Added: 09/07/2005 |
The latest news from Baghdad - gleam of hope for libertyToday the attention of all progressive mankind is turned on the events, which are occurring in the Middle East in the state Iraq. Every day in this region many bombs blow up, there are firing and innocent people die. So in bloody struggle the new Iraq state arises. Freedom-loving people of Iraq, tries to construct a new life without reprisals and violence. Iraq has rich history. For a long time fantastic east state involved adventurers. The city of Baghdad is a capital of this wonderful country from an antiquity up to our days.
The city of Baghdad was founded on the west bank of the Tigris on 30 July 762 by the Abbasid dynasty, led by Caliph al-Mansur. The city was probably built on the site of an earlier Persian village. The origin of the city's name is uncertain: some believe it is from the Persian for "God-given" derived from "bagh" (God) and "dad" (given), while others believe it is from an Aramaic phrase for "sheep enclosure." A circular wall was built around the town, and Baghdad became known as the "Round City."
The roundness points to the fact that it was based on Persian precedents such as Firouzabad in Persia. The two designers who were hired by al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, a former Persian Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a former Jew from Khorasan, Iran.
Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of learning and commerce. Some sources suggest that it contained over a million inhabitants, though others say the actual figure may have been only a fraction of this. A large portion of the population of Baghdad originated from all over Iran especially from Khorasan. Many of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights are set in the Baghdad of this period-dubbed Madinat as-Salam ("City of Peace") by Shahrazad-and feature its most celebrated ruler, the fifth 'Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid.
Baghdad was one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world, home to Muslims, Christians, Jews and pagans from across the Middle East and Central Asia. The city has nine district councils, with members selected from the 88 Neighborhood Advisory Councils. The number of neighborhood representatives on the district council is based upon a community's population. There is also a Baghdad City Advisory Council which has 37 members drawn from the district councils, again based on the district's population.
Baghdad sits on the Tigris River at a point where the Tigris is about 50 kilometres from the Euphrates River. The city is mostly flat, with the western side of the city having wider boulevards, more expensive homes and more government buildings. Low-income housing is generally located in the east. It is the second largest city in South Asia after Tehran, with the 2003 population estimated at 5.772.000.
Historically Baghdad was of great importance to international trade. Commerce routes from India, Persia and Europe met at the city. Today, the affluent neighborhood of Kerrada is Baghdad's business district. Baghdad is still an important node for road, air and train traffic. The city's main airport is Baghdad International Airport.
In Baghdad and its suburbs the most part of leading factories and plants of Iraq (in particular, the electrotechnical factory constructed with the economic help of Russia) is placed. At the industrial enterprises of Baghdad and its suburbs it is borrowed about 40 % of the Iraq workers. Near Baghdad, in Dora, there is the largest oil refining factory in the country.
The Persian Gulf War of 1991 caused severe damage to Baghdad, particularly its transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure. However, President George H. W. Bush decided not to have U.S. troops advance to and capture Baghdad, thus leaving Saddam Hussein in power - perhaps in part because of the heavy civilian casualties that would likely have resulted from an attack on the city. President Bush also wished to avoid a costly occupation.
Baghdad was bombed heavily in March and April 2003 in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and fell under US control by April 7-April 9. Additional damage was caused by the severe looting during the days following the end of the war. With the deposition of Saddam Hussein's regime, the city was occupied by U.S. troops. The Coalition Provisional Authority established a three-square-mile (8-km²) "Green Zone" within the heart of the city from which it ruled Iraq during the period before the new Iraqi government was established. The Coalition Provisional Authority ceded power to the interim government at the end of June 2004 and dissolved itself.
From the moment of invasion of US army to Iraq, Baghdad has turned to the largest information centre of the Middle East. Hundreds journalists, observers, publicists, every day in details describe the latest news which are occuring in the capital of Iraq. Practically all known mass media have the representatives in Baghdad. And it is not casual, in fact in streets of that city the History is created.
The summer of 2005 has appeared rich on events. So on August 26 in Baghdad thousands marched in adoring praise of Iraq's deposed leader Saddam Hussein on Friday, offering a stark display of the loss of power and leadership felt by some of Iraq's Sunnis.
Drawing inspiration from the Baath party strongman, who now languishes in jail awaiting trial, marchers in Baquba, 65kms northeast of Baghdad, danced and chanted his name and condemned plans by the Shia and Kurdish-led government to push through draft constitution to create a federal Iraq. They accused the Shia leaders in government of kowtowing to Iran and the United States, which backs the government with some 140,000 troops. "Bush, Bush, listen well; We all love Saddam Hussein!" crowds chanted. "We reject the American and Iranian constitution" and "No to a constitution that breaks up Iraq," their placards read.
On 27 August 2005 in BAGHDAD Moqtada Sadr, the young fiery cleric who led one of post-war Iraq's fiercest rebellions, has again been thrust into the spotlight after deadly clashes this week between his supporters and rival Shiites.
The man once branded an outlaw by the Americans and considered the country's number one agitator has sought to reinvent himself as a pivotal peacemaker and the man who will pull his country back from the brink of civil war.
Sadr on Thursday appealed for calm after violence erupted between his movement's military wing - the Mehdi Army - and supporters of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in the Shiite holy city of Najaf before spreading to other southern towns.
On 17 August 2005 more than 60 person became a victims of three explosions in Baghdad. In first half of the day three explosions have successively thundered of the mined cars, as a result at least 27 person were lost and more than 40 have received wounds. Among victims one woman and one child, amount of wounded men will probably increase. Explosions have happened after the National assembly of Iraq has granted on a delay the commission on development of the constitution till 22 these months representations of the project of the official constitution of the country.
From police report: to the south from Baghdad bodies 37 of person are found out. The police has found out bodies in 120 km from capital of the country near settlement Babbuni. As the experts approve, lost have been shot about five days ago. On preliminary data, some victims before execution were subjected to torture. The Iraq authorities have begun investigation of incident. Police will remind, that in the middle of August in the same area the mass burial place nearby 30 person was revealed. In April bodies 60 person in the same place have been found out.
The Iraq government has informed 10/06/2005, that during the proceeded operation "Lightning" in Baghdad and in its vicinities where in various areas searches and round-ups have been spent, 51 more person is detained.
Well here at last, the summer has ended, there is a mellow autumn ahead. And what can the people of Iraq and inhabitants of Baghdad wait ahead ? It would be desirable to believe that ideas of equality and brotherhood, principles of observance of human rights and democratic management will win in this distressful region at last.
P.S. The latest news from Baghdad: 07/09/2005 An explosion Wednesday damaged a pipeline used for shipping oil from a field near the Iranian border to Baghdad, police said. The explosion on the line from Khanaqin to the al-Dora refinery caused a blaze in Thiaa Thiaa village, east of the city Baqouba which is 60 kilometers north of the capital, the provincial police said. 05/09/2005 BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents launched a daring daylight assault Monday against the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, killing two police officers in a surge of attacks by al-Qaeda's arm in Iraq. Two British soldiers died in a roadside bombing near Zubeir, an Arab Sunni enclave about 12 miles west of Basra. Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters, loyal to Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, were killing officials and civilians seen as government-allied or anti-Islamic, witnesses, residents and others said. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a woman lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."
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