Baghdad Burning

Riverbend, a nameless woman in Iraq, writes:

The thing most worrisome about the situation now, is that discrimination based on sect has become so commonplace. For the average educated Iraqi in Baghdad, there is still scorn for all the Sunni/Shia talk. Sadly though, people are being pushed into claiming to be this or that because political parties are promoting it with every speech and every newspaper- the whole ‘us’ / ‘them’. We read constantly about how ‘We Sunnis should unite with our Shia brothers…’ or how ‘We Shia should forgive our Sunni brothers…’ (note how us Sunni and Shia sisters don’t really fit into either equation at this point). Politicians and religious figures seem to forget at the end of the day that we’re all simply Iraqis…Three years after the war, and we’ve managed to move backwards in a visible way, and in a not so visible way. (From “Uncertainty” posted March 28, 2006)

Congratulations to Riverbend for her new book, which is longlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction.