> The Baghdad Blog Salam Pax is a pseudonym. He lives in Baghdad, Iraq.
‘“Salam Pax” is an extremely talented writer. The singularity of his position and subject matter can lead one to overlook this, but I was aware of it as soon as I started reading him, just prior to the war. The fact that English is not his first language actually underscores his gifts of observation and expression; he’ll write “around” his own uncertainty of usage, and get it right on the button.’ William Gibson ‘The most vivid account of the Iraq conflict’ Guardian ‘Salam Pax not only highlighted the deficiencies of embedded media, [his] blog became required reading for anyone needing to find out what was really happening on the ground during the US-led invasion.’ Globe and Mail ‘The reliable chronicler of the chaos’ Spiegel ‘A mysterious Iraqi who goes by the name of “Salam Pax” and who writes a blog (internet diary) from Baghdad is becoming a celebrity, on the internet, with his first-hand stories of a city under siege . . . the traffic on the site has become so intense that it has blocked the server, while his e-mail has gone on the blink due to the vast number of messages from people who are asking him to prove his true identity.’ La Stampa ‘Salam Pax, the anonymous Iraqi blogger who went worryingly silent during the US invasion, is back. And he makes up by clearing the backlog . . . His account of Baghdad since the liberation is fascinating. It is far better than anything you’ll read in the newspapers. Things you wouldn’t have known: Thuraya satphones are the ultimate Baghdad status symbol; there’s utter contempt for the exiles who’ve appropriated the best real estate (Chalabi’s group took over Salam’s sports club); locals would shoo out the Syrian Fedayeen creeps for fear they’d attract American retaliation; and Salam likes the communists, who are at least honest. It’s great stuff.’ Nick Denton