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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (587341)	7/3/2004 1:40:41 PM
From: Bald Eagle	Respond to of 769670

It's a lot safer now than it was under Saddam.

To: sea_biscuit who wrote (587341)	7/3/2004 1:55:50 PM
From: Bald Eagle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Just received this from Iraq, a young lady friend of mine doing duty there: Hi Everyone! Just a short note to say hello and to let you know that all is pretty calm over here in Baghdad. The early change over of sovereignty was a surprise to all of us, but strategically, I thought it was a smart move because it threw everyone off, especially the bad guys who had all kinds of plans to attack and bomb us before and on June 30th. Hee Hee. We don't know yet, what's in store for us over here. I doubt they'll bring us home early. The only thing that's changed about our mission is that we can no longer go out by ourselves. The only time we can do a real mission is if the Iraqi Police ask for our assistance. It's their country now and we're here just in case they need us, so it seems. Where were you when you heard that Elvis died, John Lennon had been shot or when the US handed over sovereignty to Iraq? I was in the middle of a raid on a mosque. We were looking for a division target but no one had heard of his name and the mosque he frequented wasn't where we were told it was going to be. We found out from questioning the locals that the mosque was around the corner so we had to call it in that we were going to send some Iraqi National Guard soldiers (because we're not allowed in the mosques) into the mosque to search it. In the middle of all the chaos of being in downtown Baghdad and trying to raid a mosque our commander denied us access into the mosque because as of 10 min prior, we no longer had the authority to go in. All control had been relinquished to the Iraqis. So, we packed our things and went back to our base. Crazy, but we had to play by the rules! I've enclosed a picture of the 14th of July mosque which sits next to the Sheraton hotel. Whenever you watch CNN and the reporters are standing in front of a mosque, this is the one they're seeing. It's pretty amazing. The mosques are so beautiful here! I had the privilege of riding in a Bradley tank the other day. For all your military folks, YES! I know I'm not supposed to refer to it as a tank! It was awesome though. I felt like I was on an amusement park ride! A little hot, but it was cool cruising through town in a Bradley! Four Bradleys escorted us as we did an area assessment of some new zones we had just acquired. We stopped three times to talk to the people. The back ramp of the Bradley would go down and we would walk out and pull security. I can imagine what a sight that caused. We stopped in a poor neighborhood find a specific house and it was here that I whipped out my garbage bag full of beanie babies to pass out to the children. The first time I gave out anything was at a Catholic school which was tame compared to what I experienced this day! OH MY! The children were fighting to get a beanie baby and the mothers were just as vicious! I think I'll be saving my other bag of beanie babies to give to the children whose fathers have been killed. There's an organization that's gathering stuff together to donate to widowed wives who have to support their children on their own. I've seen some pictures and it seems to be a more appreciative crowd. School's out so I won't be going to anymore schools anytime soon. Anyways, a Bradley tank moves pretty fast! They can go up to 70mph! We were driving through the city and going over medians and I could only tell we were going up a curb when I saw it on the TV screen we were monitoring in the back. Well, let me go and get back to work. We still talk to the locals who supply us with information on the bad guys. We can't really act on it anymore, but we send it up anyways because maybe something can be done about it. Happy 4th of July if I don't talk to ya'll before then. We will have a little 4th of July celebration of our own on that day. We will have a barbecue, ice cream floats and we'll be shooting off fireworks too. Things have gotten better here. I ask the locals whenever I talk to them how are the people feeling outside our walls in the city of Baghdad and they say that everyone is VERY happy now. Some of our patrols will drive by and the locals will start clapping as they pass by which is a first around here. Now, we concentrate on rebuilding the infrastructure of this city which is what we should've done a year ago! Take care and I'll talk to you soon! Miss you guys!,