Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Dinner at the Palace

Yes, it sounded rather high class to me also. I worried that I might be slightly under-dressed in the jeans I'd been wearing for the last 4 days, but my last clean t-shirt should make up for it.

The former Presidential Palace of Saddam Hussein now serves as the U.S. Embassy compound. We, a reporter and a photographer from Army Times, a writer from Time magazine, and myself, were driven through the International Zone to have dinner at the embassy dining facility. Once there, we meet with Col. Steven Boylan, the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for Gen. David Patreaus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. I had met Col. Boylan at a convention in Chicago last October, and he actually started the ball rolling on this embed by giving me contact information for the right people.

The chow hall is nice, but nothing extravagant, it is on par with the dining facilities the troops are eating at in Kuwait. The Palace however is fairly glitzy in a dictatorial way. A mural of scud missiles painted on the wall points towards Israel, an overt sign of Saddam's feelings, and possible intentions. He did in fact, launch scuds against Israel in the first Gulf War.

Over dinner we talked of some of the stories of the day. There was some disagreement between the people from the Army Times, and the military policy of not showing identifiable pictures of wounded soldiers without their permission. As for myself, I think it's a logical policy, and as Col. Boylan stated "what news value is gained" buy showing a wounded soldiers face. The Colonel had to leave to do an interview, so we finished dinner and were escorted back the the press center.

The CPIC is located inside the "Green Zone" a walled in and well guarded compound right in the center of Baghdad. I have been impressed, as have the Americans stationed here, by the professionalism and thoroughness of the troops now guarding the zone. These troops are members of the Peruvian Army, I wasn't aware that Peru even deployed troops overseas. So much for the U.S. "going it alone" I guess. They are small in stature, friendly, and pretty good at what they do.

It was recently announced that a new offensive has started in the areas surrounding Baghdad. This large scale effort is going after Al Qieda gunmen in places they have long thought of as safe. Rather than fly back to Kuwait and then fly back up to Iraq, I have requested to do a short embed with units engaged in this offensive. I will link up with my original embed unit, A Co. 2/504th, when they arrive in Iraq. Hopefully I will know more shortly.
Sorry, no photos inside the green zone for security reasons, please check my links at right for more photos.

5 comments:

Mary said...

Hi baby, I'm glad to hear that you are in the green zone. What's the atmosphere there? How do the other journalists feel about being there? Are people nervous in the wake of the new offensive. (It's all over the news... )
What ever the case, I miss you. Keep safe. xoxo

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Anonymous said...

[quote]Yes, it sounded rather high class to me also. I worried that I might be slightly under-dressed in the jeans I'd been wearing for the last 4 days, but my last clean t-shirt should make up for it.The former Presidential Palace of Saddam Hussein now serves as the U.S. Embassy compound. We, a reporter and a photographer from Army Times, a writer from Time magazine, and myself, were driven through the International Zone to have dinner at the embassy dining facility. Once there, we meet with Col. Steven Boylan, the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for Gen. David Patreaus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. I had met Col. Boylan at a convention in Chicago last October, and he actually started the ball rolling on this embed by giving me contact information for the right people.The chow hall is nice, but nothing extravagant, it is on par with the dining facilities the troops are eating at in Kuwait. The Palace however is fairly glitzy in a dictatorial way. A mural of scud missiles painted on the wall points towards Israel, an overt sign of Saddam's feelings, and possible intentions. He did in fact, launch scuds against Israel in the first Gulf War.Over dinner we talked of some of the stories of the day. There was some disagreement between the people from the Army Times, and the military policy of not showing identifiable pictures of wounded soldiers without their permission. As for myself, I think it's a logical policy, and as Col. Boylan stated "what news value is gained" buy showing a wounded soldiers face. The Colonel had to leave to do an interview, so we finished dinner and were escorted back the the press center.The CPIC is located inside the "Green Zone" a walled in and well guarded compound right in the center of Baghdad. I have been impressed, as have the Americans stationed here, by the professionalism and thoroughness of the troops now guarding the zone. These troops are members of the Peruvian Army, I wasn't aware that Peru even deployed troops overseas. So much for the U.S. "going it alone" I guess. They are small in stature, friendly, and pretty good at what they do.It was recently announced that a new offensive has started in the areas surrounding Baghdad. This large scale effort is going after Al Qieda gunmen in places they have long thought of as safe. Rather than fly back to Kuwait and then fly back up to Iraq, I have requested to do a short embed with units engaged in this offensive. I will link up with my original embed unit, A Co. 2/504th, when they arrive in Iraq. Hopefully I will know more shortly.Sorry, no photos inside the green zone for security reasons, please check my links at right for more photos.[/quote]

dont kidding me, folks!

Ban me please...