HW 25: I support the Troops

The foreword for Baghdad Burning by Ahdaf Soueif tells of Riverbend and why she wrote her book. What pushed her to do so was she needed to vent, and get it all off her chest about her opinions of the war and how it broke up her entire life. Blogging just was not enough for Riverbend, she needed an outlet to tell what exactly is going on in Iraq, granted it was not as geographically extensive as some would have liked it to be but it was an Iraqi’s view of the war. It affected every aspect of their lives, home, work, relationships, travel, life as a whole was disrupted and influenced by the soldier’s presence in their country. The introduction to Riverbend’s story written by James Ridgeway explains how extensive this book is, no professional could ever have or give the information she does in Baghdad Burning ergo her blog. She has the inside look no other Iraqi dared to speak about and no media could uncover, it is the unscathed truth of Iraq, the war and every impact and movement within the 2. Ridgeway tells of Riverbend’s background and history as well as her cultures history between the US and other relations and the history as a whole. He highlights the Gulf War and the statistics between the 2 wars as well as the 2003 War and its detailed news and impact. Giving Riverbend’s view on the “puppet show” put on by the US and its lovely president and government and her countries interactions. In addition, he bullets the new Iraq so to speak since 2003 and the new beginning it was given so to speak and the invasions impact and role within the society as it is today. To me these two insights are nothing like how I have seen the War in Iraq, I am in American tried and true, I am proud and support our troops, I love our freedoms despite the arguments and disputes within our country and amongst others. I know what I can about the war and my loved ones in it, I do not know exact dates, I do not care to. I was in math class on my way to comp. tech when disaster and tragedy struck our country, I was in the living room of my aunts house when I watched my cousin leave for Iraq, I was in a field at graduation when friends were announced soldiers heading to war, and I am here in the library loving what they are doing and who they are. That’s what matters to me, not the statistics not the politics, they matter so the accounts I just read and this book is all fine and good and solid but it is nothing to what I feel about the war.