bagdaddy

and the Matador.

Maybe our New Messiah can make the Sun stand still.

Wouldn't that be great!

Building 505 on the Iraqi AF Base Ali near Nasaria- Talill (between Baghdad and Basra) use to be the headquarters of Chemical Ali. From the side walk in front of this crumbling concrete building, looking North thru the impressive Sword gate, you will see the fantastic Ziggurat of Ur. Looking about a mile east along the irrigation ditch, you will see an empty modern office building across the sand that use to be a chemical weapons lab. I had a work order to install signage at the entrance road to the complex but snuck in for a peak and pictures. There were at least two-four foot diameter holes in the center of this two story building that go from the roof to the basement. The rooms were dark and quiet, inhabited only by jackals and snakes. As a civilian contractor I was told that the bottom floors were filled with diesel fuel which I definitely saw and smelled when I visited it to install the 4’x8’signs that declared this area to be OFF LIMITS and an NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) HAZARD. (Only the Ziggurat and this building had these large OFF LIMITS signs on the roads in.) NBC HAZARD was spray painted all over the walls as well as DANGER, KEEP OUT. This was definitely an area of concern and action during the war. Many US soldiers left messages spray painted on the walls. The building was located by the poop ponds on the base. Quite a bit of the liquid was leaching into the lab compound. I later talked to a sergeant Major from Garrison Command who got very irritated that I knew and asked about the building. I asked him if this building was involved in the WMD debate why doesn't the military come out with the facts. He told me to "leave it alone. It's not a part of the program. If you go there again, you will be arrested."

Done

That amount of NG is staggering. Sell the natural gas and use the proceeds to buy a couple of natural gas power plants. Build some refineries and use the natural gas to refine the oil. Sell the refined products and bring Iran and Saudi Arabia to their knees. Baghdad could be the new Mecca. There is no possible reason why a big RV is impossible with this amount of natural resources.

rv The lack of electric infrustructure rest solely with the politicians. So many companies would have loved the contract for power gerneration. What an opportunity wasted. Maybe once they RV they can build a power grid and buy bogus Carrier counterfit AC's (all with the same serial numbers) made in Turkey.

I am going give away a million dollar idea after the RV. Center Pivot Irrigation- Texas style- to go along with their free markets. (K98, how do you get 21,718 posts? You're an animal!) Go RV!!!

Thanks for your post. Some random thoughts on your post (I mean this with all great respect) In World War II not one Japanese platoon surrendered. Many, many months after the surrender, isolated Japanese soldiers didn't get the surrender memo from Tokyo and still died needlessly. They stupidly fought to their death even when they lost. If it weren't for two highly destructive bombs it is estimated that it would have taken a million US soldiers to capture and, yes, defeat the enemy Japan (now one of our greatest allies). Japan never accepted defeat until they were face with total annihilation. Countless US troops would have died finishing off an enemy that did not surrender when defeated. Which US families are you willing to ask to sacrifice their children so you can feel good about war? Our tanks fired depleted uranium projectiles that ripped through Iraqi armor killing all inside. This saved American lives in war. Next time just surrender and you won't die. I ask again, how would you like me to fight a war sanctioned by the President and Congress so you can feel good about War? If we decide to go to war again, (and I hope we never have to) we must win. We changed the rules of engagement so many times in Iraq that we prolonged the war by not destroying the enemies' desire to fight. I was there. Iraq is liberated. Mission accomplished. If they goof it up, it's on them. I hate war. I am not ashamed of victory. There is much goodness in the United States.

This absolutely surprises me. It looks like secular Iraqi leaders are trying to do the right, neighborly thing. Mighty nice of them. Although, payments over 17 years----- come on. How about interest on a quarter century use of Aussie money?

At least they are making an attempt to be civil.

This, obviously, is his attempt to promote his dental hygiene methods- a satellite office. Every democracy needs a ridiculous radical to cause trouble. Iraq would do well to discredit this goof before he causes more trouble. And please, no more martyrs. Go RV!

Might be good to get this out of the way before RV. On which bank are these 'yellow notes' drawn and in what currency paid?

European style railway is unnecessary in Iraq- too expensive, not enough riders, sun kinks in the rails. Just build roads people. Too easy.

Hi, Could you please verifiy my subscription. I am being denied access. I show a payment made on 23 Jan 12 for $49..99. I have had complete access to the website up to today. Thanks!

-- Who is the major threat that is a joint ememy of both Iran and Iraq? (Western civilization) These folks live to dream up conflict. This is just the Shia excuse to enter Iraq to fight the Sunni.

Thanks Sara. What a mess. Somehow I think colonization for a few generations would keep these knuckleheads apart so the kids could have a chance at civilization. I don't what to pay for it.

Maybe we could loan them Jesse Jackson and Rev Al to bring people together? (The only thing that unites people is economic prosperity--trading partners and business competitors fight {see Mocorsoft and Apple} but they don't kill each other. Go RV.)

***ss first.

Al-Asad and Tallil--beautiful new and modern control towers with all the electronics for a modern airforce. Much of the hardware and wiring is in place with strategic parts missing. Expanded runways with hot ramps for Apache and Cobra installations-- all to American specifications. Iraq still will need America for its security. This time let's send them a bill. Go RV.

The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) wishes to implement a national Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure including a National EFTPOS / ATM Switch and an Iraq Interoperable Mobile Payment System. CBI intends to commence implementation of the national Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure (RPSI) through a bidding exercise which will lead to the winning Bidder being granted a License to Build and Operate the RPSI on a vendor‐financed basis. The RPSI will be tendered as a single integrated solution including: (a) Overall integration of the RPSI systems; ( Software and infrastructure for the Iraq Interoperable Mobile Payment System; © Software and infrastructure for the National EFTPOS / ATM Switch; (d) Integration with the Iraq Payment System (IPS) clearing and settlement facilities consisting of the Check‐enabled Automated Clearing House (CACH), the Real‐time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and the Central Securities Depository; (e) Integration with the Participant Banks, Mobile Network Operators (MNO) and the existing EFTPOS/ATM Switching and Mobile Financial Services Systems (including but not limited to existing Bank Front End Processors (FEPs), the AMWAL System and the QI System (International Smart Card Company). Goods to be provided under the RPSI will include very high availability hardware and equipment including Disaster Recovery equipment. Software to be procured will include all components required to deliver the systems listed above and to integrate with RPSI Participant Banks, Mobile Network Operators (MNO) and identity databases as and when such systems emerge. Existing communications services such as the Iraq Inter‐Bank Network (IIBN) will be used for inter‐institution communications. Funding and services will be required for project management, consultancy, installation, integration, customization, testing, commissioning, documentation and training. Qualification of vendors will be conducted through procedures as specified in the Instructions for Government Contract Execution no 1 (2008). Participation is open to all invited Bidders as defined in the Request for Proposal. As it is expected that no one company is likely to be able to offer all the software and services to be provided, it is expected that groups of the invited companies will form bidding consortia. Eligibility of consortia will be assessed mainly on the basis of experience in the domain areas (Shared interoperable EFTPOS / ATM Switching and Mobile Financial Services) and demonstrable software in these domain areas and the proven ability to run operational services. The official E‐mail address for this project is: ‐ irpsi@cbi.iq

Still great news as the banks continue to educate the masses. I had a piggy bank when I was four (and still have it). I realize the hog is unclean to our Muslim brothers so how about a little lamb bank for the kiddos? (and debit cards for the teens?)

Just an observation--All the political posturing, b***ching and sniping seems to be out of the news. Is this because there is none or are they, maybe, moving on to more important things? Structurally, we have seen major improvements to what we see as major setbacks to Iraq's return to the world get resolved within the past few weeks. I think the Iraqis see this, also.

Good post.This is good. Very good. Go RV.