Return to Baghdad Update 3

Orphans and Street Kids Project
Return to Baghdad Update 3
Wednesday, 3 August 2005

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – Tuesday morning opened my eyes to the difficulties of working in Baghdad. Bushra Jamil, an Iraqi I have known through Steve since my first trip here, was going to meet me at my compound at 0830 so we could discuss a plan of action for the week. She is in town from Amman where she is currently working, but in Baghdad she works very closely with the Voices of Women’s Radio. Throughout the morning we kept in touch by our Iraqnet (the Iraq cell phone carrier) phones as she made her way through the ever growing road blocks coming into the International (Green) Zone.

Bushra spends most of her time in the “Red Zone,” which is the area of Baghdad that is not heavily fortified by the military. An incident this morning made it so security was relatively high while sporadic checkpoints were created to bring order. Finally she was able to arrive at almost 1130. These are some of the problems that we face working in a war zone.

After a much too quick brief to Bushra, I hurried across the IZ to the USAID compound where I had a lunch meeting set up. This was my first time driving across an area that I drove through two or three times a week on convoys from Gunner Palace to BIAP. Here were spooky reminders of my year in combat. Passing the Combat Support Hospital (CASH) I was reminded of a visit to an Iraqi friend who had been gunned down for helping us find terrorists in our sector or an uncomfortable hernia check I had received from one of the CASH’s gynecologist when I thought I had injured myself. I still don’t know what she was looking for, but I walked out of that check up with a limp for a week!

I also drove past the skeleton of what was once the Green Zone Café. This was a place where we stopped occasionally to smoke hookahs. This is also the restaurant where my soldiers and I convoyed to at midnight Super Bowl night (remember that we are 8 hours ahead here) to buy pizza for the Battalion’s Super Bowl Party. Now, all that remains is a burnt out building that was destroyed a few months after our departure by a suicide bomber.

Finally I was able to find the USAID compound amongst the innumerable concrete barriers that now run road side along the Green Zone making it seem like your driving in a tunnel. The folks I met with at USAID are an outstanding group of humanitarians. USAID manages many of the humanitarian programs funded by the US here in Iraq, and across the world. Through a friend I was able to contact one of the USAID teams here and introduced them to the project. Since this team thought the program had excellent merit, they set me up with multiple contacts to help me get it off the ground.

On the way back to the compound I stopped and checked out the infamous Cross Sabers, pictured above. This was our rallying point upon entering Iraq in May 2003 when Smoke Powell, my Platoon Sergeant, and I were being to towed through Baghdad. Our Humvee died during the convoy from Kuwait to Baghdad and may have been left in one of the cities major intersections if Smoke hadn’t packed a few tow straps. The Cross Sabers were built buys Saddam to honor and march his armies. Each hand is a replica of the former dictator’s hand and the helmets you see piled on the side are Iranian helmets from the Iran Iraq War. I later learned that Saddam wanted to use actual skulls, but the architect refused. This was an interesting place to do my video diary and I received a tour up into the hand by a local Iraqi Policeman.

I was surprised Wednesday by a phone call from Steve who was coming to the International Zone for work and wanted to meet up. Steve, a native Iraqi, is always going full speed trying to make this country a better place. His dedication is inspiring and I learn so much from listening to his updates of what is happening in the country. Steve also provides me a phenomenal historical and cultural perspective to the war.

Bushra again came to the compound and she, Steve, and I were able to discuss the project and its implementation. Both Bushra and Steve have personal relationships with many of the Ministries that now run Iraq. Between those relationships and the contacts I have received from USAID I began to see my time here unfold. Meetings, appointments, and tea times were set up so that the project can find the right places to spread its roots. This trip is turning into the catalyst which will allow the Orphans and Street Kids Project to become a reality.

For more information about the Orphans and Street Kids Project visit the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) homepage, http://vvaf.org/. The project is a partnership between the VVAF and Opportunities for Kids International, INC, (http://www.okiinc.org/).