Posted on 08/06/2003 9:59:47 AM PDT by skyman
Meet "Chief Wiggles."
"Chief Wiggles," whose real name is withheld for security, maintains a Web log about experiences in Iraq.
chiefwiggles.blog-city.com The name is a pseudonym set up for security purposes. The man using it is a Utah National Guard soldier stationed in Iraq whose Internet journal — a "blog," in the parlance of Web surfers, which is short for "Web log" — draws thousands of readers a day. His writings and the photographs he has posted of himself and fellow soldiers give a vivid, first-hand account of everyday life for an American interrogator who has been questioning Iraqi prisoners. The blog is titled "Chief Wiggles — Straight from Iraq" and is located on the Web at chiefwiggles.blog-city.com/. Some photos show images that may be offensive. Many of the POWs he has dealt with were Iraqi generals captured during the brief war. But recently, the POW camp has been acquiring many street thugs. Within the past few days, Chief Wiggles was transferred to a new site to the north. His blog was suspended temporarily for the difficult transition, which ended when he arrived at the new site dehydrated and having suffered through a fellow soldier throwing up on him. As soon as he settles in, he will be ready to continue his blogging. And his friend for 10 years, Provo resident Scott Evensen, will be ready to continue posting his writings on the Internet. In fact, Evensen noted, he received an e-mail from "Chief Wiggles" on Tuesday, after he arrived at the new station. Wiggles told him "he finally got a good rest," and for the first time in months was in a room with a bed and an air conditioner. Evensen, a cousin of Deseret Morning News editorial page editor Jay Evensen, said Wiggles is "one of the (National) Guard members from Utah who went over" during the Iraq crisis. He began making journal entries and sending them by e-mail to Evensen and other friends and relatives.
The soldier's mother died while he was overseas and he received permission to return to Utah for the funeral. While he was here, Evensen took him to lunch and they discussed the journal entries. Evensen pointed out that it would be easier to post the notes on the Internet for everyone to see at once, rather than e-mail them to people. Evensen has been "messing around with computers a lot" and knew about sites that are set up for blogs. He offered to help get an Internet site configured for the journal entries and the soldier agreed. Many sites that host blogs are inexpensive, Evensen said. Some charge nothing if the user agrees to allow ads at the top of the Web page or charge a minimal fee. One site charges a fee of $50 a year, another $25 yearly. In late April, Wiggles' entries began showing up on the Internet. Counters on the site keep track of how many people are reading the entries. At first, he was getting 10 or 15 visitors to the site each week. These were mostly family and friends, Evensen said. But then Wiggles' writing caught the attention of other Web browsers and people began checking in regularly. Other blog sites linked to his. When his notes are most interesting or touching, more sites link up that day. "On a day when nobody's linking to him, he'll get 500 to 800 a day," Evensen said. But when major sites link to Chief Wiggles, "he could have 5,000 to 6,000 people a day that come to read him." The latest statistics show Wiggles has had more than 47,000 Web visitors. On an average day, 2,308 will visit. During one recent hour, 97 were reading his notes or viewing his photos. "He's a really good guy," Evensen said. "He's been a member of the Guard for 33 years. He's an interrogator. "What touches people is he writes about his experiences with the POWs, who are mainly generals." When a British newspaper published an allegation by Amnesty International that captured Iraqis were treated badly, Wiggles responded at length, setting the record straight about humane treatment. Meanwhile, higher-ups in the Army have not complained about his blogging. Evensen said he and Wiggles are careful not to use people's names for security reasons. "He never says any classified information. . . . We haven't had any complaints so far."
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Holed up in sandy wind An excerpt from the Iraq Web log of Utahn "Chief Wiggles":
Friday, July 11: "We are in the midst of a sandstorm, the likes of which I have not seen for quite some time. We have all retreated to our tents of choice, which for me is the old bombed-out radio station. . . . "We have covered up every hole, every opening and every window, all to no avail. It is coming in no matter what. With every entrance into the building a gust of wind and sand that has been waiting for this opportunity jumps inside whirling about like dancing Gypsies. . . . "Along with the heat we have learned to adjust to our cohabitation with sand. Today several times I have been forced to venture outside, beyond the walls of this brick oven. Before leaving I secure my hat and papers, walking outside into the fierceness of the wind's anger, which has been picking up a load of sand along the way, hitting any bare skin like minute BBs. "Even with my goggles my vision is impaired, not being able to see more than a few feet ahead. It is at times like a total sand blackout; with the tents, the equipment, the vehicles all disappearing behind this khaki colored cloak of wind and sand, making it almost impossible to breathe. "I wonder at times how my lungs are going to dispose of the sheer quantities I have inhaled or will it just settle to the bottom like what happens in our water heaters at home. I am waiting for it to resurface in some form to be coughed up into large mud balls."
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