Salam Pax's Take on the Iraq Constitution Draft

For an insider's look at the constitutional process in Iraq and what the U.S. Media aren't telling us, check Salam Pax's post yesterday, 22 August. Very insightful.

To go to any sites referenced in this blog that do not have links in the post, click the title of the post. That is the main link for the post. However, not all posts will have a main link.

Changing Their Tunes

Received an interesting e-mail this week, and since I never said that I would ignore politics on this blog, here goes.

Think about this in the context of invading Iraq:

QUOTES FROM WHEN PRESIDENT CLINTON WAS COMMITTING TROOPS TO BOSNIA:

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

"You can support the troops but not the President."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"[The] President...is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

"Universal Mind Warp" is Back

Okay, the companion blog "Universal Mind Warp" is back. There is a permanent link in the "links" section of this blog. UMW will explore some concepts that may boggle the mind, but I will try to keep it to the original purpose of exploring Emerson's concept of One Universal Mind. I may add comments to that blog, so I can get some help from other seekers.

Boggles the Mind, One - Iraqi Diaspora

Diaspora – The breakup and dispersion of a people as a result of force, famine, etc., Jewish Diaspora, Palestinian Diaspora, etc..

There could be as many as 500,000 Iraqi refugees in Amman, Jordan, or as few as 800, depending upon whom you believe. There are no official figures. Governments and governmental agencies are classifying them as “visitors” or “on business,” leaving them in limbo without help, especially financial. However, they cannot return to Iraq because their homes and businesses have been destroyed by the initial invasion, insurgents, or by vandals.

Here are some quotes from an article by Jon Elmer in the The New Standard:

"Popular accounts on the streets of Amman place the number of Iraqis in Jordan seeking refuge from the war at 500,000 and higher, though only a tiny fraction of these people are offically categorized as refugees."

"Jordanian Interior Ministry General Secretary Mukhaimer Abu Jamous told TNS that the accepted numberof Iraqis in Jordan is more like 300,000 - though he was quick to claim that these are not refugees, but rather people on personal business or vacation."

“An official at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Amman said that 15,000 Iraqis had received temporary protection for asylum-seekers pending official refugee status. Only 800 Iraqis have received official refugee status in Jordan, she added, almost all of whom fled during the Saddam Hussein regime.”

“According to the official, "only in the rarest of occasions" have those who fled after March 2003 received official designation, and therefore the attendant compensation from UNHCR. All such rare cases are characterized as the "most vulnerable" – primarily the elderly or ill.”

Access the entire article by clicking the title of this post. Faiza posted a link on her blog, but the one I have posted is the root link.

CHANGING NAME!

I'm new to blogger.com. I'm still learning and experimenting. Therefore, I am changing the name of this blog to Boggling the Mind to match the URL. I shall make a new blog called Universal Mind Warp and post a link to it on this blog. Be back soon.