2 Crabs

Grand Bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey

Grand Bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Yet another photo from Turkey.

Istanbul...redux

ISTANBUL, Turkey, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Hiya. I'm back home in London. I'll post more about my Iraq adventures later but at the moment I'm swamped on deadline. In the meantime, I've posted some new photos of Turkey on Flickr. Click the photo below or the Flickr icon at the top right to see the full photostream.
Mr. Crab

Greetings from Iraq, part 2

Old bridge in Zahko (Zaxo), Northern Iraq, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Hiya. I'm in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and largest city in northern Iraq. This photo shows an old Ottoman bridge in Zahko, on the Turkish border. I would post more photos but Internet in this part of the world is excruciatingly slow. But so far on this trip I've hit Zahko, Dohuk, Amadiyah, Barzan, Aqrah, Gali Ali Beg, Beckhal, Rawanduz, Shaqlawa, Salahaddin and now Erbil. From here I'll be going to Sulaymaniyah, Halabjah and then back to the land of the big P.X. in London. Erbil is an amazing city, second only to maybe Dubai in terms of construction in the Middle East. There are shopping malls, 5-star hotels, restaurants and entertainment facilities here. This is where it's all happening in Iraq in terms of tourism and development! So other than two minor incidents where I was detained and questioned by soldiers who were suspicious because they had never seen a Western tourist, Ive had no problems at all. This has been a fun assignment and hope to encourage many more Westerners to visit Iraqi Kurdistan! I'll post more photos when I get back to London. Cheers!
Mr. Crab

Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdish Region

Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdish Region, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Reposting to correct error below!

Greetings from Dohuk, Iraq!

Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdish Region, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

Here's a photo of Iraq you won't see on the nightly news. It's the Mazi Dream City amusement park in Dohuk, Iraq from atop the ferris wheel. After the sun set, thousands of Kurdish Iraqis entered the park wearing their Thursday night best. Women don beautiful colorful, traditional dresses with sequins and sparkles; guys wear jeans and t-shirts. This park is located in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) province of Dohuk in northern Iraq. I'm just a few miles from war-torn Mosul but a world away. Talk about surreal!

I'm on my second day of my long trip through Kurdistan. I'll try to post regular updates, which shouldn't be too hard as there are internet cafes everywhere in Kurdistan!

Greetings from Istanbul II

Basilica Cistern - Istanbul, Turkey, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

The Basilica Cistern beneath Istanbul, Turkey. Built in 532 A.D. to hold drinking water, it was lost for nearly 1,000 years before being rediscovered.

Greetings from Istanbul

The Blue Mosque - Turkey, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

The Two Crabs spent three nights and two days in beautiful Istanbul, Turkey. We had no expectations going in so we were pleasantly surprised to find it to be such a cool town! And we couldn't get over the fact of how CLEAN it was. It makes London look downright filthy. Had a great time eating many kofte meatballs, washed down with pints of Efes Turkish beer. We'll post more photos when Mr. Crab returns from the Middle East. Cheers.

Memories of Hillary

As the whole world has heard by now, Hillary Clinton is in hot water for claiming she "landed under sniper fire" during her March 1996 visit to Bosnia.  I had forgotten all about that Bosnia visit until this controversy blew up last week.

You see, I was in Bosnia when Hillary visited. At the time, I was a young U.S. Army military journalist stationed at Eagle Base Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina during the NATO peacekeeping mission dubbed Operation Joint Endeavor. And as you can see from the photo above, I (Mr. Crab) met Hillary and daughter Chelsea. Our public affairs unit spent the day covering her arrival ceremony and visit with the troops. And I can assure you, at no time was Hillary, Chelsea or anybody else ever under fire that day.  In fact, during my entire six-month tour in Bosnia, I never saw or heard a single shot fired in anger.  We worked in the public affairs office. And believe you me, we would have heard about it if she or her plane had come under fire. 

Hillary now says she "misspoke" about the incident. I'm not sure what she thought she would gain by such an exaggeration. But the bigger question was, did she actually think the 20,000 U.S. soldiers or dozens of journalists in Bosnia at the time would not call her on that claim? 

Oh that wacky Hillary!

 

Our new favorite advert

Easter in London

Good Friday Easter procession outside our flat in Angel-Islington, London.

P.S. It's snowing! For the second day of spring, we're enjoying a rare snowy day in London. Unfortunately it's not sticking.

Iraq: Five Years On

From Mr. Crab:
Five years ago today, the U.S.-led war on Iraq began with a massive bombing campaign dubbed "Shock & Awe."  The war -- known as Operation Iraqi Freedom by coalition forces  -- was supposed to be a lightning quick, in-and-out battle.  But nobody anticipated the long insurrection or the simultaneous Shiite vs. Sunni sectarian civil war that has now dragged on for five long years.

As of today, the war has claimed 3,992 U.S. soldiers, 175 British troops, 133 other coalition troops, 6,737 Iraqi military and police and 40,869 Iraqi civilians, according to icasualties.org.

For us journalists, the Iraq War has become the most dangerous assignments of the last century. More than 177 journalists and media employees have been killed in Iraq since March 2003, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

My own connection as a journalist to Iraq began in early 2003. When it became clear we were going to war, I was assigned to my newspaper's "War Team" and deployed to the Persian Gulf. I spent a month on the USS Constellation aircraft carrier, floating around the gulf, waiting for the war to begin. I covered the "Shock & Awe" phase for a few weeks then flew to the tiny country of Qater, home of the military headquarters where the war was being run. After a week of covering dog-and-pony show press conferences. On April 9, 2003, Baghdad fell.  I quickly flew to Kuwait and hooked up with other journalists for a convoy to Basra. From there, me and a journalist from The Washington Post hired a taxi to take us to Baghdad. Yes, a taxi. No armed guards, no security convoys. Just Two Journs in a Taxi to Baghdad (that sounds like a sitcom title!). I spent a few weeks in Baghdad before returning to the Land of the Big PX -- military slang for the United States.

Since then, I've returned to Iraq eight times and will soon be departing on my ninth tour of duty.  All told, I've spent more than a year of the past five years of my life in Iraq. I am repeatedly asked odd questions like "Have you ever been shot at?"  "Have you seen dead bodies?" "Have you seen anybody get killed?" "Aren't you ever scared?"  The answer to all of the above is 'yes.'  I've only once come close to going to the Big PX in the Sky (i.e. killed). That happened on Nov. 18, 2005, when our media compound was attacked by two suicide bombers. I walked away with just bumps and bruises but six local Iraqis weren't so lucky. The sound, sight, smell and taste of the explosions is burned into my mind, and replayed continually like a TiVO gone haywire. 

So why do I keep going back? I guess I'm an eternal optimist. I'm not going to get into a debate about whether going to war was right or wrong or whether U.S. troops should stay or go. But I will say that everywhere in Iraq I see increasing signs of life in hope, whether in the eyes of a Baghdad schoolchild or in those of an Army grunt.  For "war correspondents" there is no other story. Iraq is a magnet. I'll be back.

Note: All of the above photos were taken by yours truly in Iraq. Click on the Flickr icon to see more Iraq images.

Banksy: In Tesco We Trust

Banksy: In Tesco We Trust, originally uploaded by TwoCrabs.

This new work by famous (or infamous) British grafitti artist Banksy appeared last week on the wall of a pharmacy on Essex Road, London, about five blocks from our flat. The pharmacist has been forced to cover it with plastic sheeting to prevent it from being defaced by an anti-Banksy vandal who has been destroying Banksy works around London. The reclusive Banksy is known as an anti-capitalist anarchist but by some estimates, this work could be worth $400,000 U.S. dollars.

Note to my fellow Americans: Tesco is the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart, a dirt-cheap, mega chain supermarket that has taken over the British landscape and pushed out Mom & Pop shops wherever it opens.  Tesco also recently expanded into the U.S. West Coast, opening a chain of convenience stores called Fresh & Easy. Incidentally, we do have Wal-Mart in the UK but it's called Asda here, and is a distant second to Tesco.

The meaning of this artwork is open to interpretation. Notice the kids' are pledging allegiance backwards, with their left hand over the right side of their chest. British schoolchildren do not pledge allegiance to the Union Jack the way American kids pledge to the Stars & Stripes every morning,  perhaps suggesting that the UK is falling prey to American consumerism? The plastic Tesco bag on the flagpole here may also have anti-littering, pro-environment connotations; several UK organizations have recently launched efforts to ban plastic bags.

What storm?

So much for the "Storm of the Century."  After three days of wall-to-wall television coverage, live news reports and nonstop weather forecasts and advisory bulletins, our storm was but as exciting as watching paint dry.  We had a little rain, a little wind, and that's it.  A few people on the English coast lost their power. But nothing serious. I tell ya, nothing gets Brits worked up more than the weather. Sheesh!  Although on the flip side, the British media reaction to this storm reminded me of how the local media in my hometown of Washington, D.C. ran around like chickens with their heads cut off at the first whisper of the word, "snow!"