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We lived in Iraq from September 1988 to August 1990.
We arrived within days of the ceasefire for the Iran-Iraq
war, and fled after the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. Between
those times we watched the Iraq economy grow from a
war-time economy, where even the most basic goods, such
as eggs, were not available, to a growing and developing
society, though still ruled by a heavy-handed, controlling
dictatorship.

Though we were diplomats, and thus not directly controlled
by the host government, we still felt the effects of
Saddam Hussein's control. Part of that control is reflect
in these photos... by what you don't see. You will not
see photos of roads, bridges, airports, ports, government
buildings of any sort. Photos of these places were forbidden,
and could have resulted in confiscation of our cameras,
if not worse. Instead, we could photograph Iraq's archeological
treasures, something that was considered to be of little
importance to the government.
Photography was not the only limit on our lives. As
diplomats, we were presumed to be spies. We could not
leave Baghdad without permission from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Since getting the permission required
a week's notice, impromptu trips were limited. We had
few Iraqi friends. It was dangerous for them to visit
us. We always assumed that our homes and phones were
tapped. Sensitive issues could never be discussed.
We
took several trips outside of Baghdad.
The most significant trip, by far, was touted as a pilgrimage
to Christian sites in northern Iraq. It was in Christmas
1988, and our Ambassador predicted correctly that the
Iraq government would not deny us a chance to visit
Christian sites at Christmas. Many of the photos from
North Iraq, Mosel,
Samara, and Hatra
came from that trip.
We later traveled to Arbil,
a Kurdish town just a hundred kilometers from the Iran
boarder. Karbala is
one of Iraq's most important Shiite Shrines, and has
been the site of intense fighting in the second gulf
war. The Ukathar Castle (and
I am not sure I have spelled that right) was an ancient
camel caravan route stop. We also travelled to Babylon,
and saw Saddam Hussein's efforts to "restore"
Babylon, actually resulting in its ruin, and we traveled
to Basra, shortly after the end of the Iran war,
and saw the torpedoed ruins of ships blocking the Shaat
al Arab, Iraq's only seaport. Sadly, we do not have
photos of these areas. (Taking photos in Basra could
well have gotten us shot.)
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