This is Wrong!

Little Madeleine McCann has been missing for nearly a month now, of course the media made sure that her disappearance is never out of the news and we all feel sorry for her and her suffering family and wish that she is found safe and sound but .... What her family are doing is completely wrong, I am a parent and Allah forbids if this had happened to me I would never leave my other children out of my sight even if the best world army offers to look after them.

Both parents who are a devout Catholics have travelled to the Vatican for an audience with the pope which is perfectly fine as many people find comfort in religion but what is not fine is leaving their 2 year old twins behind in Portugal with relatives! Why did they leave them behind? they just lost a daughter, this should make them even more attached to the twins, the other day the mother broke people's hearts by saying that her twins asked her about Madeleine as they were missing their sister, well doesn't the mother think that the twins will be asking where their parents are? The parents are planning other trips although I am not sure if the children will be going with them.

Another strange thing this family did was in the second week of the disappearance the father spoke publicly and asked people to donate money to their campaign to find their daughter which is fine but then he went on to say that they need people to donate to pay for the family's extended stay in Portugal, this was said in the second week! The father is a Medical Consultant and the mother a GP, that means they are a high earning couple that can surely afford to pay for their stay an extra week and much longer, I am sure the Portuguese government is helping them plus many British public figures too. sometimes I wonder if they were a poor British family would they had all this publicity and help? would Philip Green (owner of Top Shops) give them his private plane to fly them where ever they want?

The parents should consider themselves lucky that the media so far did not go on about the fact that they left their daughter alone, unsupervised just to go and enjoy a dinner on their own and I know they keep saying that they were only few hundred yards away, the matter of fact is that they left her alone.

It is wrong, the whole thing has gone wrong.

Spring Bank Holiday

I have read in some Libyan blogs how hot it has been in Libya recently, in fact I heard it got up to 47c which is way too hot for this time of year, Allah help all of you there! Here in England we are having a Bank Holiday weekend, so today is public holiday and the weather has been a typical British bank holiday weather, non stop rain, cold, grey & miserable so nothing new here. due to this awful weather not much has been happening except sit at home and allow the kids to get on your nervous, something they are professional at :o) I personally do not like very hot weather but at the same time I hate this miserable weather we are having, of course tomorrow I am back at work and I bet the weather will improve, this happens every time!

Saturday the kids had a day off Arabic school because of teacher training, their mum had to attend the training day so I looked after the kids most of the day.

We went out to a shopping centre (because of the miserable weather of course) at lunch time we had the perfect chicken & chips at Nando's the kids tend to eat their food there without me telling them to eat, they just love it.
They have been asking me to go to the cinema for the past few weeks to watch 'Bridge to Tarabithia' so straight after lunch we went to the cinema which actually had great reclining seats, of course White African's recommendation to watch the film made me look forward to watching it. It was a wonderful film with a hint of fantasy but mainly a drama that would be enjoyed by adults and children and yes it was very sad indeed, in fact I sat in the middle between the kids and I could see both of them wiping their tears quickly in case they are seen!

I asked them afterwards if they cried, they both said no but I know they did :o) although I did enjoy the film a lot usually I do not like weepies or heavy dramas, I think life is so full of problems and that we all have our share that's why I prefer watching an all action film and horror movies, I feel they are more value for money as they cheer me up but a weepie! well not my idea of entertainment, that is why I am not really into all these Arab films/soap operas, too miserable for me and I avoid them at any cost

Walking in the shopping centre we came across a real Chocolate Fountain! This stall was selling skewers of sweets and fruits at £1 each which you then dip in the chocolate fountain, it looked amazing but very gooey at the same time, neither the kids or myself fancied any :oS

No idea what we are going to do today, probably just sit at home and get on with home work and other stuff. wishing you all a good day.

A Blast from the Past!

I just found a Blast from the Past online!, do you remember Watani Al-Akbar nasheed? is it still shown on Libyan TV?

Its been more than 27 years since I saw this video and even then it used to be shown in Black & White but here it is in colour! how old is this song? I think it was made late 50s or early 60s maybe. I was actually pleased to see it again, it is a classic and has some of the most famous Arab singers then.

While watching I actually couldn't stop laughing, keep an eye on the dancers dancing in the back ground especially behind Faida kamel and Warda, what are they doing exactly? :oD

====================================

====================================

The other day I was driving through a well known street in London for selling good quality clothes mainly for women, in fact this street is very well known to Libyan traders that come here to buy clothes from the mainly Turkish & Greek owned shops, there is 1 or 2 shops owned by Libyans as well. As I was waiting for the traffic to move, I noticed this shop called Cinderella on my right and it was not one of the best shops there, it had mainly grubby wedding gowns, then I looked up where they had another display, more grubby wedding gowns but wait, this wedding gown is green! never mind the pink one, I mean green! it looked very revolutionary,

فيلو ثوري lol :o)

Did I hear someone is getting married soon? :oD

Female Drivers vs Male Drivers

Listening to my favourite radio show this morning they mentioned a new research that apparently found the answer to the age old question (well at least since cars were invented) of who are the better drivers, men or women?

Ladies and Gentlemen, the answer is MEN are the better drivers

In my experience of driving in London and I have been driving for many years, I must admit I do find some women drivers very scary! no offence intended to all the lady drivers out there. The problem I find sometimes that when a car ahead of me suddenly stops because they want to turn left or right without indicating I always make a point to see who is driving and on most occasions its a lady driver, another thing many women become very aggressive while driving and I find that its impossible to reason with them if there is a problem, as they will just scream and shout and not give you a chance to say anything, men on the other hand can be a bit calmer I think and women tend to use the driver's mirror quite a lot and for the wrong reasons :o)

I have a friend who's wife is a very nice French lady, because she has a driving licence she tends to do more driving than her husband and on many occasions I had to travel with them while she was driving, those were probably some of the most stressful times I have ever had, her husband & I would be literally screaming while she is driving, checking her face in the mirror and talking non-stop while turning her head to look at me at the back seat! she would be oblivious to other drivers screaming at her to pay attention and as for turning corners she always remembers that she has to turn at the last second without indicating while we are holding on to our dear lives and the car seats.

Of course when it comes to breaking traffic laws I believe men are the worst offenders, its usually men that talk on their mobile phones while driving, its men that jump red traffic lights and its men that dangerously overtake other cars.

====================================

OK, Guess what day it is today?

Yes its National Escargot (Snails) Day.

and no its not for petting snails or for telling them how lovely they are, its a day for eating snails :oS

I have been trying hard to stay away from the food subject but it seems its not that easy. I once was in a restaurant in Malta, a man sitting near by was eating snails, he had this metal tool used to pull the flesh out of the shell, every time he used it, you would hear this sucking squishy sound which made my stomach turn, suddenly the waiter put a plate of snails on my table, I was horrified and could not take my eyes of them, as for their smell it was like rotting socks, really bad, I said to waiter that I did not order any snails to which he replied that it was free with the compliments of the restaurant, I thanked him and told him that I did not want them and to remove them from the table, he said but sir these are our speciality you must try them, I told him that they stunk and that I was feeling sick so please take them away, he did reluctantly. Incidentally at this same restaurant once I tried Octopus with garlic, it was awful :oS

A Conference, A Funeral & A Bad Case of Chickens!

I have been invited to attend a conference to be held by the United Association - Jews of Libya, called: Devoting the Past for a Better Future, I got my invite today, the conference will be held on 31 May & 1 June 2007. a number of guests will be present including some Libyan people I know personally, there will be talks, an exhibition and even musical & theatrical performances by Libyan Jews.

I have met a couple of Libyan Jews before but it was very brief and a long time ago so I am exited and looking forward to this conference which is going to be led by Mr. Raphael Luzon chairman of the UK Jews of Libya.

You can read My Previous Post about Libyan Jews Here

=============================

This morning a colleague at work told me that an old Irish neighbour living next to where I work had died and that her funeral was this afternoon, I really could not remember which one died as so many old people live around where I work. This is a picture of the funeral procession led by the Pallbearer who you can see wearing a black suit and hat. Well RIP old neighbour even though I can not remember you!

===================================

Probably like me you have heard of these monstrous chickens that are bred specially for fast food chains such as KFC but have you ever seen what they look like? Check Besheshentra's blog Here and keep a sick Bucket handy.

If that did not put you off chicken and did not make you sick then look at Loza's blog Here, sick bucket anyone??

Sibling Rivalry

I over heard my kids arguing the other day, my 6 year old son was saying to his 8 year old sister "at least you have better things than me" to which she replied that it is not true and that he has better things than her, he then said to her: "well at least you had a bed when you were a baby, when I was a baby I used to sleep in a dog basket!".

This really made me laugh, when Amir was born we used to live in a 1 bedroom flat and there was no space for a second child bed so we bought him a Moses basket similar to the one in the picture, obviously he has seen pictures of himself sleeping in it and thought it was a dog basket :o)

We all enjoy funny comments but do you have a favourite one?

I myself think most of lebeeya's comments are hilarious but the comment that made me laugh more than any other was actually by White African and it was on her brother's blog, Life of Tabet, in one of his posts he referred to his upcoming 13th birthday (btw happy birthday ya Tabet) by saying the following:

it s nearly my birthday and it would be nice if you could bye me a prezy its on the 20 th of may thank u bye

white African replied with the following comment:

a thousand slaps that would be the perfect present

I found that comment very funny and it did make me laugh a lot, it just shows humour yet its full of sister/brother love and we all have been there with our siblings :o)

Allah bless all brothers and sisters.

=============================

Regarding a previous post about Materfoods Start using Animal Products, I am glad to say that after a lot of pressure from the Vegetarian Society, Masterfoods have changed their mind and decided that only vegetarian products are to be used in the making of their world famous chocolates and have even apologised to vegetarians!

================================

The Cutty Sark, one of London's most impressive heritage sights was badly burnt early this morning, the 137 year ship which was situated in Greenwich and is a main tourists attraction in that area has been badly damaged in a fire in what the police believe may have been started deliberately.

Luckily many of the ships parts were removed earlier for restoration work.

The Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark burning this morning

For more pictures of the beautiful Cutty Sark click Here

Wembley Stadium Officially Open

After 7 years of quiet traffic, Saturday saw the traffic jams come back to North West London, Wembley Stadium was officially opened by Prince William and played a host to the FA Cup final between Chelsea & Manchester United, of course I supported Chelsea because its a London team and they did win the cup 1 - 0 (sorry White African better luck next time).

The opening ceremony before the game was great, the English soprano Leslie Garrett sang but the sound was not great on TV, they then announced that the Red Arrows were going to pass over the stadium so I got my camera ready since I live quite close to Wembley stadium but I forgot that they do fly faster than the speed of sound so as soon as I heard them flying above I ran outside but all I could see was the trail of the coloured smoke they left behind so I borrowed this picture from the Internet.

Before the game started, a video appealing for help in finding the missing 4 year old Madeleine McCann was shown and watched by million of people around the world. Madeleine has been missing in Portugal for over 2 weeks now. All around us they have implemented this Wembley parking restriction zone which only applies when ever an event takes place at the stadium, parking is banned from 8am until midnight unless you have a permit, for the first time near my house I saw many cars with Penalty Charge Notices stuck on their windscreens, poor people!

There will not be another football match at wembley for a while but they have other activities planned for this summer including a concert by George Michael, American football match and the Princess Diana concert on the 10th anniversary of her death.

Although the stadium has already brought unwanted traffic and crowds to the area but still its a magnificent structure that is world famous and we are proud to have it.

Toilet Tissues (I meant Issues)

Apparently there is a market for customised toilet tissues to keep you entertained while you are busy :o)

Here is a selection of what I found, I could think of few more designs/pictures but I think I need to order them in case they are not available :o)

Good message!
Sudoku for hours of entertainment that's what I call recycling :o)

This is a present from ibeebarbie (Thank you ) :o)

no wonder he is there!

he had to be there



can you think of someone else??

too expensive even for him


too big perhaps??


NO WAY !!

The ultimate entertainment toilet seat

I have seen this before but it is very bad for the fish as every time the toilet is flushed, clean water full of chlorine enters the fish tank, it is poisonous for the fish (incidentally I am a Fish Keeper with many years of experience).

Finally, thank you Ema for this picture :o)

Nakba Day - يوم النكبة

Today is the 59th Nakba Day يوم النكبة anniversary, lets give a thought to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people who on this day either fled or were forced to leave their villages and became refugees who to this day are still living in conditions that can only be described as inhuman.

Palestinian people fleeing their villages in 1948

Refugee camp in 1948

Materfoods Start using Animal Products!

Some bad news for chocoholics who only eat Halal food. Masterfoods the company that makes some of the world's best loved chocolates is to add animal product rennet to make its chocolate, most of the famous brands will have rennet (Rennet, a chemical sourced from calves' stomachs, is used in the production of whey) including: Mars, Snickers, Twix, Bounty & Maltesers. The Vegetarian society has condemned the change and issued this statement "At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods' decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step," .

I am not sure what they will do with products that are exported to Muslim countries, I suppose they will use Halal rennet.

So if you only eat Halal food then this will be a blow to you, otherwise if you eat non halal (in the West) beef & chicken just say Besmellah and enjoy your treat :o)

Of course by non halal, I meant in people of the book countries (Christian & Jewish) so please no fatwas :o).

Since many bloggers are still enjoying blogging about food, here is a picture of my breakfast this morning which I had in the office: home made Spinach Pastry, they were 3 but I ate one before I remembered to take a picture :o)

Finally I met 2 Bloggers

I was contacted by mani few days ago asking me if I wanted to meet up with him and a_akak (Ahmed), he told me he was coming to London from Brighton at about 11 in the morning today Saturday, of course I was happy to meet them and told mani that I would drive to Victoria Station to meet him & Ahmed after I drop the kids at their Arabic Saturday school. Mani had to catch another coach to Birmingham at 2:00pm.

I got a call from mani as I was driving into the station, I told him to wait for me, I parked my car and phoned him to check where he was, he kept saying that he was outside Sainsburys and I said that I was outside Sainsburys too but still we couldn't see each other, then I saw him, very tall MashaAllah dressed smartly and his face beaming with a huge smile :o)

This is my first sighting of mani

Ahmed phoned him and said that he was outside the main station entrance, we walked over and there was Ahmed waiting looking as smart as usual.

We walked inside the station and found a cafe, Ahmed got us coffee and we sat and chatted for nearly 1 1/2 hours, since we didn't have a long time before mani's coach we decided to go for a quick lunch, it had been few years since I have been to Victoria but mani was an expert and knew where to go.

We went to an Italian restaurant near the coach stop, we kept asking the staff there if they were open as it was completely empty, we had Pizza and the discussion continued, Ahmed and I demolished our Pizzas while mani was doing what he is best at, Talking :o)

We both kept reminding him to eat his untouched Pizza, he eventually had some but was of course looking forward to going back to Birmingham and his mum's cooking.

mani talking

I have found both Ahmed & mani very friendly and very down to earth very well educated young men, it was my pleasure to meet them both, I really enjoyed the 3 hours I spent with them and we talked about all sort of interesting things, I am looking forward to meeting them again soon InshaAllah.

mani delivered safely to the coach just to find out that he couldn't find his ticket, the driver told him that it was leaving in 60 seconds, after a frantic search of his pockets he found the ticket and was on his way. May Allah bless them both for a lovely afternoon in London.

Occupation 101

Occupation 101 is a documentary about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the film presents itself as the "voice of a silenced majority" and "The Re-education of America Project".

The film has recieved several awards during its run in various film festivals including:

Winner of the "Golden Palm" Award (highest honour given by jury) and for "Best Editing" at the 2007 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

Winner of the 2006 Artivist Best Feature Film Award under the category of Human Rights.

Best of all this film/documentary was made by 2 Libyan brothers: Sufyan Omeish & Abdallah Omeish (سفيان عميش و عبدالله عميش) .

It will go under general release on the 15th of May.
I am embedding a 26 minutes trailer of this documentary, the original lasts for 85 minutes, best of luck to the Libyan brothers inshaAllah, they need it with a film like this in Hollywood.

Update:

For Al-Jazeera TV interview with the brothers Omeish (in Arabic) click here

For an interview with the brothers Omeish on American Radio (Annie Armen Show) click here

For more information and how to buy this film, go to their main website, Occupation 101

A Bit of Fun :o)

I spent most of Monday with my 6 year old son as his sister and mother had their own things to do, as usual it was a pleasure and a happy day for both of us, Amir enjoys being with me more than anything else, even his bad eating habits improve when he is with me because he just wants me to be happy with him :o)

We went to the park so that he can have some fun and exercise, they had installed some new toys in the kids play ground, one of them reminded me of Libyan food straight away (yes I know that Libyan food is the main subject in many blogs at the moment) well this toy looked like an over size Libyan Gas3a (big serving dish)

here is Amir served on a Gas3a :o)

Staying on the subject of food, I thought I would show you what we had for breakfast which was really nice especially served with some honey:

home made sfinz

Now, if you want a guaranteed laugh then all you have to do is visit Life of Tabet's blog, Tabet is White African's 12 (nearly 13) years old brother, many of you are probably familiar with Tabet from white african's wonderful Haj Diary. OK now for that guaranteed laugh click HERE :oD

To welcome our new young blogger, Tabet, I am posting some funny pictures which I hope he likes and can copy and keep and I wish him success in his school and InshaAllah a lot of happiness, health and long life.

Leebeya, Take your pick :o)

Update:

Just to prove to Lebeeya that adults can fit in that gas3a thingy! here is a very tall man playing with it, bless :o)

A British Nightmare in Portugal

The main headline news in Britain in the last few days is the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

Madeline who is a 3 year old British girl, went to Portugal for a holiday with her parents and 2 year old twin brother & sister, Sean and Amelie, they stayed at an apartment in a holiday village in Al Garve.

One night after the children went to sleep, the parents went out to eat at a restaurant which is few hundred yards away from the apartment where their children were sleeping and they said that they were checking on their children every half an hour.

Upon the parents return that night they found the door to the apartment open, Madeline was missing, the twins and everything else untouched, the police were informed who eventually confirmed that Madeline was abducted from her bed and that they are following a suspect. now 3 days on from this nightmare the police are not sure if even Madeline is still alive, her heart broken family have made many pleads for her safe return this is being the latest "Please do not scare her. Please let us know where to find Madeleine or put her in a place of safety".

While I do feel very sorry for her parents and I can not even claim to know what they are going true, I still cant understand why they trusted where they were staying and left their children on their own? they were in a foreign land away from their familiar environment, this is not an ideal world and it has been proven that even if you check every 30 minutes on your kids there still is a monster lurking somewhere, a monster that took beautiful little Madeline away. it is a cruel world, do not let your children out of your sight if you are away from home, not even for a minute, they are our responsibility.

I have watched the pain of the McCann family and would not wish it on anyone, I do hope InshaAllah that the little girl is found safely and that this nightmare ends on a happier note.

Video Nasties!!

Today is Bank Holiday (public holiday) here in the UK so no work but as usual I am up early as if I have to go to work, the weather hasn't been that great and today is predicted to be rain and more rain.

Yesterday on a main Arabic news website I read an article about Duaa Khalil Aswad, the poor Yazidi Kurdish Iraqi girl that converted to Islam and then was tricked by members of her Yazidi community into returning to her village, as soon as she got there a mob of heartless men were waiting for her and they stoned the 18 year old to death while many were filming this crime with mobile phones, the local police witnessed the killing and did not intervene, no one did, this girl was treated worse than an animal, her murder is now plastered all over the Internet.
What I found really sick about this crime and I am not talking religion here as this has been well written about by others, my concern is the fact that it was filmed and loaded into the Internet for anyone to see, I know that this is part of having the Internet but you should read some of the comments sent to the Arab website about this appalling murder.

There were many comments, all of them condemned the crime but many of them were like the following:

One man said, may Allah be kind to her soul, can any one please send me the video? !!

Another, I watched this video and it really is disturbing and had scared me for life, here is a link if you want to watch it xxxxxxxxx

ولا تحسبن الذين قتلو فى سبيل الله امواتا بل احياء عند ربهم يرزقون (حسبى الله ونعم الوكيل) شهيده انشاء الله شهيده انها لو صح قتلت من اجل الاسلام (فجنات عدن تجرى من تحتها الانهار) اتقو يوما ترجعون فيه الى الله صدق الله العظيم حوش يا رب حوش ناس مبيرحموش وشكرا وياريت تبعتولى المقطع على الايميل بتاعى xxxxxxxxx

another: It’s very appalling image and inhuman act by this group of (people), it’s distressful and shocking I could not watch it all but any one who want to see it click or copy and paste the like below: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

لمشاهدة المقطع وادعو لها بالرحمة xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

and the comments go on and on with many posting links to this video. Why would people appalled by this crime want to watch it?

Why would people appalled & sickened by this crime want others to watch it by posting links?

I know that many would be curious to watch this murder but the majority could not and would not watch it but if they are bombarded by links many might weaken and be tempted to just have a peek that I am sure would make them regret their decision.

And as for the popular Arab news website that actually published all of these links, it just proved it would do anything for publicity.

May Allah bless Duaa's soul and May Allah give us all Hedaya.

How Time Flies By!

Is it only me or have you noticed how time flies by as well? I always get this feeling every Friday morning because its the day I drive my work colleagues to and from the mosque for the Friday prayers, it just feels like I did this few days ago not a week ago! as one of my friends here said to me "we have aged a week since then" it does make you think that our time on this earth is limited and every day that goes by is a day from our time here and it does make you think have I done well? have I given my duties to God? no one is perfect of course but it is good to try our best to give & take and be good law abiding God fearing citizens. We might not leave a big mark on this earth but that is not a bad thing as some people are always remembered for their bad deeds. Another Friday another day in our life to be thankful for the good & the bad things that Allah willed us to have, Always say Alhamdulellah (Thank Allah) for there always is someone that has more problems than you, as the English say "always look on the bright side of life" and if you have no problems and lead a good fulfilled life, do not forget to thank God, if you loose all you have its no good remembering God then if you have forgotten him when you had everything.

Today is my blog's first anniversary. I cant believe how time went by so quick! I have had support and encouragement from many bloggers without whom I probably would have stopped blogging long time ago. In all of you I have gained a blogging family, I have learnt a lot from you and I have developed more connection with Libya & Libyans and many other nationalities.

Thank you each and everyone of you and lets hope that I am still here next year InshaAllah :o)

To celebrate this occasion, I have posted this picture taken few months ago of baby Ahmed Omar El-Houni (May Allah Bless him), the son of a dear friend of mine and probably the youngest Anglo-Libyan in London :o)

For you who are wondering who 3amu (Uncle) Nasser that is posing in the picture with Ahmed is...........

Yes, it is me :o)

Chinese Kebabs!

Following on from my previous post about fast food and the comments I got about Libyan Kebabs, I thought I would share these Chinese Kebabs with you, I hope your appetite doesn't get affected though :o)

Fresh Kebabs!

these look very juicy

Rats are skinned and scrubbed

chopped up and ready for the pan


Fried Rats anyone?

Goes to show that people all over the world have different habits and different appetites, what is disgusting to us is a delicacy to others and vice versa.

Adverts Vs Reality!

Have you ever been to a fast food chain and ordered something to eat because it looked great on TV or in the picture then felt really cheated when your order arrived?
Yes it happened to me many times and at the biggest joints.

I want a Healthy Tacosalad please

here you go!

Can I have a Taco Bell Belgrande ?

is this what I ordred?

mmmmmmmm Big Mac


yuuuuuuuuuuk Big Mac!

Fillet of Fish ?



Whats this?

Breakfast Muffin ?

No Thanks!

The good old Whopper anyone?

its old alright!

Subway to go ?

more like Sub Zero!

What is the Real Number of Libya's Aids Cases?

On an older post of mine (October 2006) about the Libyan Aids Children, I posted a video made by Mickey Grant called INJECTION, the maker of this video, Mickey Grant had put a comment on my post that I over looked, what I find really scary if true, is his claim that there are many more Aids victims in Libya than what we are led to believe, he claims that there are an estimated 100,000 Aids cases in Libya, I will leave you with his comment and hope InshaAllah that his claim is wrong:

"I appreciate any comments regarding my film and like to respond to some of them, both good ones and bad.I have a hard time understanding why Azizi thought my findings were inconsistant with the overall problem I addressed which has to do with safe health care in Africa. When I started this film I knew nothing about the case of the children in Libya. I needed a case study for my film. Many of the experts who were supporting the theory of the safe health care problem to be more than the 2-5% which the WHO insist it is were very well versed on HIV outbreaks in the past such as one in Russia. I decided to approach the problem in Libya as it was a very active story. It appeared the outbreak was mostly from syringe reuse. As stated in the film, the WHO actually investigated prior to the nurses being arrested and concluded this was the case. Libya asked the WHO to make the report secret which they did. Therefore, I don't think there is much inconsistence between my findings and the WHO. Next the Libyan authorities started arresting many different medical workers from different countries. These workers had no idea what potential charges were going to be made against them. Eventually they arrested Kristiana who tells much of the story of her arrest in my film. She had bags of blood for transfussions in her refrigerator. You have to understand that the nurses and doctors in Libya often have to buy medical supplies on the black market. The refrigeration unit in Kristiana's clinic didn't work, that's why they were in her refrigerator. What is even more amazing, she didn't even work at the children's hospital. Later the Libyan authorities would state that these bags contained the deadly HIV which had been given to them by "John the English." It was also over a year before the nurses were told of their charges. I did try to look at the evidence the Libyans used and that's why I interviewed the lawyer of the nurses. I went to Libya and tried with an open mind to interview people but that's impossible as Libya is a totalitarian state under kaddafi. Next to no journalist I know of has ever been allowed to do real interviews with the families of the children. I went to Rome where many of the children were being treated for that purpose and I found that the only way the families could participate in an interview was if a Libyan Agent was present and they were too scared to do that. Since I wasn't allowed to do any interviews in Libya I then searched for a nurse who had worked in Benghazi. It took me a year. She verified the problem of not having medical supplies such as syringes. Also, she verified that the nurses had complained from the start about having to reuse syringes 50 or more times. The Libyan authorities threatened them if they continued to complain. The Libyan authorities were fully aware of these bad practices. In fact, even the WHO told them. There is not a "big question mark" as Azizi puts it. kaddafi is a micro-manager in his dictatorial style. There is no question that he had an awareness of what he was doing. When doing an investigation such as this one, it is not only the scientific person such as Dr. Colizzi that counts, it's also the eye witnesses which included this nurse and the WHO.

Mr. Azizi also attacked the human rights activist in my film as unknown. Rick Halperin is on the board of Amnesty International. Nearly every year Libya under kaddafi Libya is one of the greatest violators of human rights.

Mr. Azizi also says that pointing the finger at someone will not do any good. Well, someone is responsible for this tragedy. Pointing the finger at that someone will help prevent this tragedy from being repeated some day. I say some day because the HIV outbreak in Libya is enormous compared to the approximately 3,000 cases that Libya says exist. There are other hospitals in Libya with the same type of outbreak and are unknow to the public and likely to the patients. Remember, this is a country that asked the WHO to classify the true report that indicated that the over 400 children got HIV from unsafe health practices (not a CIA plot lead by the nurses}. I personally would estimate the outbreak in Libya to be over 100,000 cases. kaddafi is a man who does not want to deal with the truth, that's why he had the WHO report classified. The Bulgarian attorney discovered intelligence about the other outbreaks and the court questioned him for hours as to who told him. This is serious stuff. I believe the entire reason for blaming the nurses is a cover-up to prevent the Libyan population from discovering how bad their health care situation has been and currently is.

My efforts in making the film ultimately are focused on the Libyan children but not only the childen in Benghazi. Likely thousands of Libyan children have HIV and kaddafi has made this knowledge "classified" just as he did in the WHO report. I spent a great deal of time focusing on the nurses as it's critical to realize the truth, that they did not do this rediculously invented story of a CIA plot. The reason I first interviewed the families of the nurses and their former instructors and co-workers is that I wanted to find out if they were the kind of people who could do the horrible thing the court accused them of in the first place.

When I started this film project I had no bias for or against kaddafi. Now, I do have bias after all the discoveries I made. I purposely don't capitalize his name so as to add insult to this killer. He is the one who should have been sentenced to death. He is the one who killed the Libyan children. There are no fair courts in Libya. He controls everything. I'll never forget when I was asked in Libya not to say his name but refer to him as "the leader." What an ego. I believe that even this very day likely several more Libyan now have HIV as a result of the medical practices created by his rule. When it comes to the lives of these children, I'm sorry, but I get very direct and strong with my words.