Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq 8/2003 – 9/2004
By Riverbend
I’m kicking myself for being behind the curve on Riverbend as I wish I had been able to read the Baghdad Burning blog “live” as events were unfolding in 2003 as opposed to years after the fact. So, for the other folks who have been living under the rock with me, go out and get this book now – and while you’re at it, check out http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/.
Riverbend provides a moving, thoughtful, and at times mundane accounting of everyday existence in Baghdad. This includes losing her computer programming job (because she is a woman), surviving with sporadic electricity and phone connection (yes, she was blogging with a dial-up), and living with the constant fear of assassination, abduction, and/or imprisonment of herself, her family, and her friends. One of the most emotionally tragic entries describes, in simple, loving details, the importance and beauty of date trees in Iraq – and the results, both emotional and psychological, of the seemingly trivial destruction of thousands of these revered trees by coalition forces.
What would you do if a foreign soldier came onto your property without just cause and cut down the ancient oak/pine/maple/birch tree in your yard? Offer sincere thanks and a cold drink?
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