Letters from Baghdad

[yesman065]

Subject: Life in my little neighborhood

Well since you have asked me "What is it like in your neighborhood". I have put in a couple of picture of "CDR Ray's little world". I am sure everybody had a nice quite Saturday night, here I am ready to spend an exciting Saturday night in the hooch after a 14 hour day. Big event was to get the laundry done and relax. Sunday is a half day for me I go in around 12:00 noon and stay till 9:00 pm getting all the weekly reports updated and sent out to. Now behind the hooch we have one of our many community "bunkers". Spent a lot of time in their when the rockets/mortars where coming early in the morning or very late at night. It is one heck of a way to meet your neighbors up close and personal! You always got to get some kind of shoe on when you go in for scorpions have been known to be in the bottom of these bunkers because of the desert heat. You definitely look before you leap, (if you have the time)!

Now most of you have nice fences in your backyards to keep your pets in, well not me! Right in front of me is the "T-wall" fence to keep the neighbors from across the river out! We even have a guard! Now I know most of you do not have that! You just got to hope that the guy up there does not fall asleep or else you could be in for a interesting time if the "neighbors" from across the river decide to swim over and visit you and the guard is asleep! I live right on the front line.

Sunday the Iraqi soccer team won its game against Saudi Arabia and of course all of the fans were out in the city shooting off their weapons. We were able to shut down traffic and issued and enforced a no vehicle movement policy in the city to try and stop the VBIED's/ truck bombers from getting in and doing what they did last time. It seemed to work for we had no reports of a VBIED's going off. The bad news is that 7 Iraqi's got killed by the celebratory fire in the streets of Baghdad.

Here in the command, the word was put out that all members were to get inside before the end of the match and wait until the "all clear" was sounded before leaving the building. We knew that all of that "celebratory fire" was going to becoming our way and it did. Well, it looks like we had a Navy Captain who decided he wanted to go out early and head back to his hooch. Dumb..Dumb..Dumb. He took an AK-47 round to the head. He did not die, but that sure was dumb!

You have at least one more month of summer - so get out and enjoy, use the sunscreen, be careful around the grill, don't drink too much and by all means stay cool.

CDR "Downtown Baghdad" USN

[yesman065]

Well we had a bit of a drop in rocket/mortar attacks early in the week.
It looks like there are more to come in the next few weeks, got to get
ready. I got some work done to reinforce the hooch with more sandbags.
We can not dig in so we have to build up. Most people in America come
over to the neighbors in the summer time for a cook out and a few cold
ones in the evening. I got more sand bags built up around my hooch and
more to come! So if you got nothing to do tonight bring over a few
sandbags we will put them on the wall and have a cold soda!

"USN Sandbox Sailor, Baghdad"

[yesman065]

Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 10:59:27
Subject: Sunday morning in Baghdad


It has been a bit drawn out here the last 3 days. Have not had any
mortar or rocket attack into the IZ but there still is a lot of
operations going on outside the wire into the "red zone" which is
causing a lot of helo operations at night which means about 3-4 hours of sleep each night. The hooch has really been rocking each night, (all of the helo's flying over at tree top level going out bound), you have to get rest when you can living in a war zone! Some day I will get home, crawl into my own bed, under my nice sheets, go to sleep for 10-12 hours with no body armor or helmet next to me and NOT having to worry about rockets, mortar or helo's. Sleep till I can sleep not more and than get up and start the day, at what ever time that is!
Today I had to go to a engineering meeting, I am now on the Iraqi
Railroad Reconstruction Project!, I got up, put on my 50 pounds of body armor and helmet walked outside and it was about 90-95 and it felt alright. Walked/hiked a mile or 2 to the meeting, meet up with the Group Captain from the Australian Air Force who requested that I be a "vital" member of the group.

[yesman065]

Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 11:29:06 +0400
Subject: Back in the War...got to keep running...duck and cover

Well it was good to hear from you, sounds like you are
wrapping up the summer and catch up on your rest. If you got time go ahead and get some "sleep time" for me. It is still hot as usually here in Baghdad, but have not had a sand storm in a couple of days so that is good. Last night I got off work @ 9:30 pm and was heading back to the hooch to relax and get some rest, as I walking/hiking back all of a sudden... Whisssh.. POW! Two of those Chinese 122 mm rockets, ( the bigens!) came in towards the IZ here and landed right outside the wall..I was out in the open so I ran off to the nearest "Duck and Cover Bunker" and jumped in. They were a bit to closes for me. I walk by the walls back to the hooch at night. Now do you lookout for Chinese rockets when you take your beach walks at night?

I stood/squatted in the bunker for about 30 minutes till the "all clear"
was sounded then I headed out again. It was like being in a little over
for the bunkers absorb the heat all day and then give it off at night.
There is no air flow in these bunkers so you sweat a lot and just got to wait till it is all clear and than go on with what you are doing. I got
back to the hooch and my hooch mate was sitting down in a chair
drinking a nice really cold Coke. " Hey Mate did you miss the
fireworks?" "The Laundry hooch was pretty much open so I went off to load the washing machine up with my uniforms, got to take advantage of the time" as he said to me. Well at least he did not drink the last cold bottle of water so that was OK!
You got to remember this is Iraqi "It's all good"

Take care,

CDR USN
"On the Beat in Baghdad"

[yesman065]

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:17:21 +0400
Subject: Working in Baghdad...".it is all good

Well the General Peteraus hearings were shown all night here in Baghdad. I watched it for a while but we all knew what he was going to say for after all we gathered up all the information for him. I knew what Senator Joe Biden was going to ask and what he was going to say,(and the Congress) for he told me that when I had dinner with him last week. Joe did what he said he was going to do! Senator Biden and Senator Blache Linclon, from Arkansas, were here last week and I got invited to have dinner with them. We all had dinner in a room in the embassy with about a dozen embassy staffers. Biden and Lincoln ,(mostly Biden) was asking a lot about the reconstruction of Iraq and the Central Government structure. Biden was not buying the embassy spin on what was going on. He keep asking more and more questions and getting a bit hostile to some. It was a nice show to watch! Joe doesn't "chew your ass" he just nibbles at you and lets you know he knows what's going on! Well watching the hearings with General Peteraus and Senator Biden and the Congress was like watching a chess game, but I knew all of the moves before they
happened.

Well I have been reassigned over to the Economic Development section. I will basically be pushing/running government projects and programs for the GOI, (Government of Iraq) through their ministries. I know I have the railroad, ports and airports to get going and I will get more. I have been working on the rail road, (Iraqi Rail Road, IRR) for the last 2 months. The major projects that are now underway, Improvement on the transponders tracking of locomotives, continuing the building of a microwave traffic control system for rail, ( got the bandwidth widened so that it can carry more information in the future and possible support to other commerce), removing the excess sea vans in the port of Umm Qasr and from Baghdad, ( at one time had monthly detention over $500,000 per month!), just signed a $5 million dollar contract to refit the locomotive overhaul repair shop in Baghdad to be done by march 08, getting equipment evaluation on @ 10 locomotives made in China and @ 15 Russian made locomotive,(I know I will have a part list to go and look for, I'm sure that since they were on the open world market @ 15-20 years ago some how I get the feeling AMTRAK has some parts for these
locomotives), modifying a couple bridges from double track to now handle road freight along with rail, starting the process for getting 1
facility for making cement ties, (called sleepers here in Iraq) to make
over 1 million ties per year. These are just a few of the Railroad
projects I am dealing with. I have not even mentioned the airports. Oh well "it is all good" for this is Iraqi. The average rail security
person here in Iraqi has spent 10.5 years on the railroad. Some of these people go out and walk the track looking for IED, (Improvised Explosive Devices) on the rail. Switcher locomotives are run in front of some of the freight trains to screen for IED and on some of these switchers guys ride on the outside of the locomotive to be look outs also!

I had lunch with the director general, (DG) of the IRR. This man has
been working for the IRR since 1970 and has held every job on the
tracks, repair shops and engines. He was attacked in 2003 by the
insurgents; they broke one of his legs and shot him in his other knee
cap for working with Coalition Forces. In Jan 2007 he was kidnapped
again for 20 days and held for ransom and than was released. This guys wants to get the rail road up and running for the Iraqi people. He was offered the job of Minister of Transportation but turned it down, he does not like politics. He has a lot of "creative" ways of running
trains and they work. They would never pass with the FRA or DOT, but than again "this is Iraq and it is all good!"

Hope things are going well for all.

CDR USN
"Moving Freight in Iraq"

[yesman065]

Sent: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 2:50 am
Subject: On the move in Iraq...

Well I spent the last 3 weeks working with the Iraqi Government getting together a major package of money, @ 30-40 million US dollars, for the province of Babil. This is part of a reconciliation process so that the local governments in each province, (there are 18 of them here in Iraq) will be rewarded with more money to spend on improvements in the province for they cooperated and worked with the central Government of Iraq, (GoI). I had to work out all the logistics to move the Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and a couple of the GoI ministries down to our Regional Embassy Office, (REO) in the city of Hillah Iraq so that they can land safe and security. The loading zone is extremely small and can only take 2 helos on the ground at a time. I had to have 6 helos come down in 3 flights, (2 per flight). I had to go out and borrow the personnel helo from Genral Petraus, (4 star) and the personnel helo from ambassador Crocker so that I could haul the VIP's & General Rollo, (3 star from the English Army) and the other Iraqi's. I also had to make sure that those 2 helos were not delayed for General Petraus had plans for them. Now that was an interesting event. I, (along one state department guy and another Navy Officer) spent 2 weeks getting all the logistic details set up and got the security part going so that it could be taken care of. The absolute hardest part was dealing with the Iraqi's. We would get name from then and than assign them certain seats on specific helos on specific flight going in and out of the Hillah air strip. They were like 9 year olds. "I can't sit with him on that helo for he did not come to my meeting last month", "I can't sit with him for he did not vote for me" and of course we had to take the Deputy Prime Ministries personnel chief so he could eat. The Deputy Prime Ministry did not want to eat the food at the event, but the others would, it was a mess!
We got them all to the helos and we pretty much "herded them" into the helos and got them down there and back. Nobody died and nobody was wounded or injured so it was a good thing. I'm sure some were upset because they could not be where they wanted to be, but that was to bad.
I also had to be aware of what was going across the river, (picture
included), for the insurgent would come up in the groves on the wire and shoot at you and at some of the helos coming in, or else drop rockets and mortar in to let you know they are there and watching. It made for a very interesting and exciting time down in Hillah. We even had a New York Times reporter with us and he wrote an article about the event and it was in the paper on 1 Oct. He did not mention any of us in the military as helping him and putting things together for him. We were to remain invisible, so he did not mention us in the article. You see, some good things do go unnoticed!
Well, in a war in Iraq conducting a lot of VIP movement and getting it
done with nobody killed wounded or injured is an event in itself. Then again, "this is Iraq so.....it is all good"

So how is life going along there?

CDR USN
"Playing in the Sand"

[yesman065]

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:19 pm
Subject: Another busy day in Iraq...heading South

Well I was out all day yesterday and headed down south to Dhi-Qar to run a forum with the GOI, (Government of Iraq) and the Province of Dhi-Qar, (Southern Iraq) We had a lot of VIP's Amb Crocker from the US and the Amb's from Italy, Australia and Japan so security was unreal and of course we all got drawn into it. They had a bunch of kids waiting for the Vice President of Iraq and the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, they sang songs and handed out flowers, there was
also a marching band. It was quite a show. We arrived on time but the Iraqi showed 1½ hrs late for their own meeting. A couple of pictures for you to look at. It was a long day! Hope you enjoyed your trip to Italy. Now if you come here to Iraq and get on one of those flights that I do with the Italian Ambassador, will that count as time on a Italian vacation? I know it is just not the same climbing into a helo with @ 60 pounds of armor and "stuff" to be packed in and of course you have to deal with sand that come from the rotor wash. Well this is Iraq "It is all good".


CDR USN
"On the road again in Iraq"

[yesman065]

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:12 am

Well you soon get used to doing a lot of different things and they just
don't seem to bother all that much, because this is Iraq. My latest
adventure is just "another day in Iraq". We have been working with the
Iraqis on setting up a forum for the development and revitalization of
Baghdad. Well we got the Prime Minister, the 2 vice presidents, the
Deputy Prime minister and a lot of the Council of Representatives to
come and of course US ambassador Crocker and 7 other ambassadors along
with several of the US 2 stars and above. We also had international
press coverage coming in. A full blown Iraqi circus!

Yesterday I was over at the convention hall where the event was to be
held. I had to go over and make sure the Iraqi were doing what they
promised, along with a security detachment to secure the building for
the forum. Well the Iraqi wanted to show a 20 minute movie on the past
and future of Baghdad. They could not figure out how to work their lap
top and projector system, and of course, with our help we got it going
for them. Well the movie had a lot of very graphic war scenes of when
the US forces rolled into Baghdad and did what they had to do. It was
pretty graphic! I basically stole/borrowed the video from the Iraqis,
made copies and informed my boss. Well our 3 star generals and
Ambassador Crocker were not very happy at all with what was going to be
shown. Top people here in the embassy called over to the Iraqis and
told them they had to make changes. We, (US and Coalitions Forces) were
referred to at as "Mongrels" in the Iraqi video. Not a good thing!

The Iraqis promised to make changes so that they could show the video at
the forum in front of the international press. I had to go over and get
the video the next morning, screen it and report on it. I was heading
out today in the morning to get the forum and I was delayed for a patrol
in the area was ambushed by a IED, (Improvised Explosive Devise) and a
Lieutenant was killed and several wounded. They were 200 yards from the
checkpoint that flowed traffic into the facility where the forum was to
be held.

When I got there I had to guard the Iraqi Laptops from the Iraqis so
they could not slip in the old video in which they show the graphic war
scenes and calls us "Mongrels". Of course it is Iraqi so they are all
late! I manage to get the CD with the movie on, ( a whole another
story), and take it and run it in the Laptop and it was "cleaned". While
I was sitting on the floor in the corner watching this so no one else
could see it. Two soldiers' come by carrying their fully loaded out
M16-A4 machine guns, which is NOT allowed in the building, I asked them
what was going on. Well it seems a know terrorist had gotten through the
security, (or let through by some Iraqis) and was in the complex. They
had a picture of him and his name and what he had done in Iraq. He was a
really BAD person! They were conducting a huge manhunt, the Iraqis
stated to show up for the forum and it was becoming a real mess trying
to herd them to a area so the manhunt can continue. The Iraqis went
ahead and started the forum anyway and it went off and no one else was
killed or hurt. The day is over and I think I will call it a early day
and go back to my hooch and hit my rack!

How is your day going in America?


CDR USN
"On the Edge in Baghdad"

[yesman065]

Sent: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 5:20 am
Subject: Creative Rail Road work here in Iraq

We had people out flying the rails on the IRR, (Iraqi Railroad) and it
looks like we came across some creative Iraqi workers. It seems some
locals decided to dig a canal of their own so that they can get water
from one side of the track to the other. Now of course they do not have
permission, but that should not be a surprise, nor stop anyone, for this
is Iraq! Well as you look at the pipelines that run parallel to the
tracks they carry oil to and from Northern Iraq.

If you look down into the trench/canal it looks like they are dragging a
pipeline along inside the trench. I believe that they are getting ready
to tap into the oil pipeline and than bury their line into the
trench/canal. Now you got to give some credit to them for these people
are willing to go out in the middle of the desert and "tap in".

CDR USN
"International Railroad Consultant"

[yesman065]

.

[glatt]

Wow. That one belongs in wtf.

[ZenGum]

Indeed.

I'd hate to be in the next train to run over that.

I'd also hate to be attempting nation-building amongst people who either don't have a clue or don't give a damn. Didn't these people loot their own hospitals?

Good luck at the job - it is clear from these posts that some Iraqis both have a clue and give a damn - just not terribly many.

[Bullitt]

Speaking of nation building, a guy my dad works with who was recently sent over to Iraq to help rebuild certain aspects of their infrastructure has sent out an email update. Here you go, name withheld for privacy:



Dear family and friends:

With a little over four months under my belt now, I am beginning to feel at ease with the surroundings and the routine of work and daily life here, which, when we are not working, is mostly filled with sleep, exercise, trying not to eat too much chow in the dining facility, and waiting for helicopters. Lest anyone thinks the two hour advance arrivals at the airport in the States are unknown in a combat zone, forget it. Reservations for a seat on a flight must be made exactly four days in advance and you must check in at the air facility 2 hours before your departure time. The only positive is no TSA checkpoints, since everyone here is already armed. Most flights out of my camp and back to it are done at night, so this usually means sitting around a dusty plywood hut for two hours or more until around midnight, when the flight arrives and the wind from the rotors buffets the thin plywood walls. A Marine with a roster and a fluorescent blue chemlight ushers the passengers outside and we follow in single file to the landing zone, clad in our flak jackets and helmets, and lugging backpacks and rucksacks through the hot rotor wash, blowing sand, and gravel. Once aboard, bathed in dim green light, we sit knee to knee inside the rumbling fuselage, smelling exhaust fumes wafting through the narrow compartment. The waiting can last a few minutes, or if you are unlucky, there is a lengthy delay as the aircrews and ground crews work to load or unload cargo (sound familiar), which can take longer than you would think since it is being done in the dark, with a military forklift, while the helicopters are running. The last time I flew, when we departed a remote airbase, the helo fired off a solitary red flare, probably as a precaution, that was intended to distract man portable surface to air missiles. I don’t know if there was a legitimate threat below trying to shoot us down, but when you are sitting near the rear of the aircraft, as I was, peering out into the blackness beyond the edge of the ramp, and you hear a loud pop, followed by burst of red light, it certainly gets your attention for a second.

Since my first update, I have ridden on nearly a dozen helicopters and visited several cities, military bases/camps, and Joint Security Stations (police precincts) in Al Anbar Province. My focus has been on reconstruction and engineering, but our Marine Corps mission is focused on what is termed “Transition”, which, for the military, is the training, advising, and equipping of the Iraqi Security Forces, their Army, Police, and to a lesser extent, their newly formed Highway Patrol. Transition, though, is more than just training a military and a police force; it consists of several pillars or elements that must be interconnected and interdependent to fully function as one. These elements are: Rule of Law, Security, Communication, Governance, and Economics. In order to get all of these elements of Transition to work is a complicated, sometimes rewarding, and frequently frustrating process, involving military civil affairs teams, US State Department Provincial Reconstruction Teams, US Agency for International Development, law enforcement advisors, and instructors on judicial process and municipal management. The overall goal of Transition is to move the Iraqis to a point where they have become relatively self -sufficient and reasonably capable of providing security, stability, and the broad array of basic services at the local, regional, and national levels. There will be differing and uneven progress in all these areas, imperfect solutions at best, but if we and the Iraqis can build on the trust that has been established so far, their formal government institutions and their age old tribal organizations will find a way to work together and function for the betterment of their leaders and their constituents.

For the Marines, the Security element of Transition, especially the training and advising piece, can be somewhat counter intuitive for the American military mind. Our traditions and our ethos are steeped in the institutional practice of empowering young leaders and solving problems at the lowest levels. Our ranks are replete with Type A, problem solvers and aggressive, smart young enlisted who want to “fix” and change things, in this case the Iraqis and their seemingly bad habits. But the Iraqis do not adhere or subscribe to a Western military mindset. Arab militaries, for the most part, do not have any tradition of expecting their Corporals and Sergeants to make decisions; that is left to the Captains and Majors. However, the Iraqi soldier, or “jundi” is desirous of a challenge, eager to learn and show he is competent and capable, and their officers are, for the most part, quite seasoned. We Americans often look at their Army and Police with a very critical eye and see their shortcomings compared to our capabilities as deficiencies we must address and indeed correct before we can depart and deem our mission a success. But our trainers and advisors must fight this urge to try and remake the Iraqis in our image, for the longer we persist with this line of thinking, the more the Iraqis will lean on us and expect more from us. Lest we forget the lessons of history:

“It is better to let them do it themselves imperfectly, than do it yourself perfectly. It is their country…:

- T.E. Lawrence

We are, as one departing Colonel told me, “advisors, not providers” and the sooner we embrace that philosophy, the sooner the Iraqis will begin to solve their problems in their own time and in their own way. They are already doing this in many areas, we are simply here to ensure they make progress, but over time, that progress will have to be defined more by them, and less by us.

For those of you wondering where and when this relationship ends, it won’t, at least for another twenty years, perhaps much longer. We have made a long-term moral, financial, and military commitment to the Iraqis and we are not going to renege on that commitment, regardless of the political rhetoric in Washington DC or on the campaign trail. Just turn on the news and see President Bush confirming a partnership agreement with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Our degree of involvement and numbers of troops will decline in the years ahead, but it is obvious to me that we will have troops working alongside the Iraqis, just as we have the South Koreans and the Germans, for at least another generation. By that time, it is my hope that the young barefooted Iraqi boys, who passed me by the other day, pushing carts to Fallujah, will have had an opportunity to go to school, find an honorable way to earn a living, and raise their families in peace. The Marine Corps has sent me all over the world, and that is one thing I have seen in Asia, Europe and Africa – the desire to live, love and be left in peace is universal.

Semper Fidelis

[regular.joe]

An outstanding letter and a testament to many, many Military Personnel in Iraq who are really trying to help the Iraqis, and make the best of a very tough situation. They know more then anyone that it doesn't matter what put them there, they are and must do the best that they can.

During my deployment in Iraq I grew very discouraged at about the 7 month point. I grumbled for about a week, something like "what the fuck am I doing here???" . For various and sundry reasons. While pulling security on a roof top, one of the men in the building brought me down to see his father. The old man kissed both my cheeks and hugged me. They served us chai and ice water. The old man talked about the war with Iran. The younger man, slipped me a note that read "Please save us from the killerers. Thank you!" I carried that note until the day I left.

Please pass on to your friend that I for one am grateful for his service. Thank you!

Joe.

[lookout123]

great addition bullitt, thanks. you might want to delete his job title and unit though if anonymity is desireable.