I was supposed to have today off until 10 pm, that didnt happen. I was woke up at 11 am and told to put on my gear because a car bomb had gone off. So I got dressed and went to the humvee. We rode out into Baghdad; its a pretty nice day today. When we got to the site I realized it was on the same overpass as the nighttime cleanup we did a few days ago. About 300 feet down the road. This was by far the messiest cleanup Ive done. The wreckage covered about 800 feet of road. The crater was big enough for me to lay down in comfortably, and you could see through it to the road under the overpass in a few spots. Along with that, there had been a separate Iraqi vehicle in the area minding its own business. It got knocked off the overpass to the road below, on fire. I saw one corpse in there, and there was another off the road about 70 feet, Im not sure where he came from because he wasnt burnt at all, maybe shrapnel, his head was kind open. Up on the overpass, the target of the suicide car bomber was a civilian bomb squad truck, a suburban with bulletproof glass and armor. I really must say, that bulletproof glass is tough stuff, even after being blown off the suburban and flying through the air at high velocity to strike the road further down the street, it was still in one piece. Before we rolled out of the perimeter we were getting reports of a sniper in a nearby mosque, but I guess he was gone by the time we got there. This cleanup had the largest pieces of human I have seen yet, I found a section of rib about 5 inches long, and what I think might have been a nose. There was a large crowd gathered under the overpass, examining the other vehicle and putting the corpses in ambulances. Also a news reporter and cameraman. I dont think I would try to hang out right where stuff was exploding a few minutes before, but these people have lived with violence like this in their lives for years, so maybe they know better than I do. I get an odd sense of detachment while Im cleaning up car fragments and human bits. I think of weird things, kinda philosophical. That was my day. Hopefully the rest of it is ice and boring, just the way I like it.
D-
D-