IRAQI BLOGGERS... BETTER THAN THE MEDIA
The Beauty of Free Speech in Action

Great article and great blogs, so check them out!

Iraqis enjoy new freedom of expression on Web journals

By César G. Soriano
USA TODAY
April 20, 2004

BAGHDAD — A year ago, few Iraqis had ever had access to a computer, much less used it to communicate to the outside world. Now, Internet cafes seemingly dot every block in Baghdad, and new ones open often. That has led to a new phenomenon here: bloggers.

"We suffered for years under Saddam Hussein, not being able to speak out," says Omar Fadhil, 24, a dentist. "Now, you can make your voice heard around the world."

Hence, the blog. Short for "web log," a blog is a diary or journal posted on the Internet for all the world to read. E-mails can be sent to the blog, so it's also interactive.

Salam Pax's blog made him something of an international celebrity. Pax, the pseudonym of an Iraqi architect and translator, launched his blog in June 2002 as a way to correspond with his friend Raed Jarrar in Amman. What started as an e-mail exchange became one of the most gripping war diaries of the Internet age. Pax's journal describes the emotional pain caused by the U.S. military's attack on Baghdad a year ago.

His blog, dear_raed.blogspot.com, has been published as a book, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi. Pax, whose blog is among the most visited Iraqi sites, could not be reached for comment.

Fadhil's blog, iraqthemodel.blogspot.com, tells of his life and the lives of his two brothers. One brother also is a dentist, and the other is a pediatrician. "We wanted to help bridge the gap, not just between the U.S. and Iraq, but with the entire Islamic world," says Ali Fadhil, 34, the pediatrician. "The media is always taking a look at the bad stuff. We want to show the good progress in Iraq."

The brothers' blog is written with an unusually pro-American viewpoint, especially coming from three Sunni Muslims. Sunnis — among them, Saddam Hussein — dominated Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim population before the war.

"We get threatening e-mails from Palestinians and Arab-Americans who write, 'You are traitors. If I were in Iraq, I would shoot you,' " Ali says. Other e-mails accuse the brothers of being CIA agents who are writing from Washington, "as if the CIA didn't have anything better to do than run a blog," he says.

"My ideas are very shocking to people," Ali says. "I tell people I am a friend of America, a friend of Israel. Some of my colleagues at the hospital think I am an infidel. It's impossible to change a man's mind, but you can only make him consider other alternatives." (full article)