Posted on 05/27/2003 4:50:07 AM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
NO RATS ALLOWED — Sailors aboard USS Harry S. Truman install a rodent guard on a mooring line. USS Harry S. Truman returned to Naval Station Norfolk May 23 after a six month deployment. The Truman operated in the Mediterranean Sea in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Shawn Eklund
WASHINGTON -- Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, seized a large quantity of what may be gold bars during a routine traffic control vehicle search in Al Qaim May 22, U.S. Central Command officials announced. The bars will be tested to identify their contents.
Soldiers conducted a search of a Mercedes truck driven by two individuals and discovered approximately 2,000 40-pound bars measuring 4" x 5" x 10". The occupants told the soldiers that they had been paid a total of 350,000 Dinars (or $350 U.S.) to pick up the truck in Baghdad and drive it to an unnamed individual in Al Qaim. The two had been told that the bars were bronze.
The bars may have a total worth of $500,000,000, depending on karat weight and purity, officials said. The truck, bars and two individuals are currently in the custody of the 3rd ACR.
Would that these do turn out to be gold!
Barbara Maas, chief executive of Care for the Wild International, feeds a starving camel at a Baghdad petting zoo. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Mark S. Rickert
Lt. Col. Dvis H. Jones, with the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, waits with a few German Shepherds rescued from the petting zoo. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Mark Rickert
Soldiers Confiscate Neglected Petting Zoo Animals
By U.S. Army Sgt. Mark S. Rickert
372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The skeletal remains of an old roller coaster totter like a rusty memorial in a Baghdad amusement park. Across from this, the Tilt-A-Whirl spills out into the lawn, with weeds growing through the metal pieces. Painted on the petting zoo entrance, colorful tigers and tropical birds roam freely, and Mickey Mouse waves with childish glee from the sign overhead. It looks like a once-happy place, now there are neglected animals, in the heat, covered with flies.
Soldiers with the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, in conjunction with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, seized over 30 animals from Luna Park’s petting zoo in Baghdad earlier in May.
Civil Affairs soldiers pushed for confiscation when they found the petting zoo in extremely poor conditions. The animals were clearly neglected, with filthy cages and forgotten feeding bowls.
“I was shocked when we came the first time,” said Cpt. William Sumner, 354th Civil Affairs Bde. “The animals were starving. The water bowls had dust in them. It really sickened me.”
To strengthen their case, Civil Affairs brought members of WildAid and Care for the Wild, non-profit conservation organizations working with the U.S. military and ORHA to restore the Baghdad Zoo, with them on their second assessment. When the conservationists arrived on scene, they brought urgency to the situation.
“We went to the petting zoo with veterinarians and found the animals ravenous,” said Dr. Barbara Maas, Care for the Wild, Int’l. “We fed them what little food we had, and they went berserk. We also found dead animals in the cages, including a cobra that had starved to death. It takes serious neglect to starve a cobra.”
“ It is a tragic state,” said Stephan Bognae, WildAid. “Animals are in distress. They’re pacing the cages; they are skinny with no nutrients. It is very similar to how we found the Baghdad Zoo—filthy cages, hungry animals. But we have a full staff at the Baghdad Zoo now, and we can take proper care of the animals there.”
Civil Affairs brought the park’s condition to the attention of ORHA and received clearance to confiscate the animals. From Luna Park, the animals were taken across town to the Baghdad Zoo, where the workers can provide better living conditions, as well as food and water.
Civil Affairs and ORHA do not intend to keep the animals at the Baghdad Zoo indefinitely. Once the petting zoo’s owner demonstrates feasible living conditions for the animals, the animals will be returned.
“We told the owner that once he gets his act together and gets the place ‘up to code,’ we will return the animals,” said Lt. Col. David H. Jones, 354th CAB. “Until then, the animals will remain at the Baghdad Zoo.”
“This is the worst animal facility I’ve ever seen in all my years of conservation,” said Baghdad Zoo interim administrator Lawrence Anthony, with the Thula Thula Game Reservation/conservation organization from Zululand, South Africa. “The owner must demonstrate the ability to run the petting zoo before we return the animals.”
Keith Wheeler, executive officer on USS Donald Cook, holds his daughter, Peri, as the USS Donald Cook returns to its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, May 23. U.S. Navy photo by Photographers Mate 2nd class Susan C. Milton
Navy wife and mother holds her nine-month-old child while waiting in the pouring rain for her husband to arrive home from a six-month deployment aboard USS Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman, Carrier Air Wing 3, and ships assigned to her Carrier Strike Force, played a key role in successful combat missions supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They are the first Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier to return from the campaign that liberated the people of Iraq from the regime of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Shawn Eklund
Shortly after his return from a six-month deployment with the USS Hawes, Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Brittanham, a gas turbine system technician, stands with his mother, Shirley Hooper, before local television news camera crews covering the massive homecoming event, May 23. The Hawes was on a six-month deployment with the USS Harry S. Truman battle group to the Mediterranean Sea in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Mark A. Martinez
Lt. Cmdr. Jim Conway, assigned to the "Swordsmen" of Fighter Squadron 32 greets his 3-month-old daughter for the first time during the squadron's homecoming. VF-32 is returning home from deployment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Charles A. Ledbetter
Posted on 05/25/2003 12:31 AM CDT by desertdog
I am a soldier in Iraq. I wanted to say thank you to all of the subscribers for helping with troop morale while we are over here. I would like to give a specail thanks to snippyaboutit for sending me goodies and words of encouragement.
SPC Karl Gray
BTW All, Karl's birthday is May 30th, this Friday.
Happy B-day, Karl!!!! Mine's this coming Sunday!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for stopping by!!
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