DefenseTech Military.com
  • Categories
  • Full Archives
  • Monthly Archives
  • About Defense Tech
Subscribe to RSS

About Defense Tech

Defense Tech exam­ines the inter­sec­tion of tech­nol­ogy and defense from every angle and pro­vides analy­sis on what’s ahead.

Tip Us Off

Tip for Defense Tech?

SEND IT!

It’s Confidential!

Categories

  • 'Canes
  • Afghan Update
  • Ammo and Munitions
  • Armor
  • Around the Globe
  • Av Week Extra
  • Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere)
  • Bizarro
  • Blimps
  • Blog Bidness
  • Body Armor Blues
  • Bomb Squad
  • Brownshoes in Action
  • Bubbleheads, etc.
  • Cammo Green
  • Catch the "Buzz"
  • Chem-Bio
  • Civilian Apps
  • Cloak and Dagger
  • Commandos
  • Comms
  • Contingency Ops
  • Cops and Robbers
  • Cyber-warfare
  • Data Diving
  • Defense Tech Poll
  • Defense Tech Radio
  • Dissent Tech
  • Door Kickers
  • Drones
  • DT Administrivia
  • Eat DT's Dust
  • Extra! Extra!
  • Eye on China
  • Fast Movers
  • FCS Watch
  • Fire for Effect
  • FOS Files
  • Friday Funnies
  • Gadgets and Gear
  • Going Green
  • Grand Ole Osprey
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Guns
  • Homeland Security
  • In the Weeds with Eric
  • Info War
  • Iraq Diary
  • Jarhead Jazz
  • JSF Watch
  • Just War Theories
  • Lasers and Ray Guns
  • Less-lethal
  • Logistics
  • Los Alamos and Labs
  • M4 Monopoly
  • Medic!
  • Mercs
  • Missiles
  • Money Money Money
  • Most Wanted
  • MRAP Edge
  • Net-Centric
  • Nukes
  • Old Skool
  • Our Shrinking Planet
  • PEO Soldier
  • Planes, Copters, Blimps
  • Podcast
  • Politricks
  • Polmar's Perspective
  • Popular Mechanics
  • Rapid Fire
  • Raptor Watch
  • Red Team
  • Retro-Futuro
  • Robots
  • Roll Your Own
  • Sabra Tech
  • Ships and Subs
  • Snipertech
  • Soldier Systems
  • Space
  • Special Ops
  • Star Wars
  • Strategery
  • Stray Trons
  • Tactical Development
  • Terror Tech
  • The Deadlies
  • The Defense Biz
  • The Peoples' Site
  • The Sunday Paper
  • The Tanker Tango
  • The View from Av Week
  • Those Nutty Norks
  • Training and Sims
  • Trimble on the Case
  • Uncategorized
  • Video Lounge
  • War Update
  • Ward'z Wonderz
  • You can run…

Archives

  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • March 2003
  • February 2003
  • January 2003

Home » Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere) » Iraq’s Beautiful Trash

Iraq’s Beautiful Trash

I was hav­ing my morn­ing chai at the Shahan Hotel in down­town Erbil when, out the win­dow, I saw some­thing very excit­ing. A garbage truck, stopped at the curb, and garbage col­lec­tors toss­ing in boxes and bags. I was so amazed that I lunged for my cam­era like I’d just spot­ted Bigfoot. That’s when I saw another garbage truck round­ing the cor­ner. I snapped pho­tos on the fly like a paparazzi tail­ing Tom Cruise.
gtruck_erbil.jpgIn five trips to Iraq totalling five months, these are the first garbage trucks I’ve seen — and they’re the best evi­dence so far of the devel­op­ment of civil soci­ety — if not in all of Iraq, then at least here in Kurdistan. Elsewhere, garbage includ­ing ani­mal parts and dis­carded food piles up in big fes­ter­ing heaps on the streets until some­body with a pickup truck vol­un­teers to haul it to the city lim­its, where it gets dumped in sprawl­ing fields of waste 30 years old and hun­dreds of acres in size. The garbage is so dense in places that dur­ing hot sum­mers, it spon­ta­neously com­busts, fuel­ing putrid garbage fires that burn uncon­trolled for days. The upside of garbage fires is that they keep down the pop­u­la­tions of vicious wild dogs that live in the garbage, ven­tur­ing into the cities at night to ter­ror­ize pedes­tri­ans and domes­tic ani­mals.
What Iraq needs, more than any elec­tion or mil­i­tary cam­paign, is basic civic infra­struc­tures like garbage col­lec­tion. There’s lit­tle sense of pub­lic good or pub­lic own­er­ship in most Iraqi cities, which con­tr­butes to the lack of secu­rity. If you don’t care enough to keep your streets clean, how in the world are you going to muster the enthu­si­asm to ward of ter­ror­ists and for­eign fight­ers, both pub­lic nui­sances that, unlike garbage, can kill you?
– David Axe

Share |

December 21st, 2005 | Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere) | 298930 Comments »http://defensetech.org/2005/12/21/iraqs-beautiful-trash/Iraq%27s+Beautiful+Trash2005-12-21+11%3A54%3A24jason You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

« « Zero Hour for Los Alamos | Rapid Fire 12/​21/​05 » »

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

  1. cheap zeny says:
    August 1, 2008 at 10:16 pm

    But, slowly, we are all the rea­sons more and more dis­tant from the RO, RO to leave the dis­tance we have much more. I am a lot busier than before, not like before, often on the line. Although some­times he also give me a lit­tle cheap zeny, but I l know that there are mis­un­der­stand­ings between us, and increas­ingly deep.

    Reply
  2. http://www.buyageofconan.com says:
    August 5, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Buycheap aoc gold , Therefore we’ve been mind­ful from the out­set to cre­ate a world which is true to Howard’s writ­ing. There is majesty in Hyboria but it’s of a mono­lithic, bru­tal and prim­i­tive kind — it cer­tainly isn’t “high fairie” where every­thing appears as though it was built only yes­ter­day and is devoid of context.”

    Reply
  3. Shaiya money says:
    August 7, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    In a time before time, when the world was only in dark­ness, a Goddess came from another dimen­sion named Etaine, with a mis­sion to cre­ate the world of Shaiya money in har­mony and prosperity.

    Reply
  4. 2moons gold says:
    August 13, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    in the game there are many play­ers do not have diathe­sis, can be said that there were very bored, they often like to ask some­thing about the play­ers looks like, fam­ily, and in the game can earn how much 2moons gold, I do not know these peo­ple are play­ing the game or game play them.

    Reply
  5. buy 2moons dil says:
    August 13, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    then can the game still get the peo­ple happy, so I hope in the game we can become friends, do not because in order to buy 2moons dil then affray, it will affect other play­ers mood, all peo­ple play the game all hope can get the happy, so I really hope that all peo­ple can change their mood, staid­ness deal with the game.

    Reply
  6. kamas says:
    August 13, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    I give you too much pres­sure, let you give up this feel­ing, I really want to know that do you really can for­get me and for­get the day s about we together to play and together to upgrade and together to earn the kamas, you really can for­get, maybe I never enter your heart. Your left let me feel that all thing can be changed

    Reply
  7. girlteam says:
    September 24, 2009 at 2:11 am

    Mer sistn

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree

By commenting on this topic you agree to the terms and conditions of our User Agreement

    Today's Hottest Topics
    • Pinnacle's New Armor
    • New Camo Pattern on the Block
    • BREAK-BREAK: Units to Get New Camo Revealed
    • UPDATED: Details on Army's New Afghanistan Duds
    • Marines Quiet About Brutal New Weapon
    Recent Comments
    • New Camo Pattern on the Block
      I guess camouflaging exposed skin has gone out of...
      Eric daniel
    • New Camo Pattern on the Block
      The US Military should hold annual fashion shows. The Army...
      Zandor
    • New Camo Pattern on the Block
      I'd also like to point out, that soldier systems has been...
      a1189
    • Zapping Drones from a Truck
      Has to do with traverse speed. If the target is close then the...
      Charles
    • Zapping Drones from a Truck
      Totally forgot about astrogation. Star maps loaded into a...
      Charles
    • Zapping Drones from a Truck
      freefalling: -The Germans used beam-riding during WW2 and it...
      Charles
    • VTOL JSF Arrives at Pax River
      batvette: A lot of JSF money was spent before the meltdown....
      Charles
    • Northrop Invests Own Money In Fire Scout
      Phantom Works is Boeing is it not? I dunno what...
      Charles
    • Pinnacle’s New Armor
      Senator McCain says, “ Sticks and stones may break my bones...
      Alton
    • Zapping Drones from a Truck
      LOL
      Valcan
    Recent Articles
    • Army Launches Examination of Armor Testing
    • New Camo Pattern on the Block
    • BAE to Market Mantis UAV to North America
    • Pinnacle’s New Armor
    • Zapping Drones from a Truck
    • Northrop Invests Own Money In Fire Scout
    • IMINT: French Fashion Mavens Model MultiCam
    • VTOL JSF Arrives at Pax River
    • Super Cavitation and the Truth
    • Mantis Begins Search For Prey
    Recent Hot Topics
    • Marines Quiet About Brutal New Weapon
    • The Osprey has Landed
    • UPDATED: Details on Army's New Afghanistan Duds
    • Iraq Cyber Attack and the DigiSEALs
    • VTOL JSF Arrives at Pax River
    • Pinnacle's New Armor
    • (Proof) The Osprey Has Landed
    • REPLACEMENT ARM, GOOD AS NEW
    • Grim Wanat Footage
    • Semi-auto Grenade Thrower
  • Channels: Military.com | Military Benefits | Military News | Off Duty | Join the Military | Military Education | Veteran Jobs | Military Money | Military Deals | Military Family | Military Community
  • Military.com Network: Military.com | MilBlogging | Defense Tech | DoD Buzz | SpouseBuzz | Fred's Place | GI Bill Express
  • Services: Army | Navy | Air Force | Marine Corps | Coast Guard | National Guard | Military Spouse
  • About Military.com About Us | Advertise With Us | Press | Affiliate Program | Monster Network | Help | Feedback | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | © 2009 Military Advantage