but she hasn't updated since the 15th. Raed, however, had this:
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Cairo Conference: The Divorce of the Fundamentalisms
The big Iraqi conference in Cairo some weeks ago was totally under-reported in the US media. The conference was an indirect declaration of the end of the US-Iranian temporary marriage in Iraq. The last weeks witnessed, for the first time since the tragic fall of Baghdad, a public war between Iran (the political supporter of the Iraqi government) and the US (the military supporter).
On the west side of this conflict, the bush administration tried its best to smear the Iraqi government by “discovering” some “torture prisons” around the country, where the evil Mullahs are supposed to be torturing Iraqis without the knowledge or permission of the US occupation authorities. On the east side of the conflict, the Iraqi government decided to open fire on the US administration by taking a part in the Conference.
I wasn’t very surprised by Cairo’s conference, but it was clearly a turning point in the post-war polictics for three reasons: It happened under the Arab league's supervision and support at a time when Iraq is “not supposed” to be an Arabic or Islamic country anymore; it had a clear request for scheduling the pulling out of the occupation forces despite all the bush administration's attempts of keeping the US army there; and - most importantly - it distinguished between “terrorism” and “resistance” in a move that can be considered as the biggest attack against bush’s war on terror (may America’s god protect him).
Terrorism, according to the Cairo conference, is attacking Iraqis, which justifies attacking any foreign troops in Iraq, including those of the divorcé: Uncle Sam!
If bush and his administration are waiting for Allawi to win in the last elections, let them dream on.
Dear Mr. President bush (may America’s god protect you), I hate to say I told you so, but I did. One year and nine months ago, I blogged:
I mean… from my secular point of view… it is a disaster to have all of these extremist religious right-winged militias… but this is the direct result of the lost policy of the Bush administration, which exactly what the expected problem of imported “democracy” would be. I used to call this cul-de-sac that we are stuck in: The Algerian Dead End. Algeria went through the exact scenario some years ago… do you want elections and democracy? The powerful extremist religion people are going to win : * )
You don’t want democracy and elections? Don’t start the mess.