Salam Pax
You've all heard of Where is Raed? I know the weblog has been in my bookmarks for many months now. And now that it's been proven legit, don't we all feel stupid for doubting it? I for one, did doubt its legitimacy. But whether real or not, I found the writing style to be great. I fell in love with it anyway. And now that we all know it is real, that just makes it all the more amazing. Yes, I think it's unfair to judge a person on the simple fact that he's Iraqi. But it does give insight into a whole world that would be otherwise shut out to us. I know I've never lived in a war ravaged country. Or lived under an oppressive madman. I think the Salam Pax phemonemon only solidifies the claim that weblogs are greater than the sum of their parts.

Yesterday they put up a piece of paper that said: “we are happy to announce that you can get free internet access by dialing up this number”. A small little paper on the notice board. The telephone network is not fully operational, certain districts don’t have phones at all, but as I wrote earlier many of the exchanges that have not been destroyed or looted have been linked together. You will need to keep dialing for an hour to get thru but it works, I tried it.
Not a million bad things could have wiped the grin off my face when I read that little note.

As for judging him because he's Iraqi, there is some substance there. The guy's a hero. He felt he had a right to demonstrate free speech and expressed himself. When a whole government was against him he continued to express himself. When they blocked Blogger he continued to write, sending entries to American friends to post for him. He is the personification of all that we believe in our free western societies. He inspires us to fight for the freedom we deserve. Not to sit and accept government oppression. The little man can win.