Alive and well - the radio star helping Iraq to find its voice

From The Observer

This is the kind of story, about the good things in Iraq, that we need more of.

In the studio in a Baghdad compound protected by armed guards, Mudarris presides over a discussion on whether women should be government ministers in Iraq. The Jenni Murray comparison holds out as, with co-presenter Alaa Muhsin, she deals with callers calmly and with good humour.

They call in from Kirkuk in Kurdistan and from Qam on the Syrian border; from the vast sprawling Shia slum of Sadr City; and from Baghdad's wealthiest neighbourhoods.

Largely members of the educated elite, all said their piece - most favouring a strong role for women - and through it all Mudarris charmed her Iraqi listeners, dispensing her views and joking with her listeners.

[...]

"...her reappearance on the airwaves made him 'feel reassured' that at last some things might be going right with Iraq. "

[...]

Callers simply phone in and say what they think, several hundred vying to get on the air each day. Mudarris asks them what kind of future they envisage for Iraq, a question which in the old days would have delivered her to the same fate as her sister-in-law.

[...]

'On 5 May we started a month-long project, asking people what kind of government they wanted,' says Mudarris. 'It was a really new experience for Iraqis - having free access to the media for the first time. For the first time ever I felt Iraqis were speaking freely to me.'

Well worth the read.
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