Everyday there is an erie sound that can be heard coming over the walls of our compound. It occurs just after sunrise and just before sunset. It is the sound of hundreds if not thousands of muslims chanting their prayers in the nearby mosques. The prayers are broadcasted from loud speakers on the tops of the mosques and can be heard outside of the hospital,which is nearly a mile away from the city. You can't make out any distict words or phrases by the time it reaches us, it simply sounds like a monotone muttering or chanting. However, it is enough to creep you out and everytime I hear it I am reminded of how we truly are outsiders in this foreign land.
This is the Umayyad Mosque. Oldest mosque in Mosul, built in 640 AD. It has a minaret that is a 165 feet high and leans like the Tower of Pisa in Italy. The minaret is called Al-Hadba (The Humped). However, most soldiers refer to it by another name related to its resemblance to a certain male reproductive organ.
This Mosul Mosque is enormous. You can see how it towers over all the other buildings in the city. It was being built in 2001, but construction was halted at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom and it remains unfinished to this day.
5 comments:
Cool pictures. Are you taking these or are you getting them online? Do you have any time that you are off the base or are you not allowed to leave?
Pete - these pictures and experiences are so interesting and amazing to read...it must be weird to see such a huge mosque unfinished - like it is frozen in time...you remind me daily how lucky I am to live in the USA. THANK YOU! Be safe.
I read the army news you share with us and sometimes it is that you have to cry. I know you must be missing Christen and your three little children so much. You know Peter your grandfather (who you were named after) would be most proud of you. He was like you, a Army Officer and went to war. When your parents make a party, then you Peter are always with us, the whole time we talk about you. We're all missing you so much. When you Peter come safely home, we'll all be proud of you, we'll hug you and thank you for a safe America.
Love Baba
Peter,
Once again Baba and I climb those forbidding stairs (that is forbidding to Baba) to read your blog. You have made us smile, cry and even taught us some new and interesting facts. I love all this blogging, it just bring you a little closer to us and makes this world a little smaller. Please keep it going. Be safe. Love you all always.
Musha
Pete, You're probably too young to remember, but this post reminds of the Clash's "Rock the Casbah", maybe you do remember that song though, you were raised on rock...love mom xo
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