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January 05, 2004

Weblogs Are Changing the World.

For people in other countries to be able to click on a blog like Iraq the Model and read the actual thoughts of an Iraqi today, is unprecedented.

I came back to Baghdad yesterday, this time our visit was different from the previous ones, this time we had to visit suburbs, villages and small towns around the center a Basra, (some are even far) like the small town that I’ll be working in.

The situation there is quite different from what we saw (and described) in the center of Basra; the streets are all mud, the water supplies are insufficient (in quality and quantity)so that some people depend on the river to get water.

The sewage system is incomplete, garbage is everywhere, communications are difficult, the people are simple and peaceful but are really poor, the whole town looked like ruins. In other words; people there are still living in the 18th. Century.

These areas seemed to be suffering from neglect for decades, and one would think that the government might be unaware of the presence of this town, but this is not true. Those towns and villages were not only isolated from the rest of the world , but from the rest of Iraq as well.

Those people were being abandoned (on purpose) and punished by orders of the dictator, and this applies also to many other areas all over Iraq.

Also from this blog:

Snap shots from Iraq.

:: the terrorists tried to disturb the normal function of schools and distributed letters carrying the signature of terror, and planted their bombs here and there but, kids love to school was stronger than that.

:: the new year eve explosion in one of Baghdad’s restaurants proves that the terrorists hate to see people happy and joyful, even those for whom happiness was forbidden for decades….

:: the old currency almost disappeared from exchange in the local markets with no considerable complications. ...

:: an Iraqi citizen offers to establish a school for TIKE WON DO in Basra, and pays the expenses for sending the Iraqi national team to the world championship.

The sense that we all belong to this land is growing after it was owned by a group of criminals and thieves.

So the changeover to new currency took place with little or no complications. I haven’t seen that covered by the major media yet.

I like the blog Iraq at a Glance too; however, it seems to be down at the moment.

Jeff Jarvis covers the Iraqi weblogs in detail. In his blogroll, scroll to the section titled “B-Roll: Middle East” for more Iraqi weblogs.

Update: Iraq at a Glance is back up. Read it and see how he’s rejoicing in the new Iraq. Hey, maybe they ought to rename the country New Iraq.