Riverbend, The Baghdad Blogger

Taking a break from parsing and discussing the hidden meanings in the statements coming from the leadership in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church, I'm moving on. Perhaps some of you have noted the new blog link in my blog roll, called The Baghdad Blogger. The blogger, who calls herself Riverbend, blogs from the city of death, which the leadership of the "Coalition" has made of Baghdad.

Riverbend is a well-educated young Iraqi woman who began blogging in August of 2003. In the beginning, although she was living in a war zone, her posts were lively and full of humor and irony. Life was hard, but she and her family made the best of the difficulties and privations.

Now if you read her posts, they are filled with despair about conditions in Baghdad and with little hope that things will improve in the near future. She is quite bitter toward the American leadership. Can you blame her? She has lost family, friends, and neighbors to death and to flight from the unspeakable conditions in Baghdad.

She risks her life and the lives and safety of her family in writing her blog. Here in the US, supporters of the war claim that she's not who she says she is, that she lies, and generally seek to discredit her however they can. Of course, she must remain anonymous. She has enemies on all sides, because she tells the truth about the miserable conditions in which the people of Baghdad live.

Riverbend is a real person, and she is who she says she is. A collection of her posts was published and selected for the shortlist of a British literary prize, the Samuel Johnson Award, and her identity was verified by the prize committee. We know the British are never wrong about this sort of thing.

When she doesn't post for a while, I worry about her. I'm awed by her courage in continuing to blog. Her latest posts are about an Iraqi woman, Sabrine, who was gang-raped by Iraqi security forces, and who was brave enough to report the rape, but will get no justice from the authorities. Most women who survive after being raped don't report, because reporting can mean death.

I'm going to change my blogroll link for her to "Riverbend", since that's how she's best known.

Under the title of her blog, she has these words:

I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...