Riverbend has had enough - leaving Iraq

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?

yet there are some who still risk their lives to get out the truth

And those responsible are still pretending that things are improving.

We're not sending money or supplies to help them in the camps set up in Syria and Jordan.

What is really disgusting is that out of the more than 2 million refugees, Bush has only allowed 466 Iraqis to resettle in the U.S.

I don't expect this administration to own up to that obligation anymore then they have taken responsibility for the mess they've created in Iraq. Hopefully we'll see some changes once they're out of office. Not that this helps those who are currently suffering.

The Bottom line: Foreign peoples lives mean nothing when there's oil involved.

You can bet the American Muslim community would welcome the dialog.

River was a computer programmer. She lost that job shortly after the invasion, when the men in black robes (Shia fundamentalists) took over the area and she, being a woman, was forced out. This situation faced many Iraqis who suddenly found themselves the wrong gender and/or the wrong religion. A dangerous situation that the Bush** administration did nothing to stop and refused to acknowledge until 2004, when the religious infighting was promptly blamed on "Sunni terrorists".

My heart breaks for River and her family. I hope they find safety and some semblance of peace outside of Iraq.

It's just like a failing company; when people realize things are going south, the best, brightest, and most able are the first to leave because they have options. And they're the ones the company can least afford to lose. All you have left are the people who are too dumb, too timid, or are shackled by too many obligations to take the risk of going elsewhere. In Iraq, I'd wager a lot of people lack the funds to go elsewhere.

Those refugee camps are just awful. What's left of her spirit would surely be broken if she gets stuck in one of those.

May their God go with them.

Being Jewish, at first I thought this was a naive assesment until I thought about the words of my Grandmother who lived in a walled-off area in the "stetl" area of Poland. The area had limited access and her familiy, likeothers were limited in where they could live, work, go to school and so on.

Also, there's the image of the Warsaw Ghetto...which initially was explained to the Jews as being a "protecting them".

Here's hoping River gets out safe. I'm amazed she's hung in there this long and has been able to maintain both the blog and relative annonymity in that country. Hopefully, we'll get to see and hear more of her story...here's hoping she gets out safely and soon.