give out visas to Americans. They must get the visas in America, unless they are residents of Turkey. So, I went to the border today, crossed the Turkish side without problems, strolled up the the Syrian side--a friend of a friend was helping arrange a small transfer of money for a visa at the border. It didn't work out. The guy working the Syrian side who was supposed to meet me disappeared last night. I'm not out any money or anything like that. Just a waste of a few hours.

^{Fuck it man, I'd wade through a river of shit ten times to see this place. ~ On Istanbul, April 2009}

were plenty of sheep in the area as well.

^{Fuck it man, I'd wade through a river of shit ten times to see this place. ~ On Istanbul, April 2009}

^{Fuck it man, I'd wade through a river of shit ten times to see this place. ~ On Istanbul, April 2009}

lately, except for that is where they are killing Americans. Are you looking to interview Al Qaeda Iraq? ;-)

^{Fuck it man, I'd wade through a river of shit ten times to see this place. ~ On Istanbul, April 2009}

pretend to be British or Canadian ;-) BTW you are insane after all :D
Take care.

...current good information on the threatcon and some sort of liason in-country?

Statistical summary of events over previous seven months:

Attack Statistics In Mosul Based Upon Press Reports

April 2009
79 Attacks/Incidents – 2.63 attacks & incidents/day
53 Deaths – 1.76 deaths/day
191 Wounded – 6.36 wounded/day

March 2009
86 attacks/incidents – 2.77 attacks & incidents/day
69 deaths – 2.22 deaths/day
169 wounded – 5.45 wounded/day

February 2009
81 attacks/incidents – 2.89 attacks & incidents/day
58 deaths – 2.0 deaths/day
111 wounded – 3.96 wounded/day

January 2009
52 attacks/incidents – 1.67 attacks & incidents/day
56 deaths – 1.80 killed/day
85 wounded – 2.74 wounded/day

December 2008
65 attacks/incidents – 2.09 attacks & incidents/day
68 deaths – 2.19 deaths/day
181 wounded – 5.83 wounded/day

November 2008
65 attacks/incidents – 2.16 attacks & incidents/day
53 deaths – 1.76 deaths/day
249 wounded – 8.3 wounded/day

October 2008
92 attacks/incidents – 2.96 attacks & incidents/day
112 deaths – 3.61 deaths/day
188 wounded – 6.06 wounded/day

Can't vouch for the source as I haven't been following it, but it seems consistent with the reporting we've been seeing.

As of Sept 2008, this was the mode of travel:

How does an American civilian travel to Mosul? With armed bodyguards and a headscarf. On the way out of town I traveled with a member of the city council, and we also had two military escorts, one up front and one behind, each with a machine gunner and four Iraqi soldiers in bulletproof vests and masks.

Headscarf I believe you can do without, the rest of it - not so sure.

“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass