When American and British troops returned to Iraq in 2003 — to liberate, or to invade, depending on who exactly you are listening to — they soon found that many of their fast food favorites from back home had followed them into the war zone. Camp Victory (the optimistically-named main US Army base situated around Baghdad International Airport) and other such installations housed most of the usual junk food suspects within their temporary walls. However, following the announcement this summer that many of the outlets will be closing down their operations due to continued troop withdrawals, it looks as though the Iraqi branch of the war on the waistline is coming to an end. Saddam Hussein himself loved Doritos — but what would he have made of these companies making inroads into Iraq?

10. Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut, the 53-year-old purveyors of generously topped circular doughy-ness, were one of the first of the big fast food chains to open up for business in Iraq. Their first franchise was set up in a British military base near Basra, to rapturous applause from soldiers. The restaurant was run by Kuwaiti franchise holders, with an undisclosed percentage of profits going to charity. Further branches later opened, including outlets at Camp Victory; the huge installation at Balad, 40 miles north of Baghdad; and the similarly massive Al Asad Airbase, 100 miles west of the Iraqi capital. In news of booming business in 2004, a US Department of Defense press release read, “At any given time throughout the day, at least 50 to 75 people were waiting in line for a taste of golden fries or pizza.”

9. Burger King

The world’s second largest hamburger chain (after you-know-who) has been in Iraq since 2003, when they opened an outlet near Basra. The home of the Whopper went on to establish several more branches, and soldiers have been able to have it their way in Tallil, Tikrit, Balad, Kirkuk, Taji and Camp Liberty. On opening day in the Iraq International Zone in 2005, the new BK apparently averaged more than 80 Whoppers an hour and finished up serving 888 Whoppers and 357 pounds of fries. It would take more than two hands to handle that lot.

8. McDonald’s

The opening of a “culturally sensitive” McDonald’s in Baghdad may well have been part of George W. Bush’s grand plan for Iraq several years ago, but the reality of such a vision hasn’t quite transpired. While a genuine Big Mac and fries can be obtained in Baghdad’s Green Zone, MaDonal, an Iraqi imitator in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, has proved to be more popular and more prolific. Owned by former Kurdish resistance fighter Suleiman Qassab, MaDonal is a successful restaurant, especially popular with young people. Qassab is just one of many who applied for an official McDonald’s franchise in Iraq but, according to a journalist from Canada’s Globe and Mail, “[t]he flow of applications to open an Iraqi McDonald’s stopped as quickly as it started, and the corporate lawyers never came to Sulaymaniyah.”

7. Taco Bell

Taco Bell serves more than two billion customers every year in America, and since the occupation of Iraq, they have been doling out their Mexican-inspired fare to US soldiers based there as well. Situated in various Army and Air Force Exchange Service bases, including Camp Victory, Taco Bell has been another familiar chain giving soldiers a little taste of home. However, with the news that the fast food tour of duty is drawing to a close, those remaining will have to find other options.

6. Subway

The foot-long sandwiches of Subway have been another constant at US bases in Iraq, including Camp Victory, Al Asad Air Base, and Joint Base Balad — where, as of 2009, Indian and Bangladeshi workers were preparing and selling the food to grateful soldiers. With more than 35,000 franchises in 98 countries, Subway’s global enterprise shows no sign of slowing down as yet, although its Iraq exercise may, at least for the time being, be coming to an end.

5. Dairy Queen

Word has it there is — or at least has been — a Dairy Queen outlet in Erbil, Iraq. Soldiers desperate for an ice cold blast of home have been known to drive through dangerous territories to get their hands on a DQ Blizzard. The soft serve Queen has every reason for a successful adventure in Iraq; Iraqis are huge consumers of ice cream and enjoy the stuff all year round. The Flamethrower GrillBurger, on the other hand, might prove to be a tougher sell…

4. Baskin Robbins

Economists estimate that the war in Iraq has cost US taxpayers nearly $12 billion a month since 2003. Think how much ice cream you could buy with that! Baskin Robbins, the home of the famous 31 flavors, has been in Iraq since the early days, and immigrant workers — flown in to feed the soldiers — have served thousands of scoops to troops. The ice cream stores are a firm favorite with the so-called Fobbits — the soldiers who rarely leave the Forward Operating Base — who will have to find an alternative when the company leaves the bases.

3. Cinnabon

With outlets located at Camp Taji, Camp Victory, Al Asad Air Base and AAFES in Balad, Cinnabon’s famous large cinnamon roll has been well represented in Iraq. The Georgia-based baked goods company has grown considerably in the last decade; as of 2009 there were over 750 Cinnabon bakeries in over 30 countries worldwide. However, with the December 31, 2011 withdrawal date from Iraq looming ever closer — and outlets having already been shuttered — any remaining troops may have to look a little further afield for their cinnamon fix.

2. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest selling soft drink, returned to Iraq in 2005 after an absence of 37 years. The reason for Coke’s disappearance from Iraq lies in the Arab League’s 1968 decision to boycott companies with links to Israel, and some feeling persists that Coke is pro-Israel. In 2005, a Baghdad shop owner repeated a widely held conspiracy theory that “[i]f you hold up a Coke can to the mirror, the writing says ‘No Allah.’” Coke’s fight for hearts and minds in Iraq may be getting easier with the news, in 2011, that Coca-Cola Icecek has acquired all of the remaining shares in Iraq drinks bottler CC Beverage for $36.9 million. Maybe Coke will be “it” for Iraqis after all.

1. Pepsi

Pepsi has a long history in Iraq. The brand launched there in 1950 and became the country’s leading soft drink brand. Indeed, for many years its status as the market leader went unchallenged; Coca-Cola left the field open following the fallout after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. However, after the Gulf War, Pepsi lost the right to do business in Iraq or trade with the country. In 2003, sanctions forced the local Pepsi maker to use counterfeit concentrate imported from Europe, but Pepsi has remained number one, thanks in part to the efforts of Hamid Jassim Khamis, the CEO of Baghdad Soft Drinks Co, which holds the license to distribute Pepsi in Iraq. It faces a strong test in the future, however, and not only from Coke — back on the shelves since 2005 — but from other Arabic soft drinks, all competing for 26 million consumers.

In honor of Veterans Day 2010, which happens November 11, here’s a list of 25 quotes to live by:

1. We make war that we may live in peace. -Aristotle

2. Nobody ever drowned in sweat. -US Marines

3. Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers. -Aristotle

4. More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin. -Unknown

5. Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

6. Many become brave when brought to bay. -Norwegian proverb

7. Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. -George S. Patton

8. It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. -Unknown

9. Either war is obsolete or men are. -Buckminster Fuller

10. There never was a good war or a bad peace. -Benjamin Franklin

11. Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself. -Jean Dubuffet

12. This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. -Elmer Davis

13. Freedom is never free. -Author Unknown

14. Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. -Michel de Montaigne

15. The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war. -Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

16. In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. -Mark Twain

17. Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. -George Bernard Shaw

18. It is not only the living who are killed in war. -Isaac Asimov

19. Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it. -Irving Berlin

20. History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. -Ronald Reagan

21. Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them. -Napoleon Bonaparte

22. “Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.” -Lyn Yutang

23. Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men. -George Patton

24. I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. -Gary Hart

25. Have the courage to act instead of react. -Earlene Larson Jenks

Although the machines are expensive and controversial–nobody wants full-body scan pictures of themselves to end up on the Internet–the TSA is still planning to employ more scanning, or WBI, machines. At present, there are WBI machines at 19 airports in the nation.

Under current protocols, the TSA will give you a choice as to whether to walk through the machine or receive a pat down. Which would you choose, considering the WBI images below?

Image: Topics of Conversation

Image: Coolest Gadgets

Image: PHL-CAW

Spiegel has more body scanner images.

And yes, the WBI machines do see medical devices like catheter tubes and breast implants.

After reading about protesters bringing guns to anti-Obama rallies, I grew curious about which states are open-carry; that is, they allow people to carry guns in public, as long as the guns are visible. I made this list from the map graphic at OpenCarry.org:

Open carry states:

Alabama
Alaska
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
South Dakota
Vermont
Kentucky
Virginia

Open carry–with restrictions (eg. permit requirements):

Utah
North Dakota
Minnesota
Iowa
Tennessee
Mississippi
Georgia
Indiana
Maryland
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts

Many other states have their own versions of open carry–eg. it is allowed in some rural areas of California. See the map for details.

Using a loaded gun to demonstrate your right to bear arms at a presidential event is a dumb idea. Maybe you’re a responsible gun owner, but what about the 50 people next to you? Who’s to say someone won’t get excited and start firing? And if that happens, the government will be even more interested in restricting gun rights. Demonstrators either need to keep their guns unloaded, or not bring them at all.

I love a good conspiracy. This one, involving Great Depression-era businessmen attempting to overthrow President Roosevelt in a military coup, just about beats them all:

In the summer of 1933, shortly after Roosevelt’s “First 100 Days,” America’s richest businessmen were in a panic. It was clear that Roosevelt intended to conduct a massive redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Roosevelt had to be stopped at all costs.

The plotters attempted to recruit General Smedley Butler to lead the coup. They selected him because he was a war hero who was popular with the troops. The plotters felt his good reputation was important to make the troops feel confident that they were doing the right thing by overthrowing a democratically elected president. However, this was a mistake: Butler was popular with the troops because he identified with them. That is, he was a man of the people, not the elite. When the plotters approached General Butler with their proposal to lead the coup, he pretended to go along with the plan at first, secretly deciding to betray it to Congress at the right moment.

(More)

It reads like a hoax, but was it? I’d like to hear from history buffs regarding the veracity of this story.

I also found the story pertinent because the government is engaged in its biggest economic rescue since FDR. If high-powered politicians and businessman were able to band together in an attempted coup then, what’s stopping them now? Better surveillance, perhaps? A more centralized government?

Right now, the political consequences of the Great Recession remain unknown. However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine extreme outcomes, especially if economic conditions linger long enough.

(Even more reading here.)

2009 marks the 50th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, which honors Americans serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Find inspiration and honor in the 25 quotes below, which apply to all of the armed forces:

1. He loves his country best who strives to make it best. -Robert G. Ingersoll

2. From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots. -Thomas Jefferson

3. What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. -General Dwight D. Eisenhower

4. American soldiers in battle don’t fight for what some president says on T.V., they don’t fight for mom, apple pie, the American flag…they fight for one another. -Lt. Col. Hal Moore

5. For those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know. -Unknown

6. This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. -Elmer Davis

7. Coffee tastes better if the latrines are dug downstream from an encampment. -US Army Field Regulations, 1861

8. Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons. -General MacArthur

9. Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. -Ferdinand Foch (Battle of the Marne_

10. If it moves, salute it; if it doesn’t move, pick it up; and if you can’t pick it up, paint it.
-Anonymous

11. Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid. -David Hackworth Li

12. If the enemy is in range, so are you. -Infantry Journal

13. People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. -George Orwell

14. Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

15. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -Thomas Jefferson

16. There is no security in this life. There is only opportunity. -Gen. Douglas MacArthur

17. One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. -Albert Einstein

18. To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away. –Confucius

19. The more comfort the less courage there is. -Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr V. Suvorov

20. The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. -George Patton

21. Always forgive your enemies–nothing annoys them so much. -Oscar Wilde

22. Having lost sight of our objectives we need to redouble our efforts. -Anonymous

23. Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill

24. Soldiers usually win the battles and generals get the credit for them. -Napoleon Bonaparte

25. No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation. -General Douglas MacArthur

Spiegel interviewed former FBI agent Jack Cloonan, now a negotiator with Somali pirates. Here’s an excerpt from the fascinating piece:

SPIEGEL: From your experience with the Somali pirates, are they intelligent people? Or are they simply thugs?

Cloonan: It’s Pirates Inc. Look at it as organized crime. They just happen to be in the business of hijacking boats. There is a command and control structure. It’s not clearly the German military or the US military in terms of chain of command, it’s less doctrinaire and so on, but there is a command and control structure because there are beneficiaries at the end of the food chain. People have to get money. People have to be rewarded for what they’ve done.

Cloonan says later in the interview that there are reports of pirates investing in real estate. I am henceforth trashing my image of the pirates as anarchical wildmen.

Following is a detailed rundown of the 25 companies squeezing the most profit from this controversial conflict.

1. Halliburton

The first name that comes to everyone’s mind here is Halliburton. According to MSN Money, Halliburton’s KBR, Inc. division bilked government agencies to the tune of $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003-2006 alone. This is estimated to comprise a whopping one-fifth of KBR’s total revenue for the 2006 fiscal year. The massive payoff is said to have financed the construction and maintenance of military bases, oil field repairs, and various infrastructure rebuilding projects across the war-torn nation. This is just the latest in a long string of military/KBR wartime partnerships, thanks in no small part to Dick Cheney’s former role with the parent company.

2. Veritas Capital Fund/DynCorp

At first blush, a private equity fund (and not, say, Exxon-Mobil) being the number 2 profiteer in the Iraq war might sound strange. However, the cleverly run fund has raked in $1.44 billion through its DynCorp subsidiary. The primary service DynCorp has provided to the war efforts is the training of new Iraqi police forces. Often described as a ‘state within a state‘, the sizable company is headed by Dwight M. Williams, former Chief Security Officer of the upstart U.S. Department of Homeland Security. With this and other close ties to defense agencies, Veritas Capital Fund and DynCorp are well-positioned to capitalize on Iraq even more.

3. Washington Group International

The Washington Group International has parlayed its expertise the repair, restore, and maintenance of high-output oil fields into $931 million in Iraq-related revenue from 2003-2006. The publicly traded 25,000 employee company’s other specialties include the building and maintenance of schools, military bases, and municipal utilities, such as watering systems. Some have complained that Washington Group’s hefty government payoffs have served primarily to raise its trading price on the New York Stock Exchange. One thing is for sure – with oil prices continuing to rise, there will be no shortage of demand for the oil protection services Washington Group International brings to bear.

4. Environmental Chemical

All war zones eventually becomes cluttered with spent ammunition and broken/abandoned weapons, creating a lucrative niche for any company willing to clean it all up. In Iraq, this duty has fallen into the hands of Environmental Chemical. The privately held Burlingame, California company has stockpiled $878 million by the end of fiscal 2006 for munitions disposal, calling upon its “decade of experience planning and conducting UXO removal, investigation, and certification activities.” The company has close ties to several defense agencies and is staffed by graduates of the U.S. Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Schools, as well as the U.S. Army’s Chemical Schools at Anniston.

5. Aegis

Aegis has done the United Kingdom proud after reeling in a contract to coordinate all of Iraq’s private security operations. The Pentagon contract is good for $430 million (incredibly lucrative by any standard) but it has landed Aegis in some hot public relations water. The company’s decision to contribute to Iraq war efforts has lead to a rejected membership application from the International Peace Operations Association. According to The Independent, the influential trade organization does not consider Aegis worthy of inclusion in the “peace and stability industry.” It remains to be seen whether Aegis will continue to be ostracized for participating in the training of Iraqi security forces.

According to Andy Carpenter at HoweStreet, the Bush administration sold a whole lot more to Iran than a bad reputation. He says that (via the AP) the United States sold the heart of the Axis of Evil more than $500 million in goods during Bush’s time in office.

The top exports to Iran:

$158 million in cigarettes
$68 million in corn
$64 million in chemical wood pulp, soda or sulphate
$43 million in soybeans
$27 million in medical equipment
$18 million in vitamins
$12.6 million in bull semen
$12 million in vegetable seeds

Items pending Bush administration approval:

$101,000 in bras
$175,000 in sculptures
about $96,000 in cosmetics
$8,900 in perfume
$30,000 in musical instruments and parts
$21,000 in golf carts/snowmobiles
$4,000 in movie film
$3,300 in fur clothing

Carpenter:

What’s interesting about the exports is that last year the US Securities and Exchange Commission published a list of companies that do business in Iran or four other countries the State Department considers state sponsors of terrorism.

The SEC withdrew the list after business groups complained that such a list could inappropriately label corporations as supporters of terrorism.

The AP discovered more than 10 big corporations conducting business in Iran. These “sponsors of terrorism” include:
Wells Fargo Financial Services
BP and Exxon Mobil
PepsiCo
GE Healthcare
Canon
Mastercard
Cadbury Schweppes
Visa

US soldiers, who have been heckling Iranis on their own soil, will at least get a Hawaiian Punch to refresh them in Iran’s extremely arid climate.

This embargo, it seems, is really not an embargo at all.

Women Must Master Technique

When I learned to windsurf, instructors told me women always learned faster than men. Because we cannot rely on our physical strength alone, we are better at mastering technique. Turns out the same may be true in business:

As both female and male survivors sought to rebuild coffee plantations with financial and technical assistance from international organizations, Maraba’s women, most trying their hands at the business of farming for the first time, were by far the faster students. They showed more willingness than men, officials here said, to embrace new techniques aimed at improving quality and profit

The ability to innovate is what’s put Rwandan women ahead of their brothers and fathers in business.

Women Must Feed Children

Women more than men invest profits in the family, renovate homes, improve nutrition, increase savings rates and spend on children’s education, officials here said.

Once you’ve borne a child, it’s instinct to do whatever it takes to keep that child alive. This includes providing food, shelter and creating a safety net for the future. Building families in turn builds up a society, which creates more opportunity and eventually increased prosperity. Because women naturally do these activities, giving them legal rights to own property and compete with men in business builds up the community.

Women Must Persevere

Women have got to stick it out. There is no alternative for our survival and remember, it’s all business. Women must transcend unthinkable realities.

She watched as her husband was killed by bullets, her infant son and 2-year-old daughter hacked to death by blades. She survived by pretending to be dead.

"After two days I woke up," Nyirabaganwa, 39, said. "Birds were eating my dead children. This was too much for me. I wanted to be killed . . . I felt as if I was dead, too. I did not want to go on."

Could you?