Videos by Iraqis in Iraq

Does anyone else here watch Hometown Baghdad (aka chattheplanet on YouTube)?

I've been watching this series for a while now, and it's absolutely fascinating. Overall, the videos don't talk about the politics of the US military presence (although individuals in the series do talk about their own opinions on it, which range from wanting them out to wanting more US troops). I think that was important for them to show.

While they do occasionally show some pretty gory scenes, those scenes are typically very brief. The overriding theme of the series is the lack of security. The people being shown in the video are rather well off for Iraqis, however, and many are trying to get out of Iraq. One of the videos a while back showed one of the guy's girlfriend leaving for Dubai. The most recent video shows Saif (who makes many appearances in the series) and his family leaving for Jordan, but before doing so, he helps a beggar that shows up at his place.

They are also not afraid to show this one instance where the US troops raided one Ausama's grandmother's home[1], and left the place in a mess with broken stuff everywhere. It was very sad.

I highly recommend it to everyone, no matter how you feel about the Iraq War.

To give you a taste, here is "Exams" which gives us some insight into the life of some college students in Baghdad, who talk honestly about their situation in Iraq.