Sovereignty Day

Two days ago was Sovereignty Day, a new national holiday as declared by the Prime Minister. This was the day that US forces ceased combat operations in the big cities. Big day for the Iraqi Security Forces, I hope things work out for them, there are still some major problems that have to be worked out: Shia factions in the parliment, Sunni unrest because they are being ignored by the Shia dominated government and the Kurdish problem. So, as they say here: Im Shah Allah (if god wants it to happen, it will).

The declaration sparked off a huge celebration, which the National Police wanted to get in on, so they decorated their HMMWVs and pickups with ribbons and flowers and cruised around the city. A couple of days earlier, BG E's oldest son (Emir) came to visit and hung around the headquarters for a while. While he is here, Emir gets away with murder because none of the soldiers want to say NO to the general's son. Kind of funny, we walked outside and saw Emir driving around the compound in the forklift (Emir is 12), when the general saw that he got mad at the soldiers that were supposed to be watching him, but, what could they do?

Anyway, big day for the National Police, Emir, COL A, the general and me commemorated the day with a picture in the general's office: