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May 9, 2005

Staying Alive in a Dangerous Place

I originally read this article in National Geographic Adventure (one of my favorite magazines of all time) months ago, but now I'm very focused on safe travel and not making yourself a target in areas where tourists - especially American ones - are targeted for bombings, kidnappings, and such. This article gave me some insight into what things are like in Iraq right now - practical advise delivered in an amusing and yet disturbing fashion.

Can you spot an insurgent?
On our runs through downtown, some folks would smile, some would frown, and others would just watch as we rolled by and mouth the word "boom." Instead of scanning individuals, you have to intuit the pre-ambush ambience. If the street is suddenly deserted, if traffic patterns turn weird, if people look frightened or are running like hell, it's about to get ugly.

...

Is Iraq ready for tourists?
Yeah, there are about 150,000 of them and they're all wearing fatigues. Not even I would travel without a security detail in Iraq. Tourism still needs a few more years to ripen.

IRAQ Dos & Don'ts

DO take your Dramamine. To avoid groundfire and to touch down on a single-runway airfield, planes landing in Baghdad make a gut-wrenching corkscrew approach.

DON'T walk the streets at dawn or dusk. Twilight throws off the night-vision goggles used by helicopter patrols. Insurgents prefer these times to lob mortar rounds into the Green Zone.

DO bring a "ditch" bag for quick exits—a small daypack with a medical kit, a GPS unit, spare food and water, and a GSM phone programmed with the phone number of the First Cavalry Quick Reaction Force.

DON'T drive a Chevrolet Suburban. These are government cars and every insurgent knows it. If you have to drive—God help you—a BMW 7 Series is fast, handles well, and seems to blend in.

More at: National Geographic Adventure Magazine: Life in Iraq's Green Zone

Posted by sorsha at May 9, 2005 9:24 PM