Shattered Heritage: The US Destruction of Iraq's Heritage

The documentary below continues to haunt me even though I saw it a few weeks ago. 

Iraq hasn't really been in US news much since about 2006, until now.  After President Saddam Hussein was executed on the first day of Eid on December 30, 2006, Iraq disappeared out of the news until President Obama withdrew US troops from the country in 2011.  

Few Americans know that the US government left behind a residue of not only an embassy and consulate of over 20,000 staff along with thousands of what are politely called "private contractors," but carnage has also been left behind. It has been continuous in that country since the government proclaimed end of the war. 

The Iraqi people are being mocked and warred against continuously, and what this documentary that was recently broadcast by al-Jazeera English shows is that an incredibly unique culture was literally murdered.  

I had never before heard of any modern culture that put such emphasis on art, books, and the cultured like Iraq once did.  I have seen paintings by Iraqis that moved me and read some of their incredible poetry that must be even more outstanding in the original Arabic. I have read Iraqi bloggers over the years who were some of the best writers in the blogger-sphere when blogging was king. I had no idea about the depth of this country and culture as it once was.  I knew that it is one of the most ancient civilizations on earth, but I knew little about what modern Iraq really stood for in world culture. 

What a treasure the world has lost because of the crimes of the country I live in.  As a  lover of history, culture, art, poetry, books this documentary touches my heart more than it would many people. But if a person has a drop of humanity left and even if he or she lacks my tastes, this documentary should move them.   This is a story about a people and a great nation smashed and thrown into the dirt to burn.   Now this country is plotting to finally rip Iraq's territories completely apart...  

After over a decade of hearing negative propaganda about Iraq, it is past due that Americans learn what the true enemy destroyed.  This is a great tragedy that should be seen.  As the Iraqi poet at the end recites:

They were thirty armies,
Backed by all the people on earth.
Even neighbors and family.
They all waged war against a small land
That is great with its' history. 

The Assassination of A Family

Try to imagine that your country has been targeted in a war which its' instigators claim is an humanitarian effort.  This isn't the first time in history that war has been termed "humanitarian" even though almost no war is humanitarian or humane.  For centuries leaders and states have claimed they needed to rescue a particular group or region, but often their motives were not altruistic but selfish and in their nation's own interests. 

Try to imagine that during the days and weeks that your small nation is being bombed by 20 or more other countries, you not only have to hold yourself together in the amidst of all the uncertainty and fear of what might happen next, but you also have to maintain courage for others such as your children. 

Try to imagine that late one night after one of your kid's birthday party the previous day, you are out late helping somebody and on your way back home you get a telephone call that your home has been bombed. 

I wonder sometimes how do you survive a war even if your body isn't destroyed by bombs or bullets.  How do you come out of it with any of your mind left intact?  

My mind is on another war again like it was for years on the one in Iraq.  I thought about the second Iraq War for all the years it grinded on.  In many ways it still isn't over.  Iraqis are still dying from bombings, but news about Iraq faded away from American TV news years ago.  Though Obama pulled out the troops the other year, the US has left a residue of itself behind with the world's largest embassy.  The residue is always left behind.  Ask several other countries in at least the last 65 years.  I still Tweet about Iraq occasionally on Twitter, but Libya's war in 2011 is more immediate for me now.  It supposedly ended last year, but that country is not the same as it was.  It is still very unstable, and so much bitterness, grief, and broken lives are left.  Its is a great tragedy that is not being talked about just like it wasn't talked about concerning Iraq or Afghanistan.  All is not well.

I have three Libyan Facebook friends.  Two sent me friends requests, and I sent the request to one who was a mutual friend of another Facebook friend who had been in Libya last year even up to the time when Tripoli fell and shortly afterwards.  I learned a little bit about his tragic story so I wanted to include him on my friend's list.  His name is Khaled K. Elhamedi.  He is the founder of the International Organization for Peace, Care and Relief (IOPCR) which was one of Libyan's biggest and most well known charities and NGOs.  On June 20th of last year his home in the town of Sorman was bombed by NATO forces in the middle of the night.  His pregnant wife, young daughter and small son who had just celebrated his third birthday the previous day were all killed.  Khaled was not at home at the time.  He had been away trying to help other victims of NATO's attacks.  Since Khaled is from a prominent Libyan family and NATO targeted anyone they felt might be close to or supported the Green (Jamahiriya) Libyan government, I would term it an assassination.  Other family, friends, and employees were assassinated that night in his home bringing the total number of dead to 13.  The house and several others in the neighborhood were demolished by bombing including his father's house. 

Since the murder of his family, Khaled  has struggled through his overwhelming grief to go on, and during this terrible process he has begun legal proceedings against NATO.  His website that details his actions is ICENA or International Coalition to Ensure NATO Accountability.  Its' Facebook page can be found here.  Besides these links that he sent me he also directed my attention to an article on Voltairenet, an account of what happened to his family: The Sorman Massacre.

Last week I first saw Part Two of a documentary, NATO's Gifts to the Children of Libya on my Facebook timeline.  I took the time to look at the entire short and heartbreaking documentary.  When I look at Khaled, his mother, and sisters I am astounded by their courage, that they would still keep trying to live.  I just don't think I would be able to keep going on.  However, my mother and late grandmother both have often said to me in the past that God will not put too much on us that we can't bear.   There is obviously some truth in it considering how some people can somehow wade through tragedy and still keep standing.  I feel it must be like carrying a mountain on one's back yet still attempting to climb another mountain. 

I have posted Parts One and Two of NATO's Gifts to the Children of Libya below.  NATO, the UN, and the US don't bother to keep accurate body counts. It is estimated that from 50,000 to at least 100,000 Libyans were killed and injured in the war.  Anywhere from a million to two million fled the country or were displaced.  It's going to be a long and very difficult process, but I hope that eventually justice will be done for Khaled Elhamedi's family and all innocents, civilians, the helpless, and the wounded who lived and died in Libya in that terrible and tragic year of 2011.  Khaled has asked that people continue to spread the word about what happened to his family and other children in Libya.  Lest we forget...

 

Al Fateh Revolution 43 Years Ago Today

The Libya that once was for 42 years was swept away last year in a whirlwind.  According to  unorthodox reports, that is those that did not come from the mainstream media, what happened to Libya after being overrun by foreign backed militias and bombed by NATO is one of the great tragedies and betrayals of our time.  Now there is a media blackout, and the only way to get any idea of what is going on in Libya is through a scrap of information here or a scrap there.  The evidence of war crimes and atrocities by the rebels are on YouTube for the world to see, but much of the world doesn't know about them or even cares.  

I believe in the sovereignty of nations.  If you tell me how to run my house, that is an arrogant imposition. You have no right to suggest anything or impose.  If you tell me to get out of my house or force me away that is an invasion.  If you are a European nation including the US, which has a history of imposing its' will and values on other countries, that is racism of the highest order. It is imperialism. Whites do not have a monopoly on wisdom or how to do or run things.  They can be incompetent too.  The people of a given country must decide the political, social, and economic destiny of their country, not foreigners or even expatriates who no longer live there.  The current citizens who are grounded there should be able to decide their own fate and future.  

But I procrastinate in expressing what this post is really about. On this date in 1969 the Al Fateh Revolution occurred in Libya.  A group of young army officers who called themselves the Freedom Officers Movement staged a bloodless coup toppling the Libyan monarchy which favored the West.  The leader of the group was a 27 year old named Muammar al Gaddafi.  I will not write anymore than that.  Below are just a few things that will speak for themselves.  

One of Colonel Gaddafi's first interviews in 1969.

I like the pageantry of this celebration in Libya. Apparently it happened just a few years ago.  

Yes, I have read The Green Book by Muammar al Gaddafi.  I did last year.  This is my copy which originally belonged to my little brother.  I'm not sure if he ever read it, but he ordered it when he went through his Nation of Islam phase.  When Libya was being attacked last summer, I asked him if I could borrow his copy.  He gave it to me and said that I could keep it.  This is a book of very interesting ideas.  I suggest it be read, but only by people with an open mind that haven't been disturbed by years of conditioning into the present political system and also by propaganda about Gaddafi.  Reading it will get you more into the mind and ideology of Muammar Gaddafi the man than looking at news clips. The Green Book.  Read it and then decide.