Crisis Reporting

I have just finished reading some interesting articles by David Enders and Richard Rowley. The two are journalists reporting from Iraq for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit online journalism organization that intends to be "a leader in sponsoring the independent reporting that media organizations are increasingly less willing to undertake on their own."

The two Iraq journalists did some very good reporting. The stories they wrote on their website were short, but mighty. I thought of sharing these stories with you.

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Respecting Cultures Isn’t Hard

Freedom has limits. It definitely should not disrespect other cultures. Is it that hard to respect other people's culture? I guess not.

Well, I have been following the news of arresting western tourists in the United Arab Emirates for breaking the law by disrespecting the Muslim country's traditions. Earlier this month a British businesswoman was caught having sex in public on Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, hurting the feelings of the Arab and Muslim visitors. When I read the news I felt disgusted. In our culture and tradition, having sex in public is disrespecting privacy, religion, and Arab manners. It is not close-mindedness. It is culture.

When I read the story of the British businesswoman, I thought to myself, C'mon now, Are there no other private places in the entire city where you could have had sex without hurting other people's feelings? Although the city is liberal, which is a good thing, there are still things to consider: culture is one of them. It is still a Muslim country after all, and public sex is condemned because it comes against our traditions and religion. Was it that hard to perceive?

Respecting cultures comes from people's education. Before I came to the U.S. I learned as much information as I could about the American culture and how to respect people's traditions. If I hadn't done that, I could have easily disrespected people here and be condemned and spelled out of the society. It would be like me using the "N" word against the African Americans or extend my arm like Hitler did to salute the Jews. Instead, I learned how to respect other people's cultures, not only the American, but also the Indian, the Chinese, the Korean, and even fellow Muslims who sometimes differ in their traditions.

A few weeks ago I watched stand-up show on Bravo by the ill-reputed Kathy Griffin. I kind of laughed at the beginning until I noticed she was going far beyond humor. She talked about her visit to Kabul where she was embedded with the American military. I have been a huge fan of the American humor. I still am. I kind of understand how it works, especially if it goes beyond humor.

In the show, Kathy portrayed Muslims in Kabul as dirty, filthy, unworthy to speak to Muslims. She proudly described a young American soldier, describing an Afghani man's hand dirty with his crap. As if "he crapped in his own hands and did not clean it up afterwards." O.K. now, it is known in Islam that when people go to the restrooms, they MUST clean themselves up with water, something some other cultures do not preach. So describing that man with crap in his hand makes no sense, unless he was retarded, which was not the case because she described him as a sane man who wanted to shake her hands and take a picture with her.

That was not funny. It was disrespectful.

The second thing is that she forced a religious Muslim man to look into her eyes, yelling at him that she is a woman and he has to look into her eyes. I do not support those men who do not look women in the eyes, but it's not something I can control or make fun of. It's this man's culture and adherence to his religion that made him do this. It would be disrespectful to force him do what he does not believe in. It would be like forcing a Buddhist worship Jesus or Mohammed or even God. You cannot disrespect people who adhere to their religions. You can disagree, but not make fun of.

So, a little advice here: make sure you know the cultures of the countries you are visiting and try to respect them. When you respect others, you are respected.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Iraqi Refugees, Enemies?

It is really sad to see an American think of an Iraqi refugee as an enemy. This is either ignorance or simple hatred or maybe both. Iraqis who had suffered under Saddam had suffered even more when the U.S. invaded and occupied their country. Hundreds of thousands were kidnapped, tortured, beheaded, displaced and even buried alive in mass graves since the war started five years ago. And for what? For a war based on lies and private interests. And yet, there is this American woman named Bertha Avila from Marysville who is shocked to see Iraqis, whose lives were destroyed because of her country, being resettled and compensated for what they lost in Iraq.

What Bertha doesn’t seem to understand or maybe doesn’t seem to want to understand is that once upon a time those Iraqis had a relatively normal life compared to their destroyed life after her country invaded theirs. It is the least thing the U.S. could do to atone itself for what it did to those people’s lives. Those were doctors, engineers, teachers, dentists, … etc. They are not enemies; they are the remaining seeds of a better future that for a while seemed dim.

Read Bertha’s letter below:

Letter: Why is U.S. aiding Iraqi refugees?

The Department of Homeland Security has recently allowed refugees from Iraq to settle in our country through a program called U.S. Refugee Admission Program, and as of June 4, 6,480 Iraqis have been admitted into the USA and an additional 27,940 Iraqis referred to DHS for interviews, with approvals growing each day.

Iraq was considered a global terrorist threat. We go to war to prevent terrorism and then we turn around and welcome their displaced citizens into this country giving them special visas and loans to travel and all the benefits such as welfare, food and medical services while our own government is facing a recession?

I am puzzled and can't understand the fairness of this country. One day U.S. sons and daughters fighting in this bloody war will come home to be neighbors with the sons and daughters of the of the enemy enjoying the benefits they will only hope for.

Go to www.USCIS.gov and read all about this program.

Bertha Avila
Marysville

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Used, Then Thrown Like Cigarettes

They were used like cigarettes and when they were in no use any more, they were thrown in the streets to be crushed by the bystanders. Those are the Iraqi army veterans who once threw their lives in the frontlines, defending their country and fighting the fiercest terrorists of our world. Instead of being rewarded for their bravery, they were ignored and forgotten.

The New York Times published a heart-wrenching story about those wounded Iraqi army veterans and the horrible treatment they received by the Iraqi government after they were wounded.

Nubras Jabar Muhammad, a 26-year-old soldier, was shot by a sniper in May 2007 as he was on duty at a Baghdad checkpoint. He nearly bled to death, losing a kidney and part of his liver, while suffering damage to his right hand. His torso is scarred, and two fingers are locked in a permanent curl.

He says he still has shrapnel lodged in his back, and rarely sleeps through the night. He has trouble digesting food. But the army refused him a disability pension, claiming he was able-bodied, and he was forced to return to active duty after nine months. He says he has already spent about $2,100 of his own money on operations, selling jewelry and a pistol to raise the cash.

Though he had instructions from his doctors to avoid standing for long periods, the army quickly returned him to checkpoint duty, where he is on his feet all day long in temperatures up to 120 degrees. "I demanded that my superiors give me a desk job," Mr. Muhammad said. "They told me if I keep complaining, they'll kick me out of the army."

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The Bullies' New Fight

When Saddam said he would fight the Americans fiercely if attacked he was just bluffing. He didn’t have anything to fight them with. Iran’s officials are saying the same if attacked by the U.S. and Israel. However, the equation is not similar. Iran is not Saddam’s Iraq. It’s much stronger.

Last Saturday, The Independent reported that Iran would attack back if attacked. The paper quoted the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mohammed Jafari saying, "Iran's response to any military action will make the invaders regret their decision and action." The same thing was mentioned in an interview conducted by the Washington Post’s Thomas Erdbrink's with Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, special adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “As has been said before: Any government that tries to invade Iran will regret its actions,” said Hashemi.
Is that possible? I guess it is. Since the end of its war with Iraq in 1988, Iran has not been directly involved in any war. During all these years, their industry-militarily and socially- grew greatly due to the self-sufficient policy the country has adapted. It’s a wealthy country and is easily capable of depending on this wealth to improve their military.

If attacked, I believe Iran would really retaliate. Their military is not as ill-equipped as Iraq’s under Saddam. Let’s not forget that Saddam’s air force was banned and that was one of the strongest reasons why he lost when Iraq was invaded by the U.S.-led forces. Iran, on the other hand, does have the ability to fight the Americans or the Israelis by air force. If so, the results would not be easy or simple. Iran can easily fly over Iraq and bombard American military bases, while others would spray Israel- which is not far from Iran- with a string of rockets and missiles that would horrify the Jewish nation’s people who are already terrified of the small rockets launched by Hezbollah and Hamas.

Iraq, of course, will be in the middle. There is nothing more to be done by then. I suspect the Americans would regret the day they supported Maliki, his government and the Shiite-majority parliament. Maliki has just said his stance on all of this fuss: his government would not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on its neighbor. Of course, it wouldn’t. Iran has been a major role player in the Iraqi politics since Saddam was even in power. When he was ousted, Iraq became officially in the hands of the Iranian regime like candy in a basket. Very simple, and yet the Americans still do not get it. In his book “War Journal,” Richard Engel wrote about this issue which most Americans did not even consider worthy thinking about. The war made Iran very happy because they toppled their long-term enemy and brought their fellow Shiites to power. Now, if the Americans launched strikes from Iraqi lands, this would make the Americans big liars because they stressed on the fact that Iraq is sovereign and no longer occupied by them. It’s not like Qatar, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia whose governments did let them launch their rockets from their lands. I doubt Maliki or any Shiite politicians approve attacks from Iraqi lands. But if they do, Iranians will consider them betrayers of the nation that hosted them during their struggle against Saddam.

In the end, not only Americans and Israelis would suffer the hard strikes Iran would launch, but also the Iraqi people would because they are going to be stuck in the middle. It’s been five years since they never felt peace, and more wars would drag them again into another well of bombardments and strikes. I believe Shiite militiamen who have been well-trained by Iran would not sit back and watch. They will be on their trainers’ side, of course. That’s the whole objective of why they were trained, in addition to weaken the Americans in Iraq. Along their side, I think Sunni insurgents would seize the opportunity of the Americans’ vulnerability and fight them fiercely. They hate the Shiites but as it is said, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Then, Iraq would be dragged again into another wave of disasters, wiping off all the efforts to stabilize it.

The problem in this issue is that all sides involved (Iran, Israel and the U.S.) are arrogant bullies. It looks like fourth grade kids fighting outside their school’s yard, except that this one may include rockets, tanks, and warplanes. None of them understands that they will all hurt their people. In my opinion, they should sit down and negotiate before they drag the world into another bloody war. The world has witnessed enough wars and needs a break. It really does.

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