Iraqi Famil Care Package people.. It's been too "dangerous" to

[SoCalDem]

deliver the boxes..

I finally heard from my friend, and what he describes to me (cannot divulge all the details) is ....B A D ..

Wen they first arrived, they were free to and were encouraged to "mingle with the people" and to "move freely around the city"..

It appears that now, they are mostly holed up in their bunker in the Green Zone..

There are attacks all the time, and they fear suicide bombers (they NEVER had them before.. Every trip out and about brings fears of passing vehicles or parked vehicles exploding.. Every trip completed safely is like a mission completed..

Things are NOT better.. My friend is a Native born Iraqi, who looks like the, and speaks like them. and HE is afraid.. Can you iamgine the fear of the ones who do NOT blend in, and who cannot understand what is being said behind their backs??

He did say that he will try to get a group together to deliver them next week..

(When this project started, he actually thought that it would be a simple issue.. Get a driver, a photographer, and head out to Sadr City.. Take some pics, and everyone's happy.. Now it's turned into a "military mission"..

Very bad.. :(

[Cooley Hurd]

1. The situation sounds like it's far too dangerous for the UN...

...to even re-enter Iraq, let alone set up an election infrastructure. That means Sistani and the Shiites will be holding their own election on July 1st without the UN being involved. I doubt the situation will improve before then.

Hope your friend stays safe, SoCal...

Damn it! We gotta get our kids home! :(

[SoCalDem]

2. There will be a civil war, and it will end up costing us 10 times

or more what we have "budgeted for"..

We already cannot tell the good guys from the bad...and now THEY cannot tell the difference either..

This is awful..

[prolesunited]

3. That does NOT bode well at all

and it sounds like you're holding back. It's a powder keg waiting to erupt.

I hope your friend stays safe. At any point, will he pull out or is he committed?

[SoCalDem]

6. He sold everything here in America

His daughter went to finish High school in Montreal.. His wife moved to Beirut, so she would be close enough so he could visit occasionally.. He has committed himself to see this through. He was recruited by the Pentagon, and was commissioned a Colonel in the US Army.. (He is a US citizen)..BUT he is FROM Iraq, and he wants to see it retunred to what he remembers from his youth..

He is NOT a Chalabi type.. He is just a decent 55 yr old guy who saw his country destroyed and he wants to make it better..

This is a guy who was used to creature comforts.. (The ONLY multi-millionaire I was ever personal friends with )

He left a 8,000 sq ft home in Anaheim Hills to sleep on a cot, wearing a helmet and flak jacket 24/7.. He is determined..

[reprobate]

4. My big fear is that civil war will lead to all of them.....

....attacking our troops. We are the common denominator that they will turn on.

[Jacobin]

5. One of my son's friends just got back from Iraq on R&R

He watched CNN for a while where they were talking about 18-30 attacks a day against coalition forces.

He LAUGHED OUT LOUD and said "Hell, we've got 18-30 attacks against our compound every day".

He went over there gung ho. He's now pissed at Bush* and says the Iraqis hate us, want us gone and he now knows we were duped into this invasion

[SoCalDem]

7. kick for the afternooners

:hi:

[Bunny]

8. Aw SoCal, this is so sad in so many ways.

I'm sorry for your friend and our guys who are in such danger. I'm sorry that the immediate future looks so bleak for everyone over there. And I'm sorry that the packages sent by our good DUer's may sit there for a long long time, instead of getting to the people who need them.

Sigh.