October 22, 2002

7:39 AM

Have you grown weary of the tiny, grayscale maps of Iraq and the Middle East accompanying most newspaper stories on the region? TomPaine.com went in search of better geographic tools, and found them at the University of Texas' Online Library, with links to dozens of maps—political, topographical, historical—of a region many Americans have never scrutinized geographically. More inside... [via TomPaine.com]
posted by silusGROK (7 comments total)

[More via TomPaine.com]

You can also access a map of Iraq airfields, along with daily updates on humanitarian situations worldwide, on ReliefWeb, an information clearinghouse maintained by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

One hidden feature in WashingtonPost.com's collection of Iraq coverage are these highly detailed satellite images, maps and photographs that identify the centers of Iraq’s military command system and its nuclear, chemical and biological warfare program. Clicking on the dots reveals more detailed photographs and information about more than 60 sites in Iraq.
posted by silusGROK at 7:41 AM on October 22, 2002

Most of you will notice that the text and links for this post were lifted wholesale from TomPaine.com's Check It Out! page, with a couple of tweaks for grammar. With all the anchor tags in place, it was a tough temptation to fight, as the nifty mark-up tools that Matthowie scripted for the posting don't work in my Mac IE 5x browser... of course, I'm probably spending more time on this little mea culpa, than I would have spent coming up with the text myself.
posted by silusGROK at 7:43 AM on October 22, 2002

What needs also to be noted. If, as in S. Korea, we maintain some 30 thousand plus troops in Iraq, note our new neighbors to either side! Two countries belonging (oh, lucky folks) to the Bush Axis of Evil! And allies to the N and South ...but a hop and a ski- should we.....well, you fill in the rest.
posted by Postroad at 7:49 AM on October 22, 2002

Hmmm... no Buttlickin Ave. in Baghdad. How would you like to live next to one of these targets (if they still exist)?
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:03 AM on October 22, 2002

Everyone knows you go down Saddam Avenue to Saddam Place, just past Saddam Road. Make a right on Saddam Court, and then a left at Saddam Blvd just past Saddam International Aiport. Turn left on Saddam Parkway, and take it all the way to the end, where you will find the Saddam Palace, Saddam Adjunct, and Sadam Hussein, as well as 3 Saddam Doubles.
posted by benjh at 8:31 AM on October 22, 2002

This is good stuff. Thanks.
I especially like the 'tactical pilotage charts' and the 'operational navigation chart' that are marked Not For Navigational Use.
posted by Fabulon7 at 8:34 AM on October 22, 2002

I have a decade-old "military briefing" book on Iraq that suffers from maps little better than those in the newspapers. It's astonishing how far we've come and our expectations have improved.

The Perry-Castaneda map collection is a tremendous resource that everyone should know about -- though it tends to have a poorly-filled gap between national maps and city maps. Still, it's a cornucopia by comparison with the book's.
posted by dhartung at 12:24 PM on October 22, 2002