Iraq the Model is one of the most famous Iraqi blogs. Ever since its inception, its primary purpose seemed to be a “website that captures in its very name the neocon vision of a democratized and properly domesticated Middle East.”
Such wild optimism may have been acceptable in early 2003, but not anymore. Iraqi Konfused Kid offers comment on ITM and concludes:
Iraq The Model is probably one of the few ‘superstar’ blogs the Iraqi blogosphere has produced, and this is for a few reasons: 1. It was an early blog and most importantly 2. It supports the American propaganda virtually 100% – it fits the picture of what Americans wants Iraqis to be hand in glove, a supporter of all that ‘war on terrorism’ campaign and if I didn’t know better I would say that this guy is hands-on an American soldier who is just as naive as the clueless Iraqis who chanted to Saddam and believed their own made-up lies back in the days.
Understood, I appreciate democracy and freedom of speech, but I can safely say that the viewpoint of the people behind this blog represents about somewhere between 2 to 1% of all Iraqis, I would even go as far as call it an anomaly created by an extra chromosome or something, there are people, especially those who oppose religion and identity, who could get sold up to the American Dream, to be part and parcel of all the ideals America stands for, I am not saying that Arabs are helplessly monstorous that they oppose liberty and democracy and want to be spend all day playing Russian Roulette with swords, but there is such a thing as an identity with your nation, and these guys make me sick with their obvious sucking-up they are doing to be sold out to Americans. It could be that they are just trying to achieve a common goal of a modern, democratic Iraq by sounding like a brainwash, but they play it so industriously well that my intuition tells me that there is something else on the take.
Iraq The Model is an example of the mentality that currently prevails the Green Zone, nervous Iraqis who just want to make a few bucks by catering to an audience and telling them what they want to hear, maybe their intentions were earnest in the beginning, but now things have started to look messed up and if they deviate from the fake sugar-ass bullshit they’ve been shoving up their audience their popularity will end, so they choose to go all the way, working up a good chunk of money with all the revenue from the ads until they can safely call it quits and retire in some nice Friends of Democracy-compatible country, spending all their well-earnt money on hoes and booze.
Meanwhile, as the Australian Murdoch press report on John Howard’s valiant attempts to help America rescue Iraq – do these journalists actually have any knowledge of history, or shame or credibility? – we now learn that adding more US troops to the conflict is being seriously considered.
Let me make a bold prediction: failure will follow every “new” direction taken by the Americans in Iraq. The country can no longer be “won.” Clearly more humiliation is in order, and needed.
UPDATE: Tom Engelhardt asks “What It Means to ‘Salvage U.S. Prestige’ in Iraq?”