Scenes From An Iraqi Wedding

Filed under: Iraq

A wedding in the Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada.

Corey Flintoff, NPR

 

NPR reporter Corey Flintoff sends along this dispatch from Iraq:

Here's a sign that things might be looking up in Baghdad.

Last year, I did a story about how wedding photographers were hurting for business, because the security situation was so awful that young people either couldn't meet or didn't feel optimistic enough to commit to marriage.

The weddings that did take place were very private affairs because people didn't want to draw attention that could lead to a terrorist attack.

Last Friday, I was invited to an afternoon wedding party in the relatively safe and upscale neighborhood called Karrada. True, there was a bombing at a crowded restaurant there a couple of days before, but the situation was safe enough that I and some of NPR's Iraqi staff members were able to drive to the banquet hall without security guards.

Continue reading "Scenes From An Iraqi Wedding" »

Caitlin Kenney

8:54 AM ET | 06- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Not a Video Game

Filed under: Iraq

A scene from Virtual Iraq

Image courtesy of Skip Rizzo

 

On today's show, Albert "Skip" Rizzo told us about Virtual Iraq, a virtual reality environment used to help returning soldiers deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The theory is that by immersing soldiers to virtually relive their trauma in a safe environment, you can help them better process their memories. I've watched some direct feed from Virtual Iraq. It looks like a video game, but knowing that what I'm seeing is a representation of something that might have actually happened to someone makes it feel like something else entirely.

Ian Chillag

9:16 AM ET | 05-20-2008 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

An Iraq Soldier-Blogger's Final Post

Filed under: Iraq

Army Major Andrew Olmsted

Via

Blogger and soldier Andy Olmsted was killed yesterday in Iraq. Olmsted had been writing for the Rocky Mountain News. He'd left behind a final blog post with a friend just in case:

I suppose I should speak to the circumstances of my death. It would be nice to believe that I died leading men in battle, preferably saving their lives at the cost of my own. More likely I was caught by a marksman or an IED. But if there is an afterlife, I'm telling anyone who asks that I went down surrounded by hundreds of insurgents defending a village composed solely of innocent women and children. It'll be our little secret, ok?

Whether you'd read anything by him before or not -- I hadn't -- it's worth a few minutes of your time.

Ian Chillag

2:10 PM ET | 01- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (32) | e-mail post

Bush Signs Bill for Whole Lot of Billions

Filed under: Iraq, News

This just in from the Associated Press:

"President Bush on Wednesday signed a $555 billion bill that funds the Iraq war well into next year and keeps government agencies running through next September."

AP says Bush had big reservations about the more than 900 "earmarks" for special interests, but signed anyway. The bill includes $70 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Laura Conaway

1:14 PM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Blogger: Neil Gaiman Sends Comics to Iraq

Filed under: Iraq

A blogger we follow at our house says he just got a box of free comics through an unusual regift. The military "Man from Missouri" is serving in Iraq, and he writes:

So Neil Gaiman gets alot of free comics sent to him (being a famous dude in the comics world it makes sense). He does not have time for them all, so he boxed up a set and sent them to a friend of his who happens to be serving in Iraq. She has no use for them and has such passed them on to me.

This turned out pretty cool.

Neil Gaiman, of course, is the graphic novelist who wrote The Sandman and American Gods, among other classics.

Laura Conaway

10:07 AM ET | 12-19-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Marines Want Exoskeleton, Maybe Robot

Filed under: Iraq

Noah Shachtman, defense editor for the Wired blog network, uncovered a 2004 request from the Marines for a Marine Exoskeletal Performance Augmentation Capability. Called MEAC for short, the gear would protect troops today and eventually, maybe, develop into a "self-aware" machine with no need for a human attachment.

Shachtman writes that the Marines' proposal appears to have gone nowhere, but the idea may have resurfaced elsewhere:

[O]ther parts of the military continue to pursue exoskeletons. According to Pentagon budget documents, a project to build a "personal combat vehicle," allowing a soldier to "carry 150 pounds while feeling only a small part of the load" is making its way from the blue-sky technologists at Darpa to the Army's more practically-focused engineers.

Laura Conaway

10:05 AM ET | 11-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Wounded Warrior Barracks Founder Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell on the BPP

Filed under: Iraq

Tim Maxwell's scar is shaped like a question mark.

Courtesy of Tim Maxwell

Today we spoke with Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell, a Marine who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2004. After a remarkable recovery, Maxwell went on to found the first Wounded Warriors Barracks, a facility where active-duty Marines can recover together. Maxwell's work has made him one of Esquire Magazine's Best and Brightest 2007.

Here on the BPP, we're not afraid to devote longer chunks of time to stories when we think it's warranted, and this was definitely one of those situations. Lt. Col. Maxwell talked about his own injury and recovery, the first thought most wounded soldiers have when they wake up in the hospital, and why so many of them have trouble being called "heroes."

Read more about Maxwell and his work at his website.

Dan Pashman

11:29 AM ET | 11-26-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Turkey May Use Force in Northern Iraq

Filed under: Iraq

A Turkish soldier patrolling today near the border with Iraq.

Mustafa Ozer/ AFP/Getty Images

In the news this week from Iraq, Turkish officials have authorized the use of force to root out Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, and a Washington Post reporter was killed in Baghdad. Sudarsan Raghavan, the Post's Baghdad bureau chief, examines recent developments in the war and remembers his Iraqi colleague, Salih Saif Aldin.

After the bump, links for deeper reading.

Continue reading "Turkey May Use Force in Northern Iraq" »

Laura Conaway

11:26 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Washington Post Reporter Killed in Baghdad

Filed under: Iraq

Salih Saif Aldin, a 32-year-old reporter for the Washington Post, was killed yesterday in Baghdad by a bullet to the forehead, apparently from close range. His colleagues' report:

The area Saif Aldin was visiting is dominated by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Some residents at the scene said they feared that soldiers from the Iraqi army, believed to be infiltrated by the militia, were responsible for his death.

"They killed him," one man whispered, pointing at members of the Iraqi army brigade on the street.

Further reading:

Iraq: Journalists in Danger

Iraq Body Count

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count

Laura Conaway

11:14 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Report: Marines Want to Leave Iraq

Filed under: Iraq

Rachel Martin delivers the news from Iraq in one quick audio dose. Top headline: The Marines reportedly want to transfer troops from Iraq to Aghanistan.

After the bump, a list of links for those who want more.

Continue reading "Report: Marines Want to Leave Iraq" »

Laura Conaway

11:48 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post