Prison Break…(Part 1)

As the four happy children wave at me through thick window of the up-armored HMMWV’s it occurs to me that I haven’t seen children in a long time. By that I mean really noticed children; especially children who notice me and/or children who stop and interact with me. We don’t have many of them in the IZ. As a matter of fact, as I’m thinking about it, it’s sort of like that village in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where children are banned. But these curious and friendly children get off their bikes, come to the windows and start talking and smiling with our second seater. It makes me think of the way I acted when I was growing up back home; a nosy brat. Only this wasn’t home… This was Downtown Baghdad – Actually this is better known as the infamous Haifa Street. And we are here to continue our mission of engaging Arabic media.

Today – we are scheduled for a co-hosted interview on Al Iraqiya with the spokesman for Iraqi forces in Baghdad and Fardh Al Qanoon; essentially my bosses counterpart. The trip out of the IZ starts out as usual but this time we're not headed down Route Irish… This time it’s the check point that my hooch mate, who works with IZ security, always describes as one of our more “interesting” areas. The moment we get past all the concrete fortifications I am amazed… Here is a bustling city. This can be Mexico, Czech Republic, Belize, or any third world country. A little more driving and we pass a large taskforce of US soldiers in their HMMWV’s followed up by an Iraqi CP. Razor wire… concrete barriers… crapped out buildings… Iraqi Police and Iraqi regular Army combined… this is an 80’s war movie set if I ever saw one.
This is where it gets interesting. We are told that we have to dismount and walk the rest of the way because our HMMWV’s can’t pass. The boss’s SUV with the Iraqi Gen gets the OK to pass through. We on the other hand get out of the perceived safety of our vehicle and start out on an adventure. Our convoy troops dismount as well and begin walking with us as an armed escort. We get maybe 50 meters before were told by an Iraqi Army Guard toting an old AK-47 that our M-16 musket carrying Personal Security Detachment can’t keep their long guns locked and loaded in this Iraqi controlled area. Hmmm… conundrum. By command orders they can’t be out here without their weapons locked and loaded. What we have here is a bit of a Baghdad stand-off as the boss’s vehicle is still driving on up ahead of us. We won’t keep him waiting. The three of us continue walking without our PSD. As we watch the boss’s vehicle turn a corner and pull out of site I start to have a real “Black Hawk Down” moment; a small under-armed detachment walking down a road to who knows where surrounded by who knows what. We come to the side street where the vehicle turned and there is bunch of ragtag civilians Iraqis types standing guard, more like lounging, at the entrance to this roadway. I wont bother to convey which militia they are most likely “unofficially” affiliated with but I’m will say its probably not that enthusiastic about our presence. Unfortunately there is no vehicle in sight - the SUV has sped off. We ask how far and get something that sounds like a mile… Whisky Tango Foxtrot?!?