Perspective

My friend Hiba was in the office this afternoon, dropping off and picking up work requests for State Department review. She’s a pretty girl, twenty three, with a soft voice and beautiful black hair, mostly hidden under her Muslim head scarf. She showed me how I could convert my keyboard to Arabic (اهلاش شممشا لاهممغ شممشا لاهممغ) by pressing alt/shift.
Lately a new mass email has been going around talking about Iraq’s role in Bible prophecy. One part of the email supposedly quotes the Koran Chapter 9, verse 11. Yeah, 9/11. In this translation it talks about middle easterners awakening a great eagle who will “cleanse the land of Allah.” Because of the intricacies of the language The Koran can only be truly read and absolutely comprehended in Arabic. Everything else is just a translation. I asked Hiba to read that verse to me and see what she thinks it says. So she said she would bring in a copy of the Koran from the al-mutanabbi book market when she goes there this week.
Appearantly this is a famous place in the heart of old Baghdad. Foreigners commonly go there. But, I’m stuck in the international zone (not necessarily a bad thing) so will not get to see that side of Baghdad. She sent me a picture and the attached email:

You are welcome … maybe in the future when every thing become good and peaceful you can come in a visit and see all the beautiful site in Iraq and go wherever you like to go

Its good to see an Iraqi girl who risks her life coming thru these checkpoints every day have so much optimism. Last night a rocket hit 100 feet from my trailer but didn’t explode. I don’t have optimism…but then, Iraq is only my problem for another month. Its all about perspective.