Ch. 21. Acting deputy chief of mission, acting charge d'affaires, Embassy Damascus, Syria. 2009

Includes: Post-Baghdad PTSD Insomnia at Waikiki: Reflections on War and Peace – My Twelve Months in Iraq

Ch. 21 - Embassy Damascus, Syria. 2009.

It is easy to omit the four months we spent TDY in Damascus. But in retrospect it contained elements of future events that should probably be unpacked.

Also, having the Damascus experience would qualify me for what I’d come to call the Islamic trifecta: Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus. There used to be a saying “Cairo…