That anyone could read this woman's sensitive, heartfelt assessment of what is happening to her country and not be touched by it, is just another example of how this country is continuing to digress instead of make positive progress. How many people have to die in this mindless, spindless war before we all wake up and demand that our government pull our soldiers out and make some attempt to salvage the damage we have done to our reputation and the state of this country.

We have not improved the conditions in Iraq, Riverbend's blog is evidence of that. We have not found the "supposed" Weapons of Mass Destruction. And we have not made Iraq a safer Iraq by killing Saddam. For all of the atrocities Saddam did in his lifetime, we have sadly, put our men and women of the Arms Services in a no-win position so that they too are being forced by their government to cause more chaos than peace.

They should never have been sent over there in the first place, and the fact that we as citizens have buried our heads in the sand and allowed ourselves to easily become sidetracked by stupid, ignorant "news" stories (who cares if Brittany, Nicole or Paris self-distruct?!?)instead of asking, "Why won't our government allow us to see the Baghdad that Riverbend discusses in her blog?" Or "Why is the war being sanitized to the point that our dead are reduced to numbers instead of names?" Or bigger why, "Why is Bush and his cronies being allowed full reign to do whatever they want and no one is investigating them or demanding some type of hearings?"

I mean, we were forced to sit through hours after hours of hearings about Clinton's sexual behavior in the White House. One would think that thousands dead on Bush's watch would be worth some type of investigation. I am so tired of people acting as if what is going on in Iraq is for anything other than the personal gain of Bush and those who are in his inner circle. Let's call a spade a spade. When all of the lines and dots are connected, it will become abundantly clear who came out on top in this war, and it wasn't the Iraqi citizens, or the American Armed Forces or the American people. Could it be U.S. Defense contractors? Could it be Oil Contractors?

America has a long-time habit of glossing over or simply rewriting history so that we can sleep easy at night. I say, bring on the nightmares. We need to experience restless sleep or no sleep until this horrendous mission of Bush's is done. We shouldn't find peace in our dreams until the killing has ceased. Maybe if we toss and turn a few nights like Riverbend has had to,we will begin to make some thoughtful and unselfish demands of our government and the self-appointed leader of the world, Bush. We will demand that Bush (I refuse to call him president) bring our soldiers home, help in whatever way the Iraqis need us to rebuild their country, and fully acknowledge his wrongdoing in all of this craziness. For good measure, he would admit he is incapable of running this country even one more day and will step down...followed by his band of idiots (Condi, Chaney and the gang).

My one hope for Riverbend and her family, now that they have hopefully left Baghdad,is that they are all finding a peaceful place to lay their heads and are finally getting some much deserved rest.

Riverbend is a young Sunni female that writes from the perspective of hating the loss of Sunni power and privilege. She indicates this with her contempt for the Iraqi elections and the new Shia dominated government. She frequently complains of losing the good old days when her family benefited from Saddam Hussein's brutal dictatorship.

Riverbend now talks of having to leave Iraq (she is a supporter of the terrorists in Iraq) and going to either Jordan or Syria. She hints that this is just a "stopover" on her way to another place. No doubt she is considering moving to the United States that she hates so much. Riverbend is an enemy of the United States and should be prevented from visiting the U.S. or any coalition country.

I actually bought these books for a couple of friends, but I have read the original blogs online since the beginning of the Iraq war. The author, a young woman with a good job in the computer field loses her job after the war starts and begins a blog about the daily life and politics of Iraq. Written nder the ghost name of "Riverbend", it is a fascinating insight into what it's REALLY like to live in Baghdad during this period of war and unrest. She is extremely articulate, witty and has a great sarcastic sense of humor. She evokes laughter at times, but mostly sadness, anger and frustration as the situation continues to deteriorate. As I read her blogs, I found myself always anxious to read the next one. The first-hand account insight you will get is invaluable in understanding the greater impact on the REAL people who are living through this nightmare that was forced upon them. Her writings have won several awards, and having read many blogs from Iraq, I believe hers is the best. Those who I bought the book for said they were engaged from the start and couldn't put it down. It is a fast read, but you will have to visit her website to see how the story continues. I urge everyone to read her books, especially if you want to know what it's REALLY like living in a war zone from an intelligent Iraqi perspective.

The collections of blogs written by the Iraqi woman only known as "Riverbend" in what has become the "Baghdad Burning" series, is the best source of information to read to know about how the actual Iraqis are living and dying in the occupied country. More than "The Assassin's Gate" or "Fiasco," "Baghdad Burning" and "Baghdad Burning II" tell the truth about the Bush junta's imperialist war in Iraq and how it has affected the lives of its inhabitants. With grace and fine detail we learn about the loss of basic resources like water and electricity, the fear Iraqis live under with the threat of militia violence and U.S. commando raids on their homes. We get here a portrait of a nation descending into civil war as an occupying foreign force only makes things worse. Conservative pundits and pro-war screamers should read the sections where Riverbend begs the American people not to re-elect George Bush and where she describes the carnage and outright war crimes that took place with the destruction of Fallujah. What will be striking to many is how easily one can put his or herself in Riverbend's shoes as she describes her battles with the internet and her TV-viewing habits. It is poignant to read an Iraqi attacking Fox News for it's obvious distortion of the facts, of course Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity will claim they know more about what's best for Iraq than the actual IRAQIS. "Baghdad Burning II" is even more heartbreaking than the first volume because here the nation has descended into the deep abyss in which we are still mired, the terror has arrived in full spectrum and now the streets are truly not safe, the invaders and guerrillas roam the streets and sons and daughters are being slaughtered. What people should find disturbing about reading this collection of blogs is that indeed, our government has decided to raid a nation it does not understand at all, just read Riverbend's comments on the Iraqi elections and on how as the months pass, the people begin to see their government more as a puppet regime, read here about the basic misunderstanding of Iraqi culture and language, customes and tradition. These are not backwards people we can just push around, nobody is. "Baghdad Burning II" is a powerful, important document for the world, for everyone to read and understand what the consequences and effects are of colonialism, of imperialist war. It is written with a depth and insight priceless for those of us living on the other side which is usually the side that doesn't understand. In the years to come "Baghdad Burning" will be seen as one of the definitive accounts of life inside Iraq during the war, no doubt future generations will be just as moved, and find it just as important as our generation should.

This is a journal by a twenty something educated Baghdad woman writen almost daily from the time of the invasion and a picture of what has happened to her city and her family and how they cope - the lack of electricity, water and safety, the constant explosions and the troops breaking into homes and the loss of women's freedoms. She started out (See Baghdad Burning I) being encouraged but the horror of the last years has changed her outlook. She tells of women now having to be scarfed, wear long dresses and not drive and being terrorized by the fanatics and the military and police.
Emotionally, It is hard to read in great gulps but for a full understanding of what is happening to the daily lives of people of Baghdad I highly recommend it.

This is a journal by a twenty something educated Baghdad woman writen almost daily from the time of the invasion and a picture of what has happened to her city and her family and how they cope - the lack of electricity, water and safety, the constant explosions and the troops breaking into homes and the loss of women's freedoms. She started out (See Baghdad Burning I) being encouraged but the horror of the last years has changed her outlook. She tells of women now having to be scarfed, wear long dresses and not drive and being terrorized by the fanatics and the military and police.
Emotionally, It is hard to read in great gulps but for a full understanding of what is happening to the daily lives of people of Baghdad I highly recommend it.

This should be a must-read for anyone who has forgotten that Iraqis are human. It is a very intense book and the reader cannot help but get caught up in the daily struggle in a hellish world. Too bad those U.S. government officials who do the planning probably will never read it.