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June 27, 2006
Abu Ghraib Prison Cell Art
Still working on the tour. In the meantime, here are some murals on the walls of the cells.
Posted by TJ at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2006
Tour of Abu Ghraib - preview
I have a bunch of photos to put together a bit of a visual tour of Saddam Hussein's prison at Abu Ghraib. I was unable to get a tour myself, but my buddy there with me the past month had gotten one - the photos come from his camera so Im in the process of editing them down and getting the stories straight. Check back in a couple days for the full tour.
This photo is but a little preview. Recently, 3 inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba committed suicide (apparently believing that that would lead to the prison's closure). Inmates in Saddam's Abu Ghraib were prevented from suicide by binding their hands to their cell bars in the days leading up to their execution. Some of these straps still remain:
Posted by TJ at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2006
Back at Liberty
Well, Im out of Abu Ghraib finally. The weather decided to be the hottest day so far when we had to break everything down and pack up - it hit 125. We managed to finish most stuff up by 2am and I went to bed to try and sleep for 3 hours before having to get up for final breakdown and the trip back to Liberty. Around 3am, the field artillery shot off a bunch of 105mm rounds. Since they fire those less than 100m from my bed, I got a little less than 2 hours sleep.
Now in the process of packing stuff up for the trip home. Long night ahead tomorrow with customs, so Im off to bed. Just wanted to check in.
Posted by TJ at 11:36 PM | Comments (1)
June 22, 2006
I scooped the Washington Post!
In tuesday's (21 June) op-ed section (free reg required), Mowaffak al Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser writes:
There has been much talk about a withdrawal of U.S. and coalition troops from Iraq, but no defined timeline has yet been set. There is, however, an unofficial "road map" to foreign troop reductions that will eventually lead to total withdrawal of U.S. troops. This road map is based not just on a series of dates but, more important, on the achievement of set objectives for restoring security in Iraq.
On 16 June, I wrote:
I would be willing to bet my next month's pay that the powers that be do in fact have a timetable. More accurately, they probably have a few tentative timetables that hinge upon certain criteria being met.
Yeah, its an op-ed, but I still think its cool.
Posted by TJ at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2006
Abu Ghraib 5k Race
I woke up early this morning to do the Abu Ghraib First Day of Summer 5k race. We started at 6am, but it was still pretty warm by the time we finished. Did ok, maybe 3rd or 4th for my age group. My recent soreness wasn't a problem, and a nagging groin pull may finally be gone.
I just wish they had had T-shirts.
Posted by TJ at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)
More Abu Ghraib photos
I was walking back to my quarters 2 nights ago and ran across some K-9 training. The photos are a little dark because, although I'm pretty sure it would have been ok, I didn't want to distract the dog.
Some photos of murals from the non-prison areas.
"Welcome, noble guests"
"At your service, oh Jerusalem!" The "BOMB" was most likely one of us trying to make a not-so-subtle point.
The message here is about as subtle as the last. Dome of the rock and combination Iraqi/Palestinian flag being carried by the guy in a kaffiyah. That is Saddam's face smashed off in the upper left. He used to provide the equivalent of $25,000 US to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
I have no idea what this scene dipicts, but it is right in the same area as the other 2.
Posted by TJ at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2006
Heat
I don't know where Weather Underground takes its readings, but it is way hotter than 111 out there, I'd say by about 10 degrees. Ill find the official local temperature when I go to the gym.
UPDATE: Yeah, it hit at least 119 here and the highest I saw the wunderground temp was 113. It seems that the 6 or 7 time I have checked, they are consistently off by about 6-8 degrees, so I'm going to have my script add a few degrees - yeah, its a hack solution, but it is more accurate for where I am.
Posted by TJ at 02:36 PM | Comments (1)
June 16, 2006
Thank you, Mr. Murdoch
Thanks to Rupert Murdoch, we will be able to see the rest of team USA's World Cup matches. I went to the MWR center to watch the game vs the Czechs, but I guess I really didn't miss much.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose media company owns Fox News, negotiated a deal with the World Cup TV rights holders to piggyback AFN onto a deal he has with one of his many properties, according to Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Greg Hicks.
“FIFA World Cup 2006 Germany has allowed AFN limited distribution permission to allow coverage of remaining Team USA matches, the semifinals and the championship,” Hicks said.
The agreement, Hicks said, will permit AFN to telecast Team USA’s match against Italy on Saturday at 9 p.m. local time in Kaiserslautern. The team wraps up Group E play against Ghana on June 22 at 4 p.m. local time in Nuremburg. Game times are two hours later in Iraq, and 2½ hours later in Afghanistan.
The last 2 cups, I have had parties at my place. Last time I had both a native German and Brazilian. In '98 there were a few French people there from work. So I guess since I am here surrounded by multinational forces, the smart money is on either England, Italy, or Australia. or us...
*MWR = Morale, Welfare & Recreation
Posted by TJ at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)
More media bias
If the mainstream media has a target that it loves to condemn more than the United States, it is Israel. Last week, an explosion on a beach in Gaza killed 7 people. Everyone was quick to blame the IDF, especially the Palestinians because they know that the MSM won't fact-check anything they say. Problem was, the IDF stopped firing 15 minutes before this particular explosion. Forensic and military experts now say that a week after Israel apologized and promised to make ammends to the families of the victims, all evidence points to this explosion as being caused by a mine, probably planted to thwart a perceived marine assault threat, and not an artillery shell after all.
So the press reports that "Hamas fired at least 15 Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel on Saturday, ending a tattered 16-month truce with Israel, a day after eight Palestinians were killed on a Gaza beach, apparently by an errant Israeli shell." I guess that is accurate if your idea of a "truce" involves firing over 1000 rockets at Israel over the past 10 months...
The world press, very much including the mainstream U.S. media, tends to take the word of Palestinian spokesmen about civilian deaths, although experience should have taught them by now to be more guarded. In 2005, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by gunfire. U.N. and Palestinian officials blamed her death on Israel until it was determined that a bullet fired by Palestinians shooting into the air to celebrate their pilgrimage to Mecca hit her. Muhammad al-Dura, the 12-year-old Palestinian boy supposedly shot by Israelis has become a worldwide symbol of Israeli brutality, though it has since been firmly established that Israelis could not and did not kill him. And, of course, the "Jenin Massacre" proclaimed by Palestinians high and low (5,000 innocents were slaughtered, they claimed) and condemned by the United Nations, turned out to be a complete lie (only 52 were killed, along with 23 Israeli soldiers who went house to house to avoid civilian casualties).
And here is the saddest, yet most telling paragraph on how the world views the only true democracy in the Middle East (hopefully Iraq will be solidly in that club soon).
In the aftermath of the Gaza incident, Prime Minister Olmert spoke by phone with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Annan demanded an explanation for the Gaza deaths. When Olmert asked why Annan had not shown similar concern about the scores of missiles hitting Israel, Annan was nonplussed. "What missiles?" he asked.
Posted by TJ at 06:16 PM | Comments (1)
Timetable
Why is it that opponents of the war are constantly calling for a timetable for withdrawal? This would be essentially telling the terrorists, "just wait until this date, then we will be gone and you can go back to raising hell."
I would be willing to bet my next month's pay that the powers that be do in fact have a timetable. More accurately, they probably have a few tentative timetables that hinge upon certain criteria being met. For example, the capture or death of certain terrorists known to be at large in the country (like the one removed last week); a critical mass of well-trained Iraqi army and police forces run by competent post-Saddam era officers and NCOs; stability of, and confidence in the new parliament; an increase in the safety the general public feels in turning over information about terrorists in their neighborhoods; and many more that I probably would never think of. These things are happening, folks, and its a generational change happening in just a few years. It may be messy, but it is still amazing to watch and an honor to be a part of.
Just like any long-term project, there is a timetable, but it evolves with the situation, and there is no way they can publicize it until after events play out.
Posted by TJ at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
Zarqawi's useful idiots
Well, now that the media knows that al-Qaeda in Iraq's top priority to change the course of the war was to manipulate the press and use them to create public outrage against the military, I wonder if they will re-examine their coverage of the war.
1. To improve the image of the resistance in society, increase the number of supporters who are refusing occupation and show the clash of interest between society and the occupation and its collaborators. To use the media for spreading an effective and creative image of the resistance.
I won't hold my breath, I don't think I look very good with blue skin.
Now another terrorist group has appointed a media spokesman.
Posted by TJ at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
Cox and Forkum: A daily must read
Cox and Forkum led me to the story below. This is their astute comic on the matter:
Posted by TJ at 02:05 PM | Comments (2)
LA Times editorial about media bias in military coverage
Author Frank Schaeffer has an opinion piece in the LA Times about why, in general, military members don't like the main stream media and uses the Haditha indicent to illustrate his point. He asks why the awarding of a Navy Cross doesn't merit the kind of coverage as the self-congratulating Oscars.
However, if the "chattering classes" ever wonder why those of us in the military family sometimes bitterly resent the media, they need look no further than the "Haditha story." What bothers me is that I haven't seen one recent story dedicated to the heroism of our troops given such consistent prominence in The Times or other leading papers. Nor have I read a front-page headline about a military medal ceremony and the story behind it, although every year I see front-page treatment in The Times of who wins the Oscars.
Apparently some awards are more equal than others — say, for being a supporting actress in a forgettable movie rather than risking one's life to save a group of Iraqi children.
If there is such a thing as "anti-military media bias," it is not in how stories are reported. It is in what stories are ignored and the editorial "values" implicit in those daily choices.
Emphasis mine. I don't quite agree with that last sentence because if it turns out that Haditha was a fabrication of the type that was Jenin in the West Bank, it clearly would show a bias of "how" and not just "what". Mudville Gazette is the clearninghouse for information about Haditha, and there is just too much to try and reprint here.
I have no problem with reporting on the military's occasional failures. But it's unfair and out of context when, at the same time, editors at our best papers ignore much more routine acts of individual heroism that balance this grim picture. The Times should help us be as proud of our heroes as we are disappointed by those very few who dishonor us.
Well, they used to be our best papers, but I do give the Times credit for priting this op-ed. Many others, and I can think of one in particular which shares its moniker, would have left it out entirely.
It is also worth mentioning that even if these Marines do turn out to be guilty, they would still represent a miniscule fraction of our armed forces, and that they will be punnished. Contrast that with our enemies, who go out of their way to maximize civilian casualties as standard operating procedure.
Posted by TJ at 01:39 PM | Comments (1)
June 12, 2006
Magic Dust
This is pretty cool, although I've never heard of the stuff before - then again, I'm a linguist.
For the last ten years, development of "smart dust" has moved right along. "Smart Dust" is basically very miniaturized electronic devices. This is similar to stuff like RFID, smart cards, EZ Pass and those rice grain size tracking devices you can have injected into your pets. But Smart Dust takes this all to a new level by being small enough to be disguised as dirt, the kind you can pick up in your shoes or clothing. Each bit of Smart Dust can be given a unique serial number that, when hit with an "interrogation signal" from troops on the ground, or aircraft overhead, is broadcast back. Some forms of Smart Dust are believed to be in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's also believed that Smart Dust played a role in the recent death of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi. In this case, if someone were able to sprinkle some Smart Dust on Zarqawi's clothing, it would have been a simple matter to track him with great precision.
The last part is the best:
Iraqis have already heard of this stuff, but regard it more as "magic dust." Iraqis have a tendency to exaggerate American capabilities, especially when it comes to technology. But U.S. troops have learned to use this exaggerated reputation to their advantage, threatening Iraqis with magical capabilities that don't exist. That often works, just like smart dust.
So chalk up another magical power for me. My other powers include:
X-ray vision, courtesy of my government issued wrap-around sunglasses.
The ability to steralize males with a red-dot laser.
A cooling system in my armor that keeps me cool, because us decadent westerners normally keel over and die in the summer desert heat.
You can shoot me in the face and I will keep going. (This one is from an AIT instructor who was here in 2003. A soldier in the 101st was shot and the bullet lodged in his upper jaw, but he didn't realize that until later. The guy who shot him absolutely freaked out.)
If only it were true.
Posted by TJ at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2006
Page update
Ive finally made a change that has been bugging me for a while. For some reason, Firefox was aligning the black navbar on the right different from IE. I also got rid of the weather channel and made my own cgi script to parse the temperature. As good as it looks in Firefox, it looks bad in IE - I will try and fix that up tomorrow. It was 117 here today and neither source listed it that hot, so I guess I won't get anything very accurate, but I like the way this looks better.
Posted by TJ at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2006
YES!
Posted by TJ at 04:10 PM | Comments (1)
June 07, 2006
Update
A new camouflage pattern for the Army so I finally updated the title image. I also added 6 more photos to the random image rotation in the title bar as well - not new photos, they have all been posted here before, just new to that area.
Posted by TJ at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)
A bit of a surprise
My home state of New Hampshire ranked exactly in the middle (26 of 51) of US state's performances on a driving test.
I guess these results fairly accurately predict road performance as well since Massachusetts ranks 48. The people that Massachusetts drivers actually complain about (rightly) are Rhode Island drivers, and they are dead last for the second year in a row.
So now I await the emails from my family and friends in Mass :)
UPDATE: Take the test yourself, I got a 90%, and haven't driven in a year.
Posted by TJ at 07:09 PM | Comments (2)
June 06, 2006
Abu Ghraib
Some photos from Abu Ghraib. Im looking into getting a tour of the hard side - Saddam's old prison, that we do not use, and will surely have my camera with me for that.
My promotion ceremony to E-5 (Sergeant)
One of the few murals of Saddam I have seen where his face has not been blasted away by bullets.
Posted by TJ at 09:39 PM | Comments (4)
The Real Iraq
For anyone who has ever written me an email asking about what its really like over here, this is a must read.
Amir Taheri is the former executive editor of Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper. He first visited Iraq in 1958, so I would hazzard to guess that he knows a little more about a country than our press barely knew existed before August 1990. However, he does understand many of the logistical and political problems that go into covering such a large topic.
It would be hard indeed for the average interested citizen to find out on his own just how grossly this image distorts the realities of present-day Iraq. Part of the problem, faced by even the most well-meaning news organizations, is the difficulty of covering so large and complex a subject; naturally, in such circumstances, sensational items rise to the top.
...
To make matters worse, many of the newsmen, pundits, and commentators on whom American viewers and readers rely to describe the situation have been contaminated by the increasing bitterness of American politics. Clearly there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for George W. Bush. Others, prompted by noble sentiment, so abhor the idea of war that they would banish it from human discourse before admitting that, in some circumstaces, military power can be used in support of a good cause. But whatever the reason, the half-truths and outright misinformation that now function as conventional wisdom have gravely disserved the American people.
He focuses on four details that I have never seen mentioned in any American analysis of the situation in Iraq (from the right, or the left):
1) 1.2 million refugees have returned to Iraq.
2) Religious pilgrims traveling to the holy Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf were almost non-existant from 1991 to 2003. In 2005, more pilgrims travelled to these two sites than Mecca and Medina.
3) The value of the Iraqi dinar has stablized and is growing with respect to other regional currencies, as well as internationally, although he admits that value is still difficult to determine.
4) Small and medium sized businesses in the private sector are flourishing. The economy is doing amazingly well. Doubling GDP in 1 year, inflation falling from 70% to 25%, unemployment falling from 60% to 30%.
These 4 are elaborated, and he goes into a lot of useful history, for example how to compare today's Iraq with its original constitutional monarchy.
He offers up 3 reasons why the US-lead multinational forces need to stay the course:
1) To discourage Iran and Syria.
2) To act as an arbiter (he says "traffic cop") between various factions until they learn that discussion and compromise are the most effective way to settle differences in a parliamentary democracy.
3) Complete the training of Iraq's new army and police.
I'm not going to go into much more detail because if you have read this far into my post, you are probably willing to read the entire piece, so please do. I will quote his conclusion because I believe he is correct:
Is Iraq a quagmire, a disaster, a failure? Certainly not; none of the above. Of all the adjectives used by skeptics and critics to describe today’s Iraq, the only one that has a ring of truth is “messy.” Yes, the situation in Iraq today is messy. Births always are. Since when is that a reason to declare a baby unworthy of life?
Posted by TJ at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)