Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

kvm_mkdb · Mar 20, 2003, 03:58 AM

For anyone interested in what an Iraqi blogger has to say and for non-propaganda news updates:

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

I hope this guy will be able to keep it up (and stay alive).

simonjames · Mar 20, 2003, 04:12 AM

you link didn't work for me

Mastrap · Mar 20, 2003, 04:15 AM

Its amazing that it's still up. A deeply disturbing and personal view on what it is actually like to be within Baghdad at this time.

Riveting reading.

Adam Betts · Mar 20, 2003, 04:26 AM

Yep, it's interesting to hear Iraqis' view on the war. Pretty scary to be in the target (Baghdad)

starman · Mar 20, 2003, 08:47 AM

Why would any numbnut be in Baghdad right now? Wouldn't they want to stay with someone outside the city?

Mike

as2 · Mar 20, 2003, 08:50 AM

Originally posted by starman:
Why would any numbnut be in Baghdad right now? Wouldn't they want to stay with someone outside the city?

Mike

Maybe because it was costing $1000 for a taxi out the city!!

There are still some reporters in Baghdad at the moment. Was watching a report from a BBC reporter just a few minutes ago.

Adam

maxelson · Mar 20, 2003, 09:00 AM

Originally posted by starman:
Why would any numbnut be in Baghdad right now? Wouldn't they want to stay with someone outside the city?

Mike

Read the blog. He answers to that. Sort of.

yakkiebah · Mar 20, 2003, 09:13 AM

The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned."

http://www.gulufuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm

Oneota · Mar 20, 2003, 10:39 AM

Originally posted by yakkiebah:
The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned."

http://www.gulufuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm

I'm not sure I buy that link. Is there somewhere on the BBC site where this can be verified? The link you posted could be entirely made-up, for all I know.

It would be pretty sickening if it were true, though.

SimeyTheLimey · Mar 20, 2003, 10:48 AM

Originally posted by Oneota:
I'm not sure I buy that link. Is there somewhere on the BBC site where this can be verified? The link you posted could be entirely made-up, for all I know.

It would be pretty sickening if it were true, though.

Particularly since I am not aware that the US has any capability to take out communications satellites in geosynchronous orbits. There have been tests of anti-satellite weapons, but so far as I know, they are only capable of reaching low earth orbit - a couple of hundred miles above the earth. Communications satellites orbit 22,000 miles above the earth.

kvm_mkdb · Mar 20, 2003, 10:53 AM

Originally posted by SimeyTheLimey:
Particularly since I am not aware that the US has any capability to take out communications satellites in geosynchronous orbits. There have been tests of anti-satellite weapons, but so far as I know, they are only capable of reaching low earth orbit - a couple of hundred miles above the earth. Communications satellites orbit 22,000 miles above the earth.

uplink
n : a transmission from Earth to a spacecraft or the path of such a transmission

SimeyTheLimey · Mar 20, 2003, 10:55 AM

Originally posted by kvm_mkdb:
uplink
n : a transmission from Earth to a spacecraft or the path of such a transmission

Ah. My mistake. So you are saying that the Pentagon would fire at the journalists themselves? After all, their satellite transmitters would be in the immediate vicinity of the journalists, unless you are talking about fixed TV stations.

Doubtful. Highly doubtful.

macvillage.net · Mar 20, 2003, 11:59 AM

thanks for the link... pretty cool. Bookmarked so I can follow it.

yakkiebah · Mar 20, 2003, 01:38 PM

the register is reporting the same thing

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29750.html

true or false? i don't know but i wish more people were more sceptical and critical about their governments and their actions especially in times of war.

Oneota · Mar 20, 2003, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by yakkiebah:
the register is reporting the same thing

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29750.html

Yeah, but they link back to the same article as was originally posted. I haven't seen any independent verification of this.

And believe me, I am *very* "skeptical and critical" about my government. I seem to be supportive of its actions in my name less and less frequently as time goes on.

undotwa · Mar 20, 2003, 07:35 PM

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Yep, it's interesting to hear Iraqis' view on the war. Pretty scary to be in the target (Baghdad)

An Iraqi's view? Impossible. Express their view and their tongue gets chopped off.

Adam Betts · Mar 20, 2003, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by undotwa:
An Iraqi's view? Impossible. Express their view and their tongue gets chopped off.

Their Uncle Saddam is not around anymore

vmpaul · Mar 20, 2003, 10:19 PM

Wow, that's pretty fascinating. Very interesting read.

I'm not sure I'm following the thread correctly. Are you guys disputing the validity of the blogger or the report in the register?

tikki · Mar 20, 2003, 10:22 PM

Very very interesting read. Beats watching the news anymore.

William_F_House · Mar 20, 2003, 11:02 PM

From BoingBoing.net...

Interesting blog post by Paul Boutin regarding whether the much-talked-about "Where is Raed?" blog is a hoax or not:
Speculation continues that Dear Raed, the weblog of a young man in Baghdad who posts under the name Salam Pax, is a hoax, perhaps even a disinformation campaign by the CIA or Mossad. A month after Computerworld published a story quoting a "terrorist" who turned out to be a one of their former writers pranking them, it would be foolish not to wonder.

Rather than guess, I emailed Salam and asked for proof of his location just before the first attack on Baghdad this morning. "how can i do that?" he emailed back. "you don't expect me to run out in the street and take a picture near something you'll recognize." Actually, I pointed out, a +964 phone number where I could reach him would do. Dialing into Iraq from here is tough right now, but not impossible, and rerouting a phone number would be much tougher than posting a blog from outside the country. Salam hasn't given me one, but that's understandable.

Instead, I mixed what I learned as a Unix sysadmin in the 80s with what I learned as a daily reporter in the 90s. A barrage of late-night phone calls and emails to bloggers, Google, and network engineers produced the following evidence...

vmpaul · Mar 21, 2003, 12:20 AM

Well?

Oneota · Mar 21, 2003, 12:57 AM

Originally posted by vmpaul:
Wow, that's pretty fascinating. Very interesting read.

I'm not sure I'm following the thread correctly. Are you guys disputing the validity of the blogger or the report in the register?

I was disputing the article the Register links to, but after William's post, I'm now skeptical of both.

kvm_mkdb · Mar 21, 2003, 01:14 AM

Originally posted by Oneota:
I was disputing the article the Register links to, but after William's post, I'm now skeptical of both.

William did not post the article to the end:

- Salam claims to connect to the Net via Uruklink, the state-run Iraqi ISP, using Web-based email from the British music magazine New Musical Express. Remember the Sex Pistols line, "I use the NME?" So does he.

IP addresses in his email headers aren't sufficient to pinpoint his location, but they're consistent with his story, being in the same range used by past Uruklink posters. I'm reluctant to publish his exact headers.

A traceroute on Salam's most recent originating address got as far as Transtrum, a unit of the Lebanon-based ISP TerraNet. Requests for further routing info from Transtrum went unanswered, but senior network engineers who looked at the headers for me in the US think they're legitimately from Iraq.

Details on Iraq's network can be found in this Salon story by Brian McWilliams, the same hacker/journalist who duped Computerworld and cracked the "send email to Saddam" mailbox on Uruklink.

- Salam's blog is hosted in Santa Clara, California, at a high speed co-location facility along with the rest of blogspot.com. This seems obvious to Net veterans, but an MSNBC article's wording misled some readers into believing the site is served from Iraq. Salam posts his blog remotely using Blogger's editing software on a PC. That means blogspot.com (aka Pyra, now a division of Google) has IP records of his previous posts in their log files. No luck getting them yet.

- Yes, blogspot.com was one of the domains blocked by Iraqi network administrators in January, possibly in response to Slammer. But Salam and other Iraqis know how to use Web proxies and other tricks to get around the blocks.

- Salam Pax is a pseudonym composed of the Arabic and Latin words for peace. But he has signed what may be his real name in personal correspondence to another blogger.

- At least one American has received a package from Salam, apparently mailed from Jordan where the titular Raed (a friend for whom Salam says he originally created his weblog) lives.

- Salam posted this morning to say BBC reports that state radio had been taken over were false. He was right about that.

In the end, it's still a matter of faith. Yes, I think he's really in Baghdad. And so far, he's still alive and well.

http://paulboutin.weblogger.com/2003/03/20

You can also read an interesting discussion at:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/3/20/03449/8345

BluThng · Mar 21, 2003, 01:25 AM

I like the quote from the blog...

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do."
-Samuel P. Huntington

Bush + US military = Axis of Evil

BluThng · Mar 21, 2003, 01:29 AM

Originally posted by undotwa:
An Iraqi's view? Impossible. Express their view and their tongue gets chopped off.

Can you shut your racist hole. Yeeesh!

talisker · Mar 21, 2003, 01:32 AM

Originally posted by BluThng:
Can you shut your racist hole. Yeeesh!

Didnt seem racist to me. It was more of a satirical comment concerning Saddam's regime. You're the one introducing race into it.

kvm_mkdb · Mar 21, 2003, 01:41 AM

Originally posted by undotwa:
An Iraqi's view? Impossible. Express their view and their tongue gets chopped off.

I'm very sorry you believe such a mindless propaganda. Iraq is not a collective torture chamber, it's a fairly modern country ruled by a dictator.
As long as you don't make your dissenting view too 'public' nobody is going to bother you.

Nicko · Mar 21, 2003, 01:47 AM

wow, now this is a blog worth reading.
Wonder what tommorow's entry will bring...