Update on Ghost in the fray: He's doing well, still enjoying the adventure, but then he can find a way to enjoy wherever he is and whatever he must do. It's part of his magic. Fortunately he's away from Baghdad and Fallujah, the really hot spots. I get calls and emails from him every week or two. It's interesting to get to talk to him so much. I had feared that there would be very little communication. Thankfully things have changed a lot. Technology affords a lot more interaction, even from a war zone.

Ghost asked me to surf for info about a symbol that's all over the place there -- an 8-pointed star. He wasn't sure if it was a religious symbol or what. It's included in wrought iron gate designs, in brick patterns along wall headers, in the shape of fountains, etc. Absolutely everywhere.

After a bit of investigation, I discovered it's a symbol for Saddam Hussein...
"By decree, one of every ten bricks laid in the renovation of an ancient palace is now stamped either with the name Saddam Hussein or with an eight-pointed star (a point for each letter of his name spelled in Arabic)." -
'Tales of the Tyrant', The Atlantic online

What an ego, eh? No wonder Iraq is having trouble becoming its own entity. Not only are there religious and cultural factions jockeying for position, but they've been oppressed and saturated with the presence of tyranny so long they probably can't even dream beyond it.

And while I'm in the region and on a quasi-political rant... Israel deserves to do whatever it must do to secure its home. As one writer recently put it, all their neighbors seem bent on ridding the planet of them or at least making them move.... but to where? They've nowhere else to go. It's stand and fight, or be eliminated. How can we not support their efforts to survive?

Whether any other country chooses to aid Israel or not, I sure hope they do not try to tie their hands and force them to submit to further persecution. At some point, their neighbors must understand that enough is enough, let live... or die.