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Rageh Omaar (Somali: Raage Oomaar, Arabic: راجح عمر‎), (born 19 July 1967) is a Somali-British television news presenter and writer. His latest book Only Half of Me deals with the tensions between these two sides of his identity. He used to be a BBC world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting from Iraq. In September 2006, he moved to a new post at Al Jazeera English, where he currently presents the nightly weekday documentary series Witness.

Early life

Born in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, Rageh is the son of a wealthy businessman from the northwestern region of Somalia. His family is originally from Hargeisa. Rageh moved to Britain when he was two and was educated at two independent schools: the Dragon School in Oxford, Oxfordshire and Cheltenham College in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, before studying Modern History at New College at the University of Oxford.

Journalism

Rageh began his journalistic career as a trainee for The Voice newspaper. In 1991, he moved to Ethiopia where he freelanced as a foreign correspondent, working mainly for the BBC World Service. A year later, he returned to London to work as a producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC. He moved to South Africa after having been appointed the BBC's Africa correspondent. Omaar's wife and children were based there through 2004, and his regular commuting made domestic life difficult.^[1]

His career highlights include reporting live from war-torn Somalia and Iraq.

Coverage of the Iraq invasion

Omaar covered the Iraq invasion for the weekday BBC news bulletins and BBC News. Many of his broadcasts were syndicated across the United States, where the Washington Post labeled him the Scud Stud.

He has written a book about his time as the BBC's Iraq correspondent called Revolution Day. The book deals with the effects of the Saddam Hussein regime, UN sanctions and of the war on Iraqi civilians.

In 2003, Omaar was the recipient of an Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy award for the best TV journalist.^[2]

Regrets over Iraq coverage

Rageh has expressed regret about the way in which he covered the invasion of Iraq during his time as a BBC correspondent: "We ran around, we did pieces on weapons inspectors, Saddam, the regime, and almost nothing about Iraqi people."^[3]

Indeed, Media Lens used part of a Rageh Omaar report on Baghdad falling to US forces (in which they said that he 'all but swooned at the feet of the invading army'), to criticise the pro-war line of the British media:

"In my mind's eye, I often asked myself: what would it be like when I saw the first British or American soldiers, after six years of reporting Iraq? And nothing, nothing, came close to the actual, staggering reaction to seeing American soldiers - young men from Nevada and California - just rolling down in tanks. And they're here with us now in the hotel, in the lifts and the lobbies. It was a moment I'd never, ever prepared myself for."^[4]

Criticism of the BBC

Explaining why he left the BBC, he stated: "I wanted to be an independent journalist who did projects for the people I wanted. I wanted to be free". On being asked if he could have had more influence by staying he replied: "I don't think so. Many people from many backgrounds at the BBC have tried."

Omaar has also referred to the BBC as a "white man's club":

"It's the mentality. I'm in some ways guilty of this - I went to public school, I went to Oxford. I speak at a lot of schools with Somali kids and they say, "How do I become a journalist? We may be from the same community, but I don't have your accent." So it's a class thing rather than about being white necessarily. It's much more subtle."^[3]

Al Jazeera

Omaar is now a Middle Eastern correspondent for the UK Broadcasting Division of Al Jazeera News and hosts his own nightly show called Witness.

Personal life

Family

In 2000, Omaar married Georgiana Rose "Nina" Montgomery-Cuninghame, the daughter of Sir John Montgomery-Cuninghame of Corsehill. The couple live in Chiswick, West London with their three children. Rageh has two siblings, an elder sister Raqiya Omaar who is a human rights lawyer and an older brother Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar who is one of the foreign ministers of Somalia.

Activism

Rageh has not forgotten his roots and maintains close contact with his immediate family, much of which is based in Somalia. He is also known for the activism he voluntarily undertakes for the Somali community, and regularly attends its lectures and events.

Quotations

• May 2006, Interview with The Independent: In the eyes of Rageh Omaar, Western news organisations are perpetrating a "fraud" on their viewers with their misleading coverage of the war in Iraq, the conflict in which he established himself as an internationally-recognised journalist.^[5]
• May 2006, BBC One's This Week: When I reported from Baghdad, I never doubted that the invasion would end in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. What I was sceptical about was what would follow afterwards. There was a honeymoon period, and it lasted 24 hours, during that memorable day when the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down. But that ended the day afterwards, and everything started unravelling from that moment on.^[6]

See also

• Michael Symmons Roberts – author of the book, The Miracles of Jesus, that accompanies the TV series

Other Works

Television

• Race and Intelligence: Science's last taboo. TV documentary for Channel 4 : October 2009.
• Pakistan's War. TV documentary for Al Jazeera English (Mid-Winter Production 2008/09)
• Iran Season. TV documentary for Al Jazeera English : January 2009
• Islam in America. TV documentary for Al Jazeera English : October 2008
• An Islamic History of Europe. TV documentary for BBC Four : August 2005
• The Miracles of Jesus. TV documentary for BBC One : beginning on 6 August 2006
• Rageh Inside Iran. TV documentary for BBC Four
• The Dead Sea Scrolls. TV documentary BBC Four
• Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth, a three part Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, on how immigration has affected Britain, using Enoch Powell's 1968 Rivers of Blood speech as a starting point (7 to 21 April 2008)
• The Vicar of Baghdad. TV documentary ITV1

Books

• Revolution Day: The Real Story of the Battle for Iraq, Penguin Books (2005), ISBN 0-14-101716-3
• Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in Britain, Viking (2006), ISBN 0-670-91509-2

References

External links

• Guardian Interview
• BBC News: Our man in Baghdad
• BBC News: BBC's Rageh Omaar signs book deal
• BBC News: Reporter Rageh Omaar takes new role
• Rageh Omaar to explore Jesus miracles
• Rageh inside Iran from Iranian point of view Interesting Opinions
• Interview with The Stirrer at a book signing "The Stirrer"