Salam Pax
Salam Pax is a pseudonymous blogger from Iraq whose site Where is Raed? received considerable media attention during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In his blog, Salam discussed his homosexuality, his friends' marriages, the disappearances of people he knew under the Saddam Hussein rule, and expressed both cynicism and hope about the U.S.' efforts in the country.
First circulating the blogging community, discussion made its way into the larger media venues, including the New York Times, with some pundits speculating that the blogger was secretly a U.S. government agent spreading misinformation about the war. Pax continued to post updates to the site even after it was blocked in Iraq. During the war, he gave accounts of bombings and other attacks from his suburb of Baghdad until his internet access was interrupted. Internet service was disrupted, and eventually the electric service was too. Pax remained offline for weeks, writing entries on paper to type in later.
In May 2003 the U.K.'s The Guardian tracked the man down and printed a story indicated that the man did indeed live in Iraq, was named Salam, and was a 29-year-old architect.
Pax's site is titled after Pax's friend Raed, who was working on his master's in Jordan: he didn't respond promptly to email, and so Pax set up the weblog for him to read.