SOME DETAILS about what it is like for the soldiers manning the checkpoints in Baghdad can be found here. Seems that every cotton-pickin' Iraqi has a gun. I don't see that as a good thing.

"We can't check every car, so we try to do three at a time," said 1st Sgt. Anthony Petrone of Harrisburg, Pa. On the first day of the bridge checkpoint, the soldiers got three AK 47s and 18 handguns.

Scores of people crossed the bridge on foot instead because driving in Baghdad, which has a car culture much like Los Angeles, has become a major hassle. /FONT>