"Lost" Races in Hollywood

I rarely watch prime-time network shows on television (so I am relatively handicapped in pop-culture knowledge), although I have been reading good reviews of Lost on ABC. To date, I have seen a couple episodes and am rather impressed with the series. However, I couldn't help but notice that the character Sayid, a former member of the Iraqi Replican Guard reserve (portrayed effectively well by the British actor Naveen Andrews), resembles someone from the Indian subcontinent rather than anyone of Arab or Kurdish ancestry. Perhaps that is because his background is Indian, as popularly announced via the Hollywood Desi community in Hollywood Masala, where one of the members posted this greivence:

Yes its quite good. i don't think it is great visibility for Desi performers though. Perhaps if Naveen was playing a DESI (Indian) character then it would be. he is playing a former Iraqi Republican guard reservist in the show. There is a still a long way to go in the eyes of the american public it would seem...

However you will be able to catch Naveen playing a desi (INDIAN) in the upcoming Bride and prejudice.

I agree. Although not as wildly off-kilter as having John Wayne portraying Genghis Khan in The Conqueror, it still does smack of Hollywood's reluctance to adequately portray race, in spite of their platitudes.