Are you Muslim?

“Are you Muslim?” uttered the man who asked me about the time first. I wasn’t sure what to respond at first. I thought of the taxi cab driver who was attacked in New York City after he was asked the same question.

It was about 9 a.m. when I was standing outside the Greyhound bus station, trying to breathe some fresh air before my bus to Philadelphia arrives. There was no one there other than the man, and it just didn’t feel right.

It took me another second to remember there were security officers inside the station. I thought I could be safer if I went inside. I finally said, “No” and stepped back to the station.

I kept thinking about my answer as my feet were driving me inside. I felt guilty, even though I’m not a practicing Muslim. I don’t fast. I don’t go to mosques. I don’t even pray. Yet something inside me told me this was wrong. On the other hand the voice of reason was telling me it’s OK. This man might have had bad intentions like that who cut the Muslim cabbie’s throat in NYC.

This fear did not come out of nothing. It all started earlier that day, around 7 a.m. on the Metro train. It was a Saturday morning, August 28, and I was going to the bus station to head to Philly. To my shock, the Metro train was filled with strangers. People you could tell were not from DC.

There were hundreds of them at the Metro station. The train was literally packed and I had to squeeze myself. I finally remembered that they all came for the Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin rally at the Lincoln Memorial. They started introducing themselves, coming from Maine, South Carolina, Ohio, etc and were all wearing T-shirts with patriotic signs and American flags on them.

As I got on the train, they started staring at me, making me very uncomfortable. They were talking about terrorism, 9/11 and healthcare. They were also talking about how free America is and how terrorists want to take advantage of that! All while looking at me!

I put my hands in my pocket next to my phone. I wanted to make sure I can dial 911 in case someone attacked me. Luckily, no one did, except that they gave me those you-stole-our-country looks.

All the way to Philly I kept thinking about what was happening in DC at that time. Thousands of conservative Americans gathering, listening to someone like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck who hijacked the word of logic, brainwashing the crowd with their racist and hateful slogans. It reminded me of the time when my mail was open and thrown aside in my apartment building after the Fort Hood shooting incident and how some people would look at me before they decide to sit next to me or not on the bus!

This all kept me thinking about the fate of this nation. It makes me feel very sad. Despite all the difficulties and hardships I’m encountering in this country, I love it and call it home now. The last thing I want to happen is to see it descending to destroying the diversity that made it what it is.

However, I can still say that I’m glad not all Americans are like that.

Aljazeera goes live in Washington DC

I’ve long been a huge opponent of the Arabic version of the Qatar-based Aljazeera, a channel I call “Fox News of the Arabs” whose propaganda and hatred-filled sentiments are widely obvious. AJ incites the Arabs/Muslims against the West and Fox does the same with the Americans against the Arabs/Muslims.

However, when Al Jazeera English was launched in November 2006 I started following it to see if it is similar to its sister channel, Aljazeera Arabic. Surprisingly, I saw that it was completely different, in a good way. The standards were high and were similar to that of the BBC World.

On July 1st, AJE has finally made its way to the Washington DC area, after signing its first major U.S. cable deal with non-commercial MHz Networks last week. The channel is now available to 2.3 million subscribers, in addition to 140 million worldwide.

While watching it online most of the time, I became more interested in AJE when I noticed the variety of news the channel presented. Their documentaries and reportage are extremely helpful. They opened the window to viewers to see what is happening in the world, unlike U.S. TV news networks that have failed to do this basic journalistic task.

Now that I have AJE 24/7 on my cable TV channel list, I’ll watch the network even more closely and see if it is adhering to the basic ethical element in journalism, objectivity!

Washington DC’s Katrina

Last weekend I saw a new print Ad displayed on the bus stop at the corner of my street. It shows George W. Bush looking out a window of Air Force One at the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with a close up photo of a person’s pair of hands holding tightly onto a piece of a cardboard with the phrase, “AIDS is DC’s Katrina” scribbled in red across the cardboard.

The above picture is a similar print Ad that was also put on a bus stop on 17th and H Streets, just one block from the White House, where I get off the bus to go to work.

It is amazing how Bush has become a symbol of failure in his own country, to the extent that this failure is printed on an Ad that got distributed across his very own country’s capital where he once served as a president. So yes, what goes around comes around!

Muslim Americans Serving in the U.S. Government

From the White House YouTube page:

The United States government reflects the rich diversity of the American population. Meet three Muslim Americans who freely retain and express their own faith identities while serving their nation.

Anti two-state demonstration in front of the White House

Anti two-state demonstration in front of the White House, originally uploaded by baghdadtreasure.

As I was heading out to get some lunch with my coworkers, I came across this anti two-state solution demonstration in front of the White House.

Click on the picture to see more.

Arabesque

Last night, I attended a concert performed by Iraq’s Maqam singer, Farida. The concert was part of Arabesque Festival: Arts of the Arab World which is organized by the John F. Kennedy Center from February 23 to March 15, 2009.

The below video was taken by my friend Omar.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

My Heart is full of Obama Hope

Today is a great day in the history of the world. The dark ages of Bush are gone and ‘hope’ is making its way towards our hearts, filling it with the joy of having Obama leading us -Iraqis and Americans- to the path of change.

Here is what I wrote for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Perfect Endings!

From The Huffington Post:

President Bush was given an Iraqi-journalist-style sendoff on his last full day in office Monday, as tourists and demonstrators lobbed shoes, pumps, boots, sandals and Crocs from Pennsylvania Avenue onto the White House lawn.

Before launching the operation live, the shoe-chuckers took target practice in Dupont Circle on a 20-foot-tall blow up doll of the outgoing president, decked out in the flight suit he wore aboard the “Mission Accomplished” aircraft carrier.

As for Cheney:

Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Cheney was helping to move into his new home outside Washington in McLean, Va., when he injured his back.

His doctor recommended that he needed a wheelchair for the next couple of days.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Seeing Our Past in ‘Betrayed’

It was the same scene playing in my mind as it was on the stage. A young man called Adnan standing between mutilated dead bodies at the Baghdad morgue, looking for his friend’s body. As I was watching, I recalled how I stood in the real morgue back in 2006. The smell of the decaying bodies and the horror of being identified by the militias who were controlling the morgue flashed back into my eyes. I couldn’t but feel the warm tears pouring, watering my cheeks. The whole scene reminded me of the story I covered for the Washington Post when Shiite militiamen killed hundreds of innocents after the Samarra shrine bombing in 2006, an incident that triggered the civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites in the war-torn country.

The horrific scene was performed in Betrayed, a play by the The New Yorker writer George Packer, author of the acclaimed The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq. Betrayed, which was screened at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, is about the plight of the Iraqis who worked for the Americans who were either killed or threatened to be killed by the extremists who considered them traitors, spying for the occupiers and who were betrayed by their American employers who did not help them survive or flee the country for protection. The idea of the play started as an article in The New Yorker by Mr. Paker who adopted the play’s plot and characters from real stories and information he gathered as he reported in the article.
The play was great. The New York Times put it in the best words:

“But the clarity of the writing, the urgency of the story being told and the fine performances give the play a sharp dramatic impact and a plain-spoken beauty. Painful human experience is presented here as just that. Nothing else is necessary to awaken sympathy, despair and awareness of a grave moral failure on the part of the American government.”

Last night was great not only because I watched the play, but also because I had the chance to meet George Paker whom I consider my idol, along with Anthony Shadid. I never want anything in my career life just to achieve at least half of what they achieved. Mr. Paker was a very nice person. We talked about the article, the play and of course his book The Assassins Gate.

Before the play started, my Iraqi friends and I had the chance to speak with celebrity and American actress Sarah Jesscia Parker who was hosting the play along with Matt Dillon, and Refugees International. We had the chance to speak with Sarah Jessica about how we lived and worked for American organizations, be it for the government or for the U.S. newspapers. My friend, B, whom the play was partly based on her story as a young woman working in the Green Zone for the Americans, explained to the superstar the reality of the daily risk she put herself in to do her job. Parker was all ears. It was the second time she attended the play. She said she was ready this time. She brought her tissues.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com

Anti-War-On-Gaza Demonstration in Washington D.C.

As I was going to have lunch last Friday Jan. 9, I came across this anti-war-on-Gaza demonstration at the Lafayette Square, across the street from the front of the White House.

blog.bassamsebti@gmail.com