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Day 1 Author: Brad Dated: Monday, July 11 2005 @ 04:24 PM EDT Baghdad. First Day After nearly 30 hours of travel and few hours of sleep we loaded onto a C 130 for the trip to Baghdad. There were several soldiers returning to th e theater as well as our group. We were all carrying our gear as well as wearing army issue kevlar and he lmets. Everyone talks about getting shot at, rough air, noise... I had a small window I could look out and as we flew from Kuwait to Baghd ad, I was amazed at the canal system. The landscape looked like the San Joaquin Valley in California, except, they forgot to turn on the water i n the canals. In the 90's Saddam had tried to kill the Marsh Arabs, by b uilding dams and stealing the water flowing South. Water is now flowing again, but the trees and land look dead. Seeing the agricultural and oil producing possibilities it is easy to imagine that as the economy and s afety improve, Iraq could easily become one of the largest economic powe rs in the Middle East. I wonder if that is why many Arab nations are lea ry of its success. As we circle and pivot through the air, the plane s try to never take the same path twice, airmen fire chaff flares out th e back of the plane to thwart missles fired from the ground, and then, a s gently as any commercial airliner, you set down on the runway at Baghd ad International Airport. We spent the day eating, the food is awesome here, talking to soldiers, a nd getting clearances to film and interview more people. I was immediately impressed by the morale of the soldiers here. Of course the left will tell you I am only looking for the good. I wonder what the difference is between someone who sets out looki ng for the positive and someone who sets out looking for the worst in Ir aq? Does that mean that the story we tell after interviewing soldiers an d citizens who have seen Iraq will not be true? We are sleeping in tents, approximately 20 people to a tent, ours both ci vilian and military. Allthough it is hot here, it feels a lot like my ho me town in Visalia, California. Of course we don't have concrete barrica des along all of our roads or sandbags surrounding our houses/tents, but the weather and climate seem similar. As I prepare to go to sleep, I feel excited, like a child who has so many exciting new things to do, and not enough time to do them.
View Replies To: ajolympian2004 Thank you for posting this! I've been watching for these stories to start coming in. If you have a ping list for these, or plan to start one coul d you please put my name on it?
Admin Moderator In all my posts or ones I find the keywords 'TruthTour' and 'IraqTruthTou r' are being added so if you search by one of them all related articles will be found. I requested that the Admin Moderator add a 'Iraq Truth To ur' link to the top of the News/Activism page for all articles on these keywords.
View Replies To: ajolympian2004 Well, this can't be true. The MSM has told us our troops are all discoura ged and afraid. Of course, that was when they were ordered to attend the reception for Hillary!
prairiebreeze Here's the first I've seen of what I hope will be many more articles from the conservatives going to Iraq to tell the other side. Nice to hear someone writing about the morale of our soldiers in a positi ve light.
View Replies To: ajolympian2004 I requested that the Admin Moderator add a 'Iraq Truth Tour' link to the top of the News/Activism page for all articles on these keywords.
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