Wishing all Muslims around the world a happy and blessed Eid Al Adha.

Tent Glimpse

A tiny glimpse of the tent city in downtown Beirut taken with my small camera.

Did Iceland Teen Call Secret White House Phone?

When Vífill Atlason, a 16-year-old high school student from Iceland, decided to call the White House, he could not imagine the kind of publicity it would bring.

Introducing himself as Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the actual president of Iceland, Atlason found what he believed to be President George W. Bush's allegedly secret telephone number and phoned, requesting a private meeting with him.

"I just wanted to talk to him, have a chat, invite him to Iceland and see what he'd say," Vífill told ABC News.

A White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore insisted to ABC News that the young man did not dial the private number but instead dialled 202-456-1414, the main switchboard for the West Wing. But that was not the case. The student gave ABC News the number. It is indeed an extention off the White House switchboard and goes to a security command post office in the building next door to the White House.

Vífill's mother, Harpa Hreinsdottir, a teacher at the local high school, said her son did, in fact, get through to a private phone.

"This was not a switchboard number of any kind," she told ABC News, "it was a secret number at the highest security level."

Vífill claims he was passed on to several people, each of them quizzing him on President Grímsson's date of birth, where he grew up, who his parents were and the date he entered office.

"It was like passing through checkpoints," he said. "But I had Wikipedia and a few other sites open, so it was not so difficult really."

When he finally got through to President Bush's secretary, Vífill alleges he was told to expect a call back from Bush.

"She told me the president was not available at the time, but that she would mark it in his schedule to call me back on Monday evening," he said.

Instead, the police showed up at his home in Akranes, a fishing town about 48 kilometers from Reykjavik, and took him to the local police station, where they questioned the 16-year-old for several hours.

"The police chief said they were under orders from U.S. officials to "find the leak" -- that I had to tell them where I had found the number," he said. "Otherwise, I would be banned from ever entering the United States."

Vífill claims he cannot remember where he got the number.

"I just know I have had it for a few years," he told ABC. "I must have gotten it from a friend when I was about 11 or 12."
Atlason's mother Harpa, who was not home at the time, said she was shocked to find her son had been taken away by the police but could not quite bring herself to be angry with her son.

"He's very resourceful you know," she said. "He has become a bit of a hero in Iceland. Bush is very unpopular here."

Vífill was eventually released into his parent's custody, and no charges have been brought against the high school student.

When ABC verified the number, it was the Secret Service Uniform Division, which handles security for the president.

"If the number were not top secret, why would the police have told me that I will be put on a no-fly list to America?" Vífill asked.

"I don't see how calling the White House is a crime," he added. "But obviously, they took it very seriously."

Calls to the Secret Service press office were not returned.

Refugees Resort to Prostitution

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has definitely not benefited anyone. It has
caused great hardships and adversities for the many Iraqi refugees that
have escaped from worn torn Iraq. The majority of the refugees fled to the
neighboring country of Syria. Many of the men have been killed and left
widowed wives and young children behind. The number of Iraqi refugees in
Syria is an estimated 1.5 million and about 2 million in other countries
in the Middle East.

Violence, inflation, and the absence of government aid have left women
with very few options. There arent very many job opportunitues for
refugess; and especially women. With children to be fed, clothed, and
schooled women have to resort to prostitution in order to keep their
children alive. As little as $8 dollars a day women are compelled to sell
their bodies and souls just to keep a bit of food on the table in fear of
their children starving.

With the exception of Palestinians, refugees are not legally allowed to
have jobs in Syria. Numerous Iraqi refugees are living off their savings,
which are dwindled by daily expenses. Many are marooned in Syria,and few
western embassies are now authorizing visas, claiming that Iraq has
become a liberated country after the fall of Saddam. With the economic
situation worsening for refugees, officials say, “It's no surprise that
Syria is seeing a rise in child exploitation and prostitution”.

The silence surrounding the predicament of prostitution draws attention to
the international community’s failure to recognize the distressing
conditions of Iraqi refugees and provide them with better opportunities
and advantages.

Some of the women, in search of work outside the home for the first time,
and living in a country with a very high unemployment rate, find that
their only profitable way to make money is to resort to prostitution.

The inexpensive cost of prostitution has made Syria a well known place for
sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle East.

There is an estimated 50,000 Iraqi women working as prostitutes in Syria,
but it is not known how many of the prostitutes are children and teenage
girls.

The United States has repeatedly claimed that they have come to Iraq to
liberate and free the Iraqi’s from the tyrant ruler Saddam. But what I
really see in an imperialistic country that has bullied and vandalized
Iraq, caused sectarian violence, robbed the country from its only useful
resource, and have caused almost half of the country’s population to
become refugees.

The women who are 60-65 percent of the Iraqi population are being ignored.
Action needs to be taken to help these neglected women who are suffering
from casualties of war, the loss of their husbands and family, and the
cruel standards of living that they are forced to live as refugees.

The real victims of this chaos are women and children; they are left to
pay the price. I find it quite ironic that women consist of half of the
human race and they are subjected to oppression and degradation. I wonder
if life for women will ever change and become any better.

major quiz

Which College Major Should You Be?
	Your major should be Psychology. You enjoy understanding people, especially if it helps you get their numbers. You can save the books for grad school, right now it's all about field work.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

World Aids Day, December 1

I think it makes sense why those two girls were making a peace sign from their car window yesterday.

Today in your spare time, remember all of those lives lost to HIV and AIDS. You can make a difference in the global fight against HIV and AIDS. World AIDS Day isn't just about one day. With infection rates continuing to rise globally there is a great deal still to do, so get involved.

HIV is one of the biggest social, economic and health challenges in the world. It is a global emergency claiming over 8,000 lives every day. In fact 5 people die of AIDS every minute.

Young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide - around 6,000 become infected with HIV every day.

In 2006, over 4.3 million people acquired HIV, which means there are now over 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS. Despite best efforts from governments, non-profit organizations and healthcare practitioners around the world, HIV and AIDS is still having huge global impact.

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.