Today in Iraq

Note to Readers, Monday, March 13, 2006 This is a re-post of a Note to Readers originally posted on Saturday, March 11, 2006. I have been hesitant to post this request. In the past, this blog has been recommended for various blog awards. I’ve never urged readers to go vote for TII because self-promotion always seemed, well - tacky - for want of a better word. But readers again nominated TII for the Koufax Award in the Best Single Issue Blog category and we’ve made it to the first round of voting. The competition is formidable. There are some damn fine blogs among the field, many offering original content and commentary. This year I feel differently about asking readers to vote because it isn’t about self-promotion. Matt, Friendly Fire, Susan, whisker, Helena, Cervantes and zig have done the heavy lifting this year. I’m asking you to vote in recognition of their efforts, not mine. Today in Iraq is a blog unlike others. We offer little original commentary. Instead, we aggregate the news from Iraq while trying to present an accurate situation report that you won’t find in the American corporate media. A reader once wrote me and said we have the worst job in the blogosphere. That reader was right - we document blood, bravery, foolishness and folly. Speaking from experience, it takes about four to five hours to prepare a news summary. You consult your battle map, research the day’s violence, count the casualties, read about the sacrifices of the soldiers, the determination of the insurgents, and the suffering of the civilians. Then you read the spin and spew our leaders and our media present as they try to convince us that victory is just around the corner and freedom is on the march. The dissonance between reality and rhetoric will drive you crazy as you research and prepare the daily summary. I’ve already said more than I intended. If you think the editors here are worth your vote, please show your appreciation by casting your vote by posting in comments here. Voting ends at midnight today, Monday, March 13, 2006. Thanks, YD P.S. Alert reader 2cents kindly provided the following observation in Comments: "I finally managed to vote, after some 10 DB connection errors at various times yesterday. So: Try and try again. The problems you are seeing are likely caused by the server refusing the overload of DB connections generated by simultaneous comments. It may be best to pick a potentially quiet time to persist. The problem, however, is still that people getting the error hit back along with refresh in their browser and thus reduce the chance of anyone getting their request through -- otherwise known as a DDOS attack." I'm not exactly sure what a DDOS attack is or what a DB connection might be, but as a child raised in Chicago, I strongly urge all readers to abide by the Mayor Richard J. Daly rule: Vote early and vote often! (That's a joke. I don't advocate cheating.) YD