Preparing to leave for Afghanistan.

It took us two days to get there. We flew from Baghdad to Qatar, on the Persian Gulf, on June 2nd. We stayed in Qatar overnight and flew to Kabul, the Afghan capital, the next morning. The top two pictures are sunset in Baghdad the night before we departed. We basically stayed up all night--our "show time" for the flight was 0120 in the morning! The last shot is the flight line in Qatar when we arrived there. We left Qatar about 0745 on the 3rd.

My first look at Afghanistan.

The gray sky, we were to discover, is caused by dust--which is pretty much everywhere!

Kabul Airport

Driving through downtown Kabul. In the third shot you can see how the build houses into the hillside. The houses don't have running water or underground sewers. The trade-off: live at the top of the hill and haul your water up in cans and buckets, or live at the bottom near the water source, and have your neighbors' sewage run down hill at you!

Bagram, Afghanistan. They told us that Afghanistan is the 5th poorest country on earth, and when you see Bagram, you know what that means. The way of life for some of the tribes here hasn't changed since the 7th century--that's seventh, not seventeenth!
Those are mud houses in the pictures. The whole village reminded me of "Bedrock" in the Flintstones!

Miscellaneous shots from Khandahar, Afghanistan. 1) My folks from the Khandahar office. 2) Presenting a medal to one of my folks. 3) This building is where my folks work. It's nick-named "the TLS"--Taliban's Last Stand. It's where the last of the Taliban fighters in Khandahar holed up in 2001. The hole in the roof was made by an Air Force bomb--It's what convinced the Taliban to surrender! Yes, we were standing on the roof! 4) "Jingle Trucks." These garishly decorated trucks are all over Afghanistan. The Afghans regard the decorations as signs of prosperity, and prosperity as a sign of competence. Therefore, whoever has the most decorative truck, must be the most competent, so he's the one people want to hire!

Near Bagram, the fields are still littered with wreckage from the Russian invasion and occupation (1979-1989). The last photo shows two guys on top of a hill--they're clearing mines...the old fashioned way, by probing the ground with a long rod. They don't get paid enough!

Ur of the Chaldeans.

Home of the Patriarch Abraham! These shots show us descending into the tombs of the Chaldean kings; standing on top of the walls of Abraham's house (Saddam restored them); an example of Cuneiform, the oldest known form of writing; the Ziggurat of Ur; and me standing with our guide, Dait.

Sandstorm! May 6, 2006. We could see it rolling in from behind our building like a special effect from "The Mummy!" The sky turned orange! As you can see, it blows everywhere!

Shots from our recent trip to southern Iraq.

I took this one at Ali Air Base, Tallil, southern Iraq. It illustrates how diverse our coalition is. In the foreground are two Royal Australian Air Force troops talking to a U.S. Air Force Captain. The guys in the background are Italian Special Infantry--similar to the U.S. Rangers. Notice the black feathers in their helmets--the Iraqi's call them "chicken soldiers"--but not to their faces!
Waiting for the trip home! Our southern "tour" was planned for 4 1/2 days; it took six. Travel is uncertain here even in the best of circumstances. We had two helicopter flights cancelled, one car break down, and one airplane that couldn't get one of it's engines started!
Unloading a shipload of cement at the port of Um Qasr. Um Qasr is Iraq's only functioning port. We've helped get it functioning again by clearing debris from the war, dredging the harbor so larger ships can come in, and refurbishing the cranes that unload the ships.
Liquid petroleum gas processing plant near Basra, in southern Iraq. Our contractor is helping the Iraqi's Southern Oil Company get the plant on line to provide cooking fuel to Iraq's cities

Returning from Al Hillah, flying over ancient Babylon

Palaces at Babylon. Saddam's on the left, Nebuchadnezzer's on the right. What an ego Saddam has! He built an artificial hill so his palace could look down on Nebuchanezzer's!

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Al Hillah, Capital of Babil Province

Flying out of Baghdad, headed south... ...mostly agricultural land down here. We're flying over date palm farms. Dates are Iraq's second largest export, after oil. A large water treatment plant. We're building them all over the country. Safe drinking water is a serious need over here. At the Babil Police Academy (which we built). I'm standing next to Brigadier General of Police Qais, the Babil Province Chief of Police. He was an Iraqi Air Force fighter pilot under Saddam, but he wasn't a Saddamist. He has a nationwide reputation as tough, impartial and incorruptable. Over here, that makes him revered in some circles and hated in others!