OK I am going to try sending this one more time and if it doesn’t go through, I will ask Mom to send it out.
I attached a photo of our Medal of Valor ceremony from yesterday. The picture turned out very well I thought. Spent today working on studio some more. We went out to BIAP to pick up another shipment. I hadn’t been out to BIAP in quite a while, but we couldn’t get over to Burger King for lunch unfortunately. The convoy times are very tight so we had to do a get in and get out.
It was a very productive day but pretty uneventful.
Mom had asked me questions about the Green Zone, so I thought I would forward it and the response to the whole group.
Is the Green Zone an administrative compound as opposed to a military installation?
Are there tanks, helicopters, planes housed there?
Can you tell by activity at your location that military action is taking place in Fallujah?
Can you hear the bombing, see or smell the smoke?
How far from you is the major military CPA installation?
It is all of the above. It is roughly four miles square. Security is maintained by the military and they have various bases inside of it. It also serves as CPA’s main HQ. CJTF7 is technically HQ’ed at Camp Victory by the Airport (BIAP), but Gen. Sanchez is based at the Palace. There is not an LZ for planes, but there are a couple for Helicopters. Helicopters rarely stay here, but they land all of the time. There are tanks that are used to secure the Green Zone as well as Bradley’s and tons of Humvees. The main hospital is also here.
Fallujah is roughly 30 miles West of Baghdad, too far for us to see what is happening. Sadr City is on the North end of Baghdad maybe 5 miles away and we occasionally see smoke from there. Most of the explosions that we hear or see come from attacks on the Green Zone itself or on the press hotels across the river. When they blew up the hotel a month or so ago we could plainly see the smoke and hear the noise. Explosions at the press hotels will rock my trailer. The truth of the matter is that the insurgents in Baghdad are poorly trained and can not shoot very well. So attacks on the Green Zone are rarely effective. The joke is that you want to wear the target so the guy standing next to you gets hit instead of you. I would say that we have seen a significant drop in the attacks. For a while there we were having them like clockwork 2-3 times a day, but there are a lot less now. The military is also very good at finding things and routinely control fire found explosives.
Overall the Green Zone is very safe. We do not wear armor or helmets when moving around the Green Zone. We have free movement with security checkpoints at various locations. There are approximately 10 – 12,000 people that work in the Green Zone every day. Iraqi’s, Americans, Brits, Jordanians, Australians almost every member of the coalition has people on the ground in the Green Zone.
Well that wraps me up for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
The Ambassador presented a Medal for Valor today to Dr. Andrew Rathmell. The medal is the highest honor for valor that a civilian can earn. I have attached a press release about how Dr. Rathmell received the honor. He is a pretty impressive guy. We had a couple interviews for him after the ceremony and he was very unassuming. You would not look at him and think now there is a hero, but it is the only word to describe the guy. When he was being interviewed, he came across as believing that he did what anyone would do. One could only hope that his bravery was that common. Oddly enough the guy’s office is next door to the studio, but today was the first I had seen him.
If you get a chance to watch Neil Cavuto on Fox News today, look for his interview. It was striking to me that his focus was on the work that is being done here. He works in the policy and planning office. He was up in Ba’qubah in January when he was attacked. His team was there to look at building new police stations and helping to build the security infrastructure of the town. Kind of Ironic.
Gordon and I are working on an oped piece for the AZ Republic that should run May 9. Kind of scary that the two non writer’s of the firm are putting together something for the Republic. Luckily Brent is helping us out and making sure we don’t embarrass ourselves.
Well I am going to finish up for today. We have a busy day tomorrow. Several interviews and one of our shipments has actually made it in so we are going to go pick it up. Otherwise all is well here. I hope everyone is doing well at home!
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004
8:17 PM
To:
Subject: NEWS RELEASE -
British Civilian Awarded U.S. Bravery Medal
PRESS RELEASE
Coalition Provisional Authority
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – APRIL 29, 2004
Contact: David Mac Dougall
Tel: 1-914-822-4714
VALOR UNDER FIRE
BRITISH CIVILIAN AWARDED US BRAVERY MEDAL
Dr Andrew Rathmell, Director of Planning, Policy and Analysis at the Coalition Provisional Authority, today received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Valor. The medal was presented by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer at a ceremony at the CPA Headquarters in Baghdad.
On January 21st 2004, Dr Rathmell was visiting the Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baquba with civilian and military colleagues. While in Baquba, Dr Rathmell was caught in a mortar and rocket attack on the base. One mortar landed close to Dr Rathmell, and he was knocked to the ground, temporarily deafened by the blast. Despite his injury, Dr Rathmell was able to drag US Army Colonel Ralph Sabatino to safety, before running into the line of fire three more times to administer potentially life-saving first aid to others who were wounded, and tragically confirm that two soldiers were already dead.
As Ambassador Bremer presented the award to Dr Rathmell, he said “valor at risk of your own life requires strength of purpose sufficient to overcome the love of life, the fear of death. Andrew Rathmell is not a professional warrior, but he displayed the courage and coolness under fire to which all warriors aspire”.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Valor was created after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. It is given to citizens who perform an act of heroism or sacrifice, with voluntary risk of personal safety in the face of danger. Dr Andrew Rathmell is the first recipient of the medal since 9/11, and the first foreign national to receive the award.
Dr Andrew Rathmell has worked at the CPA in Baghdad since August 2003. He is a full-time employee of the Rand Corporation, seconded to the Department of Defense. Andrew lives in London with his wife and two young children.
###
Contact:
David Mac Dougall
Press Adviser to David Richmond
UK Special Representative for Iraq
Well we finally made it back from Ba’qubah in the Diyala province. For those playing on the home edition, I am sending an additional map. Go NE from Baghdad at about the 1 o-clock position. Eric and I went up on Monday. The Ambassador was supposed to come up on Tuesday, but our security organization had concerns about bringing the Ambassador, so he didn’t come on Tuesday. Since the Ambassador’s helicopters were our ride home, Eric and I got to have a few extra adventures in getting back. More later on that.
We are getting a little frustrated with our counterparts in security. A perfect world for them would be that the Ambassador was in Washington phoning this in. Of course for us we need to have him out as much as possible. What gets a little frustrating for us is that we are used to dealing with Secret Service that has a mission of protecting the dignity of the office as well as the person. The Ambassador’s detail has one mission, protecting the man. They do a hell of a job of it and when they tell us point blank that there is a threat, we drop any objections. The problem is that they know that. I also believe that they rely on information that is current in Baghdad, but not necessarily current at the location. We were being told on the ground by Col. Pittard, a former Pres. Mil. Aide, that he could protect the events. He was actually very disappointed that the boss didn’t come. What can you do? In the end his security and the security of the people that come to meet with him is paramount on these events.
Eric and I ended up having a couple of extra adventures out of the whole affair. When we were canceled for the event, our folks in Baghdad started looking for ways that they could get us back home. I think I have mentioned before that there is not a huge quantity of helo assets in Iraq. When the 101st Airborne left there was a big gap in the amount of helicopters and pilots. So our folks found an existing helo lift out of FOB Gator, which is about 45 minutes NE of Ba’qubah. They got us manifested and we got the CPA PSD in Ba’qubah to take us up there. We got there 30 minutes early, but were not let on the base by the Col. Because he had an Ambassador lifting out on the same helicopters we were supposed to be on, he was concerned for security and he was not going to let us in until he knew who we were. We told him repeatedly and he finally let us in about two minutes before the helos lifted off. We got to them just in time to wave goodbye as they flew over our cars. So we went back to Ba’qubah and spent the night again. CPA’s PSD drove us back to Baghdad this morning.
That was an interesting experience. The drive was about 1.5 hours all told. It was relatively easy. A lot like the drive from Phoenix to Tucson if you take the Florence Junction route and not I10. A lot of agriculture and desert mixed together. The military has been having problems with their convoys coming into Baghdad getting hit by IED’s. To stop this they have shut non-military traffic down on all but one or two of the routes into Baghdad. So you get these nasty traffic jams. See photo in the photo e-mail I am sending next. It was a pretty interesting trip though.
More on Ba’qubah. It has a population of approx. 500,000. I am amazed how physically small these towns are when they support a sizable population. I mean you figure that it is approx. 4 times larger than Gilbert, AZ and the physical structures of the town are about the same as Gilbert. On top of it Ba’qubah does not have a Mesa or Tempe supporting it. It is definitely an agrarian society. Wheat is a big crop. They also have large Palm Tree groves that I am not sure if they use for shade or commerce. The town is approx. 55% Sunni. So there is an element that is loyal to the former regime. They have had there share of problems. Col. Pittard had to put down a group of 100 or so insurgents on the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. But otherwise the town actually seemed very vibrant comparatively speaking. The streets were full of people working. There were wedding ceremonies going on while we were there. People are trying to get back to normal lives. CPA has been working very hard on several major issues in the region. The biggest of which is trying to help the Diyala province provide clean reliable drinking water. I had a conversation with CPA’s governance director in Diyala. He was telling me that it is amazing the impact that clean water can have on a community. From child mortality rates to issues such as Leprosy, clean water can completely make the difference.
Getting to witness the rebuilding of this country has been such an eye opener. How often do we think about the quality of our drinking water. How often do we have to worry that we won’t have power. When have we ever feared having our hands removed because of some alleged offense to the government. My major concern before coming here was whether or not I had to wait in line at Outback Steakhouse. While I still consider Cheese Fries to be essential to a good life, it hardly compares. We are making big differences here. We are impacting these people’s lives hugely. And in the end that is what all of this about. You can argue all you want about WMD and the threat that was posed to the United States. But the truth of the matter is there were 25 million Iraqi’s who were held hostage by the whims of one man. And whether you think it was the US’s job to intervene or not, these people do have better lives now and are on there way to someday having great lives.
I will send some other photos on a second e-mail.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Col Pittard is a former Mil. Aide to Pres. Clinton. He commands the unit that has direct responsibility for Ba’Qubah. The traffic jam occurred on the way into Baghdad. CPA headquarters had a couple places that you could look out on the city. Here you can see a pretty busy market area. I thought that the girls would appreciate seeing some photos of little girls going to school. This Mosque was on the road to Baghdad, about half way. The Mosques are always beautiful.
So you People readers and subscribers are going to get a little scoop. They have had a reporter and cameraman following the Ambassador around for the past few days. I have attached some photos from Christina and I (OK mines the one that doesn’t look as good). They were taken out on our studio balcony. Christina is so talented with a camera that the guy from People told her that some of her pictures looked better than his.
We ran all over the place with boss today. Some good stuff. He met with PM Howard from Australia (Sorry Aussies I didn’t work this one). He had an outreach event with Iraqi businessman. Then he did a media roundtable with the Arab Media. Then we took him back to the Palace to meet with the Bulgarian President. Finally we had him up in the studio for an interview with Al Arabiya and a photo shoot with People. On top of that we had several interviews for Dan, plus a Senor Kimmitt show, a Baghdad Town Hall and a Ministry of Oil press conference. Crazy day, but the kind I like.
I call it an early night tonight. We have an interview in the early morning.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Ok so tonight’s update is going to be a little long. Sorry for that, but I found some interesting info on the website and I thought I would send it to all of you. Remember you are my outlet for positive messages. So please read and disseminate.
Just to update you on our operations. Today was very quiet. We had an interview with the Today show this afternoon and then a Senor Kimmitt show. Both went fine. The studio operation keeps getting better every day. Small strides. It really makes a big difference having it operational.
We had a bad sand storm late this afternoon, so we went up and took the microwaves down just to be safe. The winds were pretty crazy. I attached a photo that I took from our balcony. I also threw in some photos of General Kimmitt and Dan out on the balcony for some of the interviews.
We have several things going on tomorrow. It will be nice to have a little action after a quite day. We hope to be a lot more crazy this coming week.
Please read below and see some of the great things that are going on here in Iraq.
Enjoy the weekend!
Take Care Everyone!
We have had a sad past couple of days. Yesterday we heard that one of our PSD, Francois, was killed in a market here. I did not know him personally. He was working on a detail for the Ministry of Interior and was moving over to work with our guys in the next few days. His current principal is leaving Iraq and Francois was organizing a surprise party for him. Since it was a surprise he went out into the red zone with just his interpreter to buy food for the party. While in the market, masked men came up behind him and shot and killed him. We have things like this happen from time to time. Mostly though, we see news like this on TV, the way you do and are not usually directly touched by these tragedies. Francois was very close with the men from our PSD and very close with several of my co-workers – Eric and Christie in particular. His loss left a lot heavy hearts in the Green Room.
Today we had the news out of Afghanistan about Pat Tillman. What a significant loss, but what an inspiration. I have spent a lot of time tonight watching and reading information about him and listening to all of the different reports. I distinctly remember watching him when he came to ASU. You could tell from the beginning that this was a passionate man. He was such a thrill to watch on the field and after 9/11 when he made his choice to walk away from the NFL to the US Army he made it such a thrill to be an American. He left an impression from the beginning and he left an impression in the end. It is a shame to lose someone and so many so special. We can only hope that their sacrifices will be honored and respected.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We had a nice event today with the Ambassador. He handed the Ministry of Science and Technology over to the Iraqis. This ministry under Saddam was tasked with creating a lot of the Nuclear and WMD projects. The ministry has been reorganized to focus on the improving the lives of every day Iraqis. This includes creating an IT structure for the Universities and Government; Creating a National Food Labroatory kind of like our FDA to ensure water, food, waste and pharmaceutical standards. As well as working to restructure former military projects to peaceful directions. This is just another rung in the ladder to full sovereignty.
Afterwards we had a Senor Kimmit Presser. The General highlighted 4 posters that demonstrated the weapons that are being returned in to the Coalition. As part of the Cease Fire, the insurgents and Fallujans are supposed to hand over their weapons. But they are giving us stuff that has not seen the light of day for 30 years. Hardly the stuff that they have been firing at us. It is pretty ridiculous.
We then had some interviews that were interrupted by a bad thunderstorm. I got a few e-mails from folks at home who were actually watching and got a little freaked because there was thunder strike that was very lound and immediately following we lost our IFB.
Well that is probably all for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We took a little trip up to the Haditha dam today. For those still playing on your home map, go NW from Baghdad to Al Haglanyah. Continue NW to the little White Triangle. That is the Haditha Dam. The ride was about 50 minutes by Blackhawk. It took us just North of the ever popular hot spots of Fallujah and Ar Ramadi.
The ride was fascinating because we skirted the Southern edge of Lake Tharthar. I have talked about this lake before, it is just massive. It amazes me because of the stark contrast between barren desert and massive lake. Additionally, we saw hundreds of tents popped up along the lakes edge. They belong to the Bedouin Nomads. They have tents that they plop up for a few weeks and then they move along to another spot. I saw very few cars around them. Several of them had tractors that I am pretty sure they used for fishing as I have talked about. Several had flocks of sheep. They all had the long skinny boats. What an intriguing way of life.
We were supporting Major General Ron Johnson of the Army Corp of Engineers. This guy is pretty damn cool. He is a West Point graduate, recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Professional Achievement in Government Service. Prior to coming to Iraq and assuming command of the Gulf Region Division of the Corp, he served as the Corps Director of Military Programs – a measly $9 billion operation. .
We went over to brief him last night about the event and as I was sitting talking to him I quickly realized two things. 1. If he wanted to, this guy could kick the living shit out of me. 2. If I tried to get into a battle of wits with him, this guy could kick the living shit out of me. That being said he was extremely gracious and listened to us and was very easy to work with today. He even took my photo for me in the Blackhawk. I have worked with several 2 stars before all of whom have had a very distinct air of command about them. Very few have been as cool as this guy.
We were also supporting the Minister of Electricity, Dr. Aiham Alsammarae. Dr. Alsammarae is a 52-year-old Iraqi-American with a PhD in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, who returned to Iraq after 27 years in the United States. He was a great guy as well. We were joking around with him before we took off for Haditha. He had wanted to take one of his PSD on the Helicopter with him, but we did not have room. He was joking around that he wanted the guy along so that if there were having problems with the helicopter he could volunteer to throw the PSD out the door so we wouldn’t throw him out. He is gung ho about his ministry and getting the Iraqi people into the 21st century in terms of Electricity. We keep having a tough time keeping him on message. The goal we are aiming for at the moment is 6,000 MW by June 30. The Minister keeps throwing around the 10 – 12,000 MW number (which we are targeting for early 2005). He just is so excited to get this basic tool to his people.
Saddam used the output of electricity to punish those who opposed his regime. There was an obvious favoritism in the distribution of power. Cities, like Baghdad, which were favored, received power 24 hours every day while other areas counted themselves lucky to receive an average of 4 hours of power a day. The electrical system is probably the single greatest example of Saddam’s neglect of the infrastructure and his people’s needs. There is equipment that is so old that spare parts no longer exist anywhere in the world. I spoke with a guy from Bechtel a few months ago who is working on the Doura power plant. He said that in 27 years of working in power plants he had never seen the amount of disrepair that he has seen in Iraq. Electricity Facts since Liberation:* Power production reached 4,518 MW on October 6, exceeding the pre-conflict capacity and the system generated 91,474 MW hours on Wednesday, February 18.
* As of February 18, 41 generation units were being serviced. Twenty-three units were out for unscheduled service. Nine thermal and nine gas turbine units were out for scheduled service.
* CPA is adding 930 MW of capacity by summer 2004 through maintenance and rehabilitation projects at nine gas turbine units and three diesel units.
* CPA is adding 1,636 MW of capacity by summer 2004 through new generation projects, including new gas turbine units being installed at 10 sites.
* CPA is restoring 1,194 MW of capacity to the system through repairs to 550 kilometers of 400-kilo volt transmission line.
We should get to the 6000 number really easy.
We also had a mess of interviews in the studio tonight. I think that this is going to keep us a little busy.
Well I am off to bed. Lots going on tomorrow.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Feeling a little better today. I spent a lot of time working on the studio this morning and then spent the remainder of the day working on upcoming events.
Things were relatively quiet here in Baghdad the past couple of days. I was a little surprised because with Rantizi’s death I expected a major reaction, but there wasn’t much. If I recall correctly there wasn’t much a couple of weeks ago when the Israeli’s killed a Hamas leader. There was more reaction to the shooting of two Iraqi journalists than there was for Rantizi. I am hoping that things will get back to Baghdad normal soon. We are doing some events over the next few days that will highlight the good work that is still moving forward here.
I am meeting later tomorrow with the leader of the Baghdad School of Music and Ballet to see if we can get some help with equipment and supplies for their students. We are also working on getting Snickers and US Youth Soccer to send some soccer equipment over to help the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sport start some programs for kids across the country. I can’t help but see several hundred kids Snickerized all over Iraq. It’s the blatant commercialist inside of me!! Just kidding! As is the case all over the world, Soccer is king here. The thing that the Iraqi’s got most excited about was when the soccer team beat Saudi in the Olympic Qualifiers. The celebratory gunfire was through the roof.
Well with that I will take my leave of you. I am going on an excursion tomorrow and need just a tad more beauty rest.
Take Care Everyone! (I managed to get the second e in Everyone. Hey I did it again.)
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
I first two checks of the studio went very well. The third one however was not a great. You can’t always be perfect.
I am going to sign off early tonight. My Stomach is a little off.
Take Care Evryone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
The studio is working!!!!! What a relief! We are going to do our first fully functional studio interview tomorrow which will be tonight for all of you. Senor Kimmitt will be on Geraldo on our Deck. Check your local listings. We spent today finishing that up. It looks like we are going to keep this place busy. With any luck it will be a 24/7 operation with truthful and positive flow coming out of it.
Also looks like we are going to get out of the green zone soon. Working on trips in the future for a lot of our people. I am quite anxious to get out for a little bit.
We managed to take some time tonight and play a little cards. I was not the big winner, but had a good time anyways.
Well I am off to bed.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Today was a studio day installing and testing more equipment. All went well.
Tom Couture sent over the comments/question at the bottom of the e-mail and I thought I would spend the update giving a perspective on it.
Being a dyed in the wool believer of individual rights and freedoms, I often try to look at this situation in Iraq from a stand point of are we giving these people a better life or are we trying to spoon feed our culture down their throats. We definitely are trying to bring this country into the modern world, which you can argue whether that is better or not. What you can’t argue is that we are providing them with much better mechanisms to care for their people in every way. From waste management to a stronger judicial system, we are helping them build it all. Paramount in all of this, in my view, is the Bill of Rights that was instituted in the TAL. It guarantees the rights of all Iraqi’s. A concept that is completely foreign in the Middle East, but one that the Governing Council insisted upon having.
As far as the current problems that we are experiencing throughout the country, there are three main enemy forces here in Iraq.
#1 is the Sunni’s in Fallujah, Tikrit, and Ar Ramadi. This group is probably closest to what Tom is saying. They are the remnants of Saddam’s Regime and are fearful that as a minority they will not have a hold on power in a democratically elected government. They have been defeated and are seeing that defeat as an end to the luxuries and freedom that they had over everyone else. It is important to note that this group by no means represents all Sunni’s in Iraq. It is a small minority that were in some way connected to the former regime. There are definitely elements of the Fedayeen Saddam involved.
#2 is Moqtada Sadr and the Mahdi Army. They are located in the South in Najaf. Sadr is a 30 something year old Shiite Cleric who has a following of 3 – 5,000 people. His following and any influence that he has comes from the very favorable memory of his father and grandfather. He is all about power. He knows that since he is not likely to secure power through elections he will secure it through a gun. In April 2003, just two days after the fall of Baghdad, supporters of Moqtada Sadr were accused of killing Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a moderate Shia leader who had worked with the British and US governments from exile. An Iraqi Judge has issued an arrest warrant for Sadr and the Coalition will more than likely assist in exercising that warrant.
#3 is Zarqawi and foreign Terrorists. Their goal is to completely disrupt any and all efforts of the coalition. They see democracy in Iraq as a major defeat.
There are rumors that these groups are coordinating. We are convinced that Zarqawi is involved in Fallujah with the Sunni’s. It is his stated goal to stir discontent between the Sunni’s and the Shia, with the end goal of fermenting a civil war that eliminates any democracy the coalition helps to create. Zarqawi is an Al Qaeda operative and like the terrorists on 9/11 views anything related to the US as pure evil. It is unlikely that Zarqawi would coordinate with the Shia. In an Audio tape that Zarqawi released earlier this month he was especially hostile toward the Shiite majority, calling them "idolaters" and traitors who allied themselves with "the enemies of Islam to seize control over Sunni Iraq”
It would be erroneous however, to say that this is a Pan Arab counter offensive. It is not even a Pan Iraqi. Polls show that the majority of Iraqis want the violence to end. While they want the occupation to end, they also want the Coalition to stay to maintain security and guarantee the success of the new government. Sadr has not been able to secure any support from his other Clerics. After 35 years of Baath Party control of the country, the Shia’s are anxious to have an opportunity to control their own destiny. They make up over 60% of the country, so their voting bloc should be able to exert a significant amount of influence over the country’s future. Without peace they will not be able to get very far.
In the end the coalition sees these current activities as expected. You have a significant amount of change in this country and change always comes with its detractors. In many ways we are happier that it is happening now and not after June 30 when we hand sovereignty back over to the Iraqis. The Coalition will have the resolve to make sure that the country stays the course and Iraq comes forward as a strong Democratic voice in a very troubled part of the world.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
-----Original
Message-----
Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004
11:52 AM
To: Edgar, Gregg Mr. (CIV)
Subject: Re: Update
Gregg
Since you are asking about specific.
The newsmedia is giving us the sense that what is happening in your world is that this is the planned counter offensive by all believers from all over the Arab world. This is well planned and is a Force to reckon with. The sense I get is had we been attacked and our army were decimated, this would be those people who believe in the NH motto of "Live Free or Die" and will fight to the end.
Can you comment on this..
Tom
My day today was preoccupied with the studio. We met with network guys twice today to get some items finalized on the studio. Hope beyond hope we will have the final cables run tomorrow. It has taken us a while to get here, but I really believe that this is going to be a great tool when it is finished. The Ambassador is excited to have it running. We are going to continue to focus on studio issues over the next several days.
We also had a Senor Kimmitt show. We started some prep for events that we will hopefully have in the coming weeks. We are still locked in the Green Zone. So we are all excited about the possibility of getting out and reconnecting with the people outside.
I was curious about what type of stuff you guys would like to hear about. I spend a lot of time talking about what we are doing and trying to throw in facts and figures and various anecdotes from time to time, but is there anything specific anyone wants to hear about? Let me know.
I am going to try and finish up for the night.
Take Care Evryone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Just a quick update tonight. We started the day with a brief town hall here at the Palace with the Ambassador. Later in the day we had General Myers Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in for a Press Conference. Otherwise a fairly dull day. We finished the night by watching Animal House and the Blues Brothers. A pretty good day, but I am very tired now.
Oh I have also managed to lose my phone today.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
The kids got back from DC today. They were a little soggy, but none the worse for wear. Oddly enough I think they were glad to be back. Today became a media and paperwork day. We had Gen. Kimmitt and Gareth Bailey up on Abu Dhabi TV, then the team helped with the UN visit. I broke off to take care of some paperwork that we needed to finish. I also managed to get over and get my haircut finally.
I went over to the Rasheed for my haircut and had a good conversation with the Barber. His name was Omar. He was probably somewhere between 24 - 26. He is from Baghdad. He has been cutting hair at the Rasheed for the past six years. I got to talking with him about the situation today versus life under Saddam. He had a very interesting perspective because he has been working and living inside the wealthy parts of town. As far as he told me he had not suffered under Saddam, but it is a marked difference for him. The biggest positive changes that he commented on were personal freedoms. Under Saddam he was not allowed to be seen in public with his girlfriend, to drink and was not allowed “to do anything”, as he put it. Today he is able to do a lot more. The primary problem for him now is that the security situation forces stores and restaurants to close much earlier. It is not safe on the streets at night. But he is very hopeful that the situation will change in the future. In Shallah!
I have included some photos of my dear friends the Lesters at the White House Easter Egg Roll. I think they had a really good time getting soaked on the South Lawn. Photo Caption (L-R) Holly, Mark, Grace Anne and Aidan!
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
More media today. Senor Kimmitt and then we had interviews with Al Jazeera, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox. All went well. Before hand we went out to the warehouse to get more stuff for the studio. Shot a quick photo of the stack of Saddam photos.
So we are sitting here tonight talking with Pvt. Riggs. Riggs is a 19 year old Marine who is part of the FAST (Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team) Company that protects the palace. These guys are some of the most highly trained Marines in the world and they are tasked with our protection. All of them look like they are 12 but they are some really good guys. I have included a photo of him with my friend Traci and Eric.
Sorry if the e-mails are getting a little tired. The lock down we have been under has been limiting our exposure to the country. Our team is getting a little restless. We have a group of highly energized and highly trained Advance people doing press conferences and sitting in an office doing e-mail, the adrenaline is falling off. We all need our fix. Don’t get me wrong the Press conferences are definitely part of our purview; we are just used to doing them after several other events in a day. We hope to get back at it soon. Gordon and Christina get back tomorrow. With any luck we will be back on the trail by the end of the week.
With that I will sign off for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Press Conferences again today. First up we had a Senor Kimmitt show, immediately followed by a press conference by Dr. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. He is the former GC member who was named the other day as the National Security Advisor. His press conference was invigorating. He is so impassioned about the possibility of a new Iraq. We have been having a huge problem with the Arabic media, in particular Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, putting up propaganda that states the US is targeting women and children. That we are targeting Mosques. They neglect to tell their viewers that the insurgents and militiamen are hiding in Mosques and schools and using them as firing positions. He looks at this blatantly false reporting as an effort to tear apart the Iraqi people and makes no secret of his feelings about it. I have included an article about the event below, but it does not do the guy justice. He was awesome. He smacked the press down. If he didn’t like a question he would give them an evil eye and move on to the next question. This is not exactly something I would recommend in media training, but damn was it refreshing.
The fact of the matter is that he is right. While I believe the media can serve an important function the world, the fact is they focus so much on the explosive stories that are really still such a small part of what is going on in this country. As Dr. Rubaie put it over 90% of the country is peaceful. If you were to believe what you see in the media, you would have to believe the whole country is going to hell in a hand basket. It is simply not true. There are bad things going on but nowhere near the level of the reporting.
After his press conference we hooked up a press conference for General Abizaid, the four star in charge of Centcom. He did a remote a press conference with the Pentagon Press Pool. At the same time we were setting Al Aribya up with an interview with our Arab Spokesman Gareth and General Kimmitt. Due to technical difficulties though, we had to cancel after working on it for 2.5 hours.
I hesitated attaching the above photos because I did not want to alarm anyone. We were not in any danger, but these are some shots of the Bus Stop by the Rasheed. It was hit by mortar fire this morning – no one was injured. We have a running joke about these bus stops that KBR built. They have put them all over the green zone. They are massive wood structures. We were told that they were built to provide shade for people waiting for the bus, but if you look at the picture the top is wide open so they are not going to provide much shade. The running line is that “I am glad that every construction project in Iraq is finished so that KBR has the time to build the bus structures.”
I think that is all for tonight. Sorry to my Easter Egg pals. The photos look good on line – even if it did rain on your roll.
Take Care Everyone!
New Iraq Security Chief Accuses Arab TV of Bias
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-appointed national security adviser accused Arabic-language satellite TV channels of gross inaccuracy in their coverage of Iraq and said on Monday they would be shut down if they did not change their line.
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Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, formerly a member of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council, said Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Dubai-based Al Arabiya were anti-American in their coverage and ran the risk of inciting sectarian violence.
"There is no doubt in my mind that if they continue reporting in the way they are reporting now...there is no question that they should be shut down in this country," Rubaie, a medical doctor-turned-politician told a news conference.
Rubaie has closely associated himself with U.S. authorities running Iraq and was appointed national security adviser for a five-year term last week. He said he fully supported press freedom, but he also wanted certain criteria to be respected.
"If you had CNN inciting violence on air, God forbid, would that be acceptable?" he said. "Some of these channels are inciting violence, inciting sectarian violence, that is what they are doing."
He issued a challenge to the Arabic media operating in Iraq, saying they should learn to respect international standards of objectivity and balance.
"If they want to continue working in Iraq they have to stick to the regulations and report the facts as they are... If they do not stick to the regulations, they will feel sorry," he said.
The stations, which are widely watched in Iraq and throughout the Arab world, have repeatedly denied accusations of inciting violence and say their reports are fair and accurate.
Paul Bremer, the U.S.-appointed governor of Iraq, issued a directive last year saying that news media operations could be shut down if they were found to be inciting violence or of involvement in similar activities.
Last month, Bremer ordered Al Hawza, a weekly Baghdad newspaper loyal to firebrand anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, to be shut down, accusing it of inciting violence.
Arabiya and Jazeera have each already been sanctioned by the Governing Council. Arabiya's operations in Baghdad were shut down for two months last year after the channel ran an audio tape purportedly from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) while he was on the run.
Jazeera was banned from covering Governing Council meetings and press conferences for a month over remarks made during a phone-in program that were deemed to be insulting.
U.S. civilian and military authorities in Iraq have stepped a war of words against Arabiya, Jazeera and some other Arabic media outlets in recent days, with Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, a senior military spokesman, on Monday referring to them simply as the "anti-coalition media."
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
A very Happy Easter to everyone! Things are going well for our team here today. We did the morning shows with the Ambassador and General Sanchez. We use our Balcony again and had a great shot, but I think it might be the last day time use of the Balcony. The heat is going up a little bit and when you throw the lights in that are required for shooting outside, it gets just a little too warm. The two of them were troopers tough and sat through some technical difficulties that we had with NBC.
Later in the day we had a Senor Kimmitt show. He used our new map which looked a lot better. Dan was feeling better so he was back up at the Podium. He a little bout of dehydration, but was much better today.
Otherwise our team is exercising the old Advance Maxim of eat when you can eat and relax when you can relax. The guys are up playing poker. I am doing laundry and typing my update. Then I am going go watch a movie.
We hope later in the week that we will be back on our pace and getting out and around the country.
Well the dryer should be getting done, so I am heading to the laundry.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Can you say press conference. We started the day with a Senor Kimmitt show. The Coalition announced that we were declaring a cease fire in Fallujah. It was done in order to allow Humanitarian assistance and to allow GC members to talk to the militants and convince them to stop the fight. It will be interesting to see what the next few days brings. As I have been saying the view that the media is portraying is very lopsided. While there is intense fighting, It is in a relatively small region of the country and affecting small portion of the people. Thousands versus millions. The problem with it is that if we allow the insurgents and the former regime members to assert any degree of influence it will fester like a nasty boil. Men are easily moved to mob violence, especially when they are a group of people who are not used to having the freedom to think for themselves.
After that press conference we spent the day making a new map. General Kimmitt took our recommendation that his original map was not good for the Camera, so we made a new one today. It turned out pretty good. Could still be a little better, but much better than we had yesterday. Kimmitt is an interesting character. He is very intelligent and very much a General. I think he respects what our team is doing for him and I feel our team has a good working relationship with him.
I have included a powerpoint with some satellite photos of things we see every day. I thought it would be kind of interesting.
I have included the transcript of Senor’s interview with Rush. I thought it gives an interesting perspective from Dan. I know it’s Rush and some of you are going to say it is biased, but the good thing about Rush’s website is that it gives you the transcript so you can decide for yourself.
Well that’s all for tonight. I hope all are well.
Take Care Everyone!
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The Real Story From Dan Senor |
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April 9, 2004 |
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RUSH:
One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you, I don't know how often
you are able to watch a compilation of American media reporting on
what's happening where you are, but those of us who see it every day
are being presented a picture of utter devastation, defeat, troops
are on defensive, there's uprisings all over the country, we may be
run out of there in a brief period of time. My experience is that
this is erroneous, and I wanted to, before I get to specifics, could
you give us just an overview of the situation on the ground,
including what has happened recently in Fallujah, some of the other
places, but country-wide, what is the circumstance situation that we
face now? |
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SENOR: Fallujah is a little different. It was part of what we call
the Sunni triangle, cities like Fallujah, Tikrit, Ramadi, which is
an area north and west of Baghdad that was Saddam's stronghold. He
showered that area with resources, most
of the senior ranks of the old Iraqi army, of the former Ba'athist
regime came from that area. It's where Saddam and his family grew
up, and it's where lots of their local tribes are based; and of
course it's understandable many people in that part of the country
aren't terribly happy with the way things are going. They want to
turn the clock back on Iraq. They want to return to an area where
the Ba'athists rule. They want to turn
back to an era where there were torture chambers and rape rooms and
secret Mukabarat intelligence services and chemical attacks and mass
graves. That's their vision for Iraq. That's the era they know.
That's the era where they had power and they want to go back to that
and they are a very distinct minority. And as we get closer and
closer to June 30th and we hand sovereignty over to a self-governing
Iraqi democracy, they're trying to throw things off track. That's
their agenda. Those are the folks in Fallujah. |
