Riverbend (blogger)

Riverbend is the pseudonymous author of the blog Baghdad Burning, launched August 17, 2003. Riverbend's existence and identity remain a mystery, but the weblog entries suggest that she 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. She writes in an idiomatic English with, as James Ridgeway notes in the introduction to the Feminist Press edition of her work, "a slight American inflection." The blog combines political statements with a large dose of Iraqi cultural information, such as the celebration of Ramadhan and examples of Iraqi cuisine. In March 2006, her website received the Bloggie award for Best Middle East and Africa blog.

On 26 April 2007 Riverbend announced that she and her family would be leaving Iraq, owing to the lack of security in Baghdad and the ongoing violence there. On September 6, 2007 she reported that she has arrived safely in Syria. Her last entry was in October, 2007.

Her weblog entries were first collected and published as Baghdad Burning, ISBN 978-1-55861-489-5 (with a foreword by investigative journalist James Ridgeway), and Baghdad Burning II, ISBN 978-1-55861-529-8, (also with an introduction by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella). They have since been translated and published in numerous countries and languages. In 2005, the book, Baghdad Burning, won third place for the Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage and in 2006 it was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Baghdad Burning has also been made into several dramatic plays, mostly produced in New York City. BBC Radio 4 broadcast a five-episode dramatisation of her blog, "Baghdad Burning", on the "Woman's Hour" Serial, on each day from the 18th of December, 2006 until the 22nd of December, 2006.

Author Chalmers Johnson, in the Prologue of his book Nemesis-The Last Days of the American Republic, transcribed the entry dated May 7, 2004, as a reference to the real situation faced by the population in Iraq. Chalmers refers to her as "the courageous, anonymous young Iraqi woman who runs the Internet site Baghdad Burning".

Quotes

"I don't understand the 'shock' Americans claim to 'feel' at the lurid pictures [from Abu Ghraib prison]. You've seen the troops break down doors and terrify women and children...curse, scream, push, pull, and throw people to the ground with a boot over their head. You've seen troops shoot civilians in cold blood. You've seen them bomb cities and towns. You've seen them burn cars and humans using tanks and helicopters...I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice......" - Riverbend, May 7, 2004

"Riverbend is a thoughtful writer whose articulate, even poetic, prose packs an emotional punch while exhibiting a journalist's eye for detail." - Jason Zineman, Theater Review of "Baghdad Burning: Girl blog from Iraq", New York Times. March 18, 2005.

"Most of the gangs, at least the ones in Baghdad, originate from slums on the outskirts of the city. ... Every alley is controlled by a different gang and weapons are sold in the streets ... they’ll even try out that machinegun you have your eye on, if you pay enough. Americans don’t bother raiding the houses in areas like that ... raids are exclusively for decent people who can’t shoot back or attack. Raids are for the poor people in Ramadi, Ba’aquba and Mosul" - from "Baghdad Burning" By Riverbend, Alia Mamdouh, James Ridgeway August 30, 2003

"It's amazing how as things get worse, you begin to require less and less. We have a saying for that in Iraq, 'Ili yishoof il mawt, yirdha bil iskhooneh.' Which means, 'If you see death, you settle for a fever.' We've given up on democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water." - Riverbend January 22, 2005

"Nearly four years ago, I cringed every time I heard about the death of an American soldier. They were occupiers, but they were humans also and the knowledge that they were being killed in my country gave me sleepless nights. Never mind they crossed oceans to attack the country, I actually felt for them. Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now. Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue. Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so." - Riverbend, December 29, 2006.

"I remember Baghdad before the war - one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were - we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night" - Riverbend, April 26, 2007.

"Syria is a beautiful country - at least I think it is. I say "I think" because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. ... The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things - like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again - with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me. It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today." - Riverbend, the last blog entry October 27, 2007

Authenticity

The identity of Riverbend and whether she exists at all remains unknown. No specific investigation has been conducted to ascertain her age, sex, nationality, residence and current location.^{[citation needed]}

The discovery, in June, 2011, of A Gay Girl in Damascus hoax led to further media speculation concerning the identity of Riverbend. 'Gay Girl in Damascus' was revealed to be not Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, a young lesbian blogger from Syria as claimed in the blog, but Thomas MacMaster, 40 year-old post-graduate student from University of Edinburgh. MacMaster has denied any connection to Riverbend.

See also

• Salam Pax
• Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari ('Gay Girl in Damascus')

External links

• Baghdad Burning weblog
• Baghdad Burning, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2005
• Baghdad Burning II, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2006
• Baghdad Burning, translation into Japanese
• Baghdad Burning, translation into Spanish