January through March 2004. Summary and Analysis

The New Year for Riverbend and Iraq brings with it a new wave of bombings and attacks by insurgency forces, and for Riverbend herself, a family crisis as one of her relatives is abducted and held hostage. During these early months of the year a few important constitutional reforms start occurring, as the political power of the Governing Council begins to fade and the US is forced to ask the UN to step in and help the situation in Iraq.

Riverbend's blog begins in January with the advent of the New Year, which, she remarks feels almost the same as the old year, but perhaps worse. The electricity is short, and their local community turns on its generator so at least, from 10pm they have some power to watch the New Year celebrations elsewhere around the world...