A prominent Iraqi blogger is fleeing Iraq along with her family. The New York Times has a bit on her and her writing. What struck me was a quote the Times highlighted from her final post:
I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq’s history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven’t been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn’t know what our neighbors were- we didn’t care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.
I spend a lot of time railing George W. Bush’s presidency and the incompetence at the top, but I want to take a moment to remind everyone that we all had a hand in this. While hundreds of thousands protested in the largest protests since Vietnam, the media became stenographer for the White House. While dozens of experts raised questions about intelligence, Iraqi WMD, and terrorism, Judith Miller and the New York Times were busy making sure they continued to have access. While many of us craved for more information, for more facts, and for more insight, the TV pundits and anchors tried not to offend the administration.
And while the media was ignoring their fundamental responsibility at this critical moment, the rest of us let them. We let the White House get away with the same incompetence in making the case for war as they later demonstrated executing it.
Then, on top of that, we let concerns about one candidate’s verbosity and stiffness override demonstrated incompetence. We elected a man whose sole virtue was that he was an everyman. This, even though he grew up as privileged as a celebrity with a father who was wealthy and who walked the halls of power. We elected a man who only had one accomplishment to his name prior to suing his way to the presidency, and that accomplishment was kicking his alcoholism and drug abuse.
John Kerry was a good man and would’ve made a fine president. Al Gore was a fine man and would’ve made an even better President. Instead, we let fabricated, right-wing narratives about “inventing the Internet” and Swift Boats shape our discourse. This reflects poorly on us.
Though the media takes some of the blame, we let him get elected and we let the media become fat and lazy. So, when I read all of these missives around the Internet whining about how the bloggers are pissed, I wonder, “Why aren’t we even more angry?” In 2002 we didn’t get angry enough and we got the Iraq War. In 2004, we didn’t get angry enough and we got George W. Bush for 4 more years.
Let’s not make this mistake again. In 2008, participate in the process. Read more blogs, get active, volunteer and get out and vote. Get everyone you know to vote. I don’t care who they vote for, just get them out and voting. Help correct the narrative. Get your friends to read your blog. Be accurate, honest, and fair and most importantly, help educate your readers on the issues of the day.
George W. Bush is our failure. Let’s not let something like that happen again.
The web site for the project is, appropriately, 
