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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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," ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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