Fallujah, Iraq, November 3, 2025

The Police Escort to Fallujah

The drive to Fallujah is about 1.5 hours but also dependent upon how many times our mini bus is stopped at checkpoints. Along the way we passed the notorious (during Saddam's time and later when in 2003 the US Army and CIA took over) Abu Ghraib prison.

At the Anbar Province checkpoint in western Iraq we picked up a police escort, with red lights flashing and occasional sirens, that stayed with us throughout our visit to Fallujah. Additional police officers were added in Fallujah. At first all photos were taken surreptitiously, but eventually we figured out that they were nice guys doing their job who were also having fun spending the day with us.

The first stop in Fallujah was at the Iron Bridge on the Euphrates River. The bridge built by the British was originally known as the King Faisal Bridge. During the second battle of Fallujah in 2004 the mutilated and burned bodies of four civilian contractors, ambushed by insurgents, were hanged from the iron girders while a mob shouted anti-American slogans (Kahlid Mohammed photo). Today, no trace of that animosity is evident. The police officer chatting with Noor and Dean above consented to being photographed, and he is the only one in the group looking at me. The handsome young man on the motorcycle, asked to have his photo taken. Others in Fallujah noticed the commotion around our arrival and came over to have their photos taken with all of us.

It was the same inside the market. People wanted to be photographed or have photos taken of them with us.

We were stalked by friendly Omar in his police car every step of our way through the markets. Derek invited our security team to come with us to lunch at nearby Al Badya Restaurant. At the restaurant, our group ate in the family section and the security detail ate in the Men's section. We did not order--food just kept appearing. There was so much food! Even so, we stopped by the beautiful Salwa Sweet Shop for ice cream and samples of baklava.

We ended the surprising day back in Baghdad with a return to Old Baghdad to watch people fishing from the bridge as the sun set over the Tigris River.

Although we had a huge lunch, in Old Baghdad we visited an old house that had been renovated into a restaurant. Some of us shared flatbreads which we dipped into a dish of swirled tahini and date syrup. Delicious.

Tomorrow Babylon and Najaf