Riverbend is back...

Riverbend returns! ( http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com )

Her last blog post was on August 5, "Summer of Goodbyes". After checking each day for the past two and a half months, I wondered if this was, indeed her goodbye.

In the various blogs I visited, in the commentaries and such, I would run into others who wondered where she was, and if she had fallen prey to the violence in Iraq.

Billmon noticed her return and I breathed a sigh of relief. And then, reading her new blog, I wondered just how naive and ridiculous American bloggers must appear to her- voicing Our concerns and Our fears about her- when we all have our share of blame for the plight of Iraqis.

Even those like me, who were against the invasion before it started. Maybe she could rightfully blame us as well= for not doing enough to stop our countrymen in their lust for revenge, in their rush to destroy muslims and Saddam and anything unAmerican that might possibly stand in the way of our God-given American pride and glory.

What does my angst and hand-wringing mean to HER? With her country in shambles around her, death surrounding every family she knows- how can my sympathies do anything but disgust her? I know that in my heart, it would be very hard to not hate all things American at this point were I in her shoes.

How do you comfort the family member of someone that your family has murdered? I don't really know...

I don't know what she sees when she reads American blogs. I don't have any idea if she sees anything more than a spoiled nation of pampered elitists and warmongering racists. I don't know if the growing number of Americans who are working towards peace for those in the middle east gives her hope, apathy or despair...

But I am glad she is alive. And I am glad that she decided to blog again, because the window into her world that is her blog is a necessary view for me, and I think for all Americans who want to see a glimpse of what is REALLY going on in Iraq's streets, away from the rose-colored television news with its sunshine-spewing politicians telling us that everything is alright.

And in seeing her truth, and knowing that the worst IS TRUE- What are we to do? We have Republicans who say that they will not leave Iraq. Their corporate sponsors aren't done raping the people of Iraq yet. We have weak democrats who WILL follow the Republicans if they retain control of Congress. We have "Strong" Democrats who do this right now- Like Hillary and other spineless cowards.

As Billmon says: ( http://billmon.org/archives/002843.html )

We were all complicit. I was complicit. Because I was afraid -- afraid to sacrifice my comfortable middle class lifestyle, afraid to lose my job and my house, afraid of the IRS, afraid to go to jail.

But not nearly as afraid, of course, as the thousands of Iraqis who have been tortured or murdered, or who, like Riverbend, are forced to live in bloody chaos, day after day. Which is why, reading her post today, I couldn't help but feel deeply, bitterly ashamed -- not just of my country, but of myself.

So what will we do? We must remove the Republican party from all positions within our government by voting them out. We must put Democrats in both houses in such a majority in on Nov.7 that they will be able to completely wipe the stain that is the Bush administration from our flag.

We can't remove the bloodstains of the Iraqi people from our hands- and if we are to atone for our complicity- we cannot remove them anyway. We must hold our bloody hands high even in our shame- and bring down the masterminds of terror who have orchestrated these warcrimes against the people of Iraq.

We must ALL be held accountable in order to save America's soul.