Unsafe 4 Years Later?

A buncha hoopty doo on CNN this afternoon about something John McCain said. Apparently on Monday, on a radio show, McCain said:

"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods."

Wolf Blitzer, on The Situation Room on CNN, had a chance the next day to question McCain about what he said:

Blitzer: "Everything we hear, that if you leave the so-called Green Zone, the International Zone, and you go outside of, uh, that secure area, relatively speaking, you're in trouble if you're an American."

Presidential hopeful McCain responded: "That's where you oughta catch up on things, Wolf."

Wolf, at some point later in his show, had on from Iraq CNN correspondent Michael Ware who said the following:

"No way on Earth can a Westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than five million people. I mean if al-Qaida doesn't get wind of you, or if one of the Sunni insurgents groups doesn't descend on you, or if someone doesn't tip off a Shia militia, then the nearest criminal gang is just gonna see dollar signs and scoop you up. Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

Thank goodness for the cable system's recent development and implementation of their Enhanced TV Start Over option for certain stations including CNN otherwise I never woulda been able to get exact quotes.

In any case, the stupid security situation in Baghdad just completely friggin' annoys me. There's no reason why people've gotta be blowin' other people up. There's no reason why Americans should be swept up off the street and held for ransom and/or tortured and/or shot & killed. Who's gonna win? Those who want democracy or those who want militant Islam to rule the land? When will all the crap over there stop and be reasonably safe like almost everywhere else on Earth?

Obviously I don't want death in Iraq to continue in the manner it occurs day in and day out... but I'm also concerned about my quest to kayak the Tigris River as a fundraising benefit for our wounded troops as well as other charities related to the recovery and wellness of Iraq, particularly the health of the rivers and southern marshlands. Every other day or so I read a sentence of a story about killings in Iraq, about bodies found in the Tigris. That's, uh, nice. That's not what rivers should be for!

I've been off and on thinking about a journey down the Tigris since the damn war started. Once already I have postponed the trip. The target time period is now late winter next year, a little less than one year from now. Can much change in Iraq between now and then? At this point it doesn't seem like it. '08 will be the 5-year mark which would be a significant anniversary for the event to take place. Should I wait until March 2009... 6 years later just doesn't have the same ring to it.

All I know is I wanna go, I wanna start planning, get sponsorship, start collecting the gear I need, plan for plane tickets, one trip beforehand to scout the river then another trip weeks later ready to paddle. But how much would I be putting my life on the line if I decided to 100% go forward with a plan for March of next year?

I'm so frustrated with this. With Hussein in power, paddling the rivers was a dream with absolutely no hope of happening. There was no entry into Iraq then like how North Korea is now. But with Hussein out of power Iraq is open and the 1,200 mile long Tigris is just sittin' there needing to be paddled followed a year later by the 1,400 mile long Euphrates (which, while it doesn't go through Baghdad, is probably more dangerous in certain areas than the Tigris. Oi vey, ay caramba.)

Just need to keep constantly watching the news, reading the news, assessing as best I can from here whether or not next year is doable or massively completely insane. Probably the latter.