The Iraq Daily

September 6, 2002 1:07 PM

The Iraq Daily - News from the Iraqi Ministry of Information. Sure, it might be information light and propaganda heavy, but since Iraq has been in the news lately, why not check out how they are represented online? I found their art links to be especially interesting (apparently, Kelsey Grammar's recent "Macbeth" production was of interest to the Iraqi press). The Iraqi News Agency provides a bit more information. Headlines include "Stupid American Sanctions". You can also read a series of open letter to the people of the United States from President Hussein himself.
_{Egads, I hope I am not going to be monitored by the Feds because I visited these sites.}
posted by Joey Michaels (22 comments total)

One question: Why is it in English? Wouldn't you expect it to be in Arabic, or Iraqi or something?
posted by goethean at 1:34 PM on September 6, 2002

Me, I got a laugh out of the scare quotes around the word Israel. Not enough scare quotes in the American press, that's for sure.
posted by contessa at 1:34 PM on September 6, 2002

The Iraqi News Agency had a great article a few weeks back (which seems to have gone) about the Arab Dentist Union condemning the US. It made the site seem even more like an Iraqi version of The Onion that it normally does.
It is always interesting to check out sites such as these though, as they can give an occasional insight into the feelings and intentions of certain governments that often gets filtered out of western news media. A good list of foreign news sources can be found here.
posted by chill at 1:50 PM on September 6, 2002

goethean: the opinions of people who only read Arabic and Iraqi are of very little concern to the Iraqi government.

At this point, pretty much the only thing that will save Saddam is either convincing either Bush or enough members of Congress that attacking Iraq will not lead to their re-election; in order to convince Bush/Congress he has to convince American voters; hence the English.
posted by jaek at 1:56 PM on September 6, 2002

As near as I can tell, this is the Iraq Daily in its native tongue.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:17 PM on September 6, 2002

"President Hussein: Arabs are a people of construction "

So I guess they're big fans of Fraggle Rock or something.
posted by Hankins at 2:47 PM on September 6, 2002

goethean:

Iraq was a client state of Britain from its founding after WWI.
English has been in use there ever since then.

Second, English--the language of world commerce-- is the "lingua franca" of the Internet, and English translation mirror sites are often maintained by sites which originate in other languages.

BTW, I wholeheartedly support the imposition of sanctions on Stupid Americans.
posted by rdone at 3:15 PM on September 6, 2002

goethean?? why are you so desperate for people to read this? It is obviously a fake site!!
posted by JonnyX at 4:19 PM on September 6, 2002

It is obviously a fake site!!!

As near as I can tell, both of these sites are real Iraqi news sites. I have done a reasonably thorough Google search and can find no evidence to suggest that either site is fake.

If there is evidence that these sites are fake, please link it here so I can issue an immediate mea culpa.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:47 PM on September 6, 2002

So why do none of the links from
this
lead to this
??
posted by JonnyX at 5:20 PM on September 6, 2002

BTW, I wholeheartedly support the imposition of sanctions on Stupid Americans.

rdone, convince your government to try and impose them.

I dare ya.
posted by David Dark at 6:00 PM on September 6, 2002

I think they aren't linking because the sites are poorly designed. Several of the links are broken. I don't think this is proof that the sites are fakes. Of course, I could be wrong...
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:03 PM on September 6, 2002

tech news.

Lol. I wonder how many mac users there are in Iraq, given that exports are not even supposed to be allowed...
posted by delmoi at 6:53 PM on September 6, 2002

I liked the editorial:

Error 404: Not Found
The requested URL (Universal Resource Locator) "/iraqdaily/9888\edit1.htm" was not found on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it.

Maybe I'm a security threat to the Iraqi nation. That's kinda cool.
posted by moonbiter at 6:54 PM on September 6, 2002

They're not linked directly because uruklink.net isn't the Iraqi government, but more a sort of host for a variety of sites. Whatever influence the government has over the "Iraqi News Agency" (and I expect that it is considerable), it isn't the same thing as the Ministry of Information.

And these are in English because the intended audience is English-speaking -- both Westerners and Iraqi exiles, many of whom are in Britain and the US. I'm sure it's as simple as that.
posted by dhartung at 6:56 PM on September 6, 2002

I'm more interested in Joey's aside : "Egads, I hope I am not going to be monitored by the Feds because I visited these sites."

Have things actually gotten to that point in America these days?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:01 AM on September 7, 2002

No, stavros, they haven't, but the far left keeps hoping they will so they'll be taken seriously when they say it's happening.
posted by dhartung at 12:57 PM on September 7, 2002

When I grow up, I'm going to Saddam University!
posted by PrinceValium at 3:44 PM on September 7, 2002

But, what about the cookies?
posted by y2karl at 6:37 PM on September 7, 2002

No Dan, the far left does not hope they get to that point. I'm pickin' up your tongue and cheekiness, but I'm skeptical about who and what you consider the "far left". I have a feeling you write me off as one. Still, no matter how much further left I am than you, at heart I believe in democracy. Anyone on the "far left" who denies such is equally as dangerous as that of the far right who now have obvious access to the day to day operations of our republic. So, chickenlittles and chicken-hawk littles aside, if democracy is important enough to preserve, aren't you glad there are those who do care enough to jump the gun, fall hook, line and sinker for the Great Fascism Panic of 2002 so that you can continue on being a moderate? This, as opposed to all of us on the "far left" being carted off and erased. Otherwise, you'd be the one having to do it.
posted by crasspastor at 7:08 PM on September 7, 2002

When I grow up, I'm going to Saddam University!

I think I'm going to put that on my resume posted on monster.com and see how long it takes to get a visit from the feds.

It might also be fun to see the look on the interviewer's face when I casually say that after receiving my undergrad degree at saddam university, I got an internship with the Chubb group.
posted by birdherder at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2002

Actually, the comment about being monitored by the Feds was a lame attempt at humor.

Ha ha! America is becoming more oppressive! Tee hee! We might need to be careful about what we say or what books we check out or what sites we visit! Ho ho ho.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:24 AM on September 8, 2002