Naval officer erected a giant menorah in Saddam’s palace

From Canadian Jewish News:

She’s a Jewish U.S. naval reserve officer, she keeps kosher and Shabbat, and she has completed two tours of duty in Iraq. Lt. Laurie Zimmet of Los Angeles is not your typical former Jewish day school teacher. She can truthfully tell that in the midst of a war she organized a Passover seder in Saddam Hussein‚Äôs former hunting lodge, and a Chanukah party in an old palace, complete with a huge menorah. Zimmet, 42, returned in September after one year in Iraq, serving in a non-combat, but armed role with the navy‚Äôs ground forces at the war‚Äôs ‚Äúbrain centre.‚Äù During the final seven weeks she worked at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, when Israel was fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Part of her job was preparing daily news summaries for Gen. George Casey, the senior coalition commander in Iraq.