Parting thanks
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 15, 2008 - 9:07 a.m.
A trip like the kind I am now finishing up is not possible without several people in the background. I would not even be able to get out the front door if not for my wife Heide. She held down the home fort. She often accompanies me on these trips ...
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Leaving Iraq
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 14, 2008 - 7:29 a.m.
Considering I lived in Germany when it was still two countries and Europe was prone to border crossings, I figured I could weather a few checkpoints again. Once in 1975 while driving to Spain, French soldiers dismantled my 400 dollar Volkswagen Beetle, left the parts on the road by the ...
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Progress paradox
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 13, 2008 - 5:54 a.m.
(More fruit more juice - Dohuk, Iraq.)
While I have been in Iraq this year, Turkey invaded northern Iraq. The Turkish government also voted to allow head scarfs in college class rooms worrying some that their 99 percent Muslim society is slipping back to a more ...
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Yazidi
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 13, 2008 - 5:40 a.m.
(Yazidi architecture)
I am not going to pretend to be an expert on ancient religions. In the northwestern region of Iraq is a sect of peoples called Yazidi. I made it to their temple in a mountain village called Lalish. It is about 30 miles or ...
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Reaction from soldiers
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 12, 2008 - 5:44 a.m.
I am breaking ranks to post a few lines about the military. Normally, while I am here I do not do that kind of writing. The reader might think me disingenuous if I suggested I have never seen American soldiers here. The compromise then is, I will not tell you ...
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Hotel attack
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 11, 2008 - 7:10 p.m.
Never take this part of the world for granted. This morning the man that exchanges my Dollars to Dinar asked if I have been in Sulaymaniyah. "A couple days ago," I returned." "Did you see the news?" he asked. And then his facial expression hardened and he said, "The Palace ...
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A country in the mind
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 9, 2008 - 4:48 p.m.
(Country in the mind - Kurdistan)
It is here in Northern Iraq and Eastern Turkey that I have found the living breathing example of assigning meaning to objects on a massive scale. People in academia might be excited I actually paid attention in class. Here in ...
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Views on China
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 9, 2008 - 4:41 p.m.
(The Erbil dynamic.)
I was walking with a friend in Sulaymaniyah and stopped at a window full of earrings. "Where is a good place to get earrings for my wife," I asked. "Not buy those," he said in the best English he could muster. "They from ...
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Shooting nearby
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 8, 2008 - 8:41 p.m.
I am not going to send any pictures today. For one - I am not comfortable taking pictures at checkpoints. And two, it is my job as a writer to paint a portrait for you in text. Hopefully, after I am done with a posting, the portrait in your mind ...
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Bowling in Iraq
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 7, 2008 - 5:28 p.m.
(Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
For the first time in my life, I was frisked at the entrance to a bowling alley. Yes, there is some need for explanation. I was on my way to the Traffic Police complex the other day to meet someone who works there. It ...
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Watch your step
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 7, 2008 - 5:36 a.m.
(Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I saw a man walk into a turning mini-truck this morning. Everyone on the busy sidewalk froze. The man picked himself up from under the truck bumper, shook it off and spoke into the open window of the truck, "Sorry for getting in your ...
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Hotel blues
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 6, 2008 - 5:39 a.m.
(Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I have been reluctant to critique my living arrangements here. It is after all a region under the stresses of war. I am not sure how our own culture would preform under similar struggles. But I have been getting questions asking what to ...
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Iraq's middle class
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 5, 2008 - 3:37 p.m.
(Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I had the opportunity to visit what we in Americans would call the "burbs" of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. The electricity does not stay predictably on. The yards are for the most part, zero-scape rock. Yet, there is a burgeoning middle class. My guide tells me ...
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Short stay in Halabja
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 4, 2008 - 5:53 a.m.
(Halabja, Iraq.)
This trip to Halabja, I elected to use a private driver hoping to have more mobility. Last time in October of 2006 I took a mini-bus which left me bound at the hip to the bus. This trip, my Kurdish driver keeps a stiff ...
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Halabja memorial
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 4, 2008 - 5:39 a.m.
(Halabja Memorial - Halabja, Iraq.)
Briefly, Halabja is the city in Northeastern Iraq that was poison gassed in March of 1988 by the Saddam regime. It is thought that up to 5000 people we killed and many more were wounded. As with my October of 2006 ...
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Replies to your questions
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 3, 2008 - 6:01 a.m.
(The construction - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I have only been able to walk around one afternoon with a T-shirt here in Iraq and Turkey. It has been sweatshirt or more type weather all the way. Also, in Sulaymaniyah I have notice the Internet connections grind to a ...
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Signs of normalcy
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 3, 2008 - 5:49 a.m.
(Ubiquitous yet unique - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
Having toiled in blue-colar jobs for most of my life I have always taken a great deal of that life for granted. In the context of a region constantly in the shadow of war or actually at war, activities of ...
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Visa processing
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 2, 2008 - 1:05 p.m.
(Evening coffee - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I was able to get my visa renewed today. This process is an ordeal in its own right. What an exercise in peeking in on the bureaucratic culture - or lack thereof - of this part of the world. As with ...
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Visiting Sulaymaniyah University
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 2, 2008 - 7:22 a.m.
(Dominoes and tea - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
On a lighter note from my visit to the war museum in Salaymaniyah, my guide/and now new friend, knew some folks attending Sulaymaniyah University. So he called them and they met us at the Art Department. We retreated to the ...
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Kurdish memorial
Posted by BOB KEITH on March 1, 2008 - 4:56 p.m.
(Amna Suraka glass memorial - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.)
I hit a bit of luck. I met a guy who is rather well connected to the old city. He works in one of shops I frequent. He also has a government type job. Working two jobs - ...
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