Oerdin's Iraq thread - Continued

[East Street Trader]

I have been reading for some years now that TB has been making something of a come-back. Don't think too hard of the girl - she did not ask to pick it up.

It is easy to imagine the impact of the abuse pictures. I suspect only direct contact with US and UK troops over an extended period will offset that effect.

You did well with the 11 year old. The fact that he owned up suggests he is less of a villain than some. Fourteen is the peak age for law breaking - always boys rather than girls. Happily even among the worst two out of three sort themselves out subsequently. Many because some girl starts to take an interest in them. Meanwhile I must say I hanker for the "clip round the ear" approach which was standard when I was a boy but which has gone out of fashion.

I wouldn't hold your breathe for the tour of duty to end on time.

Although as the summer gets started in properly I expect you will all dream more and more of somewhere a bit cooler.

Keep a cool head. Do your work honourably. Your efforts are appreciated. By that boy's father as well as back home.

[debeest]

Oerdin, I'm so sorry about the TB exposure. Here are some things to know.

One third of the world's population is infected with TB. It's no one's fault; if you live in a poor place, you're pretty likely to be infected.

As you noted, most people infected with TB do not have "active" TB. If Layla does not have active TB, then you should be safe. However, people with inactive TB can shift to an active state at any time, and from your description it sounds to me as if she's active.

You don't have to have close personal contact to get TB. The bacterium is spread through airborne particles from coughing and such. Certainly if she's active, you've been exposed. That doesn't necessarily mean you've been infected, though.

Testing for TB infection is not entirely simple. The simplest way to determine whether someone is infected is a PPD skin test. Skin test sensitivity appears within about 2-10 weeks from infection, so it makes sense to get a test now (which may be negative even if you are infected), and a follow-up test in 10 weeks; if the first is negative and the second positive, you know you're newly infected.

A negative PPD skin test does not dependably rule out active TB.

The proper evaluation of the PPD depends on your situation -- I'd guess either a 5mm or a 10mm standard fits yours. But proper clinical diagnosis for active TB involves getting a sputum sample (coughing up phlegm from the lung, which is not always easy to do) and maybe a chest x-ray.

People who have had BCG (a TB vaccine with very limited effectiveness, widely used in poor countries where TB is common) will react with a positive TB test even if they have never been infected with TB. So, find out what kind of test was done on Layla and let us know if you want more info.

TB treatment is NOT 100% effective. Like so many other germs, TB germs (more than most) are becoming drug resistant. Multi-drug-resistant TB is a very serious problem. I don't know, but I suppose the strains of TB that are running around in the Middle East are less likely to have been selected for antibiotic resistance -- still, don't dismiss the concern.

If you are infected, even if you don't have active TB, preventive drug treatment dramatically reduces your lifelong risk of developing active TB. If you do need drugs, TAKE THE WHOLE COURSE of them. Multidrug-resistant TB comes mainly from failing to complete the full treatment.

I hope all of this turns out to have no importance to you at all. Best of luck. We're hanging on your every word.

[Dinner]

Thanks for the TB info Debest.

Oerdin's Friend: D, ask my dad for my e-mail address and then send me an E-mail. I'd like to hear from you.

Everyone else: I have been busy, busy, busy. We've started working with the Ukrainian and Polish Psyop units here in Al Kut. This arrangement works well because each of our three countries only have three Psyop soldiers in Al Kut so by pooling our resources and coordinating our efforts we are able to get alot more milage out of our work. Lately, we've been concentrating on countering Sadr's propaganda but over the last few days we've been able to go on the offense. We've started a media blitz to inform the people about Sadr's negitive history namely his association with the Saddam regime, his proclivities towards drinking (not very Islamic activity for a wannabe Ayatollah), his taken part in the assassination of rival clerics, etc... It's to soon to tell if it's working but it can't hurt to let the common people know exactly what type of man this supposed savior is.

We've finally convinced the 2nd ACR's commanding officer (Col. Calvert) to take a more public role. We've arranged for him (along with his Ukrainian, Polish, and CPA counterparts) to take part in a question and anwser session at the Al Kut University. The facilty has pre-submitted a dozen questions and the officers will have prepared response but after that the forum will turn into a type of town hall meeting where anyone will be able to directly ask any question they like. We've convinced the President of the University to moderate the whole thing for us. Naturally, security is a big concern for us with so many high ranking people present, but, I think everything will be ok. The site will be thoroughly searched ahead of time and occupied by US soldiers plus all of the civilians will be searched and go through metal detectors before being let into the hall. We've aranged for IMN to film the whole thing and the town's two newspapers will have reporters present as will the school's newspaper. I hope things go well.

Since we've brought up the newspapers I'll tell you all a bit about that subject. The paper Dafaff- Wassit (Wassit is the name of the province and Dafaff is the name of the paper) was founded by the CPA last summer as a province wide news and information source, however, it's owners have been plagued by corruption acussations since the place opened its doors. Col. Calvert finally got feed up with the whole thing and he had the US fund a new start up paper, named simply Dafaff (I know in the US they'd get sued for taking the name), which was totally unconnected with the other paper. The good news is that there are now two papers but the bad news is the town can't support two papers and both are losing money hand over fist. My team and I have been trying to negotiate a reconciliation between the two papers' editors and the various political and military people who fund the papers but so far to little success. Our goal is to merge the two papers and hopefully create one paper that can survive without weekly cash infusions. Right now neither can sell any advertising space because their circulations are two small but neither can invest in large print runs because the local buyers are split between the two papers.

The other thing is I've begun writting articles for both of the papers. There are few qualified journalists and as a Psyoper I find it helpful to directly hit upon subjects. I would prefer to have an Iraqi write the articles as I think the populace would be more receptive to the messages if that was done but until the papers can afford to hire more writers then I guess I will have to continue doing my pro-pono articles. Talk to you all later.

[Japher]

pro-porno

Glad to hear you're doing fine Oerdin, keep safe

[Chemical Ollie]

A political smearing campaign! Well, it's certainly better than shootin' 'em. But not even a little dirty propaganda war could be worse than the American election, can it?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Thanks for the TB info Debest.

Oerdin's Friend: D, ask my dad for my e-mail address and then send me an E-mail. I'd like to hear from you.

Everyone else: I have been busy, busy, busy. We've started working with the Ukrainian and Polish Psyop units here in Al Kut. This arrangement works well because each of our three countries only have three Psyop soldiers in Al Kut so by pooling our resources and coordinating our efforts we are able to get alot more milage out of our work. Lately, we've been concentrating on countering Sadr's propaganda but over the last few days we've been able to go on the offense. We've started a media blitz to inform the people about Sadr's negitive history namely his association with the Saddam regime, his proclivities towards drinking (not very Islamic activity for a wannabe Ayatollah), his taken part in the assassination of rival clerics, etc... It's to soon to tell if it's working but it can't hurt to let the common people know exactly what type of man this supposed savior is.

We've finally convinced the 2nd ACR's commanding officer (Col. Calvert) to take a more public role. We've arranged for him (along with his Ukrainian, Polish, and CPA counterparts) to take part in a question and anwser session at the Al Kut University. The facilty has pre-submitted a dozen questions and the officers will have prepared response but after that the forum will turn into a type of town hall meeting where anyone will be able to directly ask any question they like. We've convinced the President of the University to moderate the whole thing for us. Naturally, security is a big concern for us with so many high ranking people present, but, I think everything will be ok. The site will be thoroughly searched ahead of time and occupied by US soldiers plus all of the civilians will be searched and go through metal detectors before being let into the hall. We've aranged for IMN to film the whole thing and the town's two newspapers will have reporters present as will the school's newspaper. I hope things go well.

Since we've brought up the newspapers I'll tell you all a bit about that subject. The paper Dafaff- Wassit (Wassit is the name of the province and Dafaff is the name of the paper) was founded by the CPA last summer as a province wide news and information source, however, it's owners have been plagued by corruption acussations since the place opened its doors. Col. Calvert finally got feed up with the whole thing and he had the US fund a new start up paper, named simply Dafaff (I know in the US they'd get sued for taking the name), which was totally unconnected with the other paper. The good news is that there are now two papers but the bad news is the town can't support two papers and both are losing money hand over fist. My team and I have been trying to negotiate a reconciliation between the two papers' editors and the various political and military people who fund the papers but so far to little success. Our goal is to merge the two papers and hopefully create one paper that can survive without weekly cash infusions. Right now neither can sell any advertising space because their circulations are two small but neither can invest in large print runs because the local buyers are split between the two papers.

The other thing is I've begun writting articles for both of the papers. There are few qualified journalists and as a Psyoper I find it helpful to directly hit upon subjects. I would prefer to have an Iraqi write the articles as I think the populace would be more receptive to the messages if that was done but until the papers can afford to hire more writers then I guess I will have to continue doing my pro-pono articles. Talk to you all later.

Nice work by you and your crew.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
A political smearing campaign! Well, it's certainly better than shootin' 'em. But not even a little dirty propaganda war could be worse than the American election, can it?

Well, it's gots to be done.


For some reason I envision Oerdin giving the 2nd ACR's CO the following advice right before the question-and-answer;

For God's sake, think before you answer.

[East Street Trader]

Difficult work.

I know little or nothing about Ukranians but Poles are good folk. Quite a lot came to the UK during WWII and fought against the Germans with us. Numbers settled here and our northern towns often have a Polish Club still operating. I also have a Polish brother in law. They tend to be energetic and dependable.

Encouraging people to talk to each other is good value. The situation must make it difficult for your colonel to make himself approachable. But he seems to be at least showing willing. Well done to him.

I wonder how many PCs there are in Iraq? If it is more than a handful you could try an article about Civ - and give Apolyton a plug. Maybe Dan and Mark will give you a roving reporter accreditation.

How is the heat?

[Dinner]

The Ukrainians seem like fine fellows when you talk to them though the local Iraqis have been claiming that the Ukrainians steal from them at check points and that they beat people who don't immediately follow instructions. I don't mind seeing trouble makers beaten but the problem is the Ukrainians tend to yell at the Iraqis in Ukrainian so it would be hard for an Arab speaker to understand. Still, the Ukrainian chain of command has arrested a few Ukrainian soldiers for stealing so it seems they do take the charges seriously.

The heat hasn't been to bad yet; only about 100 degrees. This is the start of sand storm season though and the wind has really been howling. Things are dusty but so far I haven't seen a full blown sand storm.

The other day I got to visit the new Iraqi Army base which is being constructed outside of Numaniyah and I must say I'm a bit jealous. They've spent around $50 million to build a first rate base complete with brand new barracks, office buildings, a wonderful dining facility, a movie theater, post office, bank, and recreational facilities. The US Army still has us living out of old Iraqi Air Force aircraft hangers; if there is that much money to burn I'd sure like to see the Americans building bases like the ones we have in the US and Europe. Still, I guess we have to set up the new Iraqi Army with first rate facilities.

We took a film crew onto base and we had the reporters do an article about how the new Iraqi Army is trained and what their living conditions are like. I suspect the improved quality of life will be a big draw for new Iraqi recruits especially since a large portion of the Iraqi population still lives in mud brick houses with no electricity, sewage, or running water.

[East Street Trader]

Keeping the army paid is the usual problem.

But the gift of some good facillities sounds like a very well intentioned notion. Let's hope it helps.

Also that the new base has easily defensible perimeters (and no air defences - just in case).

[Dinner]

I forgot to mention that we must now travel with our gasmasks with in easy reach. This was put into effect after the IED filled with Sarin gas was found near Baghdad. They've also ordered every soldier to complete additional classes on the proper treatment of prisoners in response to the whole Abu Ghraib thing. The sucky thing is the 17 folks involved with that totally knew what they were doing was wrong and illegal before they did it but now the rest of us have to jump through hoops because of their criminality.

[Gibsie]

I've only scanned the last few responses to this thread and noticed the Ukrainians feature prominently. Undoubtedly they are extremtly proud of their Eurovision Song Contest victory.

[Dinner]

One of the females who works for the MI unit here in Al Kut keeps a blog and she just got offered $40k by a publisher to write a book about her experiences in Iraq. What a lucky break. I'm very happy for her but I can't help but be a little jealous. I'm wondering if I shouldn't collect all of my posts here at poly and open a proper blog complete with pictures and edited posts.

[Skanky Burns]

Go for gold.

[DinoDoc]

It's Skanky's fault no one has offered you money.