Blogging in Iraq

In reading the blogs of soldiers at war, it was actually quite interesting. I know the war is a huge torn debate; this was a different approach to it. In the news often times we hear about peoples opinions from here, how they feel this is a great war and we should continue, or how people feel this is an unnecessary war and we need to end it right now and remove troops. These conflicting views backed by strong opinions as to why are all over the media and completely visible to everyone. What we don’t see on a daily basis is how the soldiers in Iraq who are actually there feel, what it really is like to be over there and what it is going through their minds while they are over there. This was an interesting approach to hear from the soldiers first hand.

What surprised me the most was that when I think of a war ground, I really envision only killings, shootings, bombing, I never really thought about the down time. I definitely wouldn’t have imagined soldiers living with other citizens of the country. In the blog reading Baghdad Burning, the soldier says that they was living among Iraqis while in Syria, and as soon as he moved in this little boy brought over a cake to welcome him. He or she said “I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003.” Although many of the blogs did discuss the tragedies that occur, it was interesting to see all aspects of life over there.

            I always used to wonder why we received so much information about the war when it could leak back to the enemy, and although I understand that they do keep a great deal of information from us, I would still worry. My opinion on bloggers is extremely different. I feel that this is a good thing; it is not hurting anyone, but more so educating. It is extremely interesting to see. Often time’s people talk to war veterans and like to ask about different wars they had been in and the conditions, etc. This is live, they don’t have time to forget stories, and this is during the event. This to many of them can be a form of therapy since writing is a way they can express themselves and release their emotions in a positive way.

Add a comment July 21, 2008