Riverbend in her blog, Baghdad Burning, has given those who read her an inside perspective of the war and woes of politics and daily life in Baghdad. For reasons unknown to us, long months go by without a whisper and each time we fear that "things" have not gone well for our beloved reporter. Riverbend has returned once more and while I doubt her lastest post will be her last, it is likely to be her final entry from Baghdad.
Riverbend is leaving.
On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?
Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months, it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at first?
Riverbend opens her latest blog post opining the real purpose of The Wall and fears it is not for protection, but segregation. I'll hazard to guess she and her family are on the wrong side of the wall and cannot risk today's purpose or how it might be used in the future.
The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh look- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet, it will also be difficult to get out.
Though living under Saddam was rift with dangers and difficulties, Riverbend writes that Sunni and the Shia existed peacefully as a community. Character determined acceptance, sect and religion played no part. They lived together, worked together, learned together and sometimes even married. George Bush's war broke it beyond repair.
I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.
So Riverbend and her family are leaving Iraq, their future ahead uncertain. She and her family are better off than many Iraqis who leave with nothing, but they are still plagued by the practical unknowns yet to determine their personal history: How will they leave? Where will they go? Will they ever return and to what?
And then there is the larger question:
It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.
Have a safe journey, Riverbend. May your decisions lead to happiness.