This "Anbar Awakening" has been a slow process, beginning long before the recent U.S. "surge" that increased the number of American troops in Iraq by 30,000, to 180,000. But it is still a shaky union, a desperate marriage of convenience based on shared enemies: Iran, and the Sunnis' former-friend-turned-foe al-Qaeda. Many of America's new allies are former insurgents and Saddam Hussein loyalists (Saddam was a Sunni) who only a short while ago were routinely called terrorists, "anti-Iraqi fighters," and "Baathist dead-enders." They are suspicious of one another and strongly anti-American, although willing to work, for the moment, with the U.S. The leader and founder of the Anbar Awakening Council, Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, was recently killed by a roadside bomb outside his house in Ramadi, clearly an inside job of some kind for which al-Qaeda claimed credit. Only 10 days earlier, Abu Risha had met with George W. Bush during the President's visit to Iraq, the photo op of death, apparently.

by roxy317 on Sat Sep 22, 2007 at 08:31:45 PM EST

For those who haven't heard of Burning Man, it's . . . well, it's hard to describe. In fact there are probably as many descriptions as there are attendees.

A five-mile-wide temporary town called Black Rock City is built over a period of several months on an ancient seabed, a flat expanse of alkali dust between mountain ranges. Although the event is funded by an LLC that sponsors it every year, much of the labor that goes into creating it is voluntary.

Some great pictures of the event ...

Energy Inspirations from Burning Man (Part2)

[...]one of the key elements of the Burning Man ethos is "Leave No Trace." Every single tiny little bit of anything that isn't playa dust or clean water is MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) and must be tracked down and captured, even MOOP as small as stray fibers of clothing and sequins. Consequently, there is a trash fence strung along the outside boundary of the event, some eight miles long (if memory serves).

Only by leaving no trace can an event like Burning Man continue on these public lands (managed by the Bureau of Land Management). So every camp is exhorted to do a MOOP sweep over every single inch of their campsite before leaving. Everything that the campers don't catch, somebody else will have to clean up later when Black Rock City is finally and completely removed, leaving only the playa.

... again, the pictures are worth taking a look at.

by roxy317 on Sat Sep 22, 2007 at 12:23:07 PM EST