Skinny dipping anyone...anyone?

Last week I had the opportunity to provide coverage for the 84th Engineering Battalion (Combat Heavy) as they used backhoes to clear a congested canal in Balad, Iraq. Canals normally need annual maintenance, but this particular canal, being less than a car bomb blast away from the American installation LSA Anaconda, is off limits to Iraqis and has gone untreated since the war broke out in 2003. The newly-cleared canal will provide water for over 1100 Iraqis in the Balad area. And believe me, in this part of the world they need to take advantage of every drop.

This is one of the most positive stories I’ve covered. The only thing that puts a damper on it is the fact that this is the responsibility of the Iraqi government, possibly the Ministry of Irrigation or Agriculture. I sure hope this does not lead to the Iraqis depending on the U.S. military to provide other civil services for them.

While I was covering the story I saw a bunch of Iraqi kids gathering across the canal watching us dig away. Maybe I’m crazy, but I find something comforting in the fact that all kids are fascinated by backhoes. All social, economic and political differences between nations are instilled sometime in adolescence; kids everywhere are the same. May they always stay that way.


I have some before and after pictures below to show the difference.

Here is what the canal looked like before the project. Eeeehhk!

And here it is 33 dump truck loads of sludge later. It still doesn't look like anything I'd readily drink, but consider the alternative.