9 May 03

Field trip to Kirkuk yesterday. Visited a fire station that had been ransacked and a
TV/Radio station. Big town; some selected damage that appears to be the result of either
bombing or artillery. Saw a patrol holding several looters, bound and squatting on the
ground in the sun. The ruins of an Ottoman fort, Fort Kirkuk, are on a promontory at the
north edge of town.

On the return, we came very close to witnessing a friendly fire incident.

Roughly 15 minutes outside Kirkuk, driving through a wide valley featuring four forts
just a few kms from each other on the valley bottom, pill boxes perched on hilltops and
observation posts placed regularly along the barren ridge to the west, we came up behind
an APC with a young soldier manning the gun. Along with several orange and white
taxis, we passed and pulled in behind yet another APC similarly manned. A moment later,
the APC we had passed passed us on the right side spitting dust and rocks at us. He
moved to the middle of the road; the soldier motioned us to stay back. It was then we
noticed that there were at a total of four APCs two behind and two in from of a white
Chevy Suburban.

Omar, our driver, clung to the tail of the APC bringing up the rear of the convoy. Every
now and again he would try to pass only to be cut off by the APC which would invariably
swing left into the middle of the road. On the third attempt the gunner trained his weapon
directly on us and gestured angrily. At this point I recounted the story of the incident in
Bosnia several years ago when Amb Frowick was taking his daughter to the airport in
Split. Frowick was escorted by the usual convoy including several Uzi-armed DOS body
guards. Passing through a Serb village, the convoy picked up a tail which, it turned out,
consisted of the brother of the local police chief and a couple of his friends in a small
passenger car. Whether they were drunk and pissed off or just out for a lark who knows,
but they moved up quickly on the convoy, dropped back, and moved up again, ignoring
the warnings of the body guards. Finally, after ignoring numerous very clear warnings
such as Uzis waved and trained on them, they crossed some point and the body guards
opened up spraying the vehicle and its occupants. The car careened off the road and
overturned. The brother was killed; I dont recall what became of his cohorts.

On hearing this story, Jim motioned Omar to calm down and hang back. Omar muttered
that if he had his rifle we would have passed by now.

Several other passenger vehicles passed us and clustered about the rear of the convoy like
a swarm of gnats attempting to pass on either side. The APC swung back and forth across
the road, the gunner swinging his machine gun from one vehicle to the next...

We continued in this fashion all the way back to Arbil. No one has any idea who in the
Suburban who may have merited this kind of protection. And the whole way back I
couldnt help thinking how pissed off Mom and Dad would be if I was to be shot by one
of our own, some scared kid who misread a situation.