The Iraqi Election Joke..... Iraqi Elections Special

Scenario One:
Location: Amman, Jordan. Theme: UN appointed-Iraqi election observers enjoy their hotel.

Observer 1: What a nice hotel....I wish we had the bigger suite.
Observer 2: Yeah dude...God bless the Iraqi elections..
Observer 1: So ...do you think it they will send us to Iraq to "observe" the elections there?
Observer2: You MUST be NUTS man. I ain't going to no Iraq to observe no elections. You want me DEAD ?!
Observer 1: Hang on a minute, I thought we were supposed to "Observe" the elections there. You know, making sure that no bad guys "cheat"..And ma....
Observer2: Listen man. Everyday 100s of Iraqis are killed by god damn Mickey Mouse & Capser and that other bad guy, what is his name, yeah Homer Simpsons. I heard that Al-Simpsons had said that if you kill 1 UN official you will be given a ticket to Heaven. So WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN THERE. We are staying where we are and we observe.

Observer 1: Hang on man that ain't fair. How can we observe from here ?! Look are you sure that we are "observing" the Iraqi elections and not the JORDANIAN elections ?!
Observer 2: Shut up man. You don't know how to live. You wanna get killed ? Get you A** to Iraq and observe their elections. I stay here, get my money, enjoy my holiday.... Oh forget it...You fancy a Heineken ????

Observer 1: Yeah...holiday....stupid me ....give me that heineken man ohhh I love the Iraqi elections...
Observer 2: Long Live Iraq !!! Look I can bounce on this bed....Yeay this is so much fun...

Next Scenario: Iraqi family in the Sunni triangle.

Asia Blog Awards 2004

Someone has nominated me for the Asia Blog Awards 2004 but unfortunately I found out late. I got an email telling me about this. Kurdo's World blog is nominated for the Best Non-Asian (Foreign) Blog If you want to vote for me, you can do so here.

Happy New Year

Another 2 mass graves in Kurdistan

While workers were trying to built the foundation of a new hospital in Dabashan district in center of Sulaimani city, they found a massgrave which contained several bodies.
The workers stopped for a while to collect the bodies. After restarting work, they found another mass grave next to the first one...



So far, 6 bodies of men , and 4 bodies of women have been detected. It is estimated that around 40-50 bodies are in these two mass graves.
And around 400-500 Kurds were killed in this area in 1991 after the uprising.

* Simko is back and he talks about beheadings, and the new year.

* Bilind and his Kashmiri friend have started a blog, interesting Islamic views.

* And finally, Hajir, has an excellent post about the politics in the Middle East. worth reading.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Mario Vasquez Quits American Idol

I will NOT vote because :

* A report published by the Kurdistan Regional Government's Human Rights Ministry, announced that this year 130 Kurds have been beheaded in 2004 by terrorists. (Hawlati.com). Voting for Iraq, means more Kurds killed in Iraq.

* The so called "Kurdistan Alliance" list, which is created by the 2 ruling Kurdish parties for the upcoming elections, has some of the Kurdish Baathiests who participated in killing innocent people in the 1980s [Hawlati.com]. So shall I vote for my killers ?!

* 500 Kurdish families, estimated to be 3000 people, have been forced out of the Kirkuk town of Haweeja by Arab nationalists. We thought in the new Iraq we won't be forced out from our homes because of our identity. But it seems no difference. Shall I vote for my ethnic cleansers ?!

* Around 200 000 refugees are still waiting to return to Kirkuk, they live in tents in the worst conditions ever, the Iraqi Defence Ministry is forcing the Kirkuk Council to give lands to the former members of the Iraqi Army from Southern Iraq. Yet another wave of Arabisatoin by the new rulers of Iraq. It seems that the Iraqi government is not actually thinking of solving any problems in Kirkuk, and they seem to continue their ethnic-cleansing started by their former boss "Saddam Hussein" in Kirkuk. [pdf file, ASO newspaper, original documents].

This is only a small scale of the problems. Problems on the ground are much more. Not to add the lack of oil, electricity, gas, and many more.

Unofficial referendum to take place in Kurdistan on the day of Iraqi elections

It has been a year since all Kurdistan have been busy with the "Referendum Movement". More than 1.7 Million signitures were collected last year in the presence of the world media.
Now after a year's work, these signitures were handed in to the United Nation to hold and supervise a referendum to see whether the people of Kurdistan would like to be part of Iraq, or else.
I just read it on a Turkish newspaper that the not very United Nations has commented that

UN: This many signatures could not be collected without anyone hearing about it in a place like northern Iraq

Without anyone hearing about it ?! What the hell Kofi Annan was up to then ? I guess he spends too much time on his facial goaty in the mornings he can't check out the news ?!
Nice goaty Mr. Annan. . But please, switch your news channel to BBC World sometimes will ya Mr. Annan ?! Too much Rock & Roll are not good for your ears.

So for that reason, the "Referendum Movement" has decided to hold an unofficial referendum on the 31st of January 2005, the day of the Iraqi elections.

I think the question to be asked will be "Do you want to be part of Iraq or no?" . Not a very hard question I guess, reading the comments posted by some Iraqis on Al-Jazeera's copy website of CNN, you might get some hints on what people might vote for.

Merry Christmas
Beware of terrorist Santas !

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a merry christmas this year. Though we do not celeberate christmas (as we are supposed to be Muslims), but 25th of December is an official holiday in some parts of Kurdistan (PUK controlled Kurdistan). Christians (Kurdish Christians, Chaldeans and Assyrians) usually spend the day in the churches and they celeberate their eve.

One of the threats this year is a terrorist Santa. What if some terrorist diguised themselves as Santas and entered one of the churches to carry out their Jihad ?! Scary thoughts.

Usually the TV channels show the "Life of Jesus" movie every christmas in Kurdistan. Santas are usually appearing on streets on the New Year's Eve (31st of December), and they will be with some photographers who will be charging to take a photo with Santa.
Strange world. But never mind. Enjoy this Kurdish music video clip of Natalia, thanks to KurdNet.
Wish you a merry christmas !

American anti-Kurdistan policy continues.

US forces remove a Kurdistan flag in Kirkuk.


The image of Kurdistan flag was defaced. This flag is as holly as any other national flag in the world.
It seems that the American policy in Iraq is to "Respect those who kick you hard".
After the killing 4 Kurds in Kirkuk last week, another Kurd was murdered yesterday. Kurdish families are being deported from the town of Haweeja
Yesterday a massive demonstration took place in Kirkuk to condemn the anti-Kurdish attacks in Kirkuk.
Today the American forces in Almas district removed a huge Kurdistan flag with white paint.
After this stupid move by the American soldiers, angry protesters ran to the streets of Almas.
What the hell the Americans are doing ?! What is in a flag ?! Can the American authorities in USA remove a flag of a football team ?!

The only people who don't attack the Americans is in Iraq is Kurds. It seems that the Americans intentionally want to turn Kurds against themselves. Otherwise, why touch a flag which represents a nation ?!

Imagine if someone removed an American flag in USA. What would your reaction be ?
Not just USA, imagine if you support a football team and someone comes and burns your flag ?!

I was talking with a group of friends and we came to the conclusion that unless you show your muscles to the Americans, they don't respect you.
Otherwise, Muqtada Al-Sadder gunned down a few US soldiers, he got what he wanted. Sistani threatened with a revolution, got what he wanted.
The Sunnis are doing what they can now, and they will get what they want. It is only Kurds. We are just standing by and we are not getting anything at all. Yet, despite all these anti-Kurdish campaigns, you see your main ally intimidating and insulting you.

Oh yeah, and referendum signitures arrived in United Nations. Bring on independence ! We don't like to live in an (Arab Islamic Iraq).

Dream on if you think elections will turn Iraq into a heaven

Whenever we see an Iraqi/American/British official all they remind us is "After elections things go better". Not just once, but millions of times.

This is so not true. Do these guys know what the election is about ?!

This coming election will not, under any circumstances :

1. Will not Make Iraq any safer.
2. Will not stop terrorist attacks on US soldiers and innocent civilians.
3. Will not provide security, oil, and electricity to normal ordinary people.
4. Will not stop terrorists sabotaging the pipelines.


It will ONLY give George W. Bush & Tony Blair the back-up they need when they face their own people. That time they will say "Look that is not our problem, Iraq has an elected free democratic government now".

Elections are not some magic-sticks that could touch Iraq and make it as safe as heaven. I remember in 1992 before the Kurdistani general elections, we had this view of Kurdistan after the elections. A free, organised, democratic, western style country.
There was even some TV serieses called "After the Parliament". In these TV programmes, they used to show Kurdistan as a (arms-free), democratic, prosperous country. In the shows, a few people were saying "When is this going to happen"? The answer and the end of the show was "Dwaii Parlaman" "After electing the Parliament".

But, after the elections, Kurdistan turned into hell. A bloody civil war that continued for about 7 years devastated the country.

So anyone thinking that this Iraqi election is going to make things anything better, should stop thinking about that now. Yes if you are George W. Bush or Tony Blair, it will help a lot. But if you are some poor Iraqi family then forget it about it.

It is true that elections must be held to be democratic, but come on, if you don't have electricity, and don't have enough oil to burn to make you warm, and not feel safe enough to go out, would you really care about who really governs you ?

P.S. there was so much stuff on my mind to talk about but I have been very busy lately. I don't know why elections came up to my mind but anyways.
Many thanks to those who have emailed me I will reply as soon as possible. Oh yeah, don't forget, Merry Christmas ! (is it too early ?!).

Daily assasinations of Kurds in Kirkuk

* 3 Kurds killed in Kirkuk (17 December 2004)
KIRKUK, (AFP) - Three people were killed in a missile attack on a Kirkuk camp for Kurdish returnees in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to stoke communal tensions in Iraq 's northern oil capital ahead of next month's elections.

* 4 Kurds killed in Haweeja, Kirkuk
Unknown gunmen shot dead four Kurds in a market in Iraq's northern town of Hawija on Sunday, the second such attack in as many days, police said.

These and many more daily mortar attacks on the Kurdish neighbourhoods and the Kurdish refugee camps in Kirkuk, seems to be an organised attack by the settlers and the Baathiests to intesify the tensions in Kirkuk in order to stop the returning of the Kurdish refugees to that town.

In other developments, the Iraqi Vice President Roj Shawayas (A Kurd) said "The elections in Kirkuk should be postponed until all the refugees return to their original places". He said that "The Kurdish political party have all the rights to respond if these elections were not postponed".

Why postponing the Kirkuk elections ?!

There are still more than 200 000 Kurdish refugees from Kirkuk and surrounding areas living under tents while their original homes are occupied by Arab settlers from South Iraq.
These refugees are not allowed to vote. That means that the settlers will win the elections in Kirkuk. If the settlers win the elections in Kirkuk, they don't want the Kurdish refugees back in Kirkuk, that is common sense. They are occupying the refugees homes, so they would never say "welcome back" to some people they kicked them out themselves.

Kirkuk is the "moment of truth" for Iraqis to prove loyality to people of Kurdistan

So ever wondered why Kurds prefer independence rather than a "United Iraq" ?! There must be a reason. The main reason is, the lack of trust between the successive Iraqi governments, and the people of Kurdistan.

Look at this image, Saddam Hussein, young and handsome, smilling happily, promising Kurds of "full citizenship rights" and "autonomy including Kirkuk" in 1970.

Look at the 2004 image, Iyad Allawi, the new Iraqi PM, smilling just like Saddam was in 1970, promising Kurds of "full citzenship rights" and "autonomy".

Some dude cried "wolves" three times and they called him a liar. The Iraqi governments call "full citizenship rights" since its creation, why we shouldn't call them liars ?

The Iraqi Election Committee in Kirkuk has banned 70,000 Kurds to participate in the elections in Kirkuk. (PUKMedia.com)
Iyad Allawi also says that "Iraq remains an Islamic Arab state"

Ladies and gentlemen, I am not an Arab, nor a proper Muslim, so why should I be part of it ?!




"How to increase blog traffic" free

Kurdistan updates...

Attack on Hawler (Erbil)

* Ansar Al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the Hawler car bombing killing two innocents.




* 7 Turkmen parties claimed that they will boycott Kirkuk elections if Artcile 58 was not implemented.

* Election campaign has started.

* And finally, why we don't trust Turkish & other regional companies.
This is getting out of hands. The Turkish companies are getting most of the shares of the projects, but they don't do them properly. Despite their opposition to the war, and despite the Turkish government's anti-Kurdish stance, most of the business cakes are given to Turkish companies.

The roads of Sulaimani, now full of humps (basically looks like mountain roads rather than a modern city road) were done by a Turkish company.
Another Turkish company, DGT, signed an agreement to finish 4 schools within one year, now a year and a few months gone past, this is all they done :

Who Got Him ?!

Well, that is not very important. "We Got Him" is what matters. It was the wish of every single freedom-loving human on this Earth, and this is why it doesn't matter.

Conflicting reports last year dazzled every single one of us, we still don't know "How, When, Who, etc" lead to Saddam's capture.

On the early hours of 14th of December 2003, a Kurdish website (yes KurdishMedia.com) published this :

Sulemani-Kurdistan (KurdishMedia.com) 14 December 2003: Saddam Hussein, the former President of the former Iraqi regime, was captured by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdish sources close to KurdishMedia.com reported.
A speacial intelligence unit led by Mr Kosrat Rassul, a high ranking member of the PUK, found Saddam Hussein in the city of Tikrit, his birthplace. Kosrat’s team was accompanied by a group of US-soldiers.
Further details of the capture will emerge during the day; but the global Kurdish party is about to begin!

I was informed about this by a friend. I said "No way". This is another internet hoax.
Later, another news-break in, Reuters qouting "a Kurdish leader". This time "We all jumped...Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh let's party"...
Thousands of people rushed to the streets all over Kurdistan. Celeberation started all over Iraq. This was like "Nightmare over..."..

You can not feel our happiness, I doubt it that any other human on this world has felt like the people in Iraq felt about Saddam's capture.
Saddam was the god father of all of us. We couldn't escape from him. Though in Kurdistan we have been free from him since 1991, but we still had contacts with the other parts of Iraq and we lived under his terror for almost 25 years.

As kids, when the teacher used to say stand up, we were forced to say "Long Live President Saddam", and sit down "We won against the infidel Persians". "Qiyam , 3asha al-qayd Saddam , Julus: Intasarna Ala Fursul-Majus" so imagine !!


Happy Anniversary everyone ! I heard that he [Saddam] has gone on a hunger-strike , like we care.

Kurds may not participate in Kirkuk Council Elections.

In a press conference for the Kurdish TVs and radios, the president of the Kurdistan parliament and the Vice President of Iraq, Rozh Nuri Shaways, said that we will ask for postponing the "Council Elections" in Kirkuk until "Article 58 of the Iraqi Administrative Law TAL" is applied in Kirkuk.

He said in case the Iraqi government refused postponing the elections, we will boycott "Council Elections" in Kirkuk.
This came after the Kurdish leaders "Barzani & Talabani" sent a letter to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Elections Committee to postpone the elections in Kirkuk until Article 58 of TAL is implemented in Kirkuk.

Article 58 states that the transitional government "shall act expeditiously to take measures to remedy the injustice caused by the previous regime's practices in altering the demographic character of certain regions, including Kirkuk."

Article 58 goes on to assert that residents displaced by practices like Arabization will either be given back their homes and property or compensated for them; that individuals who were moved to new regions under Saddam should be resettled back in their original homes, and that the new government should seek to restore altered provincial borders.

Article 58 has not been implemented in Kirkuk. It seems that the Iraqi government has no plans to change what Saddam did in Kirkuk. The Iraqi government might indeed agree with what Saddam did in Kirkuk. Not giving any help to resettle the Kurdish refugees in Kirkuk and not helping the Arab settlers to return to south Iraq are some signs of that.
Not just that, the American soldiers, were given "clean-up" jobs in Kirkuk. Not "cleaning-up" terrorists but cleaning up Kirkuk's streets from Kurdistan flags.
From time to time, they go in missions going in the streets in Kirkuk to remove all Kurdistan flags.
I mean can the American marines tell their natives Americans in USA that they are not allowed to fly their favourite football team's flag ?! So why we are not allowed to fly our "Kurdistan" flags in Kirkuk ?! What is in a flag ?!

It is impossible now to implement "Article 58" in just 6 weeks. Therefore Kirkuk's "Council Elections" will have to be delayed eventually.

If "Kurds" don't participate in the Kirkuk's council elections, it will make Kirkuk's elections invalid, since half of the city will not be represented in the council.

Saddam appeared in Fallujah ?! Joke of the year.

As we approach from the "We Got Him" day (only 3 more days), I found this Iraqi forums website with a message posted by the webmaster of the website saying that Saddam Hussein has participated in the recent Fallujah war.

The website says "The glorious leader Saddam Hussein appeared for a few minutes in Al-Nazil district amid a huge popular celeberations. He was loaded with weapons and he carried a AK47. He was shaved and had a few white lines in his hair. Then he went to meet with the Mujahidin and resistance leaders."

The webmaster claims to be from the Al-Faruq Jihadist brigades. I was waiting to read "and I woke up the next morning and said I had a nice dream". But he lead on to say how Saddam is a great man.

Then a few other forum members have posted slogans for the imprionsed dictator. They all have photos of him.

I think this meeting has taken place either via video-link from Saddam's prison room (which is impossible) or the webmaster had too much Al-Nakhka (Iraqi alcohol) to drink that night.
There is two types of Al-Nakhla, the official one with around %40 of alochol or the home-made one (FAL) (called the killer of Kurds in Kurdistan) which contains %95 of alcohol.
northern iraq

Gahm-sah-hahm-ni-da Korea (Thank You Korea)



South Korean President made a surprise visit to Kurdistan yesterday. The south Koreans are doing a superb job in Hawler (Erbil) in particular and all over Kurdistan generally. They are busy building modern hospitals, banks, and other important places. Their vehicles have the labels "We are your friends" in both Kurdish & English.
Thank You in Kurdish = Supas

northern iraq

Arab voters in Kirkuk are more than Kurds & Turkmens .

According to a latest statistics in Kirkuk, the number of electoral forms given to voters of Arab origins in Kirkuk is 440 000, while those of Kurdish origins were 370 000 and Turkmen origins were 104 000. ChaldoAssyrians were about 10 000, reported the Kurdish weekly, Hawlati.

The Kurdish refugees who were kicked out from Kirkuk by the successive Iraqi governments have not returned to Kirkuk yet. The Arab settelers who were given lands and money to relocate in Kirkuk from Southern Iraq have not been compensated to return to their homes in south Iraq.

We have had enough of "empty promises" and "lies" from all the Iraqi governments including Allawi's "selected" government.
The Kirkuk issue was the main reason of the failure of the 1970 peace accord between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish faction. It seems that history is going to repeat itself.

In this "democratic" part of Iraq (yet many refuse to be part of it but technically and according to Koffi Anan we are) this is what happened to a guy who told the bodyguards of a high ranking member of one of the Kurdish parties to mind the queue. He was in a queue at a petrol station when a car jumped infront of him.
He told them "Heyyy mind the queue"...and they told him "Heyyy mind your a$$" . The photo of the victim was published in one of the Kurdish newspapers. The politician is called (Mahmood Sangawi).



*I am planning to visit one of the neighbouring countries (no not to tell them to stop exporting terrorism) but for some other private issues but I won't stop blogging.

Welat Lezgin

I asked Welat Lezgin, an editor of a famous Kurdish website "KurdishMedia.com" to publish some photos taken by the aid agency workers of Kurdistan Save the Children on their wesbite.
I have sent several other emails to them but no replies. So I said that I have published it on my blog (which has more google listing than KurdishMedia) but it would be nice if you can publish it as well.

Here is Wilat's polite reply :



I'd never have expected that from a serious website. This reminds me of the email which was sent to Medya from the Canadian University telling him "We don't want terrorists in our country".


Funny, but sad at the same time.

northern iraq

Great Photos from Kurdistan.

Don't miss out on Maureen McLuckie's photo album.

101 Photos, 101 comments ! Great entertainment.

A military base ? Not at all..

Maureen writes : Red Security Building in Sulaimaniya with Iraqi tanks in foreground - it is now a museum

It took two days controlling this building in March 1991 during the Kurdish uprising. Around 400-500 Baathiests were killed in that building.
Later in 1993 it became a shelter for the Kurdish refugees who were kicked out from Kirkuk.
In 1999 the building the Kirkuk refugees were relocated. In 2001 plans were made to turn it into a a national museum. Now (Amna Suraka) is one of the must-see places in Sulaimani.


A tour inside the Halabja Monument


Maureen comments The original door taken from the house in Halabja

There is another sign infront of the monument which says "Baathiests are not allowed to enter".
Check out the rest of the album.

northern iraq

Why not call them "terrorists" ?

3 simple Iraqi workers who were working in the cafe of an American base were captured by terrorists on the 1st of December 2004 and they were executed on the spot. The Ansar Al-Islam website has posted their (I.D) cards on their website :



3 Kurds were killed in Mosul on 2nd of December 2004 as terrorists in their car in Al-Rafaee district. They were simple ordinary people with nothing to do with politics. Their car was burnt afterwards. (Source PUKMedia.com).



So why on Earth call these monsters "Resistance fighters" ?!! Is killing a few innocent civilians and blowing up a few cars called "Resistance" ?!

Slaughter of Democracy

The two main Kurdish factions have agreed to enter the "Kurdistani" elections with a united list. Both (PUK) and (KDP) who rivalled each other in the first Kurdistani elections in 1992 are now entering the elections with a single list.

On the Iraqi level, both of these factions and some other Kurdish parties are entering the Iraqi elections with a single list. That is some good news at least.

To some Kurds, this is too good. But to others, this is described as the "Slaughter of Democracy".
Why ?!
First of all, these 2 parties have now divided the Kurdistan Parliament as follow :

Parliament contains 111 seats
PUK: 41 seats
KDP: 41 seats
ChaldoAssyrians: 7 seats
Turkmen : 4 seats
Others & Islamic parties : 18
The (KDP) will have the right to choose some "independent" members.

The President of the Kurdistan Government will be : Massoud Barzani (KDP)
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Government will be : Nechirvan Barzani (KDP)
The president of the Kurdistan Parliament will be : a PUK guy

Any top posts given to Kurds on the Iraqi level will go to : Jalal Talabani (PUK).

Now, so who is the opposition ?!

So far, a group of independent candidates have chosen themselves to participate. But these people lack financial support. They might be able to gather some votes, but I doubt it that they will win against this "Evil Coalition".

As these two parties "PUK" & "KDP" are not promising anything much to normal people, at this moment, any political party promising to work for an "Independent Kurdistan", will win the majority of votes.

But, this is what most people are asking. Even if the "independent" candidates win the election, will PUK & KDP come down from power ?! I doubt it.

In which democratic country the "Parliament" seats are distributed before the elections itself ?!

What we supposed to do is to go to polls and vote for them to legalise their rules. And that is what will happen.
northern iraq