Baghdad Is Still Burning

BuzzFlash has an interview with Riverbend to promote her new book. Here are a few choice quotes:

I write the blog because it gives me a medium to express my emotions and opinions and possibly show the 'other' side of the war- the one that is not cheering on the occupation, as many news channels and newspapers like to depict...

The White House makes it very simple when talking about the insurgency -- foreign, Islamic terrorists. It's hardly that simple. I guess most Iraqis believe there is resistance and there is terror. Resistance is coming from various sources -- former Iraqi army people, Islamists, Ba'athists, nationalists and ordinary people who hate this new way of life Iraqis are being relegated to. Terror is also coming from various sources and in many cases it is a complete mystery. Many people believe the attacks against the police force and security forces are the work of outsiders or people who want Iraqis to hate the resistance. It's difficult to tell at this point just what is going on...

Many American companies are getting millions of dollars for reconstruction contracts and then giving the work to Iraqi sub-contractors who have 'relations.' Reconstruction work right now is not about the good job a contractor can do, but just who he is related to or how many people he's bribed to get the contract. This has resulted in shoddy work, and millions of dollars literally going to waste, because the contract is given to American companies for very large sums of money and then to Iraqi sub-contractors for a pittance...

People have to want something enough to rise up and change it. They have to be ready for democracy and willing to accept its responsibility. The US could have promoted democracy in Iraq peacefully, but then they wouldn't have permanent bases in the country, would they?

Many children have lost their childhood in this war and occupation. Children saw things no child should see -- corpses in the streets, foreign tanks, their countrymen being shoved to the ground or detained at checkpoints for no reason -- and this is the average child ... Other children saw their parents killed in front of them ... or lost arms, legs, eyes in an explosion or gun fire ... or were abducted ... thousands of children were privy to raids on homes which were once sacred and symbolized security and shelter...