Iraqi's future government

GENERAL
CPA has just released a poll on what the Iraqis are looking for in their future government.

ISLAMIC STATE
CNN article on the Shi'ite cleric who wants an Islamic Republic. More, Straits Times' article on Islam Republic. And, the BBC too. This looks pretty hot: a website dedicated to educate and advocate the restoration of the Islamic State (they talking about Islamic Empire). Of particular interest: What is the Islamic State?

DEMOCRACY
Iraqi Shia for Democracy at Iraqi Foundation.

Internet jihad?

This is all too new and strange to me to make sense. But, apparently, some servers have been "attacked"--I guess that is the right word--, and the origin of the attack is Malaysia. Several of my favorite blogs have been affected. See the this post at Winds of Change and follow the links there. Evidently, this is not the first time.

Reading lists on the Middle East

For more project ideas, check out Martin Kramer's reading list and Daniel Pipes's .

Debate on Bush's Pre-War Rhetoric

Here's what seems to be a serious attempt to cut through the political spin to get to some substantive answers about an important topic: did Bush in fact lie about the imminence of the threat from Iraq before our invasion. Some bloggers (Jonathan Schwarz and Sebastian Holsclaw) at Daniel Drezner's blog have picked this question up, and Drezner has agreed to referee. I'll list the links in order of the debate and Drezner follows up with his conclusions today sometime. I'll update things when it appears.

Part I: Sebastian Holsclaw
Part II: Jonathan Schwarz
Part III: Sebastian Holsclaw
Part IV: Jonathan Schwarz
Part V: Closing Arguments

Drezner's Ruling

UPDATE:
Meanwhile, Richard Perle says there is no doubt in US troop's minds: "You know, a lot of our guys in Iraq carry around pieces of the World Trade Center. The chattering classes are talking about the relationship between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. These guys are under no illusions. It’s all part of the same war."

Rebuilding Iraq vs. Germany/Japan

I have seen a lot of talk comparing the project of rebuilding Iraq with Germany and Japan, but here, finally, is an authortative report of the state of Germany after 7 months of occupation. The comments are Allen W. Dulles', then the head of the OSS (predecessor to CIA) in Bern, to the Council of Foreign Relations, December 1945.

The value of these comments are quite apparent, now. We never do appreciate the answers until we know the questions. Standing 50 years this side of Germany's rebuilding, it is easy to overlook just how difficult it was. As the Editor of FOREIGN AFFAIRS notes,

"Knowing how the story ended, it is difficult for us to escape the tyranny of hindsight and see those earlier cases as they appeared to contemporary observers -- in their full uncertainty, as history in the making rather than data to be mined for present-day polemics."

UPDATE
Also, this reprint of an article from LIFE (January 1946) "Americans are Losing the Victory in Europe," provides further historical observations of Europe after the War. Here is a gem quote:

"Never has American prestige in Europe been lower. People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops, of out misunderstanding of European conditions. They say that the theft and sale of Army supplies by our troops is the basis of their black market. They blame us for the corruption and disorganization of UNRRA. They blame us for the fumbling timidity of our negotiations with the Soviet Union. They tell us that our mechanical de-nazification policy in Germany is producing results opposite to those we planned."

UPDATE:
In today's (20 October) Christian Science Monitor, Karl Zinzmeister has some good things to report.

The Internet and Voice of the People?

Check this out for substantial dicussion on the growing importance for government and corporate control of the Internet. There are several links leading on to other relevant papers as well.

UPDATED:
But how are blogs significant to the Middle East? Well, for one:

Jeff Jarvis is a big advocate of the power of the blog, particularly in the Middle Eastern countries yearning for freedom. He has championed the Iranian blogger Hoder (see Iran links on right) and is now encouraging a new Iraqi blogger, Zeyad and his blog Healing Iraq (see Iraq links on right). At a time when we are all increasingly aware that media sources matter, Jarvis claims that, in Zeyad's blog "You'll find reporting of a witness and a citizen that is beyond anything an outside reporter can possibly give you."

In a later blog, Jarvis reports that he introduced Hoder and Zeyad, in order that they might help each other share their stories to us. Jarvis ends his blog by quoting another blogger (Harry) to show the significance of blogs in the autocratic Middle Eastern countries: "We might shrug our shoulders at our ability to be able to instantly publish our thoughts but for people who have spent their lives living under dictatorships, media like weblogs truly are liberating."

I agree with Jarvis, this passage from one of Zeyad's blogs is quite remarkable:

"The following days were awful. The lawless and chaotic phase was next. I couldn't stand to go out and watch those ignorants stealing everything they could and literally destroying public buildings. What would the world think of us now? Some of the strangest things I witnessed, a pickup truck filled with school desks, the desks that their children use. A child dragging a Canon laser printer on the floor. Computers, hundreds of them loaded on carts pulled by donkeys. Police and army vehicles. And most important of all weapons, kalashnikovs, RPG's, hand grenades, stockpiles of ammunition. I wanted to bury my head in dirt. I hated myself for being an Iraqi, for sharing the same nationality with those strange people. I was deeply ashamed, watching this helplessly. People consciously destroying their own infrastructure, people setting fire to buildings we are proud of, stealing their history from museums, burning their public libraries. They are not Iraqis, they are aliens from Mars. I just couldn't take it. I cried, I admit it. I didn't know who to blame. I NEEDED someone to blame. I couldn't possibly blame the Americans, after all it isn't THEIR country, it's ours. We were the ones destroying ourselves. We are a self-destructive people. It only took me now to realize that. It wasn't Saddam that was the problem, it wasn't the Ba'ath, it wasn't the Ottoman empire, it wasn't the monarchy, it wasn't colonialism, it wasn't anything. It was us. We simply destroyed Iraq, and now we are sitting and wailing because the Americans aren't rebuilding it for us."

UPDATE
For a more particular listing of articles and such on the impact (hopeful and real) of blogs on the unraveling Iranian Revolution see Hoder's website (see his list on the right of his site). This piece is a good place to begin.

Radical Islam in Africa

An article in the Washington Post on the current exodus of radical Muslims moving to Africa.

UPDATE from Winds of Change on the Radical Flight to Africa.

Return of the Marsh Arab

Here is a story about the restoration of the Marsh Arabs to their ancient way of life. Something that from '91, Saddam Hussein prevented them from doing. It is a good article, sweeping quickly through their long history and giving a good overview of how these people have lived for millennia.

American Policy in Iraq--post-Gulf War I, before GW II

Useful and pertinent links to sites regarding Iraq policy here. Feel free to check back fairly often.

State Department's timeline of Iraq and UN's relation after Gulf War 1.
State Department's official texts on policy.

Muslims and Reform in America

A couple of helpful resources for learning about Muslims in America.

A transcript of a roundtable on the beginning of a Muslim reformation. Also, Daniel Pipes' review of Irshad Manji's groundbreaking work, The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-Up Call for Honesty and Change.

For more of a sociological view of Muslims in America, check out Daniel Pipes and Khalid Durán's study.