Camp Cobra, Iraq

Jalula Iraq, is the home of Camp Cobra, or Abu Ghurayb. It is located 80 miles northeast of Baghdad. This is a bustling city with 30,000 Kurds and Sunnis. Our United States soldiers were there training the Iraqi National Guard and patrolled the city each day. They saw men, women, and children bustling along, merchants on the sides of the streets, selling their wares to women dressed in long white, black or blue robes from head to foot with a white head dress that covers everything but their eyes.

The side roads are mud holes after a rain. The homes the soldiers pass are little more than shacks and some have blankets hanging in the doorways for privacy. They look crooked and some look as if they will fall down any time now. The homes are made of mud and sticks.

Children wave to the soldiers as the convoys come through town. They excitedly crowd the soldiers when the convoys stop and soldiers get out of their trucks. Boys not more than 12 years old sell birds to passersby and offer some for sale to the local soldiers. Soldiers give candy to the children in the streets and some buy ice cream cones for the local children. This is a very noisy city with all of the people walking and talking on the sidewalks and with all of the cars and trucks zooming by. You can hear horns in the background, but the one sound that seems to overpower all of the other sounds several times a day is the prayer music playing loudly over speakers for all to hear.

Our soldiers have now left Camp Cobra and Iraqi Police and the Iraqi National Guard now patrol this city. One can only hope they can hold this town, especially after the United States pulls out of the country.

Thank you for your visit.

Go to Home Page from Camp Cobra.