Baghdad blogger: yes, it is a civil war

Zeyad, author of the Healing Iraq blog that has chronicled life in Baghdad for the last three years, spoke of his experiences at the Online News Association's conference in Washington at the weekend. "I thought it was riveting and so did many others", reports Jeff Jarvis. Zeyad explained the difficulty of obtaining news, about the increasing threat of violence and about the Western media's failure to explain just how bad the situation really is. One of the most interesting exchanges in the Q&A came when he was asked whether a "civil war" was going on. He replied: "I ask you back, 'How do you define a civil war? Does what I describe sound like a civil war - neighbourhoods fighting each other?' Yes, I think that's a civil war." You'll find more here too. (Via Buzz Machine)