In Baghdad

I arrived in Baghdad a few hours ago. It was a relatively short flight from Kuwait. Shortly after we landed, we were driven to our camp. The base that I'm at is huge and very safe, so no worries there. We had the rest of the day off, so I actually went for a 5 mile run. Even after all that, I didn't see all of the base.
Landing at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) we uneventful. I once read a reporters account of the approach into BIAP here as a “terrifying spiraling decent into hell, where the strongest of men cried out of fear...” We'll, it wasn't bad at all, maybe a little aggressive, but nothing bad at all.
The first thing I noticed about the airport was the destruction. Everywhere you look, there are bombed out bunkers and piles of rubble. It was a fairly long ride to our tent, so I got to see quite a lot. Just like Kuwait, there is a fine brown dust that covers everything. Cars, buildings, roads, everything. It reminded me of the blowing dust storms in Beijing. There are trees here that look like a cross of a sycamore and a willow, but their leaves were covered with the dust too, so you could only catch a hint of green.
I had a wonderful run today and got to see much more of the base. Thanks to the dust, my chest started hurting after a mile, but I quickly got used to it. This area is near one of Saddam's palaces and I could see it off in the distance. (The palace was built after the Gulf War with money skimmed from the Oil for Food program.) There is a fair amount of lakes and canals about, and with them what used to be very luxurious homes and boat houses. Of course, everything shows signs of neglect with crumbling sidewalks and potholed streets. You can tell however, that this used to be a nice place. In order to provide protection, the military erected huge concrete barriers, similar to the ones you see on highways, but much taller. They are everywhere. The barriers and the dust gives this place a feel of a big city construction site.
Tomorrow, I report to my new command. Hopefully, I will find out where I will wind up. I have a lot more to write, but only limited time at the computer lab. I also have been taking lots of pictures, but I have to wait until I get my laptop over here to down load the pictures.
So in closing, I am in Baghdad and it isn't bad at all (thanks to the evil Haliburton, I even had crab legs for dinner tonight). The base I am at is safe and quiet, so I have to admit I will have no good war stories when I come home.