Not sure how many of you have ever clicked any of the links to other blogs on the lower right (under "Too Many Links"), much less the one unobtrusively titled "Riverbend."

That’s the pseudonym of a carefully anonymous young Iraqi woman from a mixed Shi’a-Sunni family, whose blog, Baghdad Burning, has been a humane, courageous, and often heartbreaking first-person chronicle of events since shortly after the beginning of the US invasion. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Until last week, the blog had been worrisomely un-updated since April. The last entry said that Riverbend’s family had decided to try to get out of the country, to flee Baghdad, like millions of other Iraqis, as refugees. (By some estimates, up to 15% of the entire population have been displaced from their homes.) I’ve been peeking in once every week or two ever since, hoping to see some good news.

Good news, of a kind, there is. For those following her saga, Riverbend and her family have made it into Syria. Now they start over. But they’re alive and safe.

Take a day and read the whole blog sometime, front to back. You may never read about Iraq the same way again. 

And once you’ve come to understand Riverbend’s story… just multiply by millions.