Iraq from the inside

The reason I wanted to review a blog from inside Afghanistan or Iraq is because you get an insight into the real life of the people.

I have recently read "The sewing circles of Herat" and "The bookseller of Kabul", two books that are excellent in showing a side to Afghanistan that is often concealed by the day to day media reports.

What I liked about these books is that it reported from the perspectives of the real people that are going through real suffering. A blog, in some respects, can give you that same insight.

The report on Febuary 12th, "Logic" discusses the new plans by the US to allow local reidents defend their own neighbourhoods.

"When the Americans decided in away or another to depend on the local residents to defend their neighborhood, they knew for sure that they had made a very difficult decision because they were 100% sure that some of residents if not the majority are members insurgents groups and they have their own ideologies which might not agree or meet with the American ideology in any way."

I was struck with how powerful the words "When the Americans" were when put in this context. By viewing things from the perspective of somebody inside Iraq, the writer is posing you to situate yourself in their situation and observe things a little differently than the mainstream US media would otherwise portray.