Month: December 2004

…and happy new year.

Marc Cooper reports that Hugo Chavez will receive the presigious Ghadafy Human Rights Award for his efforts in media censorship:

Venezuelan con man, Bolivarian Revolutionary, Great-Thinker and sitting President Hugo Chavez has just returned home from a tour of showcase democratic countries including Cuba, Iran and Libya. Chavez dropped in on Colonel Ghadafy, by the way, to pick up his prize as this year?s winner of the Ghadafy Human Rights Award. No, I?m not making this up. Seems that Chavez had to rush home to enact a new press censorship law. This one?s no laughing matter?drawing a rebuke from Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch among others. Randy Paul, as usual, has all the dope.

No question that the Bushies don?t like Chavez. Hardly reason, though, for the rest of us to like this clown or, worse, apologize for his continuing thuggish deportment. Nice going, Randy.

Link via Dr. Frank.

Tomorrow’s your last chance to give to the Spirit of America blogger challenge.

A number of anti-war people are holding up an alleged Iraqi blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Riverbend” as the authentic voice of the Iraqi people. Martini Republic, David Isenberg, and the pretentious Juan Cole are examples. But it’s unlikely that Riverbend is what she claims to be.

On MR’s comments, USA Today writer Cesar Soriano, who’s done four tours in Iraq says he’s tried to meet her and been ignored (scroll down):

I’m Cesar G. Soriano, the USA TODAY reporter who wrote the feature story you’re questioning.

In between fits of laughter, I’ve been reading comments that suggest, among other things, that Iraq the Model is written by CIA agents at Langley who planted stories about the web site into the mainstream media.

For the record:

1. I can vouch that the Fadhil brothers are real, they are Iraqis and they do live in Iraq. During four tours in Iraq, I’ve met the brothers several times, in person, in Baghdad. Their photographs appeared in our newspaper and website.

2. My story was not the first written about the Fadhil brothers, but it was one of the earlier ones. The story was about Iraqi bloggers in general. I interviewed different bloggers, some ?pro-American? and some ?anti-American.? Here’s the link to the original story:
http://www.usatoday.com/new…

3. I first heard about the web site from a work colleague who happens to be an Iraqi-American. I have never had any contact with the CIA regarding the blog story.

4. As for Riverbend, I have attempted on numerous occasions to contact the author of that blog. ?Riverbend? has never responded to my queries and, as far as I know, has never given media interviews.

Soriano has met the brothers who write “Iraq the Model” and can at least vouch for the fact that they’re Iraqis blogging in Iraq, as can hundreds of Americans now that they’ve paid us a visit. Riverbend claims to be personally familiar with the situations in both Baghdad and Fallujah, which is unlikely.

There are certainly a number of real Iraqis blogging who have very different perspectives on current events than this Riverbend character (see the Blog Awards,) who’s either a Saddamite shill angry about loss of privilege or a Western leftist writing from somewhere outside Iraq with the typical Anti-American Sophisticate Attitude(tm). There is certainly zero evidence that she is who she says she is or that she speaks for the Iraqi people.

Juan Cole, the pretentious history professor from Michigan, made some especially idiotic remarks about Iraqi bloggers recently, and Jeff Jarvis had to set him straight:

The man is pond scum. I know no other way to say it. This guy Cole (supported by your tax dollars in Michigan) decides that if he disagrees with someone, he should imply that that someone must be backed by the CIA or other nefarious forces. Prof. Cole is too deaf, dumb, and blind to see the liberal irony in that; back in the day, when people disagreed with those on his side of the political spectrum, people on the other side implied that they must be backed by the Soviet Union, by Commies. It’s an old trick, Prof. I’m ashamed of you for using it.

It’s delightful rant, and spot-on. Cole is no more informed about the reality of Iraq than you or I, dear reader, but he pretends to be.