The office holiday party just got even more difficult to organize if you're the president of Iraq. You just fired your vice president, and he departed in a foul mood. His parting gifts were of the explosive type, and he is now said to be headed north into Kurdistan.
This abrupt change of employment in highest office of this land coincided with the same day that the US military ended their own protracted stay. A war ended with nothing more than dust trails from departing people movers, and this was done in the dark of night. Both of these things also coincided with the anniversary of the day my Army uniform was summarily never worn again, the date that appears on my rather formal discharge papers, and a day that dates back to an era when Bill and Hillary slept in the same hemisphere and Ronald Reagan told the middle class to take a bow, but it turned out to be a bend.
So when a vice president of a country takes off in a foul mood with a trail of explosives in his wake, a ripple effect takes place even if you are nowhere near the sound of the blast. Suddenly Kurdistan, the safest place in the Sorority of Unsafe Travel Destinations, becomes a place where there is a hunted man being pursued by angry men.
Kurdistan had been enjoying an ambiance of safety and civility. A place seemingly achieving the day it would place a large order for safety handrails and "no cursing within 10 meters of the entrance signage", was now just like the southern part of the country: threatened, defensive, uncivil.
Here at the compound, movement changed dramatically, beyond what I can describe here given the world wide webbiness of this posting. There were some inconveniences, a little sleep loss and some plans changed. Difficulty to Deal Scale? On a scale of IPod demise being a 10? This was an 5.
Where oh where is the vice president, or for that matter, the men chasing him? A few days have passed now. If it's known, this information has not trickled down to the medical personnel, and meanwhile business has returned to normal here on the compound. When I ran the perimeter today in the perfectly warm afternoon sun, it was possible to not think of intruders, holiday parties, or politics. All good for a reset, certainly for me, and hopefully for the land I'm currently living in.
This abrupt change of employment in highest office of this land coincided with the same day that the US military ended their own protracted stay. A war ended with nothing more than dust trails from departing people movers, and this was done in the dark of night. Both of these things also coincided with the anniversary of the day my Army uniform was summarily never worn again, the date that appears on my rather formal discharge papers, and a day that dates back to an era when Bill and Hillary slept in the same hemisphere and Ronald Reagan told the middle class to take a bow, but it turned out to be a bend.
So when a vice president of a country takes off in a foul mood with a trail of explosives in his wake, a ripple effect takes place even if you are nowhere near the sound of the blast. Suddenly Kurdistan, the safest place in the Sorority of Unsafe Travel Destinations, becomes a place where there is a hunted man being pursued by angry men.
Kurdistan had been enjoying an ambiance of safety and civility. A place seemingly achieving the day it would place a large order for safety handrails and "no cursing within 10 meters of the entrance signage", was now just like the southern part of the country: threatened, defensive, uncivil.
Here at the compound, movement changed dramatically, beyond what I can describe here given the world wide webbiness of this posting. There were some inconveniences, a little sleep loss and some plans changed. Difficulty to Deal Scale? On a scale of IPod demise being a 10? This was an 5.
Where oh where is the vice president, or for that matter, the men chasing him? A few days have passed now. If it's known, this information has not trickled down to the medical personnel, and meanwhile business has returned to normal here on the compound. When I ran the perimeter today in the perfectly warm afternoon sun, it was possible to not think of intruders, holiday parties, or politics. All good for a reset, certainly for me, and hopefully for the land I'm currently living in.
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