Idle US soldiers fight 'Baghdad bulge'
THEY call it the "Baghdad bulge".
Standing outside a Burger King on the Camp Liberty military base near the city's airport, a group of American soldiers ponder whether to order a second Whopper.
"Not me, man," said Specialist Joe Lorenzo, "I put on so much goddam weight, who knows if my wife will recognise me when I get home?"
Now US troops have been withdrawn from Iraqi city streets and are spending more time behind barbed wire awaiting withdrawal, commanders are struggling to keep them entertained.
Offering ever-increasing food options is the first line of defence in the fight against boredom.
The favourite is lobster night at the D-Fac - American military vernacular for the official "dining facilities". Thousands of sea creatures are regularly taken to the Iraqi desert by cargo plane.
For soldiers prepared to spend their own money on the base, there is also SGVillage, an upmarket mall with restaurants clustered around a car park that opened three weeks ago. The most popular eatery is the red-walled Royal China, boasting a chef from Hong Kong who offers Szechuan-style chicken (£6.90), beef and green peppers (£7.80) and stir-fried noodles with vegetables (£ 4.20).
His uniformed customers sit on wooden deckchairs by a newly planted lawn. But SGVillage faces competition from Camp Liberty Bazaar, where soldiers while away the day surrounded by branded American eateries such as Taco Bell, Subway and Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits.
Behind them is the Post Exchange, or PX, a military supermarket where they can buy T-bone steaks and pork loins along with a Smokey Joe Silver 14-inch barbecue grill (£16.70) and bags of charcoal (£2.80 for 7.2lb).
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Idle US soldiers fight Baghdad bulge
linked from ICasualties.org
Showing posts with label Green Zone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Zone. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Green Zone hit during sand storm
Sandstorm aids insurgent attack on Green Zone
By Sameer N. Yacoub - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Apr 27, 2008 13:12:52 EDT
BAGHDAD — Militants fired a salvo of rockets or mortar shells into Baghdad’s Green Zone Sunday, apparently taking advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the Iraqi capital.
There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
At least eight rounds hit the heavily guarded section of Baghdad that houses the Iraqi government and U.S. Embassy, said a police official who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Alarms could be heard and loudspeakers warned residents to take cover.
The Green Zone has been regularly shelled during the past month. In March, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against Shiite militias in Baghdad and elsewhere.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_greenzone_042708/
By Sameer N. Yacoub - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Apr 27, 2008 13:12:52 EDT
BAGHDAD — Militants fired a salvo of rockets or mortar shells into Baghdad’s Green Zone Sunday, apparently taking advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the Iraqi capital.
There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
At least eight rounds hit the heavily guarded section of Baghdad that houses the Iraqi government and U.S. Embassy, said a police official who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Alarms could be heard and loudspeakers warned residents to take cover.
The Green Zone has been regularly shelled during the past month. In March, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against Shiite militias in Baghdad and elsewhere.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_greenzone_042708/
Friday, April 25, 2008
New US Embassy in Iraq has no housing for all its workers
New US Embassy in Iraq has no housing for all its workers
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 25, 2:07 PM ET
BAGHDAD - The new U.S. Embassy complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets, government officials have told The Associated Press.
Sorting out the housing crunch and funding could further delay moving all personnel into the compound until next year and exposes shortcomings in the planning for America's more than $700 million diplomatic hub in Iraq.
The issue of "hardened" housing in the U.S.-protected Green Zone has gained renewed prominence since Shiite militias resumed steady attacks on the enclave in late March as part of backlash to an Iraqi-led crackdown.
More than a dozen people have been killed in the Green Zone in the latest waves of attacks, including a U.S. civilian government worker whose housing trailer was hit.
At one point — during the heaviest barrages early this month — the State Department ordered all its Baghdad employees to wear body armor and other protective gear while outside buildings in the Green Zone, which also contains the British Embassy, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds.
click post title for more
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 25, 2:07 PM ET
BAGHDAD - The new U.S. Embassy complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets, government officials have told The Associated Press.
Sorting out the housing crunch and funding could further delay moving all personnel into the compound until next year and exposes shortcomings in the planning for America's more than $700 million diplomatic hub in Iraq.
The issue of "hardened" housing in the U.S.-protected Green Zone has gained renewed prominence since Shiite militias resumed steady attacks on the enclave in late March as part of backlash to an Iraqi-led crackdown.
More than a dozen people have been killed in the Green Zone in the latest waves of attacks, including a U.S. civilian government worker whose housing trailer was hit.
At one point — during the heaviest barrages early this month — the State Department ordered all its Baghdad employees to wear body armor and other protective gear while outside buildings in the Green Zone, which also contains the British Embassy, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds.
click post title for more
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Col. Stephen Scott killed in Green Zone Iraq
Col. Stephen Scott died April 6 during a mortar attack on facilities inside the Green Zone in Baghdad. An avid jogger, the 54-year-old Scott was killed as he exercised on a treadmill, according to his sister, Kathleen King.
Colonel 9th of his rank to be killed in Iraq
By Christopher Leonard - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 10, 2008 8:10:31 EDT
ST. LOUIS — Family members are mourning an Army colonel who had worked at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and who is only the ninth solider of his rank to have been killed in the Iraq war.
Col. Stephen Scott died Sunday during a mortar attack on facilities inside the protected Green Zone in Baghdad, which houses the U.S. Embassy. An avid jogger, the 54-year-old Scott was killed as he exercised on a treadmill in a U.S. military facility, according to his sister, Kathleen King.
Scott is one of the highest ranking officers killed in the Iraq conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers. Two colonels were among 12 people killed in 2007 when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Baghdad.
Colonel appears to be the highest rank of any U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war. According to an Associated Press database of U.S. military deaths in Iraq, at least eight other Army or Army Reserve colonels have died in the now 5-year-old war.
By Christopher Leonard - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 10, 2008 8:10:31 EDT
ST. LOUIS — Family members are mourning an Army colonel who had worked at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and who is only the ninth solider of his rank to have been killed in the Iraq war.
Col. Stephen Scott died Sunday during a mortar attack on facilities inside the protected Green Zone in Baghdad, which houses the U.S. Embassy. An avid jogger, the 54-year-old Scott was killed as he exercised on a treadmill in a U.S. military facility, according to his sister, Kathleen King.
Scott is one of the highest ranking officers killed in the Iraq conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers. Two colonels were among 12 people killed in 2007 when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Baghdad.
Colonel appears to be the highest rank of any U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war. According to an Associated Press database of U.S. military deaths in Iraq, at least eight other Army or Army Reserve colonels have died in the now 5-year-old war.
go here for more
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
16 US soldiers dead since Sunday in Iraq
MSNBC News Services
20 more Iraqis die in Sadr City clashes
Green Zone hit five years after U.S. forces swept into the Iraqi capital
updated 29 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Errant mortar shells slammed into houses and a funeral tent Wednesday, leaving three children among the dead during clashes in a Shiite militia stronghold under siege by American and Iraqi forces on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.
The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of four more soldiers. That raised the number of American troop deaths to 16 since Sunday.
Many Iraqis said hopes that were raised by the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein have been quashed.
go here for more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24024652/
With this kind of violence going on as long as this has, is there any room to wonder why so many have PTSD?
20 more Iraqis die in Sadr City clashes
Green Zone hit five years after U.S. forces swept into the Iraqi capital
updated 29 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Errant mortar shells slammed into houses and a funeral tent Wednesday, leaving three children among the dead during clashes in a Shiite militia stronghold under siege by American and Iraqi forces on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.
The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of four more soldiers. That raised the number of American troop deaths to 16 since Sunday.
Many Iraqis said hopes that were raised by the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein have been quashed.
go here for more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24024652/
With this kind of violence going on as long as this has, is there any room to wonder why so many have PTSD?
Friday, March 28, 2008
Public opinion on Iraq:Call in
Media Advisory for Friday, March 28, 2008 @ 1PM, EDT***
Call-in#: 888-325-3989, Passcode: 546571
Iraq Experts Hold Press Conference Call to Respond to Upsurge in Violence, Out of Touch Bush, McCain Assessments on Iraq
As U.S. Forces Are Pulled into Fighting in Baghdad, and as Green Zone Comes Under Attack, Iraq Veteran, National Security Expert, Expert on Public Attitudes Towards Iraq Asses the
WHO: Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman and Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Jim Gerstein, Democracy Corps
WHAT: Press Conference Call Regarding Upsurge in Violence in Iraq, Evolving Public Opinion on Iraq
WHEN: Friday, March 28, 2008, 1:00 P.M.
Call-in#: 888-325-3989
Passcode: 546571
Call-in#: 888-325-3989, Passcode: 546571
Iraq Experts Hold Press Conference Call to Respond to Upsurge in Violence, Out of Touch Bush, McCain Assessments on Iraq
As U.S. Forces Are Pulled into Fighting in Baghdad, and as Green Zone Comes Under Attack, Iraq Veteran, National Security Expert, Expert on Public Attitudes Towards Iraq Asses the
WHO: Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman and Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Jim Gerstein, Democracy Corps
WHAT: Press Conference Call Regarding Upsurge in Violence in Iraq, Evolving Public Opinion on Iraq
WHEN: Friday, March 28, 2008, 1:00 P.M.
Call-in#: 888-325-3989
Passcode: 546571
Sunday, March 23, 2008
4,000 US Troops killed in Iraq
Smoke rises from the U.S.-protected Green Zone in central Baghdad on Sunday after it was targeted by a series of rockets or mortars.
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
updated 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad late Sunday, raising the death toll for American forces since start of the war to 4,000, according to the Pentagon.
The grim milestone was reached less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion to topple former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and coincided with a spate of violence across Iraq on Sunday that left at least 61 people dead.
The attacks included rockets and mortars fired at Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone and a suicide car bomb detonated at an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul.
go here for the rest
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23771735/
03/23/08 MNF: 4MND-B Soldiers attacked by IED
Four Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers were killed at approximately 10 p.m. March 23 after terrorists attacked them with an improvised-explosive device in southern Baghdad while conducting a mounted vehicular patrol.
03/22/08 MNF: MND-B Soldiers attacked by IED
Three Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle during a patrol northwest of Baghdad March 22. Two Iraqi civilians were also killed in the attack.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
State Department denies treatment for PTSD
Envoys Resist Forced Iraq Duty
Top State Dept. Officials Face Angry Questions
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007; Page A01
Uneasy U.S. diplomats yesterday challenged senior State Department officials in unusually blunt terms over a decision to order some of them to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad or risk losing their jobs.
At a town hall meeting in the department's main auditorium attended by hundreds of Foreign Service officers, some of them criticized fundamental aspects of State's personnel policies in Iraq. They took issue with the size of the embassy -- the biggest in U.S. history -- and the inadequate training they received before being sent to serve in a war zone.
One woman said she returned from a tour in Basra with post-traumatic stress disorder only to find that the State Department would not authorize medical treatment.
Yesterday's internal dissension came amid rising public doubts about diplomatic progress in Iraq and congressional inquiries into the department's spending on the embassy and its management of private security contractors. Some participants asked how diplomacy could be practiced when the embassy itself, inside the fortified Green Zone, is under frequent fire and officials can travel outside only under heavy guard.
Service in Iraq is "a potential death sentence," said one man who identified himself as a 46-year Foreign Service veteran. "Any other embassy in the world would be closed by now," he said to sustained applause.
click post title for the rest
How can the State Department deny a claim for PTSD when they send them into a war zone? Even the Green Zone gets bombed! She was in Basra.
Top State Dept. Officials Face Angry Questions
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007; Page A01
Uneasy U.S. diplomats yesterday challenged senior State Department officials in unusually blunt terms over a decision to order some of them to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad or risk losing their jobs.
At a town hall meeting in the department's main auditorium attended by hundreds of Foreign Service officers, some of them criticized fundamental aspects of State's personnel policies in Iraq. They took issue with the size of the embassy -- the biggest in U.S. history -- and the inadequate training they received before being sent to serve in a war zone.
One woman said she returned from a tour in Basra with post-traumatic stress disorder only to find that the State Department would not authorize medical treatment.
Yesterday's internal dissension came amid rising public doubts about diplomatic progress in Iraq and congressional inquiries into the department's spending on the embassy and its management of private security contractors. Some participants asked how diplomacy could be practiced when the embassy itself, inside the fortified Green Zone, is under frequent fire and officials can travel outside only under heavy guard.
Service in Iraq is "a potential death sentence," said one man who identified himself as a 46-year Foreign Service veteran. "Any other embassy in the world would be closed by now," he said to sustained applause.
click post title for the rest
How can the State Department deny a claim for PTSD when they send them into a war zone? Even the Green Zone gets bombed! She was in Basra.
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