English Recordings

She told me she helped make such devices, going to the market to buy wire and other bomb parts and working at putting bombs together. Men are routinely paid for such work; women are generally paid too, but less. Baida was proud to be a volunteer. “I knew we were fighting against the Americans and they are the occupation,” she told me. “We are doing it for God’s sake. We are doing it as jihad.”
Baida grew up shuttling between Baquba, which is the provincial capital of Diyala, and Husayba, a town on the Syrian border. She went to school through eighth grade, she told me, and had ideas of becoming an architect, but her mother wanted her to stay home. When Baida was 17, her mother died, and a few months later, at her father’s behest, Baida married. Almost immediately she knew she had made a mistake. A week after her wedding, according to Baida, her husband threw a cup of cream at her head; soon, beatings became regular. She smiled sweetly and shrugged: “His hand got used to beating me.”
For Baida, as for many Iraqi suicide bombers, violent insurgency was the family business. It was shortly after the American invasion that her brothers began to manufacture I.E.D.’s. One was killed when his handi¬work exploded as he was concealing it. She had cousins who were also insurgents. While they were paid for their work, she said, she was herself motivated mainly by revenge. Later it would be revenge for the deaths of her father and four brothers in what she said was a joint American-Iraqi raid on their home, but at first it was more general. She told me she watched the Americans shoot a neighbor in 2005, and she replayed the image over and over in her mind: “I saw him running toward them, and then they shot him in the neck. I still see him. I still remember how he fell when the Americans shot him and I saw him clawing on the ground in the dust before his soul left his body. After that I began to help with making the improvised explosive devices.”
Executing a successful suicide bombing is rarely a lone act. It requires preparing a suicide vest, teaching the would-be bomber how to use it and planning the mission. It means transporting the bomber close to the place where she will carry out the attack and in some cases setting up a camera nearby so that the event can be filmed. For women, who rarely drive in Iraq, except in Baghdad, it would be impossible to get to the bomb site without assistance. Most of the women who blew themselves up in Diyala were supported and trained by a network of extremists — often family members already active in the insurgency.

“One of the differences between suicide bombers in Iraq and Palestine is that the Islamists have not been involved much” in recruiting women in Palestine, says Mohammed Hafez, an associate professor of national-security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., who specializes in Islamic extremist movements and recently wrote a book on suicide bombings in Iraq. “The Islamists have been very involved in Iraq. Also, in general there is a debate in the Islamic world about whether to use women and children, but in Iraq they have no hesitation about using women.”
The rise in the number of suicide bombers who were women in Iraq coincided with the expanding ability of the security forces to defeat bombers who were men. When, in 2006 and 2007, American and Iraqi forces began increasingly to use concrete barriers to insulate government buildings, markets and other gathering places from car bombs, the insurgents turned to women, who could use to advantage their traditional dress: a voluminous, floor-length black abaya, made of folds of flowing fabric. Tribal traditions and Arab notions of modesty make it unthinkable that the police or guards would search women. They could pass through even relatively robust security cordons as if they were invisible. They walked up the steps of government buildings, approached checkpoints and entered the offices and homes of people the militants wanted to assassinate.
Gradually, the police learned to look for telltale signs, Major Hosham told me. Women often wear double abayas to hide their suicide vests. And they apply heavy makeup, because they believe they are going to heaven and want to look their best.
Last September, the Iraqi government completed training for 27 policewomen in Diyala. The effort came too late to save at least 130 people and probably more who have died in the province in suicide bombings carried out by women.
MAJOR HOSHAM WAS right. I liked Baida immediately. She had an open face and pale skin, a medium build and an unassuming manner. She wore a traditional long black abaya whose only ornamental feature was a strip of black satin down the front. Her black veil was simple. A few strands of light brown hair strayed out, suggesting that while conservative she was not rigid. She seemed educated and told her story in a straightforward way. At times during our first meeting I would forget that we were in a cramped, dingy assistant detective’s office with scuffed paint and bars on the windows.
She began in a soft voice: “My name is Baida Abdul Karim al-Shammari, and I am from New Baquba near the general hospital. I am one of eight children; five were killed. The police raided our home. It was a half-hour before dawn during Ramadan. The Americans were with them.”
She added with a touch of pride: “My brothers were mujahideen. They made I.E.D.’s.” The word “mujahideen” means holy fighters and, in the context of Iraq, they are fighters against the infidels, the Americans. I.E.D.’s are improvised explosive devices.

IT IS DIFFICULT to learn much about suicide bombers since there is rarely anything left of them. In Diyala, however, because there have been so many bombers who were women, the police have been driven to study the phenomenon, developing a nuanced and thoughtful picture of women who resolve to kill themselves. It was with the help of the police, who were willing to give me access to some of the would-be bombers, that I reported this piece. In particular, working with my interpreter, an Iraqi woman who was trained as a social worker, I was able to have long and even intimate conversations with two of the women in police custody. Police officers were able to corroborate much of what they said.
Each woman’s story is unique, but their journeys to jihad do have commonalities. Many have lost close male relatives. Baida and Ranya lost both fathers and brothers. Many of the women live in isolated communities dominated by extremists, where radical understandings of Islam are the norm. In such places, women are often powerless to control much about their lives; they cannot choose whom they marry, how many children to have or whether they can go to school beyond the primary years. Becoming a suicide bomber is a choice of sorts that gives some women a sense of being special, with a distinguished destiny. But Major Hosham urged me not to generalize: “All the cases are different. Some are old; some are young; some are just criminals; some are believers. They have different reasons.”
One thing stood out: The appearance in Diyala of suicide bombers who were women was entwined with the appearance of the Islamic State of Iraq — the local face of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the umbrella name used in Iraq for homegrown Sunni extremist groups that have some foreign leadership. While many insurgent groups operate in Iraq, those with links to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia are associated with suicide bombings. In Diyala, the Islamic State of Iraq was particularly strong. It was also brutal and organized. It orchestrated mass kidnappings, mass executions, beheadings and ambushes. No one was spared: women or children; Sunnis, Shiites or Kurds. Whole villages were forced to flee; others fell under extremist control. Many of the women who became bombers were from families immersed in jihadist culture.

In Baquba, the Iraqi police detective flipped pointlessly through a file on his desk; the daylight was too faint to read by and the electricity had long since gone off. He seemed about to say something. Then a bomb exploded a few blocks away, and his office shook. The radios on his desk crackled. He nodded to his colleagues, and they ran into the hall to join police officers already rushing to the bomb site. As he rose to follow them, the detective tried to reassure me.
BOMB DETECTOR Major Hosham with a captured knife. He said: “I like Baida. She is — honest.”
RANYA’S STORY “I remember there were red wires, but I didn’t know what was inside it.”
“You will like Baida,” Maj. Hosham al-Tamimi, then director of the National Investigation and Information Bureau in the Diyala Police Command, said as he nodded at the file before him. It was a curious thing to say about someone who sought to kill people like him and like me. He added, almost pensively: “I like Baida. She is” — he paused — “honest.”
Baida is one of 16 female would-be suicide-bomber suspects or accomplices who have been captured by the police in Diyala Province since the beginning of 2008; almost as many have blown themselves up. When I first met Baida in February, she had already been in jail more than two months. She was in the same cell with another would-be suicide bomber, Ranya, who was 15 when she was caught on her way to a bombing, her vest already strapped on. Ranya’s mother was also in the jail because she was believed to be connected to those involved in trying to organize Ranya’s death.
Nowhere, it seems, have more women blown themselves up in so short a time as in Iraq, where there have been some 60 suicide bombings attempted or carried out by women, the majority of them in 2007-8, according to statistics gathered by the American military and the Iraqi police. (The numbers, for men as well as women, are lower this year, though the attacks continue.) At least a third of those bombers came from Diyala, mostly from the provincial capital, Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, or from a small stretch of land that lies in the Diyala River valley. Thick with date-palm groves, small rivers and lush fields, Diyala appears to be an oasis in the desert. But over the last four years it has been home to some of Iraq’s most violent terrorist factions. It was here and in Baghdad that the extremists’ most lethal weapons were honed. One of those was suicide bombers who were women.

---<The Rose Season, May>-
We call May as a season of/for roses。
I stopped by my sister`s house on my way home in the late afternoon yesterday.
As I was walking to the elevator after parking my car, I saw the roses swaying lightly in the May breeze.
Yeah, indeed it is now the season of/for roses.
It`s a really amazing fact（/thing） that beautiful flowers bloom from little seeds. It`s one of the secrets of nature / （/It's a secret of nature.）

How to Stretch
Stretching may seem simple, but there are a few simple tips you can follow to get the most out of your stretching routine.

Stretch after your workout, or at the very least, warm up for a few minutes first. Stretching cold muscles can lead to injury. A few minutes of walking can be enough to get the blood flowing so your ready for some stretches.
Target a variety of muscles. If you've just gone for a run, stretch your legs, hips and buttocks. Arms, shoulders and back stretches are a good idea since many people hold tension in these areas. If you like, end with a few whole body stretches to completely relax your body. There are many stretching resources online to give you ideas.
Hold each stretch for about 30 seconds and repeat two or three times. Whatever you do, don't bounce, which can cause small muscle tears that lead to tighter muscles, not more flexibility.
Stretch to the point at which you feel tension, but not pain. If it hurts, you're going to deep into the stretch.
Breathe deeply while you stretch. Holding your breath deprives the muscles of oxygen, which they need while they're working.
Stretch a few times per week or after every workout. Adding yoga to your exercise routine is a great way to stretch while learning techniques to relieve stress and quiet your mind.
Stretching a few times per week can do much more than improve your flexibility. It can improve your overall athletic performance, reduce your chances of injuring yourself and reduce stress. Not bad for a few minutes of relaxation after your workout.

Source:

Mayo Clinic, “Stretching: Focus on Flexibility,” March 17, 2010

Yesterday, I got a phone call from a friend of mine who is an American lady and has been living in Japan for maybe 20 years.

I heard something from her that really weighed on my mind.

She has been suffering from a problem regarding her 10-year-old daughter. The girl is a young, sensitive half-Japanese girl. It's sad to say, but it is true that she has been bullied for years at school.

On Skype, the girl seems to have contacted her two older sisters who are high school and college students now in the US. They said to the little girl, "It will never stop." Never? Is it hopeless?

I was shocked to find out that those older daughters also faced bullying at school in Japan. The mother told me that there was no choice but for them to leave Japan after graduating from their junior high school.

I don't know why this awful thing is happening to them.

Is it just because they are half-Japanese? Is it because the mother's Japanese language ablility is not enough to get this problem across to teachers at school?

I know that the mother has been trying to adjust herself in Japan for a long time. In my view she is a quiet person.

I heard another similar case before that an Australian mother had four children with her Japanese husband. She lived near my house. It was more serious, because they were not able to go to school. As a result, the mother and children left Japan for Australia several years ago.

I feel I am doing something shameful writing about it, because I'm a Japanese person who loves my own country. However, I can't help but think, " Why, why, why?"

We Japanese ironically call high functional cellular phones developed in a unique way in Japan "Galapagos cellular" or "Galapagos keitai", "Galackei" for short, as opposed to Smart phones, iphone for example.
As the Galapagos Islands are a geographically remote archipelago and has been isolated from the rest of the world, many endemic species have evolved without interference of humans or introduction of foreign species of plants and animals.
Similarly, Japanese cellular phones have independently developed without comforting to global standards, integrating a variety of high-tech features such as an e-money service, digital TV, and a TV program recorder.
However, Smart Phones are monopolizing the market at present.
Samsung in South Korea and Apple in the States have achieved a dominant share.
Japanese appliance makers are left far behind in the global competition.

Natural speed please."

As for food, what matters to them is the fat content, and seemingly this needs to be solved by foods themselves. They feel something wrong with the idea that the problem caused by food is to be solved by beverages.
If it was solved not by beverages but by medicines, they could accept it.
In terms of beverages, they are mainly concerned about the sugar content.
In Australia, the soft drink market hasn’t developed as much as here in Japan.
Only bottled water, carbonated soft drinks and energy drinks are dominant in the market.
There are some calorie-free drinks, but they are regarded as beverages with artificial sweeteners or additives and have not gained much popularity. Australians perhaps prefer healthy drinks, but they seem to consider such functional drinks, which claim to have specific health benefits, simply artificial and unhealthy.