I’ve been reading Iraqi weblogs lately, and I thought I’d give a brief survey of the ones I follow, in case anyone else is interested. They come from varying perspectives, and I find all of them fascinating. Some of them I find more depressing than others. One thing you’ll find is that the Iraqis who write these weblogs have mistaken impressions about America. I find them illuminating as well, because the impressions of America that Iraqis have are far more important than the truth in terms of whether or not we have any hope of leaving Iraq better off than we found it.

  • Where is Raed? – Salam Pax’s weblog is, of course, the granddaddy of all of the Iraqi weblogs. He’s on hiatus right now.
  • Raed in the Middle – The subject of Where is Raed? Raed is, at this point, for the withdrawal of all coalition forces from Iraq. Between the growing violence in Iraq and the latest developments in Israel, Raed is becoming increasingly hysterical. As he points out, he’s a secular leftist, not a conservative Islamist. The fact that we seem to have lost him completely is a bad sign.
  • A Family in Baghdad – Written by Faiza, the mother of Raed (in the Middle). This is probably the most heartbreaking of the weblogs that I read. Faiza has grown children, a husband, and employees to worry about, and her worries come through in her posts. At this point she’s clearly anti-occupation.
  • Baghdad Burning – Another of the old school Iraqi bloggers. Reliably anti-occupation, and reporter of rumors circulating among Iraqis.
  • Healing Iraq – A pro-occupation weblog written by a dentist. He started his weblog explicitly to provide an alternative to the bad news reported by Riverbend at Baghdad Burning. He also has guest blogs.
  • Iraq at a glance – The most reliably pro-occupation weblog I’ve found, run by another dentist, a friend of Zeyad at Healing Iraq. He also seems to be bigoted against the Shiites in Sadr City and elsewhere.
  • Iraq the Model – Run by a doctor and two dentists. Also pro-occupation.
  • The Mesopotamian – Yet another pro-occupation weblog. I think he has unrealistic expectations of what America can achieve in the short term, I fear disillusionment will soon follow.
  • Hammorabi – Pro-occupation. Eager to see a return of public executions.

One thing I’ve seen all the Iraqi bloggers report is that they get email harassment from people who disagree with their viewpoint (including complaints of email viruses intentionally sent to them). The pro-occupation bloggers get email from anti-war types and vice versa. I think that’s sad.

When I checked the Iraqi blogs this morning, I was hoping to see reactions to the highway closings in Iraq, but nothing has been posted yet.

If you know of any other Iraqi weblogs I should be reading, please send email.