Who says you can’t have a date in a warzone?
We were going to ESCAPE for a date!!!
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| Oops.. I drafted this post a month ago. But we've been really busy! Thanks for still checking (am I the biggest slacker blogger of all time??). |
Aaron reserved a car (a white 4Runner, just like our car at home :)) to take me on a little sightseeing tour of the international zone.
So a little bit of background: the “International Zone” is a 4.8 sq. mi area in central Baghdad that is the main base for Coalition and Iraqi Government officials in Iraq. Its official name is the International Zone or the IZ, but it's also referred to as the Green Zone. The contrasting Red Zone refers to anything outside the Green Zone. We can move somewhat freely in the IZ, but we're not allowed into the Red Zone without a Personal Security Detail (PSD), which kind of feels like a presidential convoy. A PSD involves lots of armored cars, helicopters, and gigantic men armed to the teeth. It's quite a site to behold. The IZ originally housed government officials' mansions, government ministries, and a number of palaces of Saddam and his family; it was the nerve center of the Ba’athist Iraq. The U.S. took over the region in April 2003 in some of the heaviest fighting in Baghdad. Saddam and most of the residents fled, and many of the buildings, homes, villas, and land were left abandoned. The abandoned buildings were not only attractive to Coalition forces, but also to homeless Iraqis. The government has since moved a lot of these Iraqis out, but many remain. To enter the IZ, you have to go through several checkpoints manned by Iraqi guards (more on that later).
Our first stop on the IZ tour was the Crossed Swords, the most visited and photographed site in the IZ (before they started arresting people for visiting and photographing it):
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| The Crossed Swords (picture taken in 2006). |
I had only seen them from a distance (we have a view of the swords from our NEW QUIET APARTMENT!!), so it was really exciting to see them up close. Sightseeing in this area is a little sketchy these days-- there have been instances where Americans have been arrested for trying to take the iconic picture in front of the swords, but we arrived at the perfect time. There wasn't a single person in sight! Too bad we both forgot our cameras.
Good thing we only live 5 minutes away.
Round two wasn't so perfect. There were soldiers hanging around the swords, but I concluded that they looked harmless and that we should still take pictures.
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| Aaron thought otherwise. |
So what are the Crossed Swords? They mark the entrances to a parade-ground constructed to commemorate Iraq's supposed victory in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Their official name, the Swords of al-Qādisiyyah, is an allusion to the historical Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in 636 A.D., which has gone down in Iraqi history as a God-given sign of Arab superiority over the Persians. These hands are the spookiest things of all time. Apparently, they were modeled after Saddam's actual hands (down to the fingerprints), and there's a rumor (not sure if it's true) that the artist was killed by Saddām because he made the hands look “old and unmanly".
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| Close-up of Saddam's old lady hands... Perhaps a pre-casting manicure would have helped? |
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| Each blade weighs 24 tons! According to Aaron, the inscription at the top of the blades says "The Hands of God" |
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| All those little green circles at the base of the hands are helmets. |
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| If you look closely, you can see bullet holes in the helmets. So very sad... |
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| This used to be the tip of the sword's handle. It felt like walking through modern-day ruins. |
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| This is about as far as the demolition got. |
Well of course we had to take pictures! The Swords may not even be here next month! Mean-looking soldiers be damned, the Snipes must document history. Aaron was not moved by my enthusiasm, but quite surprisingly, he finally agreed to take photos.
I wanted to get a really interesting shot of him... I was going for something kind of artsy where only a detail of the swords peeked through the background...
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| Take 1: Hmmm... not so interesting. I think I need the top of the swords. |
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| Take 2: A little better, but what's with my model refusing to smile? Doesn't he know this just prolongs the phtoshoot? |
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| Take 3: Maybe if I center the swords a bit... But what's with those hands on the hips? Do you smell a bad attitude?? I do. |
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| Take 4: There's a smile! But I was so taken aback to finally get a smile that I forgot to get the top of the swords! Oops. |
Believe it or not, Aaron wasn't impressed with my artistic vision. I think the exact words were " I just risked jail time for these nutty pictures???" In my own defense, I was under a lot of pressure, which is not good for artists.
I insisted on one more round to reclaim my photographic honor. As you can see in the picture below, Aaron was totally thrilled with this idea.
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Aaron thinks he nailed my photo in one shot.
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| (But he had a lot of time to watch a pro at work) |
After the swords, we were off to our next adventure!
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| Goodbye, Girly Hands. |
It was so fun to see a little bit of Iraq outside the confines of the Embassy, even if it was just a boring road!
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| It was a slow day in the IZ... |
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| I still can't make heads or tails of Arabic. I'm endlessly fascinated that Aaron can actually read the script. |
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| This is a typical middle-class apartment building. Those that lived in the IZ before the takeover were allowed to stay. |
Next, we passed the Monument to the Unknown Soldier...
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| which looks like the set of a bad science fiction movie. |
Like the Crossed Swords, the Monument to the Unknown Soldier was also inspired by the Iran-Iraq war.
This part of the monument is supposed to symbolize a shield falling from the grasp of a dying warrior.
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| Captain Picard called. He wants his spaceship back. |
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| Not sure what this is, but it's made entirely of Murano glass and lights up at night. |
Our next stop was the strangest stop of the day...
Behold the Tomb of Michel Aflaq, the ideological founder of Ba'athism:
The tomb is one of the few architectural gems in the IZ. It's really beautiful-- the turquoise tiled dome is circled with yellow tile Arabic inscriptions in Kufic script.
Michel Aflaq tried to combine socialism with the vision of a Pan-Arab nation, and became committed to Arab unity and the freeing of the Middle East from Western colonialism. He was actually a Christian, but after his death in 1989, the Iraqi government announced that he had converted to Islam in his last days (though it's widely believed that the government made the claim because it was “inconvenient” that the founder of Ba’ath pan-Arabism was a Christian).
There are fountains and gardens surrounding the tomb:
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| Lovely fountain, lovelier husband. |
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| If a tree can grow in Harlem, I guess a 12-foot sunflower can grow in a concrete crevice in the desert? |
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| Someone's happy again! |
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When someone is trying to take your photo sans shades...
It feels...
Like your EyEBaLLs...
Are EVAPORATING!
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| I may be smiling but my eyes are bleeding internally. |
American forces took over the area surrounding and including the tomb in 2003, and faced with a shortage of space, they turned the tomb into a gym.
Say what!??!
Perhaps the decision was made by the same person who imported 12,000 dollar palm trees (which, by the way, I've come to find out were actually 22,000 dollars each!).
But today, the tomb is no longer used for a gym.
The burial ground for this life-long crusader against Westernization's grip on the Arab world is now being used as a MALL for local vendors selling Chinese-made Iraqi souvenirs and pirated DVDs to Americans.
The tragic irony of Michel Aflaq and his remains-- a Christian man forever encased in an Islamic tomb-- continues.
Last stop of our day date was the Jerusalem Gate!
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| I have no idea why it's called the Jerusalem Gate. |
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| There's really no place to stop and take pictures... |
Aaron didn't want to get out of the car, so I resigned myself to taking pictures of the gate through the rearview mirror.
But Aaron was overcome with the desire to take his wife's picture outside the Jerusalem Gate, and a change of heart ensued! Throwing caution to the wind, he parked the car on the curb and snapped my photo in 10 seconds flat.
I refused to leave until I got his photo, too, but there was no time for artistic creativity... an Iraqi military convoy was coming down the road. Yikes!
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| You can see the front of the convoy over Aaron's right shoulder. |
But WAIT!!! I need a picture with my honey! Our date was almost over and we didn't have a single shot together. Aaron relents, snaps the shot, but misses the gate!
He tries to convince me that it's fine, but I hit him with his own words:
"You mean I risked jail time for this nutty photo??"
It worked.
"You mean I risked jail time for this nutty photo??"
It worked.
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| As he took this shot, the convoy rolled by, completely disinterested in our lovey-dovey bliss. |
It really was an interesting day. We finally got a little taste of Baghdad-- albeit one with a sad, strange aftertaste full of contradictions.
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