There's a black Mercedes rollin' through the combat zone

As you well may know, the fourth of July has come and passed. Most of you, I presume, got to grill out, drink beer and watch fireworks. I mainly worked, slept and then took a little trip! I was able (finally) to go down to the International Zone and get my passport. It was a really neat trip, and I'll show it to you guys in three installments. This is the first, the night we arrived in the IZ. There are many ways to travel about Iraq, the two most prevalent being helicopter and truck. We took the latter from Camp Striker to the IZ on a vehicle called the "Rhino Runner." Built by Labock Technologies in Florida, it is an up-armored bus built completely from the ground up. It's pretty tough.

the rhino runner-courtesy of labock technologies

inside the rhino

As consistent with many things here, there is no actual schedule for the Rhino. One simply signs up on a roster to go, and waits for the bus to arrive. When it does, it's kind of a whirlwind adventure. The convoy comes tearing in the parking lot, and within minutes they're unloaded and reloaded with the new group of passengers. Moments later, you're tearing down the road towards the gate.
Once outside the gate, there's really nothing much to see. Like many municipalities, the Baghdad Airport was built out in the country, so there's not a whole lot of development close to the base, with the exception of Abu Ghraib village and the Palace Complex.
After about ten minutes or so, a few buildings begin to pop up and you're in Baghdad. It's kind of difficult to see, because it's night, for one, and the highway, in many sections, is lined with blast walls.
Before you know it, you're parked somewhere in the middle of the city, and you get out. The luggage is unloaded with the same quickness that it was loaded, place on-line, and then sniffed out by the dogs. Then you're free to go about your business. Our business was to find the Embassy.
After asking a few questions, we made our way to a gate off of the main drag and wound up on the grounds of the current home of the United States Mission in Iraq (the Embassy), which was the former Republican Palace. It's the largest of Saddam's former palaces, and even now it's quite grand.

the republican palace

Since it was about three thirty in the morning, there wasn't really anybody around to tell us where to go. We were trying to find the transient billeting office to get a bed for the next few hours. it's kind of funny how we're labeled as "transients." It makes me feel very Dylanesque, like I should be wary of the persons sleeping around me, and trying to make deals with them to get ahead in life. Good thing that's not the case, since we all can wake up, enjoy a good, hot, free meal, and go on about our day.

Anyway, back to the story. We were wandering the grounds, and decided the most prudent thing to do woul dbe to enter the palace, and see if anyone was around to help us. When we entered, there was really nobody at all, save the guards.

After proceeding through a security checkpoint, we arrived in what appeared to be a dining facility, and boy do they have it good there. Chandeliers, actual chairs and tables, with tablecloths, and real flatware. We took a couple of pictures, of course.

a palatial chandelier

embassy dining hall

Still trying to find some direction, we wandered the palace a bit more, only encountering the occasional pack of Doozers (thanks, Dan, I use it all the time!) getting the place ready for the day. For additional info on Doozers, click here. Here's a few more shots of wandering in the palace:

B and R against the gilded door, and if you look real close you can see the SCUD mural on the back wall

the ascension of mohammed, perhaps?

Both of those shots were of the great dining hall. There is a huge mural of missiles taking flight on the back wall, which I think is a recurring motif in Saddam's decorating style. Oftentimes his throne was placed against it, but now the whole room is partitioned off with temporary walls for office space. I'm pretty sure it's the Inspector General's office.

What's really funny, however, is how superficial these palaces really are. Once we found someone that knew where we should be going, he took us through a few back cooridors and out the rear of the palce, to find the billeting. The "behind-the-scenes" experience reminded me a lot of my theatre experience. Everything in the auditorium is nice, and gilded and very ornate, but as soon as you go backstage, it's very utilitarian. We passed through a set of nice, ornate wooden doors, and then it was nothing but drywall and beams and wires. Obviously, Saddam spared no expense. He had some nice tapestries, though.

ze tapestriez!

After leaving the palace, we eventually found the billeting office and were able to secure bunks for the night. Unfortunately, the transient tents were on the front side of the palace, so even after we signed for it, we still had to walk all the way around, but it wasn't too bad.

the back side, all lit up so nicely

The next day was exciting, but more on that later.