To read Riverbend is not to read the entire truth about Iraq…just the 90% of it that doesn’t exist, as far as the Bush administration is concerned.
Riverbend sets up her story by going back to the beginning, when rumors spread like wildfire that Iranian forces were pouring into Iraq after the near-total destruction of the Iraqi nation-state. It was just a rumor at the time.
From where Riverbend is sitting, this seems to have been a lie made true by the ensuing three years.
Got Iran invasion worries? Iraq’s worried, too. The Iranians are already there.
Some extracts below. It’s best to read the original diary.
What (at the very least Sunni) Iraqis are worried about…
The last few days we’ve been hearing about Iranian attacks on northern Iraq- parts of Kurdistan that are on the Iranian border. Several sites were bombed and various news sources are reporting Iranian troops by the thousand standing ready at the Iraqi border. Prior to this, there has been talk of Iranian revolutionary guard infiltrating areas like Diyala and even parts of Baghdad.
About that New Iraqi Army…
As for news of the new Iraqi army, it isn’t going as smoothly as Bush and his crew portray. Today we watched footage of Iraqi soldiers in Anbar graduating. The whole ceremony was quite ordinary up until nearly the end- their commander announced they would be deployed to various areas and suddenly it was chaos. The soldiers began stripping their fatigues and throwing them around, verbally attacking their seniors and yelling and shoving. They were promised, when they signed up for the army in their areas, that they would be deployed inside of their own areas- which does make sense. There is news that they are currently on strike- refusing to be deployed outside of their own provinces.
Not Much Faith that America will do anything
The big question is- what will the US do about Iran? There are the hints of the possibility of bombings, etc. While I hate the Iranian government, the people don’t deserve the chaos and damage of air strikes and war. I don’t really worry about that though, because if you live in Iraq- you know America’s hands are tied. Just as soon as Washington makes a move against Tehran, American troops inside Iraq will come under attack. It’s that simple- Washington has big guns and planes… But Iran has 150,000 American hostages.
