July 15, 2004
Blogs, not bombs, in Baghdad
U.S. News & World Report’s John Leo pens an intriguing article about bloggers posting from Iraq — and the news gap they are filling:
On June 28, Paul Bremer gave a farewell speech as he stepped down as U.S. administrator in Iraq. Some Iraqis, at least, found the talk moving. Ali Fadhil, 34, a resident in pediatrics at a Baghdad hospital, watched it on television with a group in the cafeteria. He said Bremer's words choked up even a onetime supporter of April's Shiite uprising. We have this information about the Bremer speech because Fadhil and his brothers are bloggers who file their own reports on the Internet (iraqthemodel.blogspot.com).
This is a telling story of how the Internet is reshaping the way we receive and digest information. And such a feat never would have been possible under Saddam Hussein’s rule. The Internet and blogging, bulwarks of free speech and press, are serving the same vital duty as the countless newspapers that have sprouted in Iraq since the dictator fell from power: advancing the cause of freedom. It’s a beautiful thing.
— Brady Creel 
| Jul. 15, 2004 | 12:47 AM
| Jul. 15, 2004 | 12:47 AM