HW 32: Akila Al-Hashimi

On September 21st 2003, Riverbend wrote about Akila Al-Hashimi, here she tells us that as she was walking out of work, two pick-up trucks with armed men, cut her off and opened fire on her. They thought that she was walking with “body guards” but they were only her brothers. Anyway, Akila had been taken to the Al-Yarmuk hospital, “where her stomach was operated upon, and [she was] then shipped off in an American army ambulance to no one knows where, but people say it was probably the hospital they have set up in Baghdad Airport. (Riverbend 75) After Riverbend explains this to us, she explains whom Al-Hashimi. Al-Hashimi was one of the “decent members on the council.”(Riverbend 75) She lived in Iraq and had worked in foreign affairs in the past. Riverbend then states, “It’s also depressing because of it signifies-that no female is safe, no matter how high up she is…”(Riverbend 75) She also says that Al-Hashimi was not only female, but didn’t wear a hijab, and was the first real “foreign representative” of the new government.