Happy Birthday!

She's 231 years young. The Great Experiment continues. The principles that forged a nation nearly 2 1/2 centuries ago were unique in their time; never having been applied on such a grand scale. Today they are enshrined in the charters of most of the nations of the earth, even if imperfectly applied. Happy Birthday. I know they're just trying to exhibit a little patriotic holiday flair, but there is something a little disconcerting about the contractor responsible for operating the dining facilities forcing their glum little Pakistani workers to wear little red, white and blue paper Uncle Sam hats.

It has been relatively quiet for the past several days. We had started to become accustomed to the thud of mortars and the boom of outgoing artillery throughout the day, but lately it has been calm. What little of Baghdad we have had the opportunity to see is quite a bit different than where we had been previously posted. Parts of the city would feel very familiar to anybody living near a big city in the U.S. Wide elevated highways with sweeping on and off ramps slice through the city allowing rapid access to just about any part. Large green signs above the roadways announce in English and Arabic the way to the airport, city center, Balad, Abu Ghraib, etc. Yes, most of the guardrails have been removed to foil IED emplacers. Yes, all that remains of several overpasses is jagged concrete rubble and a web of iron bars thanks to car bombs (VBIED's). Yes, concertina wire obstructs all the pedestrian overpasses. Yes, great chunks of roadway have been blown away by IED's. Yet it is all so very familiar. We've all seen Hollywood create sets like this on back lots for post-apocalyptic films.

"The Day After" sensation was most palpable at one of the Joint Security Stations (JSS) in our area. These are the mini-FOB's that are operated by U.S. and Iraqi Army units, and are central features of the Surge strategy. This particular JSS is in a shopping mall. It has all the features of a large, modern urban galleria. Several stories tall, with a central courtyard and fountain, escalators, etc. It would not be out of place in Denver, Colorado. The difference is that all the stores are empty, there's concertina wire running the length of the escalators, sandbagged fighting positions throughout, bullet holes in the windows, no power (or air conditioning!), dust covers everything, and stray dogs roam freely within. Here soldiers make their home. The first time we walked in, I felt like I had walked into a weird parallel universe.

I'm sorry that it has been a while between posts. I'll try to throw something up here on a more regular basis...even if there is nothing particularly noteworthy going on. Enjoy the holiday everybody.