The Eagle Between the Rivers.

The following biblical take on the history and geography of Iraq was shared with us by Ruby and Bill Johnson of Perth, Western Australia.

We would add that the notion of 'Iraq' as a state is quite a recent development. The British took over the management of the three provinces of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra when they were liberated from Ottoman rule in the course of the First World War. These provinces were merged to form the modern state of 'Iraq', which was then given independence in 1932. It now seems likely that Iraq will fragment back into these historical parts.

1. The garden of Eden was in Iraq.

2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq , was the cradle of civilization!

3. Noah built the ark in Iraq.

4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq.

5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq!

6. Isaac's wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq!

7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq.

8. Jonah preached in Nineveh - which is in Iraq.

9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.

10. Amos cried out in Iraq!

11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.

12. Daniel was in the lion's den in Iraq!

13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the fiery furnace!)

14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon, saw the "writing on the wall" in Iraq.

15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq.

16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq.

17. The wise men were from Iraq.

18. Peter preached in Iraq.

19. The "Empire of Man" described in Revelation is called Babylon, which was a city in Iraq!

20. Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible; the second is Iraq!

21. The names used for 'Iraq' in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar and Mesopotamia. The word 'Mesopotamia' is Greek for 'Between the Two Rivers' - the Tigris and the Euphrates.

22. Given that America's symbol is an eagle, Saddam should have read the following verse from the Koran (9:11):

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair, still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace."

23. Note the verse number!

A Yorkshireman in Iraq

Ian Shires

Ian, now living in Budapest, has written of his own experience of Iraq.

Ian hails from the West Riding of Yorkshire, where we lived and worked before retirement. Yorkshiremen (and women) are known for their bluntness and their pride in England's largest county. 'Riding' is from 15th century Old English 'Thriding', meaning a third, and the West Riding of Yorkshire alone is larger than England's second largest county, Lincolnshire.

Ian's piece is splendid - it is a series of accurately focussed snapshots of Iraq from his own incident-filled first visit as a businessman. Each image builds upon the last to give us a graphic picture of life under the Saddam regime.

Thanks Ian. It's a pleasure to share it!

Iraq was my first destination when I started travelling for my employer

Iraq was where I always got the trots

Iraq was where you referred to Saddam as "Stanley" because he looked like Stanley Holloway

Iraq was the country where I was trapped for one month during the Iran-Iraq war

Iraq was the country where you said "Iran started it"

Iraq was where the secret police tried planting information on me

Iraq was where the Hungarian Minister of Defence was forced on me, reputedly supplying strange chemicals

Iraq was where I was thrown out of the Al Rasheed hotel because Stanley wanted it

Iraq was where I stole an Al Rasheed hotel ashtray

Iraq was where I walked alone through the streets of Baghdad at 2-00 am

Iraq was where I was held up by a tank

Iraq was where I had a fag with the tank driver on his turret

Iraq was where I first smelt the perfume of Night Scented Jasmine

Iraq was where I saw Saddam's bricks in Babylon

Iraq was where I was nearly shot because I photographed the Ctesiphon Arch

Iraq was where I didn't know the famous "baby milk factory" was the other side of the Ctesiphon Arch

Iraq was where I saw the results of chemical warfare

Iraq was where blind soldiers walked one behind the other with a hand on the shoulder in front

Iraq was where I was at the receiving end of 3 or 4 SCUD missiles a day for 3 weeks

Iraq was where the "ordinary" man was really good to be with. Pleasant, sincere, kind, honest, nice, etc

Iraq was where nice people would only talk to you in a moving car

Iraq had military at every road junction

Iraq had military roaming the streets

Iraq had funny factories with 3 rows of barbed wire around them

Iraq was tolerant of other people's religions

Iraq was where you had a bottle of whisky with your meal

Iraq was very poor to look at

Iraq had big palaces you should not look at

Iraq was fly-less in the heat of Summer

Iraq was where the official temperature was always 50 Celsius

Iraq was where you could go home if the temperature was above 50 Celsius

Iraq was where a fellow businessman was sent to prison because he photographed the sunset on the Tigris.

Iraq was where it was forbidden to photograph bridges and palaces

Iraq Duty Free was where you could buy a packet of Persil and some cake tins for the wife

Iraq was a fascinating country to visit.