Joyful day turns into tragedy

BAGHDAD, August 31 – What started out as a joyful day turned out to be the worst event since the start of the war in Iraq. As thousands gathered today to celebrate the martyrdom of the Shiite imam Mussa Khadim the worst possible scenario unraveled quickly. When thousands headed for the shrine they were forced to pass a bridge that led to the shrine. Rumors of a suicide bomber among the crowd quickly spread and over 800 people were killed in the stampede that followed, mainly women, children and elderly were trampled when chaos broke loose.

The morning started out as a disaster when at 8AM two mortars struck the neighborhood surrounding the shrine killing over 15 people and injuring more than 30. An hour later dozens of people came to the hospital after experiencing effects of poisoning, probably from the free food and water distributed. One Shiite politician claims at least 100 people were killed because of this poisoning. Then, again one hour later total disaster took place when the stampede made its’ way over the bridge claiming hundreds of innocent victims.

The week started out so good for the Shiites, with the constitutional draft approved which benefits them in many ways they finally got the political power they craved for so many decades. Today the celebration turned into despair as over 1,000 victims were reported at the various disaster areas.

Over 600 people, many of them woman and children have died after a stampede caused by rumours of a suicide bomber amongst them caused the collapse of railings on a bridge on the river Tigris.
On one of the main days in the shia muslims calendar, the annual commemoration of the death of the Shiite saint, Imam Mousa al-Kadim, over 1 million people were on their way to visit the saints shrine in the district of Kazimiyah district when mortar attacks were heard.Its believed that it was this that started the rumour of suicide bombers which caused the pilgrims to panic.The deaths occurred on the Aaimma bridge when railings gave way and many people jumped into the river and were drowned.

by McBourbon
One of my favorite parts of spending the majority of my time at the end of the bar here in Cleveland is when my local pub brings in Gary, the karaoke guy, and he starts playing songs and I watch drunken (and not so drunken) fools come up one after another and sing for my amusement.

Of course, as with most things, there is a dark side to karaoke, and I asked Gary to outline the seedier aspects of his business. He described to me the karaoke singers I see and what they’re actually like.

First, there are the CROONERS. These are the people who think they are doing a Frank Sinatra tribute, but end up sounding more like Harry Connick Jr. with a mouth full of shit and a rabid dog using their scrotum as a chew toy. They’re off key, too slow, too stupid to know the lyrics, or just Asian and trying to fit into American culture with something they fuckin’ started in the first place.

Secondly, there are the WEMEN. These are large groups of women who come up to belt out Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” or, God forbid, ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” because to do it alone for anyone of them is just too embarrassing. Of course, after their performance, these drunk chicks continue drinking as groups of men circle them like flies near a cow pie and then they become a date rape statistic somewhere between the back parking lot and the local Denny’s where they swore they would meet their friends because the slobbering drunken hillbilly who bought this Barbara Mandrell wanna-be her last drink was just “too fuckin’ hot to let go without a blow job.”

Next are the RISING STARS. These people actually have some talent, but no idea what to do with it. They come up and sing songs by Bon Jovi and Poison (because Gary doesn’t have anything more recent) and actually sound good. (Note: Good is relative in a bar. After 9 tall Black and Tans…good for some is a hot blonde with face Herpes, a bad lisp, and a gimpy leg that appears to have been mangled by a pit bull sometime in her teens. Don’t ask how I know this.) They return to their table, usually populated by people who look like the light scares them and they can’t wait to be locked back in the basement…but the rising stars are the turds that float to the surface in this singer treatment facility…only to be poked back under the surface after the night is over.

Every now and again you get a SOUL MAN who doesn’t necessarily sing “Soul Man” made famous by Sam and Dave and/or The Blues Brothers, but adds that (for lack of a better way of putting it) “flava” to the evening. Of course, in an all white city, in an all white bar, where most of the people are driving all white BMW’s…the SOUL MAN usually ends up sneaking out a back door after a crappy rendition of Young MC’s “Bust a Move.”

Lastly, Gary described to me where I fit in when I get up and sing “Rock this Town” by the Stray Cats or “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals. “McBourbon,” he says, “you are a PRETENDER.” This means I manage to do a good impression of a singer but have no actual singing ability what-so-ever, and I’m next in line to be a karaoke DJ.

And piss off if you think I’m some drunken Cleveland half-a-fag for singing karaoke. Sometimes the WEMEN like a sensitive guy who can sing. Such is the life of the man at the end of the bar. Until next time……drink until you catch up.

Chances are big it will be rejected

BAGHDAD, August 30 – Protests started all over Iraq, rejecting the approval of the Iraqi constitutional draft which leaves Sunnis in a disadvantage. While the political process seems successful the opposite is true, there is a big chance that the referendum on October 15 will come out negative and the whole process will be annulled.

The rules for this referendum are that if three out of the 18 electoral districts reject the draft in the referendum it will be disapproved completely. With this fact the entire National Assembly will be dissolved and new elections will be held which will initiate the same process again. This means new talks will be made and a new draft should be assembled and approved.

Meanwhile Democrats are already stating that George W. Bush has failed miserably. The Iraqi’s have nothing to show for their so-called liberation and the political process stumbles upon opposition constantly. Combine that with increasing insurgent attacks and startling U.S. casualty rates and it will be clear that Bush has a lot to do to make up for this mess.

Sunnis’ objections ignored

BAGHDAD, August 29 – The final word hasn’t been said yet but so far the Iraqi constitutional draft is progressing, albeit a bit delayed, still on schedule for the referendum. The Sunnis have many objections to this draft but after a few concessions from the Shiites, which were rejected, the National Assembly today approved the entire draft. This is not strange since the majority of the National Assembly consists of Kurds and Shiites, because the Sunnis boycotted the elections earlier this year they have no representation in the NA.

The Shiites especially have been somewhat reluctant to give the Sunnis any say at all. The Sunnis were always the dominating culture in Iraq under Hussein’s charge although the make up only 20% of the total population. The Shiites have always been repressed and feel that they deserve more than the Sunnis now because of this. Meanwhile the Sunnis are already urging everyone to vote at the referendum this time so they can reject the constitutional draft.

Whether this will succeed is another thing, the Sunnis do not have a majority when voting but perhaps they can make the difference. Several points on which the Sunnis disagreed were articles restricting former Baath-members from public positions and the Arab nature of the country.

They finally get the importance of voting

BAGHDAD, August 28 – It looks like the Sunnis have learnt their lesson from being stubborn seven months ago. They had the chance to participate in the now so heavily debated constitutional draft if they had not decided to boycott the elections in the beginning of this year. This mistake has been costly and they seem to finally realize this and intend not to make the same mistake again.

Websites normally used to claim gruesome crimes and show the results are now used to encourage people to register to vote. Their boycott has cost them influence in the constitutional over which they’re fighting now, if they were a part of the parliament they could avoided being ignored by the Shiites. Now they’re looking to counter with the power of the vote, every Sunni is already being called on to vote this October when the people of this divided nation get a say on the potential constitution.

The parliament could also do a vote beforehand to see how the members think of the draft but this is unlikely since the democratic process would be much more served by a vote from the people. Sunnis make up only 20% of the total Iraqi nation yet they have been in charge over the last few decades thanks to Saddam Hussein, the Shiites are now looking to level the score by excluding them from the oil profits.