So Much For Freedom of Speech In "The Future of Iraq"!

The three Iraqi brothers who run the Iraq The Model blog have banned me from commenting on their site. The brothers recently had an article in USA Today and even feature prominently in today's Blogger headlines. Their blog, which receives quite a lot of visitors every day, claims to be a forum for "New points of view about the future of Iraq."

Over the past week, I have been posting comments on their site. In response, I have been frequently and crudely abused and vilified with terms like turd, f#%kwit, etc. I have restrained myself from responding in kind. Many at the site stereotyped me as a communist, a terrorist supporter, or a supporter of Saddam and other dictators. Very few of the pro-US visitors to the site ever tried to make a serious response to any of my arguments. Of these few, none were able to prove me wrong any any point of substance. Their arguments tend to rely on a faith-based belief in Bush and mere facts will not deter them.

I am not a Marketing-oriented person. I have never tried to publicize my own blog (as you can see by the Comments!) and it seemed to me that posting on pro-US sites would be a more useful way of persuading people to end the US occupation of Iraq and not vote Bush in November. The brothers banned me from posting without even sending me an explanatory email or posting a comment to tell other visitors that they had done it.

The USA Today article says the brothers banned a German who threatened to kill them. I made no such threats, although I may have threatened their efforts to make money from gullible pro-Bush Americans. I think this is the real reason why I was banned. The brothers have collected well over $1,000 in donations (the blog features a prominent "Make A Donation" button) and are very supportive of members of the Iraqi Governing Council, particularly Adnan Pachachi. For example:

"... I asked my friends back "if you were to choose your president from the GC, whom would you elect?? They all agreed that Adnan Pachachi would be the best available choice in such circumstances. As a matter of fact, I share the same opinion because this man is acceptable to many Iraqis due to his moderate attitudes and clean background..."

I posted many comments critical of the IGC and asked the brothers whether they were getting funds from them. Their response was to ban me from posting.

I can only conclude that the brothers are a front for the IGC and are probably receiving funds from either the IGC or the Americans.

I urge anyone who reads this blog to visit the brothers site at Iraq The Model, click on the Comments link at the bottom of their posts and scold them for banning me. If you are a blogger, tell others about this scandal and let us expose the Fadhil brothers for the hypocrites they are.

Is this really the future of Iraq? Let us hope not!