Whether you believe that inspections deserve another chance, or even if you believe that the time has come to turn Iraq into a parking lot, Iraq Journal provides an interesting ground-level view of life in Iraq.
As the Bush administration threatens a massive attack on Iraq, many within the corporate media have chosen to become cheerleaders for the war cause. The words "we" and "us" and "our forces" are used so frequently by major corporate media personalities that it has become difficult to figure out if it is the Bush Administration or Rupert Murdoch and FOX that are gearing up to bomb Iraq.
With Washington on the verge of seeking to destroy an already devastated country, a group of independent journalists and activists - spearheaded by Voices in the Wilderness and the Iraq Peace Team - are breaking ranks with the war chorus. Coordinated by independent journalists Jeremy Scahill and Jacqueline Soohen on the ground in Baghdad, IraqJournal provides a forum for the distribution of independent information and views from Iraq.
Sure, the ideological tilt of this site is slightly (OK, VERY) left of center, but it does provide an interesting perspective you don't see in mainstream media. It's easy to forget that Iraq is so much more that Saddam Hussein, just as any country is more that it's leadership. To demonize Iraq for the deeds of one miscreant is to miss the point of the lives of the millions of Iraqis who simply want what most of us want- to live in peace, to raise our families, and to enjoy life.
In the end it may become necessary to invade Iraq, but we should not demonize the Iraqi people to salve our own consciences, nor should we lose sight of their humanity.
