As the town receded into the distance, I thought: Well, at least if I’m being driven into the desert to be raped and killed, this was beautiful. It’s lonely at the border of Syria and Iraq when you’re a 20-something English-speaking foreigner. Deir Ez-zor is about as far as you can get from anything in a country that’s not exactly overrun with tourists (especially now). I was attracted to the far-flung eastern desert town because of nearby Mesopotamian ruins and also because I wanted to flip the bird to Saddam’s forces at the barb-wired border — my way of finishing the job where Bush (the first) had f*cked up. It…