Today's fake: help train the troops, play an Iraqi villager!

A couple weeks ago the NYT ran a story on how the military is training soldiers at an elaborate facility which includes a whole false village, where dozens of people play Iraqi villagers, insurgents, police and others the Americans are likely to encounter on their "tour" of Iraq.

Today my friend Christine, who lives quite close to the Marine base in question, listens in as the locals gossip about participating in the experience. The scene: The Beauty Bubble.

As Jeffrey finishes her foil-wrap, Mrs. Cowboy entertains him with tales of songs around the campfire and watching the sunsets from the third-story balcony of her fake house on the far side of the base, the side we otherwise never get to. She laughs about the two young women who have been assigned as wives to a villager, a poor fellow they order around mercilessly.

That is awesome.