Twentynine Palms

Excellent and insightful. I thought I was viewing actual Iraqi footage and wondered how this got past government censors.

My recommendation to producer Lauren Cerre: how about a piece on a "day in the life" of a 9 to 5 insurgent? The notion of Iraqi nationals being hired to role play Iraqi villagers and insurgents is intriguing. How surreal to have left the turmoil in their homeland only to relive it every day for pay.

Thank you for this piece. Well done.

i think this is where john mccain was strolling through iraq

Though they don''t mention this in the film. this Twenty-Nine Palms Marine Base is the largest solar power installation in California. One of the largest, if not the largest, military bases in New Mexico is also solar-powered.

So is much of the military in Iraq, where the Bush-Cheney regime claim to be saving us money on fossil fuel.

Then of course there is the Bush Solar Ranch, the state-of-the-art, passive solar heatied and cooled environmental design that the president owns in Crawford, Texas, with its solar-irrigated gardens and miles-wide, man-made, fully stocked fish pond.

For some reason the media, even "Democracy Now," insist on routinely announcing that "Saudi oil sheiks arrived at the president''s Crawrford, Texas ranch today"---not at the Bush Solar Ranch---but at "the president''s Crawford, Texas ranch," another survivalist military installation.

Neither the Bush Solar Ranch, nor these military bases, like this one at Twin Palms, are grid-tied. So, if a terrorist, or state terrorist, such as our own governmnet engaging in a fake attack to remain in power and/or declare martial law, were to attack the grid, we''d be out of power, but they''d be safe as a bug in a rug.

The U.S. military, not the Germans, are largely responsible for driving the price of solar panels beyond the reach of many Americans, not only by competing with us for the solar panels, but also by bankrupting us with the war.

Our industrial infrastructure for building solar panels is also anemic, because Ronald Reagan dismantled it, and took Jimmy Carter''s solar panels off the White House, after defeating Carter with the Iran-Contra disgrace and the October surprise.

How safe doies this solar-powered Twenty-Nine Palms Marine Base anti this terrorist war make you feel? --Ann Garrison

Wow that was crazy. I didn''t know they had this kind of training (albeit 4 years too late!!) in the US. The most perplexing thing to me is the Iraqi-Americans who''ve been hired to act like "insurgents" and "civilians". How do these guys really feel about what they''re doing and what''s happening in Iraq? In the end it''s an occupation!!!

Otherwise a great eye-opening pod.

Peace,