McClatchy's Baghdad bureau employs a host of local reporters and drivers. Without them our work wouldn't be possible.
Besides shuttling us to appointments, translating, gathering news, and catching the cultural mistakes of the Western reporters here, they also contribute to a terrific blog, called Inside Iraq. It contains first-hand accounts about what it's like to live here, day in and day out.
Sometimes the staff has trouble coming up with things to blog about. They often say their lives aren't interesting enough to warrant sharing their stories. I always argue the opposite. To McClatchy's mostly Western audience, everything about their daily lives is fascinating.
But "everything" is probably a little too broad of an answer to give when the staff asks for blog ideas.
So I thought I'd ask you, our readers.
What questions do you have about daily life here in Iraq? What do you want to know?
Send your suggestions by commenting on this blog post, and I'll forward them on to our local bloggers.
Answers will appear here, at Inside Iraq.
When writing about insurgents, Reuters incessently uses the term "gunman" or "gunmen," a left-over from writing about Northern Ireland years ago.
Are there no female insurgents?
Many stories write about corruption in government. Where do the corrupt keep their money? Do they go to the friendly neighborhood bank and despoit it? Keep it buried in the back yeard? Fly to Amman or Damascus with it in suitcases?
Posted by: Thomas F Barton | May 07, 2009 at 07:41 PM
Here's one more.
What about mail?
Do people go to a post office to buy stamps? Are their mailboxes for depositing letters? Are there post office workers who go from door to door delivering mail? How good is the service? Can letters be mailed to different cities, like Mosul, Irbil? Rural areas? Does it get there? How?
Can letters be addressed in either Arabic or Roman alphabet?
Do the Kurds have their own stamps? Or does everybody in Iraq use the same stamps?
Are their shops for stamp collectors?
Posted by: Thomas F Barton | May 07, 2009 at 07:53 PM
Thomas,
The short answer is that there really is no mail system here and very few people use credit or banks.
But I'll pass your question on to the staff to see what they'd like to say about it.
Thanks,
Corinne
Posted by: Corinne Reilly | May 08, 2009 at 02:22 AM
I would like to know more about the educational system, from preschool to university. Who pays, how much, how many kids are going, how does it compare to pre-occupation and pre-sanctions eras, and what the requirement for teachers and salaries are. Is there trouble getting textbooks, supplies, computers?
And I would like to know more about the homeless population and how they are doing.
thanks for all you do
Posted by: Susan | May 09, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Everything. Everything interests me. With Susan, I too, would like to know more about how IDF and homeless people are doing, and about the ed. systems. I also appreciate hearing about everyday life, social events, how folks manage to get things done with the electricity problems...just...everything. (And thanks for all you do, dear Iraqi writers.)
Posted by: Laura | May 09, 2009 at 05:17 PM
More infomation, written by Iraqis, on the refugees both in Iraq and in surrounding countries.
Posted by: Sammy | May 11, 2009 at 05:10 AM
One of the most interesting experiments on the web a few years ago was hometownbagdad -> http://www.hometownbaghdad.com/
The video journals exposed ordinary Iraqi life to us; SO anything which could be said that explains Iraqi life in a similar human context there would be quite useful.
Doing that, others can see the common thread that forms us within your lives.
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