I haven't posted in a long time, I know. But here's an update, for those
who may be interested.

My detachment got into Kuwait in mid-October, and
processed through a dusty, sandy Camp out in the middle of nowhere - we
spent Thanksgiving there; it wasn't bad at all. Just somewhat of a wait
before we crossed every "T" and dotted every "I" before going Up
North.

We went up a few days after Thanksgiving, into Baghdad where
we're based. It's almost like working at home (but not quite, obviously).

If you ever think of taking a trip to Iraq (once things calm down, I
know), this time of year is the time to do it. The weather has been great
so far - balmy, not hot. The nights are somewhat chilly, but not cold. The
soil here is very fine, though - silty because, well, it's silt (river run
off, natch). So I can see that when it rains, it'll turn into mud that
will stick to everything, and when the wind picks up - yah, I can see
where the "sand storms" come from (though this part of Iraq isn't sandy).

The people here that I've run into, both military & civilian, are very up-beat. This is a very comfortable posting - the very definition of a REMF base camp. We've got just about everything here, and my biggest concerns are getting internet hooked up in my trailer and how I'll handle the summer heat (I'm a pale Caucasian from a cold-weather state, and sweat profusely in the heat; melting). When those are your biggest concerns, you know you have it good.

This is not to say that all of Iraq is secure, just that the little bit of it I'm in is highly secure. This also means, though, that I'm not the best source of "first-hand observations of how things are going on the ground". My mission, which is serving the personnel of 4th ID and it's attached units, doesn't have me leaving the post. My job is to take care of those who are helping build the country up (right now, both soldiers and civilian contractors.

Yes, I've also seen some Iraqi troops, though they aren't a big presence on Baghdad. But I don't have any good (or bad) idea how well (or badly) they're performing, just from having seen them. Everyone I've seen has been positive, relaxed, and confident. But, again I emphasize that I haven't seen everyone.

The one regret I'll possibly have from this situation, as a historian, is being in a country with so much history without being able to get out and about and see some of the things that I've always been interested in - the ruins of Babylon, of Ninevah, and the like, or even much of Baghdad. That's not the job we're here to do, natch, but even on R&R or Pass, site-seeing isn't on the agenda. Oh well, there's always the future - and now I know when would be a good time to come.

We were here during the time of the elections - I didn't post on them because, like much else, I didn't have any direct experience that would enable me to say something someone else wasn't able to say, better. But I will say that things passed in relative calm here. On Sunday night the week before the polls opened, the air was filled with tracer rounds all around camp, and the sound of gunfire - it was Iraqis, firing their weapons. But not in an attack, in celebration.

As things sort themselves out I hope to be making more posts again, and have some impressions. I might - no promises again - also start posting again on wider issues, but lately my heart hasn't been in it. It all seems like cud-chewing, the same old stuff being re-aired and having to be re-re-re-rebutted for the Nth time. Facts don't seem to matter or make any impact, especially when it comes to the self-described "Reality-Based Community". But I suppose one should listen to the words of Winston Churchill and never give up the good fight anyhow. I haven't, but I've taken a bit of a sabbatical, at least from the Blog Wars. I will say that, having heard about the insurgents who helped guard polling places, that we live in an odd, Bearded-Spock Universe when the loyalists of a dictatorship are active in protecting the elections, while the Western Progressives who claimed to be interested only in popular democracy and who got all offended if you suggested they were in favor of the Saddam regime, claiming to only be interested in the people of Iraq, were nowhere to be found when those same Iraqis went to the polls. They were motivated to protect the institutions of dictatorship, but not to help the Iraqi people secure the institutions of democracy.

That doesn't make me smug, or "I told you so". It makes me sad.