as of this a.m. I was leaving tomorrow; as it now stands I'm leaving on the 14th. We'll see how it stands on the 14th.
This fine with me, like I've said I like this place. It also means I get to postpone "the shooting gallery" a little while longer. The shooting gallery is the term of endearment for the drive from Baghdad to Baghdad International Airport.
Both the Green Zone and the Airport are currently defined as Military Garrisons, you can see a good picture here:
Military Garrisons
See that curved dark line that connects them? That's the shooting gallery. If you're on that road then you're part of the occupation and the extremist outliers are out to get you -- you're fair game.
The PSD's only take armored cars on it, and they drive pedal to the metal the entire way, I'm not kidding, they don't slow down for anything. There are often fires off to the side of the road, burned out hulks of cars, and all kinds of crazy stuff. The PSD's will never get near a military convoy on it as they're an even jucier target than the rest of us. Of course, it's also your first introduction to Baghdad on your way in ... and it does a great job of setting the tone of "this place is nuts".
Okay, now the goal is to see exactly how much fun I can have between now and the 14th and put it on this blog.
I'll put up some new pictures soon too, I've got some good ones that I haven't had time to deal with.
