Waubonsee Community College

Baghdad blogger, by Salam Pax for Guardian Films

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Baghdad blogger

electronic resource

747798237

by Salam Pax for Guardian Films

80

"I live in Baghdad. I am a blogger. A blog is an online diary." So begins this succinct report from Salam Pax, an Iraqi journalist attempting to keep the world informed about his beleaguered country. Pax regularly sends fifteen-minute video reports to the BBC. Filmed in Najaf, Baghdad, Karbala, and the south of Iraq, they are cleverly worded, cantankerous and non-partisan overviews of reality outside the Green Zone. The blogger made his pseudonymous name with "The Baghdad Blog," an online English-lingo journal of life before, during and since the U.S. invasion. An architect and decidedly Western-skewed fellow, he is troubled by the inability of the Americans to maintain a stable occupation. He witnesses the failure of the interim government under Prime Minister Allawi and the formation of a new army under the cleric Al Sadr. This army has undermined the American plan of an orderly political process leading to elections. Instead, it has created havoc. Pax slowly and sadly closes his laptop at the end of the film. A "cutting edge" discussion starter for journalism and communications classes, as well as Middle East studies

general