Good Week

This is another good week, just some random blog notes, no particular order (photo link: Iraq #6 goes along with some of this post):

Endless Holiday:

This time of year is pretty much an long holiday in Iraq. It started off with Eid and is now in the Ashura Muharram time frame. Ashura Muharram is the timeframe of an ancient battle that took place between Husayn ibn ‘Alī (a revered martyr who fought tyranny) and Yazid I the Umayyad caliph. He rose up to create a regime that would reinstate a “true” Islāmic polity as opposed to what he considered the unjust rule of the Umayyads. As a consequence, Husayn was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala in 680 by Shimr Ibn Thil- Jawshan (cut and pasted straight out of Wikipedia). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura

Basically, each of the first ten days of the Arabic New Year are supposed to be religious history lessons, remembrances and celebrations. This translates to a lot of time off (Jazza) for the NP and some relatively peaceful times (only one small IED in the AO, no damage, just a shattered windshield for an Iraqi Police truck). This also marks a time when a lot of folks do religious marches to commemorate different aspects of the holidays. The NP are all over the marches, show up to make sure they are secure and that nobody tries to get out of line or use the march for no good. The interesting thing is that on the 10th of Muharram, all of the people cook up meals for the marchers and serve them up in their neighborhood. The culmination of all the holidays is 20 FEB 09 or so, including marches to Karbala. Pretty big deal for the Shia, not sure about the Sunni significance.

Fantasy Football:

Teams Wade, Fritz and Mark didn't do so well. We finished in 20th (Wade), 22d (Me) and 24th (Mark). Wade came out on top, victory goes to him, but really, we all got smoked. I am not sure that Grandma M was in the league, but she would have kicked our butts, even with her Cleveland Brown loving picks (she hung with the Browns for several years, always holding out that faint glimmer of hope, kind of like me and the Cowboys). Next year we will all have to do better to make sure the family honor is not drug down to the depths of Fantasy Football.

Husker notes:

The Huskers pulled out a Gator Bowl victory yesterday, I was able to watch the game thanks to Armed Forces Network TV. I gotta say, Joe Ganz (he tied for my Heisman vote with Alex Henery) really can make a game interesting. During the game the Huskers basically spotted the clemson tigers 21 or so points (a couple of Ganz turnovers - an interception return for a TD and an option pitch picked off and run back for a TD, plus a muffed punt turnover that resulted in a TD drive by the tigers). That was the bad side. The good side was that Joe Ganz rallied the team to score a pile of points in the second half (including 4 FGs from Henery) to take a 26-21 lead. The Blackshirts (who pretty much owned the clemson offense) held up at the end of the 4 quarter and the Huskers came out on top. 9 wins. Bowl victory. Pretty good season, I was thinking that 7 or 8 wins and any bowl game would be just fine after suffering through 4 years of bill callahan and carl peterson, but Bo Pellini and the Huskers came through big time, next year will be interesting.

Oh, yeah, that work thing:

The past couple of days have been pretty slow - - the General was on Jazza, and the deputy isn't as dynamic as the General. The General came back today, just in time to go to a Sheik Tribal Council meeting with his boss, Major General AK, the head of the 1st Iraqi National Police Division. A few things before the meeting: We knew MG AK was coming, but the General was a little antsy. He wanted to make sure everything was set up for the MG AK, so, he disappeared for a few minutes to go get things going in the right direction. While he was gone, one of his aides came in and sprayed the room (including me, Superman and 6.5) down with perfume, so the General didn't smell anything bad. Kind of funny. The tribal council meeting was a good one for the General, all of the tribal leaders sung his praise and MG AK reinforced the party line that BG Emad has been saying all along: The National Police are here for security, not to run the district, the local government should be doing that. Reconciliation is important, the tribes must agree to get along with each other and absolutely must support the local government.

Sheik Q was in attendance today, he is easily my favorite sheik to watch. He is a local businessman that has done very well, an early supporter of the coalition and never hesitates to lay into the local government when he gets the chance. The most interesting thing is that he is running for a seat in the provincial council this year, if he wins, the shoes will be on his feet and he will have to listen to angry sheiks yell at him about how slow he is to get water, electricity and roads to their little towns and villages. That will be interesting, I would vote for him just to watch him wrestle with those huge problems.

Final Note:

6.5 is no longer CPT 6.5, he was promoted yesterday in a small ceremony at the National Police headquarters. His first choice was to have Mrs. 6.5 join him in Bagdhad (she is also in the Army and is currently deployed) for a promotion ceremony, but she was unable to come down. His next choice was to be promoted at National Police Headquarters which flattered the heck out of our National Police brothers. Promotions are a big deal in Iraq, and they were proud as all get out to be part of the ceremony.