I am not going to pretend to be an expert on ancient religions. In the northwestern region of Iraq is a sect of peoples called Yazidi. In early 2008, I had made it to their temple in a mountain village called Lalish. It is about 30 miles or so north of Mosul, Iraq. It is another 50 miles southeast of Dohuk, Iraq. Of course, there are no maps.
My driver slipped me a bit of Third-World optimism. He assured me he could find the way. First for 100 Dollars, then he cut it to 75. You get what you pay for. He was a small man with thinning hair, and thinning body. He was pushing 40 years old. His car looked like one of those cars you see in the science fiction movies. You know the script by now, where civilization has suddenly died off of earth and we take a peek a couple years later. After five wrong turns we were..., lost in Iraq.
I saw signs explaining we were entering Mosul, one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq. It was at the time and still is at this writing, replete with no one in charge. The Kurds still would like to claim it. The bad guys still linger. And as I write this, America is pulling out of Iraq. None-the-less, at the time I made every effort to avoid Mosul. It is however on the main drag if you are heading anywhere in northern Iraq. And now, rather nonchalantly, thinning-hair-dude was breaching the outskirts of..., Mosul.
I resigned myself this day to..., die. Or worse. I was tired. I had made two trips to Iraq in a year and a half. Perhaps then, this would be that proverbial hill a person finally must one day choose to die on.
My driver assured me his driving indiscretions were because there is a Lalish city proper just down the road from the mountain temple which confused him - he after all, had not been there in two years.
I thought, "Dude, I have not been in Baraboo, Wisconsin, for two years but I still know the way." The point being with Iraq versus Wisconsin, the getting-there in Iraq is always a big part of any visit. A police officer next to a beer shop in Lalish proper finally got us on the right road toward the mountains. Beer - a good sign. People that drink beer surely would not do me and my driver in.
This would not be my day to die after all.
I had read other writers' mention of how cold the floor is in the temple. You must remove your shoes. It is true enough. To my surprise, what other writers did not seem to mention is there is more than a temple. It is actually a small village planted among and below the rocks of the mountains. There were children, families, people walking about. The holy men greeted my driver and I at the entrance to the temple and we graciously accepted the offer of tea.
I met a fellow who was visiting the temple that had lived in Germany for 12 years. He, like so many other Yazidi and Kurds fled the region in bad times. I could not help seeing the irony of speaking German to communicate in a Yazidi village, in Kurdistan, in the north of Iraq.
German speaking dude introduced me to who he said was the holiest of the men. The holy fellow patted the long stone bench he was sitting on and I sat next to him as we drank tea and smoked cigarettes. He was a thin man and the layers of robs did not conceal his thinness. He wore a weathered turban type head gear. The whole presentation was very colorful although faded by use and age. Of course he had a beard.
Of course I should take pictures, everyone insisted. I did not feel the anxiety I usually feel taking pictures in other parts of Iraq. Here it was expected. The pollution that day was a fright. It reminded me of parts of the Great Lakes industrial area in the 1960s - or present day Vietnam - you can cut it with a knife. The mountain village Lalish however was protected. The sky was clear and beautiful above its mountain enclave.
Yazidi architecture boasts conical roofs. They are as distinct as anything I have ever seen. And in my travels I came to feel relief seeing those roofs - knowing the Yazidi people at least had no interest in killing me.
My understanding is that the Yazidi culture goes back at least 1000 years. I get the impression there is a longer time-line. To my understanding they are neither Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or Hindu. They are Kurds, but religiously they are their own group. They had been tormented during the long war. Their villages bombed, their people harassed - just because they are different. They are a unique group within the Kurdish region, which is a unique group of its own, often in civil war with its Kurdish self, in a country and greater region in civil war.
Assuming my mind works until I finally breath my last breath, that very special visit to that quiet temple in the Kurdish mountains of Iraq may very well be in my thoughts during my last minutes on earth.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Sergeant Lindsey Thomas James, 23, Ubana, Missouri (family connections in Mountain, Wisconsin) was killed on Saturday, January 29, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq. His foot patrol was attacked by insurgents using an improvised explosive device. Sergeant James was attached to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), out of Fort Drum, New York.
The Missouri legislature's House Resolution Number 416 notes that Lindsey James was born in California. He graduated from Skyline High School in the Urbana, Missouri area in 2001. The Resolution goes on to note Sergeant James joined the Army in 2002 and was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed.
Information posted on the Web site legacy.com mentions Lindsey James worked as a welder in Texas for several months before entering the military. He was remembered by his family as "a fun-loving guy." His older brother had also served in the military. Lindsey had been married only two months at the time of his death. The Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs notes that the couple had lived in Mountain, Wisconsin, for a time, in the far northeast of the state.
At the time of his death Sergeant Lindsey James was survived by his wife Jasara James; parents Larry and Margaret James, and Sandra McFarland; six siblings Adam, Tammy, Jason, Clinton, Angela, and Toby; and, grandmothers Marjorie James, Hazel Phfinster, and Betty Jones.
Army Sergeant Lindsey James is the 98th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that has died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
103,537 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,486 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1841 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
969 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,224 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,837 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
150 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
