suprisingly i'm still in baghdad. we met up with our family friends, and my friend who i have known for like forever is a different guy.
at first i couldn't get used to house hopping-that is jumping from one house to a next as family, friends and general people we knew invited us into their house
the hours are spent going to my friends house and playing xbox, you'd be suprised that despite the electricity shortages and the annoying start/stop of the generators, people still manage to find ways to spend 3 hours on an xbox.baghdad is apparently the more liberal part of iraq, but yesterday we were walking and a bunch of police proved this wrong.when i say we, me my best friend and his younger sis (touta) were out walking to get her some books or shoes or something.
this prick stops us and asks us where we are going, so my friend answers, then just before we are let through, five more of these pricks block our path, look us all up and down, and ask what relation we are to touta. i mean what the fuck, seriously. My friend (her bro) looks on in shock, i don't know how to reply.
in the end, touta spends half an hour talking to them about her human rights to walk with anyone she wants, and the pricks choking on laughter let us through. when her bro translated what she said, i couldn't help laughing too, but thats for her to tell unless i get some good offers to dish the dirt ;)
at night here everything is open, which is very convenient if you realise you've forgotten something you need at 2am. the best places are things like cafes but not quite cafes which stay open with loud music and occasional guy bursting into dance.
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Does the girl touta is the same blogger?
ReplyDeletedo you speak Arabic? that's why you needed her brother to translate to you..
it is strange that ther asked you about your relation with Touta, they don't have the right to do that.
Mhmd,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the news that you mentioned in your entry. The reality, democracy is a learning process and the Iraqi policemen need lot of training and workshops to know how to respect the human and civili rights of the citizines they supposed to protect. I'm so proud of Touta for the 30 minutes lecture to the police. I hope she'll put some thing about the incident on her blog. I could say based on your news, Iraq is moving in the right direction. We just need time to sort some chronic problems and then I believe we'll be the most prpsperous country in the region. I'm thinking of writing some thing about your story.
michomeme,
ReplyDeletei posted my answer on yuor blog
khalid,
thank you for your comment, i was going to post my answer on your blog, but i don't know which one you use most.
i agree, but i also have heard that iraqi police men were never like that, iraq is moving in the right direction, but what chronic problems do you mean?
regards.
Mhmd,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your quick reply.
My main Web Site is the following one:
http://iraqiblogupdates.blogspot.com/
As to the chronic problems, there are many of them but let me list what I have in my mind at the moment:
1. Terrorism and sectarianism
2. Corruption, mismanagement and malinvestment
3. Inefficient public services
4. Also the U.S. military presence is another chronic problem which needs to be dealt with in order for our country to be fully independent. Nobody would like to see his or her country occupied for too long whatever the wisdom behind it.
I suggest if you have time to visit Al-Mutanabi street on Friday morning and tell us what you see over there.
Take care,
Khalid
Mhmd,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your visit and if you have time just have a look at:
http://iraqiblogupdates.blogspot.com/2009/04/tuota-lecturing-iraqi-police-and-micho.html
Thanks,
Khalid