Iraqi Elections

Yesterday was a busy day, we went south to another post to pick up some news reporters and escort them around. We visited two polling sites and they filmed, but according to my wife the story did not make the big network news (It was ABC). Not that you would know me if you saw me, I was sitting in the gunner's seat in a HMMWV painted like an Iraqi HMMWV. It went very well, no incidents and the Iraqis really clamped down. We joked that they are more like us now because by 1400 they were arguing about who was winning. They even lifted the curfew and vehicle ban. We ended not heading back until the elections were over, at about 1800 local, getting back in settled about 1930. I met my counterpart and we discussed my family, hard to explain that I had no cousins, they are all about family and couldn't believe I didn't have cousins. He invited me to come to his village, but I think I have to pass on that. He wants a picture, though, so should be able to do that for him, but he wants me to wear a headdress and traditional garb (dish-dasha). Maybe it is for propaganda, who know but I will do it. Well, that is the update for now, hope to update again soon.

Settling in

We made it through Baghdad from Taji to our base here in Southeast Baghdad. It's a small compound within an Iraqi compound. Yes, we're completely surrounded, but this time the Iraqis are our friends. There seems to be a lot of dogs here, the guys here say they have killed over a hundred of them, have to because they may be rabid. On the way in, we saw a bunch of them chasing a poor little donkey. The ride over was about an hour and a half, through the heart of Baghdad. I wanted to video but was told not to, though it wouldn't have been very good anyway. It was interesting to see the progress in the country, I was happy to see many checkpoints and police along the route. Though there is still danger from IEDs, it has been relatively quiet here of late.
Our rooms are actually sub-rooms of larger rooms partitioned off with plywood for privacy. I have one of the rooms with a door so I can lock it, others have to put up blankets but people respect privacy. We probably will move once the other guys leave, depends on if the rooms are bigger, I like mine because it is dark, no windows and the walls are high. But I only have one outlet and the light on one side doesn't work well. So I will see what is available and don't mind staying where I am if the other places aren't better.
A few of you may wonder why I don't talk about what I do, well for one I haven't started my job yet, and for another, we aren't allowed to talk about specifics so I thought it best to give my impressions of Iraq in general, and relay funny things or really what I think is interesting. I will update as often as I can, but no guarantees it will be updated daily or even weekly. I plan to include stories of our interactions with the Iraqis but I will not include names or actual places. As for where I am, well southeast Baghdad is good enough, I hope you understand. We are near two Coalition FOBs on an Iraqi base. It's fairly safe, but again you should never get complacent. Well, that is all for now, will update as soon as I can.