Exchange

Went shopping today. That was really our primary purpose for rolling out on a combat patrol this morning. We took four guntrucks- humvees with mounted automatic weapons- conducted our daily inspections, received our briefing and rolled out to the far end of town to a base with a better PX. Pretty standard operation, but it seemed quite a bit to go through for a trip to the mall. There's a bypass that goes around Tikrit. The road systems are actually not all that bad. Major highways run the length of Iraq, following the population patterns of the river valleys. Tikrit has a major business route through the center of town, but it often gets jammed with commuter traffic and pedestrians. A provincial council member got killed the other day, and there seems to be a tribal element to the slaying. The governor has ordered a three-day holiday and there seems to be some tension between Tikrit proper and Al Alam, the 'east side' village across the river. This comes on the heels of the arrest of the Tikrit police chief while visiting Baghdad, which the locals view as an improper detainment- the Sunnis here that are cooperating often express frustration at never being trusted by their countrymen- the stigma of being 'Saddam's hometown' has been difficult to shake. It's that strange loyalty mindgame. They are suspected of being less loyal to the new government (and by and large, this population is) and feel that their leadership is under greater scrutiny (which it probably is). Their police chief was probably no more corrupt than anybody else's, but somebody in Baghdad wanted to make the sting [Although some of the charges do involve Saddam-era crimes, and look to be motivated in part by de-Baathification]. But let me put my optimistic spin on this- in each of these situations, the protest and complaint has by and large gone through legitimate channels- people are organizing protests; complaining to the media; and telling their officials that they are not happy. Inquiries into the slaying of the council member have progressed through the tribal heirarchy. And the best part: we've pretty much stayed out of it. Which is why we can just get on the road and go to the big PX today. I had a latte and I got a haircut. I've been forced to adapt to a lot of things, and permanent helmet-head is one of them.