my trip to iraq

[solypsist]

okay look, i don't want to turn into an attention whore with a ton of threads about my experiences there, etc.

i am simply going to post the odd small photo here and there in this thread with some short narrative. if you're looking for wild hyperbole, look elsewhere.

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my impression is that everyone over there is having a great time *except* the americans. i hung out with euro and asian news teams and their respective coverage and it was party time for all but the most extreme circumstances; when they had it bad, the americans were getting it ten times worse. i have no explanation for this.

i'm starting off with some 'easy' pics of humdrum stuff like food and meals of my time in safe quarters. these pics will be small because i don't want a lot of lag when this thread loads.

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lots of waiting around, so i took pics of other media people also waiting.









i spent some time hanging out with the japanese photographers, eating their Pocky. none of them ever left the GZ but instead took pics of other Asian troops doing traffic control and such.

[Blodrast]

finally, the long-awaited for stories... who complained about attention-whoring ? on the contrary, check out how many people requested stories/photos in your "I'm back" thread, so don't be shy about it .

Details are welcome, I mean, come on, it's one of the major hot spots in the world; of course everybody and their mother want to know about it

edit: thank you in advance, and for what you've posted so far

[Mount Suribachi]

Yeah, don't be shy Soly. When you consider we've had about 8 bazillion threads on Iraq (and counting), thats a lot of hot air, yet we've only had 2 patrons that I know of who've actually been there - you and Spetmla, and unless I've missed it, I've not seen him talk about it a great deal.

[solypsist]

the food and meal time. remember, i'm a vegetarian (i eat fish, though), but many times i had to eat meat. so on those times when everyone else would then go out to drink or wifi their reportage, i would be getting sick.

the food stunk, and so did us guys. this is from a meal outside the GZ.

[solypsist]

the chopsticks on the table are mine. i was eating local food with a japanese writer and a taiwanese photographer, who also used chopsticks. they spoke good english, btw.

this is a meal from inside the GZ.

[BHCWarman88]

My God,what is that stuff?? One thing looks like Fish,and that the only thing I can tell/..

[solypsist]

if you're wondering why this guy is in so many pics, it's because he spoke excellent english (with a british accent) which is an odd excuse, but i have no other reason, really. but man, did that food smell. sometimes it smelled good, but there were times when it was so ******* foreign i just drank cokes.

however, note the difference in food and quantity between meals taken in the GZ and outside it.

[ShadesPanther]

I remember in a Moscow hotel having Chicken. At least I think it was chicken, we are still split 50-50 whether it was chicken or fish.
EDIT:
But I Digress. That stuff looks really nasty. I can see why you were sick.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Nice pics Soly!



Post more!!!

[solypsist]

stores and shops outside the GZ in a relatively safe area. this was a good day to be outside because during the hours i was away there were strikes actually inside the GZ. And this wasn't just mortars and rockets, these were guys who had gotten inside and started blowing themselves and things up. i didn't see any mention of this on any news wires. it was June 8. i heard some security contractors had been killed, but no info on what nationality.

anyway, the irony was that while we were in this place checkng out the goods, someone kept saying over and over he hoped no one ran in here and blew the place up or tries to kidnap us while we are outside and not with troops. i remember hearing it the first time and suddenly feeling very tired from the stress. it was me, one other photoguy, a guide, and one contracted security guard with an English (maybe it was S. African?) accent. we were just one block and around the corner from a checkpoint.







i have to go to philadelphia on thurs. so i will post more pics when i get back later this week.

[Vladimir]

Forget how the food smelled, look at how much of it they had! Now I'm so hungry. I'm also the guy that thinks MREs are tasty too!

[discovery1]

Interesting pics. I don't think the food looks bad. What's the white stuff in the fish? Onion? Oh, Soly I've heard about large bombed out sections of Iraqi cities that aren't at all reported, or at least weren't two years ago. Can you confirm or deny this, please?

[Dâriûsh]

Wow Soly, the food looks excellent! But what is up with the guy with only half a head?


Oh, and can you confirm my stereotype that half of all Iraqis are named Marwan?

[Mouzafphaerre]

.

Oh my! Makes me feel hungry with a filled up stomach. What's that weirdo with onions in it though? Looks like fish but that sounds out of place sort of. Btw, who pissed into the teacup?

Nice pics.
.

[Divinus Arma]

Everything looks good except the fish. I love foreign food. In Afghanistan, some of us guys paid an Afghani National at the Embassy to grab us food from outside the wall. Stupid as it was (poison, bacteria, etc), those Afghani Burgers were awesome. Lamb and sauce with grilled onions on pita. (At least we think.)

The world should just stop killing itself and unite in peace over cullinary deliciousness. Those jerks in 3rd world death countries need to get their acts together so I can be a food-tourist.

Imagine if the entire world was as safe as the suburbs of America? That would be awesome. Just for the food.

[Papewaio]

You could just go to a food court in Aus.

[KukriKhan]

Soly, we hear & see reports weekly about the sporadic availability of electricity in Iraq. Your pics seem to indicate that power is available at least some of the time (media cameramen's camera batteries are charged up, eating places can cook food, interior spaces have lights).

What was your experience?

[Divine Wind]

I have exactly the same green shisha on my shelf at uni, which was bought for me by a friend in Iran. How odd.

Great pics! The chap who spoke good english looks like hes eating a curry...

Aww.... *goes looking for Indian take away menu*

[AntiochusIII]

Awesome pics! Now I'm deadly hungry, not to mention the fact that the food, albeit Iraqi, looks awfully familiar.

Dang it! Now I have to eat something!

Oh, and from all the reactions it would seem that this entire section of the forum is very interested in your trip, and I see no reason to be "shy" anyway.

DA: Never can I be more agreeable to your most excellent disposition!

[Pannonian]

Everything looks good except the fish. I love foreign food. In Afghanistan, some of us guys paid an Afghani National at the Embassy to grab us food from outside the wall. Stupid as it was (poison, bacteria, etc), those Afghani Burgers were awesome. Lamb and sauce with grilled onions on pita. (At least we think.)

The world should just stop killing itself and unite in peace over cullinary deliciousness. Those jerks in 3rd world death countries need to get their acts together so I can be a food-tourist.

Imagine if the entire world was as safe as the suburbs of America? That would be awesome. Just for the food.

That's one thing I agree with. The British empire should not be measured in territory or headcount, but in the number of culinary traditions it introduced to Britain. The Iraqis should wise up and start exporting fastfood joints to America.

Note to Solypsist: do you have any more pictures of food or drink?

[edyzmedieval]

Wow Soly. Great job.

This stuff really makes me hungry.
I want to eat some Indian or some Chinese food. Preferably Indian, because it's hot and spicy.

And yeah, the Libanese/Eastern/Iraqi pita is awesome.

[Major Robert Dump]

I have exactly the same green shisha on my shelf at uni, which was bought for me by a friend in Iran. How odd.

Great pics! The chap who spoke good english looks like hes eating a curry...

Aww.... *goes looking for Indian take away menu*

I thought those were bongs/hookas. You mean Iraq isn't a partner in the war on drugs?

[solypsist]

remember i was only in baghdad, and within the periphery. yeah, there was power, i had no problems in the gz plugging stuff in to charge. i saw a lot of extension cords running from buildings to other buildings with generators outside.

Soly, we hear & see reports weekly about the sporadic availability of electricity in Iraq. Your pics seem to indicate that power is available at least some of the time (media cameramen's camera batteries are charged up, eating places can cook food, interior spaces have lights).

What was your experience?

[solypsist]

random stuff:





tomorrow i will post more images with captions of my travels outside the gz.

[Fragony]

Yummie couscous! Delicious!

[solypsist]

amtrak is dead today, so no trip to philadelphia for me = more iraq photos for you.

[solypsist]

okay so a lot of time in the gz was spent being herded around being shown examples of progress. most were pretty straightforward: you saw this, that, a pizza place here, an abundance of food there. and then came the visit to a school.

so i was checking out the school (or one of them) and viewing a few classrooms and there were various lessons and such going on. the kids were clean, well behaved, such as one might expect during inspections.



this classroom was a little different.



towards the end of my visit the teacher stepped outside and my escort, thinking i was going too, stepped out with him, leaving me alone with the kids for about five minutes. once these boys figured out i was alone, every kid stood up, gave the allah salute and said, some in arabic* and some in english, "Islam first! You will lose!" and a cold chill came over me when they were staring right at me.
* i dont know what the kids in arabic said, i can only assume it was the same as the english.

something is wrong here; these kids will no doubt be tomorrow's insurgents.

[master of the puppets]

teachers can teach a child to count but parents teach them to think, and unfortunatly some parents teach children degradable things where there should be good ones.

question, how did the other kids react to this outcry?

[solypsist]

more random.

not a good idea to suddenly appear at a window with a large barreled device (my camera) in your hands in the middle of the night. it makes the troops jumpy.

[master of the puppets]

is that an oil truck in front of them?