Oerdin's Iraq thread.

[Barinthus]

Oerdin, I recently read a report this morning about Iraqi police just standing there and watching looters looting American supply trucks insurgents mananged to blow up or whatever. This isn't the first account I've read about the Iraqi police just standing there and not doing anything.

What is the CPA's position on this? Are they doing something about it? Or are they just letting it slid by?

[Auntie H]

Hi, Glad to hear you are safe. Please take care even when you are trying to do good works. Keep the kevlar on and your head down.

[Dinner]

Last Easter Sunday we had 30 Kurdish Peshmerga show up at our front gate. It seems that a local radio station was running a news piece about how a local Sadr supporting Shi'a Imam had called for Easter to be "a day of resistance against the Americans' (which is true) so they showed up with AK-47s in order to "fight along side our American brothers". Naturally, the last thing we wanted was a bunch of armed Kurds running around town inciting the Shi'a. So we feed them an army breakfest of scrambled eggs, beef sausage, and pancakes (the little boxes of chocolate milk were also popular), thanked them, and then sent them back home. Luckily, nothing ever happened and the Shi'a all stayed home too.

The last couple of days have been quiet as well. We've been going to elementry schools and handing out coloring books and crayons to the children as well as handing out booklets explaining the new Iraqi Interium Constitution at the local Souk (market place). I'm not sure how much good this will do but maybe a few children will see that westerners aren't the monsters some people are claiming we are and perhaphes a few Iraqis will understand their Constitution a bit better.

[pchang]

Have the Kurds seen a Spectre Gunship in action? You just need to keep one hovering around at all times.

[Dinner]

They only keep the spectres flying at certain times. They are expensive to keep up in the air and there are only so many available so they try to move them around to where they are needed most.

[Chemical Ollie]

Good move with the Kurds

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Last Easter Sunday we had 30 Kurdish Peshmerga show up at our front gate. It seems that a local radio station was running a news piece about how a local Sadr supporting Shi'a Imam had called for Easter to be "a day of resistance against the Americans' (which is true) so they showed up with AK-47s in order to "fight along side our American brothers". Naturally, the last thing we wanted was a bunch of armed Kurds running around town inciting the Shi'a. So we feed them an army breakfest of scrambled eggs, beef sausage, and pancakes (the little boxes of chocolate milk were also popular), thanked them, and then sent them back home. Luckily, nothing ever happened and the Shi'a all stayed home too.

That's totally cool. Perhaps next time (hopefully not!) more will show up for free breakfast

[Theben]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I'm not sure how much good this will do but maybe a few children will see that westerners aren't the monsters some people are claiming we are and perhaphes a few Iraqis will understand their Constitution a bit better.

That'll work until some kid sticks the crayon up his nose and hurts himself, then you're back to being devils again.

[Dinner]

Sadly, that is probably true.

[Kropotkin]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Good move with the Kurds

I second that!

Nice to see that there's people "down there" that seems to be able to handle tense situations in a civilised manner. Inviting people for a meal is probably a superior way of dealing with people on the edge of doing something stupid.

[East Street Trader]

If you have an electronis version, Oerdin, I would be interested to see the leaflet about the constitution.

Colouring books must be a better idea than re-written text books. It's probably naieve but I can't help thinking that there must be some way in which the funds, the manpower and the goodwill available to reconstruct the country's infrastructure could be applied which would be accepted. The trick would be, I suppose, somehow to make enough of a connection with the local people to ask what sort of things they would be content to see done.

How on earth such contacts can be made I do not know.

Anyway good luck.

[Dinner]

Most of the text books weren't written in the US. Most of them were purchased off of the market and are used in other Arabian countries. The coalition simply screened them for truthfulness and obvious bigotry before we gave them to the Ministry of Education. I believe they have been well recieved in most areas but former Ba'athist strongholds pose a difficult problems since they would reject just about anything not given to them by Saddam.

[Barinthus]

Bah, encircle all Ba'athist strongholds and don't ever let anybody in or out, and let them starve. Just like in games

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Barinthus
Bah, encircle all Ba'athist strongholds and don't ever let anybody in or out, and let them starve. Just like in games

And make them all entertainers, so that they are happy while starving to death

[Theben]

Bah. The area has to be over size 5. Make them taxmen so they can starve off while you rake in some dough.