Muslims and Christians in Egypt by Jamil Shawwa

I know enough about Egypt to report that Christians there live by large in prosperity. They own telecommunications companies, real estate, jewelry stores. Among them are top movies and arts producers.

Christian Copts have been political operatives and government officials since Muhammad Ali established the modern Egypt in the early 19th century and they continued to play a pivotal role, yet somehow subdued, after the 1952 military revolution that ended the rule of the Albanian Muhammad Ali family and established a military dictatorship that last until July of this year, when Egypt for the first time in its history elected a civilian head of state and it happened to be from the historically banned group known as the Muslim Brotherhood.

A name that comes to mind of an elite Coptic family is that of Boutros Ghali and his family. The former secretary general of the United Nations comes from a very famous Christian political family; his grandfather was prime minister of Egypt in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

The main problems facing Egypt’s Copts-Muslims relations in my opinion are public relations, perception, and education, until recently, Egypt never celebrated the Copts Christmas day, which takes place every year- Christian orthodox- on January 6 as a national holiday, the Copts, had to take permission from schools to celebrate, had to take permission from the president to build churches and until now it is still not easy to get these permissions.

Egypt in the identity cards still places the name of religion besides the personal information. The education books and the overall mentality focus on that the Christians are somehow different; there is a mixture of jealousy, from their success, to fear. Ignorance plays a great role in showing the Copts as not trustworthy or even as some fanatics in Egypt believe that eating with them would violate some sort of religious rule.

While attending the law school at Cairo University, I had a Christian friend that for four years I did not and did not care to know his religion until one day he mentioned that he is a Christian Copt and I also had a Christian teacher who gave me French language lessons, I did not learn it not because he was not a good teacher but because I was not a serious student. That teacher once invited me to his house over lunch with his wife and two daughters in one of Cairo developments for limited income people. He opened up to me and said that the Copts are ready to fight if Muslims choose this path. I was surprised and did not say anything, he continued to say, and I quote “we will not set still and wait for them to attack”. I once advised Coptic friends that they will never have a full voice in Egyptian politics unless they form a political party similar to that of the Muslim Brotherhood.

If the Muslims can do such thing, why not the Copts, and this way, politics in Egypt will be more vibrant and more accountable to each other, like the system of Checks and Balances here in the US- Egypt style to ensure equal rights and equal opportunities and act as a lobby for the Copts from within. The Egyptian people in general are people of peace, and the majority among them, Muslims and Copts, believe in living in harmony.

The official Egypt though must continue to focus on the importance of tolerance. Having gone through this introduction, I must say that we need to continue to look at the larger picture here and show that intolerance is not unique to this or that part of the world, intolerance and hatred are found in almost every society on earth, of course, there are variations here and there.

In Egypt and the Middle East there is discrimination based on religion or religious intolerance, in other countries there is discrimination based on national origins, ethnicity, or the color of the skin.

Governments cannot erase discrimination by decree, it is a process that has to be part of the evolution of societies to focus instead of what is your religion, or looks to what you can do and how productive you are. What is going on in Egypt could lead to a better Egypt if it is dealt with as a fact and not as something the official Egypt is trying to deny and hide and pretends that it does not exist.

The Monthly Visit by Jamil Shawwa

*She: you are so thoughtless
He: why you say that
She: you yelled at me
He: are you talking to me
She: who else, you are the only one
He: what are you talking about
She: you yelled over the phone
He: the cell phone is not clear; maybe that is why you thought I was yelling
She: it is not the phone; it is you
He: maybe I am loud. Sometimes
She: it is you, your culture; you have no respect for women
He: silence
She: you are all like this
He: silence
She: how would I not know that you did not do this and that… (She accused him of things that legally he could bring before a court of law for false accusations and blaspheming).
He: How dare you accuse me of such things, how dare you talk to me like this. You have no class or respect,
She: I do not want to talk to you
He: bye
She: wait, stop, what I’m talking about, I can’t stop thinking about you, I can not stop feeling you, I do not know you, I never met you, how could I say such things.
He: you just did.
She: forgive me, it was not me talking, it was someone else
He: what are you talking about; it is all there, read above.
She: it is not me; it is someone else, a visitor that comes once a month.
He: silence, puzzled
She: it is this time of the month for me and for every woman
He: pretends that he is still puzzled, silence
She: it was not I that was talking; it was my period.
He: how can I trust that you and your period are not one and the same, how can I trust that this monthly visit will not be a daily routine, how can I trust you any more. You are not predictable, you are not trustworthy, and you are just a roller coaster.
She: I am a woman
He: no more false pretences, no more Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I need to see who you really are, I need to trust that the voice is real and that the face is real. Stop hiding behind artificial things and barriers that you created, stop asking for respect and you do not have respect for others, stop stereotyping.
She: you are asking me to stop being a woman
He: enough! Being a woman has nothing to do with it, stop committing crimes against humanity in the name of being a woman.
She: you are yelling again.
He: I am not, you are not listening
She: what do you want from me.
He: Nothing
She: you want to humiliate me for my mistake
He: no, I want to bring the best in you, if you have it somewhere there hiding. I want to free you from your fears and prejudices. I want to rehabilitate you.
She: why you care
He: I do not know. I have always cared for people; I have always wanted to bring the best in people and sometimes, in the process, some claimed that I have brought the worst in them. I think they just wanted to make an excuse for not being nice.
She: and who brings the best in you
He: I am still searching.

*Disclaimer:
For entertainment purposes only
These conversations are not related to any specific person or persons. They are general human conversations from life.

He is back and He is Rolling, Obama 2010 by Jamil Shawwa

In the previous article, I voiced concerns that I wanted the president to go back to his old self, smart, confident, bold, relaxed and effective. Last night, president Obama did not disappoint me; he was back, the good old Obama that millions of us elected and brought to office in 2008. The president was relaxed, bold, humorous and most importantly comfortable with the setting. He was not intimidated, and he was not timid, he was leading again. The president rallied the nation last night to do what is right in combating the challenges it is facing, health care reforms for all Americans, tax credits for small businesses- the back bone of the American economy, tax relief for families with children, tax credits for students and last but not least our national security. The president made it clear that America's security is not and will not be compromised that America still even during economic difficulties will not be intimated by those that hate our success and those that just try to harm us. Last night, I saw Obama 2008 ready to combat the problems of today. If the president follows through and continues to be his good old self, he will be reelected in 2012. He knows that so far, he at least has my vote.

President Obama State of the Union Address by Jamil Shawwa

Tonight will mark the president's first state of the union address. Our country has a great tradition where governors of the 50 states address their respective states once a year to talk about the political, social and economic situations of their states. At the Federal level, the union level, the president of the United States does the same but on a larger scale and with local and worldviews. In fact, the US president state of the union address should be called state of the world address. our president is really does not talk about the US only but tonight he will report to Congress and the American people on the state of the world. Americans and people from all over the world will be listening to Mr. Obama's first state of the union address. They expect the president to be confident, hopeful, and bold on aggression and terrorism. Americans also want the president to lay out in clear letters, sound voice and optimistic vision his next year agenda. No general themes are ordered tonight, we want specifics. Tonight, might be a great opportunity for the president to gain the momentum he had last year and to regain the hearts of millions and billions of people from all over the world who voted and cheered him into office. Obama, again, needs to be himself, the smart hard working American who made history on 11/03/2008.

The Dialogue continues... She is on the Rebound*

We spoke again, can you believe it, after the conversation that we had yesterday about women beauty. It seems that we got addicted to these conversations. She said, I do not know what happened to me, I can not stop thinking about you, although all your opinions irritate me, and your views of women are so sexist and so selfish. Who gave you the permission to say all these opinions, who gave you the credibility or the credentials that you can go and just say what you said- she is angry and she is repeating herself, it is not my writing. There is something missing here, I feel so attached to you and in the same time, I am so afraid of you. She continued I am having feelings that I have not had in a long time. I thought that I have suppressed those feelings that I have deleted them completely from my dictionary, and then when I started to read your pieces, as they annoying as ever, my whole life has changed, I'm a different woman, a different person, I'm better, I hate to say that, I hate to give you any credit for me being better now than I was yesterday, I hate the fact that I'm wasting my time even sharing with you all these intimate details about my life and feelings. Yesterday I called you and you were having lunch at one of your favorite daily lunch hangouts, you even refused to tell me the name of the place. How could you do that, how could you pretend that I am special, that I am magic and you do not want to share with me where you have lunch. I heard you talking to the server; it seems that you enjoy her company more than you enjoy the food. I felt that I just wanted to jump, come to that restaurant, share your table and just see what you do, what is this routine that you are talking about, what is this precious cycle that you have to go through. Enough, I do not want to read you, I do not want to hear you, you have rocked my life, and you have changed me forever. Say something, connect, please.

PS: As you can see, that was a one sided dialogue, or should we say Monologue. See, I learned my lesson from the other two conversations; never interrupt a woman.

*Disclaimer:
For entertainment purposes only
These conversations are not related to any specific person or persons. They are general human conversations from life.

A Dialogue with a Woman*

She said to me why not taking a break from pretending that you know anything about world politics and talk once on a subject that is close to my heart. I answered your requests and wishes are my orders, what do you suggest. She replied, women beauty, you can pretend this morning that you know something about this subject and let us see how it goes. I answered back after few seconds of hesitation, that this subject is so dangerous, it might be more dangerous that pretending that I know something about politics or analytical journalism. She said, come on, pretend, at least I am listening. I asked with a serious look on my face, are you sure that you can handle this one, you could not handle the other day the conversation we had about bringing the best in you. She said, go ahead, and pretend. I said ok, here how it goes; I am an advocate of a woman natural beauty, no perfumes, no colognes, or any artificial ingredients except for shampoos, soaps, and daily showers and after showers pleasant and soft deodorants with a soft touch of makeup. she interrupted me saying, maybe you are right, I'm already starting to regret asking you about talking on this subject, you are worse in talking about women beauty than you are in talking politics, but go on, continue. I ignored the last statement, collected my thoughts, and said you see I never like women who put water on their hair in the morning to make it look flat or good, I prefer, if anything, for her to take a shower. I do not like Gills, or sprays on the hair after the shower, just dry it well, and maybe use the blower a little. I stopped for seconds to see if she wants to comment but she did not, she just looked at me with her mysterious eyes that can melt the ice cream from the top of the cone, so I continued. I do not like very long hair, I like it by the shoulder maybe a little longer, depends on the face and the height of the woman, I love ponytails, flat, or Carre' but flat if possible tops it all. I like well-groomed women, meaning pedicure and manicure, but all natural, no nail polish, just the natural look of the clean nails. I am rolling here, and my companion is just looking and her facial expressions keeps getting more stressed than ever, but she is not responding, so I proceeded and said that I like other things that would bring the natural magic look of a clean silky skin, no bushes or shrubs all over the place and no shaving tools, just the good old fashion wax. She then started screaming so I stopped and asked her, are you ok, she said no, I'm not ok, you better continue to claim that you know something about politics and journalism, because when it comes to women, you are just out there, nothing, zero. I thanked her for her honest opinion and for listening to me. She replied, do no thank me, I brought it on myself.

*Disclaimer:
For entertainment purposes only
These conversations are not related to any specific person or persons. They are general human conversations from life.

Mixed Signals From and About Gaza By Jamil Shawwa

I have been receiving mixed signals from Gaza, the clear and silky beach city on the Mediterranean shore adjacent to the Israeli shores. The signals indicate and I might be wrong or too optimistic here that there might be some sort of a relief for this poor city- read my previous pieces on Gaza in this site- that has been under siege not by Israel or Egypt as the popular and conventional politics indicate but by it's new residents, a political movement by the name of Hamas and by being Gaza, part of the Palestinian, Arab and Israel conflict. On the larger scale, Gaza is part of another world conflict, which is the struggle of the so-called terrorists groups that take Islam as hostage to cover for their least to say questionable motives and terrorist activities. Another angle that this city is part of is the rise of the Iranian influence in the Sunni Muslim Arab dominant Middle East and the positioning of Iran as the guardian of the paramilitary religious movements such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, certain sects of the Shiite dominated Iraq and the struggle we see in Yemen along the Saudi -Yemen borders with a fraction Shiite group called the Houtheen who struggles with the Sunni dominant governments of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Iran's influence even extends to the Sunni Hamas, though Hamas is not part of the traditional Shiite alliance but part of the same movement that Iran is nurturing. On the other hand the rise of the liberal Sunni Islam democratic semi European Turkey to balance the influence of Iran in the Middle East. The Arab Middle East right now- The Arab countries have no say or anything- is being dominated or influenced by two regional powers, Iran and Turkey. Iran is taking care of the extremists, Turkey is managing the moderates, and the liberals, See it is not that easy at all. Back to the signs of relieves that I see for Gaza, the first is that Israel as of today's news has allowed the growers of flowers and strawberry to resume their exports from Gaza. This is a very generous sign taking into consideration that the Gaza run Hamas is on the book hostile to Israel and the peace process, although Hamas off record has accepted the peace process that is based on the Oslo agreement signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993, and this acceptance is clear through the fact that it participated in the 2005 elections that was based on that agreement. The other sign is information that I got from a source in Gaza- I'm really not and have not been in touch with almost anyone who is in Gaza except for a cousin or two- that people can not go anywhere, they can not travel, they are under siege except for two things, that they have tons of supplies, food, etc, thanks to the tunnel business, smuggling goods through the Egyptian borders by digging tunnels and sometimes very sophisticated tunnels that cars can get through, and that they have- now and since Hamas took over the city in the 2006 armed fight with Fateh- security. This source is telling me that people can walk, drive and go any where anytime day or night without the fear of being robbed, kidnapped, having their vehicles stolen or just harassed as the case has been when Fateh ruled the Gaza Strip. He also said that Hamas does not allow armed persons except its people and fought and fights other fractions that try to disturb the peace- so ironic, Hamas keeping the peace.
I personally have so far no way of verifying what that source told me concerning security in Gaza. The next sign of relief is the iron cast fence that Egypt- according to news reports from open sources- that is building along the borders with the Gaza Strip- I know it is weird as how a fence can be a sign of relief- which on the other side of the coin could be a start of political movement or indication of the need to shake the stalled situation and maybe push Hamas into accepting or rushing Hamas- who is not in rush for anything actually- to start or finish the dialogue on the Israeli soldier hostage in Gaza and reconnecting with the West Bank Fateh run territory and maybe reuniting the Gaza Strip with the West Bank through a corridor, something. We will see if any of these things ring true or is it as a potential friend said midlife crises I am going through so instead of hitting the Bottle, I am hitting the internet.

Haiti vs. Louisiana

The other day I was having lunch with a friend in one of these cheap Chinese restaurants near my work- not sure why I brought up that it is cheap though it has nothing to do with the subject of this article- the day was rainy, kind of a mixture of ice and snow but it did not last long. We started hitting that buffet, I know why I go there, the service is fantastic, the girls who work there, a Vietnamese Chinese woman and a Salvadorian woman, are just kind and very welcoming- again, I’m being stereotyping here, both are Americans, why would I mention their ethnic background, another reason that I go there is that it used to allow smoking before our great Commonwealth of Virginia voted to ban smoking cigarettes in all restaurants and food establishments as of 12/01/2009. Back to that meeting with my friend, that lunch companion is a very educated woman, master’s degree, her father was a graduate from one of the Ivy League schools in the US- Top universities- and that woman happened to work for me in the past at one of my many former jobs. Again, back to the subject of this article, we started to talk as usual about world affairs, pretending as usual that we or at least I have, see, as if we know the solution for all world problems. In the midst of the noise of the chopsticks, we hit one of the newest subjects on world stage right now, Haiti. My friend- she is from the Medwest, USA- brought up the subject that some people are comparing the fact that we are doing a better job in a foreign country than what we are still doing, right now to fix the harms that was caused by the hurricanes that hit the state of Louisiana and particularly the city of New Orleans, here in the USA back in 2005. She said that and I quote, it would be a shame if this administration finishes the job in Haiti while we are still cleaning up the mess in New Orleans and still building the ruins of the hurricanes. I took a deep look at her and to the dish in front of me- I was trying to choose, whether I should take a bite first or participate in the conversation- it was empty and it was the time for a refill, but then I answered back- not sure why I felt that I'm obliged to answer- saying, well, you know, New Orleans was back in 2005 and this administration just started or took over from the Bush administering a year ago, in fact exactly on 01/20/2009, so really we can not point the finger of blame or accuse it of aiding a foreign nation or even doing a good job in aiding a foreign nation, that is next door, while the job in New Orleans is still on. She looked at me and she might have said, damn your objectivity- but she nodded and said that it is right; Mr. Bush was in charge for almost three years during and after New Orleans. The bottom line here I think is that we are a nation that loves to learn from the past, that we try to correct mistakes, that we want to do right to our people and to others. What we are doing in Haiti right now is a great example of what we have learned in New Orleans and other places in the world. The same thing we are doing in combating terrorism, we are learning to do it better, and we are trying to put the right people in place to get the job done. I looked at my friend again and said this is America, a young nation in heart, a great nation indeed, a nation that continues to find the right formula to combat evil in it's own body, borders and abroad and in the same time trying to maintain it's civility, the rule of law and that all people are created equal, the journey continues.

Morning Thoughts.... To Her*

She asked me, why not you believe me, why do you want to change me. I answered, I do not want to change you, I accept you the way you are, I just want to bring to surface the best that is inside you. She answered back, who gave you the permission, who put you a PR agent for me. I said, no one, I just cannot look, observe, analyze and not say what is in my mind, I just cannot help it. She said, this is an invasion of my privacy, who you think you are, don’t you know that no woman like to be told how she can be better, women only like to be told how charming they are no matter what. I answered and said but you are not any woman, you are not the trend, the rules do not apply to you. She fired back saying, now you are insulting me, if I am not a woman, any woman, what I am then, I replied, you are magic. She yelled, drop it, I answered, I cannot. I just cannot see your potential and keep my mouth shut. She answered, this time; you need to keep your mouth shut.

*Disclaimer:
For entertainment purposes only
These conversations are not related to any specific person or persons. They are general human conversations from life.

A Mouse Is In the House

This morning my writing routine got interrupted around 7:00 AM with the wife screaming from the kitchen, I know that you are all surprised because we all know, wives never scream, when I went to the direction of the scream, I found her standing on a chair shouting, Mouse! I pretended to be very concerned, grabbed the broom and found that little grey thing scared under the table, I think he was scared of the wife and not of what is waiting for him. Anyway, the naughty creature got away but I declared emergency in the house, rallied the troops, and went running to the hardware store and bought all kinds of mice and rats poisons. Then all of a sudden, it hit me, what If I make a deal with the mouse, what if I try to extend my hand and the broom if needed and try to have a peace treaty. I reached out and looked at him in the eyes, I'm assuming that it is a him and not a her, see I'm already assuming things that might not be true, and I told him that I can spare his life, be reminded that I have not caught him yet, if he agrees to leave the house. The mouse answered back- just go along with me here readers- and said why, I answered because it is my house and you are an intruder; you are not an invited guest and you have no rights on this property. The mouse looked back and said, but where shall I go. I started to get angry, and started to waive the broom in his face, when then he said what if we make a deal. I answered that you are in no position to bargain, remember the broom and all kinds of mice killers that I have in my hand. He answered back and said what happened to live and Let Live, I answered that this human rule does not apply to mice. He did not give up, tried again to reach a compromise, and said what If I leave your house and stay on your property. I answered; explain please. He said, I will leave the house but wonder around the garden, I will be outside, what is the harm in that. I looked at the mouse and said you got a deal, get out now, and do not come back inside but you are welcome on the outside. He looked back, and said, see, it is a win- win situation. I answered; do not rub it in.

George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Haiti

Few days ago, John King, the anchor of CNN political program, State of the Union hosted the former presidents Bush and Clinton. The occasion was their appointment by president Obama to head The Haiti Relief Fund in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit that Caribbean nation few weeks ago. The topic was, how it can be done and what are the priorities. I was intrigued not by the former president’s appearance as much as of what they have to say and their way of thinking regarding crisis management. Obviously, Clinton was more eloquent, focused and targeted on the details. He started by saying, correctly so, that the first thing that we need to do is to create a network in Haiti to manage the crisis, the rescue, and the rebuilding of a nation that did not have anything before the quake and basically went to below zero after the quake. Bush was focusing on getting people together, providing more human touch to those that lost love ones, most of the population. Clinton eloquence does not mean that he is a better leader than Bush, nor does it mean that he would be more capable or able to transform his ideas into solid realties on the ground. In the same token, Bush documented and well known lack of speech skills does not mean that he is the lesser leader. On the contrary, he could be the one that can in fact transform Clinton's eloquence into reality. Leadership- in my opinion- is all about inspiring, creating an effort or a network as Clinton said to transform what on paper to the ground in the form of relief, projects and most importantly into building a political system that works. Haiti needs a transparent and democratic system- like all nations on earth-which will help this country with unlimited potential in tourism to be as prosperous as other rich Caribbean islands.

President Obama, One Year Later, By Jamil Shawwa

I am writing this piece while witnessing the conclusion of the first year of president Obama in office and witnessing tonight a big defeat for the president and the Democratic Party in Massachusetts special senate race elections to fill the vacant seat of the late senator Ted Kennedy. Tonight, the republican nominee Scott Brown defeated the democratic nominee Martha Coakley over a precious and historic democratic seat in the senate that was in the hands of the Kennedy’s for over 50 years. The time could not be worse for the democrats as they move to push president Obama’s universal health plan for all Americans; every vote counts and the president has just lost one. I witnessed the Democratic Party lack of command and leadership to find a charismatic and popular Politian who can fill the shoes vacated by the late senator Kennedy. Actually, the democrats were invisible in Massachusetts as were the republicans in the rest of the country before their sound defeat during the presidential elections. The republicans in Massachusetts presented an energetic candidate and the democrats presented a mild candidate that could have been great as a school principle and not political leader. The republican nominee campaigned on opposing the health plan, the state in it's majority are democrats but you have those swing voters, the independent, who actually decides each elections and the party that can convince those voters to vote for their candidate usually wins elections. I also saw the debate on health care and again the democrats were not clear enough, bold enough and confident enough to persuade the voters that this plan is in the best interest of America in the long term. What is next for president Obama is that he needs to bring the network of talented operatives that helped to muster his historic win last year to start building a momentum for his agenda. He needs to be bold and confident as he was during the campaign and he needs to be frank and most importantly he needs to be himself. We do not see or hear the president as much as we should. Having said all that, I must share that historically we have seen sitting presidents losing either the house, the senate or both during their term in office, It happened to Ronald Reagan and most recently it happened to Bill Clinton in the 1994 elections when he lost both the house and the senate in what was came to be know as the republican revolution lead by Newt Gingrich, the history professor. Bill Clinton rebounded and even with a congress that was against him viciously, he managed to be reelected in 1996. I predicted long before Obama even was close to be the democratic nominee that he would be elected president, I just could not ignore his talent, the historic significance of his elections and the dire need of our nation for a leader that can give America the renewal that it needed, mostly, during president Bush final two years. We are going to have mid term elections this coming November, the president has plenty of time to show America that he is taking it on the right track, that the economy has improved, that our financial institutions are paying back their debt to us and the government, that the housing market is on the rise, that the job rate is growing and that our nation is climbing back to it's natural place as the shining place on top of the hill.

Respect By Jamil Shawwa

I was talking to a friend, hope that she will allow me to call her a friend, and the focus of the various conversations has been on the importance of respect to her and the way she was raised. In almost all conversations, the word respect would come up. She was sensitive even if I was silent for few moments or minutes and she would consider this silence as a sign of disrespect. I answered her once saying that all humans ask and demand respect and courtesy but I did not stop at that but added that specially for Asians, the word or the symbol respect means more than other cultures or people. I kind of regretted that last part, the Asian part, and felt that it is a stereotype of me to cast a big chunk of humans as different from others. Having said that, I thought about it and found out in my own mind that the statement I made was not a stereotype but was coming from my own experience with people of Asian descents. It is not at all that they are different but that they, those that I dealt with, mention respect more and by far than any other group of people that I met. Again, we all humans want to be respected but maybe not all of us would mention it as often. That conversation with that friend reminded me of an incident that took place in the early months of President George W. Bush presidency when China said that spy USA planes entered its space for undeclared missions. China’s focus was not on the incident but on the demand that The US apologizes. China did not stop at that until it got its apology and its formal papers published it in big headlines stating that the US- I quote-“was very sorry” for the incident. Again, back to my friend, I wonder if she with the way she demands respect, she also would provide others with the respect that she demands from them. I noticed and I ignored in that conversations that she also went sometimes for minutes without replying but she did not feel consciously or not for the need to apologize and I did not mention it to her. Very interesting human analysis, do not you agree.

Jay Leno vs. Conan O'Brian By Jamil Shawwa

America is very busy these days or should I say nights not with the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan but with the late night show time slots on NBC. Every night for years, America in its majority viewers used to turn on at 11:30 PM Eastern Time to watch Jay Leno making jokes and smart remarks on every day life besides hosting the top stars. Jay Leno's show was the top rated show in that time slot until some genius at NBC decided that Jay is too old to attract younger viewers and as Domino effect, he would not attract those heavy pockets advertisers that cater to what NBC thinks or thought at the time as the highest spenders. Jay's show- The Tonight show- used to be followed at 12:30 AM with Conan O'Brian of the Late Night show. Conan was what NBC thought, the golden boy who if given a better time slot, the prime night show, would bring the bacon home-, I do not eat pork bacon, so I am going to use the term, bring the turkey bacon home. NBC in the same time- they were not completely retarded- kept Jay Leno and gave him a slot right before the local news at 11:00 PM. As it turned out, Conan flipped, NBC lost the number one rating for that time, 11:30 PM, and the show deteriorated. Not only that- as big as it is- but Jay did not do well at the 10:00 PM slot. Few days ago, NBC decided to bring back Jay Leno at his original slot and push back Conan to 12:05 PM so in a way Jay will not have the whole hour and Conan will not be left feeling the blues- he already does- that he is back to his old time. NBC promoted Jay again and demoted Conan. The war is still on, Conan has a binding contract but he is using the popular media to make his case. I think his case is lost, I personally used to prefer Jay- maybe I'm getting old- whom I thought was a genuine comedian, you only need to look at him to laugh, where Conan was a hard working wanna be. See, I told you that we are busy with the late night shows; do you blame us, we want to laugh.

The Khost Incident by Jamil Shawwa

 I am probably the least qualified to claim to understand the exciting world of Intelligence. Having stated that I must proceed to say that the suicide attack that took place in Khost, Afghanistan on 12/30/2009 should not pass as a regular attack or as business as usual.

The told story according to The Washington Post, The New York Times and other news outlets is that a Jordanian intelligence officer that happened to be a cousin of the King of Jordan has recruited a well known and well documented extremist to work for the intelligence to hunt Al-Qaeda terrorist organization and it's number two leader; the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawaheri.

The previous paragraph was the told story. The analysis to that story brings tons of questions and I will start from the last to the first. The last question is who drove that Jordanian doctor, same profession as Al-Zawaheri, terrorists and doctors, to the CIA base; his handler, the Jordanian officer was not in the car with him but waiting outside the office inside the base with other CIA operatives.

The suicide bomber- the Jordanian doctor- had his hand, right one, in his pocket when he came off the car, when asked to pull his hand out to search or maybe to shake, he instead chose to pull a trigger that killed many CIA operatives, the Jordanian handler, and himself.

The big questions are: Have this bomber been under observation from the time he was recruited to the time he denoted the bomb, and if he were monitored, how did he find the time to wear this explosive belt or device. The second question, was this bomber with his Jordanian handler all the time, or was he on and off the safe place if there was a safe place. The third question, was the Jordanian handler experienced enough to be given such a huge task of recruiting a well-known extremist; he had a web site in which he spread his destructive ideas all over the net. The fourth question, it is well known and intelligence communities do recruit extremists as double agents and do encourage those extremists to be even more fanatics so they can gain the confidence of the terrorists groups to trust them enough to provide them with information and even recruit them,

But any first grade intelligence office or analyst knows that you just can not have full trust in those agents and that you must be on your guards at all times; it did not happen here, why? The fifth question, did we go through the basics of recruitment of doing a lie-detecting test or as some news reports indicated, we felt that this process might humiliate the double agent and show no trust in him.

 The sixth question, have we left the world of intelligence victim to budget cuts, bureaucracy, third rate officers and cut corners that we were so excited of the bait that this Jordanian suicide bomber gave us, providing real information about Al-Qaeda and such, that we just rolled the red carpet for him without due process and basic intelligence analysis.

 The questions can go on and on.This is a big failure for the Jordanian intelligence as well as for our intelligence.

 Again, based on the information we have I just cannot see any other reason for Al-Qaeda’s success so far except for our human errors. Leon Panetta, the CIA director is a nice person, was Bill Clintons’ chief of staff and president Obama appointed him as CIA director, He is well known of his pleasant personality and good humor. The time now is not for that or at least, we need Mr. Panetta to be nice, pleasant and humorous but we want him to protect our country as well.

The Underwear Terrorist

The series of the security breaches in our country in the past sixty days have ranged from having three intruders barging into the White House during a state dinner to some one hiding explosives in his underwear aboard a US airline. I personally do not see a fix but to start from the top, which happens to be the Secretary of Homeland Security and the chief of the secret service. Both needs to be fired and replaced at once. Start there, move down the hierarchy, and start cleaning up the file and ranks to ensure that no other accidents happen. I can not believe that after all these years since our country and pride were attacked on 09/11/2001, that we still talk about not preventing terrorists from entering our country but trying to find competent leaders that can do the job of preventing the terrorists from daring to attack America. The prestige of the presidency was severely harmed when the three intruders got into the White House and the prestige of the country continues to be harmed by putting wrong people as our security guards, remember Secretary Napolitano; the system works, after the underwear terrorist was captured; enough said.