SWEDEN. Upsala. 2006. Past midnight in a snow-covered field. It’s a few days after the end of my first trip to Iraq. I’d
gone to Sweden to visit a friend. It was the farthest place from Iraq I could imagine. After a few
days of relaxation I joined my dad for a trip to Egypt. To me Cairo looked a lot like Baghdad. I
was riding in an old taxi when its engine backfired. I dove to the floor. We went back to the hotel
and I barely went out again before heading home. A month later I was back in Iraq.