HW 25: The Iraqi People and Senseless Wars

A girl called Riverbend who is placed in the middle of the Iraq War in Baghdad writes “Baghdad Burning”. Riverbend started writing online on her blog when the United States invaded Iraq and she tells the true events that occurred to everyday innocent Iraqi men, women, and children. Back during the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States, I will admit that I knew very little about Iraq and its people. I have come to learn that Iraqi people are not all that different from people like me from the United States and as Ahdaf Soueif describes this about "Baghdad Burning,” This book should shame all those with lingering imperialist bent of mind who see Iraqis (or Arabs, Muslims, or 'third-worldeans') as somehow lesser or, at best, developing" (Soueif ix). The Iraqi people and all people of the world should be viewed as equals regardless of how powerful or poor a country is. Soueif's forward for Riverbend's book is precise and to the point and he directly tells readers exactly how to interpret it, "Baghdad Burning makes for painful reading. It also makes for enjoyable-even fun-reading. It is certainly necessary reading" (Soueif ix). This novel is important for learning about Iraq and its people and it will also spark emotions within the readers. While Soueif informs us more on Riverbend herself, James Ridgeway focuses on Iraqi people as a whole and the daunting history of Iraq. Ridgeway goes into detail about the struggle Iraq has had for decades over its oil and how it has caused the of death of so many innocents lives throughout Iraq for decades. Children have suffered greatly because of the chaos of war, "About 100 children a day (died) due to the Gulf War and the subsequent sanctions...(these) figures do not include the second, or 2003, war" (Ridgeway xv). This is a disturbing revelation and I had no idea that the number of children deaths was so staggering. Ridgeway really puts into prospective the amount of pain Iraqi's have been through in the past and that they have been pushed even further back because of the 2003 war. Thousands of schools have to be rebuilt, electricity is unreliable, and sanitation conditions are despicable and this is all due from the U.S. war on Iraq. I believe the saddest part of all is the death of loved ones for an unnecessary war.