Hello,

Here is the latest diary entry. The INLA's web site has re-opened, see
http://www.iraqnla.org/wpeng/.

best wishes,

Patricia

**************************************************


Saturday, 16 June
It was another a curfew day. We always expect the unexpected; but not this.
At 2.00, some criminals set fire to a large generate and several tanks full
of gas. Soon, the pavements and the asphalt of the road were burning. The
fire was rising in the sky, and the ensuing thick smoke covered all the
nearby houses. The generator and the fuel tanks were located opposite my
flat (just 20 meters away from the top of the building, where my family and
I were sleeping). The fire threatened our lives and those of our neighbors.
Quickly, I held my son, while my wife held our girl. We both went down stair
hurriedly to the flat. I closed all the windows and doors. The heat of the
fire was unbearable.  Luckily, the fire fighters came to our rescue. It took
them five minutes to put out the fire, which lasted 30 minutes. The damages
caused by the fire were quiet extensive.   
 
Sunday, 17 June
The situation was very calm. No single bullet was fired. It was a very hot
day. The INLA had no electricity between 8.00 and 10.00. I was told that the
technicians of the Ministry of Electricity were doing some repairing work in
the nearby local distribution station. I postponed the regular meeting of
the INLA's Council, as a number of heads of departments were unable to come
to work. 
The spokesman of the Coalition Forces did not exaggerate when stating that
only 40% Baghdad was under the direct control of Iraqi armed forces. Sunni
extremists and Ba'athists are in control of several important districts,
including al-Amriyah, al-Jamah and al-Khadra, whereas Shi'i militias control
several districts, such as al-Baya'a, Sha'ab and Hi al-A'mel. 
 
Monday, 18 June
It was another quiet day. I did not believe it; for the second day running,
I did not hear the sound of a single bullet in Bab al-Mudham. There were
neither US helicopters in the sky, nor snipers on top of nearby high
buildings, ready to kill innocent by-passers for no reason.  It was a
miracle. It was another hot day.  
At 8.10, I inspected the repairing works on the fence. The progress was
good. I asked the company to construct a small entrance/exit door next to
the new rare gate, so that can be used by individuals, in case of emergency.
Everybody was complaining again about the acute shortages in electricity
supply and the fuel. For the first time, there was no fuel even in the local
black market. This is another achievement, which our Minister of Oil should
be proud of. 
The head of the Periodical Department, two of our technicians and I talked
about the issue of providing the Department with new furniture. I suggested
that, instead of purchasing ready-made disks and lockers from the local
market, we should ask a local furniture company to make these items
according to the specifications that we would provide. The idea was
accepted, and we entrusted one of our technicians to contact a local
furniture company to know how much it would cost us to provide the
Periodical Department with all the necessary furniture.   
I received a memorandum from the head of the INLA's guards, in which he
mentioned the name of the eleven guards, who protected the building during
the curfew period and stayed inside the building for four days. At once, I
decided to grant the eleven guards good financial rewards. 
At 11.00, the regular meeting of the Council of Heads of Departments was
held. A number of issues were discussed, and we all agreed on minimizing
bureaucratic practices, boosting productivity, maintaining a high level of
coordination between various departments and increase the number of training
courses in library science, archive and IT. I explained to my colleagues
that our plans for this year and the coming year would depend largely on the
way in which the PM would reshuffle his cabinet. If he selects capable
technocrats for ministerial posts, the INLA would certainly benefit.      
 
Tuesday, 19 June
There was no heavy traffic. It took us seven minutes to arrive to the INLA.
The acute fuel crisis has forced a lot of people to abandon their cars and
use public transport instead. Again, there was no fuel in the black market.
A friend gave me 20 liters of fuel. It was a nice gift. But, I had to
economize, when using my generator at home. 
 
We made history today, as an Iraqi web-site (www.linksnut.com) was given the
first legal deposit number. We are planning to ask all Iraqi web-sites to do
the same on voluntary basis. It has been part of my plan to modify the old
legal deposit legislation in a such way that the INLA will be able to grant
serial numbers to Iraqi web-sites. The Head of the Legal Deposit Department
was hesitant about granting web-sites legal deposit numbers. He thought my
action was premature, while I thought it was important to lead the way,
instead of waiting for some inapt bureaucrats to decide whether the INLA
should grant Iraqi web-sites legal deposit numbers.      
 
I had a thirty minute-meeting with the staff of the archive Inspection
Department. We discussed the ways in which the INLA could force all Iraqi
ministries and other state independent bodies and institutions cooperate
with our inspectors concerning the fate of their documents and records. I
was briefed by the Head of the Department about some of the difficulties he
and his team encounter, when visiting the archives of Iraqi ministries and
other state independent bodies and institutions. The Ministries of Finance,
Interior, Oil, Health, Water Resources and Justice, and the Central Bank,
the Financial Inspection Board, the High Court Council have been very
cooperative, whereas the Ministries of Defense, Education, Planning, Youth
and Sport, Agriculture, Human Rights (!), Commerce, Culture (!), have
refused to apply the law by cooperating with our inspectors. We have been
waiting for the Ministries of Women Affairs, Work and Social Affairs,
Communications, Electricity, Environment, Industry to form their own archive
committees, and invite a representative from the INLA to attend their
meetings. Other ministries, including the Ministries of Higher Education,
Transport, Tourism and Antiquities, Science and Technology, Migration and
Immigration, need to work and cooperate more with the INLA's inspectors. I
am planning to send a detailed memorandum to the PM's Office via the
Ministry of Culture, in which I will show the extent to which his ministers
have observed Iraq's archive legislations. If the PM does not take action, I
will resort to the media. 
It is very ironic that the Ministry of Human Rights, which should be in
theory very interested in protecting documents and records to do its basic
tasks, refuses even to answer our official letters and memoranda. I
personally visited the Ministry of Human Rights in 2005, and explained at
length the importance of protecting state documents and records and our
willingness to sigh a bilateral cooperation and coordination agreement
insofar as the archives of the former regimes was concerned. the Ministry of
Human Rights' high-rank official were deaf to my proposal. Unfortunately, a
group of these inapt and irresponsible officials were sent to Germany to
examine the way in which the Federal government dealt with the files and
documents of East Germany's security apparatus, following the unification of
German. They have done nothing, since their return to Baghdad two years ago.
The new Minister of Human Rights is much worse than the first one. I do not
know why some people demand or accept jobs they cannot do? The worse thing
is that they will keep their privileges and high celeries, after leaving
their posts. The principal political leaders of the country consider the
issue of candidacy for ministerial posts as an best way to reward their
submissive supporters.  
At the end of the meeting, I instructed the inspectors to contact directly a
number of state bodies and independent agencies, such as the High Federal
Court, the National Intelligence Department, the Public Integrity
Commission, the Cassation Court, Baghdad Municipality, the Iraqi Academy,
Christian and other Religions Endowment Department, and Bait al-Hikmah. We
need to wage a nation-wide campaign to make state employees, high-rank and
law-rank alike, aware of the many-side significance of documents and
records, which represent the historical memory of any nation. 
 
I was disappointed and angry, after I read a memorandum written by a group
of the INLA's staff, who said that, a man, who claimed to have contacts
inside the Industrial Bank, disappeared after he blackmailed them
financially. The man told 21 of the INLA's librarians and archivists that
they would not be able to obtain a loan from the Industrial Bank, if every
one of them did not pay him 100.000 Dinners in advance. He claimed that he
would share the bounty with the Bank's manager, who would get 80%, while he
would take 20%. I quickly summoned the 21 librarians and archivists. At the
beginning I reproved them for being so naïve and that their action violated
the current laws and Islamic instructions. Then, I asked them why they were
willing to pay a man, whom they did not even know before! They claimed that
they needed the loan to meet some of their pressing needs (to pay for
operations, to repair damaged houses, to purchase domestic devices and
cloths etc.). After getting all the details, I decided to pay the manger of
the Industrial Bank a visit. I asked one of the accountants to make an
appointment with the Manager after 13.00. The head of the Financial
Department was not happy about me going to the Bank. He told me that Bank
was located in a dangerous area, i.e. al-Sink, near al-Khilani Round-about.
For months, the area has been witnessing car bombs and suicide attacks
greater than ever. I did know why I listened to my colleague's advice, and
cancelled the appointment. Soon after arrived to my home, I leant from the
national TV subtitles that a huge car bomb exploded at al-Khilani
Round-about, killing and injuring more than 250 people. One part of
al-Khilani Mosque was destroyed. The Mosque, which overlooks the
Round-about, is just 200 meters away from al-Kailani Mosque. The latter had
been attacked by a huge car bomb last month. Al-Khilani is the shrine of
some holy Shi'i man, whereas the Kailani contains the shrine of a holy Sunni
man. The two attacks were carried out by Sunni extremists closely linked to
al-Qa'da. They used one ton of explosives used in the first attack, and a
half ton of explosives in the second attack.   
 
According to the INLA's security report, al-Fadhel was shelled by mortars in
mid-night. No one knew the extent of the inflicted damages. 
 
Wednesday, 20 June
The honey-moon period came to an abrupt end, as a roadside bomb exploded in
Bab al-Mudham Round-about at 8.20, killing and injuring a number of innocent
civilians. Before long, a black thick smoke dominated the sky. Most of my
staff did not even bother to look at the rising smoke through the windows.
In the past, my staff used to talk about the bombings and killings at
length. You could get the best political analysis and interpretations for
free. Nowadays, the staff talks about such incidents for a few seconds, and
some of them never talk. I discovered that we, the Iraqis, are the only
human beings in this plant who do not bother to lower their heads or cover
their ears with their hands, when a bomb explodes or is about to explode!
Most people do not look towards the sky when helicopters fly very low.  
I was in my office, signing some papers, when the blast shook the INLA
violently. We were fortunate that none of the staff was hurt in the bomb
blast, even though the majority of the INLA's cars pass through the Bab
al-Mudham Around-about, before entering the building. 
 
Around 9.30, the CNN team arrived to the INLA. The team consisted of two
camera men, a reporter and an assistant. The camera men filmed the Archive
and the Library, including the storages of collections, and the main reading
rooms. A number of the INLA's staff were interviewed. I was asked various
questions about the challenges that the INLA and its staff encountered on a
daily basis, our efforts to keep the INLA open for university students and
private scholars, and our hopes for the future. At 13.00, the CNN team left
the INLA.    
 
Thursday, 21 June
In the early morning, mortars landed on Bab al-Mudham. We had no information
concerning human casualties or material damages 
The INLA had electricity for just two hours. It was very hot and humid
inside the building. 
At 8.30, the INLA's staff began to receive their monthly celeries from the
Financial Department. I signed a new contract with the Ministry of Industry,
which will hopefully provide the INLA with 24-hour internet access via a
satellite system. The contract will last for 10 months, and it will be
renewed, if the internet service is of high quality.  
At 9.10, I left my office with a driver and a guard to the CNN's office,
which located close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Green Zone.
The traffic was very heavy. The National Guards' two checkpoints at the
beginning and the end of the Bab al-Mudham Bridge were causing chaos. It
took us 40 minutes to reach our destination. I was interviewed for twenty
five minutes by Ms. Hala Gorani. At 11.10, I left the CNN's office, heading
to the INLA. There was no electricity, when I returned to the INLA. All the
INLA's staff received their salaries. 
One hour after I arrived to my home, two bomb blasts shook our flat. The
centres of the two blasts were not that far.   
 
Friday, 22 June 
I stayed home during the first half of the day. I was either helping my wife
or writing and reading.  
At last, I found a suitable house for my family, after months of searching
for new place. The house has one reception room, three bad-rooms, two bath
rooms and a tiny garden. To be hospitable place, the house needs a lot of
repairing works, including, pluming, decoration and cleaning. In Iraq, the
landlord is not responsible for the maintenance of his or her house, before
and after it is rented. The tenant has to repair the house as soon as he or
she rents the place. 
 
Saturday, 23 June
I hired three people to do all the repairing works.  I worked with the
repairmen the whole day. 
 
Sunday, 24 June
It was a bad day from the very beginning. The INLA had electricity only for
one hour and thirty minutes. 
I met one of the Ministry of Culture's technicians, who was assigned the
task of repairing our generator. Initially, I refused his suggestion to
repair the damaged parts of our generator, instead of replacing them, such
as the motor. He said we need first the approval of the Minister and then we
need to ask official local companies to make their offers, before we can
repair our generator. Although the process will take weeks, decided to
repair the generator by replacing the damaged parts. The suggestion of the
technician means that we will waste the 39.000.000 Dinners allocated for the
repair of the generator.  
The head of the security informed me that a sniper fired at the car of his
assistant, Mrs. Sl., as she was inside her family car in al-Dhamiyah
district. She was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated from some
injuries caused by the smash of the car's windscreen.
Miss, Mh, who works on the English archival collections, rang her colleagues
informing them that she would not able to come to work, because her younger
brother was his a by a bullet. Both Mrs. Sl and Miss Mh live in the same
district, al-Adhamiyah. 
I met the late Ali's sister in my office. She informed that the bureaucrats
at Ministry refused to give her the state's martyr grant (around 3 millions
dinners). The Minister ordered all the directorates to pay the martyr grants
from their own budget, even though the government has established such a
special fund in all ministries to assist the families of those who killed
while were on duty. There are widespread rumors that our minister wasted the
entire Ministry's martyr fund during his never-ending foreign visits!
Minister's irresponsible attitudes and behavior mean that the families of
the INLA's three staff, who were killed while they were on duty, will not be
able to have the martyr grant in the foreseeable future. These families have
been waiting for months for the grants to be paid to them. I reassured them,
if the Minister insisted on not paying the grants from the special fund, I
would take all the necessary measures (lawful or not lawful) to pay them the
grant from our budget before the end of the year.  Unfortunately, this is
the best I can do at the time being.
At 12.45, I asked my staff to evacuate the building. As we leaving the INLA,
the Ministry of Interior's Order Force opened fire in Bab al-Mudham. The
Force's recruits wanted to pass through Bab al-Mudham as quickly as
possible. To over come the heavy traffic, the resorted to their guns. People
ran for cover, thinking that a serious fighting broke out between Sunni
extremists, on the one hand, and the National Guards and the Police, on the
other hand. Fortunately, no one was hurt. 
 It is a common phenomenon nowadays in Baghdad that the convoys of high-rank
military and civilian officials resort to their guns to open the way for
their vehicles. Their irresponsible actions explain much of the chaotic
situation, we encounter every single day. 
I informed the Ministry that none of the INLA's staff would participate in
Iraq's Cultural Week that would be held in Algeria on Wednesday. I protested
against the arbitrary way in which the Minister selected unqualified,
ignorant law-rank bureaucrats to represent the Ministry of Culture. The
Ministry of Culture's delegation will be headed by someone who has a diploma
in Tourism and knows nothing about culture. The Minister has wiped out all
signs of democracy, we used to have when making important cultural
decisions. He has monopolized all powers and never consulted his
director-generals, and surrounded himself by corrupt and short-sighted
advisers, who know nothing about culture.       
In an interview with al-A'alam, a Shi'i newspaper, the Deputy Minister of
Culture mentioned that he still had no power or role to play, because the
Minster of Couture, a Sunni politician, refused to implement the decision of
the Primer Minister. The latter considered the Minister's decision to
deprive his Deputy of all his powers as illegal. The Deputy criticized the
Minister's actions, and held him responsible for the failure of the Ministry
of Culture in doing expected tasks, and for having no plans or strategy. I
do believe the INLA is the only alive part of a body called the Ministry of
Culture. 
 
Monday, 25 June
The situation was quiet relatively. 
A big blast shook the building. We did not know the centre of the blast. It
turned later that the blast was caused by a suicide bomb attack in one of
the halls of the famous al-Mansoor Melia Hotel (2 km away from the INLA). It
killed a number of people, including some journalists, Sheikhs and officials. 
The Ministry's technician explained to me that there was no enough money to
replace the damaged part of the INLA's generator. The only option I had was
to agree on repairing the damaged parts, instead of replacing them.  
Some official from the Ministry of Culture contacted me to nominate a
representative from the INLA to join the Iraqi Delegation that would travel
to Algeria, where Iraq's Cultural Week would be held. For the second time, I
refused to nominate our representative. 
The Council of INLA's representatives met at 11.00. They did not notify me
deliberately. They wanted first to talk among themselves and decide what
issues they would raise, when would meet me. I was thrilled by the decision
of the Council, because this will deepen the root of democracy inside the
INLA. The Representatives discussed ways in which the welfare of the staff
would be improved, and studied the idea of establishing a cooperative
association, which would enable the INLA's staff to purchase goods and
services in installments directly from some whole-sale companies. Increasing
the number of training courses in various fields was also discussed. After
the end of the meeting, the Council sent a memorandum to me informing me
about the issues that its members liked to raise with me.
According to the INLA's security report, at 16.00, unknown sniper opened
fire at people in Bab al-Mudham. The National Guards and Police patrols
responded by opening their fires randomly. At 17.00, US military patrol
searched the area surrounding the INLA's building.     
  
Tuesday, 26 June
It was another hot day. There was no electricity, when I arrived to my
office. At 8.35, the electricity returned. Soon, the staff disappeared from
the corridors, and went straight to their departments and offices. By 9.00
everybody was busy.  
Another bureaucrat from the Ministry of Culture contacted me, asking me to
reconsider my decision not to participate in the Iraq Cultural Week in
Algeria. I said that my decision was final and that, as a matter of
principle, I would never allow the INLA to take part in any activity that
would damage Iraq's image in a foreign country. My Secretary Um Haitham
found it very difficult to understand why I rejected the invitation. 
At 9.30, I was the guest of the Council of INLA's representatives. The
meeting lasted 40 minutes, during which I answered all questions and
discussed a number of issues. We agreed that 1- the Council and al-Fardus
Society should work closely together to establish the proposed cooperative
association, 2- increase and improve the training courses within the INLA,
3- the INLA would continue its attempts to improve the well-being of its
members, especially the needy ones.  At the end of the meeting I thanked the
Representatives for inviting me and for excluding me from their last formal
meeting, and I hoped that the Council of Heads of Departments would do the
same. 
Immediately after the end of the meeting, I met Mrs. Sl, who wanted to
explain to me how she was extremely lucky the day before, when a sniper
targeted her car. I saw a number of small wounds on her face. She suffers
from some pains in her right eye and could barely see. She explained that
several tiny pieces of glasses entered her eyes, after the sniper's bullet
smashed the windscreen of her husband's car. She was sitting at the front
beside her husband, who was driving the family car. Her children were in the
back seats.  
 
It was not one of the Minister's good days. Al-Baiynah, a Shi'i newspaper,
showed on its front page a copy of a Ministerial Order, in which the
Minister of Culture named eight of his own bodyguards to participate in
al-Mada Cultural Week in Erbil, the Capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Only two
director-generals were given a permission to participate! The newspaper
forgot to mention the fact that the bodyguards did not actually participate
in the meetings of the Cultural Week! No one knows where the bodyguards
went. Yet, the Ministry covered their expenses from its pitiable budget.  
According to the day-news of several Iraqi TV channels, four of the
bodyguards of the Minister of Culture were detained by the Court, after
security police stormed his house. Another warrant was issued for the arrest
of the Minister himself, who has been accused of master-minding the
assassination of the two sons of Mr. Thabit al-Alosi, who is a member of
parliament and the leader of al-Ummah (Nation) Party. He is a liberal
politician, who extremely opposes both Ba'athist and fundamentalist groups. 
There were conflicted reports concerning the whereabouts of the Minister.
Some sources claimed that the Minister hid himself inside the house of the
Vice-President inside the Green Zone. Some other sources claimed that the
Americans smuggled the Minister to Turkey. The Americans stated that they
would not interfere in the matter, viewing it as an internal Iraqi matter.
At 20.00, some Iraqi TV channels claimed that Iraqi security police had
already arrested the Minister of Culture at down. Several friends and a
number of my staff rang me about the arrest of the Minister. They considered
what happened as good news for the Ministry and for the country!!  
Issuing a warrant for the arrest of our Minister is a big scandal without
any doubt. It will have far reaching effects on both the current political
process and on the Ministry of Culture. I hope the new development will be
the beginning of a new process to eliminate corrupt elements from our
Ministry. The Minister knew that one of his corrupt director-general was in
prison before April 2003. He had been found guilty of embezzling public
funds. Three weeks ago, the Public Integrity Commission sent an official
memorandum to the Minister, asking to take the necessary steps to get rid of
his corrupt director-general. But the Minister chose to ignore the
Commission's memorandum; instead, he tried to grant the director-general a
full pension. 
 
Wednesday, 27 June
I was informed that the brothers of two of my staff were kidnapped
separately on the same day. 
At the INLA, everybody was talking about the warrant for the arrest of the
Minister. Different interpretations were given. Some of my staff considered
the whole issue as a political game, while others supported the Court's
decision. An acute political crisis has developed because of the affair.
Sunni politicians and representatives demand the government to withdraw the
warrant for the arrest of Minister and to settle the case out of court,
while their rivals do not want the Minister to escape justice.
Finally, we solved the internet problem. The newly-installed satellite
system began to function. The new system is slow. But it is more reliable
than the old one.    
At 11.00, a US patrol unit began to inspect the area surrounding the INLA.
The head of the unit asked our guards about the name of their institution
and who was responsible for its protection; then he asked the INLA's guards
to show their IDs. The patrol unit left the area. 
 
Thursday, 28 June
According to the INLA's security report, in the early morning between 4.00
and 5.00, mortars landed on al-Fadhel and al-Maidan. The mortars attacks
were followed by heavy exchanges of fire. It seems that Shi'i extremists
sought to force their Sunni counterparts to abandon the ceasefire, which has
been declared a few weeks ago.  
 
I was told that the kidnapped brother of Ad was released unharmed.  
Mr. Su, who works at the reception called his colleagues, saying that his
own son was kidnapped the day before. 
We had more good news. I discovered by accident that the INLA's web-site has
been reopened. It seems that our Italians friends renewed the annual
subscription of the web-site. I promptly, informed the IT Department about
the reopening of the web-site. Everyone was exited. 
The Head of the Administration Department came late to work. He informed
that the reason for him being late was the fact that the main roads were
blocked as a result of a suicide car bomb attack that took place in
al-Bayia' Bus Station, killing and injuring tens of innocent civilians. Tens
of mini-buses were completely burnt and destroyed in the attack. 
At 10.05, mortars landed on the nearby al-Shurja. As a result, a number of
civilians were either killed or injured. 
Before departing, I informed the staff that the INLA would be closed next
week in order to treat our library and archive collections with
disinfectant, parasitoid and insecticide. Several teams were formed to
supervise the operation. They would facilitate the task of a group of
specialists, who would come to the INLA on Sunday.  
According to the INLA's security report, at 16.00, a group of armed men, who
were using two civilian cars, opened fire at people randomly in al-Bab
al-Mudham. The security forces tried to intercept the two cars. In the
ensuing fighting, all sorts of light and semi-heavy weapons were used. The
fighting lasted nearly an hour. 
 
Friday, 29 June 
 According to the INLA's security report, at 12.00, al-Fadhel was shelled by
mortars. Extreme Shi'I groups were behind the attack. 
 
Saturday, 30 June
I stayed at home for most of the day, doing some repairing works and helping
my wife to put the furniture and other appliances in order.