Stories about Iraq from February, 2006
Iraq in Crisis – The Optimists Strike Back
As the crisis in Iraq rumbles on bloggers are divided on the whether there is civil war and how bad things really are. For the sake of balance here is the reports of those who are looking for lights at the end of the tunnel. If you want to understand...
Update: Samarra Catastrophe
The developing situation in Iraq is moving too fast and filling more column inches than a roundup can satisfy. Here is a summary of the blog events since Thursday. It is at times like this you can see that blogging comes into its own above other journalism. There is no...
Catastrophe in Samarra
I am devoting my Thursday post on Iraqi blogs to the bombing of the Shia Shrine in Samarra and I hope to cover the rest of the Iraqi Blogs in a later report. The subject is serious enough to dominate the Iraqi weblogs. The Shia shrine in Samarra is one...
Kurdistance:
Wow, another week come and gone so quickly…I guess we better get to business then. A sad week for the Kurdistan Bloggers Union as they call for an official hiatus from their group work for their individual projects. However, not all group blogs are slowing. Roj Bash! has recently started...
Iraq: Samarra Shrine Destroyed
Men dressed as Iraqi police commandos slipped into Samarra‘s shrine of Imam Hasan al-Askari last night, set explosive and blew it up this morning, causing the golden dome to collapse and with it, hopes for a national unity.
Arabic Blogs Dreams
The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogsphere. Some disappointment in blogging and Arab blogsphere is floating around. Here, Tarik Abu Ziad from Jordan writes; Running from forums to fall under the overpower of blog aggregators: كان أحد أهم الأسباب – بالنسبة لي على الأقل –...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Love is in the air this week and even hardened Iraqi bloggers go mushy at the knees on Valentines day. The cartoon controversy has been brewing with more thoughtful comments and Iraq has been dealing with its own controversy – the demon of abuses by British and American troops has...
Kurdistance:
Hello everyone! I'm finally back -and married. The winner of the “GV Kurdish Post Title” contest was Metin from Talk Turkey, and I particularily enjoy the irony that it was a Turkish gentleman that came up with the neatest name for a Kurdish weekly, it just goes to show the...
Iraq: Ashurah
Mohammed of Iraq The Model reports on how the Ashura festival passed in Baghdad: “For many Iraqis, the wheel of time had stopped 14 centuries ago and it seems that it is the past not the present that is more influential in the lives and mentality of many Iraqis.” and...
Iraq: Riverbend Raided
Riverbends neighborhood and home was raided by the police. She provides a detailed account of what happened: “One of them stood with the Klashnikov pointed at us, and the other one began opening cabinets and checking behind doors. We were silent. The only sounds came from my aunt, who was...
Iraq: Childrens Games
Baghdad Treasure is shocked how Iraqi children's games have turned into enactments of the violence seen on the streets of Baghdad: “I remember seeing Yousif imitating a security contractor guarding a convoy and pointing his gun at his friends … Dhuha, his 5-year-old friend imitated a woman scared and running...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
When I agreed to do this column I was thinking – “well this can't be too bad” – “there is a level amount of new stuff posted every week” – “I can handle it”. But I did not account for a full-blown international conflict of cultures that set the Iraqi...
Iraq: Election debate goes on
Riverbend adds her weight to the bloggers debate on the aftermath of the Iraqi elections. She says: “I try not to dwell on the results too much- the fact that Shia religious fundamentalists are currently in power- because when I do, I’m filled with this sort of chill that leaves...
Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere
My normal Wednesday post is late this week because well….I forgot what day it was. It has been one of those weeks. Luckily, it was a quiet week in the Kurdish blogosphere so I feel redeemed. Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes writes about Kurdish judges in the Saddam Hussein trial, anger...
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Making todays post is like mixing a pancake – you have your eggy mess in the middle and you must whisk in the flour a bit at a time or it ends up all lumpy. Lets move on before the Analogy Police get me! This week there is a mixture...
