Washington D.C.

I had a lovely wake up call at 5:30am. Lights flashing brightly enough to induce an epileptic seizure and a deafening siren. Fire alarm. I groped for my glasses and they fell on the floor. I desperately felt around on the floor for them and decided that if there is a real fire in the building, I would probably burn to death. I finally turned on a light, found them, grabbed my laptop and purse and shuffled my way down the hall, down 14 floors and outside with the hundreds of other sleepy guests.

The rest of our briefing that day was pretty uneventful.

After our meetings were over, I decided to take a walk and see some of the monuments. From my hotel I walked over to the Washington Monument and then made my way over to the White House as dusk was approaching. I could hear a woman leading some kind of a chant, and realized there was a protest going on. There were very few people around and no media present. I took a couple of pictures as they marched around and decided to investigate. A woman informed me that there is a place in Iraq called Camp Ashraf. According to the pamphlet she gave me, its residents are Iranian dissidents, members of the main opposition movement, the MEK. They have lived there for the past two decades and have been supported by millions of Iraqis. They have been a source of inspiration of the Iranian people who have recently taken to the streets to demand democracy. The Iranian regime is targeting Camp Ashraf because it feels it is the heart of the opposition. On July 28, 2009, Iraqi forces attacked the camp of unarmed civilians, beating and opening fire on residents. Reportedly, 12 died, more than 500 were wounded, and 36 were abducted, including women. The people have been conducting a hunger strike which is currently in day 22. They are asking the U.S government to help the people by sending lawyers and human rights organizations, demand the withdrawal of Iraqi forces, and prosecute those that were responsible for the barbaric assaults.

I left the protesters and took a walk and found a nice French cafe-style restaurant. I ordered the mussels and was shocked when they brought out a huge bowl with about 50 mussels in it. It looked like enough to feed three people! Oh yeah, I ate them all.