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From my cousin Mitch, in Iraq. What's this all about?
Thursday, March 25, 2004:
Hey guys. So another day in the desert. This time for real. We heard some distant mortar rounds last night but from what I hear, they were outgoing and not incoming. We apparently have a range here so the artillery boys go have their fun at nights sometimes. I have some grusome news as to why we got hit so hard that last night where we were before. Apparently, rumor has it that when another unit was leaving, they threw an MRE at a kid that was on the side of the road. MRE's are the food we eat when we are convoying or don't have any hot chow. They tell us not to give the people here food or water while driving by because it can cause a stir up of crowds. Anyway, one of the soldiers threw the MRE down and when he did the kid went running out into the road to get it. Then the kid must have gotten hit by one of the vehicles that were behind the one that threw the MRE at him. This upset the locals a lot and that's why we got hit so hard that night. I'm not sure if the kid lived or died, but I would say that it was an unfortunate outcome that would anger the locals so bad. It's a sad story, and it's a horrible part of war that civilians get hurt in accidents. But that is basically why we got hit so hard that night.
Well, today is day two in our new camp. We have seen our living area that we will soon be moving into, it's nothing to write home about, but as you all know, I'll write home and let you all know how it is when we get there. Also, we worked on our new post office today. I have to say, it's pretty nice. I still have no idea what I'm going to be doing, especially since I don't hold the postal MOS. But I guess they will put me where they want me when the time comes.
Ok, now a little about the base we're at. It's just North of Baghdad and it is a dump. I mean a complete and total dump. It was carpet bombed when the Americans came in because it is an old Iraqi camp of some kind. We left it in total rubble, and now we're building it slowly back up. The local contractor (KBR) is sending out Iraqi construction units etc. to fix the place up. These KBR people are pretty much a monopoly here. They contract EVERYTHING. From food to construction to laundry, they do it all. And they are rich for it. But they do a great job and they get the job done so I'm not complaining. Well, I guess that's it. I'll write you again in a while, but I have a feeling (at least I hope) that the future messages are going to start being more and more boring. So we'll see. Well everyone, I love you and God bless. Thank you for your support.
Mitch's Entire Blog.
Quick little note - guess who KBR is? That's right, they're a Halliburton subsidiary! Halliburton, of course, is Dick Cheney's company who gets contracts from the military for everything, as we see here, from food services to oil to firefighting oil fires to laundry. They get most of these contracts without bidding (surprise!) They're in trouble right now for everything from threatening to not give troops their food to overcharging for oil.
How fun is that?
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