Capt. Dr. Ray Wiss Canadian Combat Doctor in Afghanistan

A Line In The Sand. An impassioned insider’s view of the Canadian soldier’s war in Afghanistan and why it matters.

A Line in the Sand takes up where the bestselling FOB Doc left off—this time, with a focus on the Canadian soldier in Afghanistan. What Captain Wiss saw in Afghanistan during his first tour there in 2007–08 convinced him that this conflict was a rare example of a moral war. When the Canadian Forces asked him to return to the combat area, he agreed. Once again, he kept a diary. This time, he wrote something completely different.

The conflict in Afghanistan continues to command the nation’s attention. Written in an accessible and engaging style, A Line in the Sand’s goal is to ensure that the efforts, sacrifices and achievements of those Canadians who served with such distinction are never forgotten. Illustrated with over 50 colour photographs, A Line in the Sand tells us about virtually every kind of soldier fighting in Afghanistan: the bomb technician, the woman who lugs heavy artillery shells, the engineer, the tank driver, the combat medic, the “grunt.” We accompany Dr. Wiss as he treats the casualties of war—Canadian, Afghan (civilian and military) and Taliban. We follow combat patrols through dangerous terrain. We learn about the Afghans, from whom we are seemingly so different yet with whom we share so much.

All profits from A Line in the Sand will be donated to the Military Families Fund, created by former chief of the defence staff General Rick Hillier to assist military families.


Brent Holland Show 2010_10_13 Ray Wiss doc in... by BrentHolland

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have A Dream" Anniversary Special

On August 28 1963 over  200,000 people gathered around the Washington Lincoln Memorial. They came from everywhere across, not only America, but the global village as well. They came to hear words. Words that would express the aspirations of peoples everywhere: freedom and equality. Little did they know that they would get that and also bear witness to one of the most pivotal moments in the history of humanity. After a full day of speeches the crowd was tired form the hot August sun beating down relentlessly on them. But, no one dared leave. For Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had yet to speak.

Dr. King slowly approached the podium with speech in hand. He began as he always did, eloquently with a soothing voice. You see Dr. King spoke to us all, rich, poor, black white as simply human beings for him there was but one race: human. Even when off camera he never sunk into racial slurs. For him, like only a handful before, there was no colour of skin. He was too big for such pettiness. He transcended hate.

Like so often occurred Dr. King went off the prepared text. It was as if a storm of emotion was swelling up from his depths a storm that was being held at bay by the pages in front of him. Finally the storm broke. What came out of his mouth weren't simple clichés and platitudes, what emerged were the foundations of a testament greater than words. In that speech he gave first from  his person, then from his soul and finally from his eternal spirit for at that moment he was one with G-d and it was if the Almighty was speaking through him directly to us.

Since then,  there has never been a time when I hear video or tapes of Dr. King's speeches when I fail to get goose bumps for he has elevated me and perhaps all of us to go forth and achieve more than we ever thought capable of ourselves. But,  he knew, he knew we were capable of that and so much more. Today we all Have A Dream and today in the honour and memory of Dr. King we work to make that dream  a reality. Now and forever.

Reza Kahlili- A Time To Betray

A true story as exhilarating as a great spy thriller, as turbulent as today's headlines from the Middle East, A Time to Betray reveals what no other previous CIA operative's memoir possibly could: the inner workings of the notorious Revolutionary Guards of Iran, as witnessed by an Iranian man inside their ranks who spied for the American government. It is a human story, a chronicle of family and friendships torn apart by a terror-mongering regime, and how the adult choices of three childhood mates during the Islamic Republic yielded divisive and tragic fates. And it is the stunningly courageous account of one man's decades-long commitment to lead a shocking double life informing on the beloved country of his birth, a place that once offered the promise of freedom and enlightenment—but instead ruled by murderous violence and spirit-crushing oppression.

Reza Kahlili grew up in Tehran surrounded by his close-knit family and two spirited boyhood friends. The Iran of his youth allowed Reza to think and act freely, and even indulge a penchant for rebellious pranks in the face of the local mullahs. His political and personal freedoms flourished while he studied computer science at the University of Southern California in the 1970s. But his carefree time in America was cut short with the sudden death of his father, and Reza returned home to find a country on the cusp of change. The revolution of 1979 plunged Iran into a dark age of religious fundamentalism under the Ayatollah Khomeini, and Reza, clinging to the hope of a Persian Renaissance, joined the Revolutionary Guards, an elite force at the beck and call of the Ayatollah. But as Khomeini's tyrannies unfolded, as his fellow countrymen turned on each other, and after the horror he witnessed inside Evin Prison, a shattered and disillusioned Reza returned to America to dangerously become "Wally," a spy for the CIA.

In the wake of an Iranian election that sparked global outrage, at a time when Iran's nuclear program holds the world's anxious attention, the revelations inside A Time to Betray could not be more powerful or timely. Now resigned from his secretive life to reclaim precious time with his loved ones, Reza Kahlili documents scenes from history with heart-wrenching clarity, as he supplies vital information from the Iran-Iraq War, the Marine barracks bombings in Beirut, the catastrophes of Pan Am Flight 103, the scandal of the Iran-Contra affair, and more . . . a chain of incredible events that culminates in a nation's fight for freedom that continues to this very day.

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Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and History at a large high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. In September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University where he earned a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 48 countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns was published in May of 2007. Currently, A Thousand Splendid Suns is published in 40 countries. Khaled has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through The Khaled Hosseini Foundation. The concept for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation was inspired by a trip to Afghanistan Khaled made in 2007 with the UNHCR. He lives in northern California.

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