Trip Around the IZ
Sorry so much time has gone by between posts. Things have been very busy here the last week or so. But being busy is not necessarily a bad thing when you are deployed because there's not much else to do but work. And it's just even more fun and fulfilling when you are enjoying what you are doing.
Today is an historic moment for America. I just got done watching the inauguration of America's first African-American President, Barack Obama. It is a great moment for our country and even here in Iraq I can feel the sense of hope our nation has right now for a fresh start. We will see what the next four years hold. I will be praying for our new president. These are certainly challenging, complicated times he will be leading our country through.
Because Friday and Saturday are considered our weekends here, we were given Sunday off for Martin Luther King Jr. day instead of Monday. A group of us -- Tambour, Belinda, Ralph, Doug and I -- spent a large portion of the day driving around the International Zone taking pictures. One of the main objectives was to get some photos of Tambour and Ralph; they are both redeploying in the next week.
The first place we went to was the Crossed Swords monument. I've shared photos of that in previous posts. This was my first opportunity to walk around the monument and on the parade ground between the two sets of crossed swords. On the opposite of the parade ground across from the viewing stands there are some reflection pools. Here is a picture of four of us. Someone said the building in the background used to be a restaurant. I have no idea if that's an accurate statement. Reminds me a bit of the Space Needle in Seattle.
After we got done at the Crossed Swords we checked to see if we could get into the check point for Adnan's Palace. The Palace has been used for several years by Coalition Forces but it turns out that Sunday was the last day Coalition Forces were going to be there. It was moving day and they were turning the entire facility over to the Iraqis. We were allowed to walk around certain parts of the compound and take photos. If I remember correctly the building was being turned over to Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Things like this are beginning to happen all over Iraq where facilities are being turned back over to the Iraqi people. Here is a picture of the palace.
The palace is named after Adnan Khairallah Tulfah, Saddam’s cousin and brother-in-law, who served as Iraq’s Minister of Defense from 1977 to 1989. He died in May 1989 in a mysterious helicopter crash that many Iraqis believe was arranged by Saddam. Adman was the hero of the Iran-Iraq War, and many speculate that Saddam was threatened by his popularity. Saddam had the palace built in Adnan’s memory in the hope of improving family relations that had become strained after Adnan’s untimely death.
To the side of the palace was a drained fountain with two statues. Here is a photo of one of the statues.
After we got done at the palace we headed to a favorite spot and had pizza for lunch. Outside the restaurant there is a covered patio where they smoke hookah pipes. The pipes are used to smoke flavored tobacco. The colors in this photo have not been altered. The covering over the patio gave all of us a strange blue tint but you'll see the true color in the background, with all the boxes of tobacco.
It was a really nice way to spend the day. I got to see some things I hadn't seen before and had great company too.
I wanted to invite you all to visit the Army Corps of Engineers channel on YouTube. I've been making a point to post stories about our projects on the site. You'll see several pieces that American Forces Network (AFN) has done. The one on Qudas was one of my trips in December. There's also a nice one about a water project in southern Iraq that is providing clean drinking water to villagers. You'll also see one featuring Tambour. She ran into two friends from high school, whom she hadn't seen in almost 20 years. They were working within two blocks of each other here in the IZ. I hope you enjoying seeing and learning about some of the stuff we've been up to. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CORPSCONNECTION
Today is an historic moment for America. I just got done watching the inauguration of America's first African-American President, Barack Obama. It is a great moment for our country and even here in Iraq I can feel the sense of hope our nation has right now for a fresh start. We will see what the next four years hold. I will be praying for our new president. These are certainly challenging, complicated times he will be leading our country through.
Because Friday and Saturday are considered our weekends here, we were given Sunday off for Martin Luther King Jr. day instead of Monday. A group of us -- Tambour, Belinda, Ralph, Doug and I -- spent a large portion of the day driving around the International Zone taking pictures. One of the main objectives was to get some photos of Tambour and Ralph; they are both redeploying in the next week.
The first place we went to was the Crossed Swords monument. I've shared photos of that in previous posts. This was my first opportunity to walk around the monument and on the parade ground between the two sets of crossed swords. On the opposite of the parade ground across from the viewing stands there are some reflection pools. Here is a picture of four of us. Someone said the building in the background used to be a restaurant. I have no idea if that's an accurate statement. Reminds me a bit of the Space Needle in Seattle.
After we got done at the Crossed Swords we checked to see if we could get into the check point for Adnan's Palace. The Palace has been used for several years by Coalition Forces but it turns out that Sunday was the last day Coalition Forces were going to be there. It was moving day and they were turning the entire facility over to the Iraqis. We were allowed to walk around certain parts of the compound and take photos. If I remember correctly the building was being turned over to Iraq's Ministry of Interior. Things like this are beginning to happen all over Iraq where facilities are being turned back over to the Iraqi people. Here is a picture of the palace.
The palace is named after Adnan Khairallah Tulfah, Saddam’s cousin and brother-in-law, who served as Iraq’s Minister of Defense from 1977 to 1989. He died in May 1989 in a mysterious helicopter crash that many Iraqis believe was arranged by Saddam. Adman was the hero of the Iran-Iraq War, and many speculate that Saddam was threatened by his popularity. Saddam had the palace built in Adnan’s memory in the hope of improving family relations that had become strained after Adnan’s untimely death.
To the side of the palace was a drained fountain with two statues. Here is a photo of one of the statues.
After we got done at the palace we headed to a favorite spot and had pizza for lunch. Outside the restaurant there is a covered patio where they smoke hookah pipes. The pipes are used to smoke flavored tobacco. The colors in this photo have not been altered. The covering over the patio gave all of us a strange blue tint but you'll see the true color in the background, with all the boxes of tobacco.
It was a really nice way to spend the day. I got to see some things I hadn't seen before and had great company too.
I wanted to invite you all to visit the Army Corps of Engineers channel on YouTube. I've been making a point to post stories about our projects on the site. You'll see several pieces that American Forces Network (AFN) has done. The one on Qudas was one of my trips in December. There's also a nice one about a water project in southern Iraq that is providing clean drinking water to villagers. You'll also see one featuring Tambour. She ran into two friends from high school, whom she hadn't seen in almost 20 years. They were working within two blocks of each other here in the IZ. I hope you enjoying seeing and learning about some of the stuff we've been up to. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CORPSCONNECTION
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