International Community Calls for Iranian Student Activists’ Release

There is no doubt what is happening in Iran these days is a turning point in the theocracy-run republic. So many strong voices have appeared to challenge the Islamic regime since the 2009 election revealed Ahmadinajad a president, again.

So many reports conducted by mainstream media and citizen journalists covered the Iranian regime’s abusive means to suffocate those voices. Among them are students who were arrested at universities across Iran.

I've just signed a letter of protest, addressing Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, Head of Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, criticizing the arrests and demanding the freedom of student activist Majid Tavakoli and other Iranian students.

To read the letter, please visit: http://majidtavakkoli.freepoliticalprisoners.net/.

Haiti Coverage: Professional Journalism?

Ever since the Haiti disaster happened, I have been following the unfolding events non-stop through TV news networks, newspapers’ Web sites, citizen journalism platforms and Twitter. The coverage, I have noticed, has crossed the line of professional journalism with reporters expressing their emotions and news networks exploiting the misery of the victims to raise ratings.

I agree with many people that reporters are human and that it’s very hard to not be so when you cover disasters. I was one of those who, for three years, covered a bloody war where dead bodies and explosions were a daily scene.

Lately, CNN has been playing with the viewers emotions more than providing them with the information, just like Fox News’ coverage of the teabaggers’ demonstrations. Yesterday, the Huffington Post tweeted that Anderson Cooper was caught on Camera helping a bloody child. Before that, Sanjay Gupta is shown performing surgery. Now, this is human, but is it journalism? I don’t think so!

I like both reporters a lot and have been watching their reports for a long time, but this time they kind of appear not as reporters but as someone working for the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

I think when the reporter becomes part of the story, the actual information is changed. I covered a war and came across people who were suffering, but I did not allow myself to be part of the story because my role was to tell the readers what exactly happened. In the beginning of my career I thought there was something wrong with me. How could I not do something when I saw a child sobbing alone in front of his father’s dead body? By course of time, I understood why. I may have not been there for that kid who might have needed a hug, but I know I had told his story to millions of people, raising a mighty message: there is a war and people are suffering.

The Ideology of Spreading Hate Through Religion

Apparently, teaching hatred and ignorance is not limited to Muslims’ mosques only; it’s happening in Christian churches as well. After hearing the insensitive remarks of Pat Robertson on the Haiti earthquake disaster last night, I encountered something similar today, in one way or another.

A friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook, trying to understand something that no sane man can accept. He said some of his friends wanted him to check out a “Bible study class” at the Bridge Church in Oak Harbor, Washington. He said something didn’t sound right when Pastor Rick Crawford said, "the reason why Muslims have homes with high ceilings is so they can do degrading, immoral things inside and Allah won't be able to see because Allah can't see through homes, only windows."

I cannot believe he actually said that!

I have two comments on Crawford’s statement: first, nothing describes what he says other than the fact that he was trying to brainwash his church followers with incorrect information, which obviously aims to present Muslims as mean, immoral people who don’t even care about God in the first place. Secondly, it seems that Crawford has no knowledge whatsoever in the simplest teachings of Islam which proves that he didn’t study theology. It would be a disaster if he did!

Muslims believe that God (Allah) is closer to them than their own veins, which is something stated in Qaf Verse in the Holy Quran:

“And We [meaning God] have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein.”

So if Crawford was right, how come Muslims believe that God cannot see them if they have high ceilings by the time they believe He's closer to their souls than their own veins?!

Personally, I feel that religious worship houses- be it a mosque, a church or a temple- are no longer a place for worship. It seems to me that sheikhs and pastors, for instance, are competing on who brainwash as many people as they can to win this invisible religious war. Who’s the victim here? It’s me and you! So why go there in the first place when you can spare yourself from their poison?

Pat Robertson's Inconsiderate Comment on Haiti Earthquake Havoc

CNN's International Desk has just quoted Haiti’s Prime Minister on the network's twitter page, saying that yesterday’s earthquake has killed hundreds of thousands of people. However, this havoc seems of no sympathy of Pat Robertson who thinks that Haitians are suffering because “they made a pact with Devil” some hundreds of years ago in order to get rid of the French.

I watched the below video like three times now and I just could not to comprehend how ridiculous this guy sounds and how anyone can actually say that when innocent people’s blood is still fresh and flowing in the streets and under the rubble.

A friend of mine who sent this video found a really good comment as a response to this inconsiderate nonsense:

instead of pointing the finger at the Haitians, mr. robertson should face the truth and ask the question:
why would his loving god allow this much suffering and carnage?

‘Avatar’ and the Iraq War Resemblance

There is no way one cannot relate what ‘Avatar’ is really about except with the Iraq war. I have seen that movie twice so far and I do not exaggerate if I say I can see it a third, fourth and maybe fifth time. There was just so much resemblance in the storyline that resembles the havoc that war caused upon me and my country.

This article puts it in better words. The film director, James Cameron told the Times, “We went down a path that cost several hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. I don’t think the American people even know why it was done. So it’s all about opening your eyes.”

This afternoon, I came across this article which mentioned that CNN came out with a detailed report on the intense depression that the movie is causing among a certain segment of fans.

After I saw the movie I did not feel depressed, maybe because I witnessed what the natives in the film went through in reality! It was like Déjà vu for me.

Overall, the movie is a must-see even if you don’t like science fiction. The story is powerful and mind-blowing, not to mention how amazing 3D movies are!

2010 Resolution: Reblogging

There are no more excuses, I told myself. It’s been too long since I last wrote a blog post. So here it is, my new year’s resolution is blogging or to be more specific reblogging.

Nearly five years ago I learned about this beautiful way of expressing one’s self. I know it is no longer something popular and definitely not as popular as it was when I blogged about Iraq from inside the hot zone. However, I remind myself that partly because of blogging, I got into the journalism and writing field.

My previous blog, Treasure of Baghdad, is my real treasure. It is the place where I posted the happy times, the good times and the times when I mourned my country and fellow Iraqis. Now that I’m in a different country and much more exposed to what’s happening in the world, I have created this blog and decided to choose it as a platform to share with the world what I consider making sense of the current affairs across the globe.

I will be sharing information, post my two cents, criticize certain issues and even mock some! So fasten your seat belts and read what I want to say with no reservations!

Oh, and please comment if you would like to discuss anything related to my posts.