Rasha Al Aqeedi - Raise Your Voice

I made a new friend on Twitter, Rasha Al Aqeedi, during the night of January 2-3 while I was tweeting and reading everything I could find on the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.

@RashaAlAqeedi

Made in Mosul

Chai enthusiast. Name's pronounced ' Russia' ~ Editor-in-Charge @irfaaSawtak

Washington, DC

1,613 Following

48.5K Followers

Her tweets are providing me with an insider Iraqi perspective on the events of the past week because she was born in Mosul and now works in Washington for the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

The Atlantic just published an article by Rasha on the protests last weekend at the US Embassy in Baghdad: "The World Paid Attention to the Wrong Iraqi Protests."  It's in the Ideas section (analysis, essays, and commentary), online only, I think. 

I was reading tweets most of the night of Jan. 2-3, and I replied to a tweet by Rasha and Nada Jabbar.  Nada tweets in Arabic, so I had to translate it.  Rasha had tweeted contempt for liberal Americans who were "mourning" Soleimani.

Then I tweeted "We are not mourning Suleimani.  We are mourning the lives that will be lost because Trump used violence.  He did not use diplomacy.  He broke the Iran nuclear agreement."

After I replied to them, my phone started beeping with clicks --someone had liked my statement.  I got 400+ likes and 18 retweets because Rasha has 48,500 followers.  That was a new experience for me.

Now I am closely following her comments on the situation.

Here's Nada Jabbar's Twitter profile too:

بار

12K Tweets

See new Tweets

Following

ندى جبار

@nadajabbar

لا تحدثني كثيرا عن الدين لكن دعني أرى الدين في أخلاقك وسلوكك وتعاملاتك

Translate bio Joined September 2012

309 Following

812 Followers

The Arabic says, "Do not talk to me a lot about religion, but let me see religion in your ethics and behavior and dealings."

My prayer:

Peace be upon you ~ As-salaam alaikum