Iraq the Broken Model

This is what the Iraqi bloggers are saying.

Riverbend

There are Iraqi women who have not shed their black mourning robes since 2003 because each time the end of the proper mourning period comes around, some other relative dies and the countdown begins once again.

Let's pretend the 600,000+ number is all wrong and that the minimum is the correct number: nearly 400,000. Is that better? Prior to the war, the Bush administration kept claiming that Saddam killed 300,000 Iraqis over 24 years. After this latest report published in The Lancet, 300,000 is looking quite modest and tame. Congratulations Bush et al.

Meanwhile, Pajamas Media asks Iraq the Model to write about the Lancet study on Iraq fatalities. The reaction is as expected.

To me their motives are clear, all they want is to prove that our struggle for freedom was the wrong thing to do. And they shamelessly use lies to do this…when they did not find the death they wanted to see on the ground, they faked it on paper! They disgust me…

Omar Fadil doesn't actually use any scientific research to back his claim that the study is fake. The tone of Fadil's post reminds me of James Lileks "Hey, Salam? Fuck you" post. Attack reason with profanity and bile. Iraqi Konfused Kollege Kid has a round up of the reaction to Iraq the Model's post.

Baghdad Treasue

"I wish I could fly from America back to Iraq just to show him what being a tool to the white house means. He is just a shame."

IRAQI SCREEN

"I am sure they are dying for an asylum in USA to be close to their dear Bush. Did they ever read about Haditha masscre, Ishaqi and Falluja?"

KHALID JARRAR

"Being a traitor is not an allowed option, and should not be legitimized by ranting about freedom of speech, I swear reading them is just like reading a white house statements."

TRUTH ABOUT IRAQIS

"Traitors like ITM get a voice because people like us lose ours in the squabbling. this is not about democracy and it is not about freedom of speech. Look up social responsibility theory in mass communications. When someone publishes something that does the mass public harm then that person has forfeited the right to freedom of speech."

I don't agree that someone should lose their freedom of speech just for a blog post. ITM only influences American conservative bloggers. It certainly isn't doing anything to make Americans or Iraqis more happy about the war. Not even Matt Drudge is that powerful.

Reading the two previous comments are telling. Iraqis don't understand that freedom of speech is allowing the opinions of those you disagree with. It's what makes a civil society. If Iraqis could agree on that point it would be progress. They don't and have battles between ethnic factions.

I understand why Omar Fadil wrote his post. Pajamas Media is run by a pro-war bigot named Charles Johnson. He writes the Little Green Footballs blog. Fadil is making a few nickels off writing for Pajamas Media. I heard Keith Olbermann on Countdown say that he knows Rush Limbaugh. Olbermann says that Limbaugh doesn't believe the stuff he spews and would cast his listeners to the side for a sportscasting gig. I hope that's the deal with Fadil.

The alternative is that Fadil believes what he's writing. I find that hard to believe. There are gang hoods in L.A. that the police won't go in without backup. No one is writing blog post about how great gang violence is. Look at Kid's Iraqi blogger roundup. The vast majority aren't buying what Fadil has to sell.

The whole thing is a mess. People want to pass blame. The White House failed. Congress failed. Ditto the Democrats and Republicans. The Iraqis can't build a stable government. The rest of the world wants to wash their hands of the whole mess. The million dollar question is what happens next.