Letter From Iraq

We're going to take a break from the sports blogging for just a bit, and turn to the situation on the ground in Iraq. Why? Well, as it turns out, a friend of mine has spent the last two months in the region as part of something called a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

To clarify, she's not a U.S. Government employee. Instead, she's a contractor with a software company that specializes in disaster assistance. The U.S. Agency for International Development, a part of the State Department, dispatched these teams all over the region before the start of the war to be in position to provide humanitarian assitance to Iraq.

My friend has been stationed out of Amman, and she's been sending periodic updates on what's been happening. She's had more than a few interesting things to say -- including the fact that the citizens in Jordan seem to be friendlier to Americans than many of the press accounts that I've read.

When I saw that some of the things she had been saying in her notes gibed with an item I read on Instapundit, I shot a note to Glenn Reynolds summarizing the things my friend had told me. You can find Glenn's summary of my note by clicking here.

Use the map to folllow my friend's route across Iraq.

Over this past weekend my friend took a trip with her DART into Western Iraq, and she just sent me a long email which I'm excerpting here. Her trip lasted a little more than three days.

On 4/26, she and her team left Amman and headed East to Iraq, making camp for the night in Ar Rutbah -- the first city you find in Iraq after cross the desert no-man's land seperating two nations. On 4/27 they headed East, hoping to make the city of Ramadi: unfortunately, authorities had deemed the city a "permissive environment," Army speak for "crawling with bad guys." Instead, they turned Northwest, stopping in the town of Hit (pronounced "heat"), before eventually stopping for the night in Haditha, the location of a hydroelectric dam currently being repaired by a team of Iraqis and the Army Corps of Engineers. The dam itself if being guarded by the 101st Airborne.

On 4/28 thing got a little hairy. That morning her team moved North, heading for the village of Anah. Apparently, the city had a small hospital that they suspected needed some help. Unfortunately, their stay was brief, as they were told in no uncertain terms by the locals that the city was still controlled by elements loyal to Saddam. High-tailing it out of Anah, they turned South again, hoping to get some guidance on whether or not it was safe to travel to Ramadi -- a call that never came. Instead, her team headed for Ar Rutbah for the night and returned to Amman on 4/29.

Needless to say, I'm proud of my friend and the work she and her team are doing. No, she's not knee-deep in a shooting war, but as recent events have shown, Iraq is still a very dangerous place. Her team is travelling with local guides, not military escort, something that makes her trip all the more harrowing. Overall, she feels the Americans are being welcomed warmly, and she feels plenty of hope for the people of Iraq.

I'm just hoping she gets back home soon, and safe.

For more details from her note, click the link below. I've interjected with commentary of my own where I feel appropriate.

From April 26th:

The actual crossing into Iraq was rather uneventful -- just the long road to Baghdad.  We traveled to the first big town inside Iraq called Ar Rutbah (Population 17,000).  We set up camp at the “German Compound”.  They call it because the Germans built all of the roads (well done) and set up camps for the workers to live.

Hard not to notice the evidence of German economic influence right off the bat. Not that they have anything to hide.

I spent most of the day going around town with our food officer, John.  His focus is to see if the Oil For Food (OFF) program is up and running and if not what needs to be done to get it back together.  Lucky for us it was delivery day and there were several trucks unloading food in town.  We met with many Wakhils (food distributors) and the Mayor of Ar Rutbah.  He was “elected” by the people a few weeks ago.  Turns out he was jailed by Saddam for 3 years and his son was executed because they refused to carry out Saddam’s orders to burn homes and kill people.  He says that Saddam signed his jail papers himself and keeps it with him. . .

By the time we got back to the camp we discovered that while there is a Mayor, most of the townsfolk come to the Civil Affairs guys with their problems.  From civil unrest, trouble crossing the border into Jordan or medical needs, there was a steady stream of people coming into the camp looking for assistance.  Even the Mayor showed up again to go over some of the day’s issues.

The people were more than welcoming.  As we drove down the street children ran out to the street and gave us a “thumbs up”.  When we would meet with the Wakhils they would bring us tea.  It’s black tea, served in a shot glass with about 2 tbsp of sugar.  Just call it syrup.

Funny, but didn't we just arrest the "Mayor" of Baghdad? My guess is that control of the capital and its immediate environs is not something we really want to share right now, whereas in the areas outside the capital, we need all the help we can get getting things running again -- especially in areas where the locals are friendly to us. And as we've seen from press reports, that's just not the case in all areas of Baghdad.

From April 27th:

[W]e stopped at a mill in the town of Hit (sounds like Heat) and then into the town of Haditha.  After visiting a few more Wakhils we met up with the rest of our Team who had just run into the 101st Airborne who guards the dam just north of town.  They were getting ready to blow up some anit-aircraft stations so we opened up the back of the Land Cruisers and had a tailgate party while they did their business.  They offered us a place to stay for the night and having to go to the bathroom sounded better than a 3hr car ride to H1.  This turned out to be the coolest part of our trip so far.  They were living at the dam.

The dam provides power to almost all of western Iraq.  When the war started the Army Rangers took it over to make sure that it would not be destroyed and looted.  Now the Army Corps of Engineers are working there with the Iraqi Engineers to repair it and keep it running. . .

Here's an account of the battle for the dam that appeared in a Columbus, Georgia newspaper this past weekend. Back at the beginning of April, three Rangers lost their lives near the dam when a suicide bomber attacked an Army checkpoint.

We got a chance to talk with some of the troops.  Most of them (aged) 18-25 who made their way up from Kuwait, and [are] using this as a stop over on their way to Mosul.  It was a very surreal feeling this morning as we were packing up our cars (at the top of the dam) to watch them all head out.  They have come so far and seen so much and they are still positive.  One note, most of the problems we have found out here existing long before the Coalition forces showed up.  They (the soldiers), like us (or should I say thanks to them) are well received wherever they go.  That is until we visited Anah.

From April 28th:

What we found was a very modern town with large houses that was very well kept.  As usual we attracted a bit of attention but it was obvious it was not the most positive.  Car one went to the hospital while we set out to find the Wakhils.  My guess is they found us as we pulled into the local market place.  Yassir did a little recon for us and they agreed to talk.  It was the usual conversation but the first one where no tea was offered (not that I’m complaining my body has probably had its quota of sugar for the year) a clear sign that we were not really welcome.

While we were talking a group of men began to build up outside and when Yassir went back to the car they made it known that we should probably head out.  If it weren't’t for the Wakhil’s we were meeting with we would have been in big trouble.  As we headed back to the car one of the Wakhils approached John and gave him a firm hand shake and a message that this town supports Saddam and that several gov’t officials were from this town.  It would be interesting to see if anyone from the “deck of cards” is found in Anah.  We went back to hospital and catch up with the rest of the team. Before we left a man came to our car with 3 7ups and the message that “we don’t need your help”.  Two of them fell out of the car and exploded (as any soda can would) as they hit the ground.  We took that as a sign and sped on out of town. . .

After our little adventure in Anah we made our way back down the Euphrates and stopped for lunch at a restaurant right on the water so our drivers could eat a real meal.  The MREs just were’t cutting it for them.  What we found there surely made up for the morning's events.  When I say restaurant it’s more like a fish and chips shack, except they serve kabobs.  They were kind enough to separate the meat from the veggies for me and what I tasted was the best tomatoes I have ever had in my life!!!  And the food just kept on coming. . .

We spoke with the owner while eating and he told us that he had been run out of his home by Chemical Ali’s troops and established himself here.  He was thankful that Saddam was gone and hoped that the Americans stayed so that Saddam’s regime would not come back into power.  By the way, a huge meal for 6 cost us about 10 dollars. . .

I’m sure there are more towns like Anah but I do feel comfortable that the people of Iraq are happy to see Saddam gone and that they are resilient.  They will need assistance getting this country back on it’s feet, but as for the immediate emergency needs they are jumping to the task and moving forward. . .

From April 29th:

After good nights sleep in Ar Rutbah we made our way back across the boarder into Jordan.  We were amazed at the amount of traffic coming back into Iraq not to mention the number of satellite dishes.  Once banned in Iraq there isn’t a car going by without one on the roof.  The line for people to enter into Iraq was backed up for at least ½ mile and included trucks carrying cars to sell.  A good sign that consumer confidence is rising.

The satellite dishes are certainly a great sign -- especially since most Iraqis can only receive broadcast signals -- something which has essentially ceded the airwaves to Iranian State Television. My friend heads back into Iraq this weekend, destination: Baghdad. I'll pass along anything new I hear when I get it.

Eric 08:03 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ericmcerlain.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1984