War 2.0

I’ve been thinking about the Fact Finding hearing going today, our WASC visit, the exam I need to write, and the stack of essays I still have to grade. As a short distraction, I check my bloglines account for any new posts and find this.

I can’t imagine friends or family being taken away in the night or in broad daylight. I can’t imagine then having to go to the morgue every couple days to see if their body has turned up.

As a history teacher I know Iraq is not the bloodiest or most violent war when compared to other conflicts. But there have been times in the last three years and few days that it seems surreal. Our soldiers, some of my students, are there. The voices of this war are every where. I just read a blog post of a Iraqi citizen that he wrote TODAY – in fact it was only posted an hour or so ago. If Vietnam is considered the living room war, Iraq has become the desktop or laptop war. American soldiers, insurgents, regular citizens of Iraq, and regular citizens of the United States can see pictures, read first hand perspectives, contribute to this vast mountain of information, and interact with the information and each other in ways never imagined. It’s all the rage. It’s when Web 2.0 meets War 2.0.