Riverbend Leaves Baghdad

I feel idiotic posting this now, because Riverbend announced in April that she is quitting Baghdad. I've been distracted by the sort of things that seem important when you don't have religious maniacs blowing themselves up in the streets and twitchy soldiers shooting people on suspicion of being an insurgent.

She posted this on April 26th:

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?

Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months, it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at first? (1)

Since late April, nothing has been posted on Baghdad Burning. While there have often been long gaps between posts on Baghdad Burning, this is very long. Where ever Riverbend is, hopefully she is okay.

One more quotation from the most recent post:

I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there. (2)

That is why Baghdad Burning was an important blog. Intelligent, opinionated, no bullshit. Hopefully this was not the final entry.

1 - Riverbend, http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/, 29th April
2007.
2 - ibid.