ZEYAD IS BACK

The Iraqi blogger Zeyad has resumed blogging after being off for several months. I have missed him. His link is one I have permanently linked to (just to the right column). I think he is the very best of the Iraqi bloggers in English. If you have any interest whatsoever in Iraq you must read him, and as many of the other Iraqi blogs he links to you have time for.

Here is a sample of his prose - his English is very good:

Fierce streetfighting at my doorstep for the last 3 hours. Rumor in the neighbourhood is that men in black are trying to enter the area. Some armed kids defending the local mosque three blocks away are splattering bullets at everything that moves, and someone in the street was shouting for people to prepare for defending themselves.

There's supposed to be a curfew, but it doesn't look like it. My net connection is erratic, so I'll try to update again if possible. The news from other areas in Baghdad are horrible. I don't think it's being reported anywhere.

My father and uncle are agitatedly walking back and forth in the hallway, asking me what we should do if the mob or Interior ministry forces try to attack us in our homes? I have no answer for them.

When he first began blogging he was optimistic about the results of the American invasion, but now he seems to have lost all faith and all hope:

What kind of nation are we? What kind of nation kills its intellectuals and academics, its doctors and healers, its women and children, its clerics and preachers? What kind of nation blows up churches and mosques, hotels and schools, funerals and weddings? We have left nothing sacred. Yet we have the insolence to accuse others of offending us, of vilifying us. I announce today that we have proved ourselves worthy of that vilification. Ten years ago, I denounced religion and disavowed Islam. I do not want to be forced to disavow my country and nation today, but with every new day, I’m afraid I am getting closer to it.

There is not much any commentary from me can add. Just get to his page and start reading. Check out all the links, but ignore the comments section. It has been taken over by about a half dozen twits who add nothing useful. But Zeyad is the gold standard for blogging in the midst of history.