Elections 2010: This Does Not Look Good

This is getting ugly: today and yesterday three major events, in my opinion that would be an essential factor to change the course of the elections next weekend.

Before I do that, I want to say something to two people whom I talked with and insisted that Iraq is safe now, safer than ever...


Give me a break... In the past weeks, Iraq became the nr.1 country in using suppressors for assassination attempts, because it became one of the cheapest things to manufacture.

Anyway, lets get back to what I want to write about:


First: Today's Terrorist Attacks:

The first event I want to talk about is the triple terrorist attacks in the city of Baquba, Diyala province earlier today, which left more than 50 innocent victims dear and double the number injured. Yesterday evening I of the silence before the storm. The attack today drew a lot of news, maybe because of its altitude and the number of vehicles used, but there were other attacks in other cities such as Basra city in the south the day before yesterday, and Mousel end of last week?

I go back to the concept of silence before the storm: as I said, suicidal attacks did not stop all over the country, adding to that a statement by an American military official saying few weeks back that the terrorists will use new means or ways to erupt the upcoming elections. Does this means that what expected to come would be more horrible than what we have seen in today's attack and the ones preceded it? All this to keep Iraq unstable, and making people be afraid from going to the voting polls, but would this work? It did not work 5 years ago, it won't work this time either.

Speaking of keeping Iraq unstable, a friend of mine told me last weekend that in no one's interest to have a stable and prosper Iraq. Her say is based on a documentary that emphasizes on conspiracy theory and how specific people in specific hidden places in the world are running the whole world, its nations, leaders and individuals like poppets

As I said, I am not sure what effect these attacks would make! People have already made up their minds, not only if they are going to participate or not, but Iraqi also made up their mind on which candidate they think would be the right person to select.

I have to praise the role Iraqi media played in preparing and educating the people for that purpose, and I am not going to avoid mentioning the great effort by AlBaghdadia, AlSharqiya. AlArabiya (from Iraq program) and AlSumaria satellite channels, for example, where hours of their coverage were digitally captured by many and uploaded to Youtube on daily basis.

In addition, I have to bow my hat for many Iraqis from inside Iraq and abroad who are posting all kind of messages on Facebook and twitter (and via emails) encouraging people to go and vote.

Iraqis are looking for change.

Iraqis do not want to stay behind

Iraqis want to see their country recovered from its wounds







Second: Prime Minister Interview with BBC

The second is news is the interview that BBC Arabic conducted with Prime Minister al Malaki yesterday. By the way, from the excerpts of that interview, al Maliki did not look comfortable, he looked nervous, even became agitated from some of the questions put forward to him. The Iraqi Prime Minister rejected with firm tone in his voice any coalition with Ayad Allawy if the chance would appear after the upcoming elections. He also accused other political parties of receiving financial support from abroad, without mentioning any in name, but any smart boy can figure out the direction he is taking the viewer to. Speaking on foreign relations, I did not see anything new related to his government stand towards Saudi and Syria, among other countries. At the same time he strongly defended his government's relations with neighboring country, Iran,laughing out U.S. accusations against Iran for its interference in Iraq's internal affairs. Prime Minister emphasized that all these accusations are part of the tension between the U.S. and Iran, he does not share these views, but "any U.S. official is entitled to his own opinion or point of view."

The conclusion, al Maliki's State of Law coalition message to neighboring countries nothing but: screw up, all of you. Other countries must make the move, not Iraq.

The exception to the rule is of course Iran.


OK, let me rephrase what I have just said: al Maliki government will not have any normal relations with any Arab country.

To be fully just regarding this issue, I am not going to put all the blame on al Maliki and his government for the lack of popularity in the Arab world. It is also Arab countries and governments share the blame. Watching and observing the news nowadays makes things clear how much Arab governments and leaderships would be more enthusiast seeing Iraq's top officials other than the current one.









Third: Mohamad Al Shahwany's: Secrets from the Wizard's Hat

The third and final thing is former secret intelligence chief, Mohamad Al Shahwany, and his interview that will be aired this evening on the anti-everything-related-to-Iran satellite channel, Al Sharqiya.

The man left Iraq last year to unknown destination (some say he is now in London, and others say he is in Lebanon). He left Iraq after his disagreement with the current government on the way security and intelligence have been tackled, especially after the attacks that rocked baghdad a couple of months ago. Some say that this man will disclose all "forbidden secrets" related to the hidden-agenda Iran has for Iraq, and that he had evidence of Iran's involvement in the latest attacks on governmental building last year. The trailer I have seen on TV yesterday predicts a lot of secrets to be disclosed, indeed, and will have big implications on the results of the elections.

But...


What a timing!! why did Mr. Al Shahwany decided to talk now? or is it pre-recorded some time ago but Al Sharqiya decided deliberately to air it tonight, 4 days before the general elections?

Elections 2010: Mithal al-Alusi

Every single Iraqi knows Mithal al-Alusi, but for many non-Iraqis he is the only politician from Iraq who visited Israel, a move that drew a lot of media attention and public negative responses, for that he has been accused by many Arabs of treason, because his move "is an attempt to rip Iraq off from its Arab nationalism principle, and from its ultimate goal: The liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation." All this because he attended an anti-terrorism conference in Israel in 2005.

Without going into the right or wrong of his doing related to that visit, the man made his visit public, but it was his fault for being honest. It is no secret nowadays the number of Iraqi and Arab politicians already visited Israel secretly in the past years, in peace and war times, and many made trade and economic deals behind the curtains with Israeli officials, while in public showed resentment, or at least rejection to the idea of having normal relations with Israel. So, what is the big deal?

Before I continue, I tried not to start this post on al-Alusi by writing about his visit to Israel. I did not want to sound like another media trumpet when talking about this politician, but I fell in the trap! It was not intentional.

Anyway, there no single person can ignore or even try to deny the fact that Mithal al-Alusi is one of the most outspoken figures among Iraq's politicians. To take the matter to extreme negativity, some describe him as being rude or ruthless - on a side note, some call it a good attitude depending on the situation. His outbursts at journalists and his reaction to questions during TV interviews on a number of occasions is resulted in mixed reactions, not to forget the reaction to his strong presence during meetings in the parliament.

The look at this man's face gives one indication: frustration mixed with anger, a lot of anger, but with sadness, in fact a lot of grief. I don't blame him, as one of the turning points of Mr. al-Alusi's life took place in 2005 when unknown armed men ambushed his convoy in western Baghdad in an assassination attempt, which resulted in killing two of al-Alusy's sons, Ayman, 29, and Jamal, 24, along with a bodyguard. Two years later, Culture Minister then, Asaad al-Hashimi, has been identified as the kingpin behind the killing and was convicted in absentee - Asaad al-Hashimi is now under arrest by an Arab government and should be returned to Iraq in the near future, unless...

I might disagree, and say that al-Alusi's facial expression of grief and anger are merely an expression of frustration towards the situation in Iraq, a bizarre situation where only "open-minded" Iraqis would share and agree to mourn, and to some extent explode from agony.

When I say "open-minded", I am referring to those people who did not align themselves with some who took the news of the killing of al-Alusi's sons as an opportunity to take moral revenge or gloating, by saying "he deserve it, that traitor, because of his visit to Israel." This is non-sense, and inhuman, well, it is common that human value in Arab countries is considered the least to think about - Bush used Arab countries for the torturing and bring up confessions out of his Crusade war prisoners, remember? George W. Bush realize such fact and used it effectively.

Maybe for the above reasons Prime Minister al Malaki asked Mithal al-Alusi (twice?!) to take the position of head of Intelligence and Security system of Iraq. He declined the offer.

Al-Alusi political history is no secret, full of struggle regarding his opposition to the dictatorship of Saddam Hussain. He is affirmative and determine, for example, in December 2002, he was involved in the takeover of the Iraqi embassy in Berlin to protest Saddam's tyranny, and was convicted of hostage taking by a German court and sentenced to three years in jail. His sentence was later reduced to house arrest. After the fall of former regime in Iraq al-Alusi went back to Iraq and resumed his political career with some obstacles here and there due to his outspoken nature, but to all al-Alusi is not just another politician who used to live in exile (Germany), like many we know and heard about, who used to live on social benefits from his host country (and donations from sources with foreign agenda's), while attending meetings and conference to outset the then dictatorship in Iraq.

But... What can Mr. Alusi do for the future of Iraq?

Is he the right person for Iraq?

Iraq needs a strong man to rule, bring people altogether united. Iraq needs ONE figure to clean up the mess, at least for the coming period, at least for the coming 4 to 8 years, especially after the political, social, economic chaos we witnessed after the invasion of US forces and the sectarian violence engulfed the nation and fed by God knows who from east and west.

Wait… I don't want to be misunderstood, Iraq does not need another Saddam, and will never have another Saddam for many years to come, and maybe will never come. Iraq needs a strong political figure with a lot of power, a man who can compensate Iraqis for what they have suffered all the years that gone, but at the same time he can and without hesitation ram his fist do hard down and with might on those who dare to play with the fate of Iraq and the Iraqis.

Unfortunately I did not see that in current prime minister, people praise al-Maliki for being a nice man with nice personality (some call him merciful!), but did not describe him as being powerful, strict, decisive, and I don’t buy these calls by some who align him with promoting law and order, because reality showed that there is none exists in Iraq. 

To the contrary, the qualities of power, determination and baldness all apply to Mithal al-Alusi, yet, many agree that other things goes hand in hand and Mr. al-Alusi  has two weaknesses: The first I already mentioned, his renounced visit to Israel. In my opinion, Isreal is not the United States, neither it is South Africa to just turn the page and starts with another chapter and a new reality. The Arab-Israeli conflict is a complex issue, take a look at what happened after Sadat of Egypt made his move in the late 1970’s, the move was not prepared, the people and citizens are not prepared.

The second point taken against al-Alusi is what some people call it "the political mood of Mithal al-Alusi", or "the quick change of heart regarding Iraq's political scene", as others put it.

To start with, I don't recall someone calls al-Alusi with being Ba'athist, I doubt that someone would dare to do as such, and I laugh when someone dare to call al-Alusi as being Ba'athist, because this show the level of ignorance such a person has, especially that he was one of the founding members of the committee responsible for chasing Saddam's followers after 2003, as I read... but wait, he might get branded with that, is it maybe due to his thick mustache?

Anyway, al-Alusi does not believe in reconciliation, just a one-shot-and-go type of person - maybe this is one of the differences between this man and former prime minister, Ayad Allawy. In addition, Al-Alusi is not a fan of the concept and principle of Arab unity. Further more, he accuses the Arabs of being the portal for the U.S and western allies used to attack Iraq, thus, for the misery Iraq has plagued with. Mithal al-Alusi is a patriotic, meaning Iraq is the first and last priority. He is known for saying "If the interest of Iraq is found deep in hell, I will go there for the sake of this interest". In addition, he shares with his fellow politician Ayad Jamal Al-Din loath and strong hostility towards Iran, because of Iran's interference in Iraq's internal affairs. He shares with Ayad Allawy, though, the idea that Iraq must have a secular government i.e. rejects having religion and politics on the same table, in spite of his strong ties with religious and tribal leaders all over Iraq. Having said the above, it all makes a very complicated formula, in fact, it makes the voter confused by such a figure, taking every point I took independently and deeply into a long and vast argument.

This post is just sharing my thoughts on another distinguished political figure in Iraq, and not to promote another politician. Last time I talked about Ayad Jamal al-Din, tomorrow might be the turn to write about another politician. I would like to share my thoughts and ideas with my friends and fellow bloggers, and to exchange ideas.

On this occasion, having people exchanging their thoughts on the future of Iraq is important, the most important thing for the sake of the people who suffered a lot from wars, dictatorship, death, loss, occupation, being a victim of other’s selfish desire…etc

Above all, we all did see the current government and its conduct in the past 4 years.

I believe it is time for change.

The below video al-Alusi talks about the assassination attempt that killed his both son’s

Real Fake!

This is related to my post on Ayad Jamal Al-DinIt makes me happy that people read my blog and express their admiration to what I write.

Having said that, it saddens me to see someone who just take parts of my writings and tr...anslate it to Arabic and put it in on an Iraqi website under his signiture.

I would be honored if that person just asks my permission like dear friend, Iraqi Birjwazi did and asked me, becuase this is the way civilized people deal with each other. I will be more than happy to do the translation myself to that person and send it to him/her and not seeing my work published under another name.

Elections 2010: Ayad Jamal Al-Din

After watching his live-interview with Albaghdadia Tv. I thought of writing about what many consider him as the most controversial figure in Iraq politics today, it might be because he has consistently argued that freedom, tolerance and security walk hand-in-hand.
Mr. Jamal Al-Din was born in Najaf in 1961. He went to exile when he was 16 years old, lived in Syria for some time before moving to Qum, Iran where he studied Qu’ran and Shari’a for eight years. He completed his studies earning master degree in philosophy. He is a father of six and lives in Baghdad.

Ayad Jamal Al-Din is the only Iraqi cleric who is promoting for a secular Iraq - he even calling for tolerance among atheists, simply because he is not "representing God's word on earth" - Maybe the reason for that is his big influence by the writing of Ibn al Rumy, a Muslim philosopher and mystic lived in the 9'th century. He strongly believes in Ibn Al Rumy’s say that “religion came to serve the human, and not human was created to serve religion”

He is most known for calling to separate religion from the state: his principle applies to the fact that the state does not have a religion, the people of that state believe in different religions and have different believes, therefore it is not righteous to brand that state with one religion or faith. He praises the political system in Turkey, and expressed his admiration to the doctrine of the United States of America, because both represents the essential concept of building a secular and successful state.

From his own words I quote: A secular state will guarantee the rights and respect of its citizens and a religious state will make its citizens alienate themselves from that state.

His attack on today’s definition of freedom in Iraq did not please a lot of people, check the video below where he was asked whether the bloodshed in Iraq in previous years can be considered as the cost to freedom and democracy in Iraq. His answer was that “we (in Iraq)don’t know what is the definition of freedom, and we don’t know how to deal with the concept of freedom. We are like a small bird who was born in a cage, his father and mother were also born in that cage, as their grandparents before them for more than 1400 years. Now, America came and broke that cage, but that bird is not able to fly high, because he was in the cage for all these years, and never learned how to use his wings. All this caused by our inferior culture, and I don’t the beautiful and tolerant concepts, teachings and principles of beautiful religion of Islam, which set the rules for respect to all humans, I am referring to that culture that made the citizen born and grew up with one thing in mind: to be a slave to his ruler.”

I am not surprised after hearing that this politician had more than 6 assassination attempts on him! Not a lot of people would like to hear such talk today – the uploader of this video is one of those furious from Jamal Al-Din’s talk.

Speaking about that, Jamal Al-Din’s view on other political parties: He calls for transparency among Iraqi politicians, and emphasize for the call for all political parties to declare who is funding them – with all the corruption for the last 4 years and more, Ayad Jamal Al-Din won’t have a lot of good friends around. In addition, he calls for an end outside interference in Iraq’s politics, and THE ONLY SHIITE FIGURE who publicly rejects Iran's role in interfering in Iraq, in addition to his calls for a free Iraq, this include freedom from US occupation. He was for sometime a strong ally to former Prime Minister Ayad Allway (both formed an alliance but fell due to Allawy's policies and overtures to Iran), but he mentions during that interview with Albaghdadia TV that he would be the first to join Allawy on a condition to make the latter’s view on the relationship with Iran clearer and more transparent.

The big question is: will he succeed? He has a big fan base and supporter from both Sunni and Shiite inside Iraq and abroad, mainly because he is calling for the freedom of belief (this is the main concept that Europe adapted after the end of WWII). However, many people are afraid of a cleric in power - someone put it like that "if those religious men in suits came to power and since 2003 did not make one single move to make life easier for the ordinary Iraqis, how do you expect me to elect a cleric?" Ayad Jamal Al-Din replied on a number of interviews that his appearance has nothing to do with the agenda his party is campaigning – he has photos and videos not wearing the Shiite cleric custom, by the way. One of his comments on outside looks and appearance is his rejection to the idea of a woman wearing a headscarf (hijab) in order to find work - which became now the situation in Iraq for many females.

In fact there is a bigger question came to my mind: will he be allowed to succeed? Does Iran ring a bell? What about Saudi Arabia? Ayad Jamal Al-Din criticized on one of the interviews both the first Muslim Khalif Abu Baker and Ayatollah Al Khumaini, and put them both on the same level regarding their use (or misuse) of power.

Finally, I don't want to give the impression by writing this post that I am doing some kind of a free propaganda or promote the image of any political figure, including Jamal Ayad Al-Din, that’s why I didn’t mention his promises in his campaign related to bringing basic services for Iraqis and creating jobs for the unemployed…etc

These are just some thoughts I wanted to share on a political figure in today's Iraq, especially with the elections heat are approaching day after day.

The elections will be next month, 7 of march, unless something will happen that will force it to be postponed - Iraq is the country of surprises.

Below are videos I picked randomly of interviews with Jamal Al-Din (with English subtitles)

Cartoons On Iraqi TV

This post about cartoons, specifically the most famous cartoons millions of Iraqi children used to watch on TV in the early and mid1980's when a "big shift" was taken by officials at the TV station from showing Eastern European made cartoons and to focus on Arabic dubbed-Japanese animation.

In the late 1970's, or maybe earlier, cartoons from Poland, such as the semi-silent type of cartoons like the polish cute adventures of Lolek & Bolek were the most famous children animation. My brother and I used to imitate those two characters and try to re-live their adventures.

It worked, most of the times.

















Another famous Polish cartoon character was Reksio, the cute puppy who was famous for his human-like body-stretching after his night sleep, and his ability to learn fast from his mistakes and teach other pets good things about life around them.

I loved his tip-tapping using four legs from time to time
















The "shift" I mentioned in the beginning to Japanese animation was taken in the early 1980's, thanks to Lebanese media companies and their excellent work of Classic-Arabic language dubbed cartoons, and making use of voices of famous Lebanese actors like Abdel Majid Majthoob, Mahmood Sa'eed and Jihaad Al Atrash. It became a dilemma when other Arab countries followed suit, such as Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt: the breath taking adventures of Adnan and Lina (or Future Boy Conan, as it is called in its orignial version), is a great example.






















Anyone interested in the official website of this cartoon character, click here (in Japanese)

However, "Sandy Bell" was girl's all-time favorite. I was mostly interested in her van/ minibus when she grew up in later episodes and started working as a journalist.

















There were other cartoon series, such as Zeena and Nahool, a story about the adventures of two bees (Zeena female, Nahool male) in the vast and mysterious green forest. I think the success of that series prompted authorities to buy another "Bee adventure" show, I am referring to the ultra-depressive bee Bashar, who spent the whole series looking for his mother.

Does anyone know the link between that bee, Bashar, and Saddam Hussein?

Another cartoon series that gained instant success from the first episode was "Lady Oscar". it was about a young woman in France who has been raised as a man to become her father's successor as leader of Versailles Palace Guards, and whom later becomes very close to French queen, Marie Antoinette, before and after the French Revolution.






















During that time I noticed that some episodes of that show were edited. Some episodes were shorter in length / time than previous ones. I believed that the reason was that some scenes were axed (by censorship) on a number of times. After all these years, thanks to the internet to prove my theory right, because I don't recall seeing a romantic scene like the below






















In order to provide variation to the material shown on TV, it is just a speculation though, there was in the middle of all this "Japanese-animation-mania by Iraqi TV officials", Barabpapa came along, a family of colorful-shape-shifters, which became the inspiration for many to have their pictures, on school-bags and magazines, for example.




















I still doubt that Iraqi TV bought all episodes from this series, or maybe one season, because this show is repeated never-seen-before shows on Dutch TV, to this day .

On a related matter where uncompleted animation show, I add "Faris Al Fadha''" or Captain Future or Kyaputen Fyūchā, as its called by original makers. I watched every single episode of that series and I was convinced that not all were shown on Iraqi TV then. However, that was one fantastic show.

It was a big inspiration to me when I used to draw and write about science fiction at younger age. Maybe that was the reason





















After all these years, traveling and watching television shows in different countries, I became more convinced how skilled are those people used to be responsible for the children programs department at Iraqi TV. The material provided by the officials then were not something that can by any means considered as outdated, as I thought back then - I was furious then, because TV did not show Spider-man or other Marvel or DC comics super hero characters.

These compliments extend itself to include those highly-skilled men and women who used to bring joy (and education too) to millions of Iraqi children with their work and effort on "Majallaty" and "Al Mizmar" - both were children magazines that included comics by different Iraqi artists. It also included educational information on history, technology, society, in addition to competitions and games, such as puzzels.

Without emphasizing on government's influences, the work those great men and woman did for Iraqi children in the media is something highly appreciated. In the middle came the period of bloody war waged and Iraq was deep involved in it (Iraq-Iran war), so political and military authorities were keen to boost its propaganda as it saw it necessary in all media aspects as an effective weapon to be used to win any war.

Speaking of wars, one of my all time favorite cartoon series I loved to watch was the "Blue Submarine" (or Bluenoah, as called by its creators). Its about a very advanced submarine (and a huge carrier) that was in a war against alien invaders to planet earth.

It was another fantastic show, with fantastic ending





















Sasouky is another Japanese cartoon that stole the hearts and minds of many children in Iraq at that time, simply because it was about two things: magic and Ninja martial arts... what a combination!
















What was the worst cartoon series? In my opinion, there were few, but the first comes to mind was Iron Man - not Marvel's Iron Man, I meant the Japanese animation, originally called "Dinosaur War Izongorg". The show was not fully animated, some scenes encompasses of actors in monster suits doing the jumping and fighting - an art widely known in Japan as suitmation, and other scenes with simple Japanese animation.





















To me, despite its success world-wide, it was one of the most awful shows I have ever seen, yet, all children wanted to become the Iron Man, the hero who defeat gray-ugly and fat pre-history dinosaurs and monsters.

Mentioning monsters here brings me to talk about the ultimate and one of the longest aired animation show ever played on Iraqi television: Grendizer, or Goldorak (in Japanese)




















That show was unbeatable, no Iraqi child will ever forget Grendizer. It tops the list, with one exception, which I will come to it later. Boys and girls, mainly boys, were influenced by that show. More than 70 episodes on daily basis, where each episode showed earth and humanity on the verge of destruction and threatened by Mighty Vega and army of green soldiers attacking using their speedy UFO's. That show has everything; in addition to the super robots huge battles using deadly and catastrophic weapons, the details of space ships, places, bases given on that show were amazing. Grendizer as a show contained slow but stable story-line development, as well as character and inter-relationship progression to each (even with the customs they appeared in on later stages showed their transformation from the teenagers to those mature men and women), it had comedy and even love. Most children know the title song by heart, I mean the Arabic version of the song, it has the same melody as its original Japanese version, but with Arabic lyrics. All children became familiar with the weaponry the giant super robot use, and all children sit with anticipation at air time, waiting and trying to guess which weapon Grendizer will use against the new enemy today - what helped learning the different lethal weapons Grendizer uses against his enemies were the rantings during the different battles of main character and the "driver/controller" of that super robot, I mean "Prince Daisky". He call each weapon with its name upon using it with powerful tone and impact.

I think that Lebanese actor, Jihaad Al Atrash, did sing the main theme song, I am not sure.

Parents watch their Children watching the show with eyes wide open, focused (and some would turn world up side down if someone say something while watching the show). By the end of the show, specifically, a long gasp and "WOW" would come out from the child's mouth when seeing the final fatal slam by the giant Grendizer on his enemy monster or robot.

I heard that Mazinger was the only show that can beat Grendizer. I can't agree, or disagree because I have never watched Mazinger, thus, Grendizer remain in the top of list, except for one show that in my opinion can be on the top of the list of animation ever put on Iraqi TV:

Sindbad!

But talking about that show will have to wait for now.





This is the intro to the Arabic version of the famous cartoon series


This is the original, Japanese version

Happy Muslim New Year

Hope is what kept us going through all the changes, all the difficulties in life. Hope is like the driving force for a better future. Hope and determination are the two things that would make our dreams come true.

Happy Muslim New Year to all and may peace be upon human beings

Iraqi Food

On the occasion of Eid Al-Adha I decided to write this post about Iraqi food. It is not about what families are cooking during Eid, but this post is an illustration of the different food and menus Iraqis are famous with.

Wish all Eid Mubarak and may all wishes come true, most importantly health, happiness and peace.

Iraqi food is so strongly influenced by its neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran, in addition to a limited influence by Indian food – thanks to British occupation in the early 20'th Century. In spite of that, Iraqis has adopted these “foreign cuisines” to their taste, as a result, Iraqi kitchen gained some sort of uniqueness.

I start with one of the most famous Iraqi dishes, Masgouf. It is a whole-skewered fish barbecued on an outdoor grill. It is known mainly by Baghdadis in Abu Nuas street, where restaurants and cafe’s stretching along the bench of river Tigris.

By the way, most of these restaurants used to open after sunset time. You see the workers prepare everything, from cleaning tables, washing the marbled floor with a water hose in one hand and a broom or a sweeper with the other. Slowly the sun goes down and the night is lit with the stars, with the colored bulbs and neon lights of these restaurants. Gradually the music of Um Kalthoum and other classic Arabic music harmonizes the atmosphere, nothing but to make this night, like any other night, something not to forget for the guest.

Did I mention that Araq and Beer is part of this?

Some people’s passion for Masgouf prompted them to try this at home, as in the below picture.

P.S. I like his Pyjama.

Ok, lets move on…

The second in this list is Lahm b ’ajeena … The olive on top as shown in the picture below is optional, of course.

With some little modification to the recipe, the way it is made in different middle eastern countries, the name also follow suits. In Syria, its called “Safiha”, in Holland it became known as “turkse Pizza”, in other countries its known as ”Lamejun” , or Armenian Pizza. However, in Iraq its called Lahm b’ ajeena, literally means meat on bread.

The way Lahm b’ ajeena is made by making baked circles of dough topped with cooked tiny-chopped meat and onion.

Many Iraqi families, including mine used to consider Lahm b ‘ajeena as an appetizer. The view of the pile of steaming baked pastries on a plate, along the tea pot and cups, all put on a big tray carried by my beloved aunt, who happens to be the best in my opinion who make Lahm b ‘ajeena was one of my all tune favorite experiences ever.

By the way, Lahm b ‘ajeena is not by any means can be compared to pizza. It is like saying that orange and mandarin are the same.

This afternoon I was invited for Dolma, and was so delicious. A lot of people know and realize that Dolma dish came originally from the Ottoman empire times, which like anything imported to a culture it has been adapted to the way the people of that culture make their food. That’s why Dolma in Iraq is not the same Dolma in Syria or Turkey – read somewhere that Dolma is also known in Lybia!

Dolma is made of stuffed vegetables with meat and served warm. The vegetables used varies, such as tomatoes, green or red pepper, or aborigine, or with the use of Onion, which is one of my favorites and one of the most used for dolma in addition to the wide use of grape leafs.

Next… its Kleecha!

I found astonishing watching the energy when our mothers, sisters or aunts indulging themselves in a a consistent task of making Kleecha, especially a couple of days before the Eid?

There are two types of Kleecha I know of which used to be baked back then when I was in Iraq: one stuffed with dates, another is stuffed with sugar and walnut.

I have never ever seen anyone have been served Kleeche being satisfied with one piece only. Two and more is the name of the game. In addition, Kleeche won’t be complete or considered tasty, in my opinion, until it is served with hot tea, not coffee or anything else. Don’t you agree?

OK, lets turn to something else...

I still did not figure out why it is called “Kubbat Hamidh”, maybe because of Citric put with the soup? Who cares, it is just another delicious Iraqi meal.

As the picture above shows, it is a kind of soup, with rounded meat balls, mixed with cooked vegetables and other stuff, such as grain, onion…etc

There are families/ restaurants who make Kubbat Hamidh differently as in the picture below.

Lets get back to sweets, and the one I am talking about is a real dessert, it is Zarda. I am not referring to the sexy Greek power princess from Marvel comics. The ingredients are rice, almonds, oil, sugar, some add raisins, saffron and food coloring to the recipe too.

Zarda has never been one of my favorites, but many families adore it because of the combination and taste of it.

P.S. Its not my handwriting on the picture above

This means that my name is not Abbas

By the way, anyone feel like Tikka?

Focus on the grilled tomatoes…

Ask any former soldier in Iraq about them: “Bagilla Bil Dihin”, “Shalgam”, and “Lebleby” . All of these are linked to “remote food serving”. I made up this name. I am referring to hucksters or Peddlers (if this is the right term for people pushing carts and selling food and drinks in public places such as public garages and markets. The picture below is an example on how these carts look like.

Speaking of public places and peddlers, they also used to serve desserts, such as “Datly” – see picture below.

Bureg, not Chris de Bureg, is one an extremely oily food. It is is a type of baked or fried filled pastry. There are some families who prefer to make Bureg stuffed with vegetables, and other families find the most common, stuffed with meat more tasty… anyone noticed how Iraqis favor meat in most of their dishes?

Ask any Iraqi “what is Yabsa w Timmen”? The answer will be imminent, with a “of course, are you kidding?" It is nothing but white beans in tomato soup and chopped meat. It is one of the most famous and considered by many as the most bombastic meal in Iraqi Kitchen.

After having Yabsa w Timmen, the best way to digest the food is to have an afternoon nap, otherwise the situation will be critical. I think Semolina soup is the only closest thing to the gravity Yabsa w Timmen can generate.

How many of you would be craving for Tishreeb? In other countries they are called Chickpea Casserole or Tishreeb Hummus. There are two types of Tishreeb known in Iraq: Tishreeb Laham, which made of a lot of very well cooked onion, saffron, chick-pea, what else? ah, big chops of lamb meat with bones, and beneath this whole chaotically-organized-food-making infrastructure we have small pieces of bread soaked in lamb soup.

The second type of Tishreeb is “Tishreeb Dijaj”, which includes the same bombastic ingredients but substitute lamb meat with chicken.

I know one way to eat this thing: pull up your shirt arms – its going to be a mess, believe me, dive in your fingers (all of them) into the soup-soaked-bread plate, and cut a piece with your fingers nails and tip of your fingers on that thin bread. some of them would go for a wild round-like-move with the fingers and with the bread plug in a little from everything, and hop it quickly into the final destination - your mouth and stomach. For those not familiar with the rituals of eating Tishreeb, don’t wait too long or try to mud down that oily piece of bread… if you do that you won’t be able to catch up with the rest.

Anyway, that’s called: eating with bare hands, if no one noticed.

Anyone dare to say eeeeuwwwww or baahhh????

Speaking of Iraqi bread, that’s how people in villages and public places and even bakeries not long time ago bread was made

I know that Pizza is Italian, but I want here to tell about the first time I went to a restaurant specialized in serving Pizza. That small restaurant was located at Antar roundabout in Baghdad. That was in the late 1980’s, if I remember correctly. It consisted of just four or five small tables by the window where I used to watch the gradually building up of number of young men during noon, because girls from Al Hareery secondary school for girls has just ended their school day. The pizza I ordered was exactly the same as in the picture below.

OK, that's enough for today

I hope that this post won’t cause some stomachache or move someone’s appetite, especially for those on diet.