It seems that Trey Parker and Matt Stone may have been more accurate with their parody of the US military in the South Park movie than they probably intended. Terrifyingly, here in Iraq, Google Earth has uncovered that the US military might really have an Operation Human Shield.

Thanks to Stephen Johnson and Chris Holland.

Crikey, it seems there’s been some sort of serious traffic accident here in Baghdad. I wonder what happened?

Whatever happened, given the state of the traffic, I can’t say I’m that surprised… :-/ That isn’t an isolated example eiter - the traffic’s like that all over the place!

Scary stuff.

Thanks to Marco Olivo, Gydo Matthijssen, Bleij and rob.

Taking its name from the nearby city of Dohuk, also spelled Dahuk, Dohuk Dam supplies the city with drinking water and has a 45m wide Kurdistan flag painted onto the Dam. Top to bottom the flag is red, white and green with a yellow sun in the middle.

Dohuk is located in Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous political entity located in Northern Iraq, although Kurdish nationalists call this “South Kurdistan” with “North Kurdistan” being in, uh, Southeast Turkey. I’m confused.

So, despite being technically in Iraq, the people here proudly fly the flag of Kurdistan and painted it on their dam - unlike the Kurdish regions of neighbouring countries Iran, Syria, and Turkey - where flying the flag is a criminal offence.

Thanks: Rawand Nawroly & J. L. Precup

The Al-Askari shrine in Samarra, Iraq was one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims.

Sadly this distinctive gold dome was destroyed last week by bombers hoping to escalate tension in the area (BBC News Report).

Thanks: Tom & Adam

Originally due to be finished this year, it seems that all construction has come to a halt at the Arahman Mosque in Baghdad. The place is absolutely colossal, and the fittingly large cranes used in the construction can still be clearly seen at maximum zoom. Incredible image though, and make sure you check out this ground-level one too.

Just to the north is the much-further-from-finished, but still worth a peek, Grand Saddam Mosque, which was originally slated for completion in 2015, but which I don’t suppose will ever get built now.

Thanks to woowoowoo and david.