HW# 25 Summary of the Introduction

The forward of the book "Baghdad Burning" demenstrates the point of view and where the author Riverbend is coming from. The author, who is from Iraq talks about her views on the war and how much it effects the women of her country. The forward tells the reader that the book is shown in the position of humanity and on the side of life (Riverbend). The introduction talks more about the actual main character and writer of the blog and book. It gives what little background we actually know about the character such as her name,age and where she lives. This twenty year old from Baghdad writes in perfect English and writes on her blog at least once a day. The introduction gives the reader background information and historical facts about Iraq and the war over their oil. It talks about American and English participation in the war and fighting with getting the oil. "American government and industry issed warnings to the public of the impending dire shortage of petroleum, paving the way for higher prices to support more U.S. exploration and development (Riverbend xiii)." This shows how much other countries wanted and would fight for Iraq's oil. The introduction gives a brief summary of historical facts from the Gulf War to 2003 war. Liberating Iraq, this last section talks about how Iraq used to be and how women were on their way to equality. Now women aren't able to walk the streets alone or even have a job of their own. I remember the American invasion and occupation in Iraq and how I didn't exactly understand why we were there. I now know how much our occupation in Iraq wasn't helpful and wasn't needed. It just made things worse and I think it made the fighting in Iraq worse then they actually were. My impression of the U.S. in Iraq is the same as the writer of this book. I don't think we should be there and I think that the Iraqi cititzens didn't benifit from us being there. This forward and introduction is very formative and it helps the reader to understand where the writer is coming from and what she has gone through.