Guest Post by Paul Hobson.
A little bit about myself: Im female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. Thats all you need to know. Its all that matters these days anyway. Thats how Riverbend began her Baghdad Burning blog on 17 August 2003.
Although for 4 years the war in Iraq has featured almost daily in the press and on television, we have become desensitized. It is old news.
Baghdad Burning has been a shining example of blogging at its best and of the power of the internet. Riverbend has given to people all over the world small glimpses of the madness and struggle for survival that has become everyday life for ordinary Iraqis.
On 26 April Riverbend announced that she and her family had finally decided to leave Iraq :
We are choosing to leave because the other option is simply a continuation of what has been one long nightmare- stay and wait and try to survive.There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends And to what?
It’s difficult to decide which is more frightening – car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.
As she and her family prepare to leave her home and country, all that we can wish is that Well meet you round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend.
That’s a depressing blog — but congratulations to her.
Riverbend is wonderful – I wish they would come here.
I hope some of the people who claimed “XYZ aren’t real refugees, because they were actually middle class and had to pay money to get on that boat!” read her blog. It shows the reality behind such stereotypes.
There is nothing riverbend wants to do LESS than migrate to another country. They are truly being forced out, and they are having to leave everything they hold dear. There’s nothing cynical and economically aspirational about it.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For want of a horse the rider was lost,
For want of a rider the battle was lost,
For want of a battle the Kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
More a case of “For want of a clue …” when it comes to Iraq, surely.