Bloggers Over Baghdad.

As dawn approaches, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake readies a dispatch on the war in Iraq. From his home in southern England, Mandrake awaits word on British troop movements, casualty estimates and the reaction from Arab news agencies. "[T]his is the last great strategic gamble by the Iraqi military," he writes, positing that the "breakout" in Basra may be a "diversionary tactic." Mandrake--the online alias for 42-year- old Steve Bail, borrowed from Stanley Kubrick's film "Doctor Strangelove"--is a war blogger. A seven-year veteran of the Royal Air Force, Bail now spends his spare time running a Web log, a diarylike personal Web page, devoted to chronicling and discussing the war in Iraq (lionelmandrake.blogspot.com).

He's not alone: in the past few years, hundreds of thousands of bloggers have staked out hypertext positions along the Internet's newest frontier. These guerrilla pundits, denizens of the so-called blogosphere, come in all shapes and sizes: artists, music buffs, politicos and the occasional journalist. But with the onset of hostilities in Iraq, the news-related sites have moved to the forefront. In fact, not since the days after September 11--the birth, many say, of the war blog--has online traffic been so heavy. "Blogs may come of age in this war," says Bail, noting that since the Tomahawks started flying, he's seen a huge spike in readership.

Bloggers say they offer perspectives outside those of conventional news organizations. They aim to foster debate by punctuating their thoughts with links to news reports, op-eds and contrarian Web logs. Some sites offer rare, firsthand accounts. Salam Pax, the pseudonym for a blogger who claims to live in Baghdad ...