The Garden of Eden????? Really

I wanted to write and tell you about all the interesting aspects here in my area of operations. As you know I am not allowed to talk any about our operations. So the best I can do is tell you about the background of this area. Don't feel like you have to read all this, but if it is interesting to you as it is to me... feel free :-) For a person like me, who likes to be involved and loves history, I am in the perfect place. We are deployed to the north western provence of Nineveh. This area is unique in Iraq for several reasons. It is next to the Syrian border and is represented by most all ethnic groups. The area is home to the Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Iraqi Turk-man, and Christians. While this mix of people is interesting to me (because I love to see other cultures) it causes a lot of strife in the area because these groups and tribes do not get along with each other. Conflict In the Area - This area has always been in conflict. The Kurds have been given a state north west of here in Dahuk and run the government and military there. The Kurdish Military is called the Peshmerga. The Kurds also have a pocket of population in the Sinjar area of Nineveh. This area wants independence and to be a part of the Kurdish state. They are willing to do this by any means possible. The kurds fought against Sadamn Hussein trying to gain independence. This led to him gassing this area and killing a lot of Kurds. They fought beside US troops in both the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Because they want their own state and they are willing to fight, there are high tensions between the Kurds and the Iraqi Security Forces. The Iraqi Police, Iraqi Emergency Relief Battalions the Iraqi army that make up the Iraqi Security Forces. To make matters worse members of Al-Qaeda love all this instability. So they come to any area that is unstable and try to create havoc. We have massive amounts of foreign Al-Qaeda fighters coming across the Syrian borders in our area. They base themselves in small arab towns that border the kurdish area and of course 30 miles away in Mosul. In addition to all this the Turk-man population of Tal Afar, does not like the Kurd or the Sunni Arab populations. Tal Afar became the Al-Qaeda base in Iraq until the September 2005 battle of Tel Afar that defeated most of the insurgency in the town. So in this area there is basically a 5 way war being waged. The Natural Geography of the area - This area is a desert plain. It has several mountain ranges that stick up in the middle of the flat desert which make the contrast significant. Tal Afar is at the southern base of the Aedem Mountains, and the town of Sinjar at the base of Sinjar Mountain. This area does receive rain in the spring which will allow for cultivation of crops. Most homes here are built adobe style from mud bricks. You can easy picture yourself in biblical times Biblical Connections - This area is closely tied to the bible. We know that Abraham was born here in Ur 292 years after the great flood. We also know the rich history of Babylon which is in southern Iraq. This is also the place where the tower of babel stood. It is also commonly believed that the Garden of Eden was in Iraq between the Tigers and Euphrates rivers (Mesopotamia – the land between two rivers). The term Assyria in the bible applies to this region. The provence is named after the ancient town of Ninevah which is a bout 20 miles away. This is the town that Jona was sent to preach too. When he refused he was eaten by a whale! After that experience he came to warn Ninevah that God would destroy it, if they did not change their ways. The town is in ruins even today. The Town of Tal Afar (where we are stationed) Is in the bible twice mentioned as Telassar. 2Kings 19:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? and 1saah 37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? The word tel means built on the ruins of another city. It is easy to look from FOB Sykes and see that Tel Afar is built on a mount of ruble from ancient cities long passed. In fact during the time of Christ when Turkish armies inhabited Tal Afar as a army base, they build on the ruins of ancient Telassar. This whole area claims to be the direct descendants of Adam and seem to have good documentation since the bible seems to agree. Even more interesting in this area is the town of Sinjar. Sinjar is a mostly Kurdish town with two Christian churches. The main Religion is Yazidi. They believe that when the devil was cast from heaven that he was cast down to Sinjar Mountain. They also believe that he live in the mountain to this day. There is speculation on whether the word Sin or the Aramaic root Sin comes from the name of the mountain. Christians are persecuted in Iraq, but many live among Yazidi because they are safer with the Yazidi's who have a very closely related religion. This is not the case with most other groups in Iraq including the Arabs and Kurds. Because of daily executions in most of Iraq Christians are facing extinction!!!!! The Yazidi religion has up to 500.000 followers most of which are Kurdish. Hope you enjoyed my nerdy report on Nineveh!!!!!