East Wing 5th Floor - Ministry of Finance - 7 May 2003 - Baghdad

Ed Andrews

(Photo by Bob, as set up by me.)

Having completed the perimeter investigation we break up into two teams, and floor by floor, examine and document the extent of the damage. It’s hot and the effort to walk up the 10 flights of stairs, in flak jacket and helmet, quickly has us dripping with sweat. As always, I’m carrying a lot of water to drink. I’ve got a 2-liter canteen on a long strap around my neck.

The damage we discover is complete and thorough. All doors, most windows, partitions, ceilings, restrooms, mechanical rooms, heating and air handling systems, lighting, and furniture are gone or smashed. Paper files have been piled up and burned on some floors. We carefully pick our way through the darkened hallways.

We measure rooms, count numbers of windows and doors and destroyed fixtures. Our goal is to have the data to estimate cost and time required to reconstruct the Ministry building. Who ever did this had the time to be thorough. We only wonder at the motivation.

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