Starbucks in the Arab World

Over the years I have heard Arabs and Arab Americans calling to boycott Starbucks because its CEO (a Jew!) allegedly shares his wealth with Israel.  As Arabs and Arab Americans continue to preach "resistance" and hate the "puppet" government of Iraq, and as Arab terrorists continue to wage war on innocent Iraqis, often targeting small cafes, in nine Arab countries customers buy frappuccinos without worrying about terrorism or "resistance":  

• 24 Starbucks in Egypt, which has cooperated with Israel in stopping weapons smuggling into Gaza, and has been accused of strangling Gaza's economy.
• More than 90 Starbucks in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc), host to a US Air Force base. 
• 10 Starbucks in Qatar, along with Al Jazeera headquarters and a very important US military base called "CENTCOM". 
• 71 Starbucks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including 26 in Mecca (holy cappuccino!). In 1991 KSA hosted almost a million foreign troops, 73% of whom were American.
• 16 Starbucks in Lebanon. 
• 10 Starbucks in Jordan, home of Zarqawi and the deranged sons of Salt.
• 12 Starbucks in Bahrain, host to a US Naval base. 
• 7 Starbucks in Oman, which makes its military bases available for use by the US.  
• 72 Starbucks in Kuwait, which makes its air bases available for use by the US and is also host to a few US Army bases.  

And there have been more than 1,700 suicide bombings in Iraq.

PS: As an afterthought (again!) I thought I should explain that in 2007: 

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

And in 2005: 

Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait. The roster of the dead on just one extremist Web site reviewed by The Washington Post runs to nearly 250 names, ranging from a 13-year-old Syrian boy said to have died fighting the Americans in Fallujah to the reigning kung fu champion of Jordan, who sneaked off to wage war by telling his family he was going to a tournament.

Since 2004, Iraq has been the only country in the Arab world that is ruled by Shia.

I had to revise this post a few times because I kept finding more Arab countries with Starbucks and it took some time researching the American military presence in each country.  Also I tried to read it from the perspective of somebody who has little understanding of the history and sectarian nature of the conflict.

Are the Arabs not the biggest hypocrites in the world?

Mecca has skyscrapers

I did not realize that Mecca has skyscrapers until I read this post: "Looming large over the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba (the black cube-shaped building that is the holiest site in Islam) is the largest and second tallest building in the world, called the Royal Mecca Clock Tower complex."

 Now Mecca has the second tallest building in the world.

Thanks Haydar for sharing.

 Remember when I posted Starbucks in the Arab World? That was Christmas 2009, and I reported there were 26 Starbucks in Mecca. I wanted to verify that number again and found that Starbucks has changed its website since then, and the pages that showed the number of Starbucks in each location no longer exist. I had to use Google to find the number is still 26, and I learned that these 26 Starbucks are in Mecca province, which includes Jeddah, and there are many more Starbucks in Jeddah than Mecca. In 2009 I thought all of them were in the city of Mecca. I should have realized how improbable that would be.

While searching for these facts I read an interesting post about Saudi's rejection of Starbucks' new logo, which has been deemed too sexy for Islam. But a giant hotel with shopping malls and with a giant clock on top of it is kosher!

 PS: "The developer and contractor of the complex is the Saudi Binladin Group, the Kingdom's largest construction company"

Bill Maher interviews Jimmy Carter

I'm working on a project in LA, was hoping to visit my brother tonight but he's working, so I have an hour to spend alone and I came to Starbucks hoping to watch Bill Maher's interview with Jimmy Carter. During lunch today I read some of the raves on facebook and this evening I thought I could watch the interview while enjoying a hot beverage, but it's very slow to download, maybe because Starbucks' or HBO's servers are overwhelmed. Anyway I can't watch it now, so I decided to embed it on my blog and watch it later.

Interview with former President Jimmy Carter

Jiddu's Last Gift: Pomegranates

Two weeks ago a beloved elder in our extended family passed away. We all called him Jiddu (grandpa). He was 77 years old and he spent the last 27 years of his life in exile. He grew up in Kerbala, where he learned Farsi from the Iranians who lived there. In 1980, after Saddam Hussein took over Iraq, many Iraqi Shia were accused of being Iranian. Thousands of Iraqis were imprisoned, killed, and many were rounded up and dropped off at the Iranian border. Jiddu was one of those Iraqis who was taken to the Iranian border. The group he was with walked across the mine-infested area where some of them were killed by exploding mines. They walked all day into Iran, and after sunset some of them began to think they would die like the others, some of them thought they would be attacked by wild dogs. Finally, in total darkness they climbed to a hilltop, from which they saw lights: it was a camp that had been set up by Iran to receive Iraqi refugees. He stayed in Iran for a few months and then with his cousin's financial help, Jiddu moved to Dubai, where he opened a small grocery store. He struggled in Dubai for 15 years, and in 1995, after his grocery store failed, he moved to California to live with his daughter and son-in-law.

I met Jiddu for the first time when I moved the Bay area a couple of years ago. I learned so much from this great man, a true Muslim. Over the summer we took Jiddu to Sausalito, where we sat down at a Starbucks at the end of the day. My cousin asked Jiddu if he realized that we were buying tea and coffee from Jews (the CEO of Starbucks is Jewish) - I guess she expected him to spit out his tea in disgust. Instead he replied by saying "we're giving our money to Jews? Even better! Jews are the original people of the book!" He went on to explain that Iraq had a great Jewish community for centuries, and that we Muslims should be friendly with Jews as the Quran instructs.

Many people from all backgrounds, maybe half of them Iranian, came to his funeral. Everybody who knew him loved him. I started writing this post a few days after his funeral, but his relatives were afraid that telling his story and posting his photo might put them in danger (Iraqis are still fearful of the old regime), so I decided to post photos of pomegranates from Jiddu's small garden, which he cared for so well. Jiddu's pomegranates have been distributed to his friends and family during this Eid. Eyamek sa3eeda (may your days be happy) in Heaven ya Jiddu.



I just ate this one. It was perfectly sweet and sour:

Angry Arabs not angry about Arab hypocrisy

I want to document the apparent lack of anger or even awareness among Arab intellectuals at Arab hypocrisy. The Angry Arab wrote today 'Qatari government hearts Isarel': '"Qatar to allow Israeli football players if it wins World Cup bid". Make no mistake about it: all lousy Arab regimes would beg for peace for Israel to please the US.'

The Angry Arab has not commented on the difference between the way Arabs have treated Qatar and the way they've treated the new Iraq and its government. The Arab "resistance" have killed tens of thousands of Iraqis since the overthrow of the tyrant Saddam and his murderous regime. More than 1,100 suicide bombers, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs, have blown themselves up in Iraq since 2003. They continue to attack Iraqi security forces, and I still remember the comments on the blogosphere by Arabs from all over the world who believed that it was right to attack Iraqi security forces, because Iraqi security forces work with the infidel occupier. But the Arab resistance has never attacked Qatari security forces like they've attacked Iraqi security forces.

The rules seem to apply only to Iraq, and they definitely do not apply to Qatar. There have been no bombings of Qatari police stations, no bombings of markets in Qatar, where there are 10 Starbucks and one very large and important American military base from which the US launched two wars on Iraq. This bit of Arab hypocrisy does not seem to anger the Angry Arab. Or maybe he didn't notice.

I was curious if the Angry Arab has ever mentioned CENTCOM on his blog, so I searched for it and found this post:

'A US-supported, Shi`ite version of Zarqawi: "The Centcom commander met first with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a languid Shiite cleric who is the leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite party. Hakim, flanked by the chief of his group's Badr Organization militia, told Fallon that "the real problem in Iraq is the Sunnis." Even if the Shiites made concessions to the Sunnis by sharing oil revenue or easing de-Baathification, Hakim said, "the enemies will never accept."" '

So the only thing As'ad Abu Khara has to say about CENTCOM is that its commander met Abdul Aziz al Hakim, who was a Shi'ite version of Zarqawi, according to the Angry professor. Is this guy really a professor? I don't remember Hakim writing a letter encouraging the Shia to mass murder Sunni Arabs, nor do I remember the Badr Brigade bombing markets in Sunni neighborhoods, but we're supposed to believe that Hakim was as bad as Zarqawi.

This is the same professor who has attacked Sistani many times. Sistani is the cleric who repeatedly called for an end to the violence in Iraq and appealed for unity between Sunna and Shia. In one post the Angry Arab wrote: 'the two people most responsible for sectarian conflict in the Middle East are the Saudi King and the Grand (not at all) Ayatullah, Sistani. (You can add others like Al-Qa`idah, the Badr militia, Hariri family, etc).'

No mention of CENTCOM in Qatar and no mention of Arab hypocrisy. OK!

The Arabs and "Ummah" never cared about Iraqis

The more I read other Arabs' and Muslims' comments praising "resistance" and condemning "occupation" and "traitors" the more I wonder if they really care about Iraqis. It also compels me to think about the history of Iraq and the Middle East and I want to learn more. In a comment, a self-proclaimed Muslim told me "The target is the occupation, and whoever aligns with them. If zero Iraqis ally with them, then zero Iraqis are the target. If 12 million Iraqis ally with them, then 12 million Iraqis are target. This is completely up to them."

Also she said "The first time I ever heard of Saddam Hussein was in 1990. Iraqi internal goings-on are a separate matter from this Crusade today."

I responded:

Meanwhile in the House of Islam, Saudis and other khaleeji jarab have been aligning themselves with Americans since 1973. The mentally handicapped "Ummah" mass murders Iraqis as Muslims drink lattes at Starbucks in Mecca and as Americans plan their "crusade" from their HQ in Doha, Qatar.

Saddam's crimes of the 80s and 90s are separate from today's "Crusade" but I remind people of the history of Saddam's crimes to show that the Arabs and 'Ummah' did not care about the mass murder of Iraqis back then. They didn't care about how many bombs the Crusaders dropped on Iraq in 1991. They cared only about Sunni domination.

The hypocrisy is incredible. At least to me it is.

The Shia now have control of Iraq, and that is what the 3arab jarab got truly pissed about. The retarded Arabs and "Ummah" have never cared about Iraqis.

I should have added that zero American soldiers died in combat in Iraq last month. Most victims of bombings have been Iraqi civilians, and most of them have nothing to do with politics or "occupation".

"Resistance" continues to kill Iraqis

"A bomb in a parked car ripped through a Sadr City neighborhood Wednesday evening, killing seven young people who had gathered at a nearby cafe to drink tea and play dominoes, Iraqi officials said.

The attack comes just days after a string of shootings and bombings convulsed the country in Iraq's worst violence so far this year. The violence appears designed to stir up sectarian tensions at a time when Iraq still has no new government after inconclusive parliamentary elections and as U.S. troops prepare to go home."

The "resistance" killed Iraqis at yet another cafe just two days after a suicide bomber killed 55 Iraqis at a textile factory in Hilla. Meanwhile the 3arab jarab continue to drink Starbucks without worry in Riyadh, Doha, Cairo, Amman, and LA.

Death toll rises to 76 in Baghdad

"Sixteen bombs went off across Iraq's capital on Tuesday, many at restaurants and coffee shops full of civilians. The death toll climbed to 76 in the first hours following the blasts, but that number could keep rising as rescuers comb through the debris."

Al Qaeda continues to mass murder innocents at Iraqi cafes and restaurants. Meanwhile in other Arab countries, citizens drink Starbucks and eat McDonalds without worry.

Saudi cleric says protests planned by enemies of Islam

Angry Arab: 'It was a matter of time before he speaks on Egyptian developments, and the Wahhabi chief Mufti of Saudi Arabia, has spoken. He said that the demonstrations that are now going on in some Arab countries are "planned and pre-mediated by the enemies of Islam to fragment the Islamic Arab countries, and to transform them from big, strong countries to small backward countries." He concluded by ordering Muslims to obey their rulers and cites a hadith, saying that Muhammad had said: "Whoever obeys me, has obeyed God, and whoever disobeyed me, disobeyed God, and whoever obeys the ruler, has obeyed me, and whoever disobeyed the ruler, has disobeyed me." '

OMG the Saudis are lame. The Saudis can go back to sleep now, or go back to Starbucks. LOL!

Bombed hotels were "dens of evil"

'Iraqi insurgents linked with al Qaeda claimed responsibility on Wednesday for bombings this week at three Baghdad hotels that killed at least 36 people, vowing bloodshed would continue.

The Islamic State of Iraq posted the message two days after three suicide bombs rocked the hotels, two of which are popular with foreigners and Western media.

"The knights of Baghdad descended on the heart of this wounded city and targeted another set of dens of evil," said the message posted on a website used by militant groups.'

Dens of evil, presumably because Americans and other foreigners stay there. Meanwhile in Dubai, the hotels look incredible and security is excellent.  I am very curious if any of the suicide bombers came from Jordan or the peninsula, where there are hundreds of nice hotels and Starbucks that serve Americans and other "infidels". It is not fair.

Hu visited Washington?

"It's a complicated connection: With both a creditor-debtor and seller-buyer relationship, the U.S. and China are strange bedfellows, CNNMoney reports."

When Chinese protesters were killed in Tiananmen Square, I was 20 years old and spending my summer in San Diego trying (and failing) to make some serious cash. I remember how scary Tieneman looked on TV and I remember thinking how lucky we Americans are compared to so many people in the world. At the time I never thought I could ever visit China. But the Soviet Union was collapsing and a few months later the Berlin Wall came down. 17 years later, in 2006, I had the opportunity to work on a project in Beijing. My first reaction was not one of elation, and upon arriving at the airport in Beijing I was struck by the high pollution, but overall it turned out to be an incredible experience. China has changed a lot in the last two decades. I found Beijing to be most exotic.

My friend and I wanted to see Shanghai for a weekend, but our visas would not allow us to visit places outside Beijing, and the torrential rains in Shanghai would have made it a wet weekend anyway. Over three weekends we saw a few places in Beijing, a huge city. We first visited the Great Wall, which really is great. We spent an afternoon in the Forbidden City, where there is a tiny (and out of place) Starbucks. We spent one Saturday at a huge multi-level market where cloned brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Polo, etc. can be bought for a fraction of the price of the real thing - now that is a what I call free trade! There were cranes everywhere - buildings were going up throughout the city. They were preparing for the olympics. We spent a Saturday in Houhai, a big lake with surrounding restaurants and shops, which were bustling. The economy was hot, but I saw poverty everywhere as well. The Chinese economy is still relatively hot. Today three Chinese companies are in the $200+ billion market value club, and two of them are banks.

I asked our Chinese friend how it is that China can be called a communist country, given that the government allows people to own businesses, real estate, stocks, and they are allowed to make a profit. I was told that the state owns half of every business. So I assume that it's basically like a 50% tax on profits. I don't know what happens if there's a loss. And does the state share 50% of the expenses? I don't know how it's structured, but China's economy is basically a free market system with high taxes, like Sweden and Norway. The Chinese government must have seen the money machine that Hong Kong has been, and they wanted a piece of that. I like to think of it this way: Beijing wanted Hong Kong back, and after London's ownership of Hong Kong ended in 1997, Beijing and Hong Kong got married, and that marriage has resulted in a mix of capitalism and socialism, sprinkled with a little censorship and dictatorship from Beijing.

Jordan's secret role in America's CIA

'Hours after last week's deadly attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan, a revision was made in official accounts of the number of intelligence operatives killed in the suicide bombing. Instead of eight deaths, as initially reported, the CIA acknowledged only seven.

The eighth victim resurfaced over the weekend when his flag-draped coffin arrived in his native country, Jordan. The man, a captain in the Jordanian intelligence service, was given full military honors at a ceremony that referred only to his "humanitarian work" in war-torn Afghanistan.

...Yet, despite Jordan's critical role, officials from both countries have insisted that its participation remain virtually invisible, in part to avoid damaging Amman's standing among other Muslim nations in the region, former intelligence officials said."

They seek to avoid damaging Amman's standing among other Muslim nations in the region? Are you serious?? Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, the country that hosted more than half a million American (crusaders!) soldiers in 1991? Or would the Muslim country of Qatar, which hosts the US CENTCOM, look down on Jordan for their work with Americans? Perhaps the pious Muslims of the UAE, where there are more than 90 Starbucks, would stop going to Amman for vacation if they hear such blasphemous news!

Thanks Tony for posting the article.

Iraq's neighbors a "lurking menace"

But Iraq must talk to them and try to be "neighborly" with them, and the US must help. David Ignatius writes:

The Baker-Hamilton recommendations are mostly forgotten, swept away by President George W. Bush's 2007 surge of U.S. troops. That certainly improved security, but the recent bombings in Iraq are a reminder that the surge didn't usher in a new era of peace and love. Political reconciliation is still more slogan than reality -- and the neighbors are more a lurking menace than Baghdad's partners.

He is certainly right. Let's review the list of Iraq's neighbors:

Turkey

Lying to the north of Iraq, Turkey has been the least menacing. Turkey has enjoyed good relations with Israel, Europe, and the US. Turkey has a robust tourism industry, and they've been able to contain extremists and provide relatively good security. But in Turkey, you may be arrested for teaching or studying Kurdish. Recently Turkey has bombed Kurdish militia inside Iraq, and most worrying, the Turks have dammed the Tigris and Euphrates at several places, squeezing Iraq's historically life-sustaining rivers and resulting in more severe droughts in Iraq. But in a country that has experienced at least 1,200 suicide bombings in the last 6 years, Turkey's offenses seem minor.

Iran (aka Persia)

Going clockwise on the map, we see Iran to the east, which shares 1,458 kilometers of border with Iraq. Persia occupied the land between two rivers for almost two centuries, and in 539 BC, Cyrus of Persia sacked Babylon and freed the Jews.

It can be argued that Iran has had the greatest influence on Iraq, especially since the rise of Khomeini and his Islamic Revolution. In 1965 Khomeini moved to Najaf, home of the Imam Ali shrine, and there he lectured and instilled in young Shia the notion of Islamic revolution and Islamic government. By the late 60s he became a marja taqlid or "model for imitation" for hundreds of thousands of Shia. By 1975 support for Khomeini the leader of the Islamic Revolution had grown in Iran and among the Iraqi Shia. The Ayatollah was forced out of Iraq by Iraqi VP Saddam Hussein in 1978, and in January 1979 the Shah left Iran. The following month Khomeini moved back to Iran and became the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, changing the course of history in the region for decades to come.

In the 70s in Iraq the Islamic Da3wa Party had gained popularity, and they too wanted an Islamic government, which put them at odds with the ruling Ba3ath Party and Saddam Hussein, who pushed aside his President-cousin Ahmed Hassan al Bakr and took control of Baghdad in 1979. By the summer of 1980, Saddam and his security apparatuses had murdered and expelled tens of thousands of Iraqi Shia and pushed Da3wa out of Iraq. In September 1980 Saddam's Iraq invaded Iran, beginning a horrible war that cost a million lives by 1988 and ruined the economies of both countries. In the 80s Iraqi Shia who were able fled by the hundreds of thousands to the US, Europe, and of course to Iran.

Today the Iranian influence in Iraq is even greater, with Da3wa in charge of Baghdad, Hakim's Islamic Supreme Council party garnering about 10% support among Iraqis, and with Muqtada al Sadr studying quietly in Qum in an effort to become the next big Ayotallah. Iran was happy to see the end of Saddam's dictatorship, but they did not want to see the the Iraq become a colony of the US. Instead, some Iraqis fear that Iraq will eventually become a colony of Iran.

Kuwait

In July 1990 I became a citizen of the United States of America. Less than one month after I became naturalized, Saddam's Iraq invaded Kuwait. After Bush Sr. crossed his line in the sand and built a case for war against Iraq, my father became afraid. For a while there my dad really thought I might be drafted, if it ever became a real war, which it never did become. It was interesting to see my father go through the effort to find out if I could ever be drafted into such a war. The answer was no, I couldn't be drafted because I could be considered an "conscientious objector". It turns out my help would not be required anyway, as the US military, with the help of the British and many Arab states, bombed Iraq into the Stone Age, and making life very difficult for Iraqis for many years to come.

On the face of it poor little Kuwait looks to be the least menacing of Iraq's neighbors. There are unknown numbers of Shia in Kuwait, and many of them are Iraqis who fled Saddam's tyranny. But Kuwait is ruled by a Sunni Arab family, and in general they were friendly with Saddam and shared his fear of Iran. So what happened to the love? Saddam invaded Kuwait because, basically, Kuwait was being a punk ass bitch (please pardon the vernacular), giving money (the Kuwaitis say loaning) to Saddam to fight Iran, and then after the war, after Iraq's economy was devastated, Kuwait produced oil way beyond their OPEC quota, and thus resulting in lower oil prices, which hurt Iraq's bottom line. The Iraqis also claimed Kuwait was slant-drilling into Iraq's oil field.

In the end Saddam invaded Kuwait and stole many of its riches and refused to leave Kuwait. However he intentionally kept his Republican Guard out of Kuwait, which was a wise move for him, because he would need them to put down the Shia rebellion after the war and keep himself in power. The allied forces, led by the US, pounded Iraq's army, first by 40 days of air strikes, and then by a ground invasion, killing tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, and accidentally, of course, killing thousands of Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi army was expelled from Kuwait, and on their way out of Iraq, Saddam had his guys burned nearly 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, creating a huge environmental disaster. The US military, led by Colin Powell and Norman Swartzkoff, won a quick war in Iraq and could have easily overthrown the Iraqi dictator, but in the end Bush decided to allow Saddam to live, and ordered US troops not to intervene in the Shia rebellion. It is said Bush's decision was influenced by the Saudis, who did not want to see the Shia take control of Iraq.

Today Kuwait has good relations with Iraq, and the two countries have restored diplomatic ties. Kuwait was the only non-Iraqi Arab country to support the American overthrow of Saddam. They understood Saddam's tyranny very well. But Kuwait still wants its money back, even though Iraq's debt to Kuwait was racked up by Saddam's regime, and many Wahhabi-influenced Kuwaitis have entered Iraq and mass murdered Iraqis since 2003.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Saudis, the founders of Wahhabism, have been a royal pain in Iraqis' asses for decades. An analysis in 2007 revealed that half of suicide bombers in Iraq came from Saudi Arabia. The majority of the hijackers on 9/11 (80%) were also Saudi. The two statistics, from two very different places, have one thing in common: Wahhabi terrorism.

KSA never wanted to see the Shia take control of Iraq, and they have ben the biggest funders of the insurgency in Iraq. The Saudis were also the biggest funders of the war between Iraq and Iran.



The Saudis did not want to see Saddam take control of Kuwait, but they did not want to see the Shia take control of Baghdad either. Thus the Saudi government, led by King Fahd, urged Bush Sr. to keep Saddam in power in 1991, and thus they funded the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq after 2003, their clerics preaching "resistance" against the "infidel" occupier and the "agents of Iran", this despite the presence of many Iranians, Arab Shia, and Americans in the Arabian peninsula. The US launched two wars on Iraq from CENTCOM in Doha, Qatar, but Qatar enjoys peace, even Starbucks, while Baghdad burns. Nevertheless the Wahhabis sent hundreds of brainwashed suicide bombers to Iraq, to murder mostly Iraqi Shia.

With full control of the oil that Saudi Shia live on and near, the Saudi royals are not interested in democracy, and they are not interested in restoring diplomatic ties with the new Iraq. “To isolate itself from Iraq, Saudi Arabia has signed a $1 billion contract with the European defense company EADS, for the construction of a 900-kilometer [562-mile] fence." Iraqis wait anxiously and hope the fence will protect them from the backward Wahhabi cultists.

Jordan

I've heard the weather in Amman is beautiful. In the summer of 1991 my mother and sister visited Amman to see my aunts and cousins who fled Iraq earlier that year. By 2000 approximately half of my relatives had fled the wars and tyranny of Saddam Hussein, starting new lives elsewhere, mostly in the UK. I don't understand why those refugees did not receive the same attention that our Arab brothers have paid to recent Iraqi refugees from the current war. Jordan deserves praise for accepting such a large number of refugees, and not just Iraqi. 60% of Jordan's population is of Palestinian descent. Twice there were large influxes of Palestinian refugees into Jordan - in 1948 and 1967. Also twice there were large influxes of Iraqi refugees - 1991-1992 and 2005-2007. Iraqi Baathists have fled to Amman in large numbers.

But there is a dark side to Jordan's relationship with Iraq. The person most responsible for inciting the sectarian violence in Iraq was a Jordanian terrorist named Abu Musab al Zarqawi. He was born and raised in Zarqa, not far from occupied Palestine. Even closer to occupied Palestine is the Jordanian town of Salt, whose deranged sons were compelled to join their mujahideen-brothers in Iraq, to attack the new Iraqi government and its security forces, and to participate in the most gruesome sectarian conflict the world has seen in decades.

The Jordanian government, to its credit, has fought extremists and has at times been at the receiving end of Salafi terrorists like Zarqawi, but in my opinion they have not done enough to fight extremist and backward ideology in their country. Honor killings are still common in Jordan, and when the killers are punished, they are in most cases not punished nearly severely enough.

Syria

Syria is an enigma. Its population is 80% Sunni Arab, but for decades it has been ruled by a Baathist Alawi family that has had cozy relations with Iran since the Islamic Revolution. Syria's alliance with Iran was the reason for the split between Saddam and Hafez al Assad. Recently I asked my cousin if Alawis are true Shia, and I asked him if they are true Shia, how could they allow so many "mujahideen" to enter Iraq via Damascus and cause so much death and destruction against their Shia brethren in Iraq? "NO" the Allawites are not true Shia, he said, and even if Assad wanted to prevent Baathists and Wahhabis from planning and coordinating in Damascus, he couldn't because most Syrians are Sunni Arab, and many of them have been influenced by Baathism or the Muslim Brotherhood and maybe Wahhabism. So it is even more ironic that Syria has been supported by Shia-dominated Iran.

Syria has been home to the largest number of Iraqi refugees since 2003, and although their existence in Syria has been relatively peaceful, many Iraqis in Damascus are worried about raised tensions between the two governments. Iraqi PM Maliki has blamed Damascus for the August 19 explosions in Baghdad. In the end, the Syrian regime may decide to normalize relations with Iraq at least for economic reasons.

This Ramadhan we have seen fewer violent deaths in Iraq than in previous years, but in general Iraqis continue to suffer as a result of sectarian conflicts than seem never to end. This year the average number of deaths per day from suicide attacks and vehicle bombs (7.8) is still higher than in 2004 (5.2), but the number of deaths per day from gunfire/executions is 4.6, the lowest since 2003. With continuing violence and an inept government in Baghdad that still cannot provide security or 24-hour a day electricity to all Iraqis, there's not much to cheer about in Iraq these days. Many Iraqis are looking forward to the crucial elections in January, and many are hoping for real change in Iraq.