Received this morning from
Soonergrunt:
Well, I'm in Afghanistan.
It's hot and dry, and so are the endless "Death by Powerpoint" briefings.
I'm still not quite adjusted to the time change, so I'm up at 0230 local time.
The internet cafe is run by KBR, but I can get DailyKos, Eschaton, and other stuff. There is a bay for connecting laptops as well as dumb internet terminals, and I'm going to look into the cost of getting internet into my room, as soon as I know whether or not, and how long I'm going to be staying at this camp.
We get the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report here at 0130 local. A lot of guys tape it and pass it around.
The guys on the outgoing task-force look at me like I'm a herald of the second coming or something. They've had a rough time, almost all from accidents. No deaths or injuries due to enemy action though.
Stay well, and may God bless and keep you and yours and all Kossacks.
My reply:
So you're in-country - a little sooner than expected. It sounds like the camp is pretty well fitted out, although the reference to accidents leaves me concerned about how suitable your equipment and vehicles are for the area. The reported calm regarding "enemy action" is a big relief.
I'm so glad you're still wired over there, so can keep up with things at home and stay close to your family. Compared to the isolation of soldiers in earlier conflicts who depended on mail deliveries, this is a huge advance toward staying close to those at home, and will make a real difference when you come back. We can get the Daily Show here in the UK now, but I rarely watch because I usually am doing something else with the boys when it's on.
I'm still in London. It's cold and wet, and so are the endless handshakes with bankers in the City. I'm participating in a think tank meeting this afternoon on the current state of global finance. It should be interesting with the US markets down 5-10 percent in just a few weeks and some foreign markets down over 50 percent since February. A lot of folks are going to hurt if the crash really starts to roll, but with the levels of debt out there coming under pressure from rising interest rates, I don't think there's any question of dodging this bullet for some of the frothier markets. Anyway, I already have work for one government where the stock market crashed, and can reasonably expect more if the trend continues. It pays to have a reputation for cleaning up complex financial messes in times like these when everyone else is worried about heads rolling (literally in the case of my client's country).
I went to a surprising event here on Monday, a talk by the BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner. Frank was shot six times in 2004 by an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia and left for dead. He is now in a wheelchair, but kept his job with the BBC and his love of the Middle East. It was really quite inspirational to listen to him emphasise the difference between the cowardly and evil attacks of those who shot him and the generosity and kindness of all the Muslim friends and supporters he has known the remainder of his 26 years in and out of the Middle East. He doesn't have any illusions about the problems and challenges there, but balances the culture and the positive values against that.
Some in the audience (mostly from the Muslim community) expressed fears of being isolated in Britain, but most were optimistic that Frank's good sense was widely shared, pointing to the lack of any racist backlash or rhetoric after the bombings in July last year. Indeed, there has been practically no discernable permanent effect from those events. Frank reported live on the scene of the 7/7 bombings for the BBC - which shows an amazing capacity for objectivity given his own recent experience of such trauma. It also occured to me listening to him that you'd never see a disabled journalist on a major US network. I bought his book, and hope to read it on my flight to Vegas.
Stay in touch. Stay well. I've always felt closest to God in rugged lands, and trust you will find him close by when you seek him.
After this correspondence, I checked the news to see what things were like in Afghanistan. There has been a general escalation of conflicts recently, although it is a big country where a lot of regional variation might be expected.
Sadly, the news was not good:
Reuters:
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents launched a major attack on a town in the southern Afghan province of Helmand and 13 policemen and 40 Taliban were killed in nine hours of fighting, government officials said on Thursday.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy in the western city of Herat, killing himself and an American, police said. The American was a civilian State Department contractor, the U.S. embassy said.
That was followed by news of the death of the first Canadian female soldier in Afghanistan, Capt. Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard.
A French military engineer also lost his life Monday while engaged in mine clearing operations north of Kabul.
Frank Gardner's book, Blood and Sand, was published earlier this month.
Synopsis
On 6 June 2004, Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were in a quiet suburb of Riyadh, filming a piece on Al-Qaeda when they were confronted by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed instantly. Frank was brought down by a shot in the shoulder, then the leg. As he lay in the dusty street, a figure stood over him and proceeded to pump 4 more bullets into him at point blank range... Blood & Sand is the story of a man who was left for dead but - and against all odds - survived. And not only did Frank Gardner survive but, drawing on his journalistic calling, he has given us an extraordinary, terrifying account of the whole, literally life-shattering, experience - from what it's like to be shot to the excruciating months of recovery. But his book is more than about this one incident and its aftermath. It is about a journey that began 25 years ago with a chance meeting on a London bus with the veteran Arabian explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, who inspired in the young Frank what would become a lifelong passion for the Arab world. This abiding interest would lead him to travel throughout the Middle East, experiencing at first hand peoples, places and cultures that few have encountered - a colourful world of scorpion-infested Bedouin tents, of Cairene hash dens and vibrant Egyptian slums. It's a journey that would eventually lead, via the world of banking, to Frank becoming a journalist with the BBC. And it was this passion that would, in the wake of the world-changing events of 9/11, send him on the journey that came to dominate - and so very nearly end - his life: his coverage of the phenomenon that is Al-Qaeda. Written with honesty, integrity and humour, this is a powerful, haunting account of survival, of over-coming adversity and a determination to carry on - a moving and inspiring personal story that reveals a deep understanding of the Islamic world and an insider's compelling analysis of the on-going 'War on Terror' and what it means in these uncertain times.
Let's lighten up a little now. Put in some jokes or stories you think will give Soonergrunt and his boys a laugh or two.