OxBlog

Thursday, August 19, 2004

# Posted 8:22 AM by Patrick Belton  

A HOPEFUL DEVELOPMENT OUT OF IRAQ: A friend writes that the two Iraqi democrats, both brothers, who write the blog www.iraqthemodel.com are planning to run for the Iraqi National Assembly as part of a new Iraq Pro-Democracy Party. So far they seem to gathered 12 candidates - most of whom are westernised professionals - and hopefully that number will grow.

They have got a website, and yesterday issued this press release:
Two popular Iraqi webloggers, Ali Fadhil and Mohammed Fadhil, today announced their candidacies for the Iraqi National Assembly.

The bloggers, who are brothers, have been writing their popular weblog www.IraqTheModel.com since November of 2003. Their weblog has been quoted in major world media, including the BBC, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, National Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Bulletin, Dallas Morning, and New York Post.

We believe that we represent an important segment of the Iraqi people that was never organized before under any category as a result of the oppression of the past regime. Now this segment has come to see the necessity to contribute to the building of a new Iraq in a way that is entirely different from the old ways that are still dominant in the Middle East and that are governed by religious fanaticism and pan-Arab nationalism.

We see that remaining silent is not an option in our battle towards democracy and freedom and that everyone who seeks a better future should take part in this battle.

-Ali Fadhil

Through our writings in our weblog and communication with different opinions and view points we find ourselves committed to reconsider the way in which we can serve our nation.

We also saw that our somewhat daring opinions were accepted by many people whether westerners or Iraqis and we see that we have the capability to clarify our vision about Iraq's future through talking to Iraqis directly.

Our work on the weblog opened our minds more, made us bolder and encouraged us to communicate with our fellow citizens as they're the ones who can make the change and they're the ones we started to write for their sake.

-Mohammed Fadhil

The bloggers are running under the banner of the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party. Elections will be held after December 2004. For the complete list of party candidates and more information on the party's history and its platform, please visit our website www.iraqdemparty.org .

To request candidate interviews, email:
ali.fadhil@iraqdemparty.org
mohammed.fadhil@iraqdemparty.org

For background information on the candidates and how their weblog has allowed them to reach such a wide audience, please contact Jeff Jarvis at jeff@buzzmachine.com for correspondence in English and Fayrouz Hancock at fayrouz.hancock@iraqdemparty.org for correspondence in Arabic.
We'll be writing to interview them within the next few days. As our friend who pointed this out to us notes, small but hopeful signs like this are useful reminders that Moqtada al-Sadr is not the only game in town.
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