50 Days in the East Coast

Thank you, my dear friends. Because of you, I spent fantastic 50 days in New York, Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia with very useful discussions on Iraq, the Middle East, the Trump administration, Islamophobia, China, art and other topics.

Thank you, Jonathan Hollander, president of Battery Dance, Atheer Kakan, Washington correspondent at Anadolu News Agency, Samantha Graebner and Dr. Thomas Renahan, co-editor of Daesh Daily for your hospitality, generosity, trust and for opening your homes to me.

Thank you, Jonathan Hollander, for inviting me to read the “rain song” poem by Badr Shaker al-Sayab at the opening performance of Battery Dance Festival this year and for the long discussions on countering Islamophobia. Congratulation to Dr. Thomas Renahan for publishing your new book “The Struggle For Iraq: A View From The Ground Up”.

Thank you for dozens of lunch, dinner, coffee, drink and snacks invitations. Thank you Todd Katz, expert in antiques, Christopher Lai, who just came back from Shanghai for all the enlightening discussions on China and its role in the world, Hussein Smko, fellow at Battery Dance, Stoian Razvan, dancer at Battery Dance, Jayati Vora, managing editor at the Investigative Fund of The Nation Institute for the institute’s support and trust and Emad M Salem, vice president at Battery Dance and Tina Kaiser, vice president at APCO Worldwide for inviting me to talk at APCO on the media and Iraq and the Trump administration.

Thank you poet Kadhim al-Waeli, Mohammed Shannun, the expert on immigration, retired brigadier general Ismael Alsodani, Dr. Abbas Kadhim, the senior fellow at Jones Hopkins University for inviting me to your talk show “DC Café” and for all the great discussions on the US-Iraqi relations.

Thank you, Colonel Joel L Garrison, inspector general at the US army for sharing your thesis on criminal insurgent groups, Dr. Emma Briant for the conversation on your new book on the post Saddam media operations, Hussein Jradi, presenter at al-Hurra TV, Judge Radhi Al Radhi, scholar Nibras Kazimi, Hussein Sameer, charge de affair of the Iraqi military attaché in DC for all the important talks on Iraq and Lebanon and congratulations Khairy Makhzoomi for a well deserved scholarship at Georgetown University.

Thank you Richard Oppel, reporter at The New York Times’ national desk, James Glanz, reporter at The New York Times’ investigative desk, Ali Rawaf, producer at 60 Minutes at CBS, Peter Canby, senior editor at The New Yorker for the nice tour at The New Yorker in 1 World Trade Center, Steve Monosson, vice president at Ed Tristram Associates, Larry Jaffee, professor of journalism at NYIT, Fadi Khoury, artistic director of FJK Dance, Mara M. Hanna, former US diplomat in Iraq and Jessica Ong.

It is really a great honor to be your friend.

And finally, happy Eid to everyone!