What happened to Riverbend?

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

What happened to Riverbend?

Postby greencrow0 » Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:48 am

<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/">riverbendblog.blogspot.com/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>It's now been over two months since Riverbend posted on her blog. A lot of hellish things have happened in Iraq since her last and most forboding post.<br><br>I'm wondering how she is. Getting to know Riverbend was one of the few positives of the entire Iraq Attack catastrophe.<br><br>Can we send out an APB over the blogosphere?<br><br>gc <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=greencrow0>greencrow0</A> at: 10/12/06 11:49 pm<br></i>
greencrow0
 
Posts: 1481
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:42 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What happened to Riverbend?

Postby chiggerbit » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 pm

She does that now and then. <p></p><i></i>
chiggerbit
 
Posts: 8594
Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 12:23 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What happened to Riverbend?

Postby Seventhsonjr » Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:48 am

I noticed on another site that she has a book coming out. Maybe she is in hiding or touring or both.<br><br>But I think it was buzzflash or commondreams where I saw the book advertised.<br><br>I am sure a quick google will tell ya.<br><br>Good for her (even though I have wondered whether it might be a fictional effort - it is exceptionally moving. The reason for my wondering this is that it seemed so dangerous and incredible that I wondered that she was "premitted" to do it at all under the US occupation, etc.) But I haven't read her stuff for awhile ... <p></p><i></i>
Seventhsonjr
 
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:48 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What happened to Riverbend?

Postby greencrow0 » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:03 pm

<br>Someone posted this on the NYT 'Iraq in Transitions' website.<br><br>I think the PTB in the blogosphere like Alex Jones and Mike Rivera should put out APB on her....she deserves at least that much.<br><br>gc<br><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>condibeans - 10:32 AM ET October 14, 2006 (#50242 of 50275)</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>It's safe to say that something has happened to the Iraqi woman living in Baghdad who writes the web log of<br><br>“Baghdad is Burning”<br><br><br><br>Her last entry was months ago.<br><br>No one I know has gotten an alert from her weblog since beginning of August.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/">riverbendblog.blogspot.com/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
greencrow0
 
Posts: 1481
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:42 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: What happened to Riverbend?

Postby Seamus OBlimey » Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:48 pm

I don't think it's safe to say something has happened to Riverbend. She's often had difficulty posting with lack of electricity and real danger on the streets. The escalating crisis in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq is going to hinder her getting out to post (I don't think she ever posted from home) and who can blame her for keeping her head down?<br><br>Riverbend's <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4847424.stm">book</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> lost out on a £30,000 prize to <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4847424.stm">this,</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> and I don't think anyone heard much about <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.marionboyars.co.uk/Amy%20individual%20book%20info/Baghdad%20Burning.html">the play.</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>I doubt she's among those in the following report but it's what she's living with.<br><br>------------------------------<br>Iraq's missing dead<br><br>In Baghdad, thousands of bodies have been pulled from the Tigris, but the deaths aren't reported. How bad is the violence?<br><br>ADNAN R. KHAN<br><br>Ali is a collector of the dead. That's his job, or at least one of them. He is also a cook at a kebab house in Baghdad and a member of the Mahdi Army, a Shia militia loyal to the militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. As a collector, his morbid duty is to sweep up the carnage of a sectarian war spiralling out of control -- one that Iraqi officials and their American overseers are trying desperately to downplay -- and quietly transport it to Iraq's main morgue, located in the heavily fortified Medical City in Baghdad's Bab al-Muatham neighbourhood, where all suspicious deaths are taken.<br><br>Every three days, Ali says, he and other al-Sadr militiamen go to the Tigris river to pick up bodies. At a spot on the bank just downstream from the Aima bridge in central Baghdad, a series of eddies gently gather in the dead. "More and more are coming there," Ali says, "from north of Baghdad, from villages like Taji and Balad. Many have their hands tied, most are blindfolded." The method of execution varies, Ali adds, from the basic bullet to the head to more macabre and viciously novel techniques involving power tools, electric cords and other such domestic instruments. "These are all Shia brothers and sisters murdered by Sunnis," says Ali, a Shia militant himself who has carried out his own revenge attacks on Sunnis. When pressed, he admits there "may be" some Sunnis floating down the Tigris as well. "But they were killed in defence of our Shia brothers and sisters," he claims. "They are not innocent victims."<br><br>Sectarian hostility aside, there is another aspect to Ali's work that is troubling: the deaths of the people whose bodies he pulls out of the river often go unreported, leading to questions about the real scale of the violence in Iraq. Even the wildly fluctuating official death counts are a stark reminder that Iraqi, and by association U.S. officials, are attempting to minimize a problem getting worse by the day. Earlier this year, the figures released by the government following the Feb. 22 bombing of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, a Shia holy site, which has been cited as the spark that started the current round of killings, were suspiciously lower than numbers provided by morgue officials. But as for the overall picture, a September report published by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq paints a grim picture: civilian deaths reached a record high for July and August with 6,600 civilians killed.<br><br>Still, even these figures don't tell the whole story. For that, a visit to Medical City is in order. The Ministry of Health has instituted a strict policy for journalists, requiring them to seek permission before visiting the facility. Those allowed in get only a truly sanitized tour; more often than not reporters are barred from entering. But at the gate, guards who have worked at the facility tell a chilling tale. "Last year, I saw maybe 1,000 bodies a month coming into the morgue," says one man who, fearing for his life, requested his name not be published. "Now we're getting nearly 1,000 a week."<br><br>All, he says, are victims of sectarian violence, both Sunni and Shia, but the officials at the morgue inside Medical City will not tell you that. "The officials don't want us talking to the media," says another guard, also requesting anonymity. "I've heard them telling people that most of the deaths are because of terrorists, but I've also seen the bodies myself and I can tell you that most of them were executed by death squads."<br><br>While he describes the bodies, a dump truck pulls out of the facility. The guards open the gate, holding back a rush of people from all over central Iraq hoping to get in to look for loved ones. As the truck passes, the smell of decomposing flesh fills the air. "That's just the clothes from bodies pulled from the Tigris over the past few days," says the first guard. "The trucks come and go regularly." The stench is overwhelming. People cover their noses and mouths with cloth. Women wail.<br><br>When told about this back at the kebab house, Ali simply shrugs. "You get used to the smell," he says, putting ground beef onto skewers for non-existent customers in a city in which people are too afraid to leave their homes. That job appears to have no potential. But tomorrow, he will be going back to the Tigris to pick up more bodies. That job, at least in Baghdad, has a future.<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20061016_134735_134735">Macleans</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>-----------------------------<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
User avatar
Seamus OBlimey
 
Posts: 3154
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:14 pm
Location: Gods own country
Blog: View Blog (0)

new post about the Johns Hopkins study

Postby jingofever » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:15 pm

You probably know the link already, but I must post something. <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116120448528625171">This goes directly to the entry.</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
User avatar
jingofever
 
Posts: 2814
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 6:24 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: new post about the Johns Hopkins study

Postby greencrow0 » Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:46 am

I'm happy to read that Riverbend is back.<br><br>Bravo, Riverbend. <br><br>gc<br> <p></p><i></i>
greencrow0
 
Posts: 1481
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:42 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Postby Seamus OBlimey » Tue May 19, 2009 3:26 pm

How about cooking Iraqi?

Posted by Lamees Ibrahim Tuesday 19 May 2009 08.00 BST

The Iraqi Cookbook aims to bring the rich culture of Iraq to the tables of Britain. Here are four recipes to get you started - or do you already cook Iraqi?

For many years now, and especially since 2003, the media have been bombarding us with news, images and reports from Iraq which paint a very negative picture. To me, as someone born and raised in Baghdad and with deep roots in the country, the Iraq that I know has never been visible in this coverage.

I miss people talking about the history of an ancient civilisation and the rich contemporary culture - the way of life I was lucky enough to have experienced in my time living there - so I was very happy to have the opportunity to write the first Iraqi cookbook to be published in the UK.

Iraqi dishes are delicious, healthy and easy to cook. Most of the more unusual or exotic ingredients are either now available in the UK, or can be successfully substituted.

Although the book started as a collection of recipes for my children and our guests at various dinner parties, it quickly turned into my way of sharing the Iraq that I know and love with the the world. As is well known, modern Iraq arose from ancient Mesopotamian civilisation. Many empires have passed through over the centuries and left their mark on the cuisine, creating links between Iraqi history, culture and food.

I have included personal memories of national dishes that have relevance to cultural celebrations - annual, seasonal, and familial. Again, this was initially for the benefit of my children, who were never able to experience any of this first-hand.

Recipes for four dishes are here for you to try:

1. Kubbat Mousel is one of the most famous and authentic Iraqi dishes. It was created in the city of Mousel (240km north of Baghdad). The size is a matter of great pride to the Mouselites and a way of showing guests a warm welcome.

2. Fasangoon is most probably Iranian in origin and became part of Iraqi cuisine through Iranian visitors to the shrines in the cities of Najaf and Karbala (150km south of Baghdad) and the close relations and marriages that resulted.

3. Sheikh Mahshi is one of the most loved stew dishes in Iraq and usually served with white rice fortified with roasted almonds and raisins. Great as a starter or a full meal, it can be easily transformed into a vegetarian dish by replacing the minced meat with a vegetarian version or leaving it out all together.

4. Timman Jazar is one of my favourite dishes, delicious, aromatic and very easy to make. The vegetarian alternative is as delicious if not more so - omit the minced meat (add a cube of vegetarian stock, if you so wish) or replace it with vegetarian mince.

If you don't live near shops that stock some of the ingredients listed and need some suggestions for alternatives, or you'd like to substitute the meat in these or any other Iraqi recipes, leave a question in the comments box and I'll do my best to suggest something. Has anyone already tried Iraqi cooking at home? Or do you have some bright new ideas for turning dishes involving mince into vegetarian delights?

Guardian

:?:
User avatar
Seamus OBlimey
 
Posts: 3154
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:14 pm
Location: Gods own country
Blog: View Blog (0)


Return to Iraq

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests