Riverbend: Goodbye, Baghdad

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/04/28/riverbend/

Goodbye, Baghdad

I'm finally leaving Iraq. But it's hard to decide which is more frightening: Car bombs and militias, or leaving everything you know and love.

Editor's note: Baghdad Burning, the blog written by a young Iraqi woman named "Riverbend," has given readers around the world an intimate, and devastating, look at the situation in Iraq. Salon occasionally runs postings from her blog.

By Riverbend

April 28, 2007 | BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Great Wall of Segregation is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It's a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad -- let no one say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will 'protect' A'adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn't empty of Sunnis.

The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh look -- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here -- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet, it will also be difficult to get out.

The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart. Promoting and supporting civil war isn't enough, apparently -- Iraqis have generally proven to be more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy leaders. It's time for America to physically divide and conquer -- like Berlin before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue chasing Sunnis out of "Shia areas" and Shia out of "Sunni areas."

I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.

more...

[Botany]

1. Stay safe ... Riverbend

And one day Iraq will welcome you back .... you will be needed and
your wisdom will be like gold .... but for now get out and keep writing
for the world to hear the truth.

:cry:

<I remember Baghdad before the war -- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were --
we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic:
are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve
around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it -- depending on the group of masked men
who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We
discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively, because it was just a
preposterous idea -- leaving one's home and extended family -- leaving one's country -- and to what? To where?>

[Monkeyman]

2. K&R

:kick:

[wiggs]

3. I'm very sorry. nt

[Oddball]

4. leaving iraq

Go in Peace. May you be blessed.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi Oddball!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[phusion]

5. so sad... :( Best of luck, Riverbend. n/t

[malaise]

6. How sad is this?

How many Iraqis have fled their homeland thanks to Bush?

[Botany]

11. 2 million have fled Iraq .... the educated ones

2 million are refugees inside the country
700,000 + are dead as a result of the invasion

no electricity
no water
no schools
no jobs
and Shira law (women are in bad way)

Mission Accomplished

[IndyOp]

7. If this story doesn't get a lot of votes on the Greatest Page...

It may be as a result of how simply horrifying it is to see the consequences of our actions on one person. Just one.

I did not want to click the link to read this thread.

I just...

:puke:

:cry:

:grr:

:nuke:

:cry:
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:cry:
:cry:
:cry:
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:cry:

[brer cat]

13. IndyOp,

I'm crying buckets with you. I've been reading Riverbend for so many years, I feel like a close personal friend has been lost. And I have never been as angry with *.

:cry: :mad: :cry:

This came out on Thursday and there were several DU threads, so it may not get as many rec's today.

[Recursion]

8. K & R for riverbend

[ArmchairMeme]

9. Best of luck

I hope to see more of your writing after you are settled in your new location.

Best Regards,

[Annces]

10. I hope she stays safe n/t

[cureautismnow]

12. Godspeed, Riverbend.

Hopefully, it will be safe enough for you and your family to return someday. :fingerscrossed: