Finding Common Ground in an Uncommon Nation
Marla Mossman
RAND researchers Cheryl Benard and Ed O’Connell have been to the far points of the Muslim world as a part of developing the think tank’s Alternative Strategy Initiative, which addresses the effects of extremism and sectarianism on those too often are hiding in plain sight: youth, women and refugees. But after a recent trip to Syria where they found themselves happening one night upon an unsettling and perception-busting TV program, they went back there to find out how a director in a country known for defending terrorism could produce “entertainment” that portrayed quite the opposite. They tell Malibu Magazine their story.
With practiced efficiency, the young man is strapping something onto the young girl. She is 5 or 6 years old, and as he tugs at her braid to avoid snagging her hair on the harness, viewers will at first think that he is helping her with her backpack to get her ready for school. But as the camera pans back, viewers hear the sound of a woman weeping and protesting in the background, and come to realize that the young man is a terrorist, that the thing he is putting on the child is a vest with suicide explosives and that what he is preparing her for is bloody oblivion.
Coming upon this scene quite by accident as we flipped idly through the channels of Arab satellite TV, during a trip to the Middle East, we were captivated by its sheer dramatic power, shocked to learn that it was based on a true event and completely amazed to hear that its producer was, of all things, a Syrian. In conventional U.S. perception, Syria is an autocratic state where artists and filmmakers cannot function or flourish. Furthermore, as a member of the “Axis of Evil,” even if it did have any filmmakers, they would be defending terrorism, not condemning it.
“We” are Cheryl Benard and Ed O’Connell, and we are researchers with the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization with headquarters in Santa Monica. RAND’s commitment to objective and rigorous research rests on a relentless search for the facts. Our president and chief executive officer Jim Thomson often alludes to Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday with his deadpan, “Just the facts, ma’am.” In that spirit, we have spent the last six years since 9/11, crisscrossing the Muslim world from Mostar to Bosnia to Khiyam in Southern Lebanon to Iraq and to Afghanistan.
Ed O’Connell
Upon landing, we are immediately whisked into the airport’s VIP lounge and offered tea. The hostesses are gracious, but our passports are gone and our fellow travelers are elsewhere, and we find ourselves speaking in muffled tones as we try to determine why we have been singled out for special treatment. The answer, as we will soon discover, lies in the identity of our host: Najdat Anzour, it turns out, is not just any filmmaker. He is the Syrian equivalent of Fellini and Bertolucci all rolled into one elegant, debonair package. In Syria, he is a star, and by association, it seems, so are we.
Our passports are eventually returned to us without incident, and we are handed over to “Mr. Hammed” and “Mr. Ahmed” (pronounced Ak-med) — assistants to Anzour. Hammed flips open his cell phone to show us the photo of a very attractive blonde woman while insistently repeating, “Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara.” After a few minutes, we are able to make out that his daughter and grandchild live in the United States.
The Cham Palace in downtown Damascus — our home for the next week — somewhat dims our good mood. The cavernous lobby, defective neon lighting and sulky employees make you feel that you have somehow landed yourself in the Soviet Union of the 1980s. Furthermore, the hotel has the dubious distinction of allegedly having been the meeting place of al-Qaeda operatives and Iraqi insurgents back in 2003. But we don’t have too much time to reflect on that, as Hammed and Ahmed have instructions to deliver us to Anzour.
The Art House, in the upscale Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus, is a lovingly restored former mill that now serves as a boutique hotel, spa, art gallery, restaurant and hangout for the city’s intelligentsia. Architect Ghiath Machnok, gives us an extended warm and sincere welcome and a tour of the premises. As we walk through the rooms admiring the antique Syrian furniture and the carved doorways, and plotting our escape from the Cham Hotel to this much more congenial location, a photo catches our eye. The man in the picture is Mustafa Akkad. Our new friend tells us he was a Syrian film producer. He and his daughter were killed in the terrorist bomb blast at the SAS Radisson Hotel in Amman, Jordan, in November of 2005. His voice shaking with emotion, Machnok tells us that Akkad had been one of his best friends. Upon hearing that Ed had been at the site of the second hotel bombed in the same attack and had narrowly escaped being killed, Machnok stops in his tracks and mutters, “Alhamdulillah” roughly translated as “thank God” in Arabic.
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Comments
01/16 at 07:13 AM
Great article.
I really like your magzine so much. Specially, Images in your article are awe some.
Keep it up great work.
Thank you so much for such informative article.
01/20 at 02:12 PM
Fotos are great.
01/21 at 06:36 AM
As all others have appreciated so far, I too would agree with them that the inserted images are really GREAT. You can’t assume that “majority” is “right” only on the basis of they are more in number. A life style that is odd but doesn’t interferes with others’ rights; can’t be labelled wrong.
01/22 at 10:31 AM
yeah, I too would agree with you that we are not supposed to side with the majority merely on the basis of their number. Instead one must look in to the attitude and opinions. And the minority has equal rights to survive within a particular state of affairs.
01/27 at 01:21 AM
What a wonderful pictures, the photographer must have been really good.
01/30 at 10:43 AM
Interesting posts. Especially interesting considering the political and inter-country relations currently!
02/09 at 11:33 AM
Great Artilce MAn (y).. picz are awesome.. I salute your work .. Keep It up..Not only your article provided me a lot of infomation about Syria’s condition but your comments are also helping me out.. Bookmarked you ...
02/13 at 12:25 PM
its an excellent article i found much interesting
02/18 at 06:21 PM
Great photos.
02/22 at 10:49 PM
Nice Pics! Thanks for Sharing
02/23 at 04:07 PM
great indeed
02/23 at 10:32 PM
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11/27 at 10:36 AM
It is very sad that being a beautiful nation with lots of good places to visit, they still have problems like this and people refuse to visit there just by the founded fear of being trapped in a terrorist emergency.
02/25 at 07:42 AM
Fifty years after that dirty Western war ended, Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo fill the headlines, and the Middle East waits for the audience to get out of their seats
02/26 at 02:06 AM
Thanks for that very interesting post, i went there with a friend 5 years ago and it’s like you wrote ! Good souvenirs !
02/27 at 08:36 AM
I am in love with your quality articles! I wish I had time and patience to make my blog like yours.
03/02 at 11:23 PM
i love it
03/02 at 11:24 PM
great article
03/02 at 11:25 PM
keep it up
03/02 at 11:26 PM
hmm Middle East waits for the audience to get out of their seats
03/02 at 11:28 PM
went there with a friend 5 years ago and it’s like you wrote ! Good souvenirs !
03/03 at 08:49 PM
I want to say that Syria is the most Safety country in the world and and Syria is my life
god bless syria
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me too
03/09 at 09:41 AM
It left me speechless. It is very sad to watch on TV the things that are going on there and the people that are loosing the few things that they posses.
03/10 at 09:11 AM
Your blog is great and I love reading your posts , it teaches me so much on the outside world.
03/12 at 07:05 PM
World peace and all people are happy.
03/13 at 05:29 AM
awesome images… I love reading interesting articccles
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03/24 at 12:15 AM
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03/25 at 01:01 PM
This is really awesome work. Much appreciated the way you hav written.
thanks.
03/26 at 02:36 AM
Nice topic, thx for sharing !!
03/26 at 10:13 PM
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03/29 at 11:13 PM
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03/30 at 03:39 AM
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03/31 at 10:01 PM
Nice pics dude. From which location have you taken these pics?
I praise you for photography
03/31 at 11:29 PM
Great idea.I appreciate for the your courage.
04/03 at 03:19 AM
Thanks for sharing your thoughts in that last post. You have a talent for making a hard subject clear to others. I enjoy reading the posts from a guy who has the same flair for explaining things.
04/03 at 08:53 AM
Thanks for that very interesting post, i went there with a friend 5 years ago and it’s like you wrote ! Good souvenirs !
04/03 at 07:53 PM
Very interesting post. Broadening one’s horizons by visiting another country is refreshing and insightful.
04/07 at 04:42 AM
They are some quality pics. Nice one
04/07 at 07:12 PM
Wow,the post was quite impressive.wonderful article just broadening one’s way of thinking.
Thank you
04/08 at 11:30 AM
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04/09 at 08:43 AM
Very moving pictures, Nice work and post
04/10 at 12:15 AM
Awesome.I am speechless.
04/10 at 04:47 AM
Awesome article! It is a pleasant writing.
04/10 at 06:36 PM
Wow, I truly enjoyed reading about your visit. I, too, hope that women’s right in third world countries are given back to them. They do not deserve suffering… no one does.
Except maybe crooked politicians…
:3
04/12 at 10:53 PM
Its simply great, interesting ideas along with eye-catching snaps.
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04/24 at 04:04 AM
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04/24 at 08:27 AM
Great article! Since I’m in the hotel business, I found it interesting to read how hotels in Syria, the tourist industry, and the economy as a whole suffers from the present conflict. Very interesting to read how you always received pleasant treatment by everyone you met, even in the current situation. It’s nice to see these things at a mor personal lever, and not just the politics.
04/30 at 02:21 AM
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