bookworm

so i've discussed my friend's material. here are a few more sites with which i pass the time:

Baghdad Burning is written by a 24 year old woman living in occupied iraq. she is university educated with a computer science degree; a former network administrator/database programmer. her account of daily life since our invasion is at the same time compelling and heartbreaking, and completely contrary to the bush administration's version of the occupation. here's a quote from a recent, september 2004 post:

You know things are really going downhill in Iraq, when the Bush speech-writers have to recycle his old speeches. Listening to him yesterday, one might think he was simply copying and pasting bits and pieces from the older stuff. My favorite part was when he claimed, "Electricity has been restored above pre-war levels..." Even E. had to laugh at that one.

A few days ago, most of Baghdad was in the dark for over 24 hours and lately, on our better days, we get about 12 hours of electricity. Bush got it wrong (or Allawi explained it to incorrectly)- the electricity is drastically less than pre-war levels, but the electricity BILL is way above pre-war levels. Congratulations Iraqis on THAT!! Our electricity bill was painful last month. Before the war, Iraqis might pay an average of around 5,000 Iraqi Dinars a month for electricity (the equivalent back then of $2.50) - summer or winter. Now, it's quite common to get bills above 70,000 Iraqi Dinars... for half-time electricity.

i was about to start my freshman year in high school when saddam hussein invaded kuwait in august 1990. let's not forget that life for the average iraqi was at least functional under saddam hussein...they had one of the world's finest health care systems, an extensive university system with a literate, well educated "middle class," a well developed infrastructure. most people in iraq didn't live in tents in the desert.

the sanctions against the iraqi government didn't hurt saddam hussein, they hurt common people. they kept babies from getting antibiotics. they made bridges fall into disrepair. they caused electrical brown-outs.

i guess the idea was the people would get so fed up the squalor the sanctions subjected them to, they would rise up and depose hussien themselves. after president bush sold out on the kurds right after the Gulf War, i can only guess that the iraqi people had little faith that we would support them if they rose up against saddam. and they were too marginalized by the sanctions to get past daily survival.

i perceive a general lack of regard (or is it a lack of knowledge?) for the people, history and culture of iraq. iraq is the birthplace of western civilization. some of humanity's greatest treasures and artifacts are there. iraq was a modern society with popular culture, christmas celebrations, the internet, etc. what is happening in iraq is a tragedy, and reading riverbend's blog is an up close look into the daily life of an iraqi, while offering the other side of history.

english national shaun atwood got popped on what he claims to be trumped up drug and financial fraud charges, and was subsequently sentenced to nine years in arizona state prison. he spent several months holding the infamous maricopa county jail awaiting a cell in the big house. shaun's descriptions of county jail, and now prison life are intriguing and disturbing. his posts about the county jail in particular have led to efforts to improve the shameful conditions there.

he writes his posts by hand, and his mother transcribes them into his blog. he's an interesting character, a former stock broker who practices yoga and vegetarianism in his cell, when he's not reading books from the prison library.