Olivebranch Network contributor and blog-mum Faiza al-Araji, aswell as Nadia from "Talking About Iraq" are two out of many Iraqi's who have suggestions and strong emotions about how to build a peacefull, unified future for Iraqi's. Please, read their suggestions through these links: (Faiza) (Nadia) - and keep returning here to find more suggestions from Iraqi's and non-Iraqi's (particularly myself), on how to achieve this peacefull endgame in Iraq.

Our world is full of brilliant ideas, particularly our own little intensely political microcosm we call the blogosphere. I have spent long hours looking for suggestions which could lead towards a re-unification of the Iraqi people which would allow a rebuilding of nationalism within Iraq. I have found many articles and suggestions from Iraqi's and foreigners alike. I have developed my own ideas over time, some of which I would no longer agree with, many of which I believe still hold true to this day.

The blogosphere is abound in ideas on how to create a better society and I personally believe the blogosphere in itself produces better examples of community than those in which our home and work lives are based. The blogosphere though highly political and full of controversy, transcends daily politics. There is little mudslinging though admittedly some. People who disagree tend to choose between ignoring one another or having ideological debates. Unfortunately an element of commenters tend to attack the bloggers unnecessarily, but their attacks are little more than text and are often simply discarded or retorted. Bloggers converse endlessly which refines their opinions, comments are a great source of peer-review especially when it comes from other bloggers whome they respect (and probably when it comes from some of the ones they didn't) .

What role will blogging play in the future of media, and particularly of war and humanitarian crisis reporting? Hopefully my study of the Iraqi blogosphere and other similar [english-language] uses of blogging technology could produce some results worth applying to my university studies in both my Journalism and Internet Communication Technology classes.

(Regular updates on this topic may commence immediately if it is accepable to use for my studies in ICT class so please return soon and leave a message if you find any good links on this topic!).

[olivebranch]

Labels: blogging, blogosphere, blogs, ICT, Iraq, online communities, politics

If the American administration truely planned to quell the violence in Iraq they would openly and publicly declare opposition to the recent Israeli request for a "corridor" through US-occupied Iraqi airspace in case of a decision to bomb Tehran.

The February 25 telegraph.co.uk article by Con Coughlin anonymously sites a "Senior Israeli defence official" who commented that negotiations had begun to prevent the possibility of "American and Israeli war planes [start] shooting at each other", should the Israeli Defense Force decide to bomb Iran. This proposition puts the US mission in Iraq entirely at risk; sending such significant signals to Iran could heat things up in Iraq. There is great potential for the Badr Forces, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq- to take offense to the US colluding with Israel in the bombing of Iran. Such an event could cause a catastrophic strain on the already tense relations between the Iraqi populace and the US presence there.

With the new US-Iraqi security plan coming into effect now is the wrong time to send mixed signals to the Iraqi populace. The combined Coalition militaries needs to take strong leadership roles and set the record straight as to their intentions in regard to Iraq and it's negihbours, most particularly Iran. Are they going to allow Iran to be bombed and deal with the repurcussions in Iraq, or are they going to cut and run afterwards? Will they be able to stabilize the country after Iran was bombed, if they are struggling to do so now? These are questions which should be cleared up before they answer themselves.

Labels: Coalition, Iran, Iraq, Israel, plan, security, USA