Live from Baghdad

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Live from Baghdad

#1 Postby Guest » Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:09 am

A friend of mine decided to go to Baghdad to see how things works.
At present he says bombs and rockets cannot make him sleep.
Temp is around 42°C and of course no air conditioning available.
Here are some pics. Should you want to ask him something about Baghdad, let me now and I will turn yr questions.
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Image

At first explosion he tried to make some pics, the officer said:
"Another flash I brake that camera on yr head!"
Image

further to follow...
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How landing in Baghdad?

#2 Postby Guest » Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:32 am

HOW THEY LAND IN BAGHDAD

Commercial pilots use a technique named "spiral landing".
15.000feet descended in 6/7minutes, to remain in a safety conus where sam-7 missiles cannot reach the aircraft.
The crew say that anyway more than missiles they're afraid of AirForce planes. "They fly mindless, we have had a near miss just yesterday, two F15 that lead us in the "lucky ********" club"
(the lucky ******** club is valid for both military and commercial pilots. The first enter in the club when survive to 26 missions, the seconds when experience 26 emergency landings, near misses, lightings etc..).
Image
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#3 Postby nystate » Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:58 am

Wow. Interesting stuff & great pictures!
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#4 Postby Guest » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:28 am

The rockets exploded close to the Palestine hotel
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"it was not good stuff, one of ours would have made huger damages..."
(a marine say)

where he was, where the rocket striked.
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Check-point
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#5 Postby NWIASpotter » Wed Aug 11, 2004 1:46 pm

That rocket wasn't very far away from him. I would be pretty scared, I definatly couldn't sleep with that going on around me :eek:
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#6 Postby nystate » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:26 pm

Paolo- Your profile says you work in flight dispatch. Do you work for an airline? If so, which one?
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#7 Postby Guest » Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:32 am

all pictures are from this blog (written in Italian, sorry, but more pictures are available)
http://bloghdad.splinder.com/

The sensation today is that further the fall of Najaf and the assedy of
Falluja, no one in Iraq wants to have foreigners on their soil.
Shiits and sunnites have both called for a "fatwa" (death penalty) against all foreigners: troops, workers, journalists...
Image
Image
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Italian red cross in Baghdad

#8 Postby Guest » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:27 pm

The Italian Red Cross Hospital is the only one in Iraq that has a burns unit... Be aware, some pics might be disturbing...
(all pics are from http://bloghdad.splinder.com)


Image


Image


Image


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#9 Postby Stephanie » Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:05 pm

Paolo - how was your friend able to go to Baghdad? Does he fly professionally?

Thank you for sharing those pictures.
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#10 Postby Guest » Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:54 pm

Stephanie wrote:Paolo - how was your friend able to go to Baghdad? Does he fly professionally?

Thank you for sharing those pictures.


He went to Amman, then took a scheduled flight, one of those used by
people going there for business. The flight is operated by a Jordan airlines
with mixed crews (mainly from South Africa).
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#11 Postby Guest » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:41 am

"Noorah... she's only 3 or 4years of age. I can't resist any further and search a place to cry alone. One of the nurse take my arm:"It's ok, you've been very good so far. It's hard for us all here, we lost three kids the other day and we are all mothers... It's terrible but we shall show some happiness for those that would make it, and Noorah will make it! C'mon, let's go. "Noorah, gimme a kiss and you have three sweets!" The half burned face of Noorah smile now, gives a light kiss to Anna (the nurse) and keep on smiling. She's right, no time for cry, not now."
Enzo
http://bloghdad.splinder.com

Image

Image
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Mission to Najaf

#12 Postby Guest » Fri Aug 20, 2004 4:33 am

Mission to Najaf.http://bloghdad.splinder.com
The Red Cross staff ask the people of Najaf at every crossroads:
"Uko dabbaba?" ("any tank in sight?)
"Makow" (nope)
Ok, let's go further.
"Uko dabbaba?"
"Ey!" (Yes)
Image

A Bradley occupy the road. Enzo enters in action: he walk in the middle
of the road, fluttering a red cross flag on one hands, the Red Cross distinctive on the other Image
and yelling:
"Ehi, boys! Italian Red Cross! Don't shoot! We are here for humanitarian reasons! Can we come forward?" No reply.
"Ehi, boy, don't shoot! I'm coming!"
No reply... Enzo is afraid somebody inside the tank could order "smoke him", but not today fortunately.
The very first Bradley of one's life is something you never forget, expecially if you're on the wrong side of the gun.
(the picture below is an archive footage, in those moments I guess Enzo was not thinking to shoot a picture :D
Image
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#13 Postby BritBob » Fri Aug 20, 2004 7:44 pm

Thanks Paolo :)
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#14 Postby Guest » Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:18 pm

Enzo is reported missed since thursday. Probably captured. His driver/interpeter Garheeb killed. We are all worried...
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Enzo
Image
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#15 Postby nystate » Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:45 pm

PaolofromRome wrote:Enzo is reported missed since thursday. Probably captured. His driver/interpeter Garheeb killed. We are all worried...
Image
Enzo
Image


Yikes! Praying for a safe return for Enzo and his translator. :cry:
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#16 Postby Guest » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:37 am

You might know it, you might not, but Enzo has been killed.
Image
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#17 Postby Guest » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:12 am

Italian Journalist Slain
Terrorists' response to Italy's refusal to withdraw troops
BAGHDAD - "Enzo Baldoni has been killed". It is one o'clock in the morning in Baghdad. Seven hours have passed since the Islamic Army in Iraq's ultimatum expired. An insistent, agonising rumour has started to go the rounds:they've cut his throat.

(Ap)
In Qatar, the Italian embassy has received a phone call from the Al Jazeera newsroom. "Judging by the videotape," said Jihad Ballout, a spokesman for the Arabic-language broadcaster, "the kidnappers have carried out their threat to kill the hostage...". There is appalling footage of the scene,as there was in the case of Fabrizio Quattrocchi.As the minutes passed, the rumour was confirmedby Italian investigators and off-the-record admissions from the Red Cross. The family had to be told first. Only five minutes later, Doha television brought the waiting to an end. A few words in Arabic, in the red strip running across the bottom of the screen, announced that "the Islamic Army in Iraq has killed Enzo Baldoni, the Italian who was abducted on August 1".
He was killed without delay,without the small mercy of the extension that in recent months has been granted by many of the so-called Sharia tribunals.
Baldoni was butchered. Italian officials have seen the images, which were received via internet. There are only a few shots, but they leave no room for doubt. Several sources confirm that it is him. Baldoni, the Milan-based contributor to "Diario" magazine is recognisable. His assassins may have wanted to get rid of the body as quickly as possible, which could be the reason for the macabre burial scene. At Al Jazeera, news staff decided that the images will not be broadcast "for reasons of sensitivity to viewers". Spokesman Jihad Ballout saidthat it was a shocking video that could have repercussions on public opinion, and that the station had decided not to broadcast it, although it was received early in the evening. It looked as if a single still was going to be shown on the 3 am news, but then came the denial. The code of behaviour that the Doha-based broadcaster has tried to observe since it started receiving these horrific images prevailed in the end.
Baldoni died after one week's captivity. With him died the hope, which had remained alive all day yesterday, that something could be done."Contacts are at a very advanced stage," said sources close to investigators. From reports pieced together by the Italian Red Cross and secret services, it was clear that the videotape setting out the kidnappers' demands, the one in which a relaxed-looking Baldoni attempts to use his professional skills as a communicator to reassure his family, was insufficient on it own to get negotiations under way. Before taking any further steps, Italian officials had two requests for prospective negotiators. First, the real or self-appointed negotiators should provide assurances that they were actually in contact with the abductors. Second, the Islamic Army, or whoever was hiding behind that name, should over the next few days give "further proof that Baldoni has suffered no harm". The answer was in the video delivered to Al Jazeera.
Yet optimism yesterday was widespread, although it is unclear why this should have been so. The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, had saidlive on Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening that the Italian government refused to yield to the demand that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq "unless it is the legitimate government of the Iraqi people that requests this". Yesterday, he again repeated that "our goal is the journalist's unconditional release". Maurizio Scelli, the Red Cross special commissioner who is expected in Baghdad tomorrow, also claimed to be "optimistic", explaining that "we have established the right contacts" and giving everyone the impression that positive developments were imminent.Albeit with great caution, members of the abducted man's family were also hoping for a break in the clouds.
But memories of the abduction of Agliana, Stefio and Cupertino, and the cold water that was so often poured over hopes of their imminent release, induced other observers to take a prudent approach.
"Silence" was the appeal from friends on Bloghdad, Baldoni's web diary. Silence, they said, was necessary at this dramatic moment.
Until yesterday, information received by Italian secret service agents suggested that the hostage was being held in the Najaf area.On Wednesday evening, Giuseppe De Santis, head of the Italian Red Cross mission who had been recalled to Rome "to clarify" the now celebrated humanitarian convoy on August 19, submitted a report on the tragic journey. The editor of "Diario", Enrico Deaglio, had also forwarded to the Red Cross a corroborated reconstruction of events that day. The account appeared a couple of days ago on Baldoni's blog, signed by Helen Williams, a Welsh volunteer who had taken part in the mission. It was finally confirmed that the convoy had actually arrived at Najaf. It was there, investigators believe, that Baldoni fell into the fatal trap.
Who are the terrorists who killed Enzo Baldoni? It is generally believed that the Islamic Army is made up of dissidents, volunteers who in recent weeks have been fighting at the Tomb of Ali, but who now reject Moqtada al Sadr's decision to begin negotiations. In fact, it was hoped that a channel of communication could be opened through Al Sadr. His intervention had been requested for Baldoni, as it had been previously for James Branson and Micah Garen. These two journalists, one British the other American, had been abducted in the past few weeks and released apparently without any concessions to their abductors' demands. Italian officials were also pressing for Al Sadr to make a public appeal to the kidnappers to release Baldoni, a journalist who had come to Iraq to tell the story of the guerrilla war from the guerrillas' point of view. Al Sadr had not yet replied. Now it is too late.

Francesco Battistini http://www.corriere.it
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#18 Postby Wainfleeter » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:08 am

:cry: Paolo, I am so sorry to read of this. Words just will not offer any comfort...... :( :cry:
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#19 Postby Guest » Tue Aug 31, 2004 5:59 pm

Image
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#20 Postby nystate » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:01 pm

What a tragedy. :cry: :cry:
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