BAGHDAD – Few places in the Middle East offer garish luxury quite like the Al Faw Palace, with its soaring marble columns, massive chandeliers and intricately carved ceilings.

But the exaggerated lavishness of a bygone era seemed to melt away amid the light of hundreds of handheld candles near the end of a Christmas Eve service Thursday.

“We know what it is like to serve and strive for goodwill on earth and peace among men,” said Col. Kenneth Stice, a Fort Lewis soldier deployed to minister to service members in Iraq.

The Al Faw, once a symbol of Saddam Huseein’s …

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BAGHDAD – We had to go into the Green Zone today to take care of credentials for our embed. The only remarkable part to me was how many people it took to get us there. It took more than a dozen soldiers, four Humvees and several hours to get across Baghdad and into the Green Zone.

I started a photo gallery that we will update throughout the trip.