America's North Shore Journal

Although there is no proof that Abraham stopped at this particular oasis, Lanigan said it would have made sense for Abraham to have followed a path through this area.

“[Abraham] definitely traveled north, instead of going all the way west,” he said. “That would be a deadly march because there really is not any fresh water. So he had to have moved along the Euphrates [River].”

The complexes of dirt mounds – Tal Aldair and Sobbar Abu Habba – were once Sumerian city walls outside of what is today Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Pottery and clay tablets with the world’s first form of writing, Cuneiform, are known to be in the mounds. The Sumerian culture is the oldest civilization in the world, dating back to the 6th century B.C.

Peters said while most everything has been mapped, geospatial analysts extract certain features from one map and combine it with features from another map to make a new one. For example, a map showing structures and roads could be combined with a map showing different types of soil to plan an irrigation system for farmers.

“What we can do is take the data that creates all the available maps and pinpoint what a customer specifically wants to create a new map that fits their needs,” he said.

Photo from the air of the Ziggurat of Ur taken September 19 2009

Members from Command Post-North, Task Force Lightning, made visits to both the Yezidi temple in Lalish, Iraq, and the Hermos Christian Monastery in Al Qosh, Iraq, Aug. 2.

The group, led by Brig. Gen. Robert Brown, deputy commanding general (support), Multi-National Division-North, first went to the temple in Lalish where they met with Prince Tahsin Ali, prince to all Yezidis in the world.

In an attempt to restore national pride and tourism to one of the oldest landmarks in Iraq, American Paratroopers and Iraqi army soldiers discussed plans for renovating the area surrounding the famous Arch of Ctesiphon in Salman Pak, Aug. 5.

The all-brick arch was built nearly 16 centuries ago and is one of the oldest free standing arches in the world. But years of neglect and war in the region have transformed the once popular attraction into an Iraqi army outpost surrounded by acres of trash and rubble.

“Babylon is a very important empire and city in the old testament. It figures prominently in the development of the Jewish faith as well as the Christian faith,” said Lt. Col. John Morris, MND-S command chaplain. “About two-thirds of the old testament mentions Babylon in one form or another. Sometimes it’s prior to the Babylonian exile of Jewish people from Israel to Babylon. Sometimes it’s in the midst of that exile and sometimes it’s afterwards.”

In 2003, coalition forces gained control of the Al Asad Air Base, and two years later U.S. service members began picking up the trash and debris that had collected at the oasis, restoring dilapidated buildings and cleaning up a small cemetery containing the remains of veterans of the Iran-Iraq War.

A year later, the U.S. Army’s 67th Area Support Group, Host Nation Section, worked with local Iraqi citizens to restore the entire oasis and palm grove area. This effort included the removal of weeds, trash and the planting of date trees that produce 15-20 varieties of dates.

Photo: Ruins from a temple in Naffur, Iraq, are said to be the site for the meeting of Sumerian gods, as well as the place that man was created.