Hillah, Iraq.

Things have been slow operationally as we get ready for a visit from a government dignitary. Today we went to arrest a local cop who happens to be selling weapons to anyone.The best part was watching the newly trained Iraqi Special Forces:

They were raring to go, and even wanted a dip just like the US SF guys. The Americans were happy to oblige them with monstrous dips of Copenhagen, which made them all loopy and nearly sick. We drove out:

and finally got there:

Pretty well to do family, with a couple of cows, goats, and an actual grass yard. As you can see, mud brick is a popular architectural theme in Iraq. The Iraqi Special Forces arrested the guy:

because he was selling guns, grenades, and stuff to make IEDs:

The arresting pictures is somewhat misleading. He *is* blindfolded. When Iraqis are taken into custody, they are blindfolded, and then walked around. Apparently, Iraqis have a terrible sense of direction. You can walk a blindfolded Iraqi in a 10 foot square, and he has no idea where he is. The arresting officers do this because it disorients the Iraqis, and they pretty much freak out and start blabbing like crazy. Once they start talking, it is hard to get them to shut up, even when the blindfold is taken off.In other news, the chow hall starting serving chili mac, which has all the camp abuzz. I plan on sampling it at my earliest convenience.Should be busy the next couple of days entertaining foreign dignitaries.

I finally got the secure email account operational. It really pains me to have an army email address. I generated a bunch of traffic to answer the squadron’s questions. There is a huge difference in corporate philosophy between the Navy and the Air Force. The Navy guys I have controlled more or less would accept missions like “Be at this location at this time, and shoot what I tell you.” Answering an Air Force question seems to generate three more.