A Few More Doses of Philliness for March 25, 2006

Iraqis want good government? Start here.
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer

For fish-in-a-barrel humor opportunities, you probably won't be able to top Khasro Goran's visit to Philadelphia.

Goran, you see, is leading a three-person delegation from Iraq, in town to learn about... drumroll, please... good government.

He's here because he befriended a Philadelphian who served in an Army Reserve civil-affairs unit that helped administer Iraq's first municipal elections. The reservist, Pat Dugan, was until last month a lawyer in the office of City Councilman Rick Mariano, who's been in federal custody since a corruption conviction last week.

At first glance, it doesn't seem like an auspicious match - no matter how many comparisons you make between Philadelphia neighborhood tribalism and Iraqi ethnic fratricide. Might not Goran's constituents be better served by having their lawmakers visit a city that's not quite so well known for felonious politicians?

But wait,..it gets better,...

Hamas leader has strong tie to West Phila.
By Michael Matza
Inquirer Staff Writer

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The motorcade carrying Abdel Aziz Dweik, newly elected speaker of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian legislature, was weaving through traffic on its way to a downtown news conference.

Bodyguards in the lead vehicle looked back nervously every few seconds, making sure that Dweik's black Mercedes was keeping up.

Two days earlier, Israeli troops, backed by tanks, armored bulldozers and helicopter gunships, had raided the Palestinian prison in Jericho. The soldiers forced the detainees to strip to their underwear before arresting six men implicated in the murder of an Israeli cabinet minister and in weapons smuggling.

Now Dweik, who praises Philadelphia as his favorite U.S. city after earning two graduate degrees 20 years ago from the University of Pennsylvania, was before the microphones at a prisoners' rights news conference.