Kuwait is a pretty safe place compared to Iraq. Kuwait has a very good police force that aggressively goes after troublemakers before they get a chance to do anything. While I was in Kuwait, I had heard of a number of shootouts. The police go into a place when they hear something is going on and they roadblock off the neighborhood, get the bad guys and no problems for the rest of society. I guess it helps when you speak Arabic and have regular police checks on the highway. They also have a good military presence and watch their borders closely. The first time that I went up to Iraq, I drove there! As part of Corporate Security, I had use of a Suburban that could go pretty fast. First I’d drive up to Navistar at Abdali, Kuwait which is on the border of Iraq. There I would get in a US Military Convoy.

Thinking back, at the time I had no armor on that car and carried no weapon. My employer doesn’t allow even Security to carry a gun. All I had was a steel vest and a helmet! Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect. This was two years ago when all sorts of things were happening to some of the convoys. Now, convoys are a lot safer and all vehicles have to be steel plated or “hard cars”. After waiting 2-3 hours, the convoy of 35-40 cars, trucks and military escorts headed out.

After we crossed the border, I was amazed at the sheer poverty of the people along the way. The families would be living in foundations of buildings, shacks and tiny buildings. The children seemed to always be waving and smiling at our long caravan of vehicles, however, as we passed along the way. I was also taken aback by the sight of old farms that were once productive and now all dried up. I had heard that during Saddam’s rule, the water was diverted for some unknown reason. It didn’t seem like the area had been self sustaining for years. This went on like that for a hundred miles or so.

I finally reached my destination at a place called Cedar, near the southern city of Nasariyah. This location is still pretty far south in Iraq. It was fairly safe while I was first there in early 2004. The biggest problem in that place was the danger from Leishmaniasis. This was a disease you could get from parasitic sand flies. In nearby Talil, just outside the gate, I got to see the birthplace of Abraham which was near the ziggurat of Ur. Iraq formerly Mesopotamia was the site also of the Garden of Eden. There is a great deal of history here in Iraq which I will talk about in my future blogs.