Replies

I was going to post Belly Girl but read through the list first and, yep, it got here!

I coined the term Belly Girl back in 2003. In the run up to the invasion of Iraq there were a lot of postings from Protest Warriors in the "Live threads" just before and during the invasion.

Someone put up the picture and everyone was commenting on her midriff. If my memory serves me, someone had asked the usual poster on the Live thread to post "that cute girl with the sign" and I replied, "oh, you mean Belly Girl" and it stuck.

Here are a few of the things I remember we posted and discussed everyday during the Live War Threads while watching the various Baghdad CAMS:

(1) The carpenter: there was this guy, obviously hired by the various news agencies, whose job it was to maintain the cameras and change them to IRL at night, etc. One day he had the bright idea they needed to be higher so started building stands.

For several nights you could hear him sawing and hammering. I don't remember but I think we called him Omar or Ahmed or Mohammod.

(2) The Sweeper: late at night this one Iraqi would come out and sweep his balcony just slightly off camera. You could hear the "wooosh, wooosh" of the broom and see the dust and dirt going out into the air.

(3) Baghdad Bob: Yep, he was a favorite during the war. I'm pretty sure the term Baghdad Bob was coined by a Freeper.

Those were the days, when we could watch the press "behind the scenes". My favorite was when the reporters would be milling around on the balcony in street clothes and then put on a flak jacket and helmet just for the time they were on air.