“Unfortunately, today we are having to take the measure to cancel our Southern Iraq tour. As you might have followed on the news, the situation in Iraq is increasingly serious. The protests started suddenly following the sacking of a General and were unpredictable two or three weeks ago (although the conflict has been brewing for years), it seems we are very unlucky with our dates this time.”
This is the email I received just over a week ago. On the way over here I was reading about demonstrations, riots and 66 dead in Iraq. The governments of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain had issued alerts for all of their citizens to leave Iraq due to deteriorating security. While I was shocked it wasn’t really a surprise.
After due deliberation I have decided on Lebanon as the alternative destination.