[AppyPappy]

Who was Achmed Vila? I never got hold of that one.

[blu]

Achmed Vila...beleagured Baghdad's Bob Vila..."This Old House" meets "Trading Spaces" meets Armeggedon.

[Timeout]

"Who was Achmed Villa?"

In the first days of the war, the BagCam was located on a different roof than the one where it is now. Do you remember the views of a traffic intersection, blinking light and what looked like a parking garage across the stree? (It turned out to be a bank).

As we watched the camera, we noticed there was a man who came out on the roof sometimes. We didn't know then that he tended the camera. He would sweep the roof, sometimes throwing trash off to the sidewalk and THEN he would look down to see if there was anyone on the sidewalk. LOL!

Sometimes Achmed had more men up there. We called those "keggers". On the first weekend, they moved the camera to a new location. For two days and nights running, we were treated to the sounds of saws, hammers and air compressors, but we couldn't see what they were doing. Thus, Achmed came to be called "Achmed Villa", host of "This Old Goat Barn" or "This Old Camera Shed".

There were other names and shows, among them Achmed The-Tool-Man Taylor. I would have to go back to remember all the names and show names. It would be worth the effort---very funny!

[Nam Vet]

Achmed Vila and Norm Habib co-hosted "This Old Bunker" marathon last weekend.

Nam Vet