Today was a bad one. Another friend was kidnapped last night, and this morning a mortar shell hit our compound. Thankfully, my friend was released after a day -- but he was very lucky. (More details to come tomorrow after he leaves the country.) The mortar caused no real damage, hamdillah, but hit a house near one of the hotels in the compound. The explosion, in size and intensity, sounded exactly like the car bomb that hit the Karma hotel back in May.
Staying here is becoming increasingly untenable. There's talk of TIME moving me up north for a couple of months, which would be a welcome change, to be honest. I've not been able to get out of the compound, and after the kidnapping, I'm disinclined to even make the attempt. The bottom line is I can't work like this and I'm getting more and more frustrated, as I've mentioned. Hopefully, by moving to the north for a little while, my work will improve and so will my state of mind.
More as the situation develops, but things are changing here in Baghdad -- for the worse.
UPDATE 2321 +0300 And now a large car bomb with many casualties -- in first reports -- has just gone off down the street from our compound.
Thanks for the update — good luck, and stay safe.
It really sounds dreadful.
I’m saddened by the mounting civilian casualties and those of journalists.
I’m not surprised that it’s such a mess — those that planned this invasion have never cared for the Iraqi people or any Arab.
I’d be interested to find out more about the situation in northern Iraq and the attempts by many Kurds to establish an independent state, something which is opposed by a majority of Iraqis.
Agreed, Irish. And equally dreadful: I believe those who planned this invasion have also never cared for the American people or, in fact, ANY people except for their own close circle of despotic ultra-wealthy fiends. It is obvious from events that have been unfolding in the US, at Gitmo, in Iraq - any place the neo-cons have touched with their grubby little Anti-Midas digits.
I would love to see how Iraqis would vote in the upcoming US election for president; since they have been ostensibly gifted with democracy, surely they would want to have a voice in the next gift-giver heading up America, si? In my opinion, there is physical evidence suggesting they would concur it is time for a changing of the guard in the US.
Stay safe, Michael, and do whatever it takes to not just survive but to thrive. Your posts are extremely valuable.
Get the heck out of there. It would really stink if you became the next statistic.
how about on to Afghanistan, there seems to be a dearth of good reporting there
But I heard that the North of Iraq is also a dangerous place. The British foreign office issued a statement against travel to the northern part of Iraq, as well as ofcourse going to Iraqi restaurants in the Green zone. And anywhere else that is suspicious….
Im curious to know how do you spend your time if your movements are so limited???And did you find a major difference after getting back from your vacation???
Take care and stay safe….
Why not go up to Irbil and check out the Koreans newly installed setup. The Kurds are fast become their friends, one Kurd said that the only friends to the Kurds are ‘the mountains and the Koreans.’
since you can’t get out and about, what do you do all day?
Stay safe. Your Blog has been a link I’ve used more than once in discussing with the people that think the media coverage is biased and that everything is wonderful in Iraq, where happy people skip all day with the magic unicorns in the happy fairy forest. Your words give that nonsense the drubbing it deserves.
chris,
come home. now. barnstorm for kerry for three weeks. we beg you. bare it all. preach to the unconverted — unlike the vast majority of the converted here. “appearing tonight — chris allbritton, just back from iraq, where he was a totally independent voice.” we’re dying here. kerry is getting my vote, but even he seems unable to remember the balls he had at 27. where is the creativity? the imagination? where is the leader of the free world who can actually engage the world in a conversation about religion, fundamentalism, modernity, tolerance, etc., in an honest, self-deprecating, sharp as a tack fashion?
that person ain’t nowhere near power.
btw, my brother survived iraq for a year in the marines. now he’s an emotional wreck for the resto of his life. thank you, mr. bush & co. thank you osama. thank you lord. the kid suffered enough before going to war.
f* the power.
kerry ‘04.
better ‘08.
peace, brother.
“hamdillah”
Christopher: Just guessing here, but is that Arabic for “Thank God” (or “Allah be Praised”)? Glad to hear you’re safe and in one piece! Obviously, it goes NOT well there, so you’re an admirably brave and crazy guy!
A side question: Have you heard personally from Billmon (of the Whiskey Bar site) anytime since mid-August? He quite cryptically disappeared then — citing plans to be off at sea for “a week or so” — and equally cryptically seemed to re-appear only after about 40 days a couple odd times. But it wasn’t at like his usual self, in my mind, and both posts at the Whiskey Bar quickly disappeared. (He also allegedly wrote a piece for the LA Times that’s at least surfically convincing, but not entirely.)
I’ve been quite concerned about him myself. I know he was a frequent poster here in the past, so I thought I’d ask you, on the chance you might have a correspondence relationship with him. I’ve sent 2 or 3 emails myself, but with no response received. Thanks!
“btw, my brother survived iraq for a year in the marines. now he’s an emotional wreck for the resto of his life”
Dadler: Yeah, and he’s supposedly one of the “lucky ones”. :-(
This regime constantly reminds of a quote I can only loosely recall from “Little Big Man”. In it, “Grandfather”, the old Indian, says something like:
“To the human beings [his own people], everything is alive — trees, water, rocks. But to the white man, all things — even people — are dead!”
It truly fits this sorry bunch.
I’ve just read the “Bush the Uniter” has brought together OBL and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It sounds like you can’t do much without further risks to yourself. Why not come back and write op/ed columns for newspapers before the election, appear on Fox, investigate the uncounted and nameless wounded vets, or go to afghanistan and expose the burgeoning heroin trade …. but above all stay safe.
I am hearing way too much god damned doubletalk from Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and others. Something isn’t right. They say one thing, but the news reports say another. Normally I would attribute this to “If it bleeds it leads”, but something is wrong with this picture.
You don’t want to come up north. Trust me on this one; I am in Mosul. It’s worse up here than in Baghdad. I was down at Victory/BIAP last month for a few days and that was relaxing after the goings on here. We get hit every day with mortars or rockets; eleven guys got messed up night before last. Helicopters and flares over the Tigris, and Mosul city is a killing ground- there is constant gunfire out there. Email me if you want more information on the goings-on around here.
From JMFeeney’s quote:
“To the human beings [his own people], everything is alive — trees, water, rocks. But to the white man, all things — even people — are dead!”
My view:
“To some, human beings are individuals, intelligent companions capable of relationship, of creation and destruction, love and hate, truth and falsehood. But to others, human beings are commodities to be bought, sold and disposed of at will, according to the requirements associated with achieving personal, financial or religious goals.”
I’m sure we can all think of a long list of people who could fit into the latter category.
Hello, Chris, please be safe … as one reporter in Arkansas to one who’s gone from there to more exciting news. Thank you for your reports … they’ve been enlightening, to say the least, and confirmed much of what I suspected. Like others, I’m curious to know about the political situation with an election — what is the word on the street? Farce or possible? Again, be safe and take care.
Wait a sec, isn’t Iraq getting better? I thought that since we accomplished our mission Iraq was heading towards true democracy. Chris, you are apprently making all this shit up. Soon Iraq will have elections, and will be truly free, and Americans can get out, and the Middle East will be safer. If you wanna do some real reporting - go to Iran, that’s where we’ll be next! They better look at how well Iraq went, because they’re next! Bush in ‘04.
Today’s Diane Rehm show (if you can log on, you can stream the archive; WAMU.org) has interviews with several journalists & others who are in/just back from Iraq, especially Baghdad.
Also, the Oct 4 New Yorker has a long piece on Kirkuk by George Packer, entitled “The Next Iraqi War?”
‘nuf said, I like Dadler’s idea: Come home & tell it like it is …
Be safe, please!
I hope you’re being sarcastic, Spanky, or I’d really question your sanity.
I noticed an interesting trend, towards the beginning there were supporters of the war posting comments, now there are fewer and fewer of those posts. Do you think people are finally getting the gist? I hope so.
“I noticed an interesting trend, towards the beginning there were supporters of the war posting comments, now there are fewer and fewer of those posts. Do you think people are finally getting the gist?”
Oorgo: I think they’re pre-occupied right now with other things — like bogus voter registration, intinidation, election rigging, etc. ;-)
But I definitely think a lot of those people will NEVER get the “gist”. I’m quite doubtful that many were even looking! Most of them seemed to be vicarious “warriors” just venting their own frustrations, while others seemed as grotesquely, blindly “faith-based” as Bush himself.