Whither Salam Pax?
: I’ve received communication from two people who say they know Salam Pax and they ask that he not be found and that his privacy be respected. Of course, his privacy must be respected. If he does not want to be found, he should not be. If he wants to be, he should know that he has the respect of so many of us. But that’s not the point: Praying that he is safe, if he needs help in any way, we bloggers should help him. We helped bring the spotlights to him. We bear some responsibility for his safety. In short and at a minimum: If he wants it and if he needs it, his is a tip jar we should all fill up.
11 responses to “Whither Salam Pax?”
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Whether he wants to be found, whether he wants anonymity or a book deal, I just want to know that he is okay.
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“his is a tip jar we should all fill up”
Unless his family were murderous fedeyeen straight out of Tikrit. Why does everyone assume he was one of the good guys? He always had good connections – and I’m not talking about Internet Service Providers. -
Left additional note below.
They need to establish a National Reconciliation Unit of some kind. Maybe like a committee. It is not constructive to posit that he is one of the ‘bad guys.’ Every country that has gone through this sort of change presents a difficult challenge for the population to try to resolve for themselves. This is not a unique situation in that regard. -
Well, I’m just not seeing it. Sorry, but Salam Pax (“Peace Peace” in Arabic and Latin, respectively) just sounded sour, whiny, and bitchy on his blog. There, I said it. He complained about Saddam, he complained about the U.S., everything sounded like poor-woe-is-me in an unreadable stream-of-consciousness style to boot. I see a lot more bravery and character written on the coalition soldiers’ faces. We are all living in wartime now — I could die, here in Houston, from a deliberate terror attack just as he could be killed, unintentionally and with deep regrets, as a result of coalition forces’ actions to root out the Hussein regime. (Obviously there’s a difference in degree in risk, but I still assert, post 9-11, that we are all living through war.) I’ve sent our soldiers pizza and phone cards, but Salam Pax isn’t getting a second thought from me.
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I’d also like to add, Peace Peace’s Huntington quote irked me. I’ve read the book but remember disgreeing with that sentence. That anyone could suggest a culture in which 50% of the population is degraded from birth through no fault of their own, that anyone could suggest such a culture may possibly be the equal or superior of Western civiilization, just irks me. :)
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Pax is fine! He’s sipping soda in Syria with the rest of the top Iraqi Intelligence brass.
Give me a break. Fill up his tip jar? Hell no! If you couldn’t tell by reading his “blog” that he was Iraqi Intelligence assigned to disuading armed conflict, you’re “blind in both ears.” He’s probably laughing it up with “Baghdad Bob” right now.
Get a grip people, you’ve been schmoozed! -
Hm, well, Eva, you’re entitled to think that but recall first that Iraq is a SECULAR Islamic country, not an ISLAMIST country with shari’a law. Women in Iraq can and do have educations and jobs, and while some wear the traditional chador, others can walk on the street in a dress and make-up. Don’t confuse Iraq with Afghanistan just because Allah is involved.
And I think you’re an ass for claiming that you’re in as much danger in Houston as Salam is in Baghdad. Talk about someone with no clue as to what a totalitarian government is like: you take the cake. But that’s a personal observation.
button’s point about a reconciliation committee, like South Africa’s Truth Commission or similar efforts in some Warsaw Bloc nations.
No, I don’t think his blog at all smelled of the Mukhabarat, who are murderous thugs with bad taste and less clue. It just doesn’t make sense to me that someone would make up a gay Iraqi dissident who was equally pissed at America and Saddam. I do hope we can find out soon. -
I’m with you Jeff! It was a weird feeling wondering, when we started bombing, “Is Salam OK?” Still wondering. I emailed him my long distance calling card info some time back, because I’d love to interview him for my blog documentary. Unfortuantely it bounced back from his full mailbox.
As for Eva… yeah, how can you leave the house there in Houston? What with the war and all. Your hospitals must be overflowing. *shakes head* -
Hey, I didn’t say I was suffering the same risk, I said we’re all at war now. His totalitarian gov’t was about to be removed from power, so that bit didn’t factor in (I really think his gov’t had more things to worry about then a blogger, and doubt they heard about him in the first place).
Second, all I was sayin’ was this: if I want to hear an anomic thirty-something professional being an anomic thirty-something professional, I can listen to any number of people in my own country. Salam Pax has every right to be what he is but it doesn’t make for captivating entertainment. From what I’ve heard Londoners showed a great deal more spirit under the Blitz, and the Blitz of course was several orders of magnitude more lethal to civilians than our bombing of Baghdad. Something more in their spirit would have been more entertaining.
Lastly, my remark about women was made in response to a quote by Samuel Huntington Peace Peace had on his blog template. Huntington is speaking historically about Islam and the West, not about present-day Islamic societies. And historically, yes, the Islamic civilization has degraded half of its population from birth on. Thank god their status is improving. -
Salam’s blog fascinated people all over the world. It’s been my experience that those who have criticized Salam are the type of people who look for the negatives in most everything they encounter. What a way to live. Remove that large pole stuck up your ass and have some fun people.
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Can’t wait for the second post on this one Jeff/Mr. Jarvis, like you did with the few comments in regard to “Operation Iraqi Blogdom.”
A shocking lack of sympathy from the entire right-wing. [sarcasm on about three levels].
I agree with the idea to give the guy money.
I agree, however in hesitation, afraid that by doing so you think I support your childish and non-productive name-calling and arrogance throughout the last couple of weeks [far different from what this site used to be.] Of course, I’m not surprised you were a TV critic. :)
