The vast majority of Americans have only a remote sense of what Iraqis
are experiencing these days. We hear about people dying daily — 10 in a market here, 30 in a mosque attack there — but it comes across as statistics, as numbers divorced from a reality that we can empathize with. In past wars, you could blame this failure to understand the war in concrete, human terms on government censorship and timid reporting. But, with this war, the public doesn’t have that excuse. This is the first major American war fought in the age of the internet, and, as a result, a fuller picture of the war has always been just a Google search away. With that thought in mind, I have pulled together some digital resources that paint a fuller picture of what the US invasion has given everyday Iraqis. In clear terms, you can see what life really looks like in this newfound democracy.
Podcast: For starters, I would highly recommend this recent podcast from Open Source, a PRI production. It includes Iraqis and experts talking about the dislocation of many Iraqi citizens, and the growing refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan. (Note: this podcast requires iTunes, which you can download for free here.)
Blogs: This collection of blogs written mostly by Iraqis in English will give you a real-time look at life in Iraq.
- A Family in Baghdad
- Alive in Baghdad
- You might want to particularly focus on the streamed video interviews.
- Blogging Baghdad: The Untold Story (Assembled by NBC reporters working on the ground in Iraq.)
- Healing Iraq
- Today in Iraq
- Treasure of Baghdad
Pictures: This photo diary by CBS News offers an extended archive of photos capturing the daily experience in Iraq.
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