Day 80: American combat troops are out of the cities

So, although Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett's deaths have pushed Iran's democratic protests and the US "drawdown" out of the cities to the back pages, today was the Big Day. So far, there has been one terrorist attack -- up north in Kirkuk, where the Kurds have been asserting their autonomy and fighting not only with the Sunnis, Shi'as, but also the Turkish people.



Honestly, I don't know if it was Obama's push, or if that was just the impetus, but if so, I am already glad he's in power because putting some dates and some heat really got people from the momentum of stretching this out to being another Bosnia or Kosovo. Actually, someone should call me out on this because it was actually the security agreement and I think that was signed before the presidential campaigns.



Anyhow, I was in Baghdad today, but only in the Green Zone, so did not get to see any of the parades or ceremonies or "street parties." We took off from Baghdad to come back home around 2pm, so had a birds eye view from the helicopter, but still did not see anything. Strangely, the main roads were actually empty -- maybe a security measure?



This is a good thing folks.



Oh one funny incident. The chopper ride from Basra to Baghdad is one hot, unpleasant 3 hr experience. Maybe the first time, it's sort of cool. Maybe for about 20 min at most. You pass over some pretty incredible terrain -- mud houses with no power lines anywhere in sight, marshes, even some open water, then baked desert. But, having the hot wind and sand in your face for that long while your ass goes numb doesn't rank real high on my list of fun things to do. So, I was amused when the political advisor (POLAD) for our division, civilian equivalent to a general, pulled out a Amazon Kindle to read on the flight. I kidded her for awhile, and then right when she was started to get annoyed, I showed her mine. So we both had these geek toys and when the pilot came over during a refueling stop, he was shaking his head. I wrote on my hand, "Because no inflight magazines"