrested if they did a crime ,others wants to make sure that this is not a part of power sharing struggles , the sunnis are worried that this will reflect on their representation in the government and will be blamed on them in the end , others do not care and was indifferent on the situation ,while several analysis from different media and political sides in Iraq showed a doubt of incertinaty and a feeling of hoping it will not lead   to significantly strengthen the sectarian tensions in Iraq and the most pessimistic warning that the country can slip into worse scenarios in the future

wamith al-kassab

Iraqi Activist

wameeth@gamil.com

The protesters demanded the closing of the private broadcaster Nessma TV, which broadcast the film. Hundreds of attackers later attacked the house of Nabil Karoui station manager and set it on fire.

The film Persepolis from 2007 is based on a comic who lives in France. Iranian author Marjane Satrapi talks about her childhood and youth in Iran. She was nominated for an Oscar and won the Cannes Film Festival with a special price. Iranian filmmakers are becoming in internationally acclaimed works deal with the political and social reality of their country. Including Jafar Panahi.

In 2006 he received for his film Offside, the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February that he would even sit on the jury of the Berlinale – but was allowed because he was under house arrest for not leaving Iran. Now he must go to prison for six years. As state media reported on Saturday, Panahi failed on appeal, his sentence was confirmed in this instance. The 20-year career and travel ban on Panahi has also been maintained.

If you saw the film you will understand it is a classic piece of art that needed to be shown all over schools in the Mideast ,many youth will find them connected with the tale of freedom against tyranny of radical mind ,the protester leaders may win points in the election but had lost for them self and the new tunisa points in respect ,open minded and the hope to build a model state to lead the Arabic future as they did when the lead the Arabic revolutionary movements , I believe they went out to stop the warning message of the movie against radical domination  of power in name of Islam ,and they used the God image as excuses.