Over on the Autonomist, Rhode Island blogger D. Alighieri is seeing the reality in Iraq for himself. So far, he’s put up video of his bounce in Jordan and a first impression of Baghdad:

Yesterday, a car bomb exploded a few miles from here. I watched the black plume boil towards the sky.
This place is surreal. And very edgy.

In an exercise in empathy, I’m reminded of a pillar of smoke that I noticed in the distance yesterday morning as I crossed the Newport Bridge on my way to a Jamestown construction site. It is surreal merely to imagine such proximity to war and inspires prayers of safe passage for those who needn’t pretend.