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Hotel attack

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 Hotel in Sulaymaniyah was attacked." Reports coming out of the region say there were deaths and many wounded.

This is a hotel where all the taxi drivers insisted I should be staying. But, places like the Palace Hotel are just not my cup of tea. For one, it is too expensive. For two, it is used by dignitaries and officials. It is surrounded by concrete barriers and machine gun carrying soldiers. I was in the place once on my first visit to Iraq to check on the room price. Always in the back of my mind I ask myself why would I stay in a place like that. I always head for the unmarked flop houses.

Since this hotel is centrally located on the edge of the old city, when I visit Sulaymaniyah I have to walk past it several times a day. The war being on hold here begs the acknowledgment that this region will lull you to sleep security wise. Sulaymaniyah is and has been relatively peaceful for some time. Somebody apparently got past all the layers of check points and searches.

There is a message to be taken from this story of the hotel attack. It should go out to gonzo and extreme travelers that brush past this region. It should jolt savvy political junkies back home that have built a construct in their minds that this region is safer. And it should remind guys like me that get too comfortable here. That message - this is Iraq and never forget it.

Bob Keith
Dohuk, Iraq