The Other Iraq

So, I had to run up to Iraq for a visit to Cougar’s offices in Kurdistan.  This happened a while ago, but we wanted to make sure that I was safely home, and that most of you had seen me before we posted this.  Or maybe we are just incredibly efficient procrastinators.  Normally when you hear Iraq, you think of people being blown up by explosives strapped to donkeys.  Not to make light of it, but there have been some pretty creative entries to the Improvised Explosive Devise category.  

In any case, from Canada, the whole of Iraq seems incredibly dangerous.  Kurdistan is evidence that the closer you get to a conflict, the smaller it seems.  Kurdistan made National Geographic’s list of ten best vacation spots for 2011.  Apparently there’s some very good bird watching in the region.  The countryside is beautiful, the infrastructure is good, and Erbil is possibly the longest constantly inhabited place on earth.  In northern Iraq things seemed reasonably safe, but the locals would tell you to stay away from Mosul, or Baghdad, or any of the really dangerous parts of Iraq.  

The funny thing is that Mosul and Baghdad are enormous cities that still function.  People go to work, kids go to school, and grocery stores sell food.  I’m sure that getting into those cities locals would tell you that there are parts of the city to avoid, but that there are areas that are relatively safe.  Proximity really changes your perspective.  

Don't turn right!  If you can't read it, the right hand turn takes you to Mosul, and Basra, and Baghdad.  Scary Iraq.  

In the shadow of the citadel.  We had some very good lamb on this street.  I was more or less certain I'd get sick.  The proprietor picked the skewers of raw meat out of a hot window and roasted it on open coals.  Turned out to be delicious, and very inexpensive.  

An uninterrupted view of the citadel.  Built on a mound in the center of the city the citadel has been constantly inhabited by humans for the last five thousand years.  

Another view of the citadel, currently being restored.  Normally fifty families would live in various dwellings that make up the walled city, but they moved them all out for the massive reconstruction effort (except for one lucky family who gets to put up with the construction noise, to preserve the mound's perpetually inhabited status).