Happy mistranslated day of the beast day! While I take a break from chatting with the Whore of Babylon, basking in the blood sea, and watching the sun turn black, I thought today would be a good day to look at how things are going in the ancient land between the four rivers where Adam and his Eve lived.

Sadly, the word is that things are not going well. Depressingly unwell. I’m not sure why the major media are not reporting this more heavily, but a post at Andrew Sullivan’s excellent blog points to reports that much of Baghdad is now under the control of religious extremists. (Some would argue that it’s all under the control of religious extremists, but…) While major news organizations have reported on the shooting of men wearing shorts, this appears to be part of a larger problem that many, many on-the-ground Iraqi bloggers are writing about.

From “Healing Iraq” blog:

Baghdadis are reporting that radical Islamists have taken control over the Dora, Amiriya and Ghazaliya districts of Baghdad, where they operate in broad daylight. They have near full control of Saidiya, Jihad, Jami’a, Khadhraa’ and Adil. And their area of influence has spread over the last few weeks to Mansour, Yarmouk, Harthiya, and very recently, to Adhamiya.

From Baghdad Connect:

In Amriya, Saydiya and Hai AL Jamm’ah in Baghdad a Saudi emergent social paradigm is taking shape. Written warnings have been posted in the streets saying that women are not allowed to walk the streets or drive cars without a Hijab (head and neck cover) Fortunately women are still allowed to drive cars!

From Iraqi Screen

Only yesterday, a legal inspector told me that four women found dead in Hay Al-Jihad with shaved hair because they were driving cars and not putting hijab.

Eight kids between 12-15 year shot on their heads in Ameriyia and Hay Al-jihad in Baghdad because they were wearing short pants, by two ”Opel” cars carrying few men hiding their faces with Kufiyia.

Etc. It’s interesting to note, in light of liberal/left opposition to the war in Iraq, that the people we’re fighting there are not exactly liberal/left. It’s also interesting to note that they wouldn’t be in charge there if we hadn’t blundered in and turned the country upside down. We’re essentially in the process of creating a fundementalist Islamic state. I’m pretty sure that was the opposite of the plan, but what do I know.

This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2006.

7 replies on “Happy 6/6/6”

  1. I never thought I’d see the words “Andrew Sullivan’s excellent blog” all in a row together.

  2. I’ll tell you something about A. Sullivan: his politics are not mine, but he has the rare distinction of writing and arguing reasonably, which, as a professional logician, I really really appreciate. So when he disagrees, it’s respectfully, and when he says something I agree with I also agree with the way he said it. On top of that, he admits when he was wrong, and he’s willing to consider pretty much any point of view, as long as it doesn’t come from Noam Chomsky. Not that he’s perfect, but in the blogosphere you don’t get much better in terms of quality of discourse.

  3. Here’s what pisses me off about Sully, in no particular order:

    1) he’s a gay, Catholic Republican and I find that severe level of cognitive dissonance to be hopelessly pathetic. In much the same way I find Jim Kolbe (good riddance) to be a continual embarrassment (in the case of Kolbe, how can he remain a member of a party whose delegates actually turn their fucking backs on him in disrespect at the national convention to which he was INVITED TO SPEAK?)

    2) he was a staunch and rigid Bush supporter when such support had the most dire consequences: in the runup to the war. I’m really fucking tired of all the pundits and opinion leaders who publicly wring their hands and say “Well, I’m big enough to admit I was wrong about the Iraq war,” in 2006 when it hardly matters what they think or say — the damage is long done. Tell the 2500 soldiers and 50,000 Iraqi civilians that you were too lazy, stupid, or ideologically blinded to see through the administration’s bullshit in 2002 when a war could yet have been prevented instead of enabled.

    3) He is 100% wrong about Noam Chomsky and tells specious lies about him in public fora (not just his blog, either — he got frothy about Chomsky on Bill Maher and if Chomsky were litigious, he’d have a great basis for a slander lawsuit).

    4) two words: milky loads

    So I don’t know that I agree with you about his reasonability. I’ll grant you that he’s become eminently more tolerable in the last two years but I still find lots of his stuff to be idiotic (with the notably surprising exception of Iraq. Go figure.)

    as for (political) blogosphere discourse quality, I’d cite a hundred writers sooner than Sully: Josh Marshall, Billmon, TBogg, Daily Howler, Atrios… the list goes on.

    In summation, I’m really surprised that you like Sully, James.

  4. I don’t disagree with much of what you say, but a few notes:

    1. He’s not a Republican. He supported Clinton and Kerry. As for the Catholicism, I’m saddened that grownups are into superstition, but that’s a hard one to overcome, and Sullivan, for his part, never uses any piece of his superstition as a premise in an argument. He separates truth and meaning, which makes sense when you think about how much he talks about Nietzsche. So yes, he’s a Catholic, but he’s also pointed out, as very few Catholics have, that Pope John Paul II was a criminal, and for years he’s campaigned against Father Maciel, and is daily critical of the Catholic heirarchy. Still, a lot of people are into stuff like Catholicism or Hinduism or Homeopathy, and as a guy who doesn’t go for superstition, I’ve gotten to the point where I just shrug.
    2) He stopped being a Bush supporter before the last election, and really as soon as the incompetence started to show. His blog is now the number one spot for balanced critique of Bush. He’s veering towards heavy Bush hatred, but he always gives good reason. He did support the war initially, but I think people of good conscience could disagree about that. Dan Savage, for example, supported the war, and for very similar reasons to Sullivan.
    3). I don’t know what the hell his problem with Chomsky is. I’m not a huge Chomsky fan, but Sullivan just froths at the mouth about him. Whatevs.
    4.)Really, who cares.

    On Iraq, Bush, torture, gay marriage, and lots of other stuff I find him very reasonable. And while he used to be something of a dick, he’s now the one guy whose blog prints opposing points of view, and debates or accepts them respectfully. It’s wildly refreshing.

  5. Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom of the Anti-Christ
    It has been argued by many Muslim scholars and Christian alike that the Saudi Arabia is the Kingdom of evil and that Alsaud are the gurdians of the Antichrist. The events that have been taking in this place inthe past century point at the accuracy of these predictions. The Kingdom is the most oppressive in the world in terms ofhuman rights. Moreover, the princes and rich royal fmily is engaged in debocheries. Human misery in the world is caused by their constant support to terror and destruction. This Kingdom is on the blink of desaster.

  7. I just googled “desaster” and what do I get? A metal band by the name of Desaster. Life imitating nonsense.

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