Hackers Fought ISIS With Porn

Gareth Browne, The Daily Beast, Hackers Fought ISIS With Porn, 21 Nov 2017 "Given the dangers they face, the six people who make up the little group calling itself, with conscious irony, “Daeshgram”—its name melding the Arabic acronym for ISIS and Instagram—are forced to live something resembling double lives." Recommended

Facing Islamic State threat, Iraq digitizes national library

Vivian Salama, AP/Yahoo! News, Facing Islamic State threat, Iraq digitizes national library, 4 Aug 2015 "These are the original chronicles of Iraq's rich and tumultuous history — and now librarians and academics in Baghdad are working feverishly to preserve what's left after thousands of documents were lost or damaged at the height of the U.S.-led invasion."

Iraq blocks Facebook

alarabiya.net, Facebook is latest casualty in Iraq’s battle with ISIS "The Iraqi government blocked Facebook on Friday, citing security concerns after the militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other local armed groups seized large parts of the country, Al Arabiya's correspondent in Baghdad reported."

Mosul updates

Independent, Iraq crisis: Islamist militants close in on Baghdad after capturing two towns north of capital

Niqash, inside mosul: why iraqis are celebrating islamic extremists’ takeover of their city "This week, Mosul’s streets were filled with celebrating locals. And the Internet was alive with videos of Mosul people jeering the Iraqi army as it left and congratulating the extremists who took their place. That is even though most of them know about the beheadings and amputations and other cruelties that come with the hardline Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. So why was everyone so happy? And how long can ISIS’ honeymoon in Mosul last?"

alarabiya.net, With ISIS advancements, nearby Jordan must be concerned, analysts say
 
 BBC 5 Live scroll through: around 5.15 on 12.6.14, there was a good interview with a Mosul resident.

Foreign Policy, The Beginning of a Caliphate  

alarabiya.net, Video shows Saudis fighting alongside ISIS in Iraq

FB “Iraqi Revolution” title bug

Facebook says that the ban on creating a pages that has “Iraqi Revolution” as a title was a bug, now fixed - ArabCrunch:



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No Place for Emotions

No Place for Emotions - Qantara.de ""They will soon close up, too," the young man says. Since the Emos in Iraq became targets for the Shiite militias, and may, according to some sources, even have killed up to ninety of them, they have entirely disappeared from the streets of Baghdad. "We can still listen to our music at home and stay in contact via Facebook," says a frustrated Tarek. "But we have to make sure that no one finds out. If they do, they will kill all of us.""

Iraq theories

Tarek al-Tablawy, Associated Press, In porn, a story of Iraq's politics, 23 Aug 2010 "The titles alone - many along the lines of "The Rape of the Coeds" - offer disturbing insight into the possible psychological effects the years of indiscriminate violence have had on Iraqis."

There is an internet association with this story. Also see (if you really want to read more) Irin Carmon, jezebel.com, Iraqi Porn Is A Turn-On For Both Neocons & True Believers (via Gawker, which is where I picked up on this).

If you avoid the sensationalist headlines here, there is some interesting analysis and opinion.

Wikileaks Inquiry

Robert Mackey, The Lede, NYT, U.S. Soldier Arrested in Wikileaks Inquiry After Tip From Former Hacker, 7 June 2010 "Wired’s Threat Level blog reported late Sunday that “an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks,” was arrested by the Pentagon."

Iraq filtering?

Martin Chulov, Observer, Baghdad's night life falls foul of religious right, 6 Dec 09 "The clubs are only the most colourful victims of the conservative crackdown. Other potential sources of liberal licentiousness have been targeted. Internet cafes have been told that filters will soon start blocking some websites, especially pornographic ones, and alcohol vendors in the city's international zone were informed they will soon be out of business."

Iraqigov on YouTube

"The Iraq government has followed in the footsteps of the Queen and the Pope and set up its own YouTube channel."BBC News, Iraq government launches its own channel on YouTube, 24 Nov 09

And here it is: YouTube - Iraqigov's Channel

Iraq museum online

Guardian, Google puts Iraq museum collection online, 24 Nov 09

"CEO Eric Schmidt announced that the search engine will feature 14,000 pictures of the museum's artefacts."

Iraq sites + Ramadan

A couple of sites that I located via qantara.de (below) which are worthy of investigation:

iraqiscope.org "Iraqi Films, Video Clips and Stories online" - could do with some more recent content.

niqash.org "briefings from inside and across Iraq", includes Muhammed Abdullah, Ramadan brings out needy, 10 Sep 09. "Eleven-year-old Abdul el-Basit is one of the thousands of children now wandering the streets of Baquba, in Diyala province, begging for food and money ...

" ... Sheikh Assaf al-Dulaimi, a preacher at the Nour mosque and an activist on issues related to orphans, agreed that “political blocs take advantage of the conditions of orphans and widows… they buy their votes while they ignoring their suffering.”

"While Ramadan can be a good month for the needy, it also brings other difficulties making them even more dependent on the kindness of strangers. Most significantly, food prices increase by about 15 percent during the fasting month.

"Some mosques have issued fatwas against merchants who raise their prices, but this has had little effect on the steep inflation. Al-Dulaimi said that he warns merchants and importers against raising the prices during Ramadan in solidarity with the poor."

"How Islamist gangs use internet to track, torture and kill Iraqi gays"

Afif Sarhan and Jason Burke, The Observer, How Islamist gangs use internet to track, torture and kill Iraqi gays, 13 Sep 09 "Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

""It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed."

Islamic State of Iraq statement

LA Times, Al Qaeda-linked group claims two recent Baghdad bombings that killed 95, 26 Aug 09, "The claim of responsibility came in a statement posted on the Internet by the Islamic State of Iraq, the name now used by the Sunni Muslim Al Qaeda in Iraq organization. The group acknowledges few bombings, and those tend to be among the most spectacular."

Al Naqshabandiya Army

CBS News, Al Naqshabandiya Army Announces Creation of “Jihadi Awakening Councils”, 12 Jun 09, "The Iraqi insurgent group al Naqshabandiya Army announced that it has signed “loyalty and honor agreements” with a number of tribal dignitaries and chiefs in southern Iraq. According to the terms of the agreements, those tribes would pledge allegiance to the Supreme Command For Jihad and Liberation, led by Saddam’s former deputy Izzet Ibrahim al Doury, and would “offer their sons to fight for the victory of Islam and liberate the country from any foreign occupying enemy.”"

Naqshabandiyah Army

CBS News, Naqshabandiya Army Release New Compilation Video, 27 Apr 09 "The Iraqi insurgent group Naqshabandiyah Army released a 27-minute video showing a compilation of attacks on U.S. army vehicles in Iraq using RKG3 anti-tank grenades. The video included shots showing a whole arsenal of these grenades at a group’s depot. It also showed a group of new fighters receiving lessons by an instructor on efficient ways to use this weapon."

Web Therapy

Julio Godoy, IPS/ionglobaltrends, Iraq: Virtual therapy for real pain and suffering, 13 Apr 09 "N survived an attack on the transport enterprise he works for in Baghdad. He never managed to admit his trauma to anybody. Until he started psychotherapy – online.

"N is one of some 300 mostly young Iraqis who over the last year have been undergoing psychotherapy through the Centre for the Treatment of Victims of Torture (BZFO, after its German name), which operates from Berlin. BZFO was founded in 1992, but its online therapy project for Iraqis started in the spring of 2008."

I found this further info: BZFO

Al Arabiyya: Update on hacked sites

Guardian, Hackers force Al-Arabiya site name change, 13 Oct 08 "The most controversial of the recent attacks targeted the website of Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani of Najaf, the Shia world's leading religious authority. Hundreds of other Shia sites were also affected.

"Sistani's site carried a statement accusing him of issuing "perverse" fatwas or religious edicts. Also posted was a YouTube clip of the American comedian Bill Maher joking about an edict on sexual behaviour allegedly handed down by Sistani."

Islamic Army in Iraq

themedialine.org, Special Interview: Islamic Army in Iraq, 23 Jul 08 "In an interview with The Media Line, The Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), a prominent Sunni insurgency group, revealed its motivations, ideology and aims regarding the war in Iraq ...

" ... The movement takes the media war seriously and uses the Internet to promulgate its ideology. It produces a monthly magazine and airs a daily updated website. Each month the organization publishes what it calls the "harvest" of its operations. During last month, the IAI managed, according to its website, to kill at least 28 American soldiers, using guns and bombs."

Heavy Metal Net

chicagoreader.com, It’s All World Music Now: How technology is turning the tables on the Westernization of pop, 24 Jul 08 "Vice Films’ recent documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad follows the travails of Acrassicauda, allegedly the only metal band in Iraq. They speak to the way acts like Metallica and Slipknot offer a release from the pressures of living in a war zone; they practice between bombings, endure death threats from anti-Western Islamic militants, and occasionally play a show that brings together what’s probably the entirety of the tiny Baghdad metal scene. Somehow they’ve even managed to keep the band going in exile, first in Syria and now in Istanbul."

See YouTube, Heavy Metal in Baghdad - New Theatrical Trailer (language alert for sensitive surfers)



Also see Heavy Metal in Baghdad site, which includes details on Acrassicauda and their occasional band blog.