Saddam's Mosul Palace

Glenn Reynolds has a cool photo up today. It's titled, "July 4, 2003, Saddam's Mosul Palace 158 troopers from the 101st Airborne Division re-enlist for another tour in the army."

I found it particularly interesting, because my brother-in-law is in the 101st Airborne, and he lived in Saddam's Mosul Palace for a while. At the time, he was the XO of the Headquarters Company in the MI Battalion. He wasn't in the photo, though, and it's not exactly representative of his experience. I've seen another photo of him from around early July -- he's standing out in the middle of the desert, poking a long stick into a barrel from which plumes of smoke are pouring. (What was in the barrel, you might ask? Feces.)

He also just came home yesterday, much to my sister's relief (she's due to deliver their son in a month -- one of the 101st's many "Afghani babies"). Out of 26 months of marriage, he has been in the U.S. for only 11. Otherwise, he's been in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq.