Week 15

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Who is crazier? The President of Iran (above) or school children selling gum?

Three of us were heading to our humvee just before midnight when sparks shot out from a blast wall fifty feet away. We all stopped.

I pulled out my pistol and a magazine, quietly loaded and slinked toward the flashpoint. In between me and the wall was a trailer. I used it as cover while the other two stood by the humvee. No point in all three of us walking into a trap.

The backside of the trailer was dark. I strained my eyes to identify the shadows, looking for movement or anything that would shoot back at me. Thankfully, I found nothing.

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Sgt. Ann Drier wrote in a recent story, “Rain pounded on their helmets, bouncing off their glasses and soaking their uniforms. Sticky mud packed the soles of their boots and made walking feel like wading with weights. It is winter in Iraq – nothing like a desert envisioned in the west.”

Nothing like I envisioned at all. I'm not sure if I would rather the rain or the heat. I think I'll enjoy the rain while it lasts.

All the uproar about the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad hasn't had much of an effect on us, but it does highlight some of the deep-seeded animosity between Arabs and the West. That, coupled with the Iran 's nuclear issues, makes it a very interesting time to be in the Middle East . In the past I have been wrong about how things usually play out politically, but I have been on par with some of my predictions recently. Let's just pray Russia , China or some country can talk Ahmadinejad down before Israel gets involved.

We will just have to wait and see how that plays out.

Did you know that Iraq has been part of the Brittish, Ottoman, Greek, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian and American empires, to name a few? It has quite a history, but little of it is as an independent entity. In the 80 years Iraqis have been self-ruled, it has been under a monarch or dictator. It is almost like Murph's Place, but with elections. (I'm going to get in trouble for that one.)

I don't have any Iraqi children yet, but I am working on it. They sell gum outside of the hospital. The prices are outrageous, and they mob us to get treats and money. One even slashed one of our tires because my buddy didn't give them enough money. We think that anyway. It is a funny sideshow to this adventure.

Actually, my job is occasionally like a big circus. Some of the things we do are quite preposterous, but it keeps me awake and mentally acute. You can't ask for more than that.