MAY HAVE FEWER posts than normal today...I've had limited access to the internet. Should be back to normal soon though.

TUESDAY JUNE 3d, the 23d day of CPT Patti's deployment. She is in East-Central Baghdad.

IRAQI FAMILY VALUES.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers threatened Monday to launch suicide attacks against U.S. troops as leaders of the country's squabbling tribes told the Americans they could face war if they did not leave soon.

As tribal leaders were meeting Ambassador Hume Horan of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), more than 3,000 sacked soldiers marched on the U.S-led administration's headquarters vowing violence unless they were paid wages and compensation.

"All of us will become suicide bombers," said Khairi Jassim, a former warrant officer. "I will turn my six daughters into bombs to kill the Americans."

Read it all.

HERE IS A LATE ENTRY on the arrival of the 1st Brigade in Baghdad.

The Friedberg, Germany-based battalion staged its tanks at Saddam Hussein’s ceremonial parade ground in the city’s West End. Where the former Iraqi leader once reviewed his military, passing under a large arch made of crossed swords, American troops were shaving and brushing their teeth after 20-hour convoys.

While waiting for orders to take up positions east of the Tigris River, the 1st Brigade soldiers explored abandon buildings. Although troops have been warned against taking war trophies, the soldiers were on the hunt for souvenirs.

Read the rest here.

UPDATE ON THE EARLIER post about the possibility of cell phones coming to Baghdad. Says this article:

Already, the U.S. military has contracted MCI-WorldCom to set up a limited cell phone service in Baghdad. Access will be restricted to 5,000 U.S. officials, leading Iraqi politicians and humanitarian organizations.

Me, I'm bettin' CPT Patti isn't among the 5000.

Sigh.

THIS STORY comes from the Islamic Republic of Iran Brodcasting (IRIB) website. I didn't correct the grammatical errors. Iran publishing in English? Draw your own conclusion.

Baghdad, June 2 - Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers in a massive demonstration in Baghdad streets on Monday, protest the dissolution of Iraq's army, and called on the occupiers to quit the country.

The demonstrators chanting slogans such as "Occupier go out, this is the last warn", condemned U.S. for dissolution of Iraq's army.

They threatened that: "Unless the Iraqi soldiers come back to teir posts, some retaliatory measures would be taken against the U.S."

After walking a long distance, protestors gathered in front of the residential place of Paul Bremer in Baghdad, and announced that it was their last peaceful practice.

The protest was the largest anti-US demonstration in Iraq since the occupation of the country.

A NEW ROLE FOR the Army in the future? This article believes so.

So once again, the practical experience of the veterans wins out over the press-release optimism of the civilians. And the wisdom of Korean War veteran-turned-military historian T.R. Fehrenbach is vindicated.

In his 1994 book, “This Kind of War,” Fehrenbach wrote, “You may fly over a land forever, you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it.” But, he continued, “if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud.”...

...Ted Cormaney, former congressional staffer and continuing close student of the military, espies a new division of labor between the military branches. Noting that the Marines and Special Forces have already cleared out of Iraq, he sees those elite forces as taking the lead in future ground-fighting, while the Army will increasingly be charged with ground-based peacekeeping.

I SUPPOSE THIS is a kind of personal freedom. The article doesn't mention what those clerics think of this.

Baghdad, Iraq-AP -- Baghdad's racecourse has opened for the first time since the war began over two months ago.

Hundreds of people flocked to the races, generating brisk business for bookmakers, and providing a welcome diversion from daily life in the city.

Iraqis are passionate about horseracing -- it's thought the Arabian thoroughbred may have originated in Iraq itself.

ANOTHER ATTACK on US Forces in Baghdad. Which unit is not mentioned, but based on the neighborhood, it might be 1AD troops. The entire article is here.

Witnesses say it seemed to have been a coordinated attack where a grenade was thrown at an armored vehicle while gunmen opened fired from the rooftops of buildings opposite the Abu Hanifa mosque.

ARE PERSONAL FREEDOM and Islam mutually exclusive concepts? It saddens me that one result of the demise of the dictator is a movement to further erode personal liberties. The article is here.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The list of recommendations for students attending al-Nidaa Intermediate School for Girls is difficult to miss. It's plastered on the gate.

Observe Islam's strict dress code, it says, and call on others to follow suit. Don't watch movies and TV soap operas. Make sure you pray and read the Quran every day.

Emboldened by Saddam Hussein's ouster last month, Muslim militants are wasting no time in exploiting the political void in U.S.-occupied Iraq to impose some of Islam's stricter tenets on this predominantly Muslim - but relatively liberal - nation of 24 million people.

The campaign is led by Shiite Muslim clerics who, since Saddam's fall, call the shots in most Baghdad neighborhoods and in Shiite-dominated cities across the country. While distancing themselves from violence, the clerics acknowledge that creating a purist Islamic state is their ultimate goal.

A REFRESHING outlook by Washington Times reporter Jack Kelly about the quality of the men and women of the Armed Forces.

What I saw of women soldiers — who were mostly in these reserve units — made me less wary of the concept than I had been. They performed their jobs well, and cheerfully tolerated living conditions I couldn't imagine my wife or daughter putting up with.

Race relations in the Army in the 1970s were tense. No more. It would be difficult to find more interracial harmony anywhere in the civilian world than there is in the military units with which I spent time in Iraq.

Read it all here.

THIS EXCELLENT in depth article in the Washington Post uses two reporters to measure the differences between how the US Soldiers believe they are perceived...and what the Iraqis actually say about them. And it doesn't bode well. By the way, the neighborhood mentioned in the article is in the 2d Brigade, 1st Armored Division sector.

At about 10:20 a.m., it was 98 degrees when the patrol moved out through the concertina wire that protects their outpost and past two Bradley Fighting Vehicles parked out front.

The patrol was configured so that one "fire team" of four soldiers was in front, and another in the back. In the middle, leading the patrol, was Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Haumschild, 26, of Stillwater, Minn., accompanied by the medic.

Just to their left was a mosque known for anti-American sermons. Capt. Gerd Schroeder, commander of Bravo Company, said that when he sent an interpreter to listen to last Friday's sermon, the theme of the day was, "if you're not killing the Americans and the Jew pigs, you're not a true Muslim."

There's more. Read it here.

1ST ARMORED DIVISION takes fire. I believe this is the first time since setting up shop in Baghdad. Read about it here.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked an American military convoy late Sunday in the neighborhood where Saddam Hussein made his last public appearance on April 9, the day the capital fell to allied forces.

At least one American soldier was wounded and one Iraqi civilian was killed in the firefight that erupted on the busy square in front of the Abu Hanifa Mosque, according to an Iraqi hospital official who treated the wounded.

LEARNED THIS MORNING that CPT Patti and the rest of the Gators are staying in what once was the Baghdad Police Academy. Want to see where that is? OK - follow the link to the Interactive Map of Baghdad in the links section. (Timesaving hint: When the map has fully loaded you can save it to your system so you don't have to download it each time you want to look at it.)

Find the center of the map, then move due east (to the right) a little bit less than half way to the right edge of the map. Look for a block of green. When you find the green area click on the magnifying glass tool then click the magnifier on that green block. You may need to click five or six times before you can read the text on the map.

In the green blocks you should see the words Raiahin, Shaab Stadium and Saddam Hussein Hall. Just north (above) that you will see "Police College" in the yellow area.

CPT Patti and crew are living at the Police College, and are setting up their logistics base in the vicinity of the stadium.

Also confirmed with the Rear Detachment guys that our suspicions about the cell phones were correct - the Iraqi system is not compatible with western phones. So, no phone calls from our girl for a while...but rumor says new cell phone service to Baghdad will be established in June. Don't know if that is accurate or just wishful thinking. But we also here that e-mail may be established PDQ.

Hope so.

MONDAY, JUNE 2d. The 22d day of CPT Patti's deployment.

IRAQ'S CURIOUS CALCULUS of normal. Read the whole thing...its really well done.

Iraqi soldiers were being called to arms again in what eventually became a devastating rout, and those who dared talk to an American reporter would shrug off the looming conflict. The United Nations had launched economic sanctions against the country in what would become a decadelong period of international isolation, and Iraqis responded with government-choreographed protests. The Iraqi government imposed food-rationing again, but no one complained.

Asked to explain the predicament, Iraqis would opaquely reply, ``Everything is normal.''

So normal, in fact, that more than a dozen years after the defeat of Iraq, it took the will of another President Bush, billions of dollars and thousands of cruise missiles to uncork today's freedom -- collapsing Baghdad into nightly shooting sprees while Washington struggles to carve out some semblance of civility.

BROTHERS GO INTO hiding at ages 16 and 22 never to set foot outside for 23 years.

Two Iraqi brothers made their home a prison for 23 years to escape execution by Saddam Hussein's security forces, seeing daylight only after his fall.

She endured repeated interrogation and constant surveillance by security men looking for the two boys. Her husband, pregnant daughter and another son had already been executed as suspected members of the Shi'ite Muslim Daawa Party.

"For 23 years I lived in fear and anxiety. My tears never dried until Saddam was toppled," Zahra, 67, told Reuters at her humble home in a crowded quarter of Baghdad.

Zahra hid her sons in a room inside the house, keeping the secret even from her closest relatives. She managed to convince the security forces they were in Iraqi jails.

The rest is here.

SELLING DEMOCRACY to the Iraqis. Seems to me it will take some doings before these folks put collective good ahead of clan concerns. Maybe someone might point out that the latter is in large part responsible for the fact that they sit on the worlds greatest source of wealth, they manufacture and export virtually nothing but oil, the common arab family is among the poorest in the world and to many of them their heroes are maniacs who blow themselves up out of a blinding sense of hatred. Read the rest here.

Jeff Cantor has spent his adult life selling things — first fax machines, then pharmaceuticals. Now, in postwar Iraq, U.S Army Reserve Maj. Jeff Cantor is trying to sell something else: democracy.

It’s a different challenge entirely, and Cantor is going on instinct.

“It comes down to sales. You have to sell solutions to problems,” said Cantor, the U.S. official who helped design — and has overseen — the city council in Kirkuk, an ethnically divided oil town in northern Iraq. “The key is to get the people to buy into it.”

DID YOU THINK I was making this stuff up? Here is an AP story about what soldiers need to stay comfortable in Baghdad.

What do U.S. soldiers use to cope with the grit and heat of Iraq? Why, cottony women’s underthings, diaper ointments, pantyhose, and moist wipes with the aroma of baby powder.

Drugstore products usually reserved for women and babies are all the rage among U.S. troops in Iraq.

“In the middle of the desert, somebody would’ve traded you his sister for a pack of baby wipes,” said U.S. Army Military Police Sgt. James Karm, 29, who patrols west Baghdad in a Humvee. “You could’ve got anything you wanted.”

And baby wipes, according to Spc. Rebecca Burt, “are the only thing that takes camouflage makeup off.”

There is more - you will want to read the whole thing here.

HEY GUYS WHICH part of "The Ba'ath party is outlawed" did you fail to grasp?

American forces arrested 15 members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath Party as they met Saturday, an American official advising Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

The members of the group were arrested at the country's main police college, where they had been holding weekly meetings, Bernard Kerik, former New York City police chief, told reporters.

Kerik said a crowd of police officers standing outside the academy broke into applause as the party members were taken out in handcuffs.

"Evidently they knew this was going on," Kerik said of the police officers. "I believe they were afraid to come forward."

The 15 people arrested included the dean of the college, five brigadier generals and one major general. Fourteen were arrested for engaging in an illegal activity, and one for resisting arrest. Kerik said no shots were fired during the arrests.

Read it here.

THIS WASHINGTON POST editorial on the state of progress in post-war Iraq has some positive, and some negative points to make. Good reading.

Some of the violence recently directed at U.S. forces may have come from military or party officials stripped of their posts and pensions, while various would-be Iraqi leaders are angrily protesting the political slowdown.

But the overall mood may have been captured by a survey recently conducted by one of Baghdad's new newspapers: Eighty-five percent of respondents said coalition forces had done a bad job maintaining order after the war; 65 percent said they should not yet leave Iraq.

TALES OF PATROLLING the streets by the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment. From pieces of information I'm cobbling together it appears the 2d ACR has the sector north and east of the 1st Brigade, 1AD sector (across the canal) in what used to be known as Saddam City.

After 11 p.m. — curfew hour — the patrol began again. As three Humvees crawled along a darkened street, an orange-and-yellow Volkswagen Passat screeched over a median in front of Schumacher’s Humvee, nearly colliding with it.

The driver, in the traditional white robe many Muslims wear, apparently was drunk. He fell to the ground as soon as soldiers opened his car door. They handcuffed him and put him into a small room in the bunker they call “the drunk tank.” A soldier drove the Passat back to the bunker.

“He’ll be out at 0500,” Schumacher said. “We’ll let him walk home.”

Read the rest here.

ONE LAST GOODBYE for two military policemen of the 1st Armored Division killed last week in a traffic accident. That story is here.

SUNDAY JUNE 1st, the 21st Day of CPT Patti's deployment. She is somewhere in Baghdad, east of the Tigris river, and apparently in one of the few places on earth where her cell phone doesn't work. Tactical situation update: 1st Armored Division is in the process of taking over military control of Baghdad as it conducts a Relief in Place with the 3d Infantry Division. By later this week that handover will be accomplished and the 3d ID guys will move to other troubled areas outside the city, although some elements may be held in reserve in Baghdad just in case.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST don't know what it is that you just don't know. Referring to the "Proxy Marriage" article posted on May 28th in which the Mother of the Bride stood in for the Groom who was deployed, an old Army buddy of mine wrote

"Hey, Just finished going thru latest update to the 'CPT Patti' page. I must comment on the Army times article on the Proxy marriage of the deployed soldier.

You might be interested to know that you actually know someone who was married this way over 19 years ago. The situation (husband, a dashing no-time-in-grade 2LT, sent to Germany for first assignment, while future wife...[waited behind in the USA]...made it necessary for the couple to use the proxy method.

We became aware of this method when a Russian Dissident made the news by using it to escape the USSR. His girlfriend made it to the west and he was able to use the Montana Proxy thing to legally leave the USSR."

Curiouser and curiouser.

I'VE BEEN CRITICAL of the ORHA in the past because Iraqi anger will ulitmately be taken out on our soldiers. I know it is easy for me to sit here and snipe about what is happening over there, but it seems to me that - with a couple of million folks out of work in the city - a suitcase full of dollars could probably organize some sort of impromptu garbage service. And the power still isn't on?

In the tightknit Kemp al Arman section of central Baghdad, there are often just two hours of electricity a day.

Many families have been forgoing meat for more than a month, water only trickles from the taps, and garbage is piling up knee-deep on the street corners.

Read the rest here.

HELLO IRAN, SYRIA...is anyone listening? Secretary Rumsfeld authored this piece for USA Today.

No one with a knowledge of history would expect Iraq to go from a Stalinist system to a stable and secure free nation in a matter of weeks, or even months, or to do so without facing a series of difficulties.

Coalition countries are working effectively to help Iraqis restore order and essential services. It is a task that will take time and patience, trial and error. But this much is certain: The world community has a stake in Iraq's success -- because if Iraqis can build a free nation on the rubble of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, the effects on the region and the world could be significant.

Emphasis mine.

I KEEP SEEING stories like this in various media outlets. I don't know if this is literally true...if it is, those of us living here have not been told about it. What we have been told is this community will close in three years and will relocate to Bavaria. That is significantly different than reported in this story.

This change is occurring swiftly and dramatically. The 17,000 member 1st Armored Division, most of which was sent to Iraq from Germany, will not return there. The Pentagon will be removing most of its troops from the old cold war bases in Europe and basing them in the territories of its new found friends. It will be former communist countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic that provide the new bases for U.S. power in the region and a growing voice of support for the United States in the game of global politics.

GETTING TO KNOW Baghdad, taking those first tentative steps, the second brigade is about a week and a half ahead of our own first brigade. Mansur is in the Southwestern quadrant of Baghdad. Read the whole thing here.

For the next six months, and probably longer, 1st Lt. Ed Lauer’s platoon will essentially own a 6-square-mile zone in downtown Baghdad.

The unit’s area includes Mansur, a well-to-do district of restaurants, fine homes and bustling businesses; the Grand Mosque, Saddam’s largest and still-unfinished center of Muslim worship; and a complex of bombed out Iraqi Intelligence Service buildings now inhabited by dirt-poor squatters.

“It’s like Tijuana,” said Lauer, a San Diego native who speaks Spanish. “You have the First World right next to the Third World.”

This is the new home of the Baumholder, Germany-based soldiers.

ANOTHER GLIMPSE into the disappointment of the 3d ID can be found here. But one battalion commander sort of sums up the bottom line.

“They may not like it. Even I don’t like it,” Marcone said. “But we’re soldiers and understand our duty.”

SATURDAY MAY 31st, the 20th day of CPT Patti's deployment. She is somewhere in Baghdad, east of the Tigris river.

AS IF THE 22d Amendment ever had anything to do with one's longevity...Sheesh, what an idiot.

Clinton said the amendment, passed after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to a record fourth term, should be changed simply to keep a person from being elected to more than two consecutive terms as president.

"I think since people are living much longer ... the 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime," Clinton said.

Read the rest here.

INTERESTING COMMENTARY by one of my favorite columnists, Jonah Goldberg.

The Civil War wasn't just about slavery, World War II wasn't fought to end the Holocaust and Saddam wasn't toppled solely to stop the barbarity of the Baathists. But in the aftermath of such efforts, the moral arguments swamp all other considerations.

Someday Hollywood, or its equivalent, is going to make movies about the horrors of Africa and North Korea taking place right now, and people like you and me are going to be stunned that so many good and decent people didn't do more to stop it.

Read the rest here.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING completely different. Did you even know you could buy one of these?

I GUESS WE have officially arrived in cyberspace. We are now recognized by Google. Just search on CPT Patti.

YEAH. That'll happen.

Communism in Iraq: Country's oldest party blasts U.S. occupation, plans swift comeback.

AH YES, THE VAUNTED Arab Solidarity. I find it interesting that OPEC is sitting on its duff when it comes to rejuvenating the Iraqi Oil Industry.

Thamer al-Ghadhban, the (Iraqi Oil) ministry's interim chief executive, also said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press that he feels estranged from his counterparts in OPEC as he struggles to restore Iraqi oil production to prewar levels.

None of the other 10 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has contacted Iraq's oil ministry since al-Ghadhban took over.

Read about it here.

ALRIGHT! JUST received an "official" update from the 1st Brigade. Here are the highlights.

1st Brigade has "closed" on Baghdad...that is Army speak for all units are now in Baghdad. It was a 590 Kilometer trip (366 miles) from Camp Udairi.

1st Brigade's sector is Central Baghdad, from the east bank of the Tigris river. Their sector includes approximately one million Iraqis. 1st Brigade actually takes over authority for that area on June 5th, conducting a relief in place with their counterpart in the 3d ID

Status of telephones is really bad...as in about none. However the Brigade is projecting they will establish e-mail communications in a week or ten days. How nice would that be!

Everyone is living in buildings and is eating one hot meal per day (the other two meals are MREs)

The shops downtown are opening. The Iraqi people themselves are cleaning up their streets, replacing glass, picking up garbage, etc.

People wave at you.

Main soldier desires are for baby wipes and disposable cameras. (Note, CPT Patti could use baby wipes - I hear the Lever 2000 brand is the most preferred because they leave the least residue on the skin and are thus cooler - but CPT Patti has a digital camera with her down range, so no need for the disposables, unless you want to donate one to a soldier.)

They received 7 five-ton trucks full of mail yesterday. All for 1BDE. It really boosted morale. (This is a HUGE step forward...)

Mail from Germany was taking 3-4 weeks to get to Kuwait. We believe it will take an additional 2-3 weeks from mail to move from Kuwait to our soldiers in Baghdad. They ask that you do not mail liquids....water, ice tea, gatorade. It is very possible that some of it will be broken and any breakage will damage a lot of other mail. The kool-aide and gatorade powders are very popular.

Mail to the Brigade from the States is also taking longer due to the volume going through the Frankfurt Air Terminal mail center (FRAT). We are approaching volume levels normally only associated with the Christmas period and have comparitively reduced resources to deal with it.

That is the best of the update. I hope that makes you feel better. Sure does me.

THEN THERE IS the "Scumbag" factor. Interestingly, I have found this story only from non-US media...and the place I've found it most is in the Arab media...draw your own conclusions.

"There are still some regime thugs," said Major General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "They are not significant and are relatively easy to take out," he said, describing them as ill-trained "scumbags."

SOMEBODY FORGOT to tell the Iraqi's the war's over, says a Sergeant in the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment in this story.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, said the war "has not ended" and described the attacks as combat activities organized by small but determined holdouts of Saddam's regime.

"We are not fighting a conventional army," he said. "Those who oppose the coalition are dressed in civilian clothing and are using terrorist techniques."

A SURPRISINGLY FRANK discussion here about the tension in the ranks of the 3d ID. Important to us because if the 3d ID convinces V Corps it is too broken to go to the hot spots, guess who may go then...

Senior leaders and logistics experts in the 3rd Infantry say most of the division is not ready for combat. They complain that they have received almost no spare parts to repair damaged tanks and armored personnel carriers _ what the military calls Class IX supplies _ since they left Kuwait on March 22.

"He is going to get U.S. soldiers needlessly killed if he expects us to go into battle," a senior noncommissioned officer in the 3rd Infantry said of McKiernan. He spoke on condition he not be named for fear of retribution.

The 3rd Infantry's supply line was a constant problem during initial fighting for control of Iraq. After the fall of Baghdad, senior officers determined the division would be leaving within weeks _ and its vehicles would be taken out of service _ so they never filled orders for parts.

One battalion's operations officer said he has more than 2,600 parts on order and that all the tanks in his unit require extensive repairs. A commander said his Bradley Fighting Vehicles all had two-page lists of parts that were ordered but never delivered.

"None of my Bradleys are fully mission capable," said Capt. Chris Carter, an infantry company commander.

Maintenance personnel report that the treads that propel tanks forward are worn, and the vehicles' suspensions are badly damaged. That means the tanks could be easily immobilized in battle and could not move well under fire.

One brigade-level officer wrote a four-page letter to the division commander detailing why his unit was not ready for combat operations, a senior officer said on condition of anonymity.

Asked about spare parts for the division, McKiernan insisted there were plenty of supplies available.

"I wouldn't say they are lacking repair parts. I would say a lot of them were shot up during the campaign, a lot of them have had to have maintenance performed on them," he said. "Those soldiers, if they are asked to go and occupy another piece of ground in Iraq and conduct combat operations, they will be all over it."

Officers in the division said they will follow any orders, but all expressed concern about the possible cost.

THEY ARE CALLING it "The Order From Hell". Understandably.

"This will mean that most of the 3rd Infantry Division will stay through August," he said.

Lt. Col. Mike Birmingham, the division's spokesman in Baghdad, said the 1st Armored Division had trained to take its place. However, small pockets of resistance east and north of Baghdad are preventing the transformation of Iraq.

"The 3rd ID is being directed to those trouble spots because it has demonstrated its abilities to close with and capture or destroy the enemy," Birmingham said.

You can read the rest here.

FRIDAY, MAY 30th, the 19th day of CPT Patti's deployment. No confirmation yet that the convoy arrived in Baghdad, however the absence of any news stories that can be interpreted otherwise probably bodes well for our girl.

A REMINDER AS to why we are doing this.

"No one knows what freedom means," said Salima al-Majali, 29. "When were born, we opened our eyes to Saddam and everything was forbidden. Our life was all about fear."

Once-banned books, satellite dishes and video CDs are now sold on the streets. A throng of freewheeling newspapers, radio and television stations have sprung up to replace the turgid, sycophantic media under Saddam.

Read the rest here.

PERHAPS YOU CAN appreciate why my heart stopped when I saw this story. I see that the soldier is referred to as "he". So I'm OK but someone else isn't.

A U.S. soldier was killed by hostile fire Thursday while traveling on a main supply route in Iraq, a military statement said.

OH OH, I CAN see it now. The next thing the PX will be out of over here is mouse traps. Bet on it.

The V Corps Public Affairs Office at Camp Victory in Baghdad is the envy of many a soldier living at the massive palace complex.

Situated on an island in a manmade pond, the building benefits from a lakeshore breeze that eases the sweltering heat.

But there’s a downside to all this largesse: Rats.

And we’re not talking about the pesky journalists who swarm the place.

“We’ve killed nine rats so far,” said Capt. Tom Bryant, public affairs operations officer. “And this morning we got a mouse.”

Thankfully, the rats, measuring about a foot from nose to tail, are on the wane. The PAO’s have strategically placed rodent traps around their compound.

MORE TROOPS ON THE streets, more exposure to potential harm. Read about it here.

In recent days, a U.S. soldier was knocked to the ground in Baghdad by an irate woman swinging an empty propane tank at a refueling station, a 10-year-old boy was wounded when he got caught in the middle of a gun battle in a busy market, and an Iraqi trying to steal fuel from a gas station near Nasiriyah tossed a hand grenade at military police officers that didn't explode.

A CHANCE TO WALK the turf of the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad is in this article.

They were likely to hear a fair amount of gunfire, Sgt. Lorino told Sgts. Jaramillo and Ronneberg, but most of it is nothing to worry about. "Just about every Iraqi has a gun," Lorino said. "The Iraqis shoot [into the air] when they are happy. They shoot when they're sad. They shoot when the [electric] power comes on. They shoot when the power goes off."

Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division told their 1st Armored Division counterparts that they had never been shot at since hostilities ended, but there was a good deal of Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence.

A GREAT FIRST HAND account of what life is like for soldiers in Baghdad can be found here. But here is a tease.

Somebody said the other day it's almost like a country club prison, except there they get three hot meals a day and conjugal visits.

AS WE HAVE been keeping an eye on, the troops of the 3d ID can't get a break. And I'd say that is bad news for the locals that we will send the "war-hardened" 3d ID into "trouble spots outside Baghdad". In addition to being war-hardened...now they are pissed off as well. Read the whole article here.

Faced with armed resistance that has killed four American soldiers this week, allied military commanders now plan to keep a larger force in Iraq than they had anticipated and to send war-hardened units to trouble spots outside Baghdad, senior American officials said on Wednesday.

Instead of sending home the 3rd Infantry Division, which led the charge on Baghdad, American officials are developing plans that call for most of its troops to extend their stay to quell unrest and extend American control.

THURSDAY, MAY 29th, the 18th Day of CPT Patti's deployment. If everything went according to plan she should have arrived in Baghdad yesterday. I haven't heard...thus I presume no news to be good news. The forecast for Baghdad today is a high of 99 and a low of 72.

AN UPDATE ON THE COL Collins story. This is just sad.

THE US Army reservist who accused Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins of war crimes during the Iraq campaign did not witness any of the alleged incidents for which the British officer is being investigated.

Major Re Biastre, 37, a school guidance counsellor and part-time traffic policeman — who is still serving in Iraq — made the allegations after being publicly reprimanded and arrested by Colonel Collins for handing out sweets to Iraqi children in defiance of the British officer’s orders. Another US reservist who was attached to Colonel Collins’s regiment during the war accused Major Biastre of acting out of “spite”.

Colonel Collins is on leave after relinquishing command of his regiment, a scheduled move. He has let it be known that he is frustrated at not being able to talk about the allegations because of the investigation.

Major Stan Coerr, a US Marine reservist, said: “Major Biastre is the sole reason this is happening. It is his spite for Colonel Collins that started this whole thing. I loved Colonel Collins and would serve with him again. This whole thing is a travesty.”

A REMINDER TO us all, me included, to remain skeptical of the hysterical media. An excellent article from The Telegraph here. This is the British Colonel who gave such a stirring speech before the war and was subsequently charged with "war crimes" by one US reservist and a HOST of media outlets. Read it.

Col Collins - or so it is said - asked for his guns, and when Nasir said he didn't have any, the colonel is said to have hit him with his pistol. Then Nasir remembered: ah yes, he had a couple of Kalashnikovs. When Nasir's son Nawfel hesitated about retrieving the guns from the garden, the colonel is alleged to have fired a shot into the carpet, at which point Nawfel found he had a perfectly clear memory of where the guns were.

Look. It is simple. There were two rival organisations vying for power in the village of al-Nukhaila in the immediate aftermath of the war. One was the party of terrorist gangsters who had been responsible for the deaths of about two million people in the past quarter of a century. The other was the British Army. There was no third civil or judicial power to turn to.

FOR A LITTLE AMUSEMENT you simply must read this article. Hint...it doesn't involve alcohol, but it does involve deployment.

“Are we married?” he asked.

“Yes, we’re married,” Sabrina replied.

“Did we have fun?” he asked.

JUST TRY TO IMAGINE living like this for 20 years. Thanks to The Command Post for the lead to this article.

After two decades in hiding, an Iraqi man has finally emerged back into the real world - squinting at the unaccustomed light.
Twenty-one years ago, Saddam Hussein placed an execution order on Jawad Amir for supporting an outspoken Shia cleric.

Mr Amir escaped - not into a far-off town or neighbouring country, but into a space sandwiched between two walls in his parents' home.

He said for the whole of his hiding he never left that small, dark space and had only a tiny peephole to view the outside world.

INTERESTING VIEW of the long term solution in this global war on terrorism is at this Salt Lake Tribune Op Ed Piece.

The liberation of Iraq cannot be viewed in a vacuum: win the war, set up an interim government and bring the troops home. As we have said before, it is part of a larger mosaic, a mosaic that requires a sea of change in Middle East politics. Governments in Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia will either fall or be dramatically altered. The status quo cannot stand because with it stands bigotry, hatred and the logical consequence: terrorism. So it is critical that we understand our objective. We made the mistake in 1991 of limiting the objective to ousting Saddam's forces from Kuwait, and when the Iraqi Shiites rose up in rebellion at the end of that war, we stood by and allowed Saddam to slaughter them, gaining their enmity in the process.

ONCE A THUG always a thug. Palestinian diplomats in Baghdad arrested by US Soldiers for carrying illegal weapons. See it here.

THE POLES are sending 7000 peacekeepers into Iraq in July. Every little bit helps.

A FRANK DISCUSSION of the flagging morale of the 3d ID soldiers still in Iraq after six months. Included in the article is a discussion of efforts made to improve the soldiers' living and working conditions.

There are indications that the stress of combat, compounded by weeks of chasing looters and dealing with Iraqi demonstrators, has affected the troops. Leaders report more heated arguments between soldiers and more soldiers declining to re-enlist....

Blount said the Army is working to improve living conditions for the soldiers, making sure none are still living in tents and that they have running water and electricity. He said they have also begun distributing ice to soldiers to help keep them cool during walking patrols with more than 30 pounds of combat gear in 100-degree heat.

WEDNESDAY MAY 28th, the 17th day of CPT Patti's deployment. If everything is according to plan, CPT Patti and her convoy will arrive in Baghdad some time today. Forecast for Baghdad is hazy with highs of 99 and lows of 74. I have to believe that 74 degrees will feel like winter to our girl after the extreme heat of the Kuwaiti desert.

FOR TROOPS IN IRAQ Memorial Day has a new meaning.

In the driver's room at the 2nd Brigade command post, where the average age is just 21, the men lost two colleagues in a missile attack and say Memorial Day will open wounds that haven't healed.

"It's not going to be a very good day for us," said Pfc. James Luhrs, 20, of Orlando, Fla. "We miss our friends, but we can't do nothing about it. We're still here."

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE in the Washington Post on the challenges of building a real economy, not just democracy, in Iraq. Read the whole thing here...its a good one.

"A free economy and a free people go hand in hand," said Bremer, who arrived two weeks ago to run the occupation authority. "History tells us that substantial and broadly held resources, protected by private property, private rights, are the best protection of political freedom. Building such prosperity in Iraq will be a key measure of our success here."

Bremer spoke four days after the U.N. Security Council lifted economic sanctions imposed on Iraq more than 12 years ago after the Persian Gulf War. U.S. officials had complained that the sanctions, which they once favored as a way to force Hussein to comply with U.N. arms inspections and perhaps foment an uprising against him, had become a severe hindrance to postwar recovery.

But dismantling Iraq's state-managed system holds big risks for the occupation authority at a time when most Iraqis are struggling to get by. During Hussein's 24 years as president, he and his Baath Party drew on Iraq's oil wealth to subsidize the cost of basic items, creating something like a welfare state, and people came to expect these low prices. Many free-market advocates contend that subsidies distort economic incentives, retarding growth and ultimately harming consumers....

"This place was probably affected less by the forces of supply and demand than any place I have ever seen," said Peter McPherson, who is on leave as president of Michigan State University to serve as the senior U.S. adviser to Iraq's Finance Ministry. "This was an integrated economy -- pathological, but integrated. You can't really take one piece out, fix it, and put it back. It will have to be taken all apart, and you will have to allow the forces of supply and demand to function."...

"After decades of manipulation and management, the road to a free and flourishing economy will not be an easy one," Bremer said . "But we have already taken one big step, which was the end of the sanctions."

In the short term, however, Bremer said he plans to continue elements of the old system. On Sunday, the U.S. occupation authority will distribute the first food rations across Iraq since the end of the war.

Although severe economic problems remain, security has appeared to improve in recent days. The U.S. troop presence in Baghdad has risen dramatically in the past week, with the 1st Armored Division replacing the weary 3rd Infantry Division that fought its way into Baghdad on April 9. More and more Iraqis appear to be venturing outside their homes, even in the evenings, and shops are opening their shutters with more frequency.

A SUPERB ARTICLE found here likens the mission in Iraq today to that of the occupying forces in post-war Japan. And note the sanity check from an Army Officer near the end of the extract below.

In recent weeks, commanders have redirected a larger share of the U.S. troops in Iraq to the chores that accompany controlling and operating any large city such as Baghdad: patrolling the streets, staffing prisons, guarding valuable real estate, imposing gun control, restoring electricity and water distribution, and supervising trash collection.
"For the U.S. military to be occupying a country, trying to take charge of basic services, trying to keep order, really trying to make the country work from scratch, this is something we haven't seen since the 1940s," said Thomas Carothers, a foreign-policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former legal adviser to the State Department.
In some ways, Mr. Carothers said, the task for the U.S. military in Iraq, a country of more than 20 million, is more daunting than that faced by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan 58 years ago. Unlike Iraq, Japan was a more unified society and had a fairly vibrant economy, with people who knew how to run it.
"I think we are just going to see a long, slow road to reconstruction," Mr. Carothers said. "Nothing will happen fast. There will be gradual improvements."...
An Army officer said in an interview that despite negative articles in the U.S. press about Baghdad's reaction to the occupation, the vast majority of Iraqis gladly accept the American presence.
"Only those that accompany troops on patrol see a different reaction of the population from those reporters that write their stories from the Palestine Hotel," said the officer, who asked not to be named. "In the hotel, they cook up stories of chaos and animosity toward our troops. The truth is that 99 percent of the locals are glad we're there."

THIS IS A NERVOUS day for me. Don't mean to be gloomy, but ignoring this possibility doesn't make it go away. Read it all here.

The latest assaults on U.S. troops in central Iraq yesterday -- the third in the past week -- occurred as the 1st Armored Division arrived to join the 3rd Infantry Division to double patrols in the Iraqi capital.

Attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and small arms at an eight-vehicle supply convoy in what military officials described as an ambush at 6:15 a.m. near Haditha, 120 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing one soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and injuring another.

Hours later, one soldier was killed and three wounded when a Humvee near Baghdad International Airport either ran over a land mine or was hit by another type of explosive that had been hurled at it, military officials said

PROGRESS IN THE form of an actual local election. See the rest here.

Sgt. Troy Ezernack, also of the 173rd, didn’t discount the importance of the day’s events — but had other reasons to take joy in seeing the election process come to fruition.

“It’s good they’re electing officials. It’s democracy come true, but I’m also happy for selfish reasons,” said the 37-year-old from Waskom, Texas. “I want to go home and the sooner they take control of their own city, the sooner I’m outta here.”

WHERE DO THEY get this stuff? And according to this article, this was the second such truck stopped this week.

KIRKUK, Iraq — U.S. soldiers seized $80 million to $100 million worth of crudely made, non-minted gold bars Sunday and detained three Iraqis heading east, possibly for the Iranian border, officials said Monday.

TUESDAY MAY 27th. The 16th Day of CPT Patti's deployment. If all goes according to plan today is the day CPT Patti will lead the first convoy of her battalion on the journey from Kuwait to Baghdad. They expect to arrive in Baghdad sometime on Wednesday. When they get to Baghdad they will see daytime high temperatures below one hundred degrees for the first time since arriving in Kuwait.

GOOD READING in this article discussing the significant differences in the way the 1st Armored Division will do things versus the 3d ID. Let's hope it gets better.

NIGHT OPERATIONS and foot patrols will be increased throughout the capital, commanders said. Also, by early June, the Army will fly helicopters over Baghdad for the first time, they said. The aircraft generally will not use their weapons but instead will conduct surveillance and support ground forces with searchlights, according to a series of command briefings.

As part of an effort to change the image of the U.S. force and make it seem at once more pervasive and less threatening, the big M-1 tanks that have dominated many major intersections and checkpoints for the past six weeks will be withdrawn and replaced by smaller Jeep-like Humvees, officers said.

BUT AS this article shows, we have yet a long way to go just to restore the basics in Baghdad

On Baghdad's streets, Iraqis have little praise for Bremer's fledgling administration.

"Things have become worse since he arrived. Gas lines are longer, garbage is piling up, there's no electricity, and security is so bad that people are too scared to allow their children to go to school," said Alaa Rasul, 47, a Baghdad handyman with 5 children.

"This is not freedom," he said. "This is chaos."

US GIVES ORDER for Iraqi civilians to turn in their weapons according to this story.That idea makes me feel better about CPT Patti being there...but I suspect we will find it harder than we believe to disarm this culture.

THE BEST DESCRIPTION I've seen so far of the conditions CPT Patti will live and work in once in Baghdad can be found here..

A large group of people here is going without electricity and running water, subsisting on barely palatable food and sweltering unhappily under the stunning Mesopotamian summer sun. The group, which counts thousands of loyal members in and around Baghdad, is heavily armed, but it does not pose a threat to the U.S. Army - it is the Army.

JUST CHECKED THE forecast - on Tuesday, the day she is supposed to arrive in Baghdad, the high is to be 102 degrees. In Kuwait City? 109 degrees. It will feel like SPRING to CPT Patti when she gets to Baghdad. Yay!

YEE HAH! Just got a phone call from CPT Patti. She sounds compeletly wonderful, all full of spirit and happiness. She is still at Camp Udairi but will be leaving for Baghdad on Tuesday to arrive on Wednesday. She says that they will be sleeping in buildings (hooray!) and working out of the Iraqi Olympic Stadium - which has a 12 foot wall all the way around it. Folks, this is GREAT news!!!!
She also said she is adapting to the heat pretty well, and that she is eating well. The food at the contract dining facility is pretty good, according to our girl.

I can't tell you how good I feel after talking to her. It is amazing!

I HAD BEEN wondering along these same lines lately. This commentary posits that recent Al Queda attacks actually demonstrate how well we have done so far in the war on terror.

If we look at the targets chosen in each of these cases, what they have in common is both their defenselessness — their "softness" in the current jargon — and their failure to damage the power or image of the United States. If al Qaeda were truly resurgent, and had both the leadership and resourcefulness evidenced by its initial attacks on U.S. embassies, warships, and the World Trade Center, there is no doubt the organization would be attacking targets of this quality. But the fact is that these targets are now largely out of reach — in part because the United States and the rest of the civilized world have increased the quality their defenses but also because, as President Bush has said, the organization is on the run.

AND NOW FOR something completely different. Found this little funny on the National Review Online blog called The Corner

At Heathrow Airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphical calculator. Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction."

AN INTERNATIONAL force is being assembled in Iraq says this story. Note the activity from the former Eastern Bloc.

Coalition forces from several eastern European countries are expected to join a British division and a Spanish brigade already in Iraq. A Polish army division, along with a Ukranian brigade, is expected in the coming weeks. A Georgian contingent is on the way to bolster 4th Infantry Division forces in northwestern Iraq. In addition, a Baltic contingent composed of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians may be located in northeastern Iraq, said the V Corps officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

THE BEST ONLINE map I've found of Baghdad so far can be found here. Note that you can zoom in on this map to find a good bit of detail.

A TRAGIC STORY. He was just days from coming home.

A career soldier has died in a multi-vehicle accident in Iraq. Lt. Col. Dominic R. Baragona, 42, died Monday near Safwan, Iraq, the Department of Defense said Tuesday. A tractor-trailer jackknifed on the road and collided with Baragona’s Humvee.

BRADLEY AMBUSHED and two Iraqis killed in ensuing firefight according to this story at the Army Times. It is still a dangerous place.

ACCORDING TO THE ARMY TIMES appears the military will get about a 4% pay raise next year. Whoo Hoo!

COOL RUNDOWN on some numbers associated with the war over at The Command Post. Sample:

Approximate costs for the air operations portion - $917,744,361.55, or roughly 46 minutes, 10.5 seconds of the 2001 US Gross Domestic Product

ANOTHER GOOD GLIMPSE of life at heat-stricken Camp Udairi. Plus in this article you catch a glimpse at the extreme political correctness that the Army could probably do without.

When the chatter turned to gripes, the topic was set on the strict orders about operations in Iraq. Highest on the list was an order not to name tanks. Normally, tank crews paint a name on their 120 mm cannon. They think up catchy monikers that begin with their troop letter, such as in Troop A where tanks were named “Above the Law,” “Assume the Position” and “A Girl’s Best Friend.”

A female colonel at the port saw the names and insisted they be removed, the soldiers said. Despite complaints from the crews, the command ordered that no names be stenciled on the gun tubes, said Staff Sgt. Tony Meyers, 30, of Monroe, Mich.

“That’s an armor tradition,” Meyers said. “The order affects morale and espirit de corps.”

GEN FRANKS is about to retire. There is a good story about him here.

Like President Bush, Franks grew up in Midland, Texas. He attended the same high school as first lady Laura Bush, who was a year behind him. Tommy Ray, as he was known while growing up, loved fast cars, Elvis and hunting, according to boyhood friends.

After two years at the University of Texas at Austin, Franks dropped out and joined the Army. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1967 as a graduate of the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Okla., and in short order he was serving with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam.

UN LIFTS SANCTIONS lets US and UK run Iraq says this story. Well duh...guess it would have been a bit pointless to vote against that which is already happening. Still, its nice to see some of these security council members can be something other than dogmatic.

AN ENJOYABLE story here about how some of the soldiers at Camp Udairi are passing the time, especially in the hottest part of the day.

AND HERE is another cool site sponsored by the VFW where you can send a phone card to deployed soldiers or simply donate some money so someone else can send a card.. Some soldier's loved ones out there may not know about this...share it with 'em.

NOW HERE is a really cool site set up by the 1st Armored Division where you can post a public message to CPT Patti for her to see once she gets to Baghdad and finally gets access to a computer. Its easy...follow the instructions carefully about including her full name and rank. Note also that you can click on a listing button to see an alphabetical listing of names of soldiers who have messages waiting. Go ahead and read the one I wrote.

FRIDAY MAY 23d, the 12th day of CPT Patti's deployment. Last confirmed location was Camp Udairi in the desert of Kuwait. Today's forcast is for a mere 107 degrees.

FURTHER EVIDENCE, as if you needed it, that Jesse Jackson is an outright idiot. Shut up already. And yes...oddly enough, it has to do with the military in Iraq.

OH OH...FIRE destroys parts of Camp Udairi says this story...fortunately no one was hurt. But the poor troops can't catch a break...

The three large tents were recently erected for morale activities, Bosse said. One was slated to be an Internet cafe and phone center. Another was going to hold a large-screen television.

“That’s all going to be put on hold now,” Bosse said.

HERE IS A STORY that will tug at your heart strings about an 8 year old boy and his selfless concern for a soldier wounded in the 507th Maintenance Company ambush during the war.

Bobby said he wasn’t finished. He told Mrs. Emery that he had a special flag at home that he wanted to put on the cover.

The following morning the teacher stood quietly as Bobby took a small, American desk flag about the size of his hand out of his backpack and unfolded it.

“What makes this flag so special, Bobby?” asked Mrs. Emery. She choked back tears as he answered her question.

“My dad gave it to me to remember him by while he’s deployed,” Bobby replied.

READ A GOOD DESCRIPTION of a camp similar to the one CPT Patti is at in this short article here. It matches what CPT Patti has told me...although the article doesn't mention long lines nor scorpions...

THURSDAY MAY 22, the eleventh day of CPT Patti's deployment. Last known whereabouts was Camp Udairi. Forecast high for today in Kuwait City is 111 degrees.

BAGHDAD IS A very dangerous place.

Within 90 minutes of setting up a traffic checkpoint on a sweltering street in the east part of the city, the 3rd Infantry Division troops had seized 20 weapons, including three AK-47 assault rifles, three revolvers and two 9 mm pistols, said Staff Sgt. Richard Rosado.

“Everybody’s got a weapon,” said Rosado, 37, of Manatin, Puerto Rico.

Not only that...they are using them against our patrols in the city. See that story - and understand the danger - here.

IF YOU EVER WONDERED...Yes, there are differences between soldiers and marines.

Army troops could only shake their heads when they recalled odd things Marines did in combat. While waiting to fight, some Marines tested their flak vests by stabbing each other with knives, asccording to Army Pfc. Christopher Montgomery, 20, of Slippery Rock, Pa.

“They found out a knife goes through it,” Montgomery said. “We did dumb stuff, too. It comes with boredom.”

See the whole thing here.

HERE IS an interesting article about joint policing of Baghdad by US Military Police and Iraqi police. Except there seems to be some troubles with Iraqi police actually being thugs. Hey - this setting up democracy thing isn't a cakewalk.

Anyway - it highlights the tentative nature of things right now.

CPT PATTI phones home!

Heard from CPT Patti on Monday night. Called about 1030 pm my time, 1130 pm her time.

She is doing well. I was really impressed by how good she sounded. Her spirit is fully intact...and her spirit is her best barometer for judging her well being.

She remains at Camp Udairi...however she has some troops working at the port in Kuwait City recovering the equipment from the ships. Meanwhile, back in Camp Udairi there is not much to be done...and this is a blessing in some ways as it allows them all to slowly acclimate to the extreme heat.

They are eating three hot meals (Army speak for food from a kitchen, not an MRE) per day and as we spoke on Monday they were heading out to pick up thier first shipment of mail since leaving Germany. Huge morale boost there.

The current plan will take the battalion from Kuwait to Baghdad in three separate convoys. CPT Patti has been named convoy commander for the first of these, currently scheduled to depart Kuwait on May 27th. The convoy will take approximately 25 hours of driving. This will be accomplished over two days with rest breaks all along the way.

And she wants everyone to know she is doing well and is grateful for your prayers.

Me too.

I REALIZE I've skipped a couple of days of posts...not from lack of interest...but have been caring for a sick relative. Should be back to normal in a day or two.

TUESDAY MAY 20th. Day nine of CPT Patti's deployment. CPT Patti is still at Camp Udairi in the Kuwaiti desert. Forecast for today includes a high of 109 degrees. Low, a balmy 85 degrees.