Pro-American Iraqi blog provokes intrigue, outrage

[Dover]

Pro-American Iraqi blog provokes intrigue, outrage

By SARAH BOXER
2005 New York Times News Service


When I telephoned a man named Ali Fadhil in Baghdad last week, I wondered who might answer. A CIA operative? An American posing as an Iraqi? Someone paid by the Defense Department to support the war? Or simply an Iraqi with some mixed feelings about the American presence in Iraq? Until he picked up the phone, he was just a ghost on the Internet.

The mystery began last month when I went online to see what Iraqis think about the war and the Jan. 30 national election. I stumbled into an ideological snake pit. Out of a list of 28 Iraqi blogs in English at a site called Iraqi Bloggers Central, I clicked on Iraq the Model because it promised three blogging brothers in one, Omar, Mohammed and Ali.

It delivered more than that. The blog, which is quite upbeat about the American presence in Iraq, had provoked a deluge of intrigue and vitriol. People posting messages on an American Web site called Martini Republic accused the three bloggers of working for the CIA, of being American puppets, of not being Iraqis and even of not existing at all.

Then abruptly, at the end of last month, Ali quit the blog without telling his brothers while they were in the United States attending a blogging conference at Harvard and taking part in a tour sponsored by Spirit of America, a nongovernmental group founded after Sept. 11, 2001, that describes itself as "advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad." ..cont'd

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/2997286

[Just Me]

1. Very interesting article, Dover. Thanks!!! eom

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Ms. Clio]

3. Yeah, one blog financed by "private donations"

And all looks right with the Iraqi world.

So I have this bridge....

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[Ms. Clio]

7. I don't think all the other bloggers

Do much traveling in the U.S. or "just happen" to get a meeting with Bush.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Ms. Clio]

10. You're funny

Buh-bye, now.

[madrchsod]

5. the only one i read is" riverbend"

she seems to be on the up and up and she has the right e-mail address..

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Ms. Clio]

9. Where is your evidence that Riverbend is Syrian?

That's a really disgusting thing to say.

[livinginphotographs]

11. She's not Syrian.

The RW likes to accuse riverbend of not being Iraqi, or even existing. I've heard watched that debunked so many times that I can't believe people still bring it up.

[Ms. Clio]

12. And funny, we have a brand new person spreading RW BS here

What are the odds?

[livinginphotographs]

13. I'm shocked I tell ya.

Shocked and appalled!

[AuntiBush]

16. Clearly...

It is odd. Agree!

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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[Ms. Clio]

15. Yeah, the U.S-backed and financed blog you keep pushing on us

Says that she is "fooling people" with "rude lies."

Go peddle it elsewhere.

[AuntiBush]

17. Thank you!

You're very smart, Ms. Clio!!!!

[Ms. Clio]

19. You're welcome!

But I was just pointing out the obvious--anyone but a freeper could figure it out. :D

Love your nick, though.

[Bragi]

20. Scathing attack withers

I particularly enjoyed how "been there" rhetorically promised us a slam-dunk expose of Riverbend the Fraudulent Syrian, and then ends up oddly dissembling on about exchange rates for the dinar.

- B

[Ms. Clio]

21. Me, too--I was waiting for some credible journalistic source

and instead we get the Blogging Bros again.

[livinginphotographs]

18. Since the blog you're referencing

Has very little credibility to begin with due to their obvious connection to the Bush admin (you can naively believe that Bush will personally invite every single Iraqi blogger over for a visit if you want), I'm taking his accusations about riverbend with a grain of salt.

Do you want me to send you some pictures of Falluja, or will that shatter your belief that Iraq is one big happy pile of kittens and sunshine?

It seems the gnats are out in force today.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. On the subject of electricity

Electricity production in Iraq is only about 80 percent of what it was under Saddam Hussein, the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq said this week, despite 21 months of work and repeated promises of progress.
...
But a State Department report dated Jan. 5 stated Baghdad has an average of 8.2 to 11 hours of electricity per day.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2988663

[Moderator]

23. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1161009