Saddam Ali baba

Ok, it's hot. I've already told you that. But today it’s not only hot, but windy as all hell too. We have a constant wind, with gusts over 35mph, blasting everything with sand. I took a shower after working on digging a hole for 3 hours in 115 degree heat. Walking back from the showers to my room, I was blasted by sand yet again. I wondered why I even bothered taking a shower. The sand gets everywhere. And yes, you will chafe to the point you're walking bow-legged.

Before I came here I used to think the ground was just soft sand, like it is in the movies. There is some loose sand in areas, but for the most part its really hard. Kuwait has lots of soft sand, like beach sand (I know because the wind packed my M4 and M9 full of it). Here in Iraq, its only sandy in small areas. After that it’s like digging into solid rock. It took me an hour to dig a 2 x 2 foot hole 6 inches deep. Fortunately I had a pickaxe, or it definitely would have taken a lot longer.

I’ve been working on learning Arabic for a few weeks now. I know a lot of basic words, almost enough to figure out what someone is trying to tell me. My pronunciations are horrible, so I get Iraqis to help me. They generally know as much English as I know Arabic, so it’s a funny game of charades across cultures. I’ve been talking with the same Iraqi for a few weeks now. The other day I finally asked him about family, and what life was like under SaddamHe has two sisters. One lives in An Nasiriyah and the other is a sheep herder with his mother around our local area. His father is dead, buried in a cemetery in An Najaf. He had two brothers, but both are dead. I’m not exactly sure how they died yet, but they fought in the war against Iran. From what I gathered from our last conversation, they were either killed by Saddam’s henchmen, or by being forced to fight against Iran in the Saddam started. The reasons were untold to me, other than Saddam was muzayn, ali baba (bad man, a thief). “Saddam boom boom boom Iran. Why? Saddam boom boom boom Kuwait, why? Saddam no good. Saddam ali baba.” Under Saddam all their money was taken from them. Everyone is glad Saddam is gone.

I am also glad Saddam is gone.