Dog Handling in Chamchamal

In fall of 2006, I can still recall landing in Iraq, the whole atmosphere being somewhat scary and foreboding. The sky was dark and inky and I couldn't see any lights below. This time leaving at dusk, Erbil looked completely different. The electricity seemed to be working and there were strings of lights zigzagging their way out of Erbil, festooned here and there with twinkly baubles of small towns. I had a good view out of the window because the Austrian Airlines Airbus I was in was squishy to say the least. At only 5'5", my knees were touching the seat ahead and there wasn't enough space to comfortably read a book, let alone unfold a newspaper.

But neither the view nor the squashy seating of the airbus is the point of this post; it is about my traveling companions. I was squashed against the window by the two massive (and I mean massive- tall, broad, big) Bosnian guys sitting in the center and aisle seats. Souad, the one nearest me tried sparking a conversation in his broken and accented English. "Where you live? I live Chamchamal. Chamchamal no good. Erbil very good." It was good to be reminded that there are places harder to live than Erbil. Truthfully, I cannot even imagine living in Chamchamal... a VERY small town between Sulemaniya and Kirkuk.

It turns out that the man was traveling home with 3 other Bosnians who all work as a part of a mine detection unit. He was a dog handler. He explained that if it is known that there are many mines, dogs are not used, but are used in places like Chamchamal were it is unknown if there are still mines remaining or not. They comb the ground in an even fashion like a lawn mower until they smell a mine. Then they sit. Apparently he found 10 mines in Guantanamo Cuba and about 2 to date in Chamchamal (but countless others in Kosovo, Macedonia... )


The above map and photo are from 2003 when the Chamchamal was still dangerous. The lighter colored area of course was and is Kurdistan.