HW 25: Overview of the Overview

The forward to, Baghdad Burning by Riverbend is written by Ahdaf Soueif. The introduction is written by James Ridgeway. The forward is a brief overview if you will on the book. She talks about what is important in the book, like saying that it has a lot of politics in it but that it is interesting because it isn’t ideological but different because it is a first hand account of someone experiencing those politics. She talks about what this book should do for people which is basically to open their eyes to this war which isn’t happening to all of us like it is to Riverbend. The introduction goes more into depth about specifics to the book like who Riverbed is and where she lives. It also gives short narratives on the Gulf War and the 2003 war. It also gives Iraq’s history very briefly. My own views on this war are probably very similar to Riverbend’s. Soueif’s and Ridgeway’s. I am very much against it and the Bush administration in general. We have witnessed extreme and horrible atrocities in the past six or seven years and I feel like all of it is for the wrong reasons. Of course what Soueif and Ridgeway have laid out is a very different account than what most people learn in their history classes, but I have been fortunate enough to be in college for most of this and have seen and heard the real story.