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These are recent stories - the rest are in my latest book,"Walking Through Adversity."

Stories about Middle East Trips (3)

Rob bryant
2006-01-09 11:43:42

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and fresh dates. Come in out of the heat, wipe the dust from your brow and take off your shoes. Please accept my humble invitation." He was very sincere, and this is a typical response from locals to US citizens. We were in a hurry and did not accept, but talked with him for a moment or he would have been insulted. He bowed and thanked us for helping his country against Iraq. As wonderful as the local people to Americans, they are awful to Asians and Africans and pay them slave wages. While driving through the desert we saw "Ghost Palace." Iraq destroyed it and Kuwait has not been rebuilt in order to remember the lives lost here during the invasion. Finally we saw the famous Quairn Resistance House where Iraqi soldiers killed Kuwait Resistance Fighters which led to the infamous Desert Storm. It is the Kuwait version of the Alamo and is preserved as a war memorial. They were brave men who gave their lives for their homeland. They are called martyrs here because they knew they would not survive against the much more powerful Iraqi Army. It reminded me of something my father once said. "What goes around, comes around." Because compared to the US military, the Iraqis were martyrs as well. It is good advice to not spit into the wind.

The Long Day - On my final day of my month long trip, I was taken to a base an hour into the desert. The dust storm now in it's third day, slowly turned into a sandstorm. The difference is that the harder the wind blows, the larger the particles and projectiles in the air. We sometimes drove at 25 miles/hour because we literally could not tell if we were driving on the road or desert at times. The difference is however, if we were to drive on the dunes, we would sink immediately. The brown sky met with the brown sand and it was impossible to see the horizon. It is no wonder that even desert people are lost in the desert during week-long sandstorms. On the sides of the road were Bedoin/Nomad dwellings ...