HW 32: Akila Al-Hashimi

The most interesting part of this week’s assigned reading for me was the part about Akila Al-Hashimi. Akila was leaving her home in Jihad Quarter to go to work, when two trucks cut her off. These two trucks had armed men in them and they opened fire on Akila. When the neighborhood heard the gun shots they came out with guns in hand, and they exchanged fire with the gang. Akila was rushed to the Al-Yarmuk hospital where the wound from her stomach was operated on. Then for some odd reason she was rushed onto the American army ambulance and was taken to the Baghdad Airport. She was not just wounded in the stomach but also in the foot and shoulder, she is in stable condition though. For Riverbend this was a devastating, “It’s depressing because she was actually one of the decent members on the council” (Baghdad Burning, 75). This is not the only reason that Riverbend is upset because it also brings up the fact that no woman is safe in Iraq.