Why Are We Winning ?!

Hey it's me again ! :)... Oh my gosh, it must have been over a century since I last posted something on this blog eh ?! :)... Anyway, alot has happened in my Iraq since my last blog post, many good things and also unfortunately many bad things... You know something, we ordinary Iraqis over the years have become used to living with bad stuff, so guys, it's alright really, you do not have to worry about us, we're doing just fine... If you guys follow the news coming out of my Iraq recently, you'd surely find that the number and the amplitude of terrorist attacks targeting innocent Iraqi civilians all over the country have risen sharply during the past few weeks, and all of this is really, really bad right ?! But you know what ?! We're still winning, the score is in our favour, and "THEY" are so losing, you know guys why ?! It's because we ordinary Iraqis have decided that we cannot take all of this crap anymore, we're just so sick with it all, and we've decided that it's time for us to move on and put all of this mess and insanity behind our backs... That's right guys, ordinary Iraqis are right now more conscious and alert than ever, right now we know better, and because we know better, we won't simply let "THEM" control us... We're still scared, we're still sad for our loved one whom we've lost, and we're still anxious and apprehensive, but the fear is just not too morbid as it used to be before... In the past our fears used to prevent us from pursuing our day to-day lives like humans normally do, they used to hinder us back and strangulate us, controlling like every second of our miserable days, but now it's all so different, we're still afraid but we're not despaired, we're still sad but we're not miserable, there's anxiety and apprehension, but they're mixed with optimism and hope for a better tomorrow to come, so despite the increasing number and amplitude of terrorist attacks recently, the streets of Baghdad are crowded with people and cars, ordinary Baghdadis aren't at all afraid of going out of their houses and moving out and about around the city, trying to pursue their day to-day lives in a normal or at least semi-normal way, so that's why we're winning guys, because we're not so afraid of living like human beings anymore... With my love... Yours forever, Lubna...

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A New Day Has Come

Hi it's me again ! :-)... Today is the day of the provincial elections in our Iraq. Today is not like any other day, today is a new dawn and a fresh new start for us and for our Iraq... Earlier today I went to the polling station (which lies in Eastern Baghdad) and voted for the bloc of Mr Nouri Al Maliki. The polling station is located in the building of my old high school. At the polling station I met many of my old high school teachers, neighbours, and close friends, which was actually amazing. Tight security measures were imposed on the ground, but people who were providing security were exclusively Iraqis, and they've down an absolutely briliant job. Everything went smoothly, the whole process was well-organised, people in charge of the polling station were co-operative and friendly, and the Iraqi security forces personnels were doing their best inorder to keep things safe and quiet. The votes of my family members divided between secular and moderately religious blocs. And also the votes of my relatives, neighbours, good friends, and college colleagues were for different political blocs, sometimes inconsistent with their religious or ethnic backgrounds i.e. I do have some good Muslim Sunni friends who voted for the bloc of our PM Mr Nouri Al Maliki, who's Muslim Shiite. In 2005 any discussion involving the topic of the elections used to generate a huge amount of stress and sectarian tensions. But now I've noticed that people are more willing to discuss the topic of the elections in a heated, yet civilised and friendly way, so ordinary Iraqi citizens (not Iraqi politicians) have to a great extent got over sectarian tensions that used to predominate the atmosphere down here in the past. Today we ordinary Iraqi citizens have ultimately voted for the sake of our Iraq, not for our religious and ethnic backgrounds. CONGRATULATIONS to our Iraq, and to everyone who's made this day possible. We do have the absolute right to be proud of ourselves and of what we've achieved, today we've just made history.

Tomorrow, our big day...

Hi it's me again ! :-)... Tomorrow is our big day, the day of the Iraqi provincial elections... Tomorrow is so different from the 15th of December 2005, the day of the previous parliamentary elections... This time we know better than the last time, this time we do know very well those people who have let us down, robbed us and torn our beloved Iraq apart... This time we won't believe their absurd lies, we won't buy their false promises which have evaporated the moment they got into power... This time we know who's with us and who's against us... This time we know who cares for us and for our Iraq, and we also know who cares only for his own ambitions and interests... This time we won't allow 'them' to reach into power, we won't allow 'them' to silence our voices and favour 'their' own personal interests and needs over ours, we won't allow 'them' to exploit religion inorder to reach into power... Tomorrow we'll make history, tomorrow we'll take a further step towards the light at the end of the tunnel... Tomorrow is a new dawn for us and for our Iraq, let all of you guys witness the violet ink revolution tomorrow Inshallah... With my love... Yours forever, Lubna...

Please Meet The True Jihadists

Hi it's me again ! :-)... This post is dedicated to all passionate anti-Islamic WHYSers... I do want all of you guys to meet "me", "my family members", "my close relatives and good friends", "my teachers at college", and "all of good Baghdadi citizens that I know", all of us are really so proud to be "true jihadists" guys, oh yes we are ! Jihad is what our day to-day lives are all about, and I am really so sure that all of you guys are so familiar with the term "jihad" and with what it means in Arabic right ?! Jihad means holy struggling or fighting, and that's exactly what all of us are doing on daily bases... We're just continuing our daily holy struggle inorder to get everything right in a city where almost nothing goes in the right direction, inorder to go on with our daily lives in a way which is as close to normal as possible, inorder to be to pursue our very ordinary dreams and to be able to keep up hope, optimism, love, mercy, goodness, and faith in tomorrow alive inside our hearts despite all of this rage, hatred, madness, misery and grief around us... Yes guys, we're all extraordinary jihadists, and we do have the right to be really proud of ourselves, because despite all of what "has happened" to us, we've managed so far to live day by day according to what our humane consciences and moral codes imply on us to be, because despite all of what "has happened" to us, we've been so far able to smile to each other, think of each other, care about each other, fear for each other, and love each other irrespective of our ethnic, religious, and sectarian backgrounds... Really BRAVO to us !! With my love... Yours forever, Lubna in Baghdad...

It is Eid Al Fitr

Hi again ! :-)... It's been rather a long time since I last wrote on this blog eh ?! Tomorrow is the start of the Eid Al Fitr holiday in Iraq, which will last until Sunday the 5th of October Inshallah... Eid Al Fitr holiday comes straight after the end of Holy Ramadan, the fasting month for practicing Muslims...
Yesterday I went with my older sister to my college... I asked her to take a one-day leave from her work place and come with me because I didn't feel comfortable going out alone, and because my sister is one of the best sisters you can ever have, she agreed immediately to do what I asked from her to do, so we went to my college together, me and her, along with our faithful driver Abu Layal... I am going to tell you guys of what we saw during our exciting journey :
The streets were extremely crowded with cars and people... Iraqi and American security forces filled the streets... There were so many military check points down there where almost every civilian car passing through is being checked out carefully for any possible security threat (like sticker bombs and stuff alike... Sticker bombs are a new trend in ''THEIR'' war against innocent Iraqi civilians, and they're being imported from Iraq's neighbouring countries)... The vast majority of the main streets in Baghdad are being blocked by the Iraqi and American security forces, only very few main streets are open for the movement of civilian cars, and that's caused an extremely intolerable traffic jam that's really annoying...
Now here comes the crucial question : Why did we go to my college yesterday ?! And the answer is : Inorder to buy us new clothes for the Eid and my new academic year ! Yeah, that's true, although I am totally aware how strange it seem, but let me try to explain myself a little bit more :
I live in Al Karradah neighbourhood in Baghdad, which is considered to be one of the classiest and most beautiful districts in the whole Iraqi capital... There're many super-markets and classy shops in Al Karradah which offer you almost everything you can think of... So if you want to go shopping in Baghdad, then surely Al Karradah is the perfect place to go... But Al Karradah has been always unsafe, and has been regularly targeted by terrorist attacks of different scales since the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and till yesterday... Also the security situation on the ground in Baghdad and especially in Al Karradah is extremely tense these days in the time period preceding the Eid Al Fitr holiday, so to go out to Al Karradah and buy us new clothes from there is obviously an unwise thing to do... My college (College of Medicine-Baghdad University) lies in Bab Al Muadham district, which has been relatively much safer than Al Karradah during the past few months... A number of small shops lie so close to my college, and I do know their owners very well for four years now, so we took our chances and decided that to buy new clothes for the Eid and my new academic year from those shops is the only safe option available for the moment... We actually bought lots and lots of beautiful and classy stuff, and we eventually paid what's equal to 250 US dollars for all what we bought... Our exciting journey lasted from 7 AM till 2 PM, much of that time has been consumed in the traffic jams... A few hours after we got back home safely, and despite the very tight security measures imposed by the Iraqi and American security forces almost everywhere in the Iraqi capital, unfortunately this happened :
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7640782.stm
So it looks like me and my sis were right this time after all, weren't we ?!
May Allah bless all of our martyrs... And Happy Eid Al Fitr to Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Darfur, and to all Muslims everywhere around the world....
With my love... Yours forever, Lubna...

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To Love Or To Leave ??

Hi... Ah, it's been rather a long time since I last posted on this blog eh ?! :-)... The results of my fourth year final exams have appeared earlier this week, and unfortunately I and two of my closest girlfriends at college couldn't succeed in our final OB exam... That means we'll have to go through a 2nd trial final OB exam in September Inshallah... Remember guys the story that I told you about in March earlier during this year about me and my closest girlfriends cheating death twice during one day ?! For those of you guys who haven't heard about this story before, here's the link to it : dijlarq.blogspot.com/2008/03/cheating-death-twice.html. Since the 3rd of March and till now, we've been through a very fierce battle with both our college and our university inorder to make our college either re-examine us or count for us the final OB exam from ninety degrees (because the OB exam we couldn't have was a midyear exam from thirty degrees !!)... But in the end our beloved college has decided to give us zero from thirty degrees for the midyear OB exam that we couldn have, and because thirty degrees from one hundred degrees were missing, we couldn't pass our final OB exam successfully !! We intend to go on with our battle against both our college and our university till the last day before our 2nd trial OB exam in September Inshallah, in spite of the fact that I don't feel very much hopeful about all of this, after all this is Iraq that we live in, where nothing at all currently goes in the right direction, nothing at all !! Let me ask myself and all of you guys this question : Why do Iraqis always keep complaining about the outside world being so cruel to them and unwilling to help them out while we ordinary Iraqis are unwilling to help each other out, while we ordinary Iraqis are unwilling to show some mercy and kindness to each other ??! With my love... Yours forever, Lubna...

I'm being torn apart by me, and the whole world is just watching

Hi. Remember what I've just told you about my dream that I saw last night ?! Actually I've imagined myself seeing that dream ! :). I needed to imagine myself seeing that dream because I really needed to explain to myself and to you why all those horrific things are happening to my Iraq. The thing that really scares me is that SOME Iraqis do care about wealth, influence, and power more than they care about their Iraq, that SOME Iraqis have forgotten that they're IRAQIS. Just take a look at what is happening in my Iraq these days : The Iraqi government and the Iraqi security forces are launching an assault against Al Mehdi army in Basra and other Iraqi cities including the capital Baghdad on behalf of Badr militia. And the biggest loser in this continueous power struggle is the Iraqi people. In the meantime rockets and morter shells continue to fall around upon the heads of innocent Baghdadi civilians in many Baghdadi districts including my beloved district, Al Karradah. With my love. Yours forever, Lubna.