What the average person thinks of us in Iraq...

[Jimmy C.]

This was sent to me by a Buddy In Iraq. I am sure it has been translated to Iraqi to English. So Take it as you will...


"If you have any questions about what it means to the average citizen of Iraq to have
Americans here, you need to read this letter about what the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment
has done for one town.  I'm sure this is the type of reports you could get from all over Iraq.


And now the letter from a Mayor from a city in Iraq.

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful;
To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who
have changed the city of Tall Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread
death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.  

To the lion-hearts who liberated out city from the grasp of terrorists who were
beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope,
through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new live to the city
after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to
reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi.  The city was
completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental
services, businesses and offices were closed.  Our streets were silent, and no one
dared to walk them.  Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death
awaited them around every corner.

Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city.  Their savagery
reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and
tossed them into the streets! in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve
the bodies of their young.

This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the
courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated the city,
ridding it of Zarqawi's followers after harsh fighting, killing and many terrorists,
and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas,
where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani
finally destroyed them.


I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not lonely
courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight
the evil of terrorism.


The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hicky, LTC
Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and, wisdom.


Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a
bygone era.  The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military
operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom,
and truly deserves to be studied in military science.  This military operation was
clean, with little Collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy.  With skill and
precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing
unnecessary damage.

God bless the brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave
men and women.  From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families.  They have
given us something we will never forget.  To the families of those who have given
their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of
your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain.  They are not dead, but alive, and
their souls hovering around us every second of every minute.  They will never be
forgotten for giving their precious lives.  They have sacrificed that which is most
valuable.  We see them in the smile of every child, and en every flower growing in
this land.  Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for
humanity and life.

Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven't
the words to describe the courage of it's officers and soldiers.  I pray to God to grant
happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.


NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall Afar, Ninewe, Iraq

[Kevin]

Thats the kind of stuff the news should be repoting but will never see it . Bad news sell more than good.
Kevin

[Amanda_931]

Between Tom Engelhardt and Michael Schwartz they point out that there are three kinds of news from Iraq.

Bad news--suicide bombings, kidnappings and killings.

Good news--the Marines deliver a wheelchair to someone, a mayor writes a flattering letter.

Economic rearrangement news--the kind of conditions that the World Bank hooks on to loans applied to the economy of Iraq.

Original here:  http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=72319

Because the privatizers of the Bush administration were, however, in control of a largely prostrate and conquered country, the Iraqi reforms were enacted more swiftly and in a far more draconian manner than anywhere else on the planet. Within six months, for example, the American occupation government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), had promulgated all manner of laws designed to privatize everything in Iraq except established oil reserves. (New oil discoveries, however, were to be privatized.) All restrictions were also taken off foreign corporations intent on buying full control of Iraqi enterprises; nor were demands to be made of those companies to reinvest any of their profits in Iraq.

At the same time, state-owned enterprises were to be demobilized and sidelined. They were to be prevented from participating either in repairing facilities damaged during the invasion (or degraded by the decade of sanctions that preceded it) or in any of the initially ambitious reconstruction projects the U.S. commissioned. This policy was so strict that even state-owned enterprises with specific expertise in Iraqi electrical, sanitation, and water purification systems -- not to speak of Iraq's massive cement industry -- were forbidden from obtaining subcontracts from the multinational corporations placed in charge of rejuvenating the country's infrastructure.

[glenn kangiser]

A nice story but sounds a bit excessively sweet to me.  Status is undetermined according to Snopes currently.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/iraqmayor.asp

If you want a real story of day to day conditions in Baghdad, check out  http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

She is a girl computer tech in Baghdad and she tells it exactly like it is as she sees it living there.  She doesn't hate Americans, or Sunni's or Shia or Christians.  She's just a person trying to stay alive in a war torn hell that we brought to her doorstep.  I have been following her since the "Shock and Awe" era (or possibly the "Awe, Shucks" era).

She has responded to my email in the past directly.  Her blog is updated every week or two usually - which is amazing considering the conditions she lives under.  Take a look - get a fairly unbiased view of what it's really like from a real average person in a real average family in Iraq. :'(  Note - actually upper class educated average Iraqi as they are the ones who blog- she would be an equal to most of us on this board and her English is as good as ours.

Here is her reply when I mentioned that we missed her after she hadn't posted a new blog for a while -- How did we know --- maybe she was dead.

From :        <riverbend@------.com>  Note -- this was her old address - If you want to write, her new one is on her blog
Sent :       Saturday, April 24, 2004 2:21 AM
To :       "glenn kangiser" <glenn-k@msn.com>
Subject :       Re: We Missed you
     
     
Inbox

Dear Glenn,

Thanks so much for your words. It means a lot to have so many people concerned
about my well-being. I can hardly believe it sometimes. I will try
to write more often but sometimes it can be so difficult doing something as
trivial as blogging when the world seems to be going crazy outside of my
window.

Thanks again Glenn... hope you and yours are safe and happy always.

Regards,
R.

Here's her take on the Jill Caroll abduction and the loss of her interpreter.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#113709584389005811

[John Raabe]

Thanks for the link to the blog of this very important reporter. This is a valuable perspective for us to have.

I read with concern the notice she saw on Baghdad television, "The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area."

This means people cannot trust that the people in uniform are who they appear to be. Or that people in real uniforms are taking night jobs for someone else. Both very disturbing...

It is easy to forget that one of the first things needed for civilization and an economy to work is that an organization relatively trustworthy needs to have a monopoly on violence. IE: People have to trust that unsanctioned violence will be dealt with by an overpowering force, and that that force has some rules of fairness or law behind it. (Or, at least, universal fear  :'()

If violence is freelance you can not have civilization - you have anarchy and out of that will come warlord-ism, tribalism or some other system that will attempt to monopolize violence more locally. Bigger structures will not hold and it will keep disintegrating until there are structures that will hold and people can be protected.

This is what happened with the fall of Rome and Roman civilization. People just abandoned the cities because they could not be protected... they roamed the countryside until they could find a land baron who was willing to take them inside the walls and feed them in exchange for work. This was the start of a system called feudalism that lasted about 1000 years - the "dark ages".

[Jimmy C.]

Thanks Glenn! That is a great link..
The letter did seem a little Americanized.
My first thought told me it was sent to the troops in the field to boost moral.
To let them feel like what they are doing matters to people other than those in the oil business.

[Sassy]

I talk with young guys (21-28 y/o) who are back from Iraq after having served, usually, 2 tours there.  Last weekend I spoke with a 22 y/o who had served 1 yr in Iraq--was there when we "took" Baghdad & then went to Afganistan for 8 mo.  I find it very difficult to draw a lot of information out of these guys.  The one I just spoke to made the statement:  "We can't just pull our troops out now after we've destroyed their country"...  He said when he got there, there wasn't any infrastructure, so they basically lived in their "amphibious" vehicle - he laughed & said "there isn't any water around, but it held 18-19 guys" only problem was, when driving it, in order to be able to see, you were exposed from your waist up, so not real safe.  He had injured his back in Iraq but went on to Afganistan where he was on patrol constantly.  There weren't any vehicles there so they walked everywhere.  The hillsides & mountains were sand & rocks, very slippery to climb, especially in the dark... they were always sliding down the mountains & hillsides, usually couldn't see anything.  One of his legs had gone numb due to the back injury & he ended up going for emergency surgery & sent back to the states, he was very close to being paralyzed from the waist down.  He said some of the Iraqi people were friendly - especially when they 1st went in to Baghdad, but a lot were suspicious.  He said he got a chance to talk a little with the Afganistanis - they were more friendly because we weren't in there "showing force"He got back last summer from Afganistan.  I spoke with another 22 y/o a couple months ago who was very disturbed about what was going on there & felt like we were destroying their country, a couple weeks ago, a 28 y/o thought we were helping them...  My nephew was there before & during the time they went into Baghdad - he wasn't exposed to the actual fighting, he was located 50 miles away I think, he didn't think it was so bad, so...

My heart really goes out to these young guys who have put their lives on the line... they go in with patriotic, idealistic ideas & are put in some very difficult situations.  When I question them, I'm more concerned with finding out how they are dealing with life back in the states, especially with all the controversy over the war.  I was in highschool & college when the Vietnam war was going on & am dealing wiith a lot of veterans who have never been able to get past that - you can think to yourself "why don't you just grow up" but having never experienced personally fighting in a war - especially the guerrilla wars like Vietnam & Iraq - who am I to judge.  I am more concerned with making sure they get the help & support they need, whether I am for or against the war.  After I find out how they are doing, I ask them what their feelings, thoughts are about what we are doing in Iraq & how things are going there - that I want to hear 1st hand, what those who were there have to say since there are such extreme views in the media.  Usually they will open up some, but I know that they have been told not to talk about things there.  Rumsfield also admits that the US gov't is still paying the media over there to write articles with a positive slant.  It is so difficult to get the straight scoop on things.

Oh, by the way, the guy I talked to this past weekend, he said he asked one of the contractors, how much money he was making.  The contractor refused to tell him.  He kept bugging him about it, the contractor told him they weren't allowed to tell, finally he said, "Put it this way, the 1st $90,000 is tax free."

My big concern is for the potential for destroyed lives, not just the American soldiers who are killed but the 100,000 + who have been injured physically & countless more psychologically.  That doesn't even include what has happened to the Iraqi people.  

That article you cited, Amanda, & other ways Bremer & Co handled the occupation after the "shock & awe" is why, I believe, the Iraqi people have turned on the US.

I'm reading a novel by Taylor Caldwell The Balance Wheel (I've read several of her books since high school...) This was written in 1950 but is set in the time frame starting in 1913 the year the IRS & Federal Reserve were established... leading up to WWI--I thought this quote was very telling...  "I am not a politician... I am only a soldier... there are times when it is expedient to make---war.  When it is profitable.  When people want it.  The people can always stop war simply by insisting that they want no war.  But they never do, sir.  They never do.  They like it."

[Amanda_931]

Yes, it does work that way, doesn't it?

[glenn kangiser]

Glad you liked the link.  I consider River to be an important writer and a friend.  

Here is an American from Alaska I have also been following for a couple years.  I haven't read him for a while, but if he says it is so -it is so.

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/

He has been places no other reporter would go and live to tell about it.  This guy has b*lls the size of grapefruit and a heart of gold.

[John Raabe]

War is the ultimate ego trip... that's why people choose it. It makes us feel important and alive (after all, mortality hangs in the balance).

To reduce the attractions of war we have to somehow gain perspective on the ego satisfaction it provides and find alternatives to that.

The Greek invention of competative sports is one...

[Sassy]

That is true, John.   I've often thought that all the time spent playing & watching sports was a waste of time, but on the other-hand it is great way to let off steam & compete.  I used to love to play sports, myself - but, not to sound sexist or anything   I think that it is more the men who need competition--no matter if it be sports or building, inventing, etc.  Even though, after receiving several "telemarketing"   calls in a day I can feel like going to war!  

[glenn-k]

In order to prevent the real consequences of the war for what? in Iraq from influencing public opinion, the US government controlled media is not allowed to publish pictures that may influence your veiws.  Some other countries are not restricted from showing these images.

Only look if you have the stomach for it ----or pretend it isn't happening like they want you to.  Out of sight --out of mind.  This is what the war of lies for the increase of the riches of corporate and elite America is doing to our kids.  Note that you will not see any pictures of politicians children here with their faces or limbs blown off.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article136827.html

Paste the link into the site below for a fairly decent machine translation.  Sorry, I don't know how to get the translated page posted here.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr  Note - select Spanish to English as the translation languages.

For the Iraqi images

http://www.voltairenet.org/article136851.html

[Amanda_931]

And despite the pictures of the president visiting the disabled, there's this, definitely biased column by Judith Coburn (definitely biased? I'd hate to go up against a "Bush is always right" friend using only this as evidence, would expect one cheap shot in there somewhere):

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042806B.shtml

....But little has been reported about how shockingly on-the-cheap the homecomings of these soldiers have proved to be. The Bush administration awarded Blake Miller a medal, but it has fought for three long years to deny soldiers like him the care they need. While Miller and his men were being thrown into the fire in Falluja, the White House was proposing to cut the combat pay of soldiers like them. (Only an outburst of outrage across the political spectrum caused the administration to back off from that suggestion.)

   The Veterans Administration, now run by a former Republican National Committeeman, has been subjected to the same radical hatcheting that the White House has tried to wield against the rest of America's safety net. Cutbacks, cooking the books, privatization schemes, even a proposal to close down the VA's operations have all been in evidence. The administration's inside-the-beltway supporters like the Heritage Foundation and famed anti-tax radical Grover Norquist like to equate VA care with welfare. Traditionally, however, most Americans have held that the VA's medical care and disability compensation was earned by those who served their country.

.........
  Nonetheless, the VA has admitted - and it's been confirmed by an Army study - that a staggering 35% of veterans who served in Iraq have already sought treatment in the VA system for emotional problems from the war. Add this to the older veterans, especially from the Vietnam era, pouring into the VA system as their war wounds, both physical and emotional, deepen with age or as, on retirement, they find they can no longer afford private health insurance and realize that VA health care is - or, at least in the past, was - more generous than Medicare.
...............
   Other White House ideas for cutting back the VA, including making vets pay insurance premiums, higher co-pays and doubling Vets' costs for prescription drugs, have also been beaten back by Congress. One VA response to its huge backlog of claims has been to limit enrollment for its services. In January, 2003, the White House ordered the VA to create a new temporary cost-cutting category of "affluent" vets who would not be eligible to use the VA. But the new category seems headed for permanency. And it sets the cut-off level for eligibility for VA care so low - around $30,000 for a so-called "affluent" family of four - that many vets who have been cut off can't possibly afford health insurance and medical care on the private market.

   In World War II, 12 million Americans fought on behalf of a nation of 130 million. Twenty-five percent of American men served in that war. They came back heroes to a country more than willing to give them the latest medical care, compensate them for their wounds, send them to college, and help them buy homes.

[Sassy]

Amanda, you are so right.  Working in a VA hospital, I see 1st hand the devastation wreaked in so many persons lives.  There ARE a large % of vets with psychological problems.  The WWII vets are dying but we have a whole new influx of Vietnam vets, Gulf War & now the current undeclared war in Iraq & Afganistan.  I believe that the VA health services are some of the best & most comprehensive & for the past few years in all the surveys, have been rated tops.  We continue to accomplish that even though the budget & staffing keeps getting cut.  I don't really believe in socialized medicine, but in this case, it has worked extremely well.  But that is because we are continually graded on various benchmarks.  Some examples:  preventive health & education, mental health screening, 10 min window for treating a person who comes in with possible heart attack (ECG, labs, meds etc) as well as patient satisfaction... Unless there are those types of guidelines, controls & follow-up, burorocracies (sp)  tend to slide down the slippery slope of poor performance & waste.  We also have state-of-the-art equipment in most cases.

In our hospital, we make it a priority to see the returning Iraqi vets.  I don't know how it works with the active duty vets who get care from the military hospitals.  The co-pays for people over a certain income have traditionally been very reasonable.  The VA now collects from the private insurers of people who have it, to help offset the cuts in budget.  We have some patients who tend to "abuse" the system, unfortunately, just like in the county & private sectors.  They miss their scheduled appts & then go to the ER for routine care & medications, tying up the services for people who might have acute problems.  Patients complain if they have to wait more than an hour to be seen.  There are those who come in several times a week for minor problems.  We even had a patient come in recently who had called 1st to find out some of his lab results... when the nurse who answered, told him he couldn't give that info over the phone, he arrived in ER 10 min later complaining of chest pain... after all the intensive care & monitoring for 9 hrs, diagnositc testing etc, it turned out nothing was wrong--basically he just wanted results of lab tests... people learn the code words to say to get immediate attention.  Oftentimes, the staff, itself, will state "if these people had to pay a small co-pay, they wouldn't abuse the system so much with nonsense."  Most don't have to pay anything.  

I agree that our veterans, who have put their lives on the line, deserve to receive care.  That was promised when they joined up.  It used to be that most who were seen had a service related injury or ailment.  At my hospital, we have people who barely made it through bootcamp, were only in for 3 mo, who are the ones who have a tendency to use the VA services the most.  

My nephew's girlfriend served 2 tours in Iraq as a military police in the Marines.  She joined up after highschool because she didn't feel she was ready for college yet.  She had a 4.3 GPA, was a dancer in the Olympics, had a lot of things going for her.  She was on patrol in a humvee during her last tour, when an IED blew up their vehicle, 2 of her good friends were killed, she wasn't even injured.  But she says that it has scarred her for life.  She saw a humvee blown up on the news & started shaking & crying uncontrollably, she said she felt like she was back in Iraq.  I told her if the stress was too bad for her she could get help from the VA.  She said she didn't want a mark on her record that might effect her employability when she gets out.  

John Raabe:  War is the ultimate ego trip... that's why people choose it. It makes us feel important and alive (after all, mortality hangs in the balance).

I believe that applies more-so to the people who plan the wars... the ultimate game of chess...  the common man & woman get caught up in the propaganda & want to do their part in protecting our country by being patriotic... they are the pawns who suffer...

[glenn-k]

What is it costing us and our children to feather the pockets of our elite by purchasing what it takes to wage this undefined war of terror?

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060504-112948-6189r

$439,000,000,000.00 / 298655659 US Population=$1469.92 for every man, woman, child, bum, illegal? and panhandler in the US and rising daily.

I know I didn't authorize the White House resident to spend any money for me so please add my amount to yours.

[water8]

While I think war IS hell on earth, the closest we get here, I think we cannot turn our backs on those who desire freedom from cruel dictators...rape rooms...mass extermination...and attacks on our country from oversees (911).  Enclosed, my blog address, where I posted some "too graphic for Tv" photoes I was emailed.  http://water05201.blogspot.com/

[glenn-k]

It's nice to think we are doing good there, Water8.  Many of us really want to believe that and tend to ignore the facts. I wish I could believe that and that it was really true.  Actually the reason we need to stay there now is because we have messed things up so badly.  Led into war under false pretenses, it seems that the main reason for going there was to transfer present and future tax money to currently reigning officials and their cronies as well as America's mega-corporations and to have a power base in the middle east.

Iraq had nothing to do with 911 and many people think that whoever pulled it off had help from the inside.  

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/011805_simplify_case.shtml

It wouldn't be the first time our government has used this tactic to sway public opinion.

http://www.pearlharbor41.com/     http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/Gulf-of-Tonkin.htm

Now they're working on getting approval to attack Iran. Some of the Saudi hijackers trained at US Navy Bases.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0208/S00085.htm

http://www.prisonplanet.com/alleged_hijackers_may_trained_us_bases.html

Iraq worse off than under Saddam

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0406-01.htm

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1651789,00.html

http://www.codewolf.com/story/article_1023139.html

http://www.haleakalatimes.com/news/story1986.aspx

Human rights abuses by US - Abu Ghraib Rape Rooms

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1206725,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5165156/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prisoner_abuse
 It can be argued that the people over there attacking us are protecting their homeland as we would do if attacked here.  Riverbend noted in her blog from Iraq that suicide bombers did not show up in Iraq until after we attacked them.

The gas used on the Kurds was provided by us.  We exterminated the entire column of soldiers retreating from Kuwait after we had given Saddam approval to attack them for slant drilling under Iraq to steal oil.  

"There are, in addition, strong indications that many of those killed were Palestinian and Kuwaiti civilians trying to escape the impending seige of Kuwait City and the return of Kuwaiti armed forces. No attempt was made by U.S. military command to distinguish between military personnel and civilians on the "highway of death."   Gulf War 1 -Daddy Bush.  

On July 25th, after the massing of Iraqi troops on the Kuwaiti border, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam regarding a possible invasion of Kuwait, that "the United States has no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait." "James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/history-repeating.html

Check out the Highway of death

http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrime.htm



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Death


This is what we do to people who have not harmed us.


We are not the knights in shining armor we like to think of ourselves as. If only we were as nice as most people in the US thnk we are.  Maybe then the world would love us.

It is estimated by some sources that we have killed over 100,000 Iraqi civilians-

"The experts from the United States and Iraq said most of those who died were women and children and air strikes from coalition forces accounted for most of the violent deaths."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/iraq.deaths/  This is also mass killing.

There are some of our naive young soldiers over there trying to do the best they can hence the photos you posted but our official policies and leaders orders don't paint a nice picture of us to the rest of the world.  Our children are cannon fodder for the elite and the corporations of the war machine and big oil.  

On the bright side, oil profits are gaining by leaps and bounds.

[jraabe]

"Taxation without representation" was the first revolutionary slogan.

How about "Invasion without representation" as our current issue?

[Sassy(Guest)]

How 'bout performing    Whakapohane one of the traditions of the Waikato Maori in New Zealand, when they don't agree with the politics...  

(thanks to Jonsey for the link )

[glenn-k]

I'm all for that.  What a nice little way to show them what you think of them.

Did I get too carried away?  I just couldn't control myself. :-/

Sounds good to me John.  The Iraq invasion was planned before Bush was installed in office, so nobody at the peasant level (us) had a say in it.

Iraq Invasion talked about in 1999

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush/

[Sassy(Guest)]

BTW, here's one of our welders performing "whakapohane" on streaming video to the Whitehouse....

[jraabe]

Where do you get this stuff!!!???

(Please don't tell me you follow Glenn around.)  

[peg_688]

BTW, here's one of our welders performing "whakapohane" on streaming video to the Whitehouse....

 Please invest in these
 

 

[glenn-k]

She has to bring the cookie jar to the jobsite once in a while, John.

PEG, I'll have a little man to man talk with him about the spenders.

[Sassy]

Well John... I don't know what to say    The picture was such a classic I hated to see it go to waste... & then Jonsey sent me some links & I just so happened to read about  "walkapohane" & the picture fit right in...  

...besides, I didn't take that picture... one of the other guys told Glenn to bring his camera up & that's how the picture came about...

Big brother is watching...   http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html%20RFID/Spychips