Reminder: I am Iraqi AMERICAN

Omar of "24 Steps to Liberty" recently published a post in which he wrote:

I now invite those deceived [or maybe just mad] people to go to Iraq and tell us what they see. If they do believe that Iraq is “safe” now, why don’t they go and tell us what happens? One of them is a bloger who claims to be Iraqi and knows everything about Iraq, more than Treasure of Baghdad and I do, although he left Iraq more than 25 years ago and was never back since. Now, I invite him to go to Iraq and live “normal life” with his relatives and report from there!

I think those last two sentences are about me. A few reminders for Omar, "Treasure of Baghdad" and anybody else who knows very little about me and my blog:

1) I have never claimed that Iraq is now safe. I have recently posted articles that point to evidence of a drop in violence in Baghdad. Iraq is safer than it was a year ago. I do not understand why a few Iraqi bloggers are having such difficulty accepting this fact. Saying that Iraq is safer than it was a few months ago is not the same as saying that Iraq is safe.

2) I have never claimed that I know more about Iraq than the great "Treasure of Baghdad" and his non-sectarian buddy Omar of 24 very arduous steps to "liberty". On the contrary - I have asked questions and learned a great deal about Iraq from other Iraqi bloggers. Until earlier this year, I did not know that the three stars on the Iraqi flag represent the nonexistent unity between Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Actually I first learned about the Iraqi flag from a commentator on my blog (AfghanShia) who isn't even Iraqi, and the representation of Baathi "unity" on the flag was later confirmed by Iraqis at Zeyad's blog (Healing Iraq).

Omar also attacked me in his comments section, calling me an "ignorant" for claiming that Iraqi journalist Dhia Kawaz is Shii. The author of an AFP article, which I posted yesterday, called Kawaz a Shiite. AFP could be wrong. In fact it would make sense of Kawaz is Sunni Arab, since his paper is based in Jordan and Kawaz has been very critical of the Shia-led Iraqi government. But AFP also reports: "I heard the news from my mother. The bodies were buried in Najaf after sunset yesterday and there will also be a condolence meeting in Kut tomorrow," Kawwaz told AFP, refering to two central Shiite cities. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that only Shia bother to transfer their dead relatives to Najef to bury them there. Omar, however, wasted no time in disparaging me further:

Dhia al-kawaz is from Haditha in western Iraq. He is a Sunni. Go check your info. and stop the propaganda.

Just becasue AFP said Kawaz is shiite doesn't mean he is! Arn't you Iraqi and know everything about Iraq and it's community and culture? How come you don't know Kawaz family and where they come from?

Apparently a true non-sectarian Iraqi, like Omar of 24 steps forward and 48 steps backward to "liberty", is supposed to know what sect every Iraqi belongs to. How ironic.

3) I am Iraqi American. I have spent most of my life in America. I speak, read, and write English much better than I do Arabic. I do not know everything about Iraq and I welcome constructive criticism and corrections to my posts and comments.