Another good Iraqi blog

I have said how much I admire Zeyad the Dentist and his 'HealingIraq' blog. My second favorite Iraqi blog is by a young woman who calls herself Riverbend. Her blog is 'Baghdad Burning' - and yes, she used that phrase long before Paul Bremer wrote his famous first sentence in his memoir/apologia. Riverbend is profoundly opposed to the Americans in Iraq and to the new government. Her writing is excellent though and her insights invaluable. Here is a sample of her recent work:

"The sounds of shooting and explosions usually begin at dawn, at least that's when I first sense them, and they don't really subside until well into the night. There was a small gunfight on the main road near our area the day before yesterday, but with the exception of the local mosque being fired upon, and a corpse found at dawn three streets down, things have been relatively quiet.

Some of the neighbors have been discussing the possibility of the men setting up a neighborhood watch. We did this during the war and during the chaos immediately after the war. The problem this time is that the Iraqi security forces are as much to fear as the black-clad and hooded men attacking mosques, houses and each other."

Oddly, she seems more hopeful of avoiding a civil war than Zeyad, at least at the moment.

"It does not feel like civil war because Sunnis and Shia have been showing solidarity these last few days in a big way. I don't mean the clerics or the religious zealots or the politicians- but the average person. Our neighborhood is mixed and Sunnis and Shia alike have been outraged with the attacks on mosques and shrines. The telephones have been down, but we've agreed upon a very primitive communication arrangement. Should any house in the area come under siege, someone would fire in the air three times. If firing in the air isn't an option, then someone inside the house would have to try to communicate trouble from the rooftop."

Nevertheless, she is realistic about the possibility of disaster.

"I'm reading, and hearing, about the possibility of civil war. The possibility. Yet I'm sitting here wondering if this is actually what civil war is like. Has it become a reality? Will we look back at this in one year, two years, ten and say, "It began in February 2006"? It is like a nightmare in tharealizeon’t realise it’s a nightmare while having it- only later, after waking up with your heart throbbing, and your eyes searching the dark for a pinpoint of light, do you realise it was a nightmare."

However you feel about the cause of the war and the Bush administration, we owe these people a lot. We destroyed their government, their police, their army. Now they are prey to the worst forces within any society and all we seem able to do is stand back, watch and hope for the best. About the only thing we can do for Riverbend, is to buy her book! Yes, her blog has been collected and published and is available from Amazon, or any other internet bookmonger. Give it a shot. If you are a teacher, assign it to your class.

UPDATE AND WARNING:
Several reviewers at Amazon have raised serious doubts about the authenticity of Riverbend, claiming that she has been traced back to an IP in Canada, writes too well and too often. Much of this seems to be based on the fact that they do not like what she is saying. Perhaps they are right, so caveat emptor. I delayed several days in posting this while I thought it over. For the moment I think it is legit. In the meantime I have put Inspector Clovis, ace computer whiz, and his faithful assistant Otis L. Gato on the case. I'll report the results here.

BTW, does anyone out there know any more about this? I would ask Zeyad but he seems a bit busy right now.