I recently discovered that Picasa has a photoshopping capability. I’m sure I should’ve known this a long time ago, but whatever. Anyway, I’ve been messing around with it to touch up some of the photos I took in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, this provides a great excuse to tell unsolicited war stories.
The set below consists of eight photos I took in Iraq in 2003. Tomorrow, I’ll post another group of six shots I captured during the fighting in post-9/11 Afghanistan (during which time I probably should’ve been calling for indirect instead of snapping photos with a disposable camera).
Deadlined
This was one of two American Apaches that sustained "hard landings" during the March 2003 sandstorm at FARP Shell, south of Najaf.
Caravanserai
A ruined, thousand year-old caravanserai lies in the open desert some 30 miles southwest of Najaf, on the old road between Baghdad and Mecca. We used it as a command post while operating a defensive screen during the invasion. It's a lot bigger than it looks in the photo. Ironically, this caravan stop once offered foreign travelers temporary shelter and a chance to stock up on supplies for the duration of the several-week-long trip trip. So by that definition, I guess it was still in business circa 2003.
Scorched Palm Fronds
This was supposedly the General Intelligence Directorate ("mukhabarat") building in Hillah. It was struck by U.S. bombs in the early days of the invasion. The people in Hillah--which is predominantly Shi'a--were thrilled. It was the one place they actually did throw flowers.
Arches
This is the interior of the caravanserai. While the walls are crumbling, and the ground is nothing but piles of dust and bricks, all the doorway arches are intact. At least they were in 2003. Obviously Iraqi construction standards in the ninth century were higher than those in present-day America. My Office Space-like apartment complex in Dallas was built in this decade, but its wafer-thin walls probably won't last another.
Ba'ath House
Sitting on Baghdad's south bank of the Tigris River, this Ba'ath Party mansion was one of the first targets struck in the initial phase of the war. Compared to the rear of the house and the pool in the back yard, the front you see is actually in impeccable condition. I've actually gone on Google Maps and seen the rubble left on the property after the house was demolished sometime after we left Baghdad that May.
Capitulation
No longer aimed skyward, this Iraqi 57-mm anti-aircraft cannon sat silently in a grassy Baghdad field just off the Dora Expressway. We "found it" in April, on our first day in the city. I would say that we "captured" it, since people were still taking pot shots at us as the fighting wound down, but the entire battery in the area had been abandoned a day or so earlier. The artillery pieces in the field were all still locked and loaded, and there were even discarded uniforms and military medals lying on the ground next to plates of uneaten food.
Vandalism
For about two days after the looting and mayhem in Baghdad subsided, there was little traffic on the streets. No one knew what to do--or what was next. This included Baghdad residents and U.S. forces. It was calm for a day or two, and eerily silent. In some places, the only sign of the previous days' fighting were the still-burning oil fires set by Saddam--like the one on the horizon. This was taken outside the perimeter of Baghdad's main refinery.
Owned
This Volkswagen belonged to the guys that almost got me. One of the car's occupants confessed on the aid station operating table that they'd been paid $25 to attack us. And so it's gone for the past five years.
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