"Not many Iraqis actually have access to email, which is controlled by the government. Only government officials, senior public servants, scientists and some academics receive email at all, and Iraqi authorities are now blocking access to the system to stop the spread of the emails. Although Iraq does have internet capabilities, too, the government restricts many sites and blocks foreign email servers."

Thury, "highly restricted and highly monitored" is not "unable". There are literally thousands of web-based email interfaces; if Salaam Pax has a POP3 mail account outside Iraq, and uses a web-based interface to access it, it's unlikely the Iraqi government would notice. If he's got web access and he's reasonably clever, he can get email. So you haven't _proved_ anything.

jleader, no, it's just semantics. They aren't "able" to receive email. They cannot get it.

Thury, I think you're confusing "allowed" to receive email with "able" to receive email. So that doesn't prove anything one way or the other.

Just something to think about:

Yesterday it was revealed on the news, that under Saddam's regime, citizens of Iraq are able to SEND email, but are not able to RECEIVE email. Internet usage is highly restricted and highly monitored. In Raed's blog, he says that he's gotten a ton of email asking if the site is a hoax. Guess he answered the question.

...what the hell are you talking about? Object Oriented Programming? imagination prevails over banal truth ?? Dialectics 101 ??? Wh, wh, wh what?!?

What did you do, wipe your butt on pages ripped from the nearest dictionary?

is the URL address to this blog...does anybody know???

Who knows? Maybe he is real, maybe he isn't. But does it really matter? As long as we don't quote him in the newspaper, I think it really doesn't matter. Because even if this blogger is just a hoax, he does somehow give a human face to the people in Bagdad. On the news we only see tanks, frontlines, reporters talking about battles, but the regular people in bomb shelters 'don't carry microphones. Even if this Salam guy is a hoax, he makes us realize that we are talking about real people here, and not some sort of computer game.

All Akhbar,
Come on, I can not believe that Westerners are so gullible!
If you remember Osama's tape, they were trading fairy-tales sitting around their round-table. Abdullah had this premonition, Hassan had this and so on. You have to understand how those "fantasies" important, how they live the lives of their own, how they interact, how they being referenced, etc. Those who are familiar with concepts of Object Oriented Programming with good old Algebra embedded into the code may understand it easier. If your propaganda wants to be successful, it should be not based on casuality expressed in laconic terms, it should be based on flying carpet stories. This is the case where imagination prevails over banal truth. The guy was certainly a plant and having fun while practising "Western Way" of primitive barbarians which is what they are believing right now you are.

Without the real, the merciless shock-n-awe you won't win their hearts and minds. Dialectics 101.

Okay you idealistic dreamers. The odds of a regualar Iraqi citizen not only accessing the internet, but actually posting blogs remotely critical of Saddam and the regime are slim and none. This person is obviously a plant in an attempt to sway public opinion in favor of stopping the war. Hopefully this link will work, if not look up "internet Cafe in Baghdad" story by ABCnews, it doesn't matter all stories tell of the same situation. Total government control over internet access, information both coming and going. http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/...internet021205.html

Where is Salaam Pax?
I miss him a lot right now...

Edited by author 03-22-2003 04:34 AM
Rings truish, this Salam Pax gentleman - just one tiny whisper of doubt from this morning, when the Iraqi Crisis Report (from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, emailed every day, well worth a look at www.iwpr.net) had a piece from "an iraqi" in Baghdad which was identical - bar some shifting of paragraphs around - to the 21/03/03 0705am posting on Dear_Raed. Who's ripping off who - or is IWPR's anonymous correspondent really salam pax? Any guesses? Haven't been in touch with IWPR to find out, it being the weekend, but interesting nonetheless.

like much else to do with the war the question as to the reality salam paxs location & motives are not completely descernable 'facts'. he has become the ultimate mirror for each to see themselves in.

imo imagining a iraqi disinformation agent with an in depth knowledge of 80 uk indie music is more unlikely than salams real story.

still he does seem almost too good to be true but why not.

Edited by author 03-21-2003 05:58 AM
We're already seeing how the Net and modern-day technology is affecting the presentation of this war. It's making for a surreal experience. Right now, I'm watching MSNBC and they have live footage of an American troop convey moving north into Iraq. The reporter is nonchalantly riding atop a tank recovery vehicle. The satellite transmission was flawless for over 20 minutes. Then there's been live footage of actual combat shown at night, which looks like lossy webcam video. Seeing this stuff is already unbelieveable enough. The pervasiveness of the Net, the imagery of it and ready access to this medium, is clearly influencing this war. So the idea of some Iraqi guy blogging from Baghdad doesn't seem far-fetched in comparison.

Actually, _x, I tend to think of his blog as proof that you can be "anti-war" (which he obviously is, and so much for "liberating" the people of Iraq. . .here's one who doesn't want our favors) without being "anti-American" or "anti-Bush". As someone who opposes the war and is sick and tired of being painted as an America-hater, I certainly welcome this perspective from the other side.

I love my country dearly. . .that's why I don't want it to do fucked up things.