What's the procedure for going to Iraq (as a civilian)? Congresscritters and candidates do it

[karlrschneider]

with nauseating regularity. What if, for instance, *I* wanted to visit Baghdad? Can I get a visa? If so, where?
(I don't actually want to go there, I just wonder if and/or how it could be done...)
???

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Send your resume to Blackwater?

:shrug:;)

[karlrschneider]

2. Harumph. I suppose, but that's not -exactly- what I had in mind...

;-)

[Joe for Clark]

3. Try and get a ticket thru Baghdad International.

I doubt they will let any americans in there without a stated purpose. Even then - they know it is likely to break loose soon - they don't want their hands dirty.

Be interesting to find out. Call a travel agent. Tell them you want to take a trip down the Euphrates.

If they sell you a ticket I'd to know.

Joe

[PA Democrat]

4. People have done it. But I don't see anyone recommending it after having the experience themselves.

http://www.travelblog.org/Forum/Threads/3062-1.html

Would you believe that Iraq actually has a tourism board. This article isn't recent, so i don't know if the guy who is quoted as the head of the tourism board is still alive.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4111369.stm

[karlrschneider]

6. Looks as if they basically walked in from Turkey. So how do McCain

and these other civilian pricks get to fly right into Baghdad (and get military escorts)? What's the secret?

[Jacobin]

7. They go in on military transports

Since they are really really bright and very important people, they get to do things us ordinary and not so bright and unimportant people don't get to do....like walk through a bazaar in Baghdad and pretend things are just great, and get people killed for their stunts.

[karlrschneider]

9. Do you think I could hitch a ride if I promise to come back and tell how wonderful

everything is? :eyes:

[Jacobin]

10. Absolutely!!!

And you could get some $5 rugs!!

You may want to change your party affiliation first, though. Those things, they check.

[Jacobin]

5. Here's what expedia says

Destination Currently Unavailable
Expedia.com is unable to sell tickets to one or more of the destinations you have chosen. Please select a different destination. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Apparently, you can't there from here. :-)

Funny, it was possible to go to Iraq before we improved it.

On edit:
British Airways does have a lovely connection to Kuwait from NY Kennedy, via Heathrow for about $1500.
:-)

[karlrschneider]

8. Oh, I don't doubt it's fairly easy to get to Kuwait. But didn't Chimp say Iraq is now 'sovereign'?

Never mind, I was just spiffballing...about, you know, the clusterfuck.
:grr:

[Kingshakabobo]

11. Do you remember the teenager who made it?

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/12/30/farrishassen051230.html

from the link:

Without telling his parents, Hassan bought a ticket and flew to Kuwait City.

He claims he tried to take a taxi to the Iraq border, but was prevented from entering the country.

Instead, he flew to Beirut, where he stayed with family friends. He then flew to Baghdad on Christmas Day.

He spent two nights in the Palestine Hotel. He doesn't speak Arabic and his only communication aid was an Arabic phrase book. The high school student says he wandered the streets of a city where more than 400 foreigners have been kidnapped, before walking into the offices of the Associated Press news agency, where he volunteered to do some freelance reporting.

"We were amazed that he walked in by himself, unaccompanied and our very first thought was, 'Who is this kid and how do we get him to safety,'" said AP reporter Jason Straziuzo.

[karlrschneider]

12. I do recall it now that you have mentioned it!

Kid had a pair, no doubt! :D

[BrotherBuzz]

13. Fernando Suarez del Solar carries a letter from Rep. Henry Waxman

Dead Soldier's Dad Finds No Enemy in Iraq

by Rebecca Romani
December 30, 2004

ESCONDIDO, Calif. - Fernando Suarez del Solar is a busy man. He is busy opening boxes, counting pills, counting bandages; he is busy checking everything in the boxes that come addressed to him from all over the United States.

Suarez stops for a moment. "There are other boxes," he says, "many of them in San Francisco, in New York, in Chicago. So many boxes."

He could be doing other things. It is holiday time, after all, and the Mexican immigrant could be out shopping for his grandchildren; he could be out enjoying the unusually balmy weather.

<anip>

Suarez sifts through the medicines in the boxes. There are pills, Band-Aids, dressings. He hopes to hand it, and more, to Iraqi doctors – but that might not be possible.

"When we get there, one of two things will happen," he says. "We put it all in our bags like backpacks and carry it in or, two, Customs opens the bags and I have to show them my letters."

Suarez will carry a letter from Democratic congressman Henry Waxman, an outspoken critic of the war, who represents parts of Los Angeles, close to the Suarez home in Escondido. Suarez hopes the letter, addressed to the U.S. ambassador in Amman, Jordan, will ensure needed cooperation.

A third option – that the U.S. military has sealed the border and will refuse the groups entry on orders from the Pentagon – is also a possibility.

"But I hope not," says Suarez.

"The last time I went to Iraq," he adds, "the Pentagon called up another California congressman, Sen. Javier Vincera, who was supporting me, to tell him to tell me that I would not be welcome in Iraq," and if he did go, they would not assure his safety.

In response, Suarez called a press conference to question the Pentagon's motives. "I said, 'Whatever happens, Bush is responsible,'" he recalls. The Pentagon backed down and declared him welcome.

<more>

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/romani.php?articleid=4236