We need an online community where people who have been to Iraq (or people who live in Iraq) could share their perspective on what is really happening there. No doubt those perspectives would differ, but at least we would get some sense of a reality unfiltered by the marketing agendas of news organizations. Those organizations have their uses--they are not as demonic or craven as some would have us believe--but at present I feel as though my Iraq news is going through so many filters that it's devoid of meaningful content by the time it arrives.

On one hand, you have people saying that things are going a lot better in Iraq than the liberal media would have you believe. A lot of returning servicemen are saying this.

On the other hand, people are saying that America's Iraq adventure has turned into a hopeless disaster, making terrorism worse, weakening the military, and sentencing the Iraqis themselves to a hellish existence amid ethnic strife, terrorism, gang violence, kidnapping--and all the while the lights aren't working and no water is coming out of the tap. The bad news is that a lot of the people saying this are Iraqis--you can read this version of events on their blogs. The most disturbing element of what the Iraqis are saying -- and this is an element I have not seen in any U.S. media -- is that instead of Western-style freedom, the fall of Saddam has brought them Iran-style medieval religious repression, with gangs of fundamentalist Shiite thugs beating up people who don't want to live in the 12th Century. They are NOT saying they want Saddam back, and they are not necessarily saying they want the Americans out. They are saying that the Americans have made a mess of their country and they are hoping--with increasing desperation--that we can somehow make things right again.

I see lots of blogs from soldiers, and a fair number from Iraqis--wish there were more, but it's probably hard to focus on your blog when you don't have electric power--but it would be neat if there was some site where these people could have a civil dialog, along with the private contractors, reporters, diplomats, aid agency folk and others who have recently been or still are in Iraq. Does such a site exist?