An update on Fox the dog

Corresponent John Berman blogs from Baghdad. Our dog smells. Before my arrival, ABC was given a dog by the Fox News Baghdad bureau; a dog that either we or they not-so-cleverly named “Fox.” This was all documented on this blog, but what they and GMA did not report was that Fox stinks… the dog, that is. Now, I like dogs, and I really like Fox (the dog, that is)… he seems sweet and nice. But he doesn’t smell nice. My ABC colleague here Bruno Roeber tells me “all dogs smell.” I know from research that this is not the case. (Fox on April 20th.) I spent the morning at the Haifa Elementary School here in Baghdad, to gather more elements for the reconstruction piece that I have been working on. It was great to get out of our compound and spend some time with Iraqis, especially kids. In one classroom, the kids sang me a song about rabbits (which, incidentally, do not smell as bad as Fox the dog.) Any time you walk into the school, anywhere, you can always pick out the class clowns right away. In Iraq, what usually happens is that those children run up to you and say, “Mister, Mister, what is your name?” They are always the boys, the girls are much better behaved. Some girls, however, were playing soccer with our security expert Des. Des has been learning Arabic during his time here over the last few years. I think he is getting pretty good, but honestly, he has such a heavy accent coming from Northern England, that I can’t tell what language he is speaking most of the time anyway. You might wonder, is it safe to go out and visit a school like this? The answer is, everything is relative, but yes, it is relatively safe. Before we go out and do anything, we make sure we know where we are going, what is around it, and what the general security environment is that day. Finally, we don’t stay anywhere very long. As westerners, we stick out, and you don’t want to stick out for too long or attract a crowd. Needless to say, we are very careful. Read John’s previous notes from Baghdad: [DAY 1] [DAY 2]