User:Dhartung/Sandbox/Raed Jarrar

Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-American activist and architect best known for the blog Where is Raed? (later Dear Raed) started by his friend Salam Pax, which became world-famous during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Jarrar was born circa 1978 and raised in Baghdad, although he is Palestinian-Jordanian by birth. and took a degree in architecture from the University of Baghdad. By 2002, he was attending the University of Jordan for an advanced degree, and his friend Salam al-Janabi, a fellow architect, found him slow to respond to e-mail, so began a blog named Where is Raed? to communicate with him, using the pseudonym Salam Pax (the word "peace" in Arabic and Latin, respectively). Raed had co-editing privileges but rarely used them. The blog remained obscure until Pax began actively seeking out other Arabs blogging in English about culture and real life rather than religion. Despite the real dangers, Pax openly spoke of his homosexuality, criticized the Hussein regime, and sparred with media reports about Iraq and the invasion plans. By the time of the invasion, the blog had 20,000 readers a day.

CIVIC
Jarrar met activist Marla Ruzicka a week after the fall of Baghdad, and became her guide and assistant as they worked door-to-door to enumerate civilian casualties for Ruzicka's new NGO, the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC). After Ruzicka was killed in a car bombing, Jarrar took over many of her duties, and was eventually named Country Director for CIVIC in Iraq.

Jarrar also founded Emaar, an NGO that carried out humanitarian work in southern Iraq.

Contested information
Recently Mr. Jarrar has been traveling throughout Iraq claiming to be an engineer and expert on depleted uranium contamination. In this capacity he promotes the theory that Depleted uranium has been responsible for the increase in Cancer rates in Iraq.

Read quickly because this will doubtlessly be deleted soon by Mr. Jarrar or one of his supporters; I would like to set the record straight.

1. Depleted uranium has 40% LESS radiation that naturally occurring Uranium deposits.

2. Depleted Uranium is primarily an Alpha particle source and unless ingested or inhaled, it is harmless. This is because Alpha particles are blocked by almost anything i.e. a sheet of paper, cloathing, dead skin cells in the epidermal layer of the skin.... anything.

3. Depleted Uranium does have a small signature of low energy Gamma radiation that can only be detected with the most sensitive equipment. In fact you are exposed to 30 times more Gamma radiation while standing in the sun for an hour.

4. Depleted Uranium only poses a health risk if it is burning and the fumes are inhaled or particulates are ingested after being burnt.

As for Mr. Jarrar's credentials as an engineer. I find it hard to believe that any engineer in the world would not know such basic information. I myself am not an engineer, but I do have over 20 years of experience in Emergency Services. I am currently working for a western state's Governor's office of Emergency Services as an authority on radiation health as it relates to contamination and dispersal.

Please, when someone says the sky is falling it pays to look for your self.