Welcome to the forums, my friend. You seem like a very open and talkative person. I hope to get to know you better. I am new to the forums myself, though certainly not new to atheism. Hopefully you will enjoy your time here. Feel free to dig right in and get involved.

(July 2, 2012 at 8:50 pm)finalyawake Wrote: Hello i am from iraq currently living in America and i have become an atheist and i feel allot more peaceful. and i am here just to talk and also have a few occasional questions which i am about to ask one soon. anyway feel free to post questions i promise i will answer them all.

Wow, ok. Rarity doesn't quite cover it. Glad to have you.
Ok well I'm sure you must get this alot but from your perspective, having been born and raised in Iraq and presumably having witnessed the events that took place there... do you have any information you could share? Anything you witnessed that might give us a deeper insight into what actually happened?
I've looked into the military classified files that got leaked, seen the statistics and seen the most horrific pictures and videos that showed extreme misconduct on both sides but what I haven't done is talked to someone who actually bared witness to some of what took place from the perspective of an Iraq citizen.

If you have anything you would feel comfortable sharing, I'd like to get your perspective on it. I'd also like your experience as an Atheist living in Iraq and as someone from Iraq living in America, unbiased and unfettered.
If you don't feel comfortable with sharing any of those things that is fine but otherwise;
Please, tell me your story.

Welcome!

(July 3, 2012 at 12:06 pm)Annik Wrote: What state are you in?

Welcome.

im in minnesota

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(July 20, 2012 at 11:47 pm)cato123 Wrote:

(July 2, 2012 at 9:02 pm)finalyawake Wrote: trust me i have ..... even though i cant go back to my homeland i guess this is now

Welcome to the U.S. and AF. I am sorry to hear that you are unable to go home, but we have plenty of space. I wouldn't suggest throwing the 'A' word around here when making introductions; it's only been 150 years since Hawthorne's novel, but Christians have replaced Adulterer with Athiest as the object of their scorn.

There seems to be some amazement that you are an Iraqi atheist, so I'll leave you with this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE8CJwXSPRs

haha trust me Iraqis we don't get along with different types of Muslims i am sure you might have heard if the Sunni Shi'ite conflict lol well thank you and hopefully one day we will be the nation we were before Islam

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(July 20, 2012 at 11:58 pm)C.W. Sims Wrote: Welcome to the forums, my friend. You seem like a very open and talkative person. I hope to get to know you better. I am new to the forums myself, though certainly not new to atheism. Hopefully you will enjoy your time here. Feel free to dig right in and get involved.

haha thank you i feel very welcomed here

Quote:im in minnesota

That's about as different from Iraq as you are likely to get,

Drink! for you know not whence you came nor why: drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

(July 21, 2012 at 12:08 am)RaphielDrake Wrote:

(July 2, 2012 at 8:50 pm)finalyawake Wrote: Hello i am from iraq currently living in America and i have become an atheist and i feel allot more peaceful. and i am here just to talk and also have a few occasional questions which i am about to ask one soon. anyway feel free to post questions i promise i will answer them all.

Wow, ok. Rarity doesn't quite cover it. Glad to have you.
Ok well I'm sure you must get this alot but from your perspective, having been born and raised in Iraq and presumably having witnessed the events that took place there... do you have any information you could share? Anything you witnessed that might give us a deeper insight into what actually happened?
I've looked into the military classified files that got leaked, seen the statistics and seen the most horrific pictures and videos that showed extreme misconduct on both sides but what I haven't done is talked to someone who actually bared witness to some of what took place from the perspective of an Iraq citizen.

If you have anything you would feel comfortable sharing, I'd like to get your perspective on it. I'd also like your experience as an Atheist living in Iraq and as someone from Iraq living in America, unbiased and unfettered.
If you don't feel comfortable with sharing any of those things that is fine but otherwise;
Please, tell me your story.

well about the war..... it is true allot of the soldures are just horrible people women got raped and all sorts of horrible things... most of the people that were labeled as terrorists were just normal people like you and me who didn't want to leave their home and got shot for that like in fallujah. Also religious freedom went away before the war believe it or not our neighbors were Christians and allot of Sunnis and Shi'ites lived together and even in our government we had Sunni Muslims Shi'ite Muslims and Christians.... the most famous being Tariq Aziz. but know every thing changed we are all discriminated against and you get killed depending on what type of Muslim you are... our new "free" government to me is nothing more than a slave to Iran. now i don't really see a united future for the country and about our side actually Iraq defeating saddam was the easy part really most of the time you spent fighting insurgents and most of those insurgents are not even Iraqi! most alqaida fighters are usually from outside the country and most suicide bombers are from Saudi Arabia even though western Iraq in cities such as fallujah. but for the Shi'ites on the other case most fighters were Iraqi. both sides ruined us.
and on the other story when i was a child i always was thinking about religion and at one point i hate full hate towards Jews. things changed and i started looking into things when i came to the USA i looked into Buddhism, Christianity and all the major religions except Hinduism. after that i saw many flaws in the quran and started to realize that the quran the hadiths and the prophet were not the things i thought they were. i would say more but i think you get the point lol... maby sometime ill open up a YouTube channel telling people my story
pleases excuse my english and thank you for welcoming me

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(July 21, 2012 at 5:41 pm)Minimalist Wrote:

Quote:im in minnesota

That's about as different from Iraq as you are likely to get,

haha.... i realy hope to go back one day maby when or if the country splits up eventually Iraq will get modernize, even though life standards are horrible in Iraq our per captia is actually higher then most of our neighboring countries and in the past two years it has doubled. as we make money people will afford and get a better education, with that education Iraq youth will kick Islam to the curb and we will go back to the great nation we used to be. all we need is an education and the youth will do the rest lol
actually right now atheism from what i heard is growing in the southern city of Basra... sadly so is Islamism but atheism always wins because we will enter the modern age

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(July 21, 2012 at 5:47 pm)jonb Wrote: Drink! for you know not whence you came nor why: drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

i didn't understand but yeah i will drink and i will eat pork eventually lol i can finally have wine and have pepironi pizza and marshmallows a=i can listen to music and watch TV and play video games i can have girl friends ... so yeah i am getting a few luxuries

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(July 20, 2012 at 11:50 pm)Shell B Wrote: Welcome no matter where you live or what religion or lack thereof you choose. I hope you enjoy it here, meaning the United States and Atheist Forums.

haha thank you ^_^

(July 21, 2012 at 5:54 pm)finalyawake Wrote: i didn't understand but yeah i will drink and i will eat pork eventually lol i can finally have wine and have pepironi pizza and marshmallows a=i can listen to music and watch TV and play video games i can have girl friends ... so yeah i am getting a few luxuries

Lost in translation so how about this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeUhkyfO...re=related

(July 21, 2012 at 5:54 pm)finalyawake Wrote: maby sometime ill open up a YouTube channel telling people my story
pleases excuse my english and thank you for welcoming me

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i didn't understand but yeah i will drink and i will eat pork eventually lol i can finally have wine and have pepironi pizza and marshmallows a=i can listen to music and watch TV and play video games i can have girl friends ... so yeah i am getting a few luxuries

First of all, your English is better than some people who have spoken it their entire lives. So no need to apologize.

Second, it is amazing to see someone new to atheism and just breaking out of their old mindset who is so excited to be starting out on a new path. You have realized that your life can be so much more than it was under that oppressive regime and you are more than ready to get out there and just experience life. I say go for it. Have as much pizza as you want, watch tv shows you've never seen, listen to music, drink alcohol, have a girlfriend, hell have a boyfriend if you'd like, now that you won't get murdered for it. Just get out there and enjoy life.

Also if you do decide to start a youtube channel, do please share it with us. I, for one, would be fascinated to see that. You seem quite articulate and ready to try life on for size. I think it would be a fantastic thing to see and learn about a person going through your transition so early in the game.

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(July 21, 2012 at 7:40 pm)jonb Wrote: Lost in translation so how about this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeUhkyfO...re=related

That comedian was hilarious, jonb, fucking fantastic. Thanks for sharing. Love that accent he has as well.

(July 21, 2012 at 5:54 pm)finalyawake Wrote:

(July 21, 2012 at 12:08 am)RaphielDrake Wrote: Wow, ok. Rarity doesn't quite cover it. Glad to have you.
Ok well I'm sure you must get this alot but from your perspective, having been born and raised in Iraq and presumably having witnessed the events that took place there... do you have any information you could share? Anything you witnessed that might give us a deeper insight into what actually happened?
I've looked into the military classified files that got leaked, seen the statistics and seen the most horrific pictures and videos that showed extreme misconduct on both sides but what I haven't done is talked to someone who actually bared witness to some of what took place from the perspective of an Iraq citizen.

If you have anything you would feel comfortable sharing, I'd like to get your perspective on it. I'd also like your experience as an Atheist living in Iraq and as someone from Iraq living in America, unbiased and unfettered.
If you don't feel comfortable with sharing any of those things that is fine but otherwise;
Please, tell me your story.

well about the war..... it is true allot of the soldures are just horrible people women got raped and all sorts of horrible things... most of the people that were labeled as terrorists were just normal people like you and me who didn't want to leave their home and got shot for that like in fallujah. Also religious freedom went away before the war believe it or not our neighbors were Christians and allot of Sunnis and Shi'ites lived together and even in our government we had Sunni Muslims Shi'ite Muslims and Christians.... the most famous being Tariq Aziz. but know every thing changed we are all discriminated against and you get killed depending on what type of Muslim you are... our new "free" government to me is nothing more than a slave to Iran. now i don't really see a united future for the country and about our side actually Iraq defeating saddam was the easy part really most of the time you spent fighting insurgents and most of those insurgents are not even Iraqi! most alqaida fighters are usually from outside the country and most suicide bombers are from Saudi Arabia even though western Iraq in cities such as fallujah. but for the Shi'ites on the other case most fighters were Iraqi. both sides ruined us.
and on the other story when i was a child i always was thinking about religion and at one point i hate full hate towards Jews. things changed and i started looking into things when i came to the USA i looked into Buddhism, Christianity and all the major religions except Hinduism. after that i saw many flaws in the quran and started to realize that the quran the hadiths and the prophet were not the things i thought they were. i would say more but i think you get the point lol... maby sometime ill open up a YouTube channel telling people my story
pleases excuse my english and thank you for welcoming me

Thank you, your English was fine.
I figured as much. Seems like it was just another war tailor made to profit the US after all.
Like I've said before; Saddam needed to be taken down but not with the methods used and not for the reasons he was.
Saddam should of been taken down for what he was doing to his own people. Not for the oil in his possession.
As for the methods... well you already know about them, I'm sorry.

If you don't consider it too personal could you tell us your experience of the US? Don't worry, you don't need to be flattering. Theres no rednecks here as far as I know, plus I've never even been the US.