On the ground in Lebanon...

Back to Iraq is blogging from Beirut, his new home base...

the following paragraph of his, from this post, is so true...it must be hard now to tell the difference between the new damage and the old damage...

Walking and driving around the streets, I noticed a peculiar trait of Beirut: it’s not always possible to know what’s old war damage or new damage, and what might just be run down. Beirut is ramshackle and delightfully dilapidated in some parts — mostly the poor Shi’a parts, which are also the main target areas. It’s an interesting challenge to remember that that balcony which appears freshly shorn off is actually from 20 years ago.