Make this your daily read to get an honest and articulate perspective of a young woman’s current life in Baghdad. This is just a taste of what’s there today:
Buildings cannot just be made functionary. They have to have artistic touches- a carved pillar, an intricately designed dome, something unique
Kalilily Time
Just an old lady talking to herself
Thanks, Elaine.
I don’t read that much political stuff, but the riverbend stuff you have posted is great. Keep it up.
I sure hope this can be turned around eventually, but it doesn’t look possible until we have regime change at home.
There is a possibility — a chance, a slight one — that this person isn’t really in Iraq. I’ve tracked three postings that just so happened to match a news report with the exact same information, at the same time.
Info’s interesting though, and good for people to hear.
Shelley, I’ve wondered how to check if a blog like this is legit. With something like this, I sure want to believe it is.
It would have more impact if it were real, but it doesn’t detract from the message. Assuming the sources of the original article are authentic, I don’t have a problem with turning it into a first person story without an explicite disclaimer. Interesting and good for people to hear, as Shelley said.
I linked to Riverbend on Blogsisters because Salam Pax of “Dear Raed” seems to believe she’s legit (or otherwise has a reason to perpetuate the belief that she’s legit). I figure he’d be more likely to spot a faker than me, but hey, I don’t know. None of us ever ultimately knows if any of us are fakes, right? 😉
Quoted from here:
http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_dear_raed_archive.html#10599175679170814
“People, I have the most amazing surprise for you, well for those who have been reading the blog before the war. do you remember [Riverbend]? she’s in Mosul now she is OK but she had to quit her job because some shia fundi took over wher she used to work and made life miserable. and she sent me something to put on the blog.
and she is *NOT* my female alter ego as some poeple have suggested, actually there were stranger suggestions that [salam pax] is actually [riverbend] but she decided to diguise her self as a man. whatever.”
About bridge-building…note that Saddam repaired (with UN oil-for-food money)that infrastructure that supported his tanks being able to cross the Tigris or Euphrates, while people starved and hospitals had to smuggle in pen-v-k. Did you know that bridges are highly complex structures, yet even the strongest ones can be brought down by the weight of troops marching in-step. The most critical part of any bridge is actually the abutments at either end. The mathematics of the forces involved are known only to highly trained engineers, none? of whom are women, in the Arab world. Arabs who learn such trades, leave for the U.S or far East to get good pay. (OBL is an engineer, but what did he use his skills for? 9-11). The logistics of repairing/replacing such structures are daunting, to say the least. Only a few international companies are capable of doing so. Keep in mind that Halliburton and others(French, Germans) are the only ones in that part of the world with the expertise and equipment to do the job. They are constantly working for all of the oil producing nations of the area, not just in Iraq. Seek the truth, ma’am. It will set you free. Free, like the women in Iraq who can now teach and attend engineering schools, thanks to W, and my son.