Things are going pretty well over here, slowly but surely fixing all of our gear.

At lunch yesterday, two of us met an Iraqi Kurd. Kurds, if you don’t already know, were oppressed by Saddam. He even used nerve gas on them back in the 90’s. This guy moved to California after the first Gulf War and got a job teaching at a university and translating for a few big law firms. So this guy had to have been making some cash. He gave all that up, and has been out here for 3 years straight working as a translator for a lot less pay, because he knew Saddam needed to get knocked out of power. He told us one story about how one region (the Al Anbar Province) is called the Animal Region. He said it was because the people there are so stubborn. It’s out in the middle of the desert, and if you told them to go north to the river, they would say no and think they’re smarter than you. They won’t listen no matter what. They used to make the 30 mile trip to Baghdad once a month to get supplies and whatever else Iraqis buy and Saddam had them brought to his palace. He asked them why they make a 10 day round trip once a month, instead of just moving out of there. They wouldn’t give him an answer, they just said that’s what they did. So Saddam had the entire city of Fallujah fenced in and wouldn’t let them leave, because they were animals in his opinion.

That’s all I’ve got for now people. Keep the emails coming, and let me know what you want to hear about.