Hee is a letter that I wrote to a dude in the US Military mail that took a magazine of mine out of the mail for no good reason.
Dear Sir,
I see that you took the rifle magazine out of my mail. For some reason you have decided that I shouldn’t have the piece of gear that I ordered and paid for out of my own pocket to improve my chances of winning a gunfight against the enemy. I am guessing that the whole “winning a gunfight” thing is a little foreign to you. You probably have not been outside the wire have you?I make my living going outside the wire on a daily basis. That is why I bought the Magpul magazine that you took from my mail. I guess from your letter explaining your actions (I honestly do appreciate the decency to at least write a letter explaining it). That the reason you took the magazine out of my mail was because you suspected that I was taking Army property. (Why would I attempt to smuggle Army property from my house in the US, into Iraq?). But the Army does not issue a Magpul magazine, and that is the reason why I bought them. See I can get my hands on all the crappy issue M16 magazines that I want. I could give them to the kids on the side of the road instead of giving them candy if I wanted to.It is strange to me that the Army would pay someone full time, to mess with the property of others in such a way. In such a way that does not prevent any real crime. I bought the magazine because it works better than the issued magazines. That is how Capitalism works, individuals make decisions for what works better for themselves, and they are by a small but significant percentage more right than any central decider. That is why capitalist societies are richer, (like what we are trying to teach the Iraqis and the Middle East in general- Freedom works) and that is why armies form capitalist countries fare better on the battlefield by orders of magnitude.The magazine that I bought, that you took from me, is more reliable, and it has a little window on it so I can see how many rounds I have left. I find that useful especially in a situation where you have to do combat reloads, or in a situation where you just didn’t realize that a mag was half full. The magazine that I bought, I believe, gives me a slight advantage in any fight against the terrorist or militia thugs that want to kill me and the people I work with- they want to kill us because they figure that by doing so they can more easily be in a position to use force to impose their religion, or their standards of their religion, on their fellow countrymen. Where given free will, most of their countrymen surely are not as zealous as the thugs would want.Granted, the magazine that I bought (that you denied me) gives me a very slight advantage. The issue magazines work adequately most of the time, lord knows there are those fighting on our behalf with worse equipment. And the country in general is not as hot as it used to be. Not as hot as it was when I lost many of my friends. Perhaps you had friends in your basic school that opted to go to the grunts, so you know what I am talking about.The advantage that I gain with the magazine that I bought is slight, but don’t you think that the choice should be mine, to spend my own money to for an improvement, no matter how slight?Sincerely Kiran HillPS. I hope that you returned the magazine to the sender after taking it out of my mail, and did not in fact keep it to put in your own weapon to look cool. You know that the Army does not trust you to have loaded weapons on base (even though there have been isolated cases of the enemy making it onto bases, and soldiers losing their lives because they did not have loaded weapons to defend themselves with). I am not really sure why, I have been handling loaded weapons for the better part of 15 years, and never once has one of them gone ‘bang’ by itself. I personally think that loaded weapons are safer, because you know they are loaded. You never can be sure, and never should act sure that a weapon is unloaded. But that is not really relevant to the issue of why you took away my magazine, when I can mail entire m16 uppers, and I can come in or leave the country carrying as many magazines as I want to.
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Thursday, October 9, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Notes from Iraq
Some quick notes on my first week back in Iraq
PRE-BITCHING
When I first arrived in Iraq I went to the green zone. There were many people working in offices supposed to be supporting those of us in the field. But a few of the people working in the office didn’t see it that way, and I think that they viewed those who they are supposed to be supporting as a nuisance. I stayed in the Green Zone for a few days, enjoying one of Saddam’s pools while I could, as I was told that where I would be the living conditions would suck, and there would be no pool.It appears the Green Zone doesn’t get mortared anymore. Funny feeling that, I almost longed for it. A weird feeling of hey these new shitheads in the IZ don’t rate, they don’t know what it used to be like. I don't want to give the wrong impression it is actually a good thing that it doesn’t get mortared anymore. I just had a funny feeling I couldn’t shake.
Now I am at my permanent or semi permanent post. I am in a large squad-bay type room with about 30 guys with bunk beds, and no privacy. There are three badly working toilettes with curtains but no doors. So, NO privacy. That kind of gets old. But the AC works and in these months of July and August, that is key.
I am not getting much joy of life out of these living conditions on this job. I see as my purpose while here to practice the Arabic that I know and learn more. I talk to the Iraqis on a daily basis. I want to move on to something more involved with not pointing guns at people in the region. I don’t understand most of what the Iraqis say, but I think that I will learn just by being around them and listening. They often talk to me and I nod like an idiot but I understand little. But I can pretty much say anything I want to say in Arabic.
More than the language, I am also trying to understand Iraq, and understand a bigger picture of why and how peace, freedom, non corruption and prosperity exists, or how it can come to exist where it previously didn’t. It is not fucking racial or cultural.
On a side note, I am having a little trouble with Americans, as it seems I am being seen as too friendly with the Iraqis. Fucking drama.
IRAQI FORCES
I work with Iraqis and I talk to them a little about their country. They don’t know much about freedom and prosperity and about fundamentals of free-market capitalism (as the vast majority of Americans don’t also). But they do tend to know who the shit heads are.So it seems like, to the Iraqi people, the best Iraqi forces are the Army. They are the least corrupt, the least likely to be infiltrated or controlled by zealots, and the least likely to steal from the people. They have often conflicts with police.The police tend to be corrupt, and infiltrated by militia, or terrorists. And terrorists and militia often get police uniforms and conduct their misdeeds in those uniforms.The worst of the Iraqi forces, according to the people that I talk to are local forces called Sahwa. I think that they are the equivalent of neighborhood police. It is said that when they come across terrorists with a car bomb at a check point, they will be easily intimidated into remaining silent about it. But they are brave when hassling regular citizens in their regular lives.It is kind of hard to tell for me, as there are many different uniforms, and lack of uniforms. Some dudes just have an AK and a cotton badge somewhere on their t-shirt, and a scarf over their face. They have dudes in woodland, in chocolate chip desert, in plain tan, in green digital, in blue digital, in blue tigerstripe, in tan digital, in grey. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a dude dressed as a confederate soldier at a checkpoint.
ANGRY COLONELS
So when we roll around Baghdad and wherever, we have gunners, who have half filled bottles of water to throw at cars who don’t stop. This is to get cars that are not a threat a chance to realize they need to stop, and attempt to further aid in distinguishing a threat from a distracted driver. I would think the big armored vehicle with the guy aiming a PKM at you would be warning enough, but it isn’t. So they throw a water bottle as a “hey fucker don’t you see me”. If the guy ignores the water bottle then he is probably a bad guy.Anyways, we are at this underpass, a bad place to be, and this one car doesn’t pay any attention to the gunner, and drives right up on us and the gunner throws his water bottle, and the guy keeps driving, he goes past us, and the water bottle hits his car. The car stops and two guys get out, and I get out. I am all alone as an American, but I have two Iraqis supporting me. So, I look at the guys, and I don’t see any weapons, so I wave them off. But they don’t want to go, so I walked towards them and one of them has something in his hand that I can’t see, so I watch it as the one guy extents his hand. It just turned out to be a cell phone.The one guy is very angry that a water bottle was thrown at his car. He shows me his ID and says he is an Iraqi Colonel. I am like, ‘yeah, but the way you were driving and not stopping, the gunner would have been justified shooting you’. And he asks if it is an Iraqi gunner, and that he wants to talk to him.I am like “Hell No”. That shit would get stupid. Once that argument got underway, I would have to shoot both him and my gunner to knock off the silliness.
BACK TO CAPITALISM
So, I was thinking about it. Why are Iraq and Mexico corrupt, and not Sweden? They all three are socialist countries, that give the government too much power. And the root of all corruption is government power. So I think that part of it might be that actual power in the hands of individuals is what leads to more corruption. In Sweden, whether or not an individual gets fucked over by the government is not in a government official’s hands. So no government official can use that power, so the power can’t be bought. Or can’t so obviously be bought.One of the reasons why Iraq is not beacon of freedom peace and prosperity after our messy involvement, I think, is because most in our own government don’t understand freedom and capitalism. The Army leadership, and the State Dept, are a bunch of authoritarian socialists. Even those that think that they are conservatives are mostly not.They don’t understand that are country is free BECAUSE of the limitations on them, not in spite of them. We come to rid the Iraqis of an evil dictator and to help them achieve freedom and prosperity. To be the only nation in the region that is free and prosperous. (So we come here, and we forbid porn, and alcohol, and sex (only of the straight variety), to Americans here. Something I associate more of the Saudis than of freedom) And we use our troops to confiscate weapons, and to patrol the border to stop smuggling (mostly of gasoline). There is no crime of smuggling in a free nation I think.Mexico and Egypt nominally have elections, and they are not free and prosperous. Israel has elections, and we sure as fuck don’t want Iraq to be another Israel.We come here with ideas of freedom and prosperity for Iraqis. But we take away weapons from citizens? You are not a free man if you are not allowed to defend yourself, WE of all people should know that. So citizenry does not have weapons, only the unapproachable American army, and the almost as unapproachable Iraqi Army has weapons. And the corrupt police. So who can the citizens turn to when they are threatened by terrorists and criminals (here often one and the same). The only people who’s ear they have is the militias. Most of the citizens hate the militias. But who else are they going to turn to?Now the Iraqi government is strong.It seems yes we HAVE won this war.The Iraqi government is strong, and they are turning to fight the militias. And they probably will win, but if they don’t fill the void that the militias fill another militia will have to grow to fill that void. I think that before the when the Iraqis said that the American military needed to stay, it was because they were afraid of getting overrun by other forces. I think now, they just like the money that comes with the military.These are my notes from my observances of my first week back.Many things could change.
MORE COMPLAINING ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT BEING UN-AMERICAN
- I don’t think the US Government should be allowed to prevent anyone, specially US Citizens from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.
- Why is it ok to prevent men and women from living together, but not ok to prevent gays from living together?
- Civilians should not have less rights than the military. It should be the contrary.
PRE-BITCHING
When I first arrived in Iraq I went to the green zone. There were many people working in offices supposed to be supporting those of us in the field. But a few of the people working in the office didn’t see it that way, and I think that they viewed those who they are supposed to be supporting as a nuisance. I stayed in the Green Zone for a few days, enjoying one of Saddam’s pools while I could, as I was told that where I would be the living conditions would suck, and there would be no pool.It appears the Green Zone doesn’t get mortared anymore. Funny feeling that, I almost longed for it. A weird feeling of hey these new shitheads in the IZ don’t rate, they don’t know what it used to be like. I don't want to give the wrong impression it is actually a good thing that it doesn’t get mortared anymore. I just had a funny feeling I couldn’t shake.
Now I am at my permanent or semi permanent post. I am in a large squad-bay type room with about 30 guys with bunk beds, and no privacy. There are three badly working toilettes with curtains but no doors. So, NO privacy. That kind of gets old. But the AC works and in these months of July and August, that is key.
I am not getting much joy of life out of these living conditions on this job. I see as my purpose while here to practice the Arabic that I know and learn more. I talk to the Iraqis on a daily basis. I want to move on to something more involved with not pointing guns at people in the region. I don’t understand most of what the Iraqis say, but I think that I will learn just by being around them and listening. They often talk to me and I nod like an idiot but I understand little. But I can pretty much say anything I want to say in Arabic.
More than the language, I am also trying to understand Iraq, and understand a bigger picture of why and how peace, freedom, non corruption and prosperity exists, or how it can come to exist where it previously didn’t. It is not fucking racial or cultural.
On a side note, I am having a little trouble with Americans, as it seems I am being seen as too friendly with the Iraqis. Fucking drama.
IRAQI FORCES
I work with Iraqis and I talk to them a little about their country. They don’t know much about freedom and prosperity and about fundamentals of free-market capitalism (as the vast majority of Americans don’t also). But they do tend to know who the shit heads are.So it seems like, to the Iraqi people, the best Iraqi forces are the Army. They are the least corrupt, the least likely to be infiltrated or controlled by zealots, and the least likely to steal from the people. They have often conflicts with police.The police tend to be corrupt, and infiltrated by militia, or terrorists. And terrorists and militia often get police uniforms and conduct their misdeeds in those uniforms.The worst of the Iraqi forces, according to the people that I talk to are local forces called Sahwa. I think that they are the equivalent of neighborhood police. It is said that when they come across terrorists with a car bomb at a check point, they will be easily intimidated into remaining silent about it. But they are brave when hassling regular citizens in their regular lives.It is kind of hard to tell for me, as there are many different uniforms, and lack of uniforms. Some dudes just have an AK and a cotton badge somewhere on their t-shirt, and a scarf over their face. They have dudes in woodland, in chocolate chip desert, in plain tan, in green digital, in blue digital, in blue tigerstripe, in tan digital, in grey. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a dude dressed as a confederate soldier at a checkpoint.
ANGRY COLONELS
So when we roll around Baghdad and wherever, we have gunners, who have half filled bottles of water to throw at cars who don’t stop. This is to get cars that are not a threat a chance to realize they need to stop, and attempt to further aid in distinguishing a threat from a distracted driver. I would think the big armored vehicle with the guy aiming a PKM at you would be warning enough, but it isn’t. So they throw a water bottle as a “hey fucker don’t you see me”. If the guy ignores the water bottle then he is probably a bad guy.Anyways, we are at this underpass, a bad place to be, and this one car doesn’t pay any attention to the gunner, and drives right up on us and the gunner throws his water bottle, and the guy keeps driving, he goes past us, and the water bottle hits his car. The car stops and two guys get out, and I get out. I am all alone as an American, but I have two Iraqis supporting me. So, I look at the guys, and I don’t see any weapons, so I wave them off. But they don’t want to go, so I walked towards them and one of them has something in his hand that I can’t see, so I watch it as the one guy extents his hand. It just turned out to be a cell phone.The one guy is very angry that a water bottle was thrown at his car. He shows me his ID and says he is an Iraqi Colonel. I am like, ‘yeah, but the way you were driving and not stopping, the gunner would have been justified shooting you’. And he asks if it is an Iraqi gunner, and that he wants to talk to him.I am like “Hell No”. That shit would get stupid. Once that argument got underway, I would have to shoot both him and my gunner to knock off the silliness.
BACK TO CAPITALISM
So, I was thinking about it. Why are Iraq and Mexico corrupt, and not Sweden? They all three are socialist countries, that give the government too much power. And the root of all corruption is government power. So I think that part of it might be that actual power in the hands of individuals is what leads to more corruption. In Sweden, whether or not an individual gets fucked over by the government is not in a government official’s hands. So no government official can use that power, so the power can’t be bought. Or can’t so obviously be bought.One of the reasons why Iraq is not beacon of freedom peace and prosperity after our messy involvement, I think, is because most in our own government don’t understand freedom and capitalism. The Army leadership, and the State Dept, are a bunch of authoritarian socialists. Even those that think that they are conservatives are mostly not.They don’t understand that are country is free BECAUSE of the limitations on them, not in spite of them. We come to rid the Iraqis of an evil dictator and to help them achieve freedom and prosperity. To be the only nation in the region that is free and prosperous. (So we come here, and we forbid porn, and alcohol, and sex (only of the straight variety), to Americans here. Something I associate more of the Saudis than of freedom) And we use our troops to confiscate weapons, and to patrol the border to stop smuggling (mostly of gasoline). There is no crime of smuggling in a free nation I think.Mexico and Egypt nominally have elections, and they are not free and prosperous. Israel has elections, and we sure as fuck don’t want Iraq to be another Israel.We come here with ideas of freedom and prosperity for Iraqis. But we take away weapons from citizens? You are not a free man if you are not allowed to defend yourself, WE of all people should know that. So citizenry does not have weapons, only the unapproachable American army, and the almost as unapproachable Iraqi Army has weapons. And the corrupt police. So who can the citizens turn to when they are threatened by terrorists and criminals (here often one and the same). The only people who’s ear they have is the militias. Most of the citizens hate the militias. But who else are they going to turn to?Now the Iraqi government is strong.It seems yes we HAVE won this war.The Iraqi government is strong, and they are turning to fight the militias. And they probably will win, but if they don’t fill the void that the militias fill another militia will have to grow to fill that void. I think that before the when the Iraqis said that the American military needed to stay, it was because they were afraid of getting overrun by other forces. I think now, they just like the money that comes with the military.These are my notes from my observances of my first week back.Many things could change.
MORE COMPLAINING ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT BEING UN-AMERICAN
- I don’t think the US Government should be allowed to prevent anyone, specially US Citizens from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.
- Why is it ok to prevent men and women from living together, but not ok to prevent gays from living together?
- Civilians should not have less rights than the military. It should be the contrary.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Religion and Taxis in Cairo
What religion are you in a taxi?
There are several annoying things about riding around in a taxi in Cairo. Including but not limited to; the near misses of pedestrians, the inhaling of all the fumes from all the excessively polluting cars in front of you, the driver himself smoking cheap cigarettes, the traffic, the high probability that the taxi will break down.
But one of the more annoying things is being asked what religion you are by every driver you try to talk to (talk to for the sake of improving your Arabic speaking ability). The question is a multiple choice question with two possible right answers:
A) A) Islam
B) B) Christian
All other answers are wrong. The main wrong answers are; Jewish or Atheist. To give any other answer than A or B is to invite problems.
There is also another religion here that is an offshoot of Islam, similar to Mormonism being an offshoot of Christianity. That religion is considered apostasy by the public at large, and the followers of the religion are persecuted by the government (I suppose much like the Mormons were in the US when they first came out). I think that it is funny that you can see an Egyptian at a party committing all manner of sins, and you if you mention that religion to them, they will shake their head at the mistakenness and wrongness and apostasy of the religion, and talk about how it is not a real religion, like Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. So I like to suggest that the person saying those things should probably make friends with somebody from that apostate religion as they might be roommates in Hell. But that sometimes doesn’t go over so well.
But about religion question by taxi drivers. My favorite answer is:
THERE IS NO GOD YOU SUPERSTITIOUS FOOL
Not because that is what I believe, (I don’t’) but because it will make the taxi drivers head explode, or he will probably try to kill you or drop you off far from your destination.
If the taxi driver is Moslem, and you tell him you are Christian, he will tell you how close the two religions are, and how you can be friends and generally talk about religion asking all manner of questions about Christianity that you may not care about or want to answer. If your Moslem driver that you are Moslem, he will be your best friend immediately and tell you that you are an honest, hardworking, generous, and handsome guy. And he will probably request confirmation that over in America Moslems are also the bestest people that there are.
If the taxi driver is Christian, and you tell him you are Moslem, being that you look like you are either from Europe or America, he will ask ‘why’. “Why have you chosen to make that mistake?”. “You are from the west, you people are supposed to be smarter than that”. “You have been fooled by the lies these people say”. If you tell the Christian taxi driver that you are Christian, he will talk to you about how great it is to be Christian and then proceed to talk more about Christianity than you want to talk about. About when you go to church, about what branch of Christianity you are. If you try to say that you don’t go to church and instead commit a steady stream of sins. Then the taxi driver is likely to ask if you can hook him up with some prone to sin western women.
If you refuse to talk about religion the taxi drivers will immediately assume you are Jewish and thus a spy for Israel.
I am told that if you are a woman, the taxi drivers mostly ask if you are married. And if you are not, they ask if you want to be their second wife.
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