And Then He Said

Two journals everyone should read:

Salam Pax is an Iraqi in Baghdad, giving updates on what's happening in the city whenever he can get internet access. Here's a sample:

we start counting the hours from the moment one of the news channels report that the B52s have left their airfield. It takes them around 6 hours to get to Iraq. On the first day of the bombing it worked precisely. To day the B52s took off at 3pm, on half an hour we will know whether it is Baghdad tonight or another city.

(Thanks to for this one.)

And from comes a link to a post in the LiveJournal of AngieJ, a teacher in Detroit, who writes about how the entire family of one of her Muslim students just… disappeared. She writes:

As of Friday all faculty and staff have been ordered by the district (which gets its directions from the state, which gets its directives from the US Department of Education) not to speak against the war or the government in the presence of our students. Not asked, ordered.

(By the way, if anyone can suggest a blog or journal that puts the other side of the story I'd be happy to link to that too. I'm all for balance – well, balance and good writing anyway.)