The baghdad blog summary PDF

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Genre: Blog Setting : Baghdad (Sep.2002- June 2003) Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. O The second largest City of the Arab world. O Fourth largest in the Middle East.

AUTHOR O Salam Pax O

The most famous blogger in the world during and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

O

One of his books is The Baghdad Blog.

O Salam Pax (pseudonym) O Salam Abdulmunem aka Salam al-Janabi (real name) O Salam in Arabic and Pax in Latin means “Peace” O Salam Pax is a gay, secular Arab O He is both anti-Saddam and anti-American.

CHARACTERS Salam Pax O Young architect in Baghdad O He is devoted by letting the world how awful it is to be governed by freaks like Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein  The fifth President of Iraq from July 16 1979 to April 9 2003. Hussein Kamel  The son-in law and second cousin of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. DIANA MOON •Salam Pax and Diana Moon are both the secret Authors of blogs- Internet diaries that allow them to share their pent-up thoughts with the masses. •She exchanged hundred e-mails with Salam and became friends G. Uncle M. Al-Zubaidi

Raed

Overview: INTERVENTION • The U.S. decision to go to war to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq (email) O SADDAM STATUE BEING PULLED DOWN • A reference to the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled in central Baghdad and Firdaws Square on April 9, 2003, symbolizing the end of the Iraqi Regime (Saddam Hussein) O CIVIL ADMINISTRATION • The U.S. run agency in charge of Iraq postwar reconstruction O Baghdad Blog • Salam Pax blog covered events leading up to the Iraq War, including its effect on his family. Once the war began, Salam Pax provided harrowing descriptions of the early days of the conflict, including the constant bombing of Baghdad. • Salam’s blog, which has somehow avoided being shut down by the Iraqi regime, is devoted to letting the world know how awful it is to be governed by “freaks” like Saddam Hussein (and how the only thing that’s worse is having his home town pummelled by American bombs). • March 25, 2003, Salam Pax suddenly stopped posting to his blog. Salam Pax was safe but had lost his Internet connection due to power outages in Baghdad. He continued keeping a diary of his experiences in a notebook for the remainder of the war. • May 7, 2003, Salam Pax finally resumed posting to his blog. He filled in the gap from the previous six weeks with information from his spiral notebooks which covers events after the war ended. O

These entries described the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops on April 9, and the lawlessness and looting that followed.

O The majority of Iraqi citizens were glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein, and they were grateful for U.S. intervention in that respect. But the war itself was terrible and created hardships for the Iraqi people. Some resented the U.S. invasion and felt humiliated by the poor performance of Iraq’s armed forces. Once the war ended, the chaos and lack of security that plagued many areas raised doubts about Iraq’s future. As Salam Pax points out in his blog, the different feelings that Iraqis held about the U.S. troops depended largely on their own personal experiences O Summary O Let me tell you one thing first. War sucks big time. Don’t let yourself ever be talked into having one waged in the name of your freedom. Somehow when the bombs start dropping or you hear the sound of machine guns at the end of your street you don’t think about your “imminent liberation” anymore. O Effects of war:

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Gas prices have gone up ten times

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Electricity has not yet back after the last war

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A lot of people does not have work.

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Many people sitting in the street.

* There were days when the Red Crescent was begging for volunteers to help in taking the bodies of dead people off the city street and bury them properly. * Things are looking kind of OK, these days. Life has a way of moving on. O 1/5 

Maytag, workers of the world unite. The Iraqi Communist Party and the Iraqi Communist Workers Party are covering a lot of walls with red posters

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Some of the most dangerous places to be at these days are gas stations, too many accidents. And with all the long lines and people waiting their turn the number of casualties is high. I generally avoid crowds these days; no one knows what might happen.

O 26/4. 

Photocopy shops to make copies of whatever the coalition is throwing at the people today

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People with foldable chairs and cardboard boxes in front of them offering to exchange your dollars,

O 23/4 

Your 10k bills are not accepted at stores. and there are people who buy your 10,000 for 8,000 Dinar.

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The “Iraqi Media Network” started broadcasting yesterday. Nothing to go crazy about, they are apparently recording one single hour and broadcasting it for 24 hours

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The irony, during the last couple of weeks in this big media festival called ‘Iraq War’ there is not a single Iraqi voice.

O 17/4 

It has become a swear word, dirty filthy and always followed by a barrage of verbal abuse. Syrian, Lebanese and of course Iraqi sickos .

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. All over Baghdad you see the black cloth with the names of people killed during these things. It is even worse when the Americans decide to go into full battle mode on these fedayeen, right there between the houses.

O 11/4 (day23)

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Everybody was on the street, for some reason we didn’t have as much smashed glass as the people next door and there were flames and smoke coming from the next street. Too scared to walk in the open street that night we waited until day broke.

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Today at 7 went out to check what happened. Three houses were turned to rubble, two more burned. Miraculously the three houses were empty. Their owners have moved out of Baghdad, the burned houses just kept burning the whole night and are still burning today. Three people got seriously injured. Couples with minor injuries were treated by people in the block. Smashed glass all over two cars caught fire but miraculously did not explode.

O 10/4 3:00pm(day22) 

We had an amazing couple of days, 4/4 the Americans in the Airport, 7/4 they move into Baghdad, 9/4 troops are in Firdaws square (Firdaws means heaven) with no Iraqi military presence in the streets whatsoever. They just disappeared, Puff, into thin air.

O 2/4 

No good news wherever you look.

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Baghdad is looking scarier by the minute. There are now army people everywhere.

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Two hours ago we could hear the rumbling of the planes over us and it took them ages to pass. Afraid is not the right word. Nervous, edgy, sometimes you just want to shout out at someone, angry

O 1/4 6:50pm (day13) 

There is one item which I have not thought I would need a big supply of: antacids. Air raid sirens start wailing or the heavy bombs start falling; five minutes later I go for the drawer with the antacids.

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Very heavy bombing the last two days. Although today it was very quiet. And I bet the heavy bombing will resume tonight. It is getting heavier by the day.

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Shop owners who live near their shops are opening; banks are open even private banks and life goes on. Things cost double their normal price but we are happy that you can still buy what you need from shops because this means we can keep what we have stored for harder days which are sure to come.

O 30/3 7:30pm (day10) 

The Ministry of Information is getting cleared. Yesterday there were a million people in and around it; journalists are all stationed on the building.

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Last night saw one of the heaviest bombings, just after I wrote the entry in my diary last night all hell broke loose. There were two explosions, or series of explosions which shook the house like nothing till now. You could feel the floor shake under your feet and the walls rumble before you hear the sound of the explosions.

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No good news anywhere, no light at the end of the tunnel and the Americans’ advance doesn’t look that reassuring. If we had a mood barometer in the house it would read “to hell with saddam and may he quickly be joined by bush

O 27/3 3:35pm (day7) 

The whole morning was spent cleaning up the mess created by the storm. Of course it was done to the beat of the bombardment.

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Last night the bombs hit one big communication node in Baghdad, now there are areas in Baghdad which we can’t call and phones from/to abroad are pfffft, I have lost all hope that I will have internet again.

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Streets are very busy. But Baghdad looks terrible with all the dirt. And everybody is out in the street washing cars and drive ways. A couple more stores are open We all in Baghdad are very aware that we still have not seen the seriously bad days.

O 26/4 11:50 (day6) 

-This morning everything was covered in sand. And not just a light film of sand but a thick red layer.

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The reports about Iraqi TV going off air are partially true. Umm Qasar is under control, Umm Qasar is not safe, Basra is not a target, Basra will be attacked, Nasyriah is under control, Nasyriah sees heavy fighting.

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We do have problems with electricity already,yesterday many areas in Baghdad had no electricity after 5pm, not all together but one area after the other.

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Iraqi tribes are unable to do anything about the Iraqi Army taking their land but no one minds them shooting any other people away.

O 25/3 10:05am (day5) 

No internet this morning, no internet last night. And they just had an explosion right now [12:21] no siren no nothing. Just one boom.

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You can hear the sound of the planes. Look this is what you hear the last two days when a huge explosion is coming. First the droning of a plane then one small boom, followed by a rolling rumble that gets louder and suddenly BOOM, and the plane again.

O 4/4 4:30pm (day16) 

Many people in the Jihad, Furat and along the Amiriyah Road are moving out of their homes because of fear they will end up as the front line.

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Two hours later the whole city was blacked out, no electricity (at least in the western parts of Baghdad), water stopped also but came back a couple of hours later.

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the bombardment and artillery fire went on from 6 to 9 or 10 that night it started again at 2 past midnight with three huge explosions.

O 24/3 9:29pm (day4) 

The bombardment hasn’t stopped the whole day, the sounds of the bombs was different, it is much louder.

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It has become a habit of the mosque muezzins (the prayer callers) to start chanting “allahu akbar – la illaha ila allah” the moment one of them hears an explosion.

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The world has united in a common cause. These countries have formed an alliance to remove the father of Qusay and his brutal regime. Qusay’s father has tyrannized the sons of the Euphrates and exploited them for years ans he has to be removed from power.

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