American Articles مقالاتي الامريكية

Does Trump know Americans pledge allegiance to the US, not to the president?
Istanbul, 24th May 2017
I remember that the American people didn’t want George W Bush.  They thought he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is rich so he would be out of touch with the realities that the American people face every day. We have something even worse now. He is called Trump. He is a billionaire who is out of touch with anything and everything. George W bush was an aggressive president. Barak Obama was a passive president. Trump is a “I don’t know what to call president”. Crazy, still in candidate mode president, Tweet president or SNAFU president. The latter is more appropriate. When the president wins the general elections, he has to choose and then later on appoint about 8 thousand people, after he is sworn in. These people are supposed to help him during his presidency. Word has it, that Trump has not appointed even a thousand of them. Why? It seems that Trump doesn’t hire anybody who doesn’t pledge allegiance “loyalty” to him personally. This leads us to believe that Trump doesn’t understand that in America. We the people pledge allegiance to the flag of the US, in other words to the country and not to the president. I don’t need to remind you that only the president’s of countries such as, Russia, china and North Korea, demands such a thing. That is why they are called dictatorships.
Sarmad Aqrawi, is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist; His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.
                           
Trump bombing Syria is a waste of tax payer's money!

Istanbul, 7th April 2017

Russian forces are intermingled with Syrian forced. The killing of one Russian soldier, or the downing of one Russian plane, could lead to nuclear war. There are agreements between the US and Russia, to avoid such incidents. One was signed in 2015, referred to as “aviation safety agreement”. The US has to tell Russia, about its military operations in Syria ahead of time.  6 hours before the missiles hit the Syrian military base. The Russian were informed.  The Russians informed the Syrians, and the military base was evacuated. All warplanes and personnel were gone by the times the missiles hit. I laugh when they say warplane’s bunkers were destroyed.  All Syrian cities including the capital Damascus are destroyed, because of 7 years of civil war. What are 5 or 10 bunkers to add to them! Haaaaaa. The result of this “symbolic” bombing is, Russia has cancelled the agreement. We are back to square one. The immediate concern, this might endanger the lives of our brave pilots who are conducting bombing raids on ISIS in Mosul and Reqaa. The only thing that this attack has achieved is; trump up Trump. It has diverted the American people’s attention from all his failed policies in his 100 days in office. It shows him as standing up to Russia despite the fact that, there is much evidence, that members of his campaign team coordinated “something” with the Russian government. Trump wants to be like Reagan. There was evidence that the Reagan campaign were in contact with the Iranians not to release US hostages in Iran, so Carter would loss. No one seems to remember or cares about this. Later on this was confused with what was called the “Iran – Contra” hearing or “Iran gate”. No one seems to care that Colonel Oliver North said” we sold arms to Iran to finance the contra rebels in Nicaragua”. The question is, was that the deal between the Regan campaign and the Iranian government? The contras injected to it to mislead the American public. I hope congress’s investigation this time will not be muddied by something that the general’s will concoct to save Trump’s ass from impeachment. Sources say each Tomahawk missile cost 250K. The Pentagon says: it fired 59 missiles. Simple math tells us. The US taxpayers lost about 15 million dollars, on a useless bombing. Trump always says” you never tell them when you are coming”, “well here you go again” as Reagan used to say. Mr., Trump you are still far away from world realities.

Sarmad Aqrawi, is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist; His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.
                       

I am definitely a journalist by Middle Eastern standards and a famous one too, but I may not be by American and western standards. I have to write though, to give you a window into what open minded intellectual western educated people from the Middle East like me think. I beg your pardon, and ask you to look at my articles on the bases of substance, and not on the bases of American or western journalistic standards. Thank you for your support.

How Iraqis achieve financial security in 10 years!
Erbil, Iraq Dec 05 2016
You live in America, you are single, and you make 4k a month, so you think you are on top of the world. Taxes, bills and insurance, at the end of the year, zero savings. You lose your job, you are in trouble. One simple sickness that requires hospitalization, and you are unemployed without insurance, well you have to pay for it for the rest of your life.
In Iraq there are no taxes, no bills and no insurance. Minimum wage is 600$ a month. All parents in Iraq, do not like their kids to leave the house, even when they are adults. As a matter of fact they want their boys to get married bring the wives and live with the parents. Why? So they can enjoy being together in a big family in their old age, and more important enjoy their grand kids, at all times. Iraqis and most of the people in the east don’t think like, I raised you get on your own; I will help, but not at all the times.
You get a job with a good Iraqi or an international company. Food and lodging is provided. No water, electric or internet expenses. Most of the stuff is cheap as Iraq is a true free market country without even custom fees. Your personal expenses hardly will reach 150$ a month. Salary for a driver in a good company preferably international is 1650$ a month. Food, lodging, internet, heating and cooling, all provided.
Your salary is 1650$ minus personal expenses 150$ = 1500$ a month of total savings. That is 18K a year. You sign up for Iraqi government subsidized low income homes. They cost 40K. Roughly every 2 years on your salary you can buy 1 home. They rent for a minimum of 300$ a month. That means you have added a 3600$ to your 18K savings a year. When you repeat this process 5 times in 10 years. You will have a monthly rent income of 1500$. The houses that you have bought for 40K, now are selling for 120K.You now can quit your job because you are financially secure. What is financial security? You don’t have to work for a living for the rest of your life. You can work part time and for fun. Now you are ready to start a family in your parent’s house. They will insist that you live with them. 1500$ a month with no taxes, no bills, and no insurance, will take you a long way. Heck you can even afford a Nepalese in house maid for 300$ a month. A twice a year vacation with your new family to Dubai in the winter and Turkey in the summer. 10 years all what it takes? Now let’s review some of the prices for some popular items in Iraq.


Rent   2bedroom house 250-3000$
Electric 50$ with single unit AC
Generator 40$
Water 10$ every 3 months

Health care is FREE, but if you choose a private clinic
Doctor’s office visit (specialist) 5-15$
Lipid profile (cholesterol) test 5$
X-ray 15$
MRI 30$


Meat (Beef) 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) 15$
Meat (lamb) 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) 16$
Meat (Chicken) 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) 4$


Eggs (30 eggs) 2$
Rice 1 Kilo 1.5-2$
Bread (Samoon = Iraqi sandwich bread) 10 pieces 1$
Bread (Khobiz = Iraqi flat bread) 8 pieces 1$


ALL fruits and vegetables are ORGANIC
Tomatoes 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$
Onions 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1$
Cucumbers 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$
Potatoes 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1$
Green string beans 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 2$
Egg plant 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$
Zucchini 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$

ALL fruits and vegetables are ORGANIC
Apples 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$
Oranges 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 1.50$
Grapes 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 2$
Plums 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 2$
Apricots 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) in season (highest price) 3$

Baklawa 1Kilo (2.21 Pound) 10-20$
Spring water 6L (about 1.5 US gallon) 1$

What more can I say? Nothing.
Note: These are Erbil prices. Prices in Erbil and Kurdistan, are about 20% higher than the rest of Iraq.

Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist; His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.
 
  
Killing the Russian Ambassador in Turkey, 1st act of violence, due to Trump's message of  HATE!
Jakarta, Indonesia Dec 22 2016
Someone had said; most of the important things in life are simple. Simple things are hard to remember. Experts keep telling us. The internet has turned the world into a small village. We keep forgetting. I don’t know how many times, it was said; trust a woman’s intuition. The voters didn’t remember, Women voters cheated themselves. They all were focused on something else, completely bogus. She was telling us the truth. Donald’s message is about; division, hate and would be followed by violence. The voters didn’t believe her. Donald is a far right candidate, who will be president of the US. This will give a boost, to all right wing movements in the world. Neo- Nazis is one, but also nationalist movements are among many. Hate crime attacks were up in the US, and in Western Europe. It is a domino effect. A fact, no one can deny it. Muslim women with Hijab in the US will pay the most, for Barrack Husain Obama 8 years in office as president. Some people think he is Muslim, some people think he is black. It doesn’t matter; someone will have to pay the price. It is Donald’s message of division and hate .The price would be in bigotry, harassment and maybe violence. Muslim women with Hijab in Western Europe will suffer too. Nationalism is up everywhere. That is very dangerous. We were trying to get along with each other, in a very dangerous world. This brings me to focus on the group that assassinated the Russian ambassador to Turkey. They are called “Grey Wolves”. Grey Wolves is a far right Turkish nationalist extremist group. Their main goal is to unite all Turkish speaking countries. One time they were a tool in the hands of the CIA, in killing communist, socialist and human right activists. They fought Russian forces in Chechnya and Crimea. Jabhat Alnosra an affiliated branch on al-Qaida in Syria claimed the responsibility for the assassination. What makes it so dangerous, is the fact that it was carried out not by Alnosra operatives, but by the grey wolves. Two extremist groups with no common ground on ideology, as a matter of fact, they are on opposite sides of the ideology spectrum. They joined forces to commit this violent act. I bet that Putin and the Russian intelligence community are busy working after hours now, to try to figure out whether Donald himself had anything to do with it personally as president elect. Did he give orders to awaken the CIA old links to this group or was it simply a coincident. What complicate matters is Melania Donald. She comes from Slovenia. Slovenia is a country for long has been abused by the Russians. Too many questions, too many loose ends, lead to uncertainty. Uncertainty leads to chaos. I am not sure if Donald knows it or not. He had awakened the dragon or maybe more symbolic, he had let the gene out of the bottle. It doesn’t matter why. The dragon has been awakened and the gene is out of the bottle. It is very difficult to stop it NOW. I hope I am wrong. Oh, God, Allah or whatever you want to call him or even her, helps us ALL.
Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist; His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.


 

What did Obama tell Trump in their 1st meeting?
Erbil, November 6th 2016

Listen Trump, whatever you have said, to get you elected, is fine with me. I did say things and especially about you, to get Hillary elected too. All is behind us.  Now it is reality time. You are no longer Billionaire Donald Trump. You are Donald Trump, president elect of the USA. The most powerful nation on the face of earth. Anything that you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. Sorry I was tempted, I could not help it. Anything you say will be taken seriously. There is no longer locker room talk, living room talk, or anything else talks. It is only serious business talk from now on. You say the wrong thing or things, God help us. Markets might crash and millions of people might get laid off. You do the wrong thing? The US might get attacked by nuclear missiles. You my friend will be responsible for starting world war 3. Wise up and get with the program. That is what I had to do, and that is what every president has to do in the 20th and 21st centuries. Bite your tongue and swallow your pride. You have to follow what your advisors tell you. We will do everything we can to make you “succeed, because if you succeed America succeeds”. Good luck and God help us ALL.


Trump looked like a babe in the woods. He sat next to Obama, but I saw him as a school child sitting in front of the school master. He said” this meeting was supposed to take 15min it took an hour and a half, it could have lasted for hours as far as I am concerned”. What does that means? It means, he was interested in what Obama had to say, and he needed the advice badly. I think he will listen to Obama and wise up, but he has a big problem? How is he going to deliver to his supporters, all the stupid promises that defy political realities? I think Trump will be a 1 term president. Political reality will keep him from fulfilling his campaign promises that will anger his supporters. They will not vote for him the 2nd time around. He himself would not want to run for a 2nd term. It is too much of a hassle. Billionaire Trump is much much more comfortable. He gets to say what is on his mind, and for Donald trump based on his personality, it is more important than being the president. He can always say; I did it, but I did not like it. It is another real estate deal that I concluded successfully. It is time to forget it and move on. My 1st final thought; we have missed out, on a once in a life time opportunity. Three great ladies as leaders, could have made the world a better place to live in? Angela Merkel of Germany, Teresa May of the UK and Hillary Clinton of the USA. My 2nd final thought; President Obama would probably have sent Air Force one, to fly “president elect Hillary Rodham Clinton”, from New York to Washington DC. He probably would have sent Marine one to fly her, from Andrews Air force base to the White house. That is how much he wanted her to win, and that is the least he could have done for her.

 Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist. His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.

 
 

2016 election is America’s political civil war!
Kula Lampur, Malaysia October 11 2016
America is divided 50/50 between yuppies and hillbillies.
Yuppies in general tend to be; liberal, college educated, suburbanites and from all races. Hillbillies on the other hand tend to be; conservative, with high school diploma, if not drop outs, live in the country and mainly white.
There are “cross overs”, they are the “Donald Trumps”. They are yuppies, who ride on hillbillies’ traits and pride, to win US elections. Obama is a yuppie, who was elected as a US president. That is the problem which is dividing the country. 99% of Hillbillies believe that Obama; was not born in the US, meaning he is an immigrant, no matter what his birth certificate says, and that he is a Muslim, no matter  how many times he has said that he is not . The result of the 2016 election is not only a referendum, but a backlash on these two issues; Anti immigrant and anti Muslim, as Obama is the center of it all. The hillbillies saw Hillary Clinton as pro immigrant and pro Muslim, so they came out in numbers. The rest is history being told. A word of caution, this is really the beginning of political civil war in America, which might get out of hand, if Trump does not; swallow his pride, shut his mouth and handle his hillbillies wisely.
Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist. His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.
 
 
How to deal with ISIS?!
Tokyo, Japan December 9th 2015
History tells us, that you cannot crush ISIL. Al-Qaida in Afghanistan is a perfect example. The main reason is very simple; as long as there are; stupid, ignorant and blood thirsty so called Muslims. I think the pragmatic solution is containment. Just like in Afghanistan, Provide a battle ground for, all these stupid so called Muslims, somewhere in the world, away from civilization and let them fight there. Eventually, they will start killing each other. I suggest that the US should find a way to funnel them quietly, from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan to Chechnya and Crimea, and let the Russian have another Afghanistan.
Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance journalist. His Articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.
Obama’s failed Iraq policy, helped midwife ISIS “Bucca Gate”.
Erbil, Iraq Nov 22 2015
In his haste to fulfill his campaign promise to the American people. Obama ordered the release of ALL Bucca detainees, many of whom were not only non- Iraqis, but diehard Al-Qaeda members. This camp in southern Iraq, near the port city of Um Quasar, presented a major obstacle, in front of Obama’s policy, to “Cut &Run” withdrawal out of Iraq, rather than a “responsible” withdrawal. The “responsible” withdrawal was urged by former president Bush, many members of congress and top military leaders. The release of these detainees was justified under the term” national reconciliation” in Iraq. This means, since the majority of the detainees were Sunnis, that will help bring the Sunnis to the political process.  This lame excuse was ironic in the sense that; many of the detainees were NOT Iraqis, but die-hard foreign Al-Qaeda fighters. These detainees were labeled as a threat to the new democracy in Iraq by the CPA “Coalition provisional Authority”, headed by Ambassador Paul Bremer. Despite this fact, the Obama administration had released them, on the pretext of Iraqi national reconciliation and despite the fact, that many of them were non-Iraqis, but foreign fighters, and graduates of various Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, under the hospices of Osama bin Laden. In Bucca America married diehard Al-Qaeda terrorists, with Diehard Sadam Bathists, the result, ISIS was born. This is the way the Obama administration helped midwife ISIS. It is shameful that many US military lives were lost; to capture and incarcerate these terrorists, but the Obama administration, simply, just let them go.
I admire the fact that Obama kept his “campaign promise” to pull US troops out of Iraq. The fact of the matter is that many politicians would renege on these promises. I wonder though, if that was done against, the national security of the USA. The fact of the matter is that it was done in haste “Cut &Run” manner, which helped midwife ISIS, rather than a responsible withdrawal, that would have taken its time, to evaluate the consequences associated with the release of these dangerous terrorists.
Congress should open and investigation into the events in Bucca, as to the release of these dangerous terrorists by the Obama administration, taking into consideration, the fact that these terrorists were the backbone that formed ISIS, later. Today, as we stand, ISIS represents a clear and present danger to the national security of the US.
Sarmad Aqrawi is a civil engineer and a freelance Journalist; His articles appear in; Arabic, Kurdish and American English.


ليست هناك تعليقات: