thedrifter
07-14-03, 08:05 PM
US troops name Baghdad streets their own way
Many of US troops lay down their own blueprint in Iraqi capital for sake of communication, security.
By Michael Mathes - BAGHDAD
Most US troops on the ground in Baghdad have no say in how the Iraqi capital is rebuilt, but many are laying down their own blueprint of the city - with American street names ousting the traditional Arabic.
You won't find Canal Road, California or Coors Street on the commercial street maps of Baghdad, but this is the new Iraq, where American soldiers are redrawing the city one English name at a time.
"Just go down Main Street until you hit Virginia Avenue and take a left," a Military Police (MP) officer recently told a correspondent, drawing a finger along a glossy US Defense Department satellite map spread across the hood of a Humvee in downtown Baghdad.
The black-and-white, metre-square map was overlayed with neon-coloured city streets whose names looked better placed on a layout of Washington.
Oklahoma and Pennsylvania replaced street names in the industrial section of the old city framed by historic Al-Rashid and Khulafa streets.
In the world of the occupier, name familiarity breeds security, according to Major Dean Thurmond of the US Army's Combined Joint Task Force Seven.
"Each unit has the opportunity to take satellite images of its sector and use its own graphics in order to help them more rapidly ID a location," Thurmond said.
In today's Baghdad, where attacks on the US-led coalition's troops occur daily, being able to quickly pinpoint locations is vital.
"It's for the sake of communication and security and making sure everyone is on the same sheet of music," he added.
"Unless you know what stuff corresponds to, it's just gibberish," Thurmond said.
Many military vehicles use computerized maps with global positioning system technology, but officers said they and their troops still must consult print maps.
Members of the 1st Infantry Division's 16th Battalion had a satellite map taped to the wall of their makeshift base, a palatial club along the Tigris River, with names in English written out over key roads and sectors.
Main, Cigar and South streets were scribbled over the names more familiar to Baghdadis, while OP (Observation Post) Beach was the new appellation for the once-plush official club where Saddam's military officers used to unwind.
"These boys are far from home and they tend to use names that remind them of home," said one special forces sergeant in the town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, dismissing suggestions that the practice carried an air of imperialism.
"There's nothing magical or sinister about it."
The new names run the gamut from the mundane to the creative and, in the case of the ostentatious palaces of Saddam Hussein and his sons Qusay and Uday, to the downright cheeky.
"Uday's palace has a new name," said one officer at OP Beach. "We call it the Love Shack."
Several streets in Baghdad were renamed by Saddam during his 24-year rule. Residents speak about the need to change them back to the originals, but there has yet to be a functional Iraqi government to deal with such matters.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=6372
http://www.middle-east-online.com/pictures/big/_6372_US-troops-14-7-2003.jpg
Lost in Baghdad? Take Main Street to Virginia Avenue
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Many of US troops lay down their own blueprint in Iraqi capital for sake of communication, security.
By Michael Mathes - BAGHDAD
Most US troops on the ground in Baghdad have no say in how the Iraqi capital is rebuilt, but many are laying down their own blueprint of the city - with American street names ousting the traditional Arabic.
You won't find Canal Road, California or Coors Street on the commercial street maps of Baghdad, but this is the new Iraq, where American soldiers are redrawing the city one English name at a time.
"Just go down Main Street until you hit Virginia Avenue and take a left," a Military Police (MP) officer recently told a correspondent, drawing a finger along a glossy US Defense Department satellite map spread across the hood of a Humvee in downtown Baghdad.
The black-and-white, metre-square map was overlayed with neon-coloured city streets whose names looked better placed on a layout of Washington.
Oklahoma and Pennsylvania replaced street names in the industrial section of the old city framed by historic Al-Rashid and Khulafa streets.
In the world of the occupier, name familiarity breeds security, according to Major Dean Thurmond of the US Army's Combined Joint Task Force Seven.
"Each unit has the opportunity to take satellite images of its sector and use its own graphics in order to help them more rapidly ID a location," Thurmond said.
In today's Baghdad, where attacks on the US-led coalition's troops occur daily, being able to quickly pinpoint locations is vital.
"It's for the sake of communication and security and making sure everyone is on the same sheet of music," he added.
"Unless you know what stuff corresponds to, it's just gibberish," Thurmond said.
Many military vehicles use computerized maps with global positioning system technology, but officers said they and their troops still must consult print maps.
Members of the 1st Infantry Division's 16th Battalion had a satellite map taped to the wall of their makeshift base, a palatial club along the Tigris River, with names in English written out over key roads and sectors.
Main, Cigar and South streets were scribbled over the names more familiar to Baghdadis, while OP (Observation Post) Beach was the new appellation for the once-plush official club where Saddam's military officers used to unwind.
"These boys are far from home and they tend to use names that remind them of home," said one special forces sergeant in the town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, dismissing suggestions that the practice carried an air of imperialism.
"There's nothing magical or sinister about it."
The new names run the gamut from the mundane to the creative and, in the case of the ostentatious palaces of Saddam Hussein and his sons Qusay and Uday, to the downright cheeky.
"Uday's palace has a new name," said one officer at OP Beach. "We call it the Love Shack."
Several streets in Baghdad were renamed by Saddam during his 24-year rule. Residents speak about the need to change them back to the originals, but there has yet to be a functional Iraqi government to deal with such matters.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=6372
http://www.middle-east-online.com/pictures/big/_6372_US-troops-14-7-2003.jpg
Lost in Baghdad? Take Main Street to Virginia Avenue
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: