HW 32: Akila Al-Hashimi's Assassination Attempt from Riverbend's point of view

Riverbend talks about how Akila Al-Hashimi had an assassination attempt on her. She was attacked on her way to work by two trucks who surrounded her vehicle which also had her two brothers, who are her body guards. Once they surrounded the car they opened fire onto the car that Akila was in and injured her. Once the neighboring people heard the gunshots, they acquired weapons from their homes and started attacking the attackers of Akila. Akila had her stomach operated on before being escorted by American soldiers to what Riverbend believes to be the Hospital at the Baghdad Airport that the Americans set up. The total amount of damage that happened to Akila included gunshot wounds to the foot, the shoulder, and the stomach. She had been in bad shape, and her condition included that she was in critical condition, but she was also stable. I like the quote that Riverbend gives at the end of this post because she talks about how the people who did this need to be punished, “I really hope they find whoever did this, and I hope the punishment is severe(Baghdad Burning, 76)”.

HW30: Being the Citizen Journalist

The presentation I went to out of the Keene State College Citizenship Symposium was with Scott Ritter and the title of his speech was Citizen Soldier, Global Warrior. The main point that Mr. Ritter was getting across was that the united states citizens should become part of the choices that are made by this country. He used examples of how this government isn’t really a democracy in the sense that we really don’t have a choice on who we vote for. He explained that we didn’t get to choose who was on the ballad, and how they get this is how rich they are and how much they can put into a campaign. This speech really had me paying attention because he was talking about things that I never even considered. He made me realize that the united satates is basically trying to run the world when we don’t have the right. I believe his views and I was happy I went to this. A quote I remember him saying that struck me was “Consumerism is the antithesis of citizenship”, which basically means that buying things to “keep the economy” going, isn’t going to make the country better. Citizens need to respond to what they believe is wrong and voice their opinions more so the government can’t feel like they have all of the power.

An Open Letter to Riverbend (HW28)

Dear Riverbend,

I agree with a lot of what you say about the “occupation” as you so call it. I really do think that this war has been a deception to the world with the way things have been handled. I have never seen so many he said she said types of things in politics, and to hear what it’s like from the other side of the war. I knew that the soldiers weren’t nice to the iraqi’s, but the way that you describe how they are to you it seems terrible. But I do understand where they’re coming from, because anyone can be the enemy especially if the soldiers are in enemy territory. It just isn’t fair that the few that are against the soldiers and will act upon it ruin the trust between Iraqis and US troops. It also isn’t fair that no one can do their own jobs there, it all has to be done by foreign companies. I agree that if Iraq rebuilt after the first gulf war, Iraq can rebuild itself now without all the help of foreign countries. The Iraqis should be able to figure out who’s rebuilding and use all of the people who did those jobs before the invasion to help rebuild so the Iraqi population can earn money and rebuild the country’s economy.

HW 27: Baghdad Burning Relevance to ITW-101

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq. The Feminist Press, 2005.

This book was written by an anonymous blogger named Riverbend. She talks about what her life is like while living in Iraq during the war in Iraq that started with the invasion in 2003. This book has a lot of information about the war in Iraq but it also shows how people really live in Baghdad and what they have to suffer through. The benefits that are relevant in this book are things like the way she writes. It’s a lot more interesting and easy to follow as well as being informative and showing you what it would be like trying to live in a country that has been invaded and overrun. The challenges seem to be living in Iraq during this time and having to deal with the general knowledge about Iraq and how it may be frustrating. An example would be when she talks about how she doesn’t like that some people don’t believe she’s Iraqi because they’re so close minded that they think that Iraqis have no technology and don’t have the internet. These things are interesting to read about and this book seems like it will be an informative and intense read.