But this is a hell of a good start. Mr. Marchio - a 33 year old Italian - travelled thru Egypt and Turkey to Iraq for leisurely purposes. He especially wanted to see Fallujah so he hopped on a bus and rode there, but after being spotted at a checkpoint at the entrance to the city local authorities had him shipped back to Baghdad and from there out of Iraq. Iraq, and Fallujah in particular, were deemed too dangerous for the bloke. He did get to go on some cheap boat rides on the Tigris, and to experience Iraqi public transportation before his trip was cut short though.
The NYTimes reported:
“I am a tourist. I want to see the most important cities in the country. That is the reason why I am here now,” he said in heavily accented English. “I want to see and understand the reality because I have never been here before, and I think every country in the world must be seen.”
That's the spirit son. You just wanna take what the world has to offer you, wherever. Good for you. Shame though that your fellow countrymen don't feel that you're Iraq material yet:
“I explained to him that it was not safe to move around,” said Renato Di Porcia, the deputy chief of mission at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad. “He is a little bit naïve.”
Sounds like something Jack Donaghy would say about Kenneth (30 Rock?). I'm sure they're plenty of white foreigners roaming around all parts of Iraq without being noticed, as military operatives, diplomats, or even journalists. Seems like this guy drew particular attention to himself as a foreigner. Guess that tourists are tourists in Iraq as well. So, for all you obvious tourists, just gonna have to wait until things quiet down and explosion-free open air markets and gift shops strike roots in Mesopatamia until you'll get your chance to photograph statues of Scheherazade.
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