Beaming from Baghdad

I'm safe in Baghdad....errr, well....I guess I'm just "in Baghdad." The flight into Baghdad International Airport is one I will always remember, no matter how hard I drink to forget it. There's 40 of us packed into a C-130, which was never intended as a passenger plane. There's no "passenger area" in these planes, just the cargo hold with jump seats running down the sides and a row down the middle. Only two small port-style windows on either side. We've got a military dog on the plane with us, not real happy in his crate and letting the whole world know about it. It's so noisy you have to wear earplugs and shout at each other to be heard. About 10 minutes outside of Bagdad, we begin our descent from 30,000 feet. That's right, 30,000 feet in 10 minutes. Not to mention that the pilots fly a corkscrew pattern to avoid potential rockets (they haven't had one yet, but nobody wants to be the first). Let's just say, the dog wasn't the only one howling on the way down.

After a hard landing, they popped the hatches and we put our feet on Iraqi soil.

More to come (I promise)....

In the meantime, here are a few photos....