The moon was a pumpkin orange as I walked back from chow this evening. It must be all the dust in the air. The dust has been blowing for the last few days. We wash the tables on the patio in the morning and half an hour later the have a layer of fine brown talc. Keeping things clean is impossible.

Here's my day today. We were all up early filling sandbags, still working on sandbagging all the trailers. The Sergeant Major decided we needed to clean up the outside of the building so I spent an hour doing that. At work I spent 5 hours finishing up a mind numbing project. I picked up a couple groups of people coming in on aircraft, then I went to listen to a VIP give a pep talk to the troops. In between we had 3 Red Alerts. It looks like the indirect fire hiatus is over. The good news is they are not hitting anything. Last week the bad boys did dumb things around here like trying to fire a mortar round without a tube and firing rockets from tubes that were too small and sheared off the stabilizing fins. Needless to say the varsity team has either been killed or has moved to another area. Unfortunately the JV will probably learn fast if we don't get them.

Tomorrow we change the time back an hour, I'm not sure why we're doing it so long before everyone else. We are now 8 hours ahead of the East Coast. Tomorrow, and for a few weeks, we will be 7 hours ahead.

In Baghdad there were some horrific bombings that killed and injured scores of children who were gathered for the inauguration of a sewage plant. Our hearts go out to all their families and we pray with them for peace. The terrorists lack basic humanity and must be neutralized. Their goal is to spread fear and paralyze the population, grinding the rebuilding to a halt. My prediction is that this will steel the hearts of Iraqis to fight against the rot of terror with a firmer resolve, it will do the same for us.

Though we won't leave until next year, the wheels are already in motion planning for our exit and our replacements arrival. We all like thinking about going home but there is a lot of work between now and then. The job of moving one unit is gigantic, every detail must be worked out far in advance to make sure every person and every piece of equipment makes it back in an orderly manner. All the while you need to continue with your mission until your replacements take the reigns. On the other end hundreds of units need to be identified, in the case of the reserves and National Guard, called up. They need to be paired up with a unit to replace and resources realigned so there will be no operational gaps during the transition. Details like the timing and coordination of convoys, how to turn in and redistribute equipment staying in theater, finding housing for transient troops, performing customs inspections, washing vehicles with detergent before going on the supercargo ships, settling finance issues plus a million other things must be done.

Now try doing that with over 200,000 troops in a short amount of time going in both directions. Food, medicine, fuel, water, repair parts for vehicles, ammunition.......As someone recently said Logistics is combat power. Without a good logistics system the military is useless. During the first part of the war, fuel trucks refueled tanks and convoys as they raced toward Baghdad, cargo trucks were right behind with food and water. Now stockpiles of food, water and fuel allow bases to operate without resupply for weeks on end if necessary. The Loggies never rest.

Not much excitement today. We got rocketed for the first time in 5 days. It was just a single potshot that hit nothing. This is the longest break since June. Enemy activity has been very low for the last few weeks. This probably won't last, the bad guys need to prove that they are still viable. Also with the upcoming elections in both Iraq and the US, there is a need on their side to cause as much havoc as they can.

I read Allawi's speech and agreed with the assessment, despite the problems there is tangible progress.

It looks like we are entering another media feeding frenzy based on reports on the contents of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq. This document was produced by the National Intelligence Council which serves as a senior advisory group to the Director of Central Intelligence.

The report from July lays out several scenarios for the coming year ranging from a tenuous peace to full blown civil war. Its important to take the report in context. Because it was published in July the estimate lacks the input of the last 3 months of actual experience on the ground. More importantly it was most likely written during and immediately after the April uprising, which looming large in the analysts mind might have somewhat colored the analysis.

My observations on the situation here on the ground are not in agreement with the assessment that things are flying apart and quickly becoming untenable. I've noticed a trend that those individuals here with access to classified theaterwide tactical intelligence seem to be more positive about the outlook for Iraq than those with more limited or local access. The media fall into the latter group. It is easy and natural to focus on and extrapolate horrific, yet localized events (car bombings, kidnappings, assassinations). The danger, which I think the media has fallen into, is drawing conclusions about the country as a whole with relatively few data points. Being locked up in the Al-Rasheed hotel and the immediate area really is not conducive to getting a handle on what's going on the rest of the country.

Two cases in point arguing that the situation is moving in a favorable direction. Najaf and Samarra. A Marine Major at MNC-I HQ wrote a very good letter, summarized here describing what's happening.

Despite all the self-imposed operational constraints in the Najaf operation, it was a very successful operation that in addition to destroying large parts of the Mehdi Army, turned the public sentiment against him and furthered the position of the Interim government. Iraqis responded positively to the IIG actions and various units of the Iraqi army performed in an exceptional manner. Najaf, no longer a hotbed of insurgency has become peaceful again and infrastructure projects are proceeding full bore. In the south attacks have been reduced to a negligible level. Simply put the threat of a Shiia uprising, always remote, is now gone. Splinter groups will still cause problems but the populace will increasingly distance themselves.

In Samarra, foreign fighters and Al-Qaeda have been operating relatively unmolested since the spring, a result of the sequential nature of our operations. The residents sensing an impending Najaf-like assault basically kicked the insurgents out of town. The 1st ID rolled into the middle of this "no-go" area without a shot fired. It is a model that will most likely repeat itself, perhaps not as peacefully. The locals realized that they were being left behind in the reconstruction because some yahoos wanted to bring back the dark ages. The people decided which side they were on and acted accordingly.

As I've written before, this is not easy nor will everything go well all the time. Ethnic tensions in the Kurdish and Turkomen areas will need resolution and several hotspots like Fallujah and parts of Baghdad need to be dealt with. Zarqawi's thugs will still try and sometimes succeed in inflicting mass casualties. Its a battle that demands patience and determination. There are many agendas out there both to paint a rosier picture or a bleaker picture regardless of the facts.

From my window we are making slow, sometime painfully slow, progress. From a strategic standpoint we cannot fail nor, in my opinion, will we.

I didn't need to be at work today, but its gravitational pull sucked me in for 2 1/2 hours anyway.

I spent much of the day reading and writing. I also took a short trip to the laundry pond to check out the birds. The next few days I have a lot of work to do.

The temperature has been cooling down. The highs this week have been in the nineties. At night it has dropped down to the 60's. By December we will have highs in the 60's and lows down to the 30's.

The thing I'm not looking forward to is the mud. The rain in the late fall and winter is unpredictible. Last year several of the bases flooded when they had several inches of rain in less than 24 hours. The dust here is the consisency of talcum powder and in some places is 6 inches deep. It makes nice mud that sticks to everything.

College football has started which means that the TV in the chow hall is always on a football game. This evening I was stuck in the chow hall because of a red alert and ended up watching West Virginia play Maryland.

Sometimes I need a shot of optimism from outside to counter dark feelings that things are going to hell fast. Last week some of my fellow soldiers in another unit were injured in a car bomb attack, some of them I know fairly well. God was with them. They were pulling security outside the vehicle when a guy broke out of a line of civilian cars and started heading for them, if the 50 cal gunner had hesitated, everyone could have easily been killed. The suicide bomber blew the car up about 40 feet from them. Their vehicle was completely destroyed. One described to me seeing the orange flash, feeling the heat and being lifted off the ground and thrown through the air. Several Iraqis were burned alive in their car right next to them. One of the guys said he'll never forget the screams and the smell of burning flesh. A few of the soldiers have pretty significant injuries but they all should recover. I was happy to get to see the group getting evacuated to Germany. They were banged up, covered with shrapnel wounds and burns, but thank God they were alive. The incredible thing is their desire to return to their jobs here in Iraq. Its not always this way, many would jump at any opportunity to get out of here. These guys have made our mission here their own, they see the purpose and importance. They take seriously their responsibility to their fellow soldiers. I am honored to serve with such men. Reflecting on this encourages me to do some attitude adjustment on myself.

Two AP photos of their vehicle




I get a renewed sense of purpose when I read things like this from an Iraqi blogger named Ali from Iraq the Model

"I don’t want to predict anything here but I want to say that if America decided to get out of Iraq before the job is finished, that will be not only disastrous but will be (in my opinion) the worst thing America ever did. Freeing Iraq (again in my opinion) was the best thing America ever did. It gave oppressed people everywhere a hope and a belief that the mightiest power on earth, the symbols of freedom is on their side and that it will help them in one way or another to get their freedom. Their misery has stopped looking eternal. Retreating now will prove some people’s theory that America is an imperialistic power that only care for its interests, and although there’s nothing wrong with caring about one’s own interests, most Iraqis and millions of oppressed people in Darfur, Iran, Syria...etc. like to think more than that of America. Keeping the course will turn this thought into a firm belief. We understand perfectly that sacrificing lives and hard earned money for the sake of others (although there IS a personal interest here but it maybe not so clear) is a very difficult thing to do, and we know that it’s too much to ask, but tens of Millions of oppressed people around the world with brutal sadistic regimes laying their heavy boots on their chests preventing them from even breathing freely, not to mention speaking out or doing something about it, all these people have no one else but you, Americans, to turn to. You are our/their only hope".-By Ali.

Things up in Baghdad have been a little crazy for the last few days. Sunday our guys had half a dozen car bombs along with a couple dozen rockets and mortars. Since then there were several other mass casualty events. We are now in a race with the insurgents. Don't be surprised when more of the same comes. Both the coalition and the insurgents will pull out the stops leading up to the election.

On the plus side, Moqtada Al-Sadr is now out of the picture. He has completely alienated himself from the people with the behavior of his militia in Najaf and Kufa.

We were at high alert for a few days as a precaution but things have calmed down now. The PX, Gym and all other MWR facilities were shut down during the alert. People were getting stir crazy, running low on cigarettes and chewing tobacco. When the PX reopened there was a run on the place.

We've been here for over 6 months. The monotony is getting to some people. Most people read, exercise or play video games to pass the time. The pool has reopened and is also a popular spot.

Some units are getting ready to redeploy back home, it will still be a while before we get to do the same. The Air Force deploys for 120 days and the Navy and Marines for 180. The Army still wants 365. Hey, lets spread the wealth.

It seems so long ago, September 11, 2001. Without it I would most likely not be here in Iraq. I have little substantive to say other than I remember. I remember listening to an EMS feed over the internet from New Jersey as they planned to set up mass casualty collection points at Liberty State Park for 2000 people each, I remember 400 people showing up at the local Red Cross to donate blood, I remember the silent skies for days afterwards and of course the images of the towers and the people, the fire fighters and the collective grief, the heartbreaking picture strewn streets of lower Manhattan.

It was a beautiful clear New England day for me. I dropped my son off at his school giving him the usual ride on my back as we crossed the field to where his class lined up outside. I jumped into my car and turned on WCBS, Newsradio 88 in New York City as I always did on my way to work. A few minutes later an announcer came on and said a small plane had hit one of the towers. A reporter was at the scene describing what he saw when the second plane hit. By this time they had determined the planes were passenger jets. I knew then that it was a terrorist attack. The panic, the disbelief of the reporter was disturbing. The rest of the day and in fact the next week passed as a blur for me.

That morning we saw clearly the enemy and though time passes, we can't forget. We are at war.

Sometimes you know that someone's looking out for you. Last night at one of our higher headquarters a 107mm rocket came right through the roof of the operation center. It bounced off the floor and then the wall and came to rest unexploded on the floor. They quickly relocated operations and let EOD take care of the round. This morning they were back in the Op Center cleaning up with a gaping hole in the ceiling.

Sleep was not in the cards after duty this morning. As I was getting in bed we had a red alert. I got back to bed about 9AM only to be woken up 2 hours later by our preventive med officer cutting wood with a circular saw right outside my window. I didn't get back to sleep until 6:30 this evening after my briefings were done. An hour later I was up again because we had more incoming rounds.

Fighting has erupted again in Sadr City and we've had a lot of US casualties in the last 24 hours. 7 Marines and 3 Iraqi National Guard Soldiers died in one vehicle bomb incident near Fallujah.

Another all nighter on CQ. Not much happening. That's the usual for night duty. Its usually not good when you get a call after midnight. Other than the people coming in on late flights needing to be picked up, they are usually emergency calls. A Red Cross message for someone, casualties or a theater-wide accountability check because some soldier is reported missing or captured.

My runner will clean the building, we'll do radio checks with the defense operation center and brigade HQ. I will do a security check around our area. I will drink at least 5 or 6 cups of tea and then at 8AM I'll get to go to sleep. Unfortunately tomorrow I have to prepare some powerpoint slides for a battalion briefing so I'll be up around 11AM.

This is the first CQ duty I've had to do since I came back. Because of promotions we have a bigger pool now so I do it less often. I will have to cover for my roommate in a few days.

I had a long phone call with my family this evening. The internet phone was working better than before. There were 11 kids running around my parent's house, 8 grandchildren, one of my sister's nieces and two neighbors.

Yesterday we had our Labor Day picnic. It was a pot luck and we had a great variety of food. Our section did the Jerk Chicken on the barbecue.

The news this week was depressing. The attack in Russia was very disturbing, the images were heartbreaking. Its a dark thing that the terrorists have passed the last psychological barrier between humanity and acting like rabid dogs.

In Najaf and Kufa there were reports of Moqtada Al-Sadr's guys having an unauthorized Sharia Courts inside the mosques. When the police went in they found several dozen multilated bodies they brought local tribal members as witnesses. Sadr is spinning it as people killed by the coalition, however local tribal members see it differently and have started hunting down key Sadr Lieutenants. Two have already been killed.

We are in a definite lull period. After their setbacks from the last few weeks, the bad guys are trying to figure out their next move.

Kidnapping remains a favorite activity for them. Last week I found out one of my Iraqi friends was kidnapped and held for ransom. Thankfully someone payed and he was let go. On one hand we are happy he wasn't harmed, on the other hand the kidnappers are encouraged to do more of the same. A majority of the kidnappings seem to end that way, though some go very badly and people end up dead. One of the guys in a local village was kidnapped about a month ago and the people in the village raised 100,000 dollars to get him back. Kidnapping serves two purposes, intimidation and raising cash to buy weapons. Sometimes people know who's responsible, but they are too intimidated to say or do anything about it.

My buddies brought me some more figs and dates today. There are dozens of varieties of dates. They brought me a selection of orange, yellow and even red ones. I also had a little Arabic lesson which consisted of me pointing at dozens of objects and asking what the Arabic word was for it.


One of our contractors just got married and just came back from his honeymoon up in the north. His bride is 16. Its pretty routine here for women to marry so young. He negotiated for quite a while with her family on the terms of the marriage (the brideprice).


He is Shi'ia and is happy that Moqtada Al Sadr is out of Najaf. Though he wouldn't have minded Moqtada getting his final reckoning. Soon he and his family will travel to Najaf, to visit the Shrine and to visit the graves of his relatives buried there.


Things have calmed down considerably since things resolved in Najaf. Moqtadas guys have gone to ground at least for now. I expect him to surface again. Reports of mutilated bodies being found in his ad hoc Sharia court inside the mosque have turned many people against him. Some people are also mad at Sistani for letting Moqtada avoid a final reckoning.

I'm back at my base after traveling around the country for the past 4 days.

Thursday night I was visiting one of our units at their base near Baghdad. One of the Company Commanders was going to give me a ride to my trailer. The truck we were going to leave in ended up having a dead battery.

As we were walking back into the clinic a white suburban and a Bobtail came tearing into the parking lot. A guy jumped out and said they'd been ambushed on a supply convoy and his buddy had been shot. A KBR truck driver was sitting in the front seat, his thigh and leg covered with blood. I helped the medics on duty carry the guy in and put him on a stretcher. He had been shot in the upper leg and had kept on driving far past the ambush. Everyone dropped their trailers by the side of the road and drove as fast as they could to the nearest base. Our doc cut off all the guys clothes and I got him some oxygen. His buddies were very worked up, very happy to be alive. Eventually one of them asked the guy who had been shot if he wanted some pictures taken. The injured guy said yes and was ready for his cameo. Luckily the bullet missed the major arteries. He later went to the Combat Support Hospital for definitive treatment.

Another guy with them couldn't catch his breath. He got oxygen and a breathing treatment. It turns out he had suffered from smoke inhalation the day before and was on the convoy so he could come up to get an X-ray. The excitement of the ambush plus his damaged lungs was not a good combination.

The next day I woke up early and took a 2 hour walk around the base before my meeting. The base is a system of palaces set on large lakes. The buildings were incredible with marble and carved wood doors. The main palace is set on an island in the middle of the main lake. Saddam had a boat house and several yachts which he used to sail around the lakes. There were lakeside apartments for his cronies and a hunting lodge.

After our meeting we convoyed south to another base near the ruins of Babylon. Its really a Polish base with some Americans. At my base we have two clothing options, our Desert camouflage Uniform (DCUs) or our PT gear. The off duty Polish guys were walking around in their Speedos and sandals! The place is lush and green, right next to the banks of the Euphrates. The soldiers throw bread into the river and big schools of fish come and devour them.

I was able to spend a few hours in the ruins and at a Presidential palace that Saddam had built on a large artificial hill overlooking the rebuilt Palace of Nebuchadnezzar. Saddam fancied himself a modern day Nebuchadnezzar the rebuilder of the glory of the Babylonian empire. He reportedly spent 750 million dollars rebuilding on top of the actual ruins. The palace and temples were partially rebuilt, placing new bricks right on top of those from the Babylonian period. Just like King Nebuchadnezzar who placed bricks in the wall with cuneiform inscriptions proclaiming his greatness as the builder of the city, Saddam had his own bricks written in Arabic saying how great he was for rebuilding the city.

I talked to a man who ran a small shop selling souvenirs and books about Babylon. He turned out to be a trained Archeologist and we spent some time discussing the layout of the city. I was interested in seeing where they think the prophet Daniel was thrown in the lions den. He pointed me to an area where archeologists found an underground area of large rooms with vaulted ceilings that are believed to be a prison in the administrative part of the palace. I walked around the area. Some parts were like a labyrinth leading to dead ends.

The most spectacular part of the ruins was the remains of the Ishtar gate. The glazed blue bricks of the actual gate were carted away to Germany in the late 19th century. On both sides of the entrance were bas-relief dragons and bulls representative of two of the Babylonian gods. Near the Ishtar gates were two long processional roads that the Babylonians paved with asphalt.
There were other parts of the ruins that Saddam didn't get a chance to ruin. I even found cuneiform tablets just lying around next to a sign in English and Polish "If everyone takes just one piece, what will be left of Babylon?" The archeologist told me that some excavation has been planned but there isn't any money now. Even with all the damage that Saddam did building on top of the ruins it was an incredible experience walking around the place where so many historical figures walked and the scene of many stories from the bible.

The last day of trip before I flew back to my base was spent at another palace complex in the greater Baghdad area. I spent most of it visiting some of our companies stationed in the area. I also got some birding done at both Babylon and at the palaces in my free time.


The rebuilt Palace of Nebuchadnezzar


Processional Road paved with asphalt. Built in two parts they are over 1000 meters long.


View of the Ishtar Gate


Closeup of the Dragon of Marduk


Cuneiform tablet about 1 foot square just laying on the ground


Sign in Polish and English in the ruins. The stones in the background are from the time of Hammurabi.

I'm traveling for the next few days. This morning I had a fantastic flight on a blackhawk helicopter cruising over farms, villages and desert on my way to a large base near Baghdad. The flight took about an hour. I'll post some pictures when I get back to my base.

I saw some interesting things on my flight. In the desert areas I saw some large trenches some 20 or thirty feet deep. The trench turned out to be wells, with a long ramp leading down to the water at one end. This enabled people to bring their sheep and goats below ground level to the water.

Every so often we climbed in altitude so we could cross powerlines, then we would dive down sometimes 20 feet off the ground. Steering to avoid the flocks of cattle egrets and doves that we were scaring out of the flooded fields.

The door gunner did a test fire just as we were passing a mining operation, startling a few of my fellow passengers who had fallen asleep.

At the base that I'm now at I went to a 1st Cav chow hall. I give it 3 stars. I had stuffed bell pepper, barbecue ribs, avocado stuffed with chicken salad, and lots of fruit. On the way out they had milk shakes to go. I had strawberry.

Next we hit the PX and the Bazaar. Unlike our base, where only a few vendors come in, this base has a large permanent bazaar inside some large tents. People inside haggled over old coins, hammered copperware, rugs, silver, electronics, knives, musical instruments.....you get the picture.

Tomorrow I'll take a walk around the base early in the morning before my meetings.

Just a few meetings and running around base today on a couple missions. Tonight I have to clear out the digital camera because I'll soon be visiting a few other bases where our battalion is operating and I plan to take lots of pictures.

Even though I just got back here I'm looking forward to a change in scenery. I may even go fishing.

The dates have started ripening in our area. When they are ripe they turn from a hard yellow or orange fruit to a squishy brown, looking almost like they're starting to rot. At this point they are filled with sugar and very tasty. I've eaten a whole bag full in the last day and I plan on eating quite a bit more while they are in season.

I just heard that Al-Sistani has arrived back in Iraq unexpectedly. According to some reports his convoy has left Basrah and is already making its way to Najaf. He has called for a march on Najaf to save the Mosque. This will be interesting.

Back at home my kids are getting ready to start school soon. It will be a welcome break for my wife after a summer full of activities with our 3 older children plus the baby.

Another rude wakeup this morning. This time it was the sound of rockets swishing overhead followed by huge thuds as they detonated. Four in quick succession. People wasted no time getting in the bunkers. Most had been sleeping seconds before. These were the biggest rockets to hit in months, 127 mm. They landed about 500 meters from us. One of our guys had an up close and personal while out for his morning run and dove under a 5 ton truck. Thankfully no one was hurt. This effectively ruined my plans for the morning. We didn't get back to normal for about 2 hours then it was time to pick up our workers.

Our outdoor Olympic size pool, after a 5 week heyday has closed because of low chlorine and cloudy water. After it is drained we might see it open again. It will be in the 90's here well into October and even a few days in November. The pool seems so out of place but it was here before the war for Iraqi officers. It even has a 3 level platform for diving, the highest being 10 meters. It took months to refurbish.

The pool has been very popular because its a good escape. The entire pool is ringed with a fence and plastic sheeting. When you walk in, you forget you are in a combat zone. People tanning on patio chairs, others playing volleyball in the pool, and invariably someone doing something stupid off the 10 meter platform. There's even a pool shop where you can buy bathingsuits and snacks.

Compared to the privations of the Marines and Soldiers in the outlying FOBs (Forward Operating Bases), the amenities here are embarrassing. The plus side is that they get to use the facilities when they come through.

Far from the pool, in Najaf, things are still dragging out but the end seems near. The shrine is completely encircled and there are probably only a few hundred left inside. The guys inside have very little ammo left and except the fringe elements, probably have little will to fight. All the fuss over the handover last week may have been a ruse to allow Moqtada to escape. We'll see.

Our section had escort duty today. For the last month or so we've been getting day laborers to fill sandbags and put them around our living trailers. To say that this is a labor intensive project is an extreme understatement. Every sandbag gets a couple shovel fulls of sand and weights at least 20 pounds. It takes 16 guys a couple days to do a trailer. We have used countless dump truck loads already. Each trailer can take up to 2000 sandbags, stacked up an all four sides to give protection from mortar and rockets. We have lots of trailers.

All over base the sandbagging craziness is evident. Other units have contracted KBR to deliver sandbags already filled to their trailers and big piles of hundreds of sandbags are scattered throughout the living areas. They have over 100 workers filling sandbags everyday loading them into trucks and carting them all over the base. Some units fill sandbags for PT in the morning. I can't even begin the calculate the sheer number of sandbags the base is using. One contract, not even involving the housing areas called for 300,000. The problem with sandbags is that they are only a temporary solution. The canvas bags usually rot through after about a year and the plastic ones last about the same time broken down by the sun's UV rays. Before we sandbagged some of our tents we had to spend several days getting rid of all the split open ones from last year. This cycle will continue until everyone is living and working in hardened buildings.

The laborers have been the same group of 16 for a while now. Usually they get picked up at the gate and its a smooth operation. We look for the supervisor who wears a black fedora and for some reason has been given the nickname "Peter Pan" by one of our Sergeants.

Today we had a little snag. We went up to the holding area where the laborers wait and didn't see the regular group. Hundreds of laborers sit in a big fenced off area and wait to be hired. We went out into the holding area and waited for a while, the guys sitting down tried to get your attention, sometimes jumping up. The guards kept things under control. We later found out that there was an IED near the gate and they stopped letting people in. We grabbed some of the last guys available and got them through the Iraqi Army security.

One young guy was our translator. He carried a plastic bag with a framed picture. It was a pencil drawing he had done for a soldier based on a photograph given to him. He was a little businessman, charging 20 dollars for a framed drawing. He even had a business card. I would say he was 15 at the most, though he told me he was 21 and someone else that he was 17.

He said because he was the supervisor he wouldn't work. He was also diabetic and carried insulin with him in a little bag made from a sandbag. This little guy sat in the shade and puffed away on cigarettes all day.

One guy told our soldiers that because he didn't have a job he couldn't afford a wife. The little supervisor piped up and said he didn't have a wife or want one. "If I had a madame I couldn't buy cigarettes, a woman is expensive. I would rather smoke"

I think the 7 to 12 dollars a day these guys make is only a secondary consideration for some. The fringe benefits for working on base can be worth far more. Everyone is an entrepreneur, selling watches, jewelry, and if they don't have something they can get it for you tomorrow "no problem". Also we often give them stuff to bring home. Sometimes our workers will cart away an old shower or lumber or sheet metal. When we tell a group the money for a certain project is running out they invariably say that they will work for free, at least for a while until more money becomes available.

I decided to change the template. Note to self - don't start project like this at midnight again. I forgot all the little things that needed to be done like putting in the haloscan and sitemeter code. Well its almost done and yes the comments are at the bottom. I still have some cleaning up to do.

Off to bed. I need to get up early for Church.

Out

On my way to visit the clinic this morning I heard a distant thud and felt a barely perceptible pressure wave. This happens almost every day and usually means one of two things. First we just took a rocket or a mortar round in our area or alternatively EOD is conducting a "controlled blast".

A controlled blast is when the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) guys have rigged some unexploded thing (bomb, bomblet, mortar, rocket....) with C4 to blow it in place. EOD is incredibly busy both on and off base. Many rounds come in that don't explode on impact (my favorite type). Sometimes the rocket or mortar round was buried in a weapons cache for over a year, sometimes under water. The motor might be good, allowing the rocket to fly, but the payload explosive might be bad or the fuse non-functional. Sometimes the guy firing at us doesn't know what he's doing and fires with the fuse not properly screwed in.

Usually we get a radio warning like "controlled blast in 5 minutes" then we get a grid. Sometimes people don't get the word and there's a big explosion, freaking people out.

The blast I heard turned out to be a mortar lobbed at us and a few seconds later the red alert siren started wailing. I ducked into the nearest building and spent the next 45minutes there.

The building happened to be where some of the Iraqi translators I know work. We caught up on what's been going on since I last saw them. One of the guys was telling me about his crazy commute to work. This guy lives about 40 minutes away from our base in a very dangerous area. He said that to prevent being targeted for working with the Americans he leaves at different times of the day and drives a different car each day, borrowed from friends and relatives. He carries a weapon which he checks in at our gate every day. His route often has IEDs and car bombs blowing up, but generally they target American convoys, civilians are advised to give them wide berth so they don't get caught up in an IED attack. The biggest danger these days is bandits. Sometimes contractors coming off of base are targeted because they have money from their dealings on base. The bandits may be common criminals or they may be insurgents simultaneously getting funds for their activities and terrorizing or killing people who work with us. Another of our contractors sometimes parks his car several miles from the base and walks to the gate so his car isn't identified. We once had a contractor kidnapped right out of the parking lot outside the main gate.

We talked about "toba", that's soccer in Iraqi Arabic. As in many countries it is by far the most popular sport. They asked me why it wasn't so popular in the US (as a major spectator sport). I told him if Americans can't dominate a sport they don't want to play. Too much competition.

The Iraqi Olympic soccer team has just won their game against Australia. If they win one more game they will be guaranteed at least a Bronze medal. Soon after the game ended there was tracer fire coming up from the villages near us in celebration. I heard that Baghdad was lit up with celebratory fire.

Down in Najaf things still haven't completely resolved. Some bickering over the keys and procedures for handover. Two nights ago Moqtadas boys took an incredible punishing. Yesterday reports started coming out that the Iraqi Police had taken over the shrine without a shot. At the same time we were getting reports from the Marines that the IP and the Iraqi National Guard were not in the compound. There's still some confusion what's going on. It could be that the IP are in the outer compound but not in the actual shrine itself. Several hundred of the dudes tried to run away with no weapons and blend into the population. It didn't work because they all looked like hell from two weeks of fighting (dirty, unshaven, looking like they hadn't slept in days) and were easily identified by the police and arrested. We won't know for sure exactly what's going on until the dust settles a bit but things are looking like a final resolution is coming. The people of Najaf are apparently very angry about the militia firing from the cemetery and the shrine. The more the militias are marginalized the better. I wouldn't be surprised if Al-Sadr himself ends up in Iran.