HW 25- Its crazy how much you learn

Foreword:

In the book, “Baghdad Burning”, by Riverbend, Ahdaf Soueif discusses the impact of the war on a “young Baghdadi woman as she lives through the war.” (Soueif vii) He goes over how Riverbend actually felt moments of pity towards the troops at one point, how ‘she saw them suffering under the Iraqi sun.” (Soueif viii) Riverebnd is not anit-american and this actually angers her when she hears that terminology. She believes in anti-bush or anti-war, but she supports America.

Introduction:

Riverbend is a young girl from Baghdad. She is in her mid twenties and lives in a middle class section of town with her mother, father, and brother, “E”. Before the war she had a job working with computers. She writes in her blog about her life in war. She does not discuss any of the typical ‘war events’ but more on the side of what is it life to live in war. Ridgeway states, “She sits on the roof to watch Baghdad burning and have learned to identify different types of automatic weapons by the sound of their volleys.” (Ridgeway xii) It talks about how Riverbend has to jump up in the middle of the night when she hears the electricity come on so they can try to get a load of laundry done. The Introduction then goes into background information about the country itself. The most interesting part was the more recent news in the sections titled “The 2003 War” and “Liberated Iraq”. “The 2003 War” discusses more about how the United States received false information about nuclear weapons in Iraq and how that is the supposable reason for invasion even though later found information states that Bush earlier in his term said he wanted to invade Iraq. In “Liberated Iraq” it talks more about how “the United States viewed the Shia as allies of the Ayatollah Khomeini and as part of an expanding mob of extremists determined to turn the entire region into some sort of unspeakable medieval theocracy. But the Shia are now monolithic by any means.” (Ridgeway xxii)

From what discussed so far in the book, the only part I can relate to is the information about the United States. I have always thought that the invasion in Iraq was in retaliation to 9/11 and a war on terrorism. I have never really been taught anything different therefore never took the time to look at the other side of the story. It is really interesting to read Riverbend’s perspective on the war and is making me think all the information I am missing out on.