8月8日，伊拉克首都巴格达的沙尘遮天蔽日，安全人员只好戴着面罩在街头巡逻。夏季罕见的沙尘暴使得巴格达国际机场被迫关闭，数百人因呼吸道感染而到医院就诊，连一次关键的立宪会议都被迫取消。外电报道如下：Enveloping the capital in an eerie² orange glow, a blinding sandstorm Monday reduced visibility in Baghdad to a few feet - slowing traffic to a crawl, canceling a key meeting on the Iraqi constitution and sending hundreds of people to the hospital with breathing problems.

Howling winds whipped up desert sands overnight, coating the streets of the city in a gritty opaque³ haze⁴. Though sandstorms are common in Iraq's desert terrain⁵, especially during the summer, the one that arrived overnight was the worst in two years, long-suffering residents said.

"Baghdad looks miserable⁶ today," resident Ahmed Malik said. "Shops are closed as if there is no life in the city, as if a nuclear bomb attacked it. It's completely abandoned."

Haze在此表示“霾，朦胧，薄雾”，此外还有“疑惑，暧昧”等含义，例如：a haze of misunderstanding（因误解而疑惑）；with one's minds in a haze（糊里糊涂地）；no haze of doubt（没有猜疑表现）等。