Hey folks — thought I should share my interest in a few Iraqi blogs that I found out about in the NY Times today — I’m sure some of you have seen the article already — but it talks about the sites being perhaps some sort of covert effort on the CIA’s part to uncover folks up to no good — anyway — of course I read that and went straight to check out what the sites were all about… actually very very interesting… there is link after link into a huge network of information straight out of the heart of the region — from soldiers and folks living there — from pictures off the streets of election posters to personal stories and political rants…

Anyway — the most interesting jumping-off-point blog for me was the Iraqi Blogger’s Central:

http://jarrarsupariver.blogspot.com

From there are many interesting sites about the situation right now, and about the way folks are thinking there — things we can’t find very well in the media — and there are both sides pretty heavily represented — soldier blogs and such as well as political blogs from this country and from over there…

I know very little about Iraqi folks, but have spent a lot of time in the middle east, mostly in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, in Palestine — and I know to some extent that the media coverage really hits different things than are part of daily life — even with the bullets flying, there is a different reality going on — and it is important, and vital for us as citizens of the world, and especially now, as occupiers, who really have our dollars and our kids in this part of the world — it is important that we hear what the real situation is like…

One really interesting offshoot from this little blog search I undertook was a site by a woman in Texas, who married a man down there, and writes as an Iraqi Christian woman about the situation — and about the feelings she has from this country about the Iraqi situation (her biography is very interesting…) Her blog is at:

http://fayrouz.blogspot.com/

Goodnight, friends. It is much too late.