Khalid Issa Taha

Is it fair to withhold Iraqis living abroad the right to vote for the trustworthy leaders of their beloved country? Iraqi refugees are those who were forced to flee from their country to immigrate to other countries or otherwise to be killed in the fighting between both sides. Iraqis have suffered from not only invasion but also internal conflicts which were encouraged and influenced by outside forces, such as religions from Iran.

The coming election at the beginning of next year 2010 will open new hope for a better and stronger, independent and peaceful Iraq for all Iraqis if and only if we can pass the election law which is transparent, fair and interest-balanced between political entities considering the majority and minority of the multi-ethnic culture in Iraq.

The PM Nouri Maliki was like a poker player believing him as the strongest one to win the election when he refused to stand in one coalition and frontier under the influence of Iran with Ammar Al Hakim group. But it was dramatically changed in just a click once the Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani had arrived Baghdad. Within half an hour, Dr. Maliki announced to join back to the pro-Iranian party who asserted themselves the hold of the strongest chance in the coming election at the beginning of next year.

In the meantime, the increasing majority of Iraqis, especially the Shiah Arab and the Sunni and the abroad Iraqi patriots, have strongly expressed their opposition against the blend of religion and politics. 99.9% of Iraqis wish Iraq will come to a regime which represents the idea of the European democracy as what the EU has built. This growing secular movement, although was aimed rightly for the good sake of Iraq as the whole country, seemed to be sensed as danger from the ones in power by preventing 4 million Iraqi immigrants from voting in the election for contribution of their ideas.

Dr. Khalid Hashimi, when threatening to resign from the power to contest such prevention, asserted that Iraqi refugees all over the world must be entitled to vote for the election in Iraq and that they should and could get their membership in the Parliament whether they are Sunni, Shiah or Turkomans. I totally agree with Dr. Hashimi.

I can not imagine what further catastrophes will be happening in Iraq. I do not dare to imagine what will be the future of Iraq when hundreds of people are jailed without lawful reasons, when the supposedly most secured places are bombed and the whole government are hiding in the green zone. Does anyone have the courage to visit the American Ambassador and tell him that it would be America’s interest to change their policy in Iraq?

What is going now indicates the possible scene which is unwanted by most Iraqis. It would give Iran power influence of another 7 more years and lead the way for on-going and increasing corruption and killing for the coming periods as they have been planted by Tehran fanatics.

Iraqi people will not accept this. The US will be embarrassed to leave Iraq as Obama’s promise. They will be more embarrassed if they do not do anything to change the ambition of Tehran influence for 7 years more under the presidency of Nouri Maliki as the PM.

I assure Dr. Hashimi that all Iraqis abroad are with his idea and the time will prove that if he knows how to play the game in a proper and legal way.

Iraqis are patient but there is always a limit. If nothing to be changed soon as the desire of the majority, potential civil war might be coming on the way.

London 17.11.2009

From experience, knowledge and history study, a person can notice how the ideology of the world has changed in evolution. Hitler’s regime collapsed for the rise of the USSR with the Communist countries as well as the movement of nationalism. We could not be so amazed to find several of symbolism in the name of God like Buddhist, Jesus, Muhammed … Nevertheless, all are aimed to unite human beings to live in peace and happiness. God teaches us not to kill, not to rape, not to steal, not to lie but be honest and sincere and in the end we will be led to heaven forever. So I believe religion is very important and in the end it is how we deal with each other that should be the base of religion.

It is proved that we, human beings, are created so strong and sustainable that we can survive in the most extreme circumstances such as in Arabian and Middle Eastern deserts or the freezing poles. So it is expectable how much stronger we can be in united. The revolution in Iraq in 1941 against British army is a typical example. By the trend of nationalism, Arab world were united on the basis of sharing almost the same culture, history, religion, customs, and ways of living. A new tune of music called Marxism was prominent during that time among those countries like Iraq as against the capitalism, the invaders and conquerors. Pitifully, the demise of the USSR and the Berlin wall after several decades of Marxism development have illustrated that either the theory is not right yet or the representatives, followers and supporters have not fully mastered its theory core. Since then capitalism has triumphed all over the world, in particular with the undeniably most powerful and influential role of the USA until the recent financial and economic recession. It is therefore safe to conclude that nothing can sustain and develop without satisfying the necessity of its existence – the mutual interest and benefits of its existence. The beauty of the perfect world of equality as the Marxism ideology may be too unrealistic to fit in the current world of inequality of the rich and the poor, strong and weak, talented and plain,… In a fairy tale, beauty could fall in love with the beast. But in the real world, frankly speaking, it would be very unlikely. Presumably we could cold-heartedly equal everything: beauty, youth, strength and richness, then it would fair enough to have an equal equation of beauty and the beast. In other words, mutual interest maintains the string of the relationship and pull or push people from and to each other.

No-one could have imagined the European market today compared to 50 years ago just after the World War II. How anyone can predict such a magical transformation of the European countries from a damaged and ruined region after the most violent war in the history in respect of not only rundown economics but also hurt mentality of neighbourhood to a currently united union potentially looking forward to the first President of the Union. They have set up a common jurisdiction system with the European Court of Justice, the European Parliament and relating administration mechanism. They have an almost single currency – EURO which is becoming stronger and stronger compared to the USD. The Europe “kingdom” has become more noticeably renowned by its expansion to the east by recognising the differences of the stages of the economic development of the East and the West of Europe and strengthening the legislation, regulations, cooperation and free movement of capital, goods and people cross-borders within Europe.

Europe has set an obvious example for the Middle East. We can learn lots from their union. We do not need to copy it and it might not be the right direction for us. But the point is that we can be united on sharing our common sense for peace, happiness and mutual interest. Turkey seems to show their awareness of this point by having a bilateral agreement with Syria that the citizens of both countries can freely travel to and fro without a visa.

It is hopefully that we can fully understand this idea in 10 years time and will not let the West countries or any country to succeed in dividing our region of 22 Arab countries to 48 ones under the encouragement of discrimination of nationalities, religions or races. If it is reachable, there is no doubt that we can move dust from our mind and be confident in a modern Arab countries being united on the basis of mutual interest.

London 31.10.2009

Thousands of British people were marching in London on 24.10.2009 to protest sending more troops to Afghanistan. Those included soldiers who should be in duty as well as their relatives and friends. Why? Are they afraid of being killed? Everyone has the desire to live, even the smallest creature does. But for British people who are proud as brave and brilliant soldiers on the fierce battles during World War I and World War II, I believe being killed in Afghanistan is nothing to fear. They are only afraid of worthless sacrifice.

We have not forgotten how unpopular Tony Blair was when he followed Bush’s policy to get involved in the war in the Middle East, which might be one of the main reasons he stepped down from the PM seat. Now it seems Gordon Brown would follow the same tracks. Involving in the fight with Taliban in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan is like attacking a tiger on its territory. It is their residency, their home with their families, relatives and friends. Although they do not treat women equally as compared to Western world by prohibiting women to learn or considering women just as a tool of fertility, they did try to encourage self learning, growing wheat and barley instead of producing opium and discourage smoking opium. It should be fair to acknowledge that during the time Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they managed to clear large area of opium plants and replaced by wheat and barley.

There are no people or country possessing the right as of God to teach other country or people how to rule their region and force them to live the way unfamiliar to them. We are human beings. One of the key things makes us superior to other kinds of living species on earth is that we can talk and write. We are experts of communication. A terrorist is a term not to be named carelessly. A terrorist is not anyone against the ideology and policy of the US or the UK, even if they physically and violently fight for their opponent ideas. Otherwise, the fight against terrorists will never end because there is always a “terrorist” somewhere living in their owned country, in their owned house and in their owned way which may be completely adversary and even unlawful to what is in the US and the UK.

We are in the 21^st century. The technology has dramatically grown within several decades transforming a huge computer with 128KB memory to a little thin laptop containing millions more data. We can talk with each other from the opposite side of the earth as if we were sitting face to face in the same room. Why couldn’t we change from talking by guns, bullets and bombs to words, goods, capital and human resources?

Hundreds of young British people have died in Afghanistan. They bravely fought against the violence to save the innocent people there to build up a more civilised country starting with the voted election. Is it now the time for Afghanistan to stand up for themselves? British people will not refuse a call for help as they have welcomed thousands and thousands of asylum-seekers for years. They are only reluctant to give their hands through a half-closed door that the inside is unclear and the door might shut at any time on their hands.

The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is like what behind a half-closed door. Let them open their door wider before more troops would enter. More talks and exchanges are needed instead of army or weapons to build peace in the area.

London, 25.10.2009

Years after years the issue that Iran developed nuclear program has been the hottest point in the agenda to discuss between top leaders in the world relating to the Middle East.

It was assumed that this issue might be solved easily and quickly by the US and Israel in diplomatic ways or by force as what Israel did to the abolishment of the nuclear centre in Iraq in 1980. The fact is that the world circumstance of power balance has been changing. Israel’s army as one of the strongest ones in the world could not fight the resistance of Lebanese and Huzeb Allah in 2006. They also get stuck in the fight in Gaza Strip. In the meantime, unlike isolated Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iran has built up lots of relationship and connections of mutual interest with the world like France, Germany, China, etc. Iran also believes in the effective policy of an independent economy. So they are not much affected by the embargo and boycott imposed by the US. Besides, the US did not succeed in persuading other countries to take further stricter and stronger steps on Iran.

Adding up to those points, there are some defences Iran can rely on to retain their nuclear program as follows:

1)     Israel is unofficially believed to have the storage of 1/3 atomic bombs of the world, which might be equal or more than that of India, France, Pakistan and England altogether.

2)     Iran does not have any atomic bombs. Their nuclear program is for economic development through electricity and water supply.

3)     Iran does not need any atomic bombs because they have no interest in expanding the country area.

In addition, by supplying the nuclear materials to Russia (and France also) and cooperating with this powerful country in their nuclear program for peace purpose, Iran made an intelligent response which gained the welcomed reception of not only Russia, China and India but also Obama himself.

Obviously, these above defences when being tactfully interacted with the diplomacy and cleverness of Tehran’s foreign policies can buy the time for Iran to go on with their development of nuclear program for many years.

So what is the effect of Tehran’s nuclear policy on Iraq and the Middle East? It is well understood, especially between Iraqis and Iranian, that the people in neighbouring countries do not hate each other because of sectarianism. Iraqis definitely want to have a friend and neighbour as a strong and independent country like Iran with its owned nuclear program if Iran stops interference into domestic issues of Iraq. So does Iran in their position. No-one has any doubt about the important and effective role Iran has played to defend Palestinian struggle for their survival and their country. Turkey also shared the same idea with Iraq and other countries in the Middle East when appreciating the power Iran can gain from the nuclear program. In the same way, accordingly Turkey is possibly interested in developing a similar program for their owned country. It might be the reason that Turkey shows stronger and active influence in the Middle East. Some of those are recent several visits of the PM of Turkey to Iraq and Turkey’s proposal as a mediator for peace between Israel and Syria for Golan Height.

It is believed that when Israel could limit and scale down their nuclear forces to make the Middle East as a free zone of nuclear weapons, the peace of the region is reachable for the sake of the residents in the area, as well as the world.

London 22.10.2009

Everyday somewhere there are people feeling unhappy after their marriages not only because of the bad luck of their marriages but also because of the justice system. There are lots of conflicts concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance and how to deal with children after divorce.

Islamic marriage is stipulated with very simple rules:

1)     Married woman has the right for her dowry which is as agreed before signing marriage certificate. The dowry might be only £1 or £1 million or any amount. In case of divorce, the wife has the right for the dowry and another sum of money if it has been agreed before.

2)     She has the right to all of her personal belongings, which are used by any woman, such as clothes, cosmetics, etc. In case of divorce, the wife has additional right to stay at her husband’s house for up to 2 years after the divorce.

3)     She has the right to have the children with her up to certain ages differently for boys and girls but the father has the right to see his children as arranged time during that period. After that, it is the responsibility of the father to bring up the children.

4)     The wife has no right to prohibit or stop her husband from marrying another girl. Islamic law allows a man to marry up to 4 wives if he can afford to look after all of his wives and treat them equally.

5)     When the husband dies, the wife is entitled to only 1/8 of the assets if she has no children with him or ¼ if they have children together.

For English law:

1)     There is no regulation or rule regarding dowry and any kind of “compensation” for the wife in case of divorce.

2)     The wife has the right to half of the total assets including furniture, properties and others, which have been created after and during the marriage.

3)     There are normally complicated procedures regarding who will take care of the children. It might be the wife or the husband to be in charge or the children might move between the two houses week by week.

4)     It is prohibited and considered a serious crime that a man marries to more than one wife or a woman marries to more than one husband. But there is no limit on how many boyfriends or girlfriends or partners one can have at the same time.

5)     In case of the death of one of the married couple, the other will be entitled to inherit the whole assets.

It is simple to point out the differences between the 2 systems of law. However, it gets complicated and creates headache to handle the aftermath when the poor Arabians get married under their Islamic law at a Muslim mosque with unauthorised religious people but live as British citizens in England. How should English courts deal with these cases? They are in fact married, truly in their belief, accordingly to their law and religion. But under the scrutinised eyes and logic words of English law, these couples are not more than a partnership. According to English law, they, especially the women, are not entitled to what they should be in a properly registered marriage. It sounds legally right but is it fair and just?

As law is a tool of executing justice and bringing fairness in the society, it would be applauded to the Parliament and any MPs who support the idea that Islamic law should also be considered. Even, a new law might be necessary to take into account the features of Islamic law for corresponding religious people. The work should not be too difficult, especially when it will be done for justice and fairness. Lawyers Without Borders, as a not-for-profit organisation with its interest in helping British Arabians integrate and settle in the civilised country like England, are voluntarily ready to contribute knowledge and ideas in this work process.