Here is a little silver Mosque which was given to me by some sort of Islamic Holy Man just after the 1st Gulf War. The year was 1992 and I was in the city of Medina, Saudi Arabia. I was part of a joint US/Saudi civil engineer project in which some fiber-optic lines were being installed at the Grand Mosque. This young 20ish Muttowa(sp?) and I began a general conversation and after he realized I was Christian and he couldn't get me to convert he gave me this medallion. Besides not being allowed to enter even to go to the bathroom, we were forced to pay when our truck washed by some beggars, 300 Riyals or $45 dollars. When we returned to the base they inspected the truck and found (gas soaked) rags and cloth had been stuffed up into the muffler and packed around the catalytic converter in an attempt to catch it on fire! I will add that my buddy and I were invited to hang out with him and some of his friends that evening at the gold market but wisely chose not to, LOL... Those guys looked like they'd taken a few scalps.
Chuckle, I'm not kidding. USMTM, Riyadh, Taif. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/dod/usmtm.htm Ben
