Salt in the news

by | Apr 16, 2005 | Jordan, my nation, The Disturbing

According to this AP report, the beautiful city of Salt is turning into "a center of Islamic radicals traveling from Jordan to fight in Iraq." I haven’t been to Salt in years but I think the city is innocent of such a label. Just because Raed al Banna and a few other disillusioned individuals decided to blow themselves up, doesn’t mean the whole city should be labeled as a center for Jihadists. I think that is an undeserved reputation.

Here is a highlight from the report:

All sides acknowledge the city of Salt has its share of disaffected
Muslim youths dismayed by economic problems, angry at foreign troops
on Muslim lands and vulnerable to messages of extremism. It was the
city’s custom of holding public wakes that brought publicity here.
Specifically, it was the wake for a native son, Raed Mansour al-Banna,
who was accused of carrying out the biggest suicide bombing in postwar
Iraq — an attack on Feb. 28 in Hilla, south of Baghdad, that killed
125 people.

Any Saltis out there? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Farewell my friend …

by | Apr 16, 2005 | Doha affairs, Mi Familia

Gulf Silhouettes

Our good friend Amal is leaving Doha for good next week and relocating home to Beirut, Lebanon. We are very happy for her as it is a great career move. Not only will she be in her own country
surrounded by family and friends, but she will get to report from Lebanon during very interesting times. We will miss her dearly. Doha will never be the same without her. We wish her all the luck in the world. She really deserves the best.

Here is a picture that the husband took last week of Amal and myself enjoying the sea along a beach in Dukhhan, Qatar.