Channel 2, Japan's largest bulletin board, is providing an outlet for anger, frustration and complaints in the traditionally hierarchical culture. And it has a real impact on businesses, politics and even crime in Japan.
Americans are more direct about expressing themselves in person, and they can turn to radio talk shows or other media for straight talk. But the choices have always been limited in Japan, so Channel 2 has created an entirely new type of forum. It plays a role that no single Web site does in the United States.
As with any bulletin board, anonymous users start threads on myriad subjects and post comments. Unlike the real Japanese world, where language is calibrated according to one's social position, the wording on Channel 2 is often stripped of social indicators or purposefully manipulated to confuse readers. Language is also raw. "Die!" is a favorite insult - and the comments are blunt, often cruel and hurled with studied cynicism.
The battles in Fallujah are over for now, but whether the peace will last is anybody's guess. Still the US Marines are already at work winning an even harder battle: for the hears and minds of the civilians caught in the crossfire, as Iraqi forces under General Muhammad Latif tries to pacify the troubled city.
The marines are now handing out hard cash in compensation for damage done to the city's infrastructure, roads and buildings. Marine lawyers are deployed with the specific task of handling 'small' claims and paying out damages where appropriate. Soldiers are also handing out water, food and medical aid.
Compensation is not the only means US forces use to connect with Iraqis. An older Iraqi woman living in a trailer hovel adjacent to the rail station says she was beaten by insurgents several weeks ago - accused of being a collaborator - and kicked in the stomach.
US servicemen evacuated Farha Abed Saad for medical treatment after dark, when her pain became unbearable. "Thank God, you have come here to Iraq and make us free," said Ms. Saad, kissing a soldier's hands. "When I see you, I see my own sons! Thank you, thank you."
Even in Fallujah, it appears some hearts and minds are already won. But remember, you win them one by one, but turn them against you by the thousands.
Similar abuse and humiliationto what suffered by Iraqi prisoners happens regularly in US civilian prisons across the country, raising little concern and even less an international outcry. There may actually be a connection between the two:
The experts also point out that the man who directed the reopening of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq last year and trained the guards there resigned under pressure as director of the Utah Department of Corrections in 1997 after an inmate died while shackled to a restraining chair for 16 hours. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was kept naked the whole time.
The Utah official, Lane McCotter, later became an executive of a private prison company, one of whose jails was under investigation by the Justice Department when he was sent to Iraq as part of a team of prison officials, judges, prosecutors and police chiefs picked by Attorney General John Ashcroft to rebuild the country's criminal justice system.
The problems may well be caused by some of the same factors.
In a related development, embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered his "deepest apology" to the Iraqis abused by US soldiers, and also warned congress that even worse photos and video footage of prison brutality is yet to be made public.
PS: I wrongly assumed nobody, perhaps except lawyers paid to do dirty work, would actually defend the prisoner abuse in Iraq. Enter Rush Limbaugh. All right, he is a big fat idiot.
We don't hear much about the small contingents in Iraq, so it's fascinating to read about the great skills and bravery of El Salvador's troops. There are only 380 Salvadorian troops in Iraq, sent for peacekeeping and humanitarian work, but they have already made their mark.
Corporal Samuel Toloza of the Cuscatlan Battalion (picture) displayed some amazing bravery when he and three soldiers were the last standing near Najaf, one of their comrades dead and 12 laying wounded, and they were all out of ammunition as al-Sadr's militiamen were closing in on them. Cpl. Toloza whipped out his knife and charged the astonished gunmen, stabbing several and making them withdraw until a relief column approached and rescued the unit.
The US National Retail Federation has issued a statement that SCO's anti-Linux lawsuit has no merit, because SCO has no ownership over Unix V. NRF says Novell, which challenges SCO in court, was the last company able to demonstrate ownership.
"The SCO Group’s business model is to generate a revenue stream through litigation. NRF expects that retailers who use Linux will survive the current litigation," the press release said.
The battles in Fallujah are over for now, but whether the peace will last is anybody's guess. Still the US Marines are already at work winning an even harder battle: 
We don't hear much about the small contingents in Iraq, so it's fascinating to read about the 
