Amman, Iraq, and Al-Qaim
May 14, 2005
Dahr Jamail
It feels uncomfortable writing about Iraq from Amman…but my close friends, Abu Talat (my close friend and interpreter) and intuition have all provided the same message-do not go inside Iraq at this time.
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Abu Talat phoned his family today in Baghdad. They’ve had no electricity for four days. They told him (uncomfirmed) that all of Iraq has had no electricity for several days. As Abu Talat says, “Baghdad is running on the generator.”
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Abdul-Khaliq al-Raqwi, the director of communications for the Iraqi Government in al-Qaim, confirmed to Al-Jazeera that 2 US helicopters were shot down in Qusaybah this past Wednesday. The military denied this, even though witnesses on the ground confirmed the report as well.
Another interesting incident which occurred the beginning of the month was when two F-18 Hornet jets crashed in Iraq. The military claimed there was no indication of hostile fire, yet they crashed in different locations. On the day of their crash, Baghdad airport was closed to commercial air traffic for three days with no reason given by authorities.
(more)
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000241.php