Salam is posting on Global Voices

Salam is posting on Global Voices Online. His first post: "Iraq: Remembering April 9, 2003 - When Sitting on the Fence is Difficult" Check it out! Click title of this post to access.

He is tweeting and blogging

Salam is blogging again. He keeps changing his blogging address, but I think this is his latest, "Salam Pax The Baghdad Blogger": http://salampax.wordpress.com/. He has been revisiting his original blog, titled "Where is Raed."

He's also on Facebook and is tweeting (Twitter), with over 500 followers on the latter. Plus, he has a Photostream.

Yee gads! Does he ever have time to actually make human contact?

Salam Pax Update January 2009

Salam spent last year finishing his studies for a MA in International Journalism at the City University of London, which he received at the end of the summer. He currently lists his home of record as Beirut, Lebanon. Here's a hint: If you are a member of Facebook, you might search for him, find him, and perhaps he will accept you as a friend.

Salam Pax Video

I found four short videos made by Salam Pax in 2005-06. Salam made his first video for Guardian Films, "Salam Pax in Amara," in January 2005. The video, "Baghdad Blogger: Constitution," was made in October 2005. "The Battle for Women's Rights," was made sometime after the general elections in Iraq, 2005. The video, "How to Stay Alive in Baghdad," was made in July 2006. All are under 15 minutes.

I also found the longer, feature-length video "The Baghdad Blogger," about how he came to be, made in February 2005. Each video is distributed by, and available on, the Journeyman Pictures, UK, site to which all these links refer. A DVD of each is also available on the site.

You will need Real Player from real.com installed on your computer. Download Free Real Player.

Here is the link for the "Amara" video: http://www.journeyman.tv/18118/short-films/salam-pax-in-amara.html

The link for "Baghdad Blogger: Constitution" is:
http://www.journeyman.tv/19111/short-films/baghdad-blogger-constitution.html

Here is the link where you can download the "Women's Rights": http://www.journeyman.tv/18444/short-films/the-battle-for-womens-rights.html

The link for the "Stay Alive" video is: http://www.journeyman.tv/56445/short-films/how-to-stay-alive-in-iraq.html

The link for the longer video, "The Baghdad Blogger" is: http://www.journeyman.tv/18160/documentaries/the-baghdad-blogger.html

Journeyman Pictures has a number of other videos made in, and about, Iraq by various independent filmmakers. You can search the site by country.

BAGHDAD BLOG, The Movie

It's official. The NY Times announced today that the movie based on Salam Pax's book, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi, published October 2003, is in development. The title: BAGHDAD BLOG. This is a working title and is subject to change.

Welsh director Marc Evans (SNOW CAKE) is onboard as director. Ross Klavan (GRACE IS GONE) has written, or is writing, the screenplay, the country of origin is the UK. The production companies listed are Intermedia Films, and FilmFour Lab. I'm not sure if this Intermedia is based in Nottingham, England, or Beverly Hills, and I'm not sure that FilmFour Lab is back in business. I am checking.

Salam Pax Posts?

I found a reference to a post by Salam Pax 20 December 2007. I found it on Munir Umrani's THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST. The article is posted on IRAQ ONLINE - (EDITORIAL / OPINION) - Salam Pax, Niqash, 20 December 2007.

I found the following about Niqash in a comment posted 17 July 2005:

" 'Thoughts on Syrian politics, history and religion.' An interesting new civil society experiment is running on the web called Niqash. . . . Matthias Klein, is editor of the English section. A space for Iraqis."

Is it genuine? Can't say.

Also, I have posted Salam's "Photopage" from 2003. See the link on the left sidebar.

Salam Pax's BBC Newsnight Reports

While searching the BBC Web site, I found some interesting items from Salam Pax, and I share them with you:

"Magical thinking and the lost country," Salam Pax's Window on Iraq, BBC Talk About Newsnight blog post 20 March 2007.

"Losing our country," Newsnight post 10 April 2006.

Salam Pax as reporter / filmaker - BBC video - "The Life and Death of Saddam Hussein." Try this link for the video and more.

RIVERBEND POSTS FROM SYRIA

The female blogger known as Riverbend, whom I have followed since the invasion of Iraq, posted in April that her family had decided to leave Baghdad and were packing. Then, nothing.

Yesterday she posted that the family has finally made it to Syria. Please read her post on her blog, Baghdad Burning!

After you do that, go to Khalid's blog Tell me a Secret, and read the post about the project to help Iraqi refugees, the Collateral Repair Project. Thank you!

Again, please leave a comment, especially if you have any information or Web links relating to Salam Pax. Thanks!

WHERE IS SALAM PAX?

I have created this blog to search for Salam Pax. The name is a pseudonym of the "Baghdad Blogger." It is composed of the Arabic and Latin words for peace. After seaching the Web, I found that he was, apparently, last heard from when he posted two videos in April 2007 on CNN's "World's Untold Stories."

He last posted on his "Justzipit" blog , also known as "Shut Up You Fat Whiner," 18 July 2006. As of this posting, Salam's original blog "Where is Raed?" had been tampered with and is now unreadable, unless you use the edit/select all button on your browser. Does he know this? Does he care?

You can buy the book of the blog, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi on Amazon.com. While you are there, order Riverbend's Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq. Raed Jarrar, the "Raed" Salam was looking for, calls Riverbend (pseudonym) his virtual sister. Raed is now in the U. S.

A couple of years ago, Salam revealed that his father is Adnan al-Janabi, who was elected to the National Assembly in the January 2005 elections and in May 2005 became a member of the committee set up by the Iraqi Transitional Government to write a permanent constitution. His father is not a member of the current Council of Representatives.

So, where is Salam now? Is his family still in Baghdad? Has the al-Janabi family fled to Jordan or Syria? Riverbend reported on her last post in April that her family had decided to leave Baghdad, and there have been no further posts on her blog, Baghdad Burning.

Please comment, especially if you can offer any information as to the whereabouts of these two talented and brave bloggers, Salam Pax and/or Riverbend.