First Impressions

I have about two weeks of catching up to do, so here is the first
thing. When we finally arrived at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP),
it was hot, but that was mostly because we had to wear our armor (just
in case). The first thing that everyone noticed that made Iraq different
than Kuwait was trees. There weren't many of them, and a lot of them
were a bit scraggly. Most were a duller shade of green than is usual for
beck home, but they were the first plants we had seen that were more
than a foot tall since we left Fort Dix.
Baghdad sits in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, so it has a
lot of water, relatively speaking. Other parts of Iraq are a lot like
Kuwait, and some parts could even be described as lush. I haven't had
the chance to go to the international zone (IZ) yet, but since it sits
right on the river, I am sure it is a lot greener than here. In better
days, before the land was over farmed and irrigation systems fell into
disrepair, Iraq could feed itself and still export quite a lot of food.
There is a lot of work to be done to get back to those days, but it is
progressing.
Still, there is not a lot of ground cover, and even here, dust is a
daily part of life. It gets everywhere, and nothing is so tightly sealed
that you wont eventually find dust in it. I have a couple of pictures to
show what a dust storm around here looks like. I will try to get them
posted soon.
More later.