baqqa mqarqra
A Frog's-eye view

 
KOFI TO GO

I'm pleased to see that Pakistan's The Daily Times and I are in agreement about the disasterous behaviour of the UN during the entire Iraqi crisis, and particularly the role played in that crisis by Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Annan's embarrassing performances over the last few days have left him on a par only with Muhammed Said As-Sahaaf, former Iraqi Minister of Information, now of whereabouts unknown. Without any expression of shame or regret, Annan dares to appear before the international community and repeat his former mantras as though nothing has changed. The morally and politically corrupt and bankrupt organisation that he heads has become the laughing stock of the free world, but Annan continues to act as though he represents the voice of reason and freedom, and enjoys any legitimacy whatsoever.

Go home, Kofi, there's a good man. Go and write your memoirs, so we can all have a good giggle.

No doubt you will describe how you brought peace in Europe, saved Africa from starvation, stood up for the rights of oppressed peoples around the world, and spread freedom and democracy in the four corners of the earth.

We'll probably read about your difficult dealings with obstinate states like the US and Israel, the last bastions of reactionary colonialism in the world.

You may even find room to mention some of the internal reforms you managed to achieve within the UN, such as the obliteration of corruption and the directing of resources to truly deserving causes.

In any case, Kofi, I think you should make those memoirs lengthy and comprehensive. You know, the kind of project that will take up all your time and barely allow you time to leave your writing desk. I'm sure we'd all benefit greatly.


posted by Ribbity at 3:51 PM

 
THE GAME IS BEGINNING

Muhammed Ad-Douri, Iraqi ambassador to the UN, declared yesterday "The game is over" and packed his bags to leave. "I hope the peace will prevail. I hope the Iraqi people will have a happy life", he reportedly said, before heading off to catch is plane to France. The radio reports this morning suggested that Ad-Douri had asked Kofi Annan to help him find a suitable escape route, and of course Annan obliged.

So far, only Donald Rumsfeld seems to have responded in a manner befitting normal human behaviour.. "It isn't a game" he is quoted as saying. Even this was a little too soft, coming from the head of the world's policeforce. I would have expected him to a slap a heavy hand on the ambassador's shoulder, and say, in true film noir form, "not so fast, Mr. Ad-Douri".

Let us not be mistaken: in New York, Ad-Douri might have been one of the guys, swung with the swingers, and been seen in all the right places. Back in Baghdad, the only swingers for whom he was responsible were those with a noose around their necks, or those suspended from hooks with their arms tied. Ad-Drouri, with his charm and smile and good English, may have been acceptable to the UN's International Agency for Economic Development, but this facade disguised his true role, which was defending a murderous dictatorship responsible for the massacre of millions of innocent civilians and for the effective imprisonment and torture of millions more.

Ad-Douri should not be allowed to be spirited away from New York to enjoy the good life. There's no point in history being written by the winners if the bad guys are allowed to get away.


H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al Douri
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative on the Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations
-Recorded Friday, August 30, 2002
[From the website of the International Agency for Economic Development]


posted by Ribbity at 7:57 AM

 
PAWs

Thanks to the Command Post, I found this interest reference to PAW, Poets Against The War. (Not that they are not against all wars, just The War.) "Against the headlines of death and deception we read each day," - they are obviously reading the Arabic press again - "the anthology poses an alternative vision compassion and truth" - perhaps an alternative version of truth.

Ah yes, imagine the glorious site of poets reading some of their excellent works standing up for the right for Uday Hussein to rape and murder young Iraqi woman.

They say the pen is mightier than the sword. The cruise missile knocks'em both out any day.

posted by Ribbity at 5:37 AM

 
ONE IRAQI'S TESTIMONY

This morning I had the happy opportunity to go to a family celebration, and to catch up with a Baghdadi family's views. My cousin's wife, who is in her late 30s, was born in Baghdad, and at such family events I usually end up discussing Arabic with her father, a kind and gentle man who was grew up in that city and left it as when already an adult.

The father told me he simply couldn't understand the Germans and Russians: why were they supporting Saddam Hussein? Saddam had destroyed Iraq, and imprisoned its people. They had no freedom, and were suffering terrible tyranny. He had murdered thousands upon thousands of people: people who were living, breathing, feeling, happy people. They had been treated like animals. How could this be? How could people behave like this? And how could the West support this dreadful man and protect him in this way? Didn't they care anything about the people who were being murdered by Saddam's regime?

He also told me that although he seldom speaks Arabic these days (though I heard him conversing with family members), he listens to the Arabic service of the BBC. Without my prompting him, he said that he also couldn't understand how the British could be broadcasting such lies against their own forces. The BBC service is dominated by Egyptian Muslim fundamentalists, he told me. Can't they find any moderate Arabic-speaking broadcasters who could present fair coverage? He wanted to write to the British government, but, well, he just didn't know how. But how could this be? How could this be?

posted by Ribbity at 2:19 PM

 
1000 CIVILIANS MASSACRED

Did you know that last Thursday 1000 civilians were massacred? You might have thought that such a massacre would be front-page news, would have drawn the condemnation of the United Nations security council, and would have seen world-wide protests demanding an immediate commission of enquiry. But it seems that none of this happens when the perpetrators and victims are black Africans. Then few in the West care. The story didn't even merit a "lead" list on the BBC's news-site, and is even ranked as less important that "More tourists missing in the Sahara", which is the lead Africa story on the BBC news home page.


posted by Ribbity at 6:26 AM

 
ONCE AGAIN, TWO VOICES

I have found yet another example of different reporting in Al-Bawaba's Arabic and English versions of the same issue. The article discusses Iraqi Opposition Leader Ahmed Chalabi's relationship with Jews and Israel. I read the piece a few days ago in Arabic, and have now found that it appears in a rather poor English translation. (It was clearly written in Arabic, and it is also clear that the translator was not sure how to render certain Arabic expressions into English.)

I have not yet had an opportunity to study the differences in detail, but what is immediately obvious is that the final line has been changed. In the original version, the article ends by stating that Israel has been the main beneficiary of this US attack, by allowing the US to redraw the map of the entire region to end the Arab-Israel conflict. However, in the English version the following line has been added: "As usual, the Arabs will pay the price ...". This line is not in the Arabic version. One can only conclude that it is aimed at the non-Arabic reading market, and intended to cast the Arabic world in the light of the eternal victims, a role much loved by pro-Arab propagandists.

I shall compare the two version in greater detail on my way to work and post more on them later in the day.

posted by Ribbity at 6:48 AM