NationStates Jolt Archive

I recommend that everyone add this blog to their favourites. I found out about it when it won one of the categories at the big blog competition recently.

It's by an Iraqi woman who has started the blog when the invasion began and details her life since then.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com

The Beginning...
So this is the beginning for me, I guess. I never thought I'd start my own weblog... All I could think, every time I wanted to start one was "but who will read it?" I guess I've got nothing to lose... but I'm warning you- expect a lot of complaining and ranting. I looked for a 'rantlog' but this is the best Google came up with.

A little bit about myself: I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That's all you need to know. It's all that matters these days anyway.

Waking Up
Waking up anywhere in Iraq these days is a trial. It happens in one of two ways: either slowly, or with a jolt. The slow process works like this: you're hanging in a place on the edge of consciousness, mentally grabbing at the fading fragments of a dream... something creeps up around, all over you- like a fog. A warm heavy fog. It's the heat... 120 F on the cooler nights. Your eyes flutter open and they search the dark in dismay- the electricity has gone off. The ceiling fan is slowing down and you are now fully awake. Trying to sleep in the stifling heat is about as productive as trying to wish the ceiling fan into motion with your brain. Impossible.

The other way to wake up, is to be jolted into reality with the sound of a gun-shot, explosion or yelling. You sit up, horrified and panicked, any dream or nightmare shattered to oblivion. What can it be? A burglar? A gang of looters? An attack? A bomb? Or maybe it's just an American midnight raid?


So although I haven't gotten far yet, I'm pretty certain that this is about as close to the truth as we're going to get. It'll have some good news and some bad news. And hopefully no one will shout bias.

How about a link?

Interesting.

How about a link?
Ahem...yes. That might be a good idea. :D

Hmm, a link would be nice because this looks interesting.

I have read that blog occassionly over the past year or so when time permits.
I warn you, it's unsurprisingly not always happy reading, and from what she describes, the situation and enviroment around her seems to detoriate almost daily.

Hair raising, eye opening, and emotional.

A must read.

Baghdad Burning has become quite famous as an inside look at Baghdad. There was an article on it on the news a few weeks ago. It's quite scary to read - you don't here about the stories told here, on the news.

I have read that blog occassionly over the past year or so when time permits.
I warn you, it's unsurprisingly not always happy reading, and from what she describes, the situation and enviroment around her seems to detoriate almost daily.

Hair raising, eye opening, and emotional.

A must read.
Everything is peaches and rosebuds, the administration says so.

I'm going to sleep now. Please keep bumping this thread occasionally so everyone gets a chance to have a look. :)

Everything is peaches and rosebuds, the administration says so.

They also say War Is Peace.

Sewage in the streets and electricity off by 8pm or 9.

I like the March 6 entry: The 2006 Sayid awards.


Best motion picture:

“OIF: The War on Terror” starring George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condi Rice and others. A riveting drama set in Iraq. Rated “G” for ‘Gullibility’ and “R” for ‘Republican”.

“Disappearing Act” starring Ahmed Al Chalabi, Adnan Al Pachachi, and Ghazi Al Yawir.

“Free Iraqi Elections”- A black comedy based on the farfetched theory of free elections under foreign occupation starring Abdul Aziz Al Hakeem, Ibraheim Al-Jaffari and Muqtada Al Sadr.

“Kangaroo Court” - starring Saddam Hussein, Barazan Hassen, and various judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

Interesting.
Very interesting indeed, especially this list and in particular the last one:

They’ve been bickering over the Prime Minister’s position for so long now, I’m almost wishing Bremer were here to once again implement his whole “Puppet per month” arrangement as in 2003.

In any case, should you want to play an April Fool’s Day joke on an Iraqi (albeit a late one- or maybe even next year), I suggest the following:


1. “Guess what?! There’s going to be electricity this summer!!!” (For better effect, it is suggested a candle be broken in half and thrown high into the air with a whoop.)

2. “Guess what?! The Americans have declared they will be gone by 2010 and they won’t leave permanent bases behind!!!” (This should be said with a straight face.)

3. “Guess what?! They didn’t actually find three corpses in the strip of trees two streets away!!!”

4. “Guess what?! The Puppets finally formed a government!!!”

5. “Guess what?! They didn’t actually detain [fill in with the name of a relative, friend- everyone knows someone in prison these days]!!!”

6. "Guess what?! Chalabi solved the gasoline crisis!!!"

7. "Guess what?! No more religious militias- they've been banned from the country!!!" (This should be said in a low voice - just in case)

8. "Great news!! The US is going to make public how the billions of dollars in Iraqi oil money AND donations were 'spent'!!!"

9. "Guess what?! They're going to actually begin reconstructing the country and they estimate it will take 5 years!!!"

10. "Guess what?! They caught Zarqawi!!!" (This will only work on Iraqis who actually think he exists.)

10. "Guess what?! They caught Zarqawi!!!" (This will only work on Iraqis who actually think he exists.)[/i]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2117134,00.html

Apparently he does exist as rumor has it, he is no longer in charge of the Al Qaeda network in Iraq.

Sooo, apparently she doesn't think he exists? Or what? As for the blog, there are quite a few iraqi blogs out there. Many of them are pro-US or pretty damn neutral. Which I suppose is why they aren't lauded with praise.

Sooo, apparently she doesn't think he exists? Or what? As for the blog, there are quite a few iraqi blogs out there. Many of them are pro-US or pretty damn neutral. Which I suppose is why they aren't lauded with praise.
links?

As for the blog, there are quite a few iraqi blogs out there. Many of them are pro-US or pretty damn neutral.
Where do they originate from, the future country of Kurdistan (http://www.cool.mb.ca/~kakel/kurdistan.html)?

Do you have any links to these "pro-US" Iraqi blogs?

A very interesting read. I can't imagine living in an environment like that. What a nightmare! I'm surprised at what a good sense of humor she has about it all, with everythign she has to put up with.

Kudos to her about her considerations for awards and such.

I recommend that everyone add this blog to their favourites. I found out about it when it won one of the categories at the big blog competition recently.

It's by an Iraqi woman who has started the blog when the invasion began and details her life since then.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com



So although I haven't gotten far yet, I'm pretty certain that this is about as close to the truth as we're going to get. It'll have some good news and some bad news. And hopefully no one will shout bias.

http://democracyiniraq.blogspot.com/

http://afreeiraqi.blogspot.com/

http://iraqiexpat.blogspot.com/

Such conflicting views.

How do we know she's actually in Iraq? I guess I just have to trust her.

How do we know she's actually in Iraq? I guess I just have to trust her.
Yep. If she isn't, her imagination is so magnificent that it warrants following the blog anyways.

Sooo, apparently she doesn't think he exists? Or what?
Many Arabs don't. There have been quite a few messages of his death over the years, and real conclusive evidence that this is all him, which people will actually believe, has so far been rare.

As for the blog, there are quite a few iraqi blogs out there. Many of them are pro-US or pretty damn neutral. Which I suppose is why they aren't lauded with praise.
Yeah, cuz this one is so biased?

She calls it as she sees it - and that is that she had an okay life before, and now she's in a world of shit.
It's on maintenance right now, but because all sorts of people have been covering her with abuse pretty much from day one she's made a statement about what she thinks about Americans early on. I'll copy and paste it.

Here we go:

Setting the Record Straight
I’m going to set the record straight, once and for all.

I don’t hate Americans, contrary to what many people seem to believe. Not because I love Americans, but simply because I don’t hate Americans, like I don’t hate the French, Canadians, Brits, Saudis, Jordanians, Micronesians, etc. It’s that simple. I was brought up, like millions of Iraqis, to have pride in my own culture and nationality. At the same time, like millions of Iraqis, I was also brought up to respect other cultures, nations and religions. Iraqi people are inquisitive, by nature, and accepting of different values- as long as you do not try to impose those values and beliefs upon them.

Although I hate the American military presence in Iraq in its current form, I don’t even hate the American troops… or wait, sometimes I do:

- I hated them all through the bombing. Every single day and night we had to sit in terror of the next bomb, the next plane, the next explosion. I hated them when I saw the expression of terror, and remembrance, on the faces of my family and friends, as we sat in the dark, praying for our lives, the lives of our loved ones and the survival of Iraq.

- I hated them on April 11- a cool, gray day: the day our family friend lost her husband, her son and toddler daughter when a tank hit the family car as they were trying to evacuate the house in Al-A’adhamiya district- an area that saw heavy fighting.

- I hated them on June 3 when our car was pulled over for some strange reason in the middle of Baghdad and we (3 women, a man and a child) were made to get out and stand in a row, while our handbags were rummaged, the men were frisked and the car was thoroughly checked by angry, brisk soldiers. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to put into words the humiliation of being searched.

- I hated them for two hours on July 13. As we were leaving Baghdad, we were detained with dozens of other cars at a checkpoint in the sweltering, dizzying heat.

- I hated them the night my cousin’s house was raided- a man with a wife, daughter and two young girls. He was pushed out of the house with his hands behind his head while his wife and screaming daughters were made to wait in the kitchen as around 20 troops systematically searched the house, emptying closets, rummaging underwear drawers and overturning toy boxes.

- I hated them on April 28 when they shot and killed over a dozen kids and teenagers in Falloojeh- a place west of Baghdad. The American troops had taken over a local school (one of the only schools) and the kids and parents went to stand in front of the school in a peaceful demonstration. Some kids started throwing rocks at the troops, and the troops opened fire on the crowd. That incident was the beginning of bloodshed in Falloojeh.


On the other hand…

- I feel terrible seeing the troops standing in this merciless sun- wearing heavy clothes… looking longingly into the air-conditioned interiors of our cars. After all, in the end this is Baghdad, we’re Iraqi- we’ve seen this heat before.

- I feel bad seeing them stand around, drinking what can only be lukewarm water after hours in the sun- too afraid to accept any proffered ice water from ‘strange Iraqis’.

- I feel pity watching their confused, frightened expressions as some outraged, jobless, father of five shouts at them in a language they can’t even begin to understand.

- I get hopeless, seeing them pointing their guns and tanks at everyone because, in their eyes, anyone could be a ‘terrorist’ and almost everyone is an angry, frustrated Iraqi.

- I feel sympathy seeing them sitting bored and listless on top of their tanks and in their cars- wishing they were somewhere else.

So now you know. Mixed feelings in a messed up world.

I talk about “American troops” because those are the only ones I’ve come into contact with- no British soldiers, no Italians, no Spaniards… I don’t know- maybe they feel the same towards the British in the south.

Someone wrote that I was naïve and probably spoiled, etc. and that “not one single American soldier deserves to die for you”. I completely agree. No one deserves to die for me or for anyone else.

This war started out a war on WMD. When those were not found, and proof was flimsy at best, it turned suddenly into a “War against Terrorism”. When links couldn’t be made to Al-Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden (besides on Fox and in Bush’s head), it turned into a “Liberation”. Call it whatever you want- to me it’s an occupation.

My suggestion? Bring in UN peace-keeping forces and pull out the American troops. Let the people decide who they want to represent them. Let the governing council be composed of Iraqis who were suffering the blockade and wars *inside* of Iraq. People are angry and frustrated and the American troops are the ones who are going to have to bear the brunt of that anger simply because the American administration is running the show, and making the mistakes.

It always saddens me to see that the majority of them are so young. Just as it isn’t fair that I have to spend my 24th year suffering this whole situation, it doesn’t seem fair that they have to spend their 19th, 20th, etc. suffering it either. In the end, we have something in common- we’re all the victims of decisions made by the Bush administration.

On the other hand… they’ll be back home, safe, in a month, or two or three or six… and we’ll be here having to cope with the mess of a homeland we have now.

Y'know, a UN peacekeeping force would be a great idea...If perhaps the UN hadn't pulled out and repeadetly rejected calls for such action.

Y'know, a UN peacekeeping force would be a great idea...If perhaps the UN hadn't pulled out and repeadetly rejected calls for such action.
This particular entry was written before they pulled out. Just go to the first entry and start reading.

Bump!

fyi:
Blogger up for non-fiction award

'Riverbend' has been posting from Iraq since August 2003
An anonymous blog by a young woman in war-torn Iraq has been longlisted for BBC Four's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4847424.stm

Nice work, man, good job of searching AND good time spent Neu Leonstein...indeed a Generalite neccessity!

How do we know she's actually in Iraq? I guess I just have to trust her.
Well, she does seem to have incredibly good english, which might suggest something untoward.
Then again before the war, all education including university was open to women in Iraq.

I think the biggest reason to believe she really is there, though, is the fact she's been blogging for 3 years now. One would assume that if she was a phony, someone would have picked up on it by now.

Everything is peaches and rosebuds, the administration says so.
Tehrefore it MUST be true... :rolleyes: