American Media
“Two years ago, the major part of the war in Iraq was all about bombarding us with smart bombs and high-tech missiles. Now there’s a different sort of war- or perhaps it’s just another phase of the same war. Now we’re being assailed with American media. It’s everywhere all at once….The chipper voice in Arabic tells us, “So you can watch what *they* watch!” *They* apparently being millions of Americans….The thing that strikes me most is the fact that the news is so… clean. It’s like hospital food. It’s all organized and disinfected. Everything is partitioned and you can feel how it has been doled out carefully with extreme attention to the portions- 2 minutes on women’s rights in Afghanistan, 1 minute on training troops in Iraq and 20 minutes on Terri Schiavo! All the reportages are upbeat and somewhat cheerful, and the anchor person manages to look properly concerned and completely uncaring all at once.” - Riverbend - Baghdad Burning

Buzzflash interview with Riverbend “…We’ve been able to live together, Sunnis, Shia and Kurds, in the past — it shouldn’t be any different now. Though the language may differ in some places, we share similar cultures and beliefs — there is nothing that should stand in the way of internal peace and unity. I know for a fact that the majority of Iraqis don’t like being labeled as Sunni, Shia or Kurd. These labels are being promoted by the current new government and the Bush admin”