Viewing the devastation

Some changes in Baghdad have been harder to get used to than others. In 1999 and in 2002, we spent many hours wandering and waiting in the halls of the Ministry of Information, where journalists are assigned their "minders." It's strange to see it bombed and burned. The shell of the building crouches like a super-sized locust shell near the banks of the Tigris river, all life is gone.

Almost all of the key government and military buildings in town are in ruins. Today we drove past the only government building that is still pristine: the oil ministry building. Someone mentioned that it was probably just a coincidence that buildings like those belonging to the Ministry of Education were either bombed and/or looted while the oil headquarters was unharmed.

We saw some of the former minders marching in protest down the middle of the street in the Mansour area, headed for the Palestine Hotel, where most journalists are holed up, and, so where most issues are raised. The ex-minders had joined ex-soldiers and other ministry of defense types to demand jobs. They want the army to be re-activated, which isn't likely to happen. But if the million or so out-of-work soldiers don't get jobs there will be a lot of trouble ahead for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq. It's always a good idea to have men who have trained with guns in some sort of job. Idle hands that have been trained to kill are the devil's workshop, or something like that.

Dan and I stayed at the Palestine Hotel in 1999 and in 2002. It was a nice hotel with a friendly staff. Today, it's an armed camp. Razor wire blocks one end of the road leading to its entrance and a couple of U.S. Army tanks guard the street at the other end. The outside of the hotel is still pock-marked from a U.S. Army tank shell that killed two journalists in a friendly-fire incident during the takeover of Baghdad.

The Petra Hotel, down the road leading north, is a much more pleasant place these days. Maybe not quite as protected -- I haven't seen any armed guards -- but the nightly crackle of gunfire isn't directed at foreign civilians anyway, yet.