Now, Internet cafes seemingly dot every block in Baghdad, and new ones open often. That has led to a new phenomenon here: bloggers. Gee just think, you can actually read what the Iraqi People themselves are thinking! How cool!

"We suffered for years under Saddam Hussein, not being able to speak out," says Omar Fadhil, 24, a dentist. "Now, you can make your voice heard around the world."

Salam Pax's blog made him something of an international celebrity. Pax, the pseudonym of an Iraqi architect and translator, launched his blog in June 2002 as a way to correspond with his friend Raed Jarrar in Amman. What started as an e-mail exchange became one of the most gripping war diaries of the Internet age. Pax's journal describes the emotional pain caused by the U.S. military's attack on Baghdad a year ago.

His blog, dear_raed.blogspot.com, has been published as a book, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi.

Fadhil's blog, iraqthemodel.blogspot.com, tells of his life and the lives of his two brothers. One brother also is a dentist, and the other is a pediatrician. "We wanted to help bridge the gap, not just between the U.S. and Iraq, but with the entire Islamic world," says Ali Fadhil, 34, the pediatrician. "The media is always taking a look at the bad stuff. We want to show the good progress in Iraq." What an Iraqi stating the mantra of the right and those that despise the MSM!? Can't be. SOme will tell you that all Iraqi's hate the US and want them out.

The brothers' blog is written with an unusually pro-American viewpoint, especially coming from three Sunni Muslims. Sunnis — among them, Saddam Hussein — dominated Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim population before the war.

"We get threatening e-mails from Palestinians and Arab-Americans who write, 'You are traitors. If I were in Iraq, I would shoot you,' " Ali says. Other e-mails accuse the brothers of being CIA agents who are writing from Washington, "as if the CIA didn't have anything better to do than run a blog," he says. Hey they (the CIA) have been accused of doing much worse things then blogging.

"My ideas are very shocking to people," Ali says. "I tell people I am a friend of America, a friend of Israel. Some of my colleagues at the hospital think I am an infidel. It's impossible to change a man's mind, but you can only make him consider other alternatives."

The brothers write their blog at the Twin Towers Internet Cafe, named after the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. On a recent day, all 10 computer stations were occupied at the cafe, where Internet time is 1,500 Iraqi dinars an hour (about $1). That's pricey in Iraq, where the average salary for a doctor is about $150 a month, up from $20 under Saddam's regime. Many find this fact hard to understand. How employment and salaries went up after Saddam's fall.

"People are enjoying their newfound freedoms," says Ali Wathak, 35, owner of the cafe. "It's a civilized country. We need to get connected to the world."

Like many bloggers, the Fadhil brothers' site solicits donations to help make ends meet. They've received more than $1,000, most of it from Americans. The money is wired to Kuwait, where friends pick it up. The Fadhils' site gets about 3,300 visitors and a few dozen e-mails a day.

Maintaining the blog "is really a 24-hour job," Omar says. "When I'm not blogging, I'm thinking about what to blog. I'm watching the news, discussing topics. It's become part of our life."

There are about 30 Iraqi bloggers in Baghdad, plus a few other blogs written by Iraqis abroad. Not all share the Fadhil brothers' optimism. "You have your Fox TV. I am offering a counter response," says Faisa Jarrar, whose blog is critical of the U.S. occupation. Her mixed Sunni-Shiite family began in December with a joint blog, afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com. Now, each of Jarrar's three sons has his own blog. Raed, 26, Jarrar's eldest, is studying in Jordan. Khalid, 21, and Majid, 17, are in Baghdad.

"All of our efforts are more individual efforts, but we have one common goal, to show the world what is really going on," Majid says.

Faisa Jarrar, a 40-something engineer and a Shiite, has maintained the family blog. She works on a PC in her home in western Baghdad. She has criticized what she sees as heavy-handed tactics by U.S. forces in parts of Baghdad and especially in Fallujah, where hundreds of Iraqis and dozens of Marines recently were killed in a two-week uprising.

"Dear Raed," she wrote to her son April 7. "Americans are gathering near the entrance of our neighborhood. Tanks and soldiers with machine guns. They look terrifying. ... We will spend the night in the 'safe room,' the one we used to hide in last year during the war. ... Only god can protect us from what's happening. These days are much darker than the days of Saddam Hussein."

Jarrar's site gets about 2,500 hits and about 50 e-mails a day. Most are supportive. "I get some hostile e-mails," she says. "I tell them to go look for other blogs that share their vision. ... I want to share with others our lives, our hopes. We are keeping in touch and making the world a small village."

She also has been corresponding with an American woman whose son is stationed in Baghdad. "We share the same feelings," she says. "Mothers are the same all over the world. I feel sad when a U.S. soldier is killed or injured, as if he was my own son or brother."

Back at the Twin Towers cafe, the Fadhil brothers are pecking away at the keyboard, reading volumes of e-mail. Some of the messages are hostile, even threatening. A German reader, who Ali says is "anti-everything," would like to kill the Fadhils for their pro-American comments. Ali clicks a few buttons to block the offender from his site.

The brothers say they won't bow to the high-tech threats. They say their postwar access to the Internet has been a form of liberation. "I am not afraid," Ali says. "I was afraid all my life. I will not go back to living in fear."

Maybe, just maybe we could convince one of these bloggers to come over to Joeuser and blog here? What a treat it would be to have the perspective of an Iraqi civilian on here to talk to about all these things we hear and are told. From both sides of the street. Good stuff.