Second Scholarly Source-Muslim Woman

German, L. (2008). Women and the war on terror. Feminist Review, (88), 140-149. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/60512766?accountid=6199

Woman at times of war often endure more burden than males. This document explores woman's roles and ways of life at time of war. It compares other wars in other countries such as World War 2 to what is going on in Iraq today. It talks about the reasoning’s behind wearing hijab and headscarf’s, and how the lives of woman have drastically diminished since American occupation.

Scholarly Source Summary of Muslim Woman

Iraq's new constitution allows all poeple to be seen as equal before the law reguardless of sex. This is a change for Muslim and Iraqi woman who were previously under Saddam's regiem.  They are also reinterperting the rules of Sharia. Woman's rights are crutial to creating a democratic society. There are many decisions that have to be made in order to create a successful new Iraq. -"Woman, Islam, and the New Iraq" Colmon,Isobel.

This all affects Riverbend because she is a Muslim woman who is dealing with all the changes and is most affected by the changes reguarding the new Iraq and the rights of woman. She is uncertian how her life will be after this. Democracy will eventually be a good thing for woman in Iraq, once they get it all sorted out.

Potential Thesis Statements

1.) Riverbend explores the affects of change and how the people of her country are dealing with the new life they are living in, post U.S. occupation. 2.) Baghdad Burning shows how the roles of woman in society are decreased and how the Iraqi woman are greatly oppressed by the situation they are forced to currently live in. 3.) Violencce is a major theme in Riverbends's blog and how the people of her courty and herself have learned to live and deal with the violence that goes on around them everyday.

Life Under Sadam

Saddam Hussein's regime has been the Iraqis biggest threat for the past 20 years. Saddam would use any opportunity to kill the people of his country in order to exercise his power and show just how much authority he had. As a ruler, Saddam killed, tortured, raped, and terrorized millions of people.  Almost all Iraqis except for those who were his extremist followers, feared him and were terrified of living under his rule. Over the past five years, 400,000 Iraqi children under the age of five died of malnutrition and disease due tro the nature of the regime they were living under. He would conduct multple chemical attacks which resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 innocent Iraqis.

More quotes to support the theme

1.) "As to my connection to Western culture... you would not believe how many young Iraqi people know so much about American/British/French pop culture". (p. 20)

2.) " I was brought up, like millions of Iraqis, to have pride i my own culture and nationality. I was also brought up, like millions of Iraqis to respect other cultures, nations, and religions". (p. 14)

3.) "The myth: Iraqis, prior to occupation, lived in little beige tents set up on the sides of little dirt roads all over Baghdad". (p. 34)

4.) " Someone wrote that I was niave, and probably spoiled, ect. and that "not one single American deserved to die for you," I completely agree, noone deserves to die for me or anyone else". (p. 14)

5.) " September 11th was a tragedy. Not because 3,000 Americans died... but becuase 3,000 humans died". (p. 46)

Baghdad Bruning Theme

Riverbend presents multiple themes in her blog Baghdad Burning. One of the main themes so far in the book is  how incorrect America's view is of the Iraqi people, society, and culture is. Reading this blog has made me feel very ignorant as to what is going on in the lives of the people in Riverbend's country, and how drastically their everyday life has changed from before American occupation. The way that Riverbend first presents this theme is by explaining how when she first started this blog, many of her readers did not believe that she was an actual Iraqi woman blogging from her home. She describes the common misconceptions that Americans have about Iraq. "The Myth: Iraqis, prior to occupation, lived in little beige tents set up on the sides of little dirt roads all over Baghdad. The Truth: Iraqis lived in houses with running water and electricity. Thousands of them own computers. Millions own VCRs and VCDs" (p. 34).  I firmly believed that Iraq was a very poor an undeveloped country.She also makes it clear how frustrated she is living in a place that is constantly under attack. She describes what they have to deal with everyday, including raids, tanks driving around the streets, shooting at anything that gets in their way, and innocent people getting killed. Although she deals with this everyday, she still claims that she is not angry with the Ameicans. " - I feel terrible seeing the troops standing in this merciless sun- wearing heavy clothes… looking longingly into the air-conditioned interiors of our cars" (p.13). This was shocking to me.  Riverbend's blog completely contradicts the view of the American people. It was necessary for someone to create a blog describing what life is like for someone our age, who we can relate to and see how different their life is to ours. Her main purpose in writing her blog is to let the American people know what is going over their from an Iraqi's perspective instead of what the American news is telling us and wants us to hear/believe.

English 102

Hello, I am excited have my own blog! This is my first blog ever!