17 July

Hillah, Iraq.

It is hot. I know, I know, I am in the desert. But it is really hot. Today it exceeded 50 degrees Celsius, which is the top end of the official Camp Charlie thermometer.

One of the Green Berets saw 55 degrees on his personal thermometer, but I didn’t photograph that, so I can only conclusively say that it was over 50 degrees Celsius. Since I think we can all agree that the metric system is only a fad and will gain neither world wide acceptance nor usage, 50 degrees Celsius
is 122 degrees Fahrenheit. 55 degrees Celsius is 131 degrees Fahrenheit, but since I didn’t see it, I am not sure if that counts. By the way, it is, in fact, a dry heat.

Our mission involving the national level asset was on for the night. This was a pretty straight forward mission. We were going to arrest an arms dealer. In keeping with the popular policy of bad guys everywhere, the arms dealer paid a bunch of locals to warn him in the event somebody not conducive to dealing arms came down the road. The objective area was a single house along a canal. We have worked this scenario enough that we only required a minimal briefing for everybody to know their part.

We headed down south to the area where we were to meet the national level asset. In a rather unfortunate choice of waiting places, we parked right next to a swamp. Apparently, mosquitoes really, really like swamps. I can assure you they really, really like people who stand around next to swamps. I am very happy I have been keeping up on my malaria medicine.

We established contact with the national level asset, and headed on down the road to fight crime. The bad guy lived on a very long, straight road that paralleled a canal. As we headed down the road, the gunners had to pay particular care to not get smacked in the head by low hanging branches and power lines.

The national level asset worked. We achieved total surprise on the target. In fact, he was eating supper when the good guys kicked down the door. He was quickly taken into custody, and the search began. It took a while because there was a lot of stuff hidden around.

The Anglicos provided security down the only path of approach to the objective area.

We established a perimeter at the house next door, which had a number of males hanging out watching the excitement.

“You want to flex cuff these guys and make them lie down?” I asked the Staff Sergeant.
“Nah”, he replied, “Let’s go talk to them.”

I was struck by the implications of this conversation. We are the lords of this land. We can do almost anything we want. War gives the common man the privilege of tyranny, a right normally reserved for monarchs and madmen. We were working to install the rule of law, but we are the law, a law unfettered by a Constitution or Miranda.

If I want to detain somebody, I can. I can go into their houses at my own whim. I can search their possessions. I can shoot their cars if they get too close. I can kill them if I feel even slightly threatened.

I think that Americans have a natural dislike for tyranny, as it runs against our national character. As a people, we really don’t like people telling us what to do, which is a pretty nice trait to have in a conquering force. The prevailing attitude I have experienced is one of wanting to do the right thing, to set up a fair and representative government, and then getting the hell out of here. There are billboards all over the country that feature a finger dipped in blue ink, reflecting the national vote. The Iraqi people are amazed by liberty, and generally overwhelmingly in favor of representative government. I hope they can hold on to things after we leave.

We opted for nation building over megalomania tonight, and had a nice talk with the neighbors. They indicated that the arms dealer was given to suspicious behavior. We told the neighbors that we were here to help, and they should feel free to call the police if they see something suspicious. They seemed to wrestle with that idea for a while, but hopefully it will catch on.

We captured a mortar, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, numerous small arms and ammunition, as well as a stack of cash. The arms dealer was turned over to the police.

This was a thoroughly successful mission, one that got us home early. Some guys stayed up to watch movies, but I took a shower and headed to bed.

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