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Checkpoint Baghdad

  • Watching the Primaries from Baghdad

    Newsweek | Feb 6, 2008 01:49 PM

    NEWSWEEK'S Silvia Spring files this report from Iraq on American soldiers' thoughts on Super Tuesday:

    For Sgt. Matthew Villalpando, Tuesday wasn't so Super in Baghdad. The California native has to be at the International Zone's Checkpoint Two by 6 a.m. every day for work, so when the results of the primaries started rolling in late Tuesday night, he was sound asleep in bed with his alarm set for 4 a.m. He didn't even have time to check on what had happened before heading out the door Wednesday morning.

    Like Villalpando, most troops were too busy--or tired--to stay up to watch Super Tuesday's results as they unfolded back home. Few had the time to vote themselves, saying that, given their busy schedules, it was not a priority. Soldiers abroad vote by absentee ballot, which they can request over the Internet from their home states. Voting Assistance Officers at the U.S. Embassy can also help, but some still say the process should be made simpler.

    Yet even for those who did not vote in their states' primaries, there is a strong feeling that the next American president could have a direct impact on their lives. Sgt. Villalpando is leaning toward supporting Sen. Barack Obama. "He displays confidence, good character and the backbone to bring this war in Iraq to an end," he says. "It's time to cut our losses."

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  • The New Sons of Iraq

    Babak Dehghanpisheh | Feb 6, 2008 11:27 AM
    In the U.S. military's long history of creative wording (think collateral damage), the moniker Concerned Local Citizens stands out as a gem. The Citizens, or CLCs for short, are the former Iraqi insurgents now on the U.S. payroll in Baghdad and some of the outlying areas. The name was first used by the military in press releases last fall and was quickly picked up by the Western press. That may soon change. In recent days, the U.S. military has started referring to these fighters as the Sons of Iraq, carefully noting that they were "formerly known as Concerned Local Citizens." In western Iraq, the military still refers to similar groups as the Awakening. It's enough to make Prince's head spin More
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NWK Caption: At the Excel High School in Oakland, California a group of students, their teacher and members of community groups pose with air pollution monitors in front of a mural at the school.  July 26, 2008.       Left to Right:   Randy Colosky, a member of Global Community Monitor  wearing brown shirt ,Juan Hernandez, student (seated) ,   Ina Bendich, teacher Danyale Willingham,student in blue top).Elizabeth de Rham far right, member of the Rose Foundation.

Young pollution sleuths and community activists fight for healthier air.

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