The title of the post I took my quotes from is: American Hostages...

Riverbend. "Baghdad Burning." Baghdad Burning. 02 May 2006. 02 Mar. 2008 .

“Baghdad Burning” by blogger, Riverbend, is a very interesting blog to say the least. I have chosen it to be my primary source for my sustained research assignment. It is amazing that I have such an in-depth look into the live of an Iraqi citizen. Before I have even gotten to read a single post the title “Baghdad Burning” has already peaked my interest and automatically gives me the impression that the blogger will be writing about an Iraq in turmoil. Just below the title reads “I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend…” I have done a search to find out if this is a used quote or Riverbend’s original quote and it seems like it is her own. I think this quote subtly breaks down the reader and instead of viewing this blog from someone you barely know it forces you to make a connection to the writer because the quote implies that you are a friend. Now what friend wouldn’t value what you’d have to say especially in a time where you’re struggling? I think this is a great way to get a sympathetic response from the reader.

During a search for her true identity I found that “Riverbend is the pseudonymous author of the blog Baghdad Burning, launched August 17, 2003. Riverbend's identity is carefully hidden, but the weblog entries suggest that Riverbend is a young Iraqi woman from a mixed Shia and Sunni family, living with her parents and brother in Baghdad. Before the United States occupation of Iraq she was a computer programmer” (Wikipedia). I can see two things from this information almost immediately, she is intelligent since being a computer programmer requires more than average brain power and she keeps herself hidden because what she has to say about what is going on in Iraq would incur a lot of serious and possibly deadly consequences.

Her blog posts are written in a way that paints an emphatic narrative of life in Iraq during the war. The descriptive way Riverbend writes forms a melancholy ethos with what I am assuming to be a sarcastic twist which is effective in pointing out the atrocities Iraqis have to endure during this time of war. Her writing also invokes a range of emotions from making me laugh at some points because she reminded me of my own sarcasm and at other times I felt sympathetic and angry for the fact that this whole war is causing her, her family, and others pain. She truly makes you feel like you are talking to a friend and that helps you to put yourself in her shoes and see life through her eyes not from our own inherently biased perspective. Below I have select one of the quotes from Riverbend’s blog to further analyze. It was hard to choose just one but here it is:

By the beginning of April, we had given up on getting any information from television and had to rely completely on the news we received through radio stations such as Monte Carlo, BBC and the Voice of America. VOA was nearly as useless as Sahhaf- we could never tell if the news they were broadcasting was real or if it was simply propaganda. In between news, VOA would broadcast the same songs over and over and over. I still can’t hear Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come” without shuddering because in my head I hear the sounds of war. “I was waiting for someone…” the roar of a plane overhead … “For a miracle to come…” the BOOM of a missile… “My heart told me to be strong…” the rat-tat-tat of an AK-47... I hate that song today.

VOA in that quote is the station called “Voice of America”. My immediate response to finding that out was, why is something like that broadcasting in Iraq, it’s so far away? Perhaps it is a propaganda technique since I can see no reason for it to be broadcasting on their airwaves. I can understand it was for the military, but that’s just my first observation. What really struck me, however how Riverbend describes hearing the song “A New Day Has Come”, by Celine Dion without hearing the sounds of war. I just couldn’t believe the irony of that song playing over and over as a bomb goes off in the background; it is intense just to think about let alone live it. I have no reason to discredit her experience because it is completely possible for that to happen. Her description here really paints a picture and sets the atmosphere that war has forced upon those in Iraq. This supports my belief that war just causes pain for everyone especially when it is unwarranted and forced onto those that do not want it.