HW#25 "Baghdad Burning" Introduction

For this homework assignment we were asked to read the foreword and introduction to "Baghdad Burning" by Riverbend, and then summarize it. The foreword is a short description written by Ahdaf Soueif. In this he says that "Baghdad Burning is far from being a rant, and that’s its actually a sensitive, often witty, always brave narrative of what it is like to be an Iraqi living in Iraq today." (Souief viii) He also mentions that this book is firmly on the side of humanity and on the side of life, and has a lot of politics in it. At the end of the foreword he says that "this book makes painful reading. It also makes enjoyable-even fun-reading. It is certainly necessary reading. Never naive, never blinkered, it is a wise and disillusioned book; yet it is not cynical, for it insists on identifying and elaborating on what is good, and what is hopeful." (souief ix) Based on this brief summary I think that this book may possibly end up being one of the more enjoyable books that we have read so far, minus the politics part cause I’m not really the political type. Then theirs the introduction by James Ridgeway. In this introduction he talks about her background and culture which is what makes her so unique and what captivates others to read her blog. He talks about why our Americans went to Iraq for reasons such as oil and other things. He states that the Bush administration determined the war to be a "mission that was accomplished." However, this is not the case at all. "The United States never gained enough control to restore any sort of order" Ridgeway 16) In this he also talks about a lot of facts, and goes into so much detail. Mostly about the war in Iraq. "Saddam is a Sunni Muslim, and his political apparatus was largely managed by a middle class of educated Sunnis, most of who lived in an area around Baghdad referred to as the "Sunni Triangle" (Ridgeway 22) After reading this I feel that I gained more knowledge about some of the issues going on. Because like I said before I’m not one to follow political issues, so I honestly don't know much of what’s going on with those things today. And I think that reading this book may open my eyes to a new experience.