BAGHDAD — My best friend in Iraq has been a big bear of a guy named Hassem. He is an Iraqi in his early thirties who is married and has two young sons. By training he is an electrical engineer…
BAGHDAD — The Iraq constitutional convention could not complete its work by last Monday’s due date so it did the next best thing: it moved the due date. The writers now have an additional week to collect their thoughts and…
BAGHDAD — Quite literally two seconds after I typed the second “d” in Baghdad above, a mortar shell (caliber unknown) hit about 50 meters from where I am typing. The sound was reminiscent of the “hissing” or “tearing” sound a…
BAGHDAD — After three weeks of R&R, I recently returned to Iraq. Needless to say, flying back to Baghdad is always an iffy proposition. One can do it “in style” with 19 other passengers aboard The Flying Carpet piloted by…
BAGHDAD — Four of us were driving the dangerous BIAP road to take CJ to catch a plane back to the States. When we were about 300 yards from the airport gate, all traffic came to a stop and it…
BAGHDAD — Here is a story I just heard a few minutes ago from our crew of surveyors. All five of them were classmates at Baghdad U. where they received their engineering degrees together, perhaps ten years ago. They have…
BAGHDAD — The situation in Iraq is beginning to get a bit discouraging. At least that is how it has appeared this summer. It is so hard to believe that the terrorists can roam all over Iraq and be able…
When we pulled up to the Baghdad International (BIAP) terminal the temperature was about 125 degrees. After getting out of the SUV we were directed to spread all our belongings on the sidewalk while two dogs jogged up and sniffed….
I’ve been in Baghdad nearly four months. According to my company’s policy, I am entitled to a couple of weeks of R&R back in the States. When someone mentioned that this is a very generous policy, I pointed out that…
BAGHDAD — One morning late last month, as I was coming back from breakfast, I ran into fellow employees Aziz, Ali, and Hassem who were just arriving for work. From Aziz I learned that the previous night there was a…