its a no.

the two guys just left, and i feel OK- altough i was one of the hardest decisions in recent memory.

you dont get the chance to ride into baghdad often, and it would have been a great ending to this trip

granted, i am coming back to the region in a matter of months, and if there is one thing that you can count on, it is war always being on somewhere in the ME. ill get the chance again sometime soon - but right now would have been interesting - switching to Plan B in the iraq would have been sooo fuckin interesting to cover.

but anyways - my reasoning

1. 48 hours notice is not enough notice for my first time in a war zone. you dont just pack a backpack and drive into baghdad handing out granola bars. without really considering it at least. i would have to write a goodbye letter, read up, double check connections and contacts, double check the plans (put together by a 21 year old, albeit a really sharp one), withdraw and convert money, handle visa work, pray everything goes right the first time etc.

1.2 - The insurgents are now attacking journalists.

2. also, the other 2 guys are 21 and 22. they have never been to a war zone. while one of them is a good guy, one of them is a nut. sociopathically annoying -perhaps one of the most annoying people who i have ever met. and hes a nut who looks so stereotypically jewish that i would be concerned in occupied iraq.

2.2 An american, an american turk and an american jew drive into baghdad...

3. I would be spending money that is not mine - potentially lots of it. Also - no insurance in war zones.

4. Gut says no. Odd day dream. There are times in my life when I like to do wreckless things but - this is not one of them.

5. I would make it back just before my flight out of Cairo. Nothing ever goes according to plan - I cant imagine it would inside a war zone. were i to miss my flight, i would have been supremely fucked.


all this said
- cairo feels so boring now.
and i keep thinking of that ranger motto
"those who dare, win"
but then i think
rangers carry assualt rifles
fast-rope out of helicopters

journalists just try not to get killed.



to those of you that i wrote - thanks for your feedback

luck and all
cem