Maybe Not Such A Good Idea... - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Canadian Dude** · 04-08-2004, 03:17 PM

Well I have re thought my plans on trying to enter Iraq. After hearing today that there have been a kidnapping of some folks from Japan and South Korea. Up to this poit I have not heard of many problems along this line, this has caused me to rethink this resky venture. Unless something changes between now and the time I make my trek to the Middle East, crossing the border may not be such a good idea. I stand to loose to much if something were to happen...As solo as I go when I am overseas, I still have a wife to think of...

**voyd** · 04-08-2004, 03:24 PM

^ Yes, now some of those were Christian missionaries, not merely agendaless tourists - but never hurts to be safe! I think you would certainly see plenty in the MidEast even if you don't set foot in Iraq!

**joanofarc** · 04-08-2004, 03:27 PM

i absolutely hate missionaries! not that they deserve kidnapping per se - but they still suck.

**chana** · 04-08-2004, 03:36 PM

How about Jordan? You know those minerals and mud in the Dead Sea are said to be very therapeutic.

**Somnambulation** · 04-08-2004, 04:07 PM

Go chill with the Kurds in the north They love Americans there and there is no insurgency or foreign terrorists to worry about.

**joanofarc** · 04-08-2004, 04:14 PM

or hell, just come on down to sunny san diego and i'll smoke you out with such good shit - you'll think you're in iraq!

**Canadian Dude** · 04-08-2004, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Go chill with the Kurds in the north They love Americans there and there is no insurgency or foreign terrorists to worry about.

Does that mean that there is some peace in the North? Where did you hear this?

So do you think if I went in via Turkey it might still be possible?

Ar Rutbah was the town I was going top try to get to, but its only about 280km from the "triangle" of cities that are in turmoil right now.

There is alot of what ifs...grrrrrrrr....ah well...

**Somnambulation** · 04-08-2004, 11:36 PM

Yeah, the Kurds are in control of thier area and there hasn't been fighting there for about year. They aren't too keen on terrorism (at least against the US) and keep things under control for the most part in thier semi-autonomous northern area. There is some tension with the Turks though, so I don't know if that border is open or not, but I know that was how many of the unauthorized journalists crossed into Iraq to cover the war.

**Canadian Dude** · 04-09-2004, 05:09 AM

Well, a Canadian has been added to the list of persons kidnapped in Iraq...I guess no one is imune...

**peenkfloeed** · 04-09-2004, 05:18 AM

Yes, the threat has def been elevated here in Iraq. Even I now have to wear all my battle rattle all the time and I work in a building all day

Hopefully things will calm down soon though, I am afraid that if it gets too much worse they might cancel leave. It will kill me if I don't get to go to Italy.

**Canadian Dude** · 04-09-2004, 06:40 AM

Just watch your ass out there brotha! I think about ya over there man, just do what ya gotta do to get on that leave to Italy bro!

News said today things have calmed down a little over night, negotiations are going on for a ceasefire. How correct that is I have no idea!! But the kidnappings are a new extream...

How do you get internet so often bro? Are you one of the lucky ones, or is it common now there?

What unit are you with? ( are you aloud to tell?)

**Carisia** · 04-09-2004, 06:08 PM

Take care peenkfloeed!

CD - sorry for the change of plans!

**peenkfloeed** · 04-10-2004, 12:26 AM

I am more of what you would call a "Paper Bitch" than an infantryman. So I get plenty of net time. But yes, it is more common for bases and the like to have the net for everyone over here, but some are still left out in the cold. I am in an aviation unit, so I don't see much action. I am trying to get out on a few missions. My upper said he will get me a seat on a chopper soon, i'll get pics. Thanks for the encouraging words from everyone as well, they make me a happy little soldier

**worldwidemike** · 04-11-2004, 03:50 AM

You're not like the coffee guy in "Blackhawk Down," are you?

Seriously, take care over there, man. And CD, chuck the Iraq plans. Remember, the Turks don't like the Kurds, so entering Kurdish Iraq from there will probably be off limits. Plenty to see in Jordan...

worldwidemike

**Canadian Dude** · 04-11-2004, 04:52 AM

Quote:

the Turks don't like the Kurds, so entering Kurdish Iraq from there will probably be off limits

Ya true enough...good point WWM...

Its funny, I had started to collect school supplies to brin and give to a school in the town, The Canadian who has been take hostage was doing the exact same thing...so sad...I will bring the supplies to the border I suppose and give them to someone to bring in for me...

**voyd** · 04-12-2004, 02:25 PM

"Something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers are probably, you know, a figure that would be required," General Shinseki told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee today. "We're talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant, with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems." - Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, Feb 25, 2003

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (and deputy defense secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz) vehemently disagreed and were so incensed with Gen. Shinseki's scary, but realistic, estimate (based upon his experience as a former commander of the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia) of troops needed to keep-tha-peace in Iraq that he soon replaced him with a more spineless "persuadable" General.

Shinseki was obviously referring to how thin the Army has been spread in his farewell address. To his troops he said, "today, nearly 370,000 of you are on point for the Nation in more than 120 countries around the globe." These nations include those where Big Oil, not the "Nation," is the raison d'etre for the Bush admnistration's foreign and military policies: Iraq, western Afghanistan, the Gulf, Colombia, the Horn of Africa, the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and former Soviet Central Asia. But Shinseki, all the professional, opted to keep his remarks on the positive side.

The thing is, Iraq is an unstable modern country that is more lines-on-a-map than cohesive, unified countrymen. As some have noted here, there are many warring factions. Hence, to view them all as collectively either pro- or anti-American is vast oversimplification.

It is also textbook guerilla warfare to mount sniper attacks on the occupying "peacekeeping" force to prod them into military action against the country/people as a whole. This then builds nationalistic unity against a common "enemy" - as is happening now.

It is also a grave tactical error to chase the wrong enemy while your real one lies in wait. Saddam was a cruel dictator, but he was not responsible for 9/11. While we are deploying all our forces in Iraq, we are spreading ourselves thin in other areas and leaving our henhouse more vulnerable against terrorist attacks. In fact, Republicans had passed the State Department's Visa Express program that only ended shortly before 9/11.

That program, which was killed in July, allowed visa applicants in Saudi Arabia to get approval to come to the United States without proper in-person interviews. They submitted applications through commercial travel agencies. Three of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers used the Visa Express program to get their visas and were never interviewed by a U.S. official. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers obtained visas in Saudi Arabia one way or another.

Before Sept. 11, this Visa Express program had allowed roughly 97 percent of Saudi visa applicants to obtain visas without face-to-face interviews.

Iraq is just a symptom of many deeper problems of twisted foreign policy (politics, oil, etc.) in the Mid East. Until those get solved, there will be no peace and this cancer will keep spreading across our globe...

**Rozza** · 04-12-2004, 02:36 PM

sorry to go of subject but missionaries, EERRGHHH, no no i wont have another rant, its just cultral genocide thats all

**Sijuki** · 04-12-2004, 08:18 PM

Voyd, you always pop in at such necessary times to drop off a load of interesting information.

Thanks for the info buddy.

**worldwidemike** · 04-13-2004, 03:56 AM

Voyd, you know I don't always agree with you on politics, but you hit the nail on the head, here...

worldwidemike

Frank Dukes · 04-17-2004, 01:21 AM

Just wanted to share something interesting I read in Time mag today. One of the US security contractors killed and mutilated in Fallujah was a guy named Scott Halvenston. He appeared on an extremely crass reality TV show called "Combat Mission" that screened in Hong Kong in 2001/2. The show was hosted by Rudy from the first Survivor show and essentially glorified the agressive shoot-first-ask-questions-later stylee of ex-military dudes. The irony of it was these guys were kicking ass and saving the world but in a totally safe, sterile made-for TV environ. Makes me wonder how strong a grip on reality some of thise operating in Iraq actually have?

If you saw Combat Mission you'll remember Scott Halvenston, he was a particularly agressive blonde haired red neck. Interesting insight ... I thought.