Baghdad Journal: May 6, 2006

— -- I meant to look for the Saturday morning cartoons on TV today, but I woke up too late.

There is an 8-hour time difference between Baghdad and New York, which means that World News Tonight airs at 2:30am here. Often we don't get to sleep until 3am or so, which requires a slightly later wake-up. It also means that I go to bed without knowing the Red Sox score.

I am trying to get Faisal, one of our Iraqi producers here, interested in the Red Sox so that I can have a little conversation every morning. Something like, "Hey Faisal, did you hear about Big Papi?" But so far, no dice. "Who gives a _____?" is generally the type of response I get. I am trying to figure out if Faisal is hiding some secret affinity for the Yankees. That would be a bad thing. But he has a good heart, so I doubt it.

I am also trying to teach Faisal as much American slang as possible. And by slang, I mean dirty words. Thankfully he is reciprocating and helping build my Arabic vocabulary, although it seems that this vocabulary only includes words that would get me beaten up if I ever used them.

On the Jefferson front, a fascinating question from New York: Is the biography like the musical "1776?" So far the answer is yes, except for the singing. But I continue to hold out hope that there will be some. Honestly, it would be so much more palatable if Jefferson's fixation on what to plant was set to a little music.

One programming note; the Fallujah piece ran last night. Sorry about the back and forth. The struggle that the news business is having with the Iraq story is pretty interesting. By my count, Monday through Friday of this week, the big 3 networks ran a total of one spot combined from Iraq. I am relieved to say that the one spot was mine from Fallujah. But there is definitely the sense that the public feels like it knows what is going on here, and doesn't want to hear anymore about it.

As members of the public you will surely protest and say you do want the news from Iraq etc. etc. etc., but honestly, it seems the evidence is sometimes to the contrary. As a result, there are some periods that pass when it seem like we report about as much from here as from Sri Lanka (where incidentally violence continues to rage between the government and the rebel group, the Tamil Tigers. My college roommates used to keep a "Wall of Revolution," charting the various insurgent groups around the world. The Tamil Tigers always seemed to have the catchiest name, begging the question, who is batting clean-up for the Tamil Tigers?)

But seriously, I leave you with something the Reuters publishes every day called, "Iraq Developments." It is a list of all the incidents that happened here during a single day. A single day. Ask yourself how this would be received if it happened anywhere else in the world.

* BASRA - A British military helicopter was hit by a rocket and went down in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Saturday, Lieutenant Colonel Kareem al-Zaidi, spokesman for the Basra police, said.

* SAMARRA - Two policemen were killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Saturday, police said.

* KIRKUK - Gunmen opened fire and killed a civilian and wounded two in the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Saturday, police said. * DIWANIYA - A Polish soldier was lightly wounded on Saturday when a bomb went off near the city of Diwaniya 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, Polish Defence Ministry spokesman Zdzislaw Gnatowski said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed on Friday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

TIKRIT - A suicide bomber wearing Iraqi army uniform detonated his explosives vest inside an Iraqi military base in Tikrit on Saturday, killing three Iraqi army officers and wounding one, Interior Ministry sources and police said.

BAGHDAD - Two children aged five and six were killed and three adult civilians were wounded when a mortar round landed on Baghdad's western district of Shula on Saturday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police on Saturday found six bodies in different parts of Baghdad with signs of torture and gunshots to the head, police said.

YUSIFIYA - Four civilians were wounded on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Yusifiya 15 km (9 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

JURF AL-SAKHAR - Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near their patrol in Jurf al-Sakhar 85 km (55 miles) south of Baghdad on Friday, police said.

MAHAWEEL - Three police commandos were kidnapped on Saturday by gunmen in Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MAHAWEEL - Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms ambushed and kidnapped two truck drivers in Mahaweel on Saturday, police said.