John Pilger in the New Statesman (subscription required):
Four years ago, I travelled the length of Iraq, from the hills where St Matthew is buried in the Kurdish north to the heartland of Mesopotamia, and Baghdad, and the Shia south. I have seldom felt as safe in any country.Ah, Peggy, do you remember that trip we made to Weimar in the summer of 1939? Everything so calm, so peaceful. We picnicked one afternoon near that place - what was it called? Yes, Buchenwald. How safe I felt that day.