Bassem Mroue

For years to come, the people of Lebanon will remember 2005 as the year of major and unexpected events. Hardly anyone thought that during this year the Syrian army will leave Lebanon or that former Prime Minister Michel Aoun will return from exile or that Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea will be freed from jail. It was the same year that witnessed dark and bloody events such as the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri as well as other politicians and journalists. 2005 was a bloody year for me from the first day. I was in Iraq where I had to cover explosions, suicide attacks and shootings that left dozens, if not hundreds, of people dead in January. Few days after the January 30 elections in Iraq I returned to Lebanon hoping to have some rest after nearly two months of hectic work in Iraq. I thought Lebanon would be violence-free after Iraq but it was not. On February 14, a day before when I was supposed to go on a two-week vacation to Egypt, I heard a massive expl...

It was 8:30 a.m. Friday December 23, 2005 when my cellular telephone rang. I picked it up and my friend Naji asked "are you still sleeping?" I asked him what's up and his answer was that the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. has breaking news about an explosion in downtown Beirut. I told him that I haven't heard anything about such an explosion and did not hear an explosion. Few minutes later I jumped out of bed and headed toward the television and tuned to LBC. "An oxygen cylinder explodes in downtown Beirut," a breaking news tag read. I told myself thank God it is an oxygen cylinder since the last thing Beirut needs these days is an explosion. An increase in explosions in Lebanon in the past months have left most people living in fear. Every now and then rumors spread around the capital about a bomb threat or an expected attack on a major mall. Guards at the entrances of shopping malls and office buildings search people now going in. Guards at public parkings u...

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning and got myself ready for the big day. It is Thursday December 15 and Iraqis are supposed to elect a new parliament. This is the second time Iraqis elect a new legislature after the January 30, 2005 vote for the interim National Assembly. Today they will chose a four-year parliament, which will be called from now on the Council of Representatives. At 6:30 a.m. I left the office with my colleague K and headed toward the City Hall. There were no cars in the streets except for security forces because the Interior Ministry had banned movement of cars for three days staring December 14. The airports and borders were also closed for three days. We drove slowly with the flash lights on until we reached the Khilani Mosque near Sinak Bridge in central Baghdad. One of the many policeman in the area waved for us to stop from a distance and got closer to us carrying a pistol in his right hand. He looks at our press passes then searches the car. The man then said ...

It was Sunday December 14, 2003. I woke up in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and was very sick. It must have been the kibbe, which Mosul is famous for, I ate the night before. I must have been suffering from food poison. At about 12 p.m. my colleague Shaz came to replace me as I was heading back to Baghdad for a day or two before going back home in Lebanon. Shortly after Shaz arrived I left with my colleague A toward Baghdad. The trip took us about four hours and we passed through cities and towns such as Beiji, Tikrit, Samarra until we reached Baghdad. On the way we heard a rumor that Saddam Hussein was captured. The first thing we did when arrived on the outskirts of Baghdad was ask anyone about the news. A, an Iraqi who is known as al-Lubnani or the Lebanese because he says it was his dream to be born Lebanese, asked a traffic policeman whether he heard that Saddam Hussein was captured. The policeman replied "that is what I heard." In Baghdad we turned on the radio, sinc...

Iraqis are getting ready to vote and Thursday's December 15, 2005 ballot battle is expected to be brutal. Politicians are openly criticizing each other and posters are being torn on the streets. Going on a tour in the streets of the Iraqi capital, you feel the fierce competition between candidates. Blast walls that fill the roads of Baghdad are now decorated with elections posters of politicians promising Iraqis security, stability, prosperity and bright future. What makes this week's elections interesting is the expected strong participation of Sunni Arabs after boycotting the January 30 2005 elections. Turnout among Sunni Arabs was very low then after many of them responded to calls by their leaders that they should not vote as long as the country is under occupation. When I used to ask Sunni Arabs in January whether they will participate the answer from most of them was a big NO. Today it is the opposite. I went for a drive in Baghdad and was surprised by the amount of poste...

السلام الوطني المقترح شعر : اسعد الغريري الحان : كاظم الساهر توزيع : عمر خيرت سلام عليك على رافديك عراق القيم فانت مزار وحسن ودار لكل النعم هنا المجد أم وصلى وصام ، وحج وطاف بلاد السلام فبغداد تكتب مجد العراق وما جف فيها بلاد القلم سلام لأرض تفيض عطاء واثرى ثراها دم الشهداء فهذا حسين وذي كربلاء ، الى العز صار لسانا وفم عراق العلوم ونهر الادب ستبقى تراثا لكل العرب وتبقى الى المجد ام واب واكليل حب لخير الامم باور وبابل عهد انتماء ، لأهل الحضارات والانبياء تشرف بحمل اسم رب السماء لتبقى اعز واغلى علم

"Peace be upon the people of peace," were the first words Saddam Hussein spelled as he walked into the court room in Baghdad's Green Zone in the second session of his trial over the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in a town north of Baghdad. Although his seven co-defendants appeared tired and nervous, he was the only one wearing a western suite and looking strong. Like the first session on October 19, 2005, when Saddam began his statements with an argument with chief judge about who chose him to head this court and refused to identify himself saying there isn't a person in Iraq who doesn't know him, the former president complained that he was brought into the court building Monday hand cuffed and in shackles. The bearded Saddam also complained that the elevator was not working and had to walk up the stairs. This is Saddam Hussein, who until April 9, 2003, the day he was removed from power by a U.S.-led no Iraqi dared to refer to him but as "Mr. President Saddam...

I was nine years old in 1977 when my mother took me and my elder brother, Hassan, to watch a movie that everybody in town was talking about. "Al-Risala" or "The Message," the movie that tells the story of Islam. We went to the newly-opened Monte Carlo cinema in Beirut's Hamra street where we saw the three-hour movie and I loved it so much that I watched it several times afterward. That day I not only saw the movie but discovered during the intermission something that I have never seen in my life before. I went into the W.C. and after washing my hands couldn't find napkins to dry my hands. Instead I saw people drying their hands with a machine that blows hot air. It was the first time I used a hand dryer. A week later I heard that my aunt and cousin were going to watch Al-Risala so I imposed myself on them and watched it again. Years later I saw the English version of the movie that was starred by Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas. The movie was the work of famou...

It was 8:15 a.m. on Friday Nov. 18, when I was woken up by a strong boom. Seconds later another explosion reverberated. I stayed in bed and convinced myself that they were two mortar rounds that are common in Baghdad. I went to bed too late the night before. At about 9:30 a.m. I was out and the moment I saw a colleague of mine I told him, hopefully it will be a quiet day. "What?" he answered. "There had already been two large explosions." Hardly a day passes in this country without an explosion or shooting that kill or wound a number of people. The target Friday was a Baghdad hotel used by foreign journalists. A security camera showed how the events went. A car passes through a street leading to the Hamra hotel then gets close to the blast wall surrounding the it. Seconds later, the suicide attacker driving the car detonates the vehicle. A man who happened to be passing in the street looked at the car as it crossed him. He was for sure killed in the blast for he was...

It was Saturday Nov. 5, 2005 and I was getting ready to go to the airport on my 11th trip to Iraq in the past three years. Packed and ready to go, Hussein picked me up and drove south toward Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. I walk inside and take a look. Ohhhhh nooooooooo. It is packed with hundreds of people who spent Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan in Beirut and were heading back now. Took my boarding pass half an hour later and waited for MEA's flight to Amman. Some 45 minutes later we land in the Jordanian capital and Mohammed is waiting for me. During the 30-minute trip from the airport to the hotel, Mohammed, a chain smoker, burnt at least three cigarettes. As I walk in the man on the front desk looks at me with a big fake smile on his face. "Welcome. Hope you had a good trip." I reply with a smile and give him my passport. The man types on the keyboard, then look at me and say: "This is the 10th time you stay at our hotel. I will give...

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