The water may be reflecting the color of the blue sky (or the reds  of sunset, or the gray of clouds), but an intrinsic blue color is  caused by the refraction and scatterin â¦ g of visible light by the  water. Different water qualities and depth can change the  particular hue of blue.
Balad, Iraq. Balad (Arabic: Ø¨ÙØ¯ââ), also transliterated Beled or Belad, is a city in the Salah ad Din Governorate, Iraq, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the national capital, Baghdad. It is the capital of Balad District.
Continue reading the main story. But this corner of Diyala Province, north of Baghdad and near the Iranian border, is one of those pockets across northern and eastern Iraq where the war is still being fought much as it was two years ago, when the âsurgeâ of American troops began. Here violence remains high, the Sunni insurgency never defeated.