Riverbend is safely out of Iraq

[Oreo]

Many of you have read RiverBend's heart-wrenching stories from Iraq on her blog Baghdad Burning.
She has finally posted a new blog entry... and she is safely out of Iraq.

...

As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. I didn’t want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.

The Syrian border was almost equally packed, but the environment was more relaxed. People were getting out of their cars and stretching. Some of them recognized each other and waved or shared woeful stories or comments through the windows of the cars. Most importantly, we were all equal. Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and Kurds… we were all equal in front of the Syrian border personnel.

We were all refugees- rich or poor. And refugees all look the same- there’s a unique expression you’ll find on their faces- relief, mixed with sorrow, tinged with apprehension. The faces almost all look the same.

The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness… How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death?

How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.

I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
You have to read the entire entry... she tells the story of the months leading up to their departure and the trip into Syria.

[niyad]

1. thanks to all for letting us know she made it out--it's horrible what is happening to the iraqis

[uppityperson]

2. Thank you. k&r

[soothsayer]

3. wow. well good, and too bad, too.

[Spazito]

4. Thanks for posting this, I am glad she and her family are now

safe. I only wish there had not been a need for them to flee their own country in order to find that safety.

[kevinmc]

5. K-R n/t

[jhain]

6. Good to know.

I think of her often. Sigh..........

[calimary]

7. What a relief!

Thanks for the update - good to know she's out of there.

[Greyskye]

8. Thanks for posting.

I'd been wondering if she was OK.

:kick: :cry:

[karlrschneider]

9. What an incredibly bittersweet time it must be for them. I can't even imagine how to cope

with such immense relief and unbelievable sadness at the same moment. I wonder if they will ever be able to go home.
:cry:

[coco77]

10. Bush claims it is so good so why..

is everyone leaving and if the deaths are going down it is because no one will be left to kill.

[eleny]

11. Thanks!

:kick:

[NMDemDist2]

12. thank heavens

I have often thought of her and her family

may their God protect them.....

[EFerrari]

13. We have to stop this.

:cry:

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

14. What a sad sad post

Thnak you for spotlighting it for us. I had stopped reading her, as she posts so infrequently (for obvious reasons), so I am glad someone spotted it and brought it to our attention.

[gula]

15. I am so glad to hear this

I often think about her and her family. Let us all wish that they make a new, safe live elsewhere.

[annabanana]

16. Thank you! I have been checking her site

from time to time to see how she was doing. I'm sorry she had to leave her home. I'm glad she's safe.

[SeattleGirl]

17. I'm so glad she got out.

It must be terribly difficult for her, though, knowing that the primary way to stay safe is to leave the place you've known as your home all your life.

[Richard Steele]

18. K&R

[alfredo]

19. Thank you!!!

[progressoid]

20. Will bookmark this one too. Thanks

[Az_lefty]

21. why is it the Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and Kurds can get along in Syria...

but not in Iraq?

[Karenina]

22. USA! USA! USA!

[annabanana]

23. The Iraqi diaspora will have to make the new Iraq.

We have chased the entire middle class out of the Country for safety's sake.

[Jacobin]

24. I'm so glad she made it out.

George Bush should be ashamed. Ashamed

[Karenina]

25. Allah sei dank.

[Warpy]

26. Thanks for letting us know she's finally surfaced

I am glad they made it out safely. I hope they stay safe.

[Terri S]

27. Thank you for posting this.

Since the first days, I've read her blog. It seemed the only way to really know what a human being on the ground was thinking and feeling - without all the US or al jazeera filtering.

I'm glad she's safe. I hope one day soon she can return home. It's hard to even think about all the suffering this administration has caused so many. Even the worst depictions of hell are too good for them.

[rucognizant]

50. Home? Home ?

Her home is totally destroyed! Thousands of years of culture flushed!
My home is also destroyed..........that would be New Jersey! No shock & awe just an invasion by the tasteless Mac Mansion builders! Destruction of some of the best farmland in the country! Have you ever driven through the San Jacheim Valley in CA? Our national "market basket" Dry as bug dust,no weeds growing on the median strip of the highway, needs to be irrigated to grow things, needs to be shipped 3000 miles to the Urban East Coast!
Meanwhile NJ is growing a bumper crop of overweight, game boy addicted kids, in baggy saggy pants or anorexic bare midriffs!
Just to connect the dots! We have lost almost as much as Riverbend, we are in many cases unaware of it!
I'm glad Riverbend is safe.....why don't we all write letters to our local papers about her. Can we elevate her to Anne Frank status?

[byronius]

28. Want to get really, really angry? Scroll down and read 'The Rape Of Sabine'.

We're so fucked up. Pardon my language, but we are. Fucked. Up.

[femrap]

29. I'm so glad she is safe....

I was just thinking of her over the weekend. Thank you for posting.

[truedelphi]

30. Impresssed as usual by her stance.

Her inner journalist almost always filters the story of her life.

As beset by fear, anger, misery and just the plain gall of living inside a tyranny created
for the "purpose of bringing about a democracy" as her life has been, she still managed to attempt to be objective.

I remember being amazed to read about how her family and friends initially felt sorry for our troops for their being so far from home, for wearing such heavy gear in the terrific desert heat.

I consider myself a compassionate person,but if some foreign country waged a "Shock and Awe" campaign against the place where I live, I doubt I could muster up compassion. Not even in the early stages.

[burrowowl]

31. I had been checking her site

I am so glad they are safe!
Thanks for post!

[truedelphi]

56. It does give her readers a sense of closure that she is safe.

Until we invade Syria, or whatever comes next.
:-(

[burrowowl]

58. You are as much of a cynic as I am

Isn't it sad that we can think something like this is very probable.

[kdmorris]

32. THANK YOU!!!

I've been checking back every so often, but had started to suspect that something horrible had happened to her and her family.

Thanks for posting this!

[superkia]

33. Those are the stories the media should show on the so called war!

I hope that everyone votes with their conscience in the primaries, we need some SERIOUS change in this country!

[Roland99]

34. "Heckuva job, George!"

[madrchsod]

35. she pointed out something we never hear from our media

the syrian`s are taking in the iraq`s while the jordain's treat them like shit. i have read and seen other accounts of the treatment of the iraq's..

i wonder if anyone in our government gives a shit what is happening to these people by our friends in jordan yet our enemies in syria are actually doing something good....

[malmapus]

44. I caught that too

Never would hear a thing about how well Syria treats them, and the shit Jordan puts them through over here.

[qanda]

36. I'm so glad she made it out safely

I feel like she is an old friend. I wish her all the best as she begins a new and more safe normal.

[burrowowl]

37. I just finished reading Riverbend

GD Bu$hCo to HELL!
IMPEACH! INDICT! TRY! CONVICT! AND SEND THEM TO PRISON!

[mentalsolstice]

38. I've always admired her updates! Thank you for letting us know! n/t

[ribrepin]

39. Recommended for Riverbend

[Tsiyu]

40. Her writing breaks my heart

She has a way of writing that tears at the gut.

I believe her journal will someday be a classic...read by schoolchildren in a future time, perhaps, to remind us all why war is a disgrace and a crime.

My heart breaks for her and for all iraqis as well as for our troops who would no doubt all love to leave Iraq too.

Thank you for the head's up.

[HooptieWagon]

41. Thanks for the good news. KnR

[eridani]

42. I was just thinking of her last night

I'm hoping that she and her family can set themselves up someplace. She might have some kind of price on her head from publicly knocking the fundies, and hope she can keep away from them.

[lligrd]

43. There Goes My One Link To The Truth In Iraq

but I am glad she and her family are safe. I pledge to never forget what this administration did to Riverbend and thousands like her. Remember Riverbend!

[DesertRat]

45. K&R

[lonestarnot]

46. Good.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

47. I thank you too...

It was good to hear after reading a while back her family had decided to try and leave. Wonder when she will post again and what the family will try to do. Where to relocate?
Best wishes for her family and country.
Best wishes for our troops, May they quickly come home to their famlies.
ADW

[Zhade]

48. Remember this.

Our country did this.

We should all be ashamed of what has been done in our name.

[saracat]

49. Thank God.She and her family are safe.

[Richard D]

51. You can help Riverbend

And have a great read at the same time. She's published two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Burning-Girl-Blog-Iraq/dp/1558614893/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7158913-9044168?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189086252&sr=8-1

and

http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Burning-II-Writing-Middle/dp/1558615296/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/102-7158913-9044168?ie=UTF8&qid=1189086252&sr=8-1

[davhill]

52. She is the Ann Frank of our time

I have been praying that she does not come to a similar end. I also hope that the book royalties are reaching her and helping her family survive. She has a wonderful talent with words and ability to reach the center of real people's lives. I wonder if Bush or any of the neocons have ever read any of her work?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

53. My heart is singing!

It's been so long, I was beginning to think they hadn't made it.

I'm :cry: for joy :bounce:

[irislake]

54. What a relief!

Not a day has gone by since her last post when I haven't worried that she and her family didn't make it to safety.

[tblue37]

55. If this administration's war criminals have their way,

they will turn Syria and Iran into similar hellholes. Certainly it is what they aim for.

But for now, at least, Riverbend is safe, and I am so very glad to hear this.

[Robbien]

57. Sadly Syria is about ready to close its boarders to Iraqis

They are at the breaking point and on the tenth of this month they are planning on not letting any Iraqis into Syria unless the Iraqi has a valid visa. So few have valid visas which means effectively closing the boarder.

At least beloved Riverbend got safe harbor.