I’ve not been into saying much about Iraq lately, because I’m not exactly what to say. I fear the worst, and I don’t feel much confidence in any of the reporting we’re seeing. One thing I have been doing this week is obsessively reading all the Iraqi weblogs I can find. I’ll post a list of the ones I’ve been reading later, and what I think about them. There’s a wide spectrum of opinion across the ones I’m reading, but one thing the authors have in common is that they want a secure, peaceful country. Unsurprisingly, there’s little agreement on how to make that happen. Anyway, another thing they have in common is that none of them are happy with what has gone on in Fallujah. When it comes down to it, imagine how you’d feel if Bakersfield, California were under siege by foreign occupiers, and every day you saw images of dead Californians on CNN, along with images of helicopters and jet fighters razing the town. Further imagine that people in your neighborhood were taking in refugees from the siege of Bakersfield, who came into town with all of the belongings that they could salvage and without their husbands or sons. Even if you thought Bakersfield were populated by obnoxious rednecks, you’d probably sympathize with them over the heavily armed foreigners, regardless of the intentions of those foreigners. Oh, and judging from the reaction among actual Iraqis writing from Iraq, General Mark Kimmitt ought to be fired for his change the channel comment.