Your reactions to Baghdad Boy
On Over To You this week, a slight respite from all the gloomy discussions about looming cuts to the World Service. Indeed a welcome reminder of what a jewel the network so often is.
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Firstly we look at your reactions to the two-part documentary series, Baghdad Boy, which looks at the life of 19 year-old Ali Abbas who lost both his arms and many members of his family including his father and his pregnant mother in an unexplained American missile attack on the outskirts of the city in 2003.
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Ali was relocated to the UK for medical treatment where he still lives with his uncle, but presenter Hugh Sykes followed him over on a return trip to his home city.
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It's a moving documentary but among the issues raised by you was the ethics of such a personal portrait - did the questioning become too intrusive? And how typical is Ali of an Iraqi of that age who has suffered in the conflict? We take your points to the programme’s producer Russell Crewe.
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We also interview Ken Richards, a producer from the lifeline broadcast project "Connexion Haiti ", which has just won a prestigious international award.
We ask him why the programmes were so successful in co-ordinating relief for victims of the earthquake and providing an interactive link with people on the ground in its aftermath.
Sadly, with a rising cholera epidemic and the recent hurricane, the conclusion was that if anything, the project needs to be resurrected now.
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And there's even a backhanded compliment for the output of the World Service this week - with some of you praising the replacement programmes - often repeats - during the recent ´óÏó´«Ã½ strike which in particular affected the newsroom.
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So if you care about the World Service, then do join me this weekend for Over To You - and then contribute your comments.
You'll become part of an ever-growing movement....Ìý
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Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You
Over To You is your chance to have your say about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service and its programmes. It airs at 00:40, 03:40 and 12:40 every Sunday (GMT).
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Comment number 1.
At 12th Nov 2010, BluesBerry wrote:My reaction to Baghdad Boy is horror.
This boy, now a young man, lost both his arms and 16 members of his family, including his father & his pregnant mother in an UNEXPLAINED American missile attack which levelled his home.
Executive Producer, Director Ashley Byrne said about Ali's visit to Baghdad that Ali was delighted to be among his loved ones but the 50 degree heat and the fasting for Ramadan will likely make his permanent return to Baghdad impossible.
The most heartbreaking moment: Ali meets Vietnam War survivor Kim Phuc. Kim became known as ‘The Girl In the Picture’ as she ran naked and screaming during a napalm attack in Trang Bang in 1972.
I didn't find the questioning intrusive, unless of course Ali was not given the option of answering. I am grateful for Ali's grace in sharing his personal tragedy.
If this is not a war crime what could be classified as a war crime? Was the boy a combatent, or did the Americans simply call him "collateral damage".
As for Haiti, unfortunately I have not yet seen "Connexion Haiti", but I have seen the pictures of destruction and cholera. If the programs are so successful in co-ordinating relief for victims and providing an interactive link with people on the ground in its aftermath, why are these people still living in tents? Why do they not have clean water? What sort of folow-up is there that donations are reaching the victims?
Resurrecting the project will not insure that anything meaningful actually happens on the ground.
Please don't worry about backhanded compliments. Some people don't even realize there is a world out there that is suffering and dying...or worse, they don't want to know.
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