I am back from my three day hiatus. What a busy three days it was as well. To start with my advance that took me away was up to the Iranian border. We took the Ambassador there on Monday and Eric and I went up to create the event on Saturday.
What an experience. First off let me reiterate my complete and utter pride in our National Guard. We were working with elements of the 30th Brigade out of North Carolina or the Old Hickory Brigade. These guys have been on the ground for just barely 3-4 weeks and they have their area completely dialed in. Small world note, I go 12,000 miles around the word to end up smoking a cigar with Capt. Killgren, a Dec. ’93 graduate of ASU (same as me).
The elements that we were working with are based at FOB (Forward Operating Base) Wyatt. That’s where we spent the night. The FOB is probably a half mile square, not very big, but we were afforded nice accommodations in a connex and breakfast and dinner. Just like camping, without the marshmallows.
The town that we did the event in is Muntheria. For those of you who still have your maps at home, go NE from Baghdad to between the 1 and 2 o’clock position. You will see Diyala’ in white outlined by red and to the right of that you will see the Khanaquin Border Crossing. That is Muntheria.
The Khanaquin Border Crossing is now one of three border crossings that we are keeping open between Iran/Iraq. After the war, there were a total of 19 crossing points that were open, but we have closed it down to three because of the huge influx of insurgents and terrorists that have come across the Iranian border. As you can see by looking at the map the border with Iran is huge. It is also troublesome because the terrain can be very difficult to patrol. At Muntheria we have installed an immigration system called PICES. It basically scans a person’s passport. Takes a current photo of them and then logs the information about duration of stay etc. Muntheria is the first checkpoint to have PICES operational. The plan was to take Bremer and the press to see PICES in action. More on that later.
Muntheria is a very open area. In many ways it reminds me of the Colorado Plateau in AZ. Open and rocky, but Muntheria has a little more greenery. The area where Muntheria sits is heavily Kurdish, something in the range of 85%. Because of this, it has been very quiet for our troops in the area. They rarely have attacks, which they definitely are not complaining about.
There is a photo of myself with General Nazeem (Naa-them). This guy is a complete character. Six months ago he was a Pashmerga Lt. Pashmerga’s are Kurdish troops and are known to be very fierce fighters. His family has strong ties in the area and when the Coalition liberated Iraq, he set himself up to protect the border and gave himself the title of General. He is now responsible for the border for the Diyala province. He is a very interesting man to say the least. A very nice man, but you kind of get the feeling that his nose might be a little dirty.
I have included a photo that shows trucks trading their wares back and forth across the border. Trucks are not allowed to cross from Iran to Iraq or vice versa, so the trucks literally back up to each other on opposite sides of the border and trade the cargo. They pay each other in cash and go about their merry way. It kind of makes tariffs and taxation a little rough. Commerce is King and thrives at this border. I was told that this border stayed open during the Iran/Iraq war in the ‘80’s and traded much the same as it does now.
When game day came things got a little hairy. There was a large degree of nervousness about bringing the Ambassador to the border. Our goal was to do a press-avail with the boss in a position similar to what I am in the Me in the Bremer Shot photo. The arch is the border. I remind you that there has been a huge influx of bad guys across the Iranian border. To start our day our friends in the military ordered up F-15 cover over the event site. When we arrived the planes were already flying. Needless to say the Iranians got a little nervous. The next thing they saw was us arriving with three platoons of troops, a large number of armored humvees with 50 caliber machine guns on top and 3 Bradleys. The Bradley is an APC (armored Personnel Carrier) that looks like a small tank. This stepped the Iranians up another notch. Then Blackwater, Bremer’s security, arrived in their little birds (helicopters). Then the boss arrived in 4 Black Hawks with 2 Apaches as escort. The final straw for the Iranians though was when we took the press up to the border to get some B-Roll and they charged the gate. This prompted the Iranians to bring a pickup truck with a machine gun in the back up to the border and to place snipers in their castle. Yes I said castle. All along the border the Iranians and the Iraqi’s have actual castles built to monitor the other side. When the snipers arrived, the boss’s trip to see PICES was canceled and we had to do the press avail about a mile away. What can you do?
Today we finally did the Law School event. It had been scheduled at least five different times but had to be canceled every time. Today we finally pulled it off. I will send some photos in another e-mail. Too many for this e-mail. The students were very unruly and kind of screwed up the event. What can you do?
Well that about sums up the past three days. What an experience. I am gong to send Jess a couple of movie files of the flight back to Baghdad so check the website. Also, Dad that photo labeled me in Iran that would be another country. Catching up.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
I am back from my three day hiatus. What a busy three days it was as well. To start with my advance that took me away was up to the Iranian border. We took the Ambassador there on Monday and Eric and I went up to create the event on Saturday.
What an experience. First off let me reiterate my complete and utter pride in our National Guard. We were working with elements of the 30th Brigade out of North Carolina or the Old Hickory Brigade. These guys have been on the ground for just barely 3-4 weeks and they have their area completely dialed in. Small world note, I go 12,000 miles around the word to end up smoking a cigar with Capt. Killgren, a Dec. ’93 graduate of ASU (same as me).
The elements that we were working with are based at FOB (Forward Operating Base) Wyatt. That’s where we spent the night. The FOB is probably a half mile square, not very big, but we were afforded nice accommodations in a connex and breakfast and dinner. Just like camping, without the marshmallows.
The town that we did the event in is Muntheria. For those of you who still have your maps at home, go NE from Baghdad to between the 1 and 2 o’clock position. You will see Diyala’ in white outlined by red and to the right of that you will see the Khanaquin Border Crossing. That is Muntheria.
The Khanaquin Border Crossing is now one of three border crossings that we are keeping open between Iran/Iraq. After the war, there were a total of 19 crossing points that were open, but we have closed it down to three because of the huge influx of insurgents and terrorists that have come across the Iranian border. As you can see by looking at the map the border with Iran is huge. It is also troublesome because the terrain can be very difficult to patrol. At Muntheria we have installed an immigration system called PICES. It basically scans a person’s passport. Takes a current photo of them and then logs the information about duration of stay etc. Muntheria is the first checkpoint to have PICES operational. The plan was to take Bremer and the press to see PICES in action. More on that later.
Muntheria is a very open area. In many ways it reminds me of the Colorado Plateau in AZ. Open and rocky, but Muntheria has a little more greenery. The area where Muntheria sits is heavily Kurdish, something in the range of 85%. Because of this, it has been very quiet for our troops in the area. They rarely have attacks, which they definitely are not complaining about.
There is a photo of myself with General Nazeem (Naa-them). This guy is a complete character. Six months ago he was a Pashmerga Lt. Pashmerga’s are Kurdish troops and are known to be very fierce fighters. His family has strong ties in the area and when the Coalition liberated Iraq, he set himself up to protect the border and gave himself the title of General. He is now responsible for the border for the Diyala province. He is a very interesting man to say the least. A very nice man, but you kind of get the feeling that his nose might be a little dirty.
I have included a photo that shows trucks trading their wares back and forth across the border. Trucks are not allowed to cross from Iran to Iraq or vice versa, so the trucks literally back up to each other on opposite sides of the border and trade the cargo. They pay each other in cash and go about their merry way. It kind of makes tariffs and taxation a little rough. Commerce is King and thrives at this border. I was told that this border stayed open during the Iran/Iraq war in the ‘80’s and traded much the same as it does now.
When game day came things got a little hairy. There was a large degree of nervousness about bringing the Ambassador to the border. Our goal was to do a press-avail with the boss in a position similar to what I am in the Me in the Bremer Shot photo. The arch is the border. I remind you that there has been a huge influx of bad guys across the Iranian border. To start our day our friends in the military ordered up F-15 cover over the event site. When we arrived the planes were already flying. Needless to say the Iranians got a little nervous. The next thing they saw was us arriving with three platoons of troops, a large number of armored humvees with 50 caliber machine guns on top and 3 Bradleys. The Bradley is an APC (armored Personnel Carrier) that looks like a small tank. This stepped the Iranians up another notch. Then Blackwater, Bremer’s security, arrived in their little birds (helicopters). Then the boss arrived in 4 Black Hawks with 2 Apaches as escort. The final straw for the Iranians though was when we took the press up to the border to get some B-Roll and they charged the gate. This prompted the Iranians to bring a pickup truck with a machine gun in the back up to the border and to place snipers in their castle. Yes I said castle. All along the border the Iranians and the Iraqi’s have actual castles built to monitor the other side. When the snipers arrived, the boss’s trip to see PICES was canceled and we had to do the press avail about a mile away. What can you do?
Today we finally did the Law School event. It had been scheduled at least five different times but had to be canceled every time. Today we finally pulled it off. I will send some photos in another e-mail. Too many for this e-mail. The students were very unruly and kind of screwed up the event. What can you do?
Well that about sums up the past three days. What an experience. I am gong to send Jess a couple of movie files of the flight back to Baghdad so check the website. Also, Dad that photo labeled me in Iran that would be another country. Catching up.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
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US overseer in Iraq (news - web sites), Paul Bremer, walks pass US trained Iraqi border policemen at the Muntheria Border Crossing, northeastern Iraq. Muntheria is one of the three border entry points that remains open along the Iraqi-Iranian border. The other border entry points have been closed to control illegal entries.(AFP/Pool/Murad Sezer) |
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Very long day today. We got the majority of the equipment into the studio. We also got the painting of the studio started. It will be finished tomorrow. Tomorrow will also finally be the Satellite and Microwave day. Bremer did an interview this evening with the school Channel 1 from our balcony. It looked great. We are very excited to usse the balcony shot. Everything else is going very well. It looks like we are traveling with the big man to meet our Easter commitments. So we will be in DC for 1 week and then back here to Baghdad. Well the network is about to go down for maintenance.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
From: Edgar, Gregg Mr. (CIV)
Sent: Wednesday, March 24,
2004 11:52 PM
Subject: Update
Today we marked the 100 days until sovereignty. For those of you can do math, please don’t try to add it up. The Ambassador gave kind of State of the Union Address to members of the GC, Ministers and Iraqi notables. We did a very nice setup outside of the convention center. Dad they need you to come fix the fountains out here. The event turned out great and the Ambassador and all of our Stratcom bosses were ecstatic. Bremer even invited the Advance team to his house for dinner this week, he was so pleased.
Today was definitely one of those days where it was better to be lucky than good. The setup was in an area that we looked at the other day and had fears about the sun staying high enough above the palm trees. The sun was perfect. The event had a very hanging out by the cabana feel to it. It was very nice to use a new location and do something a little different. The press gave us some great photos and actually several of them were helping us with some lighting issues we had.
Well busy day tomorrow. We are going to get this studio running in the next two days if it kills me!!
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
From: Edgar, Gregg Mr. (CIV)
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004
11:57 PM
Subject: Update
A little bit of a frustrating day today. A lot of hurry up and wait. We had a team in Najaf today doing a governance visit. Then we were supposed to have an event this afternoon marking the 100 day countdown to sovereignty. The event got postponed until tomorrow, but it will be a very good event. The team in Najaf got some great photos and very good press.
Since we couldn’t do the event we took a run out to the Airport to see if we could find our shipment for the studio. No such luck, but we did have a Burger King for lunch. After all of our excursions I ran out to get the truck filled up and found a man with a monkey. Some photos attached.
Not much else today watch your news and read your paper over the next week.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We spent today gathering furniture for our studio, taking time to look through the warehouse while we did so. It is amazing the stuff that was in this palace. Most of it is really junk. Saddam had these very old Big Screen TV’s and two carriages that look like they are out of Cinderella. Apparently he used to ride around in them all of the time. They were very cheesy. I don’t recall if I have talked to you about the giant heads or not, but the Palace that we are staying in is actually a Palace that was built in two phases. The main part, where the green room is located, was built back in the 50’s as a Presidential Palace. Saddam added two wings on to the place on the North and South side. I believe this was done after the Persian Gulf War. When they were built Saddam had four huge metal heads put up on the towers of the new editions, two on the North side and two on the South. One of the first things the US did when we moved into the place was take the heads down. They are being stored on the warehouse grounds and we were able to go in and see them. I have attached several photos of the warehouse and the heads. When my friend Brian got here the heads were down in front and he was able to situate himself so that Saddam was kissing his ass. Pretty funny. They are supposedly going to melt two of the heads down to make coins and use for charity somehow. The other two are going to a museum.
We spent the rest of today planning for an event tomorrow to commemorate 100 days remaining until the hand over of sovereignty. We actually have several big events that will be coming up over the next few weeks that you should see something about. Watch your TV’s and your Newspapers.
Well early morning tomorrow so off to bed for me.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Another good day today. We have our Studio site. Spent this morning cleaning and prepping the room. I am going to spend time tomorrow learning about Satellites and finding décor for the room. Eric and I went out to Camp Victory which is located next to the Airport. Camp Victory sits on the grounds of the grounds of what is known as the Water Palace. The attached photo will give you a good idea of why. Remember when you are looking at it that we are in the middle of a fricking desert. Once again an example of the waste of the country’s treasury. The team also had a signing ceremony that established Ministry of Defense. Also worked on the planning of an event to commemorate the final 100 days of the CPA.
We had another attack this morning, but it was aimed more at the Rasheed Hotel and fortunately it did not really hit anything. It was very quick. Again no real danger to us.
Finished the day up by playing Poker with a group of the guys and 1 gal. I won 5 bucks so not too bad. I have attached photos from Eric and my visit to the Water Palace and a quick fun shot of Senor Kimmitt.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
A good day today. A little time to relax, and then a site visit, a Senor/Kimmitt show and several interviews. Had some time to do laundry and make some phone calls tonight which was good.
Just a few comments tonight on the news that is out there today. I was searching the internet tonight for the photo that I have attached of Russ. I will come to Russ in a minute, but I would like to talk about the photos of the Protesters from around the world. My first comment is thank God that they all live in a world where they are free to express themselves in the streets without fear of reprisal from the government that they hate so much. My second comment is before you go waving your banners about blood for oil or Bush is a Terrorist or American Imperialism, please come see this country. Come see the mass grave sites. Come see the Kurd’s museum in Hillabja to memorialize the victims of Saddam’s WMD. Come talk to the Bride’s who had to spend their Wedding Nights with Uday. Or watch the tapes that sick bastard and his brother made of torturing people. These things are all real. They are not fiction that has been created to re-elect the President.
I know that the primary pretext for war was WMD. I am not going to argue intelligence, because it was what it was. The truth of the matter is that the majority of our intelligence is from what Saddam gave the UN after the Persian Gulf War and the accounting that he failed to give over the next 12 years. I will continue to argue the point that I argued before the war started. Saddam was under something along the lines of 13 separate UN Mandates to account for his weapons. He didn’t do it. He was given loopholes in UN sanctions to sell oil to feed his people; he built Palaces and tried to continue weapons programs. He invited Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas to live in Iraq perhaps two of the most ruthless Palestinian terrorists. He brought Abu Musab al-Zarqawi here to recuperate and be a thorn in the side of the Kurds and allowed him to set up a terrorist training camp in Northern Iraq. He provided funds for the families of Suicide Bombers to encourage them to blow themselves up. To say that the man was bringing anything other than instability to the Middle-East is just wrong.
Now look at how far this country has come in a year and look to where it could go. The GC has created this countries first democratic constitution. They have secured the rights of every citizen. We have oil production at or above pre-war levels and getting better. We have brought consistent power to parts of the country that have never had consistent power. We are rebuilding the countries infrastructure to well beyond anything they have ever had. This country can become a beacon for what the rest of the region should try to attain.
On to Russ. Russ is a member of our Personal Security Detail (PSD). Russ works for a company called MVM, one of several security companies that are working in Iraq. His firm provides security for Stratcomm where I work. They are a great bunch of guys who make sure that we are all safe when we venture out into the red zone. They all are former military or police special forces. They are probably what a lot of us would think of as Mercenaries, but I am pretty sure that they only work for our side and that they probably wouldn’t like that definition. Russ lives out in the Red Zone. His place is just a few blocks away from where the bomb went off the other night. He had just returned home and gotten ready to go out for the night when it went off. He immediately ran to the hotel and did what he could do to help at his own peril. The photo is of him helping a victim of the blast out of the fire and rubble. Russ pulled him out but learned that the man later died from his injuries. The photo ran on the front page of the NY Times above and below the fold.
JD Hayworth stopped by today. I have included a photo of Gordo and I with him as well as Cong. Chet Edwards of Texas. It was good to see JD. The next photo is of Mike from our team with Popcorn the Moose above his head. One of our Stratcomm folks received this inflatable game trophy in a care package and it was promptly put on the wall of the green room. The popcorn nickname comes from a very funny e-mail string that would take to long to try to explain. Next is a photo of Mike and I headed to the GC Site Visit in the Advance Pick Up. The last photo comes from a site visit to the GC’s offices.
Well I think that about covers today.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Well by now you have all probably seen the Iraqi press walk out on Sec. Powell. If you haven’t seen it yet, we had Colin Powell in-country today. He came and had a series of meetings, addressed the CPA staff, and held a press conference at the convention center. At the top of the press conference, right as the Secretary and Ambassador Bremer took their places, an Iraqi journalist turned on his microphone and proceeded to protest the killing of two Iraqi journalists that had occurred the night before. At the conclusion of his remarks, The Iraqi media corp got up and walked out of the room. They left their cameras, but the reporters walked. Background – Two journalist while proceeding through a US checkpoint were caught in a gun battle. It has been assumed by the Iraqi media that US soldiers killed the journalists, but we currently (as of this evening) have forensic evidence that counters that claim. There is a third vehicle involved that may have fired upon the journalists. Either way it is a tragic event that occurred. The Sec handled it very well. In truth a year ago, Iraqi press would never be able to think and confront their government that way. So we had a great day with the Secretary despite and in some ways because of the protest.
After the event, we then had a press backgrounder for the Amb. And four interviews for him. Afterward we waited for Al Aribya to come and interview Kimmitt It turned into a huge CF, but it worked in the end. In all it has been a very long day for our team.
Because of that, I am going to go to bed. Falling asleep at the terminal. Attached are some photos. First up is a photo of Eric taking a knife to my mono-brow. Next is a shot of the stage after the event with CPA. Powell worked the room like a rock star. Bremer stayed in the stage area and shook hands up there. Gordon somehow made center stage. This reminds me of the Montgomery line about Gordon “7:00 pm The President begins participation the rope line, 7:05 pm Staff Advance Lead begins participation in the rope line.” If you understand advance it is funny. The last is just a fun Helicopter shot from a couple of days ago.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Tonight will be a short one. We had a very busy day today and are prepping for a really busy day tomorrow. We did 7 interviews with Senor and Kimmitt. GMA, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, FOX, PBS, CTV as well as a press conference. All of this was on top of prepping for a very big day tomorrow. We had a rocket attack tonight, but all were safe. We had to spend some time in the basement. Most of the noise was from our boys firing back. It is very interesting where the mind goes on these attacks. Most of us were jealous of our coworkers who managed to hang in the office instead of getting stuck in the basement. We once again had an over under going on.
I have attached three photos for you. The first is a shot of Senor and Kimmit during their interview process. The second is a shot from the basement of Christina with our friends Christie and Susan. Last is a basement shot of Eric with our friend Traci.
I am off to bed all.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Sorry about last night everyone. We had a very late night the past two days with Peter Jennings more on that to follow. When I got back to the office to do my update, the office was locked for the evening and I couldn’t get in to do my update. We have started a new procedure of locking the office because we had a rash of thefts. We let the Soldiers and Marines that are stationed at the Palace come in at night and do morale calls. I don’t think they were taking anything but they were getting blamed for the thefts. So we negotiated a deal with the Marines where they post someone during the calls and lock the place up when they are done. They are a great bunch of kids that come in here at night and it is amazing how much they appreciate the opportunity to call home.
On to today briefly about the bombing. As I am sure you are well aware there was a bombing of the Mount Lebanon Hotel in the Karadah district of Baghdad. The bombing was devastating. The Hotel is frequented by westerners, primarily non-government and non-military. The news is probably giving you a fairly accurate picture of what we know so far. I have not heard any estimates on casualties, but the Karadah district is heavily populated. It is one of the economic centers of Baghdad.
People in the Palace felt the blast. I was driving a pick up and heard it and saw the smoke plume rise. We were in no danger though. I will give you more of an update tomorrow when we have a better idea what happened.
On to Peter Jennings. What an Ass. I fully retract anything positive I said about the guy in my first e-mail. Our team had him for a good chunk of the day yesterday. He was a jerk all day. He did an interview with the Ambassador and he made a bunch of snide comments about the facilities (which have been used by everyone else in the world without complaint). I kept wanting to remind him that he was not exactly in his NY studio. He finished the interview with the Ambassador and said, “Well you certainly live up to your reputation for sticking to message.” But the line of the day was when his own cameraman said to another technician:
“Do you think Peter feels intimidated by the Ambassador because (The Ambassador) is every man that (Peter) wishes he could be? (The Ambassador) is brilliant, runs marathons etc.”
This received many laughs from the ABC crew. He isn’t exactly liked by his own people so that has to tell you something. I have attached the ABC Poll to this message. I feel that it is overall a very positive report. There are negatives but nothing that you wouldn’t expect and they are far outweighed by the positives.
We have a lot going in the next few days that you will for sure see back home. So keep watching us.
We’ve gotta piper in Baghdad. I have attached some photos of the St. Patrick’s Day Party that we had tonight. It was a lot fun for everyone. Our buddies from the guard brought the sound system over for us and I got to play sound tech and roadie for part of the time. It wasn’t Able Cain, but we had a lot of fun. As I’m sure you have guessed Christina was instrumental in the organizing of this little shindig. Here she’s shown enjoying the Boys from Blackwater – Bremer’s Security Detail. Be looking for the Boys from Blackwater calendar in the near future. I swear Estrada could make a fortune selling her photos. Especially with her new digital she bought.
Well I think that is all for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Well today has been a very long day. We spent about 8 hours prepping for Peter Jennings. In truth we only spent 2 hours prepping, 5 hours sitting on a cold, dark street waiting for Peter to arrive, ½ hour filming and ½ hour tearing everything back down again. And oh yeah we didn’t get to start on this part of the day until 6 pm. Do I sound bitter?
I am now going to go into tirade about the liberal and more importantly the cynical media. I know my liberal friends will completely disagree with me and I do apologize for putting them through this tirade, but it is absolutely infuriating to see the media completely ignore positive stories, because they don’t ft their personal view of the world. Their cynicism has so warped them that it is impossible for them to see the opportunity that has been created for the Iraqis. I know I asked mom to send out an e-mail to all of you encouraging you to watch ABC this evening, but I am now rescinding the request. I can completely synopsize the reporting for you in 1 sentence “Everything in Iraq is terrible and Americans are hated throughout the world.”
Now before I continue my tirade, let me give you a small bit of fair and balanced reporting on Jennings. I had a 5 minute conversation with Jennings once he concluded his taping. Like Rather I will say to you that he is a very nice guy. Extremely personable and down to Earth. He let the F-Bomb fly at least three times in casual conversations throughout the ½ hour, so he can’t be too uptight. Other than the fact that we had to wait for him to show up, I would say he was courteous and very grateful for our assistance and apologetic for the delay. We had a very nice conversation about Phoenix and Paradise Valley. He took photos with the Iraqis who were helping his team and me as you can see.
Then the conversation turned to Iraq. He apparently lived in the region 30 some years ago and has spent some considerable time in Iraq itself over the years. He has an institutional knowledge of the area. He cited friends in the area that believe the country is going to fall into civil war. He personally is so pessimistic about the chances of Iraq surviving as a democracy, which clearly comes through in his reporting. The problem with that is that it becomes self fulfilling.
I am definitely not saying that there is an easy road ahead for the Iraqis. As my friend Eric said to Jennings this evening, “A certain degree of pessimism is understandable (from the Iraqis). The Iraqi people have not had an opportunity to be optimistic about anything before.”
It is a very thin line that keeps Iraq from splintering into a three way civil war. What has kept in check so far has been the steady hand of the Ambassador and what I see as a definite feeling of opportunity and hope on behalf of the Governing Council. I think that they genuinely recognize that, while this is an opportunity for power, it also an opportunity to get things right for this country, which has never existed before.
Pessimism is easy. It isn’t very difficult to stand on the sides and tell everyone what is wrong. It takes more courage and strength to stand up and say what is wrong and this is how I am going to fix it. If we are unwilling to be positive and proactive for the Iraqi’s, they won’t make it on their own.
OK enough of the tirade. Besides the tirade we had a Senor Kimmitt Show and did some work on the Studio. With any luck the studio will begin operations this week.
Sorry about know e-mail yesterday. The server was done when I went to do it and I couldn’t e-mail.
I have attached three photos. The first is a sunset shot over one of Uday’s palaces in the green zone. The weather has been fantastic here. Sunshine, no clouds, 70’s, light breeze. The second is just a shot of myself with Uday’s Palace. Yes I know I have a beard going. The last is me with Peter.
Take Care Evryone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Today was an administrative day. I did a bunch of paperwork on the studio. I went to the bank where they found a vault with over $650 million US. There was also a Senor Kimmitt PC today.
Christina, Alan and Gordon took the Ambassador to Kut which is in the Wasit Governance. Around the time of the TAL signing we had planned to meet with several of the Governances to see how progress is going across the country. They all had to be rescheduled after the delays and attacks. Scheduling can be so tricky. Wasit is the first one that we have done. The Ambassador toured a Canal project and met with the Governance folks (kind of like County Supervisors). All went very well. This was one of our first opportunities to drive the schedule and fully utilize Advance as it is intended. Our team was able to get in and assess if the canal project was going to be a useful visit. Slowly but surely we are having a very positive impact operations here.
As I touched on a few days ago we had a very somber moment here when we lost three members of our team in the Hilla area. I am attaching a story about the group. These were people who believed strongly in helping the Iraqi people and paid the ultimate price for it. Islam has a strong tradition martyrdom with any luck their sacrifice will reach that level for the people that they served. While I didn’t know them, several of our folks knew them very well and it has had a profound impact on them.
Middle East - AP
Women's Rights Advocate Among Dead in Iraq
Thu Mar 11,10:44 PM ET
By KELLY KURT, Associated Press Writer
TULSA, Okla. - Lawyer Fern Holland went to Iraq (news - web sites) to help that nation's women: She investigated human-rights violations, set up conferences and assisted in writing the women's rights section of the new constitution.
"I love the work and if I die, know that I'm doing precisely what I want to be doing," she wrote in an e-mail to a friend Jan. 21.
Holland was one of three civilians killed Tuesday after several gunmen posing as Iraqi police officers stopped her vehicle at a makeshift checkpoint near the town of Hillah, about 35 miles south of Baghdad.
Holland and a second victim, Robert J. Zangas, were the first U.S. civilians working for the U.S. occupation authority to be killed in Iraq. Their translator, who was not identified, was also killed.
Zangas, 44, of suburban Pittsburgh, joined the coalition after serving nine months in Iraq as reserve lieutenant colonel with the Marine Corps 4th Civil Affairs Group.
He is listed on the coalition's Web site as a regional press officer.
Holland's family believes she was targeted by assassins because of her work, which included opening women's centers around Iraq.
"She was a lover of democracy," said her sister, Vi Holland. "She was a humanitarian. She believed our greatest chance for democracy (in Iraq) was through people who were most oppressed."
Zangas' wife, Brenda, said Thursday that the "act of terrorism killed a very special person."
She described her husband as "very giving."
Robert Zangas wrote in a journal entry on his Web site dated last week that he had hope for Iraq.
"This is a society that is in desperate need of everything," the entry reads.
"... I don't mean to sound depressed because I am not. I am enjoying this work immensely. It is very gratifying."
L. Paul Bremer, the top administrator in Iraq, has requested that the FBI (news - web sites) investigate the slayings. It was not yet known whether the gunmen were specifically targeting coalition officials.
Holland, a 1996 graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, worked at two law firms in Tulsa before joining the Peace Corps and traveling to Namibia.
She returned to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but did not stay long.
Tulsa attorney Stephen Rodolf, who kept in touch with Holland through e-mail, said she seemed to be aware of growing threats to her safety.
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"We stand out, and those who dislike us know precisely when we come to town," she wrote to him.
Her job required her to travel almost every day on highways where snipers and roadside bombs lurked. And yet, she asked to travel with an unarmed escort because she felt the high security around her was a barrier to her work with Iraqi women, he said.
"She would not take foolish risks," Rodolf said. "But a big part of her commitment was that there are risks in the world, and if you are to accomplish good, you accept them."
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Today was a lot calmer. First off I slept in until 9:00 am. Absolutely Heavenly! From there I took care of some issues with our Suburban and did some meetings abut the Studio. We also had meetings about the June 30 turn over. (Pretty Exciting stuff) Then we did some admin work on our staging and had a Senor Kimmit press conference this evening. Our staff also took care of a farewell to the MP’s with Bremer. Not quite the day we had yesterday.
I went out to the Rasheed this evening with Mike and Al (not Alan) . A couple of people from Stratcom had organized Salsa Night. We went to support them and plus I was just in need of a night away from the computer. Al is very interesting guy. He was born in NY and then lived in VA through 2nd grade. He then moved to Egypt and lived there through college. His parents are Egyptian. He is fluent in Arabic and is our key Arabic media guy.
Mike is our newest addition to the Advance team. He is a good guy but needs a break from Iraq. He gets a little too keyed up.
Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful day.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Another Helicopter trip today. Gordon and I took the Ambassador to Ramadi. For those of you playing along on the maps I sent yesterday, go due West from Baghdad. Our trip to Ramadi was forty minutes and our return trip was 30 minutes. They were hauling ass on the return trip. They also took us on a little circuitous route on the trip over. I believe they took us out over Buhayrut ath Tharthar (Lake Tharthar). It was absolutely huge – seemed Great Lakes Huge, but maybe not.
We were again flying pretty low. We had Apache escorts for this trip. Cousin Sue and Don it was pretty cool seeing these birds that you worked on in action. They are pretty intimidating machines when they are flying at you. When we took off this morning the doors on the Blackhawk were closed, but the door next to me wouldn’t latch right and it came open in flight. It was much more entertaining with the doors open. On the way back we just started with the doors open and kept them that way. Jess put up a video of the return trip on the website he has been posting these on - http://www.homeaz.net/iraq.
It was interesting watching as we flew over the lake, how the fishermen were using their tractors to pull their nets. They had huge nets out into the lake, just like you would see in rocky point and they back the tractor in as far as they can and start pulling the nets out of the water. It is fascinating how different people use tools. What’s the line about necessity being the mother of invention?
In Ramadi we stopped in to see the Commanding General for the 82nd Airborne, MG Swannak (that’s two stars for anyone asking). By the way the rumor is that Sanchez is getting his fourth star soon. The 82nd is rotating out and being replaced by the 1st Marine Division. Much the same as yesterday we were paying our respects to the outgoing and incoming Generals. All of these Two Stars that we have seen are as Gordon likes to call them “Straight out of Central Casting”. They all look like they have been chiseled out of granite. They truly have a presence about them. Sanchez is not necessarily the Granite looking type but he definitely has presence.
I am attaching some photos of our excursion. The First is a continuation of the G&G tours of Iraqi palaces. I threw one in of the helicopters as they were going over the Power lines. It is a pretty cool shot. The third is from the return trip home. I am going to send more to Jess to throw up on the site so I don’t keep clogging everyone’s emails.
Hope all is well back home.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
The one labeled corkscrew is a plane coming into BIAP doing the corkscrew maneuver that I told you about.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
This is very cool!!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
I have two words for you -- Black Hawk! Gordon and I took the Ambassador up to Tikrit today to visit with the 4th and 1st ID (Infantry division). The 4th is rotating out and being replaced by the 1st and the Ambassador was paying his respects to the two generals. The Blackhawk ride was incredible. I swear that there were points that we were no higher than the top of my suburban. They fly very low and very fast. All told the flight was about 45 minutes one way. There are several power lines (which the US has built) between Baghdad and Tikrit and every time the helicopter comes up on the lines they quickly climb over them and flare out doing a sharp turn and rapid descent. You get a good roller coaster feeling from it.
The helicopter gives you an interesting perspective on the country. I am going to send an additional e-mail with some maps that have interesting facts on the country. When you take off and fly out over Baghdad the first thing that you notice is that every building has a satellite dish up on top of it and most of them have more than one. You look at the houses and are amazed that they are even standing, but on top of it will be a perfectly aligned Sat. Dish. I am sending an additional e-mail with photos of Baghdad from above.
You quickly get out of the city and are into farmland. There are a lot of sheep and goats and some cattle, all in small herds. I couldn’t really tell what the crops were, but a lot of them looked like they were actually growing pastures for the livestock. There were tractors on every farm. Most of them were parked on a slant face down a hill. I was guessing that they had to push start the tractors and have them on an incline to make it easier on them. For the farmers on the e-mail is this correct? The farm houses appeared very similar to the Indian dwellings at Pueblo Grande or elsewhere in the Southwest. They are adobe structures that look like they haven’t changed in over thousands of years. The only difference is the beat up pick up truck or ’57 Chevy (saw one) parked by the house. They also have elaborate canal systems that bring the water into the farms. This might be where the Hohokam went.
Tikrit itself was fascinating. We stayed on the military post there. It is in an area outside of town where the palaces were. It sits right up on the Tigris River. These palaces (the ones that aren’t blown all to hell) are incredible. This guy literally blew this country’s treasury on building these places. There was a nice breeze blowing and a lot of greenery. The water in the Tigris looks pretty disgusting though. EPA would have a field day.
When we got back from Tikrit we had another Senor/Kimmitt press conference and planning meetings for tomorrow. As you all have probably heard there were three CPA officials killed yesterday in Hilla. That was the dominant topic at the press conference. I did not know the people who were killed, but I have a good friend who is stationed in Hilla who luckily is back in the States right now. A couple of our Advance staff knew the folks and had worked with them several times. From what it sounds like the folks were targeted and ambushed. They had recently opened a Democracy Center in Hilla that focused on women’s rights, something that is really popular in a heavily Shiite area. Apparently they and their car were very messed up.
Well I think that’s all I have for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
March 8, 2004 
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Attached is a shot of me with my friend Aziz who works for the GC Protocal office. He and I had a conversation this morning about a few upcoming events and he suggested that they might actually take the crossed sword down. Aziz is the guy that you saw in the footage of the signing , helping them sign by there name. All three of these shots are from yesterday.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Sorry I am so late this evening. The day went a little long. We had Dan Rather doing a shot from the famous Crossed Swords at Saddam’s parade grounds. There is a day shot of the Parade grounds with Christina. Off to the left as your looking at the pictures is where Saddam would stand and fire off his shotgun. The crossed swords are a memorial that Saddam put up after the Iran - Iraq war. The hands are supposedly modeled off of his own. On the sides and stretching across the rode are helmets from the dead Iranian soldiers. It is kind of eerie.
We spent 6 hours in 60 degree weather and wind setting up Dan’s shot so it could air on this evening’s news. Though I have been doing this a long time it still amazes how Hollywood (fake) the news really is. Dan was a very nice guy and was wonderful with our troops that were out supporting us. Unfortunately his news is rarely slanted my way. Attached is a photo of him with Keith Gatlin or Gizmo as he refers to himself. He is a great guy works very hard for us and spent all evening helping us find power to light Dan up.
Tomorrow should be a big day. I am stretching myself out a bit. It should be real fun. I am going to send another e-mail after this one that has some more photos from yesterday.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Guest: Gordon James, a valley PR business owner in Iraq, working with Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. There were more attacks on Monday as the new interim constitution is signed. What is the feeling of the Coalition Provisional Authority after the signing? Do they think the violence will subside with this step behind them? Are things getting better for Iraqis?
Iraqis sign one constitution, wrangle
over the next
Listen to Jim's interview with Gordon
James, a valley PR business owner in
Iraq.
Well they signed it! I am attaching s bunch of photos. I am literally falling
asleep while I write? I will send more tomorrow.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
A couple shots from the other day. It was really too bad that we weren’t
able to hold the event because we had two kids groups that would have stolen
the show. The one group is seven kids who are dressed in traditional clothing
and recite Arabic and Iraqi poetry. The kid in the red tie at the front of
the photo was just too much. He can’t be any older than Elspeth and got
up on his own and went to the Microphone and started reciting this poem at
the top of his lungs through the Mic. It was hilarious (I have no idea what
he was saying, for all I know it was death to the infidels) but it goes to
show that kids are kids all over the world. The other group, no photo, is a
choir that is trained by the Baghdad Symphony. There are 25 of them ranging
from 1st grade to 7th grade. The Deputy Secretary General for the Iraqi Governing
Council was very excited to have someone sing this song called Montanee (sp).
The man was completely impassioned when he was talking to me about it after
one of our meetings. It is a traditional Iraqi song that is kind of like America
the Beautiful. The plan was that the GC would come into the room with the kids
singing the song from the 2nd floor overlook. It was going to be an incredible
moment. These kids sang the song great. What can you do?
There is also a photo of the TAL and our fun with the press.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
To begin tonight’s e-mail, we are all alive and well. I know some of
you had concerns because of the reports of the attacks on the green zone. I
will say this - it was close. There was an improvised SUV that had been turned
into a rocket launcher. It fired from about 300 yards outside of the Green
Zone. The explosions were very loud, but I was never in danger. We actually
have an over/under bet on the amount of explosions we will hear and we were
more focused on counting the explosions than any concern for our safety. One
thing about Saddam he made his buildings like bunkers. If you saw the amount
of concrete that was used to make the Convention Center, you would be amazed.
In addition it is a very difficult building to hit from the Red zone. While
it is in close proximity, it is surrounded by the Rasheed, another building
that is called the Scooby Doo Building (When our folks first got here all of
the windows were knocked out and the wind would howl through it and sounded
like the Scooby Doo creature howls) and the GC and green zone on the other
sides. So it is well protected.
We ended up being locked down at the Convention Center for security reasons. The Pike Lock Down photo is from this timeframe. Pike is a corporal in the Marines, probably 22-23. He is a great guy who works his ass off – all marine. The photo shows that marines should probably not be in lock down.
Today we had quite a bit going on with Bremer. He started the day with the Iraqi National Soccer team kicking the ball around. We then had several interviews for him with the Big boys. He did CNN, Fox and then did a shot with Dan Rather here at the Palace. From there it was all TAL all the time. Confidence is high that we will have a signing.
I am attaching a couple of photos. There is a shot of Eric Jewett and myself in the green room. There is a photo of Omar and his partner who take care of the pool. I will also send an additional e-mail with some other shots from the past few days.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Now remember everyone, my Dad is in the Pool business so it is mandatory that
I take pictures of pools!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Well
today was a day for licking wounds. One
thing that I have learned for sure in the past month, the human foot was not
meant to be inside of boots and socks for 15-20 hours / day, especially when
it stands on nothing but marble, concrete or carpet with a bad pad.
My feet have never been so mangled or hurt so bad.
I stayed in my sandals all day which felt just like heaven.
We
mainly spent today doing a re-evaluation of where we are and what comes next.
It appears that the GC will reconvene on Monday and sign the TAL. While
I am not holding my breath, I believe that it will happen.
The
Shia’s Ayatollah Al-Sistani,
the most influential Shia cleric in
Al-Sistani
also does not like the single Presidency concept.
He is in favor of a rotating Presidency. Several officials said another
cause of dispute was the makeup of the presidency. The draft approved earlier
in the week set up a single president with two deputies. The Shiites revived
their demand for a presidency that would rotate among three Shiites, a Kurd
and a Sunni - giving the Shiites a dominant role. The GC is confident that
they will sign on Monday.
How
is this for a surreal evening - We spent a good part of the night drinking
Australian, Mexican, German and American beer, smoking Dominican Republic
Cigars in a rotunda around what was Saddam’s pool with a bunch of
Royal Marines, politicals
like myself, FSO (Foreign Service
Officers), Security Guys and Contractors from all over the world while a group
of guys played guitar and
everyone sang Irish folk songs, all while doing my laundry.
The photos of the pool are actually from several days ago.
With
that I am off to bed.
Take
Care Evryone!
Gregg
Edgar
Coalition
Provisional Authority
Office
of Strategic Communications
So what happens when you throw a signing party and nobody decides to come. The desk becomes the story. See the attached picture. Well today was pretty much a let down. The GC stepped back from the agreement that they had come to on Monday and now are renegotiating the TAL. I can not tell you how disappointing it is. It was a very long day getting this event ready, but it would have looked great if they had decided to leave their building. I’ll have some fresh pictures from the site for you tomorrow, but quite frankly I am too tired to do them tonight.
The line of the night which you won’t ever see anywhere - You have embarrassed your people and your country.
I have got to go to bed. More tomorrow.
Take Care
Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Today was a lot of setup. We had three interviews with Bremer in the morning and the rest of the day was spent trying to finish the build on the signing ceremony. I am not a fan of having more than two days to build an event site. You just keep thinking of more and more things to do, which when you are in Baghdad and you have almost zero resources is kind of tough. Things that are simple in the states like Pipe and Drape are close to impossible here. So you get creative and make things work. We are building a 6’ x 6’ screen for a video projection … we have custom built staging with beautiful orange carpet on it … we are using sound paneling to hide our backstage area. The one piece that has actually turned out really nice is the desk that we are using for the signing. It apparently is a desk where the King used to sign treaties.
It has been very exciting to work on this event. It certainly won’t be the prettiest event I have ever built, but it is definitely one of the most historic. It ranks up there with the 9/11 commemorative event at ground zero for historic scope (also for pain in the ass).
It has also been very exciting to see the reactions of the GC members to what we are planning. Our main contact was introducing Gordon to one of his people and he said Gordon did this for George senior, George junior and now he does this for Iraq, with a major sense of pride about that. Pretty cool!!
I know I have already said this in another update, but these guard troops that are helping us are the biggest can do guys I have ever met. They are fantastic.
Please watch your news tomorrow, for most of you it will be going on live TV at approx. 6:00 AM.
I have attached a couple of photos from the press conferences that we had Wednesday night.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We did a lot of work today on the convention center. With the current on hold situation because of the bombing, we are doing a lot of reacting to news instead of creation of news. We had three press conferences today. One with the GC, one with Bremer and Sanchez and one with Senor and Kimmitt. We also did a little build on the Signing ceremony.
There was a rocket attack on the Ambassador’s villa as well. We felt the shockwave, but were in no danger. One thing about Saddam, he built things with a lot of concrete.
Iam going to head to bed. Its been a long day!
Take Care Evryone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
It was a very somber day today. As I am sure you all have heard there were major attacks in Baghdad and Karbala, as well as elsewhere in the country. We are in the middle of the Shiite holiday of Ashura, which marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the hands of Sunni forces outside Karbala. It is the incident that drove a wedge between the Sunni’s and the Shiites. The holiday -- banned under Saddam -- draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and other Shiite communities to the Iraqi shrines. It is a different kind of holiday where Shiites walk the city streets flogging themselves with what are essentially maces. They also cut themselves with swords and knives all in the effort to atone for their sins. It is very strange. It is a little disconcerting to see a young boy running around in a ninja suit going to cut himself.
It is the stated goal of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Queada Agent in Iraq, to create a civil war between the Sunni’s and the Shiite’s to completely destroy any hopes of democracy in Iraq. But just as we saw with the 9/11 attacks in the states, Zarqawi has grossly underestimated the resolve the Iraqi leaders and their people to make something better for themselves. I feel after watching the members of the Governing Council address the bombing, with representative from three main factions on the dais – Sunni, Shiite, Kurd – democracy will come to Iraq and they will make this a better place. There is no doubt about why these attacks happened and the Iraqi’s will persevere.
For our team it was a crazy day. We were in the middle of meetings with the Governing Council discussing the signing ceremony when the bombs went off. Nothing was close to us. We didn’t even hear them. It did however completely change our day. We spent the rest of the time jumping through our assholes, while everyone tried to determine who would address the media and when. It was very crazy and included me sitting atop a 20 ft set of portable scaffolding while Gordon was shouting that I was going to fall off the damn thing. In the end we produced two press conferences, four live interviews and continued to build the signing ceremony which has been postponed for a period of mourning. Our team and the Military team that we work with responded very well to the pressure of the situation.
I have attached some AP photos. I
didn’t have my camera in my hand today.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
History was made today. The Governing Council agreed to the TAL (Transitional Administrative Law) at about 4 AM this morning. People who were at the meeting told me it was quite an amazing experience. There are 25 members of the Governing Council. Since 1979 these people have been living under a dictator who determined every move for them, so it is a foreign concept for them to even have an opportunity to make decisions. They all represent very diverse groups and have strong concerns about going back to what they had before. They have been working on this document for the past six months hammering out their differences and learning what we in America take for granted anymore – Compromise. Apparently when all was said and done, they didn’t really vote – they came together in a massive huddle with just a sense of massive euphoria at what had been accomplished.
The document that will be signed at an event on Wednesday (that we are creating), will serve as Iraq’s formative Constitution. It secures the freedom of individual Iraqi’s with a complete set of Bill of Rights. It guarantees women a place in the Iraqi government. It secures an independent and sovereign Iraqi government. It really has the opportunity to do as the President had hoped, create Iraq as a strong example of democracy in the Middle East. Wednesday will be a momentous and exciting day for everyone.
I have attached some photos of the press conference that the Governing Council held today. We had well over two hundred media in attendance. The Viet Nam era has so jaded our media. They have to find negative in any story. Every question focused on the people walking at various points of the discussion our that it took one extra day to come to a consensus. I think one day is nothing in the terms we are dealing with. The positive story is truly incredible.
Well I am off to bed. We have a very busy day tomorrow. We have two or three other events to arrange this week besides this ceremony. We are managing to stay very busy.
Take Care Everyone!!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
A relatively slow day today. The Governing Council was not ready to sign the TAL. It looks like they will do it next week. We have started the setup on it though. Cong. Flake was in town on a CODEL visit. Gordon and I took a minute to get our photo taken with him. We have done a lot with him over the past few years. He is a very easygoing guy.
We also had Secretary Thompson back in today. I had him for interviews with Fox and CNN that went very well. The rest of the team had him out on the road at a couple of Hospitals and eating dinner with Wisconsin troops out at the BIAP (Airport). The Ministry of health is the first Ministry that we are going to hand back to the Iraqi people and it is the most organized. We have made huge gains in reinvigorating their health systems. Their health technology was decades behind the times, but we are getting them up to speed.
Speaking of health issues, there is a gentleman named Rich Galen here with us. Rich is an old friend of Gordon’s and the father of a good friend of mine. Rich is a syndicated columnist in his normal life, but gave that up to come help strategic communications with regional media. Rich has been on the ground since November. As part of his regional media outreach, he gave an interview to a San Francisco Radio station where he stated that we could use some Oreo’s in Baghdad, since that time we have literally been shipped hundreds of packages of Oreo’s. Needless to say the goal of dropping a few pounds has been severally set back. Enjoy the photo.
That is pretty much it for tonight. Very busy week ahead. History in the making coming up. Responses are most appreciated.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
History has begun. We spent the majority of today preparing for the event that will announce the new constitution for Iraq. Today was the deadline for the transitional administrative law. This is the document that will outline the future of Iraq. They did not reach a conclusion but we expect them to come out with it tomorrow. We had a press conference at 10 pm this evening with three members of the Governing Council to give an update on where the meetings are. It should appear on your news all day. It ended up being quite a challenge because we had some major power issues and hour ahead of the conference that we had to jump through our asses to trouble shoot. But all went well. We went out for a beer afterwards and met some very cool Brits and took a minute to just relax.
Be watching over the next few days. You should some very historic movements from the Governing Council. The attached photos give you just a snap shot.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Fridays again are a little less demanding, but today we had Sec. Tommy Thompson in town. He did a tour of a military hospital and then came over to the conventions center to do a few interviews. We did a shot for Fox news and Al Hurra. Then we took him around and introduced him to some of the troops and over to the Press Center. The Col. That runs the conventions military detachment is a Wisconsan so Thompson got all fired up to meet him.
We also started going through some of our new toys as well. We are getting over a million dollars worth of equipment for the studio, mobile A/V support, the press conference room and the press center.
After all of that was done we did a live shot for Dan with NBC Nightly news which went very well. Look for Dan to do big things after he finishes here. He is a talented spokesperson.
The big thing to do at the end of the day (which usually really is the end of the day) everyone watches DVD’s on the computers. Tonight we watched So I married an Axe Murderer and Office Space. A little levity to end the day.
Well not much else right now. We have a lot coming up in the next week.
Take Care Everyone
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Can you say event, event, event. We opened the Press Center today with Ambassador Bremer. Then we took him over to the IMN studios for interviews with Arab Media. Then we had General Sanchez in the Press Center. Then we had Senor and Kimmit in the Press Center. Then we had Senor on Nightline. All this while making good progress on the studio and working on planning several other events. It was a busy day but our team is working very well and everyone is pleased with how we are helping.
The issue with the audio we captured keeps coming up with the media. I love it. It is so much fun watching Dan pull the correct quote out.
The interview with Nightline went very well. It took place at about 8 pm this evening. We ended up having about 45 minutes to set the shot up and had a lot of fun playing with the look. We work everyday with Military crews that are specialists in Audio and a few that are specialists in broadcasting. They hung around for the interview and we ended being able to have a little tutorial of sorts for them with the cameramen. We laid out the shot and they watched on the monitor to see how the various pieces we were playing with affected the shot. The guys ate it all up. As dull as it sounds, it was actually pretty cool.
They really are a top notch group. They are all from the Guard. They have a great attitude about everything, nothing but can do! Pretty amazing for the supposed part time soldier. These guys are the ultimate professionals.
Well I am going to head to bed now.
Take Care Evryone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
It was a very interesting day today. We have a friend, Scott Sforza who is with WH Communications, that comes in and out of Iraq frequently to work on communications issues. In many ways he is the reason that we are here. He has been on the ground since Tuesday of last week. A great guy and when he is on the ground things get done. He is leaving tomorrow, so I velcroed myself to him so we could try and get a few more things done before he left and so I could meet all of his contacts and to keep pushing things forward. We made good progress. We got the filing center pretty much done (see pictures). Made progress on the Studio and did briefings and interviews for Senor and Kimmitt.
I had some interesting conversations with folks. The guys in the first picture helped us hang all of the flags in the filing center. The one on the right is Ali (sp) (Yes Jessica the song from Aladdin is totally going through my head). He is an engineer and helps run the facilities side of the Convention Center. As we finished the night, he asked me when we were going to start giving visas to visit the United States. We had a long discussion about the travel restrictions that he has been living under with Saddam. The last time he left the country was 1979. His father was a merchant so when he was young he was able to travel with his father, but when Saddam took power in 1979 that all went out the window. The only way you could leave the country under Saddam was to get government approval and pay through the nose. All he wants to do now is travel. He wants the CPA to set up a travel agency at the Convention Center. It’s exciting to see his enthusiasm, but hard to fathom what they lived through.
After we left the convention center we went to a Chinese restaurant that opened a few weeks ago in the Green zone. It’s late at night so we were the only ones that were in the restaurant and we started to talk with the waitress and the owner of the place. They were actually Chinese. They decided that there would be an opportunity to start a business so they flew to Jordan and then drove 10 hours to Baghdad. They found a location and opened the restaurant and will be opening an Internet café in the next 10 days. Capitalism at its finest!
Well it is getting late and I have an early morning.
Take care everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We had a good day today, a little frustrating at points but good none the less. We had more interviews for Bremer with Arab media as well as more briefings for Dan and General Kimmitt. All went very well. One of the challenges that we face is that things are very fluid when it comes to the schedule. The situation forces it to be – whether it is a security issue or melt down with the Governing Council – flexibility is a must, which makes advance very difficult.
We have laid on several great events (and sent teams out into the field) only to have them canceled or severally altered, but that is just the challenge that we will deal with and overcome. We are looking at this as we have 127 days until the hand over of the government and any day we don’t get a message out is a lost opportunity to win hearts and minds.
Some folks were asking about our contacts with Iraqis. Are contact thus far has been limited. There are a significant amount of Iraqis that live and work in the green zone. Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) is the big contractor for everything you can think of and they hire a lot of Iraqis. With this group I have been amazed at the proficiency of English. The majority of these folks have passable English and a lot of the folks that I have come into contact with just floor me with how fluently they speak. The guy vacuuming the convention center was incredible.
Our contact in the red zone has been similar, but a little different. The English is still surprisingly good, but definitely not as wide spread. Our contact in the red zone is limited to visits to event sites where we always have a significant security presence. It is very common for the Iraqis to stand and watch you in groups during the site visit. You kind of feel like a monkey in a cage at times. If you have a camera they love for you to take their picture. If you have camera in your hand, they will yell for you to take their picture. If you’re a female and you have a camera in your hand they really get excited and surround you if they are in a group to see the digital photo.
Everyone that I have come into contact with has been extremely gracious and deferential.
I have included some photos of our room. Gordon and I were lucky enough to get into a trailer with Dan and our friend Brian McCormack. They have half and Gordon and I have the other half. It looks bad in the photos, but actually it is just fine. We could be living in a tent or ballroom with a couple hundred of our close personal friends so there will be no complaining from me. Our heater hasn’t been working in our room and it has been very cold the past few nights (30’s) – which leads to a very funny Gordon story that I will tell everyone when we get home. (It is a very visual story.)
Well that is all for tonight.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Pretty eventful day today. Rumsfeld was in town and we took him to see the guys at the Police Academy. He had a private meeting with the Iraqis who captured # 41 on the black list and then we took him out to give the recruits a big shot in the arm for completing their training. The graduation of the first class of Police Officers is next week. The Director of the Academy is a 6’5 350lb Scottish cop. A great guy, salt of the earth. You can only understand every third word he says, but he’s great. Watch your news they should have some coverage of the deputy minister getting the crowd all fired up and chanting for Rummy. Rummy put on a great speech for the guys.
It was an interesting event to be a part of because these guys literally are the ground level of remaking this country. If you don’t have trust in your police forces to keep you safe, who can you trust? These people are putting themselves in huge danger by being a part of the police force, but they do it and are very proud and eager to make their country a better place. We had one female that we were going to have in a camera shot, but she refused because the danger is so bad for these people, she lies to her family and tells them that she works at a library. And yet she still wants to do the job. Pretty inspiring.
The Aussie’s on the list will be happy to know that we just set up an interview for our Spokesman Dan Senor with the Aussie “60 minutes”. I had a nice chat with the sound tech who actually grew up in Canberra. It should be airing in the next week, so keep your Eye out for it.
On another funny note, you go all the around the world to Baghdad, and while doing laundry you meet a Helicopter pilot from Tucson, who grew up in Mesa. Man it is a small world.
I attached a couple of photos from today. Hopefully I won’t overload as many e-mails. Brent and Tom, I threw in a photo of a very busy soccer field at the Police Academy. Maybe you guys could forward this to Scott and get him to send some balls and backpacks out. There are soccer fields all over the place, and I am sure that we could find some youth orgs that would love the stuff. I watched a little bit of a basketball tournament the other day at the Olympic stadium. They love their sports.
Take care everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Nothing much to report today. We had a few interviews with Geraldo and more work on our filing center and Studio. The rest of the week will be extremely busy.
I drove for the first since being here. Just around the green zone, but it felt good to be behind the wheel of a Suburban again.
That is all for tonight. I have to go finish my laundry and the get to bed. Much more tomorrow.
Take Care Everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Today was very eventful! After a very late night I slept in until 8:30 am. When I got into the office there was a big furor over an interview that the Ambassador had given to Al Arabia yesterday, the station that had rolled us so bad. It seems that they misinterpreted Bremer’s comments and Reuters and BBC were taking Al Arabia’s story and running with it.
Basically they had Bremer saying that it will take 12 – 15 months to hold elections, when in truth the timeframe had been put forth as an estimate by the UN. I know it sounds trivial, but in the end it goes to credibility for the Ambassador. He has not announced when elections will take place and has actually said that it is a decision that US and UN will help the Iraqi people reach.
Where it became eventful for us, was that I had been pushing on one of our Press people to record all of our interviews, but in particular the Arabic interviews, so that we have a transcript of the questions the Interpreter asked the Ambassador. They had not been capturing these interviews, so there was no recourse when something was reported inaccurately. Christina sat in the satellite truck with a digital recorder and taped both the questions and answers. I sat and transcribed the answer in question and low and behold the Ambassador had said it correctly! We were able to throw it in the BBC and Reuters face that they were reporting inaccurately. It made it as a lead on CNN and few other places. It is always kind of fun to stick it to the media.
From there I had walk-thrus at the Olympic Center and the 2nd Cavalry unit where they are training the ICDC (Iraqi Civil Defense Corp) - The Government and military live on acronyms. There were basketball games going on at the Olympic center. It was kind of cool. I have included a photo from here of the pep band. Look for big stuff in the next few days.
Take care all!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
Well it is about 10:00 pm Friday night in Baghdad, about 12 noon for most of the people on my list. Our office is about as quiet as I have seen it. Our office is in with Strategic Communications in the Green room. It is a room that looks like it was a nice sized reception space. It is right in the middle of everything. See the photos attached.
Today was a pretty good day. We slept in until about 8:30 am. Most people take until 12 noon on Friday because Friday is the holy day in Islamic countries.
A couple of the things that we are working on moved forward today. We are helping our friends from White House Communications build an International Press Filing Center at the Iraqi Convention Center. We made small progress on that project. We also made some in-roads on building our Studio at the Palace, again in conjunction with our friends at White House Communications. These two projects are going to be instrumental in altering the way the International media cover what is happening here. If we can be a small hand in these projects our trip will have been worth every minute.
For our Bread and Butter work we did a couple of interviews for Bremer for Arabian TV and a production company out of Maryland. They went well, but we got rolled severally by the Arabian TV. It is funny how 15 minutes can become 30. We did the interviews outside. It was beautiful day today, very reminiscent of Phoenix in Winter. There are photos attached from our setup.
Several big things coming in the weeks ahead, please watch your news coverage.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
A pretty eventful day today. We toured a few sites in the red zone for possible events. A power plant in Baghdad and a Police facility. A lot of time spent driving in traffic wearing body armor (that part is necessary but not too fun.) We also had a major Press Conference with Bremer that we helped clean up. Small steps every day. The attached photos will give you a quick snapshot.There is also a photo of a sandstorm that we had the other day..
When we venture out of the green zone I am completely dumbfounded by how one man could completely devastate his country. This is a nation that should be extremely wealthy from its natural resources, but the people live in a poverty that matches or exceeds the worst of border towns in Mexico. There is garbage everywhere that you go. We are going to open the country’s first landfill. The sewage system is pathetic. The palace regularly reeks of sewage. It truly shows you the value of what we are fortunate enough to call home.
Take care everyone!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
We had a little drop by in our offices today.
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
It was another good day today. I took my first trip outside of the green zone to visit a law school. We hope to use for an event at some point soon. We then had interviews that we setup this afternoon. This work is strong mix of our Presidential and Cabinet work over the past couple of years. Very hands on with the principals, which is a lot of fun. We have a lot more involvement in shaping message and image. Very challenging and exciting.
Watch for Dan Senor on NBC Nightly with Tom Brokaw tonight. Some of our work!
Gregg Edgar
Coalition Provisional Authority
Office of Strategic Communications
I am finally having the opportunity to catch everybody up. We left DC on the 12th and finally arrived in Baghdad on the 14th.
It was quite the interesting experience. We stopped over at the Kuwait Hilton for about 6 hours of finalizing everything to get us into Iraq. We got up early on Saturday morning and went straight to the airport. They do not tell you what time your flight leaves for safety purposes so we had a bunch of jumping between buses while we waited to take off. Our flight went to Baghdad via Mosul, which if you look at a map of Iraq doesn’t make sense. There was a lot of concern that we would end up loosing or breakfast on the flight because every time you land you have to do corkscrew in to the landing strip. In the end it wasn’t all that bad. The C130 however is not the most comfortable plane to fly for three hours.
When we arrived in Baghdad we hit the ground running. So far we have helped create 2 interviews for Bremer, saved an announcement for Kimmet and Deputy Interior Ministry, 2 interviews for Senor and Gen Kimmet and a press briefing for Senor and Kimmet as well as beginning to build a TV studio.
We have only been in the green zone so far, but that will probably change soon. Big things to come.
Love and Miss you all.
Gregg
