When I went to the Middle East to spend some time learning Arabic, I took my pennywhistle along. It didn't do me much good, to be honest. The scale was all out of whack, so I bought a very cheap wooden whistle tuned to a more appropriate scale.
The tonal system is a lot different; things don't resolve the same way, and variation is the soup of the day (perfect for the whistle). Nonetheless, sharing music and musical tradition with people throughout the middle east, especially in the sahara, as was mentioned, with dates and mint tea and 130F heat. Music, I found, was a wonderful way to connect, and proved just as much a communicative tool as my skills in Arabic & its dialects.
In terms of learning traditional middle eastern tunes, specifically iraqi, you'd be best off looking through specifically Islamic tunes. Religion pervades the culture, and any tune that is traditional is almost certainly religious.
On the sad note of that, however, those are mainly vocal. The whistle is accompaniment, and can't do a great deal on its own.
All right, I think that's all! Be well, or, going with the theme, ma'a salaama.