Excerpts: British/Libya deal on Lockerbie bomber release.Iraq's
Sunni/Shiites both fail to spot new moon 23 August 2009

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 23 Aug.'09:"London denies deal behind Gaddafi's
hug",
Agencies
QUOTE:'Gaddafi's son ... (said) in negotiations with Britain, he had
personally made Mrgrahi'sfreedom a condition of potential energy trade
deals"
EXCERPTS:RIPOLI/LONDON - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi hugged the convicted
Lockerbie bomber and promised more cooperation with Britain in gratitude
for
his release, while London and Washington condemned his "hero's welcome"
home.
. . .Earlier, Gaddafi's son Seif Al-Islam told Megrahi that in
negotiations with Britain, he had personally made Megrahi's freedom a
condition of potential energy trade deals. "In all British interests
regarding Libya, I always put you on the table," Gaddafi's son's newspaper
quoted him as saying.
Speculation that there had been some form of agreement was fueled by the
disclosure that Britain's Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had met Seif
Al-Islam during his recent holiday on the Greek island of Corfu.
Britain flatly denied the release was in any way linked to business deals
with Libya, which has Africa's largest proven oil reserves. Britain said
all
responsibility for his release rested with Scotland, which runs its own
judici al affairs.
. . ..He dismissed the international furore over his release, saying ..."
Don't worry, Mr Obama -- it's just three months (until I die)."

+++SOURCE: N.Y.Times 23 Aug.'09:"Sunnis and Shiites See an Omen for
Reconciliation in Iraq",By ROD NORDLAND

[The item is a bit deceptive - Ramadan started at the same time for the two
groups since both failed to witness the new moon and thus were stuck with
the default starting date for Ramadan. The item also fails to explain to
readers that the reason that Ramadan is so hot this time is that since the
Moslem calendar is a lunar calendar without adjustment for the solar year
Ramadan shifts around the year. ]

QUOTE:" 'This will unite the messages of our two sects and is a good sign'
"
BAGHDAD - On Saturday(22 Aug), the holy month of Ramadan began on the same
day in Iraq for both Sunnis and Shiites, the first time that has happened
in
10 years.
Only a few restaurants in Baghdad remained open during the day, and those
that did shielded their customers. Muslims are expected to fast daily from
sunrise to sundown during Ramadan.
For a country riven by sectarian strife, and plagued by bombings aimed at
provoking more such warfare, that was a welcome omen.
. . ... "This will unite the religious messages of our two sects and is a
good sign," ... .
. . . Christians are exempt from many of the laws imposing Ramadan
strictures, but
not the ban on alcohol sales. Many of Iraq's secular-minded citizens were
also alarmed, however.
"Why can't I practice my freedom in this country?" said Ahmed Abd, 42. "If
I
smoke in the streets, whose fast does it hurt? Why shouldn't I drink water
when I'm thirsty in such weather? Why should I hide like a criminal if I
want to have a sandwich?" In a country rife with conspiracy theories, some
Iraqis also suspected the simultaneous Ramadan celebrations were fixed for
political reasons.
"I think it is an attempt by Maliki to get as many voters as he can," said
Nazar al-Azzawi, 43, a Sunni businessman... referring to the Shiite prime
minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. "He wants to send a message that national
reconciliation is a success and there is no sectarianism.". . .

Another Iraqi tradition in recent years has been an increase in violence
during Ramadan, and Iraqi security forces planned to tighten security,
particularly after last week's bombings. The first day passed relatively
quietly in Baghdad; a homemade bomb exploded on Saturday, wounding two
civilians, and two Iraqi soldiers were killed when gunmen using silencers
ambushed them at a checkpoint in Adhamiya before dawn.
In Mosul, however, the police said five insurgent attacks left nine people
dead, including the owner of a liquor store that was still open despite the
new rules.
And Iraqis continued to debate last Wednesday's suicide truck bombings,
which killed 95 people and wounded 1,200 at the Foreign and Finance
Ministries.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari blamed members of Iraq's security forces,
who he said must have helped the bombers enter an area where trucks are
prohibited. "There had to be technical and logistical assistance, and it
appears that governmental security agents were coordinating with them too,"
he said Saturday.
This is also one of the hottest Ramadans in many years, with temperatures
still as high as 120 degrees, and there are 13 hours of daylight. The last
thing most of Iraq's exhausted fasters will want, plagued as they are with
poor electric and water supplies, is more trouble.
In Diyala Province, where sectarian conflict remains particularly bad,
Muhammad Jameel, 24, was hopeful. He is a tabal, one of a troop of men who
walk the streets in the predawn darkness beating large drums to warn that
sunrise is only a breakfast away. "I'm happy to see this," he said.
"Tomorrow morning I'll beat my drum loudly to make Sunni neighbors as well
as Shiites hear it and wake up together."
Late on Saturday, the Iraqi Army arrested five tabal drummers in Adhamiya
and charged them with the killings of the two soldiers. Because of the
midnight to 4 a.m. curfew in that neighborhood, the drummers were the only
residents out before dawn.. . .

===========================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA