Suicide Bombings And A Fishing Tournament In Baghdad

Things are heating up in Iraq. When the first of two recent bombing incidents took place, I was covering a quirky lifestyle story. “Operation Catch Fish,” the second annual fishing competition in Iraq. That afternoon, in eastern Baghdad a suicide bomber killed 26 at the Police Academy practically in the backyard of FOB Shield, the base I was staying on a couple weeks back. Then today (Tuesday 3/10/09) another attacker struck a Peace a Reconciliation Conference in the western part of the city killing 33. I got the news via Yahoo. The odds of being on the scene of an incident aren’t very high and getting to the scene of a bombing isn’t easy to orchestrate. Covering a story like that would be the luck of the draw - being at the right/ wrong place depending on your viewpoint.

Decorations for the fishing competition were provided by KBR, a few pink flamingos staked into the ground across from Flintstone Village. Saddam Hussein built Flinstone Village, a playground for his grandkids modeled after Bedrock, straight from the cartoon-more on that in my next entry about the Al Faw palace complex. There were non-alcoholic beers on hand and Operation Catch fish T-shirts. Joe Mercurion and Eric Mannino came up with the concept and made it a reality by getting a handful of sponsors including one who donated the poles.
Corporal Jason Spakman caught the winning fish, a 13-pound carp in front of the unfinished "Victory Over America Palace." A Palace Sadam Hussein was not able to finish. It was bombed in 2003 along with many other sites that make up the Al Faw Palace Complex, which was used by the Bathe Party big shots. Now it is headquarters to American military. The man made lakes around the complex are stocked with bass and carp. Soldiers fish at various spots along the banks. Jason recieved a 26 inch flat screen TV as his prize. This year 450 troops participated in the event, up from 250 the first year. The organizers plan to bring another 250 poles next year despite talk of a draw down of troops.

images all shot during competition. Top bottom right is an image of the winner with winning fish in from of the Victory Over America Palace

Bone Yard in Balad Iraq

The airbase in Balad is enormous and drab. It is a landscape of T-walls and motor resistant protected buildings. Grey is the predominate color highlighted only by Iraq’s spectacular sunrises and sunsets. I asked Sargent Hoke, the Public Affairs office that was assigned to escort Phin and I during out stay there, if there was something quirky on the base. The Bone Yard, an aircraft graveyard is what she came up with. Off we went in a jumbo SUV to find the site. Hoke led the way into an area marked, "Do not enter". The Bone Yard has dozens of broken Russian made Iraqi Migs and a few destroyed tanks and armored vehicles covered in graffiti.
Graffiti can only be found in this isolated spot on the base. There is plenty of it to make some good photos and infuse the war with some color.

What was once the pride and joy of Saddam's military might is now nothing more than a backdrop for soldiers (and journalists) to take a souvenir portrait.

Iraq by Blackhawk

In Balad I’m staying in the transient housing comprised of dusty two story buildings with broken down heaters and dilapidated appliances down the road from the MWR (moral welfare and recreation building), walking distance to the mess hall all run by KBR. There is hot water and it is quiet at night. Factors that make up for anything the rooms lack. For a war zone, I’m still staying pretty well.

We are now embedded with the Task Force 34 - a mixture of different units that include members of the Louisiana National Guard. The brigade is broken down into battalions and the battalions into companies. We are working with, Task Force Voodoo, the 244th battalion code name. The companies within it have picked superheroes to identify themselves. Patches on their uniforms and painted logos on the flight line add character to the drab surroundings.


The Battalions tasks include supporting other battalions from the skies in Blackhawks, moving troops, civilian and contractors around (air taxi service) and conducting air assault missions which involves moving troops into sensitive areas to carry out offensive maneuvers. The battalion also does humanitarian missions when need arises. Assault missions are top secret, so we have only been able to accompany the Guard on Baghdad taxi runs. The Blackhawks aren’t like the taxis I’m used to, so it has been exhilerating to see and photograph Baghdad from the skies while making a ring run around the bases.

Most of the 244th have served in Iraq before. Many were deployed in New Orleans during Katrina. The Guard speak of the improvements they have seen since the early part of the war and the missions they were on after Katrina. Colonel Bosetta reminds his troops to stay vigilant as their deployment is almost over but it is still dangerous territory to fly over. He pointed out that the Louisiana Army National Guard air crews were unsung heroes during the rescue operations after Katrina. They rescued over 10,000 people off rooftops using blackhawks that were able to hold up to thirty people at a time.

Movement by helicopter is the most efficient and safest way to get around Iraq. It costs $6000 an hour to operate the Blackhawk so it's safe to say, it isn’t the cheapest. There are hundreds of blackhawks in the air, weather permitting. For them to fly by day the standard is 2 miles visibility, at night less so. Captain T. Slayton of the Minnesota National Guard is a financial advisor by trade, and a weatherman for the 34th Brigade. He chuckled when asked about the difficulty of his job predicating weather here. From the time he makes a call until the time a pilot looks out across the runway, the dust conditions can change.

Seeing Baghdad from above reveals how large and full of life the city is. Like most capital cities, it is sprawling. Moving around in armored vehicles limits ones visibility, as do the protective T-walls along main streets. From the sky one can see much movement, active markets and lots of traffic. The scars of the city are also visible; whole swatches of land are still devastated from the war. The pilots made sure to point out some of Baghdad’s landmarks and get us in close so we could shoot. SGT. Derusk stressed how much better the city looks to him now then did during his first tour. To me, it looks pretty bleak, though full of life.

General McKinley (chief of the National Guard bureau) visited the base to check in with the troops and make a first hand assessment of where things stand in Iraq. During an unscheduled interview he granted us, he gave us a brief history of the guard and talked about their importance to America. Since 9/11 almost every member of the Guard has been called up to serve on foreign ground and in the next years he doesn’t see their role abroad lessening. He gave us both a coin (a momentum with his name and signature on it), a military tradition to show appreciation. These coins come in handy at any bars near military bases. Especially one from a four star general as the person with a coin from the highest ranking soldier never pays for drinks. I am not one to hold on to souvenirs, but I’ll keep this one.

When I asked here if there was anything quirky on the base, Sgt. Hoke, a public affairs representative, took us to a graveyard of broken planes and tanks . Graffiti covered broken Migs and totaled armored vehicles added literary context to Iraq. It is all about who you are, who your family is, who love and where you are from.

to read more about the the Louisiana Army National
Guard air crews click this link- http://www.TaskForce34.org/

Mardi Gras Parade in Baghdad -None Wounded vs. Seven shot in New Orleans

           

Seven were wounded by gunshot fire in New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day during a parade in the Garden District.

There was no violence on Camp Shield in Baghdad, where Phin and I documented the first Mardi Gras Parade in Iraq, put on by the LA National Guard. For some residents of the camp, it was their first taste of Mardi Gras, including all the private security guards from Uganda. For a moment one could forget they were in Iraq. 

Reading headlines on Yahoo last night brought the state of New Orleans back to mind.

 Task Force Gator is winding up their mission in a couple of days. Will New Orleans be able to  hold it toghether without the National Guard?

72 Hours

It is possible to sign out from the unit one is embedded with for 72 hours. A nifty rule I recently learned. Granted a 72 hour

 window to get something done in isn’t something you can coun

t on in Iraq. The 72 hours can be extended until ones’ mission is completed if you keep in touch and stick to the proposed plan. Sand storms, cancellations and inexplicable delays make it hard to predict how long something will take. Phin and I signed out from Camp Shield last Sunday and didn’t get back unit Saturday. What was meant to be an overnight trip to Basra in order to visit Rota Village in the Marshlands, turned into six days. 

Our first diversion wasn’t transportation relate. After completing the first leg of our journey to Camp Victory, I Checked my email at the airport. I found out, the pinning of the first African American general from Louisiana would take place on the Tuesday we were meant to return, an event we had planned to film. Making it back on time from Bassra seemed iffy so we cancelled our flight with the blessings of a PAO (public affair officer) and rebooked to leave for Basra after covering the ceremony. We spent the next two nights on Camp Victory at the JVB Hotel where we met the Buffalo Bill Cheerleaders. We interviewed Brigadier General Owen W. Monconduit after he was promoted and got the story off to the networks before departing for Basra. 

In Basra we were the guests of General Muhammad Jawad, the Basra operational

 commander. Cpt. Saad picked us up from the airport after some confusion. Our flight arrived late and we weren’t ready to role until after 5:30 AM. On the ride to the Shat Al Arab Hotel (a

 shell of what was once a first class hotel), now part of the BAOC (The Basra Operation Command Center) we stopped at the site of a bus crash. A story that made international news later that day. 

The bus was carrying pilgrims returning from Karbala when it smashed into a British tank that was stopped on the highway around midnight. Seven were killed on impact and another twenty-six were injured. While taking pictures we heard the Iraqi side of events. Once 

on the base, we heard the British side. The Brits blamed the speeding bus, while the Iraqi blamed the 35-ton tank sitting in the road that they claim had no lights on. The incident is still under investigation.Arriving a few days after we planned worked to our favor. A Coalition mission we had been trying to go on during out first visit had been cancelled twice and now was scheduled for the day after we arrived. The mission’s objective - choosing a site for an school/ community center in Rota Village. We went in a convoy with General Muhammad, General Azziz, Capt. Lansden(CMOC), Col Stanford (British Forces), and numerous Iraqi military.

 Iraqi soldiers with AK-47s were stationed every few feet along the entire hour-long route. Rota Village is still known as being in the marshlands, though it is more of a desert then a marsh now.

 Sadam Hussein drained the area starting during the Iran/Iraq war and did further damage after the gulf war.The population dwindled, and only 10% of the area remained a marsh. The indigenous people's way of life was destroyed by Hussein’s acts of echo terrorism. Shortly after Saddam’s regime fell many of the dams were broken, flooding the area, restoring part of the marsh haphazardly. The eco system and the people are still in danger of loosing an ancient culture and many species even though restorations efforts have began. The coalition forces and the IA are trying to raise the people’s standard of living and bring them in to the larger Iraqi community, by building schools, handing out essential goods and restoring the environment. Befriending the Marshland Arabs is one way the Iraqi Army and the coalition hopes to get them to stop smuggling weapons and letting insurgents into Iraq from Iran.

When we dismounted the vehicles all the villagers gathered around. A site for the school was chosen and goods were handed out before we drove on to Rash Al Emara Village. The elders of the village met with the generals in a Mudrif (a sheik’s meeting place). While the meeting was going on, Phin and I photographed the outdoor kitchen.

 Blood soaked the ground where the goats and sheep had been slaughtered not long before. Workers artfully laid out the food on numerous platters before carrying them around the block to the Mudrif. A feast was served in honor of one the elders who past away.
I thought twice about eating (visiting the kitchen 

isn’t always a good idea before a meal) but couldn’t refuse.After taking a few bites, the servers piled enough meat on my plate for at least five people and then plopped an animal’s head next to me.

 I got away with not eating much by moving the food around my plate with the ample bread supplied. I was more excited to shoot the feast then consuming it. After lunch everyone gather around for a funeral ceremony where locals started singing (almost rapping) about the deceased and then broke into a whirling free form dance called Aartha. We both had to take care not to get knocked over by flying dancers while shooting. Just in the nick of time, our group got back in to our motorcade and headed back to the base and then on to the airport. 

We were be delayed another day at Camp Victory due to a dust storm, Once again we got to stay at the VBC (Victory base complex), the best transient residence to get stuck in that you can find in Baghdad. The 39th MP’s picked us up at while out on a mission the following day and got us back to Camp Shield late night via MRAPs, the bumpiest ride in town. It felt good to get back and get into some clean clothes after a shower. Camp Shield is the closet thing to home for us now, till we move on to Ballad in a couple of days, joining the 244th airbrigade, also members of the Louisiana National Guard.

JVB Hotel, luxury in Baghdad

A change in travel plans made it possible for me and Phin to stay at the JVB Hotel at Camp Victory across from one of Saddam’s palaces.

 It was one of Saddam’s favorite places to hold meetings and the place his last interview on network TV was held before

 he was hanged. The chair he sat in for the interview remains and is used by guests. The luxury is eerie but welcome. It isn’t a five star hotel anymore as the stars above the grand entranceway claim. It has bunk beds in the roomsand serves food brought in from the main mess hall, but high ceilings, lush curtains, elegant furniture and marble floors offer unexpected elegance fitting of a five star hotel.

             

 Compared to some of the accommodations here, maybe the five star rating does still hold.Visiting dignitaries, VIPS,and special guests like us who end up stuck at Camp Victory use the hotel. A group in a think tank looking into an early withdrawal from Iraq mandated by congress (stared under Bush’s administration) is here. The Buffalo Bills cheerleaders, who are spending a week in Iraq performing stayed in the room across from me. A team of comics sent over by Lone Wolf Entertainment, who often perform for the troops were here too. WeI interviewed Olivian Arrington and Mo Amer about what it is like performing in Iraq.  The 1-124 CAV from Dallas TX is running the place during their time in Iraq.

image description-bottom up- Phin Percy outside hotel on veranda overlooking manmade lake and Palace, Olvia Arrington and Mo Amer ( comedians) , the rest Cheerleaders and me at the hotel