Rainy Day Read

This Nicholas Johnson interview with a contractor is pretty compelling stuff.. although I have to wonder if some of the details aren't fictionalized. Certainly the thing to read if you haven't quite had your "What the hell!" moment yet today.

What have you learned by working in a combat zone?

I have gained more of an understanding of the people and the areas.

Al Asad (my first place of work in Iraq) has an Oasis on it that is considered the third Holiest spot in all of Islam: an oasis where Abraham supposedly drank and bathed. A few Marines swam in the Oasis and ended up having to go to the hospital with some horrible skin rash. This Oasis is now surrounded by a dump, and within the dump there is a fenced area that holds a grave site for an entire Iraqi soccer team that was executed by Saddam’s military after losing an important soccer match. Not far from Al Asad is an area that is supposedly the Garden of Eden. It too is now an area filled with mass graves.

The sight of an elderly goat herder looking up into the sky as an unmanned Predator Assault aircraft flies over and takes photos: brilliant! Watching Americans cover their ears as they walk past a Mosque blasting the words of Mohammed from a pair of blown out speakers: genius!

It is hypnotic to be part of this lunacy.

I'd imagine that last line resonates for more than a few of us here in New Orleans as well.

via