Saddam Hussein

This week’s film review is none other than the indie-sleeper turned runaway blockbuster Neck Snap. First time director Abddullah Rasheed Al-Jusef Bin Znreik wows audiences in this 3 minute nail biter, featuring a performance of a lifetime from deposed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. While the majority of Hussein’s previous work was in the experimental art-house dungeon-torture genre, he effortlessly makes the transition to the role of anti-hero, really hanging it all out there for the audience. Freshman director Bin Znreik fuses elements of the French cinema-verite with Brazilian cinema-novo creating an aesthetic that reinforces the films central theme of the negative effects of genocide and mustard gassing. Expect nominations for both costume design and cinematography. Check em’ out!


In all seriousness, have you really thought about the semiotic implications of this video? I am sure that all the talking heads in the States have been rattling on and on about it--left side blaming right and vice versa. But while there banter resolves nothing, this video says a lot. Sure the sentence was carried out quickly, but how about the means in which it happened. An underground bunker, ski-masked executioners, and the coupe-de-grace was the Shiite executioner who yelled out “long live Muqtada Al Sadr” right before the floor dropped. Great, I think Iraq is ready to run themselves now.

Post Script: The Saddam video is suppose to be embedded above, but I might have screwed it up, and I am now tired of messing with it. You can see it on You Tube.

The holiday's are over,
No more Christmas goose,
But there's still reason to celebrate,
Saddam was hung from a noose.

Baron Von Rotten

HOLY CRAP ITS COLD! To quell any preconceived notions of Iraqi winters, it gets cold here, crappy bitter cold. Today I woke up, walked outside to the outhouse, and it was snowing! Most of it didn’t stick, but it was enough to have war cancelled for the day. The roads were too icy for insurgents to plant IEDs or shoot RPGs; they all stayed home and watched Nickelodeon. To make matters worse, apparently boss #2 got a lobotomy for Christmas. I wish I could go into specifics, but I can’t. Remember in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, when Judge Doom is run-over by the steamroller, and then comes back to life as a cartoon, and he has that high-pitched voice and is quite literally loony? Thats work right now. Did I mention my Soldiers got me a tshirt with a flaming skeleton on it? Pretty badass, pictures coming soon.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your's a Merry Christmas.

Iraq's second largest city

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I would offer a gift, the gift of blog. I actually have been sick for the past week, just a cold, but it nearly sapped all my energy, and my astute perception, which explains the lack of updates. About a week ago, I traveled up north to the city of Mosul to give some aid to our company there. The geography of Mosul is unlike the majority of Iraq, or at least the Iraq I’ve seen. Mosul sits amongst undulating hills populated with dense patches of vegetation, including green grass! You’d be surprised at how nice green grass
looks after living in its absence for awhile. I hopped a ride with one of our IED hunting patrols going through downtown Mosul. We rolled out around 730am and the city was already bustling with morning traffic. Parts of the city were in complete shambles, but I don’t think it was from the war—years of neglect and economic depravity I suppose. Merchants and street vendors crowded the sidewalks setting up shop for the day. Lots of people selling, but I didn't see any buying.

Driving through the more dilapidated parts of the city, barefoot children would come running out of shacks, either waving or giving a thumbsup in hopes of some candy. We are the armed homecoming parade. I popped out of the gunners turret and threw a pound cake from an MRE, it was the best I could offer. The kids would wrestle and fist-fight for whatever we tossed. As we approached the outskirts of the city, I could see a smouldering land mass in the distance. It turned out to be a garbage dump, some parts set ablaze. It was terribly depressing to see children running about the muck, scavenging for something salvageable. I didn’t see Sally Struthers around anywhere, but to see that in person is more somber than any television commercial could ever be.

Sorry for the melodrama around the holidays, I just thought you all should know.

The Season of Giving

Sorry it’s been awhile since I rapped at ya’. I wish I had some madcap excuse for not updating, but truth is I am just too exhausted at night to do anything but stare blankly at a wall. The wall isn’t at all that interesting either. I need to update more often.
This being the holiday season, I received a care package from a class of sophomores at Monmouth High School in Monmouth New Jersey. I had registered my name and address on a website called anysoldier.com—the website releases your information to groups who would like to send care packages/letters to soldiers. Sometimes you hit the jackpot and get some rich old family who feels guilty for draft dodging or whatever and they send you gold plated golf clubs and a washing machine. And other times you get…Monmouth High School. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for ANYTHING I receive in the mail, it’s just that sometimes I don’t think people have a grasp of what soldiers really need or how we live. This website even released my name and some things that I might like. Here is an abridged version of the letter I wrote back to the little tykes.

Dear Monmouth High Schooler’s

Thank you so much for your thoughtful letter and care package. I was running low on maxi-pads, so I appreciate the refill. Also, the delectable snacks you sent really hit the spot—it’s been so long since I had canned whole kernel corn and kidney beans! MMMHMM! For future reference, the handkerchief knap-sack on the end of my hobo pole is a little ragged, I could use another one. Thank you for your support, stay in school!

Yeah. Canned corn, beans, and some maxi pads. I guess they assumed Justin was a female name? On second thought, I went to college with a bunch of kids from New Jersey, and most of them were jerks! You don’t suppose that these Jersey High School students thought they would pull a mean joke on a soldier, do you? Or could it be that people think we don’t have enough to eat? Why do you think this war is costing $100Billion? It isn’t for the bombs; we rarely get to drop those anymore.

Thanksgiving

While we all give thanks on this day of turkey and football, lest we forget the true origins of this holiday. When hundreds of centuries ago a few noble pilgrims, fleeing the plague, left Denmark, and sailed across the Pacific Ocean to a new and mysterious land. Unprepared for the rigors of the new world, the Danes were floundering and malnourished. If it wasn’t for the indigenous people of Mexico, who offered tamales to the Danes, the new colony might never have survived. And thus, we give thanks, or something like that.

Thanksgiving in Iraq isn’t all that bad. The spread at the dining facility was pretty tasty--I could not detect any lumps in the freeze dried gravy. They actually had some pecan pie that was outstanding; I can’t stop raving about it. While they frequently have cakes and pies here, I think that these pecan pies were freshly baked, not the garden variety frozen ones that we usually have. In the afternoon we had a little football game that quickly turned into a shouting match over questionable calls—must be all the testosterone and hormones injected into the turkey this year.

Anywhoo, I have much to be thankful for—my family, my friends, my lovely girlfriend Kimber; all of you bring me great joy and thoughts of you all help me get through each day over here. Happy Thanksgiving.