Iraq - The Arrival

This was the first email I wrote from Iraq. Since I do not work there anymore I can blog about whatever I want :)

The email post itself is what I wrote on March 16, 2008. At that time, in Iraq, the International Zone where the foreigners lived (the Green Zone to people outside Iraq) was under the most intense rocket barrage it ever endured. The Iraqi Army was also invading one of its own cities, Basra, at the time. The significance of that is explained at the end of this post where I posted comments from various professors who had some corrections to my history and and comments on my thoughts. I also posted my responses to them.

Dear Friends,

As many of you have noticed, I have not blogged about my experience in
Baghdad at all. The explanation for that is simple. The DOD has
banned blogging by government employees. Ergo, I will not be
blogging:(

However, I can write emails, and I shall. I do have to say, however,
that none of this can be published. I am specifically censoring
myself as to the security arrangements here and RTI is working right
now to get their contract extended. Please don't forward this email
to anyone if you can avoid it.

I have had an EXTREMELY fascinating time so far. For the lifestyle
piece, the drive from BIAP was totally uninteresting, except for the
young man who carried my bags who was from Sadr City (he told me that
with a glint in his eye that implied he knew exactly what that meant).
He then proceeded to try and rip me off after I tipped him and his
buddy $10 each for pushing my bags 100 yards on a cart. Luckily his
friend told him to shut up and dragged him away.

Wearing body armor in the car and being told not to touch the doors
was interesting, but also quite sensible.

The opportunities to influence policy IMPLEMENTERS are amazing. The
people here are also of profound quality. Everyone has a masters
degree, or a doctorate, or an MBA. I flew from Paris to Amman with
another RTI employee who had all three! This kind of environment
lends itself to some impressive conversation. Everyone who works for
RTI knows a lot about Iraq, the Middle East and International
Politics. The conversations I have here are of the highest caliber.
It is quite humbling. For the first week I was here I had orientation
classes where all the division heads gave presentations on their
subjects (that is when the Communications Director informed me of the
NO BLOGGING AT ALL EVER NEVER EVER DEATH IF YOU DO policy). Two of
the briefings in particular stood out. One was by the National Policy
Director on Whos Who in the Iraqi government. The man apparently did
his thesis on Iraqi family trees. For example, there was a Grand
Ayatolla named Musa Sadr who moved from Iraq to Iran to Lebanon where
he laid the foundation for the Hizbollah movement. He had three
sisters. One is the Daughter-in-law of Khomeini, the cleric who led
the Iranian Revolution. The second is Khatami's wife. Khatami was
the president before Ahmadinijad and was credited for trying to reform
Iran. And the third is the wife of Muhammed Baqir Sadr who was the
mentor of Muqtada al Sadr's father (Muqtada is the leader of the
Sadrists in Iraq who lead the Jeish al Mahdi terrorist/insurgent
group). That was just a taste of the knowledge this guy had off the
top of his head.

The second amazing presentation was by another Super-Achiever and it
concerned the RTI conceived concept called the Provincial Development
Strategies PDS. What RTI did in 2007 and early 2008 (they just
finished a huge conference on this where Maliki came and it was
amazing. It got no press because Ahmadinijad was visiting Iraq at the
same time). The PDSes are 18 in number (one for every Iraqi Province)
and they outline a specific set of goals that each province has. The
conference on the PDSes affirmed, legally, that from now on all
development money spent by the Iraqi government had to coincide with
the goals laid out by the PDSes. That means that, for the first time,
the Iraqi provinces, represented by their local elected
representatives, have forced the central government to abide by their
rules. The PDSes got the Iraqis to cooperate on a single development
strategy. Furthermore, and more importantly, it got the Iraqis to sit
down and actually talk about what they needed, like water and
electricity, as opposed to who controlled which petty district.

I also got the chance to sit in on a meeting between RTI and another
Contractor working for USAID. They were talking about what USAID
should do next concerning a little anachronism of the Saddam Era
dictatorship known as the Directors General. It is hard to explain it
all, but the great thing for me was that I got to sit in on this
meeting and throw in my two cents about what they should do. I mean,
the meetings people have here are REALLY interesting. For example,
the iraqi IT guy here that I'm talking to says that Al-Jazeera is full of
lies and that no one in Iraq likes it, which is a totally surprise to
me, even if it is only anecdotal and not born out by
statistics.

So I'm having a very interesting time. Hanging out in the Green Zone
(called the International Zone now since it is not really Green) gives
one a weird perspective on life. One night I found myself drinking a
beer inside a duck-and-cover bunker while American counter batteries
were firing during the call to prayer....i mean...Surreal. I have
also been exploring the "Social Life" such as salsa night and the
"bar" scene. The surprising thing is that there are actually girls
here and some of them are very attractive (and well armed). Salsa
night is a particular winner. I believe it was actually set up by the
Army Morale guys, who have a great job. They work on how to make
people have fun. Brilliant!

The IZ also distracts me from the fact that I'm in a war zone. There
are times I forget I'm here, which I assume is the point of much of
the fun activities they have, but I have to remind myself where I am.
The violence just doesn't exist in the IZ. Even the indirect mortar
rounds have been neutralized by effective counter fire and large cement
walls surrounding everything. The view of the war from the IZ is
definitely different from the one on CNN (people are more optimistic
here). But that is there job. At the end of every morning meeting we
have a security briefing to keep everything in perspective.

The work being done by the Local Governance Program is pretty amazing
and the people are smart as heck. I hope they get their contract
extended because they are doing exactly the kind of work that needs to
be done around here. Just read some of their Lessons Learned and
you'll get the idea.

http://www.rti.org/page.cfm?objectid=63898C26-E4BF-47D0-B2CFDA19A457B00B

Email if you have any questions!

PEACE!

Sam


Responses:

remove my email from your list
this comment came from an Arabic professor I had at Wisconsin

Dear Sam,

I found your message most interesting and informative, I look forward to your commentary on future developments and issues of interest to you.

Stay well and safe,

Best regards,
this came from a Washington DC Rotarian who I had worked with back in DC

This next bunch is from my History of Iraq professor at the American University in Cairo

Dear Sam
I had just entered the internet to send you two attachments, when I found your email. I'm happy that you find your stay pleasant and rewarding -- but let that not lower your guard.
* One thing that puzzled me: Why were you asked not to touch the car doors?
* Ayatullah Musa El-Sadr went to Libya and disappeared since then. Did the lecturer have any clue as to his destiny, or his wherabouts?
* Iran's previous president's name is KHATAMI.
* The name of the leader of the Iranian Revolution is KHOMEINI.
* I disagree with the labelling of Muqtada El-Sadr as being a "terrorist/insurgent". Objective analysts regard him as a nationalist Iraqi, opposed to the invasion and occupation of his country. Also, to his credit, he is opposed to the plan, called for by SCIRI's leader, Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, as well as his son, to form a semi-autonomous southern region (as the Kurds, in the north), out of nine oil-rich provinces -- the creation of which would, in all probability, make it a vassal of Iran. Although he is said to visit Iran from time to time, and is alleged to have received aid from the Islamic Republic, he is among a few Shiah leaders who does not trail Tehran's policies, and has been able to have cordial relations with a number of Sunni parties and personalities.
You had asked me what to read. You'll receive two attachments, one listing books on the invasion and occupation, and the other citing books about Iraq's history and politics.
Keep well and safe.

My Response:
certainly I wont lower my guard. They didnt want us to touch the
doors becuase the impact of an IED would reverberate through our
bodies. SCIRI no longer exists. It is now known as the Supreme
Islamic Council of Iraq, or something to that effect. I have seen it
abbreviated in English as SICI and SIIC. You are certainly right
about the spellings of the Iranian leaders but I don't have what I
wrote in front of me, but you are write if I put something else. I
also has a series of corrections on Sadr's exact history. He founded
Amal, not Hizbollah, exactly. They didn't say anything about Libya,
in fact I think they said he died in Lebanon.

As for Muqtada al-Sadr, I don't know what you wanna call him, but he
and his banned of misfits have killed WAY more Iraqis than Americans,
so why bother defending him at all? If nothing else, he is a vile
murderer and a criminal by any standard. He is also a skilled
politician. His cease fire amounts to him saying "i wont do anything
but all you rouge militia types can do what you want." He has good
will of all sides now, although he risks becoming irrelevant with the
violent types. He has created a movement which has done NOTHING but
bring pain and suffering to the Iraqis. Without Sadr and his silly
little bunch of Juvenillies the Iraqis might have electricity in
Baghdad. The biggest issue is security, and that is his fault. You
can blame the Americans, but you can't praise Sadr in the same breath.
I don't think you were necessarily, but there are those who do and
they are wrong. The most I can say for him is that he has grown up a
little and realized that fighting is stupid since all the Americans
want to do is rebuild the country and get out so everyone thinks
better of us. I agree he is more of a nationalist, and al qaeda is
WAY worse, but Sadr should be ashamed of what he has done to your
country.

Thanks for the reading list!

Sam

this next one is cool because this dude is smart

Great to hear from you and that you are learning so much and enjoying your experiences. FYI, Musa Sadr, whom I knew in Lebanon, was not a Grand Ayatollah. He id come to be called Imam; created a social Movement for the Dispossessed and then a militia, AMAL, whose leader Nabih Berri held a green card from US, and is now Speaker of parliament. Hizbollah had a different beginning.

John L Esposito
University Professor & Founding Director
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
ICC 260
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C. 20057
Tel. (202) 687-8375; fax (202) 687-8376
http:cmcu.georgetown.edu

My response to this comes in the next post :)