Here's today's picture from The British Ministry of Defence Picture Gallery. This patrol was welcomed by local children in Zubayr. These are superb pictures and deserve a wider audience than they'll get on this hidden-away British Ministry of Defence website. Click the picture for a screen size version, or the link above for lots more, including the high-definition versions. Judging by the number of people who have clicked the links to see more and the search phrases that have been finding this site recently, it seems you like these pictures, so I will continue to post one a day, for the time being at least. Go and have a look at the collection for yourself.

And in the spirit of these pictures, there's a story today as well. I read it on Lani Schwalbe's Twenty Minutes, but she checked it with The Washington Post, so it could well be true. There's a story that's been making the rounds about an Iraqi lawyer whose wife worked at a hospital in Naseriah. He saw American POW Jessica Lynch lying prisoner in the hospital, being slapped by an Iraqi soldier. He sneaked into the hospital at night, told her not to worry, that he would help her. He then walked six miles across the desert to where he'd heard there were Marines. He drew maps for them. When they had questions he couldn't answer, he walked the six miles back to the hospital, got the information, and then walked again, through the desert, another six miles to get to the Marines. Then he returned to Naseriah to be with his wife. He walked twenty four miles through the desert, risking his life with Marines who might not know he was on their side, and his own people who would kill him on the spot if they knew what he was doing, to save an "enemy" he didn't even know.