tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:20:22 +0000where is raed? v2.0<br> Raed started writing on this Blog. <a href="mailto:salampax@gmail.com">Salam Pax</A> kindly asks you to always check who is posting, Raed's brain de-rails sometimes. My ramblings are in orange, his in white.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (salam)Blogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-2117817510705460243Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:28:00 +00002009-01-09T20:29:39.384+03:00Collected Salam Pax blogs and new blog on my wordpress blog: Salam Paxhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2009/01/collected-salam-pax-blogs-and-new-blog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-109281395922748387Wed, 18 Aug 2004 07:24:00 +00002006-10-14T12:22:51.246+03:00.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/08/blog-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-108154897477536409Fri, 09 Apr 2004 22:16:00 +00002004-04-10T02:20:04.793+04:00I think Hiatus is the word. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/04/i-think-hiatus-is-word.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-108125393279186418Tue, 06 Apr 2004 12:04:00 +00002004-04-06T16:27:27.496+04:00Remember the days when every time you hear an Iraqi talk on TV you had to remember that they are talking with a Mukhabarat minder looking at them noting every word? We are back to that place. You have to be careful about what you say about al-Sadir. Their hands reach every where and you don't want to be on their shit list. Every body, even the GC is very careful how they formulate their http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/04/remember-days-when-every-time-you-hear.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-108006559706554123Tue, 23 Mar 2004 18:13:00 +00002004-03-23T21:17:43.840+03:00just 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 http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/03/just-couple-of-posts-long-but-already.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107980208421648049Sat, 20 Mar 2004 17:01:00 +00002004-03-22T00:41:07.263+03:00and 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 nothttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/03/and-another-public-announcement-we.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107946602870072478Tue, 16 Mar 2004 19:40:00 +00002004-03-16T23:40:04.733+03:00I 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 veryhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/03/i-am-still-alive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107852405764699535Fri, 05 Mar 2004 22:00:00 +00002004-03-06T01:03:59.826+03:00I 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 http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/03/i-am-sorry-please-accept-my-apologies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107826518993744734Tue, 02 Mar 2004 22:05:00 +00002004-03-03T01:09:27.903+03:00salam 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 weekhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/03/salam-i-was-trying-to-call-your-phones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Raed Jarrar)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107766683561022551Tue, 24 Feb 2004 23:53:00 +00002004-02-25T02:57:42.090+03:00ummm.......we have Arabic [Big Brother] now. The plot to make the whole world eat and watch the same things is going pretty well, don't you think?http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/ummm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107766143668428417Tue, 24 Feb 2004 22:23:00 +00002004-02-25T02:30:46.780+03:00Raed you should have been here today, how could miss out Ashura? Well, you still have 5 more days to get your ass back to Iraq and in Karbala, We are approaching a very important date in the Shia calendar; this is something that has not been publicly commemorated for the last 25 years. Today is the third day in Muharam, in 7 more days the Shia Imam (saint?) al-Hussain will be killed in a http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/raed-you-should-have-been-here-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107738138192928223Sat, 21 Feb 2004 16:36:00 +00002004-02-21T20:00:25.623+03:00I am concentrating all my efforts on growing a beard these days. I read on a web site somewhere that if I sit in total darkness with little balls made of aluminium foil stuck in my ears it will grow faster. I have been giving it a try for a week now, it is not working. I sit in front of the mirror for hours willing my beard to grow. Happy Islamic New Year Y'all Now, go easy with that http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/i-am-concentrating-all-my-efforts-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107660057407559034Thu, 12 Feb 2004 15:42:00 +00002004-02-12T18:45:25.216+03:00The first time I got an email from an American soldier in Iraq I wasn’t sure how to react. These days I read a couple of US soldier blogs and a couple even send me emails every now and then. I was answering one of them from [Mr. Somewhere-in-the-north-of-Iraq] when I decided later to post it on the blog. So here it is. And on a more personal note; No [Mr. Somewhere-in-the-north-of-Iraq], it doesnhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/first-time-i-got-email-from-american.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107641764125302933Tue, 10 Feb 2004 12:54:00 +00002004-02-10T15:57:13.046+03:00The Wise Oracle of Gotham asks:"Mister President, can you give us the names of three National Guard Service colleagues who served with you between May 1972 and October 1973?" She would have also liked to ask whether he has ever snorted coke? Blame her for making me think that Kerry might be able to be the superhero who will save the universe. I do think Iraqis should worry about the http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/wise-oracle-of-gotham-asksmister.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107641533188325256Tue, 10 Feb 2004 12:15:00 +00002004-02-10T15:43:04.716+03:00You live in this place for most of your life and you think you know most of the religious festivals and traditions in your country, right? Wrong. I walked thru Karada street last night only to be surprised by men standing in the middle of an intersection giving away sweets and candy to people in cars and a couple of kids with what was supposed to be fireworks. Karada (which is a predominantlyhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/you-live-in-this-place-for-most-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107628940146223934Mon, 09 Feb 2004 01:16:00 +00002004-02-10T16:03:22.356+03:00Shamless self promotion. The coolest cover the of the book has to be the Japanese edition and a Polish blogger told me about a site that sells the Polish edition. Update: A reader from Brazil sent me a link to a sitr selling the Brazillian edition, they seem to have chosen a starnge format.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/shamless-self-promotion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107611947361368628Sat, 07 Feb 2004 02:04:00 +00002004-02-07T05:07:47.466+03:00Yesterday was Raed's birthday, did you wish him a good one? I bet you didn't, shame on you.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/yesterday-was-raeds-birthday-did-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107611874925954945Sat, 07 Feb 2004 01:52:00 +00002004-02-07T05:02:25.090+03:00The plan was to spend 5 days in Sulaimaniya, cousins 4 and 5, my brother and I. To go to the north of Iraq for Eid, but at the first day of Eid we saw those horrible attacks in Erbil and decided it would probably be better not to go. The plan was to go there take pictures and blog, well the plan fell flat on its face and I will have to do this from my bedroom in Baghdad. I have a confession to http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/plan-was-to-spend-5-days-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107611295049638561Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:15:00 +00002004-02-07T03:21:05.436+03:00A couple of months after the war ended the US army started blowing up UXO’s (unexploded ordinance – it took me forever to figure out what those three letters meant). They issued a warning saying that explosions on the top or half hour were controlled explosions. Just so that we wouldn’t freak out. Almost half a year later I still look at my watch every time I hear an explosion. I noticed my http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/couple-of-months-after-war-ended-us.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107611247135596849Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:07:00 +00002004-02-07T03:21:56.293+03:00 It all becomes a mess the moment the poor traffic policeman decides to take a break, one of the main features of post-war Baghdad are the amazing traffic jams. The cool thing is the moment it gets too crazy someone will jump out of his car and do the policman thing, waving his arms around and shouting, or the newspaper guy will volunteer.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/it-all-becomes-moment-poor-traffic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107611127420919545Fri, 06 Feb 2004 23:47:00 +00002004-02-07T02:51:16.030+03:00In a simple small room with blue mattresses laid on the floor to sit on, Ayatollah Sistani, one of his sons and an assistant met a group of Sunni university professors, tribe leaders and dignitaries. During the 3 hour meeting not one single verse from the Quran was recited, he expressed his fear that federalism might lead to the fragmentation of Iraq and said that if the elections had to be http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/02/in-simple-small-room-with-blue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107524025911341114Tue, 27 Jan 2004 21:50:00 +00002004-01-28T01:20:19.170+03:00It transmits on 107,7 FM in Baghdad, which really is at the end of the frequency range of most radios, some don’t even go that far. The station-breaks on it have people sounding like the Simpsons saying things like “I haven’t had so much fun since Afghanistan” – this is such bad taste, it’s hilarious. The DJ’s call each other Sergeant So-and-so, which freaks you out the first time you hear it, I http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/01/it-transmits-on-1077-fm-in-baghdad.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107507487751862770Sun, 25 Jan 2004 23:54:00 +00002004-01-26T02:56:44.043+03:00Start your week with THE WACKY IRAQI. well it is the middle of the week for us here, it doesn't make a difference for him he is still wacky.http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/01/start-your-week-with-wacky-iraqi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107498225796347584Sat, 24 Jan 2004 22:10:00 +00002004-01-25T01:55:29.623+03:00Long post alert, you will not be quizzed on it and there are no prizes for reading the whole thing. I just had to get all this off my chest Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi Don’t you just hate that title? To start with I would never use a word like clandestine, and what is wrong with [Salam Pax: The Baghdad Blog]? It gets worse, the German title is [Let’s Get Bombedhttp://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/01/long-post-alert-you-will-not-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4031841.post-107495178504399768Sat, 24 Jan 2004 13:43:00 +00002004-01-25T01:07:33.280+03:00Tell you a little secret: A lot of issues can be solved using the following ingredients: - Chocolates (something nice, like a packet of maltesers) - A little Poem (stolen from someone who can use words much better than you) - Copy of Newsweek (latest issue) well the last item is optional. Yes he is OK, and will go to Amman for a week with his brother he changed his mind, he will stay for http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2004/01/tell-you-little-secret-lot-of-issues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (salam)