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EDITORIAL COMMENTARY
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Letter from Iraq
Editors Note: This email was passed to Montgomery County News. The first paragraph is from Sheila Allen explaining how her second cousin is collecting school supplies for the children in Taji, Iraq. We are publishing the complete letter so our readers can get a true feel for how life is in Iraq these days.
HI Monte. This is Sheila Allen whose nephew flew out on the first night of Shock and Awe. This letter is from my second cousin who is in Iraq for the next year. He is an Aggie and has a wife a three children at home in Austin. He has organized a drive to gather school supplies for the children in Taji (see the last few lines of his letter). He has requested bags, backpacks, colored pencils, markers, art and craft items, scissors, rulers, sports equipment, toys and clothing for children ages 212, games, oral hygiene products and general school supplies. You can tell readers they can bring these items by the Branding Iron or the Anchor Bar and Grill, both in Montgomery (Bea R. has graciously offered to help collect and my husband and I own the Anchor Bar and Grill). Just thought this letter and picture might interest your readers. Chad says in other letters that all the GI's on the ground there are very much behind the prez and feel that their work IS appreciated. Thanks, Sheila Allen.
All,
I've been remiss lately for not letting you know what's going on. Amazingly things are quiet (meaning, no more attacks than usual) after the early transfer of sovereignty, which caught everyone by surprise. The other day I took a Blackhawk to the Baghdad International Airport (actually, the coalition base just off the airport, known as Victory Base) for a "Stetson affair" for the 1 Cavalry Division Engineer Brigade. The ride was somewhat circuitous, taking us far to the east side of Baghdad, over green fields and numerous villages, and the slums of Sadr City, to land at a couple smaller bases, or "FOBs" (forward operating bases), before we touched down at Victory. The "affair" was held at Saddam's former hunting lodge. The airport outside of Baghdad was built in the middle of an area that could be described as his playground. The entire region occupies roughly 35 square kilometers. Around the airport are numerous palaces (don't know for sure, I'll guess a little over
a dozen) built for Saddam and his cronies, plus quite a few smaller guesthouses. A section of the former desert was scooped up to form a small lake filled with water from the Tigris (my peacetime higher headquarters, the 420th Engineer Brigade, is headquartered now in one of the "boathouses"). The spoil produced from that operation was used to manufacture the only hill in the region, now crammed with antennae. The area within the confines of the vast wall not occupied by the airport, lake and palaces was wild and filled with imported game, hence the need for the aforementioned hunting lodge. (Much of this "wild" grounds is now covered with gravel and buildings for the 1 CAV). The social itself was rather uneventful and I won't spend too much effort describing it, other than a bunch of officers and senior enlisted wearing black Stetsons and eating hamburgers and ribs.
Now let me talk about the trip down. I was somewhat surprised at the lushness of the countryside since the color green is very much in short supply here within the confines of Camp Cooke. This of course owes everything to extensive irrigation, though I'd say only half of the land looked as though it was under active cultivation (not being a farmer, I couldn't tell you definitively). Every now and then we saw workers in the fields and small villages. The men and children would usually react to the helicopters passing overhead with arms raised, but I could not tell if they were showing us a thumb or a finger. What struck me the most was the stark difference between the haves and the have nots. We would fly over mansions (one could call them palaces almost, but I reserve that term for Saddam's former residences), complete with Land Rovers in the driveways, and literally cross the street over a slum. And I mean slum. The houses, built in the tradition established centuries ago, were crammed almost on top of each other, with space reserved just for livestock, which got barely more space than the people. The smell, filled with sewage, animal waste, and burning trash, was the worst I've ever experienced, even at a couple of hundred feet in the air.
I'm somewhat disheartened at the sight of these people living like this, even after we've been here for 15 months. But we of course cannot solve the Iraqi's problems for them, and certainly what has been the standard of living for so long cannot be rectified in such a short period of time, even by America.
The Fourth of July was my first "official" day off since arriving to the Middle East, though I came in to the office anyway. The mess hall served steak and lobster, which was surprisingly good. This weekend I did take some time off, going to the swimming pool for the first time. It's a little odd to think of going to the pool in a war zone, but hey, it certainly was refreshing. I am definitely going to enjoy the pool when I get home. There were plenty of soldiers when I was there, and like me, they probably felt a little less like being deployed while soaking in the cool water. Every Saturday night the staff officers do something fun, which up to now has been a movie in the conference room. There is no shortage of DVDs, either ones soldiers brought with them or bought from local Iraqis here on post. Of course, none of the DVDs for sale are legit all are bootleg. You wouldn't expect the military to allow this, but it happens. A couple of weeks ago, the battalion chaplain hosted a viewing of "The Passion of the Christ" at the chapel, and it turned out to be a BAD bootleg copy of the movie, which I thought was ironic. Anyway, we're about "movied" out and this weekend we're going to get a bunch of Aggies together and play Dominoes, complete with Merle Haggard, but no Shiner beer.
Now, a word about current events. The early transfer of sovereignty caught everyone by surprise and looks like it threw the insurgents a loop. Things have quieted down somewhat and the predicted "surge" of enemy activity has yet to happen. It seems that most Iraqis, both for and against the Coalition, are more or less accepting their new government. One can see the nascent political process taking shape, although the challenges remain ahead. With Taji being the largest base for the new Iraqi Army, we occasionally see truckloads of Iraqi soldiers in their new uniforms and new AK47's heading off to some exercise. I can't help but feel a little proud, knowing that there's a chance for a new democracy in the Middle East (although I am not Pollyannaish there are still tremendous difficulties to overcome, and the results could fall far from our intentions). Saddam is in court and back in the news. It is hard to get away from him here. His images were absolutely ubiquitous and are still hard to get away from. But, the insurgents, with all of their varied motives, are not spurred into action by his words, and most could care less about his fate.
Well, that's about it from here. Things are pretty routine nowadays and the unit is doing well getting construction projects done around the base. We've started the adoptaschool project, and hopefully by the start of the school year we'll have enough supplies donated from the States to make a difference. If you have any questions about it, Staci should be able to answer. Y'all take care.
Love, Chad
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