Man, there have been a series of explosions starting around 11 here in Baghdad. They’re pretty damn near where I live and there have been like 7. It’s around 11.20 pm. Check the news tomorrow, and see if anything truly noteworth got blown up, although it could just be the usual crap, just closer to me than normal. Just felt like I had to share with someone/anyone.
Whatever is going on, I hope you and your loved ones remain safe.
Ditto.
C&P Courtessy of today’s BBC:
Only one reported so far. ( Head down & helmet On please.)
Thanks all. Fortunately, my loved ones are in Washington DC and aid workers don’t wear helmets, it gets in the way of our tree hugging.
It looks like they hit the Green Zone, so either they were mortars and some fell short in our neighborhood, or they were big bombs. Either way, it’s quiet now.
CNN just reported on a series of explosions in Baghdad, but no explanation of who or what.
Yeah, they’re still going on all over the city apparently, but now much farther away. I’ve lost count and am going to bed. We’re hunkered down with security and everything’s fine. Thanks for the well wishes, I just felt the need to make some sort of human connection, you know?
CNN now says the explosions came from a fire at an ammunition depot at “Fire Base Falcon” about 4 miles from the CNN studio. They don’t know whether the fire was accidental of the result of an attack.
The Pentagon confirms the fire but provides no other details.
According to the rumor mill this morning, a mortar attack on a US position hit an ammo dump, this resulted in the 7 big explosions that I reported and a series of smaller ones all night long. There also was an attack on a police station not too far from us that included some grenades and a US counterattack. All in all, a noisy night.
We someone here from DC who isn’t used to living in the last throes of the insurgency and he told me thought it was pretty much the Tet offensive out there and got dressed, packed a bag and waited for someone to come get him. I don’t want to tell him, that no one is going to come for a handful of aidworkers in the middle of Baghdad, I don’t want to ruin the surprise.
I just want to give my thanks for the work you’re doing. You’re courageous and have a big heart. Good luck to you.
Thanks Tikki. That was a very nice thing to say.
You’re welcome. I only wish I could express my thanks a little more eloquently than I did.
Say, would you consider opening an “Ask the Aid Worker” thread one of these days when you have the time? I bet you could shed a lot of light on the realities of your job and the people and situations you encounter.
Until then, take care.
I have done a couple of those here and while I got some good questions, they never last too long. I always lose out to the “ask the guy who inseminates ferrets in his free time” type threads.
Part of the problem is the time difference. I post and then go to bed and when I wake up people have lost interest. Maybe I’ll do another one.
Mostly, I post a lot when I’m just trying to fight the mind-crippling boredom here. It’s pretty mucha jail sentence working in Baghdad, it’s not like I’m going out to the movies or anything.
Don’t kid yourself. Your commitment, at great personal risk, is nothing short of extrordinary and most people here probably appreciate that more than you’ll ever know.
I was thinking about you last night during the national news after reading your thread. Glad you’re safe and that this wasn’t due to some enormous escalation.
"the last throes of the insurgency "? If you weren’t smiling to yourself when you typed that, I owe you a beer. Good to see you still have your sense of humor. Still, do be careful. I’ve heard rumors that there are roaming gangs of shrapnel trajectories in Iraq (you certainly wouldn’t want to meet one in a dark alley).
Mad, the 9 hours isn’t so bad, we can bore the hell out of you just before it’s time to go to sleep. Think of it as the 'Dope, tucking you in at night. And when you wake up bright and perky, they’ll be some insomniac musing about the meaning of life, and you can tuck them in. See? Win win.
Thanks all. The “last throes” was definately tongue in cheek. It appears the fire of the ammo was caused by mortar rounds. We’ll see what tonight brings. I go on R&R in one week, so not much longer.