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Now that the war with Iraq has started, people are turning to the Internet for news and information from government and news sites as well as websites operated by anti-war protestors. It's even possible to use the Internet to find out what "the other side" has to say, by clicking on sites operated by the Iraqi government and its sympathisers. Just about all of the major news organisations are working overtime to keep their websites up-to-date. Of course, the web can't take the place of television, which is beaming live pictures from the battleground, nor can you access it from the road as you can with radio. Still, the Net can give you more detail than TV or radio, and it's certainly a lot more up-to-the-minute than print media. Even newspapers and magazines, which are accustomed to publishing on a daily schedule, are using their websites to provide readers with news throughout the day. Sailors aboard most ships, by the way, have access to e-mail, as do some personnel from other services. The military, however, may limit or monitor access for security reasons.
The Department of Homeland Security now has its Ready.gov site running, with plenty of information on how to protect yourself and your family in case of an attack. It's not exactly fun, but it's a must-read for parents and others who need to be ready for anything that might come. Websites that include a "lifeline" section with advice not only for service men and women but also for families and other loved ones.
Online news portals in the US and China reported three times as much traffic as usual, showing the power of the Net as a major source of information and ringing up profits for web portals. "Our page views went through the roof," said Sohu.com spokeswoman Caroline Straathof. Some 20,000 people had registered for the Chinese portal’s SMS-based news service in the first few hours of the war, paying about 25 yuan a month to receive news on their mobile phones, she said. People across the world also tapped away on their mobile phones, sending text messages of fear, outrage and black humour. ‘‘Have you heard that when the US takes over Iraq it will divide the country into three zones — premium, regular and unleaded,’’ said one message circulating in Manila. Yahoo Inc’s news site saw about three times more traffic than it would in a typical hour. Traffic at the Internet arm of cable news network MSNBC was running at two-and-a-half times normal levels after the war started, said Dean Wright, editor-in-chief.
The conflict with Iraq will be the biggest war involving the US since the Internet became a major medium. In the 1991 Gulf War, the Internet was in early stages of development and cable TV was the dominant source for news. Source: Reuters
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World War II was covered on radio. The Vietnam War was watched on television. The first Gulf War was beamed in via cable TV, and now we're in the first full-fledged war of the Internet era.
Of course, the anti-war movement is also using the Web to mobilise its forces. The Department of Defense and each branch of the service also operate informative websites. Defense Link - including some that provide inside information for military personnel such as pay schedules, vaccine information and other critical data. There also is news from the American Forces Press Service as well as TV and radio newscasts from American Forces Radio and Television Service.
As missiles fly thick and fast, so do e-mails. Moments after the first missiles hit Iraq, web surfers around the world logged on to get the latest news and unleash their own barrage of messages. 
The search for news of the threat of war has driven many Americans to the web. The 15 top sites had an average 41 per cent more traffic on Tuesday than their average over the previous four weeks, according to Comscore Media Metrix. 
