The Web Reacts
How the Internet is responding to the US-Iraq conflict
Anita Bora, Rediff.com, March 22, 2003

While most news sites carried extensive reports of the US invasion of Iraq, it was this first-hand account that caught the attention of many online readers.

"The bombing could come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. All radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack."

It continues:"At the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. The sounds of the anti-aircraft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunt's house..."

Rise of the personal voice
Under the pseudonym of Salam Pax, this lone Iraqi blogger from within Baghdad city, keeps the world updated with his first hand accounts of the war. In case you're wondering his credibility, a technology writer and blogger has already taken some effort to establish his existence.

"I am elated and worried," writes Kanan Makiya, a leading Iraqi dissident and intellectual, in a 'War Diary' for TNR Online. Makhiya, is the author of the Democratic Principles Working Group report for the State Department's Future of Iraq Project, and has spent the last 25 years working towards this moment, but expresses apprehension about Iraq's uncertain political future.

The personal voice is stronger during this war than ever before making the Web a multidimensional experience. While most online sites prepare for heavy traffic, surfers are turning to Web logs, discussion forums and personal sites for an added perspective. [...]
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The spoils of war
Sunanda K Datta Ray, Rediff.comMarch 22, 2003

So, I was not surprised to read that Halliburton, the Texas-based oil and construction company, is rubbing its hands in anticipation of the money to be raked in from Saddam Hussain's downfall.

A Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, is among the five American companies bidding for contracts to restore Iraq's infrastructure after US forces have ravaged it.

The US defence department, run by Donald Rumsfeld, has already awarded Kellogg Brown and Root a contract to extinguish oil wells to which the Iraqis set fire. The contracts could be worth $900 million.[...]
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 8:13 pm