frontline: roots of terror: email from the field (15 aug)

On Aug. 12, FRONTLINE producer Martin Smith, his co-producer Marcela Gaviria, and cameraman Scott Anger set out on a two-month journey that will take them from London to the Persian Gulf to Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to find out what has become of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, Al Qaeda, since the U.S. launched its war on terrorism. In the weeks ahead, we'll be posting regular email dispatches from Smith and Gaviria as they report back to us on their progress, offering an unprecedented behind-the-scenes perspective on a FRONTLINE documentary in the making. Smith's report will air in mid-November.

A dhow motors down the creek in central Dubai. (photo by Scott Anger)

"Faces at a Dubai Mall"
15 August, Dubai, U.A.E.
from Marcela Gaviria


	For over a decade Gaviria has field produced documentaries for PBS, BBC, National Geographic, and CBS News. Currently working with Martin Smith on FRONTLINE programs, they co-produced "Medicating Kids" and she field produced two post-9/11 reports: "Looking for Answers" and "Saudi Time Bomb?"

We arrive at 6:30 a.m. in Dubai to face 120-degree temperature. After a stressful evening trying to fix a series of mishaps, and then a seven-hour flight, we stumble into our hotel rooms and I fall asleep rather quickly. I get woken up by a Canadian lieutenant who tells me that we will be picked up at midnight and driven to some undisclosed location and then placed on a fast boat that will catch up with the HMCS Algonquin, a Canadian destroyer in the Gulf of Oman.

I'm exhausted, suffering from severe jet lag, heat exhaustion, lack of sleep and too much to do. It may be five or six nights before I get a decent night's rest.

We've spent most of the day at the City Centre Mall looking for clothes for Martin, who has lost his luggage, and for dimmers for Scott. The mall looks like it could be any mall in any American suburb. There is a Starbucks. A Hugo Boss. A Benetton. A Cartier shop. A Blockbuster Video. But the faces at the mall are as diverse as they come -- women fully covered in black veils, Arab men in long white robes with traditional red and white khafiyas, Pakistani men in their shalwar kameez, Western tourists in tiny shorts and tank tops. What strikes me is how clearly defined the social structure seems to be. Filipinos serve food and are salesmen. Pakistanis drive the cabs.

Got to run. The Canadians have arrived in the lobby. Left the blow dryer behind.

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