Shameless Blogger Plug in the NY Post !
EFL from John Podhoretzâs article against a media blackout of the December 10 antiterror demo in Baghdad:
We knew about the march beforehand, and about what happened at the march afterward, from the most important "weblog" in the world right now - a blog called Healing Iraq. (You can find it at healingiraq.blogspot.com.) Its author is a 24-year-old dentist named Zeyad who lived as a boy and briefly as a teenager in London, which explains both the fluency of his English and his endearing lapses of grammar and spelling.
He spent weeks trying to figure out when the march would be, as he pointed out last week: "We spent some time investigating whether the rallies were still schedulled[sic] for December 10th. Yes, it was like doing some kind of detective work.
"Itâs strange that nobody seems to know any details about the event. We went to different local newspaper offices which had published articles about it. All we got is that the demonstrations are still being organized but no exact date has been given out due to security considerations. Hmmm. How are people supposed to demonstrate when everything is being so secretive? This isnât good at all."
But on Wednesday night, after the event, he was exultant: "The rallies today proved to be a major success. I didnât expect anything even close to this. It was probably the largest demonstration in Baghdad for months. It wasnât just against terrorism. It was against Arab media, against the interference of neighbouring countries, against dictatorships, against Wahhabism, against oppression, and of course against the Baâath and Saddam."
Ah, the joys of joining the likes of Glenn Reynolds, Eugene Volokh and Paul "Chief Wiggles" Holton ... Zeyad-u-akbar!
Posted by: Lu Baihu 2003-12-12 |