Bombs away

Iraq, where things that go boom seem to be all over the place:

About 100 meters down, while talking on my mobile phone with a source, Osama stops and begins to talk with some Kurdish militia members who are set up down one of the side streets.

"Hey man," Osama interrupts my phone call. "I found the bomb."

Being on the phone, I motion for him to wait, until I see he's pointing to an artillery shell embedded in concrete five feet away from us. It's huge -- a 155 mm artillery shell -- and there are wires and a homemade detonator sticking out the back.

"Uhhh, I have to call you back," I say into the phone.

The Kurds are laughing hysterically at us at this point, oblivious to the fact that they themselves are only 30 feet away and will live only a nanosecond longer than Osama and me should it explode. . .

As we stand a marginally safe distance away, one soldier explains that the Iraqis take a different approach to disposal of bombs than the Americans.

"When these guys find a bomb or a (rocket propelled grenade) they carry it to our base," one says. "We'll walk outside to talk to them and they'll be swinging a huge shell out of the back of truck all proud that they helped. We freak out every time."

As we talk about such matters, as if on cue, two Kurdish militiamen walk up to the bomb, as we watch incredulously. They poke it a few times and then actually try to pick it up.

From the Washington Times. Hat tip to ParaPundit, who has some additional links and commentary.

Posted by David on April 18, 2004 4:28 PM