Flags over Al Faw

Dave:  So here we are at another palace.  This time it is Al Faw palace, which is the presidential palace where Saddam met other dignitaries.  It is completely covered inside marble and has huge pillars.  Al Faw palace is the headquarters for all US forces in Iraq.  Its basically where all the generals hangout.
    

One of the traditions of the miilitary is flag flying.  The flag is an emblem of the country we defend and stands for the ideals and freedoms we seek to uphold.  Some members carry flags with them to fly where ever the military takes them and have been flown in many countries.  Others are flown and given away as a sign of respect and gratitude for support.  We flew over a hundred flags up this little flagpole on the roof of the palace.  Later we recieved certificates sign by General Odinero which certified the flags had been flown over USF-I HQ (US forces Iraq Headquarters) and commended whoever they were flown for, for their support of troops here.  I was actually suprised General O signed them himself.  It was a nice touch.    

Here is one of the palaces affectionately known as "The Juicer."   All these pictures were taken on the same day.  It was clear and blue when we started, but as you can see in this picture a sand storm came in a made it all grey and extremely dusty.

Here is just another shot of the lake around the palace. 

This is me sitting in the throne of the big man himself.  It was a gift from another country and has very ornate work all over it.  If you ask me, its big enough for both me and my queen to sit side by side. But something tells me that wasn't Saddam's style.

I wish I had a picture to show the constuction of many of the other building here.  It is interesting.  The majority of the insides of the walls are just brick and concrete which don't seem to have enough mortar.  Outside of the brick is a layer of rebar and attached to the rebar is a thin layer of finely cut stone. The effect is that the buildings look very ornate and well made.  In comparision to castles and other monuments of old though , the buildings here seem to be lacking the depth and strength of the structures made with solid stone.  Concrete is nice and cheap, but it nevers turns out as nice as stone.  I guess the same could be said of people too.  In the end whether we can weather the test of time depends largely upon what we are made of.