Brooklyn to Baghdad, come in Baghdad!

   zzzzzzzzzskweeeeeee ... wooowooowrawr ... eeeeeeeeeeee!
 
   sssshhhhhh... this is the BBCeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzziddit!...
 
...al-qur'aan al-kariim maktuub bi-l-lughah al `arabiyyah...
 
bzzzzttwweeeeee... ''There's a place in France, where the na-ked la-dies dance...''

Ah, here it is. I've recently become aware of this Iraqi guy blogging in English out of Baghdad under the name ''Salam Pax'' -- he is, I gather, from a fairly secularized Muslim family, is obviously well educated and has a job vaguely related to computers that allows him to access the Internet even in these unsure times. Plus, I have this suspicion, yet to be confirmed, that hot dogs make him lose control, if you know what I mean. Gay or not, he is a most worldly fellow, and he offers a perspective on the imminent Yankee invasion that you simply don't get from the Iraqi dissident leaders who've been popping up for interviews in the U.S. and U.K. -- he's anti-Saddam, but appropriately skeptical about America's half-assed Marshall Plan to install democracy once Saddam is in exile or pushing up daisies or whatever. And he appears to take no sides in the anticipated Sunni vs. Shia vs. Kurd ethnic squabbling that is sure to produce ulcers for U.S. military administrators over the next couple of years. Oh, and occasionally he digresses on topics like falafel and glazed tiles and such. So, bookmark Salam today, and send him your good vibrations.

posted by Throbert | 2/25/2003 11:38:00 PM |

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