Fascinating Iraqi Perspective on Iraq War

Iraq Through a Bullet Hole is a book long overdue, primarily because the media has provided us with insufficient coverage of the Iraqis' viewpoint regarding the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the American occupation of their country. Issam Jameel has come forward to reveal his experiences in his native Iraq, a country he left many years ago, but returned to in 2005 to mourn his nephew's accidental killing by an American soldier. Jameel does not express his opinions on the war, but reports impartially on events and conversations he witnessed and partook in regarding the crisis within his homeland. The strength of Jameel's story lies in his ability to remove himself from the situation while his background provides him with a more knowledgeable understanding than the Western media, not ingrained in Iraqi culture, can achieve.

Jameel was a playwright of the Iraqi National Theater and theatrical critic for Al-Thawra, the official newspaper of Iraq from 1981-1985. He fled Iraq to during Saddam Hussein's regime and worked in Jordan for an Iraqi opposition radio station. During this time, Jameel converted to Christianity. In 2002, he migrated to Australia where he currently resides. His Iraqi background, his distance from the present situation in Iraq from his years' absence, and his Muslim upbringing and current Christian faith provide Jameel with multiple unique perspectives on the situation in his country. In Iraq Through a Bullet Hole, Jameel reports on his experiences honestly and effectively because of this impartial yet informed view. Any reader who wants to understand Iraq's modern history and the moral and political concerns of the U.S. occupation will be enlightened by this striking memoir.

The viewpoint of the Iraqi people has rarely been heard, but Jameel reports on a variety of his countrymen's thoughts, providing us their actual words, words they would not exchange with Americans or the media, but reserve to speak only within the safety of their family circles. Most Americans, whether in moral agreement about the war, believe the U.S.'s purpose is to bring democracy to Iraq; the media depicts Iraqis desiring democracy, as reflected in the repeatedly broadcast depictions of Iraqis pulling down Saddam Hussein's statue and celebrating in the streets over the American takeover of Baghdad. While Iraqis may have found Hussein's regime intolerable, within a couple years, the American occupation has caused many Iraqis to look back with nostalgia to Hussein's presidency.

The people of Baghdad suffer without the electric grid they previously had, relying on generators they only dare run a few hours a day to air-condition their homes or run their basic electric appliances. Worse, the Iraqis live in greater daily fear of the American soldiers than they did of Hussein. They avoid Americans at all costs, following far behind their military vehicles, constantly afraid to make eye contact with the soldiers, while the soldiers are constantly vigilant and ready to pull the trigger at the slightest suspicion that an Iraqi may attack them.

Americans will be astounded that Iraqis first viewed the war as a United States trick to turn Iraq over to Iran. Nor can Iraqis be expected to welcome the American occupation when for years the United States' economic sanctions against Iraq brought hardship. The presence of Westerners in their land has made many formerly non-religious Iraqis turn to extreme forms of Islam for comfort and a sense of control over their situation. Issam Jameel's family rarely followed Muslim rituals while he lived in Iraq but now his family constantly prays and worships at the local mosques.

The most insightful yet disturbing perspective reported by Jameel was from his own brother, a staunch zealot for Islam. Jameel reports many of his arguments with his brother:

I told him that if George W. Bush wants to portray himself as a good Christian by attending a church meeting, that doesn't make him a representative of the Christians in America, because, after all, a lot of churches have been opposing the invasion of Iraq.

In any case, my comments weren't able to change his opinions, and he still assumed that the main aim of America was to destroy Islam, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in any part of the world.

It was easy to see that Mohamed had adopted a radical Islamic perspective, as he made no attempt to hide behind polite words. He declared openly that everyone who didn't adopt Islam should be treated as an infidel, citing the verse from the Qur'an that reads:

"Everyone who follows a religion other than Islam will be one of the losers."

"But the word 'Islam' in that verse doesn't refer to the religion," I said. "You must read the verses that come before it, to understand the meaning of the verse. The Qur'an says that everyone who submits himself to God is a Muslim," I added, trying to explain the meaning of the complex word-play in this verse....on this interpretation, a good Christian or a good Jew is a Muslim.

Such conversations allow the reader to visit Iraqi homes, as if the titular bullet hole is a voyeuristic peephole allowing us to see and listen to conversations that would otherwise never be reported to us. Jameel's reporting is not only impartial but his years of exile from Iraq make the changes in his homeland more visible to him than to his countrymen: "I was sure they couldn't fully appreciate the disaster in which they were living, because they had become accustomed to such scenes over many long years."

As Jameel's first book written in English, Iraq Through a Bullet Hole serves appropriately as an interpreter between Iraq and the West. Jameel style has its imperfections-English is, after all, his second language-but his literary expertise as a playwright has served him in making his report memorable. He never dramatizes his experiences, never exaggerates, embellishes or fictionalizes to glamorize or enhance their horror, but relates each event with brutal, straightforward honesty. The Western media has depicted Iraq as through a camera's angle, marginalizing what it does not want its viewers to see; by contrast, Jameel presents an uncensored snapshot of daily life in Iraq during the summer of 2005-a date sadly less than halfway through what may well become the longest war in U.S. history.

The American public has long waited for this informative, unbiased, uncensored Iraqi voice to provide a more accurate evaluation of the United States' military presence in the Middle East. Iraq Through a Bullet Hole belongs on the desk of every congressman and Pentagon official, on the bookshelf of every military family, and in the luggage of each soldier sent overseas. Issam Jameel has given the Iraqi people a voice, which, after all, is the expressed purpose of the United States' efforts to create a new democracy.

Tyler R. Tichelaar holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree from Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University. His family's long relationship with Upper Michigan and his avid interest in genealogy inspired Dr. Tichelaar to write his Marquette Trilogy: Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Superior Heritage. Dr. Tichelaar is also a professional book reviewer and editor. For more information about Tyler R. Tichelaar, his writing, and his author services, visit: http://www.MarquetteFiction.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tyler_Tichelaar http://www.pippoproducts.com/products

Do you deserve to be free?

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom in a democracy. Have you been paying attention? Learn more at http://politicalfirestorm.blogspot.com/

The American Abolitionist Movement

By Karen Peralta

The abolitionist movement, which represented the earliest days of the American Civil Rights Movement, succeeded in every northern state by 1804, although there were still at least a dozen "permanent apprentices" listed in the 1860 census. Three northern organizations advocating this reform were the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society, and the New York Manumission Society.

This latter group was run by powerful Federalists John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The Federalists opposed State's Rights, arguing for federal legislation abolishing slavery. New York finally abolished slavery, gradually, starting in 1799, making this the largest emancipation of American slaves in history before 1863. New Jersey was the last northern state to abolish slavery, in 1804.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 agreed to allow the federal government to abolish the international slave trade, and by that time, all the existing states but Georgia had passed laws abolishing or severely limiting the slave trade. Georgia finally passed similar laws in 1798 - and the importation of slaves into the USA was officially abolished on New Year's Day in 1808. This was a major move in the direction of abolition.

However, in the 1830s, the Postmaster General refused to allow the U.S. mails to deliver abolition pamphlets to the South. Northern teachers suspected of anti-slavery "tendencies" were expelled from the South, and abolitionist literature was banned in those states. Southerners were claiming that incidents like John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry in 1859 to start a slave uprising was proof northerners were conspiring against them to cause war through slave rebellions.

The North, simply put, was dead set against the South's prevailing attitudes about slavery. Eric Foner once stated: "Northerners came to view slavery as the very antithesis of the good society, as well as a threat to their own fundamental values and interests." However, northern conservatives feared the migration of a large number of freemen into the North, as they tended to accept lower pay. They were being seen, like today's illegal Mexican-American workers, as "undercutting prevailing wages." It was feared that former slaves would cause deep pay cuts for all American workers, especially white ones.

In spite of such difficulties, one white abolitionist, Massachusetts's Abby Kelley Foster, became an "ultra," advocating not only abolition but full civil rights for all black people. An agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society, Foster, known usually as Abby Kelley, thought that free slaves should colonize the new African nation of Liberia. She also recruited Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, other American feminist leaders, to the early Civil Rights Movement. Kelley, who inspired other young women to be known as "Abby Kelleyites," often shared her platform with ex-slaves - despite the additional scorn this entailed. "I rejoice to be identified with the despised people of color. If they are to be despised, so ought their advocates to be," was one of her famous quotes.

Another well-known abolitionist was the wizened but charming black woman known as Sojourner Truth. Her first speaking engagement was with Abby Kelley. Truth originally had the Dutch slave name Isabella Baumfree, but changed her name because "the Spirit calls me." She wasn't much for the white man's religion, though, and frequently spoke against slavery and the mental picture of black women being "unladylike" and subhuman. She was born into slavery in New York, enduring frequent beatings at the hands of her white masters and mistresses.

At one point in time, she was on one of her many "sojourns," or journeys, and a streetcar run by a white male conductor wouldn't stop to pick her up, refusing her as a passenger. She bravely ran along the track and leaped into the path of the streetcar, gauging the distance exactly right, making the conductor stop for her. Her most famous speech was the simply put, "Ain't I a Woman?" where she also gave us the following quote, revised from her 19th century dialect:

"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them." Maybe that reference is where Dr. King got the idea of making "valleys into hills and hills into valleys," but it's also a Biblical reference. I'll tell you a bit more about the origins of American black religious faith and how they led to Dr. King being a minister toward the end of this section.

Anyway, this quote from Truth's popular speech was spoken at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention, and her recurrent theme was probably based on an incident where a heckler in the audience had called her a man. She proudly opened her blouse, revealing her breasts, a typically bold move on her part which likely led to "Ain't I a Woman?" I guess even your enemies can help you be productive, as in the case in 1960's Birmingham, where local black civil rights leaders said that Police Commissioner "Bull" O'Connor and his violent anti-black tactics were "helping the Movement," due to all the media attention they were getting at the time.

The Catholic faith doesn't tend to exalt the poor and their elevation, which is the general black meaning of "turning things around," as much as the black version of Protestantism does. That may explain the general Catholic lack of sympathy for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s programs at first. Dr. King was the presumed head of the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s.

But for Catholics, there was ample praise of Jesus' faith in the resurrection of the spirit and his attendant faith in the spirituality of all people. Blacks at the time of slavery and in much later American history continued a tendency toward religion that influenced their culture and entire way of philosophy and thought immeasurably, but Truth was probably spiritually-oriented.

She didn't like white men much, or their male-oriented religions. She organized white and black feminists alike to oppose slavery through abolition, but that and colonizing Liberia were not the only actions taken against slavery. Also, throughout American history, there have been movements to attempt the return of African-Americans to the Motherland.

Through the 1820s and 1830s, the American Colonization Society (ACS) kept proposing to stop slavery by returning to Africa, a movement which was broadly supported by both whites and blacks. They saw it as a preferable alternative to emancipation, and Black Nationalist pioneer Marcus Garvey would also start a similar movement. He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914, opening a branch in Harlem, New York in 1916.

The UNIA was intended "to promote the spirit of race pride," and was an attempt to cause worldwide unity among all black people, establishing the greatness of their African heritage. Garvey appealed to the black lower classes and rejected any ideals or notions of racial integration. He was certain that blacks could not secure their rights in countries like the USA, where they were a racial minority group, so he began a "back to Africa" movement, and he was considered the most influential black leader of the early 1920s.

However, in the early 1800s there was a series of small attempts to plant settlements on the coast of West Africa, where most of the slaves had been originally captured, and the colony of Liberia was established circa 1821-1822. In the next four decades, thousands of American former slaves settled there. They declared independence in 1847, although not many had survived the move, as they had succumbed to local diseases. The abolition movement caused support for the colony to fade quickly, but the new Liberians ruled their country until the bloody military coup of 1980 by army personnel who assassinated President William R. Tolbert.

Therefore, due to the lack of effective other methods for handling this major American issue, the work of the abolitionists is what finally managed to help end slavery. However, in spite of multiple efforts on the parts of many, it took just about forever to get the South to agree on this. Their intense stubbornness is what led to the continuing hatred and racism ongoing throughout 1960's Birmingham, leading to the tragic deaths of many black children and the continuous bombings of dozens of peaceful citizens' homes.

Read the next article in this series, "White Concerns over Racial Differences" and the other articles in this long article series about why racism was and is so prevalent in the American South. RAINBOW WRITING, INC. -- featuring Karen Peralta, copy editor, ghost writer and book author. We are affordable professional freelance and contracted book authors, ghost writers, copy editors, proof readers, book rewriters, coauthors, graphics technicians, assistants with publishing and script buying, and film script writers, screenwriters and editors. http://www.rainbowriting.com/. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Peralta

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I am the United States of America

I am America, two hundred thirty three years old today.

I am America, conceived of for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I am America, land of the free and home of the brave. My sons have walked on the moon.

I am America, the sacred blood of justice courses through me. My children fought for freedom for all.

I am America, fifty independent states united.

I am America, a soldier for freedom. WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan...

I am America, a beacon of hope; you sent me your poor and hungry. I fed them and they prospered.

I am America, inventor of the airplane, telephone and integrated circuit.

I am America, purple mountains, fruited plains and golden fields, from sea to shining sea.

I am the United States of America, proud to be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We have our differences -- political, social, and scientific -- but we should never forget that we have each other. It is our solemn duty to preserve the freedom our fore bearers fought so gallantly to attain for us. We must do the same for our children. Pass on the memories of this country's glory. Make our children proud to be American's. Teach them that our freedom is paid for with the blood and sweat of many brave men and women who care so much about what America stands for they have pledged their very lives for it. Let freedom ring, And God Bless America.

Happy Birthday America

Joseph L. Conigliaro

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Lincoln the Union and Personal Ridicule

Lincoln although an abolitionist, like many of his predecessors was primarily concerned with sustaining the Union. The country could have become two or more countries had the south seceded. During the Civil War, Lincoln showed his pragmatism with the following statement:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that." -- Abraham Lincoln

Although his presidency was difficult, Lincoln always managed to keep perspective and a sense of humor.

"I have endured a great deal of ridicule without malice, and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it." -- Abraham Lincoln

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April Morning Written by Howard Fast

I was once told by another Revolutionary War buff, after reading a good book on that period of our history, that the best book on that war was April Morning. Naturally I had to purchase it and read this "best book" and I do admit it is a great story of one day in a very important time of our nations history.

April 19, 1775 is the day that Howard Fast writes about. The day is told from afternoon to evening of the next day. You are taken from the home of fifteen-year old Adam Cooper, his younger brother, Levi, his mother, father, and grandmother, to war. The British Redcoats were coming. The committeemen, as the leaders of the citizens of that area were called, had gathered in various small villages around the Boston area to decide how they would handle the situation with these Brits. Some wanted to stay home and not interfere but the majority knew they had to defend their freedom and fight the British. This tore apart families with most of the fathers and the older sons marching off with the Committeemen groups from their area. They would meet up with other groups as they traveled.

The first battle was a disaster for the Committeemen's groups. Quite a few were killed and most without a shot being fired from their guns. They had very few good guns. These men were farmers, blacksmiths, forgers, and other work that did not require guns. They would regroup with more communities and return for more fighting using different strategies. Adam's father was one of the first ones killed. This hurt Adam terribly and turned him away from thoughts of battle for a while, feeling sad at what he would have to tell his family upon his return.

While April Morning covers only one day of this period, the descriptions used by Howard Fast are so impressive that you get the sensation that you were beside these soldiers and their families and felt some of that heart-breaking deep sorrow that many families endured. The emotions of those fighting, those wounded, and those of the families were terrifically told. The book is small in size but packed with history. I highly recommend it to any war buff.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman. Reviewer of many types of books. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cy_Hilterman

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If all men are created equal, why do I pay more taxes than you?

It is a strange phenomenon that no good deed goes unpunished. Entrepreneurs work to make good only to find they must pay larger sums in taxes and reap less of there hard won income so that someone not as industrious can live better. Get the facts: http://www.pippoproducts.com/products