Meet Hazim

NEAR THE IRAQI BORDER - Meet Hazim, my Jordanian driver/interpreter. His father was Jordan's chief judge, and Hazim, like many Jordanians in the '80s, went to college in Iraq where he studied physics at Mosul University - "one of the 17 best in the world'' during Saddam Hussein's regime, he says. Hazim tried teaching, decided he wasn't cut out for indoor work, so he's  now a tour guide. I'm the first journalist he's worked with, but he speaks flawless English and is doing a fine job.

He's often worked with Israeli tourists (Jordan is one of just 2 Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel) and here's a joke  the Israelis like: "Why did Moses wander around the desert for 40 years? Because he had an Egyptian guide, not a Jordanian.''