Boots on the Ground

The first glimpse of Baghdad from the air led to the thought that it's a dead city. Empty airport, vacant streets, no foot traffic. The brown dirt that clings to everything here turns the landscape an eternal beige.

After a tactical landing, all the better to avoid unwanted "attention", and disembarktation came the folly of having our passport stamped...by Iraqis. We were marshaled into the airport to wait for Iraqi personnel, who have no reason to man their station unless the usual foreigners have arrived to do what they do here. No one else comes to this airport.

A word about Dubai in the United Arab Emirates - we stopped over there from Paris on the way to Baghdad. I've always thought the abayas that some Middle Eastern women wear were oppressive. Instead, I looked at the rows of black clad women in head to toe abayas and realized how beautiful they were. It didn't seem oppressive but respectful, pure in a way. The contrast with western women, who seemed crass and cheap, was sharp. It's not how I feel, just the thought that struck me at that moment.

Possibly because of the recent terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia, Saudi wealth is flowing out to Beirut and Dubai. Both are turning into recreational destinations for wealthy folk from the Middle East. It's becoming their liberal oasis, our version of Vegas to a degree. During the fifteen minute bus ride from the airport to the hotel we passed building after building, thirty to forty stories, under construction. A boom town that's booming all at once. The main structures that dot the town are a mall that sells only gold and triumphant, celebratory mosques.

Aaahh...diversity!