HW 25: A Look into "Baghdad Burning"

This week I began reading "Baghdad Burning". The foreword was written by Ahdaf Soueif and was a brief introduction to Riverbend and the way that she will be narrating the book. Riverbend is in her mid-twenties and is living in Baghdad with her mother, father, and brother. She will be reporting accounts of the Iraq war from a real-life perspective, to the point that the reader can experience the anguish she feels as she sits on her roof each night with her brother "E" watching the Baghdad Burning. In the very first sentence of the Foreword it states, "I wish," says Riverbend, towards the end of her blog, "every person who emails me supporting the war, safe behind their computer, secure in their narrow mind and fixed views, could actually come and experience the war live." This introduces the reader that she will be bravely speaking of what she experiences living in Iraq, to give the reader, such as an American as I, a clearer view rather than what we see on TV. Soueif explains how the book is not about explaining the theory of how the war came out and George Bush's view on the war, as the media is already circled around questions of this, but about what is happening as we speak in Iraq. The Introduction gives a very detailed background of the history of events that has led us to where Iraq and the US are now, and how Riverbend's family is dealing with this sequence of events. Until I had read the introduction in "Baghdad Burning", I knew almost nothing about the events that led up to the war. I now feel almost guilty for being so blind as to what my country and our allies and enemies have encountered over the past years. He explains how many of the controversies that have arose have dealt with religious issues and how the US had planned sending troops to Iraq even before the events of 9/11. Riverbend speaks of the US in terms of trying to establish a pro-American "puppet" government. I learned that major components that have led to the Iraq War included the Gulf War, World War II, and the struggles that different groups of Muslims that live in Iraq have dealt with in order to stay safe. Riverbend and her family fear each day as they watch the war before their eyes, and now Riverbend is allowing us to see for our self the anguish and terror that as accumulated in their community.