Iraqi bloggers speak to the world
: Paul Wolfowitz quotes Iraqi blogger Ali today and notes the importance of this new means of free speech:
After the horrific March 2 bombing that killed 170 at Shi’a shrines in Baghdad and Karbala, one Iraqi had an answer for those in the West who wonder if such tactics can work. His words speak to the horror of the events in Spain last week and in Baghdad on Wednesday.
His name is Ali and his Web log said this about the terrorists and their allies: “They are spitting in the face of the wind.”
One of the interesting developments in post-Saddam Iraq is the appearance of amateur Web sites, where Iraqis are taking advantage of modern technology to give voice to their newfound freedom….
A few weeks ago, after an attack on a police station in Fallujah, when the U.S. offered Iraqi Civil Defense Corpsmen help in subduing the attackers, they said, no thanks – we want to do this job ourselves so people will know we can.
Ali, the Iraqi blogger, put such attacks into a larger perspective: “Some people still wonder what would be the relation between the liberation of Iraq and [the] war on terrorism. I think that the fact that nearly all the terrorists are gathered on our land to fight so fiercely should be more than enough explanation.” He added: “We are . . . showing [other Arabs] what they can achieve once they are free . . . I see these evil powers show their true and ugly face and play their last card – surer than ever that we are winning.”…
Someday, Iraq will be one of these free and prospering nations. As Ali put it so well: “It’s just a matter of time.”
: Well, bravo for Ali and the Iraqi bloggers.
Just this morning, I wrote an email to a magazine editor looking at blogs in that part of the world and I emphasized the power of one person to change the world with blogs.
Hoder did it in Iran. Salam Pax did it in prewar Iraq and Zeyad has been doing it in postwar Iraq, recruiting friends to blog and tell their story to the world.
They have not only told their story to the world. They have told their story to the White House.
Blogs are power.
