Changes

It is getting hot over here, at least for my Minnesota blood. The heat is not too bad when there is a breeze, but when there is no wind like today, the sun beats pretty hard. The rain from the other day briefly kept the dust down, but it blows around even without the slightest breeze.

Nine mortars today...while I was in the shower. Not exactly the favorite place to be. I finished showering, cleaned up and came strolling out. The mortars were over by that time and the army folks that I work with were at their main bay doing accountability. They all started laughing because they were all in their gear and I came out in flip flops and shorts. Then we got the news. Five of the mortars landed in Ganci, one of the two detainee camps. Initial reports were 21 dead, 31 critically injured and another 60 plus injured. No Americans were injured or killed. All casualties were detainees. It is disturbing that Al Jazeera had the article typed and on their web site less than thirty minutes after the attack. I am tired of a "news" service being on location every time Americans are attacked. Nobody can tell me that Al Jazeera is not intertwined with these insurgent groups. The insurgents are trying to accomplish two things with these attacks; first, to draw attention to our f acility and be able to say that we cannot protect the detainees and secondly to try and incite the detainees to try and riot and overrun the prison.

Work is fast and furious, but we are more productive right now than we have been since I have been here. Some intelligence things are really coming together and could shift a few things to our advantage, at least west and north of Baghdad. The Al Fallujah situation is being guided by results from the intelligence gleaned from here as well as at their division cage. We are making progress on rooting out foreign fighters as well as those individuals that are helping/hiding them.

Today we had to make a run to BIAP/Camp Victory. Since we have gotten in good with the LRS guys, they loaned us an up-armored Hummer to make the run. The Marines who serve and the convoy escorts/big guns, were teasing us because Scott and I have been very resourceful in our networking and are better armed than the average traveling vehicle. The trip down and back was thankfully uneventful. Of course, the two Hueys and the Cobra gun ship that were flying up and down the highway helped as did the Bradley fighting vehicles staged every quarter mile. It was probably the safest trip we have made with the firepower on the road. It is too bad that the army was not proactive and set up the extensive security before the attacks over the last couple of weeks. The road looked like a scene from a Mad Max movie. There were six fuel tanker trucks along the road that were burned out hulls. One of them was actually still burning this morning. Since they were filled with JP-8, the military ve rsion of diesel, they only burned and did not explode. On the return trip, the highway had a crater in it that eliminated the road from the right shoulder, through two lanes and was 30 yards long and two feet deep.

I learned two things at work tonight. Pigeons only mate for about five seconds and interesting insight about Al Fallujah. Ok, I better explain this. Christine, Dion and I were sitting outside in the break area at work and two pigeons landed on the MP guard tower directly in front of us. This went Nature Channel gone awry, but funny to see in the middle of a combat zone. It also gave us something to joke about the rest of the night. On the more serious subject, I spoke at length with one of my detainees about Al Fallujah. He explained that the people of Al Fallujah were not favored during Saddam's regime. Saddam kept the area under control by brute force and paying off the tribal leaders. Since the fall of the regime, Al Fallujah has been a hotbed for foreign elements funneling into Iraq to cause trouble. I asked him how many foreign fighters he thought there were in Al Fallujah and his answer was simple, "too many." He expounded by saying, "many of the people in Al Fallujah j ust want to try and make a life for themselves and their families, but these foreign fighters are ruining it for them."

Today has been a tough day of fighting in a few places here. Down south, Sadr's followers have launched an offensive that is being repelled. Over on the Syrian border, the Marines got hit by foreign fighters in Husaybah. Yes, I know these are headlines. The fact is that these are two locations in a country the size of California and population of 25 million. Remember that when you hear the news. How many people protest in America each day? How many shootings occur each day in America? Sadr has been living and getting supplied by Iran for the last eight years. His financial support is estimated to be in the millions of US dollars. I will bet a paycheck with anyone that the 150 fighters that set up the ambush along the Syrian border were Syrian Mujahideen fighters.

Many Iraqis would just like to see stability. They have been involved in three major conflicts in the last 13 years and would like to live their lives without war. As such, the intelligence network that started with no sources in Iraq, grows daily from Iraqis supporting what the coalition forces are doing. This does not get reported because it might suggest that we are making progress and does not have shock value for sound bites.

===17 April 2004===