just a couple of posts long but already sounding like a winner

And then do you know what Fiona Katie did next???

Fired an AK47!

Yes, the very first thing I did in Baghdad, just moments after I got out of the vehicle, I borrowed an AK47 from an Iraqi and fired it (into the air).

it is a bout a girl with a tool kit in Iraq apparently. This is why I love blogs, a million times better than television. I can't wait to see what she tries next. Go read Wires. [via the Guardian's weblog]

and another public announcement

we have finished cutting the Karbala film. It is 13 minutes and 38 seconds long and I am very happy with the result. it should go on air either the 24th or the 25th on Newsnight. It is really good and if you have a chance to see Newsnight you should take a look. I am very glad that I had a chance to see the Ashour thing and to be able to film it as well. It is not about the bombs it is about the festival itself.

and if you are into web chat thingies them maybe you should check this out . talk to you there on Monday.

I am still alive. I have just been given a 10 minute breather from the small dark room I sit in to script and edit the films for Newsnight. The first one, about the one year anniversary not Karbala, will go out tonight. check the Newsnight website to see if they put a version online. What you can go check out now is a very interesting poll (PDF file). Look thru it, I think it will give you a very interesting view. it is worth your time.

and you are officially reading an award winning Blog, I have won a Bloggy Award. Yay me.

I am sorry, please accept my apologies for not updating. My mind doesn't seem to be able to multi-task any more, I am in filming mode, and with a certain person here with a whip in her hand, I can't even get a chance to check my emails.

Karbala was one of these things I will never ever forget in my whole life, I don't care what you think of the rituals that are practiced, the fact is that the atmosphere was beautiful. Peacful and so much passion and devotion, it brings tears to your eyes. I have seen things that left me baffled for hours.

I, my mother and my cousin were out of the center of the city, running, by the third mortar. it was the last two that did the damage and it happened near the shrine of Abbas not al-Hussein where we were staying.

I am not sure I am more phased out by the rituals I saw and witnessed there or by the attacks and their consequences. I have gone thru the footage I have from the 4 days over and over again. The world being a very unfair place I can't show you the 400 minutes I have and tell you about them, people will chop it down to 12 minutes.

There was such a feeling of solidarity and unity and peacefulness, you had to be there to feel it. People were sleeping on the street, stands giving out everything, from tea and milk in the morning to full meals, for free. 2 million people squeezed into this one place and not even a small fight.

I frikkin' met an Ayatollah! a real life Ayatollah, I watched him eat a banana and then he put his hands on my shoulder and prayed that I get married soon, my mom was beside herself with joy and I just couldn't stop laughing.
The heretic fagot getting a blessing from an Ayatollah. that is how great those four days were.

I have to go now and finish all the things my lovely producer asked me to do, otherwise I will be whipped tomorrow.

Raed always says that there is a small tiny Salam who wants to believe in the existance of a deity inside of me, during those couple of days in Karbala I was being confronted with this issue every minute and wherever I look. I am so glad I was there. wish you were with me so that you don't only remember the horrible images we saw on TV of the site of the attack but to also remeber that 4 hours later people were back and continued with the rituals of that day.

Now my friendly producer will lock me in a small dark room they call an editing suite.

salam i was trying to call your phones all the day long, i hope u didnt die in the karbala explosions

I'm coming back to baghdad next week