Letters to the Editor
This letter is associated with the following article:
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Riverbend's anonymity
I, for one, do not blame Riverbend for wanting to maintain her anonymity. I do agree, though, that readers have the right to know whether the author's claims are legitimate; i.e., is she really an Iraqi woman living in Baghdad. The authenticity of her reports tells me that's she's the real thing. However, I've questioned from the beginning how she manages to produce a blog in essentially flawless English. She may be a linguistic prodigy, she may have lived many years outside of Iraq, or her blog may be translated from Arabic or heavily edited. None of these possibilities takes away from the compelling nature of her blog but I think the reader deserves some sort of explanation.