I've edited my sidebar - after a reading the comment below the December 31st entry and writing a private e-mail and receiving a brief reply, I'm pretty much convinced Dear Raed is a genuine Iraqi blog. I'm not an expert, but how do you know anyone is who they say, except Atrios.

This started me thinking about all the things that might seem inconsistent about me and my attitudes to someone from a different country. I'm not absolutely sure what's prudent to say, so I'll let him take the responsibility for deciding what to say and what not to say in my comment section. Even in the United States you can't safely say absolutely whatever you want on the web, I was just reading about some people who would be in trouble for a joke faked Dow Chemical web site if they could catch them. I do want to thank Salam Pax for helping to make my blogging more fun and interesting for me.

I guess some of the things most interesting to talk about wouldn't be a good idea - but if I lived in another country I might feel nervous about keeping a blog at all.

Salam Pax, if you're reading this and care to answer, is there anyone you would feel nervous about if they read your blog? If you choose to answer in public you might as well put it in the comment section below these words. If you have anything you think would be more interesting to talk about, go ahead. You write excellently in English by the way - I've never been good with any other language.