Iraq is (re)born
The world welcomes the Independent Democratic People's Confederate Republic of the United States of Iraq.
Flying in and training out
For the international traveller, there are limited options when it comes to getting in and getting out of North Korea. The trip direct from Seoul would be easy most of the way, except for the bit where you are guaranteed to be shot dead at the DMZ. Instead, the more conventional route is via Beijing, where most of the handful of international passanger flights into DPRK originate. There are also some flights from Shenyang in northern China, as well as Vladivostock in Russia. In the true spirit of market economics, the lack of demand for flights into DPRK has resulted in only a handful of them being offerred. The other travel option is the train, departing from Pyongyang and going on an epic 23 hour ride into Beijing. In my case, travel was going to be a combination of the two - a flight in from Beijing, and a train trip back there five days later.
With visa, passport and tickets in hand, the four in our group headed to Beijing airport ready for departure. Given the scarcity of …
With visa, passport and tickets in hand, the four in our group headed to Beijing airport ready for departure. Given the scarcity of …
Comments
However, the US army must reconsider its training regimen, particularly regarding 'friendly fire.' Whilst in Iraq, only 493 of the 842 Americans killed were from 'hostile fire,' meaning that over 40 percent of US casualties are self inflicted. (figures correct as of Friday 25/6/2004. This figure is worsened when you consider the death toll of the Iraqi citizens, for whose freedom the US soldiers are killing each other. US soldiers have killed between 9451 and 11333 civilian Iraqis meaning that their 'friendly fire' deaths constitute around 95 percent of US kills. That means that for every enemy killed, US soldiers kill 21 of their friends.
Let's hope that Iraqis have the decency to thank them for their efforts.