The Disaster Tourist

Afghan Soldiers Can’t Read–and Can’t See Either

Cruz — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:08:46 +0000

This week in Afghanistan the NATO General in charge of training the new Afghan Army, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, said he would like to see all Afghan National Army soldiers reading at the First Grade Elementary School level by October of 2011.

Think about that statement for a moment and be very amazed.

Things are so bad in the Afghan National Army that only about 15% of its soldiers can read … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

At Night Through Armed Checkpoints

Cruz — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:00:00 +0000

“You no speak okay?”

I nodded my head and slouched lower in our wreck of a Toyota Corolla shuddering up to the checkpoint. Snow sleeted down the mountain slope to lash through the yellow of the headlights.

“Say nothing okay. Nothing.”visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Torturers and Torture Chambers I Have Known

Cruz — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:02:56 +0000

A few years ago I was splitting a bottle of Dewar’s Scotch with one of the most senior drug control police officers in the Afghan government, (drinking is an activity more common than you would think in that Islamic nation,) when the conversation turned to torture.

There had just been a sensational case involving the return of a Kabuli from many months in Guantanamo Bay. He had been hauled off the streets of Kabul, tortured by Americans at their

visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Eyes Clenched Shut — A Tale of Driving in Four World Cities

Cruz — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:59:49 +0000

I cannot remember the last time in Calgary that I used my car horn. I am not even sure that it works. I do know that if I did use the horn here it would be taken as a deadly insult worthy of gestures and incoherent rage.

That is in hornless Calgary. Elsewhere, things are radically different. visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Amid the Ruins – A Poor Kind of Journalism

Cruz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:19:27 +0000

An odd thing is happening to journalism amid the chaos of humanitarian disasters these days. It’s becoming as managed, influenced, nuanced and manipulated as the worst of government spin controlled journalism.

Over the past years I’ve experienced at first hand a most remarkable change in how the media works visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Foreign Journalists as Fools and Japes in Haiti

Cruz — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:19:58 +0000

I’ve been watching the television coverage out of Haiti since the earthquake earlier this week. No matter who I watch, with the exception of Al Jazeera, the major world networks seem to be driving their correspondents to ever lower forms of journalism in the mad rush for the most sensational of stories. I’d be disgusted except I’ve seen this many times before both as sinning journalist myself and as a Spokesman/communications type for the United Nations and many … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

The Mad Mullah and the Giant Earthquake

Cruz — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:07:46 +0000

Northern Pakistan was hit by a 6.1 or possibly 6.4 earthquake this afternoon. The shaking was also felt throughout southern Afghanistan including Kabul.

There’s nothing unusual about this and indeed earthquakes are pretty common in the region. They’re caused by the ongoing collision of the Indian subcontinent with the under belly of Asia. It’s a collision that’s been going on for a few million years and the crumple zone is the where the … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

NATO Soldiers, Booze and Bullets

Cruz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:17:22 +0000

I see that General McChrystal, the most senior military commander overseeing the NATO operations in Afghanistan, has had to shut down all drinking at his headquarters in Kabul.

According to his daily report of activities released by his staff he decided to ban all drinking by his troops because too many of them couldn’t do their jobs – they were either drunk or … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Quiet August Days in Afghanistan

Cruz — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:40:01 +0000

The news from Afghanistan since the election hasn’t been good. More bombings and general uneasiness. conditions remind me of the late summer a few years ago when I wrote the following dispatch for a newsletter I had going called “The Kabul Papers”

I haven’t written a “Kabul Papers” for a long time now and it is because this place has become as dull and boring a place as Wa’kaw … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant

Las Vegas as a Permanent Insanity

Cruz — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:19:54 +0000

What value can there be to yet another article about Las Vegas and in particular the “Strip”? Thousands of writers have brought their analytic tools to the Present Arms! position and marched along the Strip through the searing light that can dull lasers and the oxygen-less exhaust heat from Hell that roils in from the Nevada Desert. Hundreds of Hollywood films, show tunes, probably even poems, have been written about the place and yet it … [visit site to read more]

This article comes from The Disaster Tourist and is copyright by Rick Grant