.AP Blog From Iraq
AP Correspondent Antonio Castaneda is embedded with the Army's 1st Battalion, 187th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
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WEDNESDAY, May 3, 11:33 p.m. local
BEIJI, Iraq
To stay or go that was the question I pondered in the bathroom as explosions rumbled outside.
In many cities across Iraq, large explosions are common part of life. Many times the explosions are what troops call "controlled dets," or detonations of captured weapons by explosives experts. But many other times the blasts can be mortar attack or roadside bomb attacks and it's often hard to tell what's causing the explosion.
This time I was on a base outside the city of Beiji, where attacks have spiked in the last week. I heard three explosions in a row, which made me think it was a mortar attack. But the blasts could have also been "daisy chained" roadside bombs, or explosives strung out on a road in an attempt to hit multiple vehicles at once. I simply didn't know, and I wasn't going to find out in this stall.
I heard a soldier outside mutter an expletive, which supported the case that it was a mortar attack. I wondered if I should get out and go to my trailer or to the bunker outside.
The same thing happened last week when I was taking a shower in a trailer in the violent Dora neighborhood in south Baghdad. A series of explosions shook the shower trailer I was in, and I could feel a gush of air. I suspected that the explosions were controlled they were a little too loud and close by to be mortars so I bet correctly and safely continued lathering my hair.
Even in these conditions, most people press on with their lives, hoping that they can skirt by the violence for yet another day.
I've seen kids walk to school in Baghdad as automatic weapons shoot just a few blocks away. Yesterday, I spoke to a man and his young son just minutes after their passing car was accidentally shot up after a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol. The man calmly talked to soldiers and his young boy smiled with chocolate smeared around his lips. The boy's candy bar was still on the floorboard, now surrounded by shards of glass from a shattered windshield.
I wonder how people elsewhere would have appeared just minutes after surviving such an attack. Other bystanders came by and casually lifted their shirts to show shrapnel wounds. If anything, Iraqis are certainly a resilient people.
American soldiers and civilians also quickly acclimate to the environment. I've slept through several mortar attacks, or abruptly woken up and dozed off seconds later. Sometimes all you can do is hope and pray that no one was hurt out there.
As for the bathroom, I stayed inside for a moment and then strolled to my trailer a few minutes later. No one was outside to query, so I just chalked it up as another blast of unknown origin.
As I write this, another blast was heard in the distance, rattling my windows. This time I stayed in my trailer and continued listening to a Tom Waits song on my laptop.
AP Blog MyWay
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WEDNESDAY, May 3, 11:33 p.m. local
BEIJI, Iraq
To stay or go that was the question I pondered in the bathroom as explosions rumbled outside.
In many cities across Iraq, large explosions are common part of life. Many times the explosions are what troops call "controlled dets," or detonations of captured weapons by explosives experts. But many other times the blasts can be mortar attack or roadside bomb attacks and it's often hard to tell what's causing the explosion.
This time I was on a base outside the city of Beiji, where attacks have spiked in the last week. I heard three explosions in a row, which made me think it was a mortar attack. But the blasts could have also been "daisy chained" roadside bombs, or explosives strung out on a road in an attempt to hit multiple vehicles at once. I simply didn't know, and I wasn't going to find out in this stall.
I heard a soldier outside mutter an expletive, which supported the case that it was a mortar attack. I wondered if I should get out and go to my trailer or to the bunker outside.
The same thing happened last week when I was taking a shower in a trailer in the violent Dora neighborhood in south Baghdad. A series of explosions shook the shower trailer I was in, and I could feel a gush of air. I suspected that the explosions were controlled they were a little too loud and close by to be mortars so I bet correctly and safely continued lathering my hair.
Even in these conditions, most people press on with their lives, hoping that they can skirt by the violence for yet another day.
I've seen kids walk to school in Baghdad as automatic weapons shoot just a few blocks away. Yesterday, I spoke to a man and his young son just minutes after their passing car was accidentally shot up after a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol. The man calmly talked to soldiers and his young boy smiled with chocolate smeared around his lips. The boy's candy bar was still on the floorboard, now surrounded by shards of glass from a shattered windshield.
I wonder how people elsewhere would have appeared just minutes after surviving such an attack. Other bystanders came by and casually lifted their shirts to show shrapnel wounds. If anything, Iraqis are certainly a resilient people.
American soldiers and civilians also quickly acclimate to the environment. I've slept through several mortar attacks, or abruptly woken up and dozed off seconds later. Sometimes all you can do is hope and pray that no one was hurt out there.
As for the bathroom, I stayed inside for a moment and then strolled to my trailer a few minutes later. No one was outside to query, so I just chalked it up as another blast of unknown origin.
As I write this, another blast was heard in the distance, rattling my windows. This time I stayed in my trailer and continued listening to a Tom Waits song on my laptop.
AP Blog MyWay
posted by madtom at 5:59 PM
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