Hi friends,I’m sorry for not posting anything for such a long time. For those who kept checking my blog and asking, I appreciate your care and understanding and I wish you didn’t have to visit my site often and then find that nothing was posted. Things have been difficult with work and then the loss of my brother in law which I think some of you already know about it. These are not all the reasons why I haven’t posted, as I have been finding some difficulty in seeing anything clear about the future of my country lately. I’m still generally optimistic but so much happened that still doesn’t make sense to me, or better say shouldn’t have happened, in my opinion. I don’t intend to remain stuck in the past and I intend to focus more on what can be done instead of just asking what went wrong.So much have happened since I last posted that I can’t comment on all in just one post. I tend to see the formation of the new government as the major positive development. I believe it will, eventually, end the Sunni insurgency now that many Sunni figures have positions in the government and some interest in getting it to stand on its feet. It will also calm some Sunnis when they see that this government is not just She’at or Kurdish and that they have a reasonable representation in it.Zarqawi’s death was certainly great news when it comes to uplifting Iraqis’ and Americans’ morale even though it won’t reduce terrorist attacks that much. I don’t believe that local Iraqis had any role in locating Zarqawi’s hideout as Iraqi officials claimed. It still is what I would say if I was in their position, at least to make terrorists fear that Iraqis are getting more hostile towards them. I don’t believe that because I don’t think locals would find out easily about something like that especially that the area is a rural one with considerable distances between each residential area but also more because I don’t think that American military would direct such a devastating blow to a residential are based on information from one source that may not be that reliable. I think most Iraqis are still, unfortunately, too scared and maybe even not that concerned to report something like that.Also we have seen an increasing activity of American jets and scouting planes the night before the attack, and a few days before that I remember reading an article in an Iraqi newspaper that said that American military had succeeded in locating Zarqaw’s placei to some extent and that large intelligence work was undergoing to pinpoint that location and finally kill or arrest Zarqawi. I didn’t give it much weight at that time but I had the newspaper and as I looked at it later I felt that that was not just propaganda and that it was based on some actual facts. Anyway I’m glad that that scum is gone and I hope others will follow soon.I will try to update my blog as much as I can. I just don’t like just saying what others may have said already. I always try to offer the faithful readers who keep checking this blog something worthy of their time and when I feel I can’t I prefer to stay silent.Thanks again for all those who kept checking and asking and I hope I will be able to be more consistent in the future.