Going Home

Touchdown on American soil was about 0545 yesterday morning, the sixth day after departure from the Embassy Compound in Baghdad, Iraq. It was a wonderful moment. We arrived in Atlanta in the pre-dawn darkness, so the visible cues were minimal. However, the first deep breath of sweet Georgia spring air made it clear – I was back in the land of promise.

We loaded onto buses for the 1.5 hour trip to Ft. Benning and headed south on I-85. No sooner were we clear of the sprawling outskirts of metropolitan Atlanta than the sun rose, large and brilliant through the early mists of the countryside. It seems Georgia has enjoyed a wet, though recently violent, spring and the whole visual verdant vitality was a welcome relief from the dust-colored monotony of Iraq and Kuwait.

Within five hours of arrival at Ft. Benning I was finally quit of my weapon and about 150 pounds of Army stuff that I had to lug halfway around the world knowing almost none of it would be used. Huge relief, though it might take a few days to get used to being in uniform without the now-familiar weight of a Berretta hanging from a shoulder holster. I’ll happily adjust. Because travel back to home station was still a day off, I had a little time to think about what is next.

I am between jobs, which is a pretty nice place to be when you’re still getting paid. The worries of the last job have a new owner, and the worries of the next job are not yet mine. So I have time to think about home.

My cousin Margie asked me if maybe, as Thomas Wolfe stated, it was impossible to go back home.

Said Wolfe: "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame, back home to exile, to escape to Europe and some foreign land, back home to lyricism, to singing just for singing's sake, back home to aestheticism, to one's youthful idea of 'the artist' and the all-sufficiency of 'art' and 'beauty' and 'love,' back home to the ivory tower, back home to places in the country, to the cottage in Bermude, away from all the strife and conflict of the world, back home to the father you have lost and have been looking for, back home to someone who can help you, save you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time--back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

It’s a good question and one the military struggles with during these long wars we fight. Long and frequent deployments force changes in the men and women fighting them as well as in those they leave behind. Immense time and energy are devoted to counseling service members prior to redeployment, trying to make sure they understand that both they and their loved ones are affected by the prolonged absences. Still, it causes endless grief to many whose expectations grossly exceed the reality they often find waiting for them when they step off the plane.

However, it is by no means universal. I think Wolfe gives too little credit to his fellow man and shows too little perspective on precisely what home means. Certainly the experience of a military deployment to a war zone changes the person experiencing it, and equally certain it changes those left behind. But it is a hell of a stretch to suggest that the recombination of these changed personalities can no longer constitute a home.

Most folks in the military, as well as the tens of thousands of civilian government and contractor workers who volunteer to deploy, have a bit of wanderlust built into them. Those who married them often are bitten by the same bug. Change is welcome and actively sought, at least for some period of time. I can again quote Wolfe, who also wrote "...he was like a man who stands upon a hill above the town he had left, yet does not say 'The town is near,' but turns his eyes upon the distant soaring ranges."

This man changes homes, a much different concept than leaving them. I’ve changed mine plenty, yet still know in my heart it is a place to which I can go.

Which brings me to my last observation of this day before I head to the airport and go to my home. I have already been the recipient of a hero’s welcome, which is not entirely fitting given how I spent my last year in contrast to the real horrors experienced by those truly at the “tip of the spear.” In my case, the true heroes are the ones I left at home, particularly my wife. I was provided a comfortable place to sleep, an abundance of excellent food, and given a fairly narrow range of tasks that I was responsible for each day. There was little to worry about, occasional rocket attacks excepted.

My family, on the other hand, had a void to fill above and beyond the very busy lives they already built for themselves. I couldn’t work on the cars, take care of the yard, fix things around the house, lecture the kids, or do much of any fatherly things while away. My thoughtful and loving bride bore the brunt of this capabilities gap, and did so superbly. She also did so without burdening me with many of the frustrations I know she had to be feeling. Every phone call, every Skype session, she was never anything but smiling and upbeat. Everything was always fine and there was no need for me to worry myself.

I am pretty confident that everything was NOT always just fine, but love her all the more for the stoicism that accompanied the competence displayed at just getting things done. Susie, and untold thousands like her throughout the military, is representative of what holds families together and ensures the home will be there when soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines come home. I owe her more than I can articulate and only hope I can thank her enough for being the real hero in this ordeal.

I’ll end now, for it’s time to go home.

Arabs and Kurds

I have again fallen behind in my writing and find myself on the road, headed home at the end of my deployment, with way too much time to kill waiting for planes. So I’ll try to bang out the Arab-Kurd piece I wanted to use to wrap up my on-the-ground observations.

Of all the simmering hot spots in Iraq, tension between the Arabs and the Kurds might be the one more Americans are somewhat familiar with, since it led to an extended American mission to enforce a no-fly zone after the first Gulf War. The essence of the issue is this: the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan is very much disconnected from the Iraqi central government and desires to get even more disconnected. Secession would be most to their liking and they are forever pushing the boundaries that might get them there.

There are three Iraqi provinces that constitute Kurdistan: Dahuk, Arbil, and Sulaymaniyah. All are on the northern-most border of Iraq. If it were as simple as dealing with the isolation of these three provinces, tensions might have been significantly reduced a long time ago. But Kurds don’t just live in Kurdistan – there are substantial populations throughout northern Iraq, intermingled with equally substantial Arab populations, primarily Sunni. This provides the basis for disagreement over what, precisely, the Kurdistan boundaries ought to be, particularly regarding some large cities in northern Iraq outside the three provinces.

This tension results in areas we Americans refer to as the disputed areas, located along a cultural fault line called the disputed boundary. This becomes very problematic because the Kurds have their very own military, the Peshmerga, and Kurdish police which are both independent of the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police. All of these entities share responsibility for security in the disputed areas, and they don’t get along all that well. The areas has been fairly calm for quite a while because the U.S. established tri-partite security mechanisms, with Iraqi, Kurd, and U.S. forces working side-by-side, in order to enable U.S. forces to help everyone work together.

That situation changes later this year as the U.S. forces start packing up and heading south in order to fulfill the agreement to leave Iraq NLT 31 December 2011. I don’t have high expectations that the Arab and Kurd forces are going to suddenly bond and start working shoulder to shoulder for the betterment of Iraq. The Kurds are likely to resume trying to push the envelope of their autonomy and the first gem they would like to secure is Mosul, which has deep cultural significance for both ethnic groups. It was recently described as “the Jerusalem of Iraq,” a phrase that drew massive condemnation from Iraqi politicians but seems to me to be pretty close to the mark. Mosul was the scene of some large and unruly demonstrations, part of the rage sweeping the Mideast these recent months, and the Peshmerga sent several large formations south to the outskirts of Mosul, ostensibly to protect the citizens from violent extremists trying to capitalize on the presence of large gatherings.

This was a very alarming incident that kept the U.S. military and diplomatic leadership very busy for a period of time; ultimately all involved agreed that it was not a particularly healthy situation and would be dramatically improved if the Peshmerga returned to their bases. It would be nice if this were as simple as an “oops” and the status quo restored for the foreseeable future, but I’m guessing that the probability of that does not statistically differ from zero. Once the U.S. forces leave, the games begin. It could be awhile before a winner might be declared.

Thus ends this rather sad tale. The Shia-Sunni problem I discussed in last blog seems to be longer term, played out over several years as the soul of Iraq sorts itself out. The Arab-Kurd problem could escalate within months of the U.S. forces departure. There are a lot more players than just the Iraqi ethnic groups – Iran, Turkey, and Syria all have a stake in the game and will be active players. While I doubt this will play out to be considered monumental in the midst of all other Mideast turmoil, it is another bit of grief imposed upon a population that is largely fed up with the power posturing of politicians; folks who largely have no quarrel with ethno-sectarian differences but instead seek to just have a better life.

I thought a month ago that these last two blogs would address the major frictions I see coming for Iraq, but more recent events lead me to (hopefully) write about one more. The demonstrations held every week throughout Iraq are proving to be especially nasty in what I thought was the least likely venue: Kurdistan. Considered by Westerners as the most stable, most economically viable, and the most Western-friendly confines in all of Iraq, it turns out to be something else as well: the most suppressive. It looks like I’ll have a few days cooling my heels in Kuwait, so I expect I’ll offer up some thoughts on that problem soon.

American Pie

I thought for certain that, as my time drew near to depart this place, time would stretch, hours would seem like days and days like forever. Instead, that end date is rushing toward me at warp speed and I find myself concerned about being personally and professionally prepared to leave. Suddenly the 14-hour work days and the seven day work weeks seem inadequate to the tasks yet before me.

I rate that a good thing, because the tasks will get done and the time will melt away all the more quickly. I am ready to go home. I am weary beyond words.

The people that surround me here in Iraq are awesome to work with and fun to be around in the few off hours we have, but they are not the family and friends I want to return to and this is not a place you can ever truly relax. I am delighted to have been able to contribute to the cause, but doubly delighted to be done with it.

I shouldn’t leave here without some sort of after action review, some deeply-thought insights into where this whole Mideast adventure is headed. So, in that spirit, I’ll vouch to complete this and at least one more blog to lay out two scenarios that have the potential to quickly unravel all that was raveled in the last eight years.

The first scenario is the struggle between fundamentalist versus moderate Islam; rule of church versus rule of law; theocratic versus democratic; Iran versus Iraq. Baby boomer readers will understand how the title of this blog was derived as I wrap it up.

The elections in Iraq just over a year ago were, by most standards, highly successful. It’s been a pretty rocky road since then, but the government remains mostly intact. When viewed through the lens of recent regional unrest, Iraqis are looking pretty good as far as self-determination goes. But not all is well in their world.

There remains, by any reasonable standards, a lot of violence. The Iraq/Pan-Arab media reports are rife with the stories, though the press here does not tend toward editorializing and insights to any particular event are often lacking. Still, the oft-branded culprit is Al Qaeda Iraq (AQI), a nefarious enough group of zombies with pretty much no self-redeeming features. My guess is that they get more credit than is due them.

There are two primary camps of bad guys in this country: Shia extremist groups and Sunni extremist groups. AQI is one of several in the latter. Sunnis are the minority Arab sect and held all of the cards during the reign of Saddam Hussein, so many of them have axes to grind now that their influence is beholden to votes rather than brutal suppression. The Shia camp has a pretty formidable list of organizations that, on the surface, should be pretty happy with the current state of affairs. But they are not.

All that I’m about to wax eloquent about here is largely speculation, based on a fair amount of observation, some personal prejudices, and a dash of paranoia. Iraqis, in general, seem very desirous of pulling themselves out of the depths of cultural despair and establishing their country as a shining example of tolerance and enlightenment. They experienced, in a truly horrific fashion, the downsides of pursuing deeply rooted ethnic and sectarian grudges and they are not inclined to revisit the issue. They are currently consumed with the unenviable task of clawing their way up from the bottom tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy and have high hopes that this democracy thing is going to solve some vexing issues that are now stifling progress.

The government, however, is struggling to come to grips with democracy. You hope that by giving everyone a voice you build a choir, but the sad truth is that you are much more likely to just get a lot of noise. Machismo still rules in these parts, and wasta is the coin of the realm. Politicians prefer to control rather than guide, and it’s hard to control a bunch of people that believe they have the basic rights associated with personal freedom.

Freedom is the ticket. It may well form a fault line that could split the country. This brings us back to the unhappy Shia extremist groups. Here’s the rub: the Shia were suppressed, sometimes violently, under previous Iraq regimes. Now they form the majority of the government, but many of them are less than happy with the direction the country is moving with its newfound freedoms.

There is a healthy appetite within the population for singing, dancing, drinking, cinema, orchestra, and any number of other seemingly normal societal undertakings. The unhappy Shia tend to frown upon such activities. Theirs is a more strict interpretation of acceptable Islamic behaviors, typically accompanied by an equally strict interpretation of how such transgressions should be managed. These folks are often joined at the hip with Iran, another Shia majority nation that is quite openly working to exert their influence in Iraq, seemingly with the intent to control the country, at least by proxy, once the U.S. military leaves.

Thus theocracy creeps into the picture, the potential for Iranian-backed influential Iraqis to steer the population toward a lifestyle dictated by Islamic fundamentalism rather than popular urges. Secularism has no home in that world. The probability of a growing rift between Arab sects seems certain. At the moment, the typical Iraqi appears to have little love for Iran, or for any other country they believe might be trying to exert influence on them (like the U.S.!). The seeming disconnect between how the Iraqis feel and how their leaders behave could have some very negative consequences.

Protests and demonstrations are all the rage here right now, but I couldn’t guess the outcome of unrest triggered by a push toward fundamentalist influence in Iraq. My concern is that I think Iraqis seek to embrace more of the simple joys in life. They want to dance, they want to sing. But if the departure of the U.S. troops becomes the impetus of a fundamentalist revival, December 31, 2011 might be known in Iraq as the day the music died.

Politics -- Nothing New Here

I find it disconcerting that when momentous events are ripe for influencing in a positive fashion and the only catalyst needed is for those in power to pull together for the common good, personal agendas always seem to trump the common good. Opportunities to coalesce for universal gain instead become polarizing events that fracture logic and eliminate all hope for finding a feasible solution space. The good of the many continues to be trampled by the self-serving narrow-mindedness of the few.

And it’s not just in the United States. You will recall my previous musings on the succession of “Days of Whatever” protests and demonstrations, widespread throughout Iraq and the Mideast, though thinly attended in this country. While most of the surrounding countries in this region clamor for freedom and representative government, the Iraqis are on a different mission. They have a representative government but are unhappy with how they are being represented. Too much corruption and too few jobs and basic services seem to be the rallying causes.

The powers-that-be are, individually, going on the record as saying all the right things and occasionally doing the right thing to help reduce grievances. Off the record, they cannot get it together. In terms of common purpose, the only purpose for which there is widespread commonality is self-preservation. If it looks like the Minister of Electricity is going to fail (in this case, knowing he is going to fail) – DO NOT HELP! Keep your distance and throw a few rocks of your own in his direction and wait for him to fail. Maybe even drum up some support from your fellow Representatives to create an artificial timeline for success that you know cannot possibly be met.

The thing is, if this had the effect of driving out the inept and creating opportunities for the talented, we could hope for progress. But – and you won’t be surprised to read this – nobody has a better plan. All they seem interested in is creating opportunities for themselves. With key defense ministry positions still empty, meaning the government is still not fully formed, the Iraqi politicos are already maneuvering behind the scenes to form coalitions that might fill the void should the current government fail. This is not a universal condemnation of elected Iraqi officials – there are a lot of them earnestly seeking to make this democracy thing work. But the wasta (clout or influence) resides in but a few and they are not particularly interested in giving it up via compromise or cooperation.

The point I am poorly conveying here is that, in a country desperately seeking solutions, people in charge appear to be problems. The government needs to act quickly and decisively on legislation to encourage foreign investment, establish oil laws, and empower appropriate ministries to develop meaningful fixes to rather serious national infrastructure problems. This is the root of Iraqi discontent, though the lack of perceived effort to develop fixes is beginning to manifest itself in some of the civil unrest, characterized as government corruption and ineptitude.

Such is democracy in Iraq today. You might argue that they learned from the professionals – the U.S. – and it would be difficult to oppose such an argument given the current paralysis demonstrated by our own elected bodies. The huge moderate middle is concerned. They know what right looks like and what they see is wrong. Political polarization is maddeningly unproductive in our country, dangerously unproductive in Iraq.

Note: I am precisely a month from leaving Iraq as I write this:)

Day of Rage Redux

My last entry to this blog addressed planned demonstrations across Iraq and the Middle East for what was billed as the “Day of Rage.” Libya aside, it might more appropriately be referred to as the “Day of Umbrage.” Not that there weren’t more than a few hotheads out there stirring the pot, but the overall effect was one of testing the waters, trying to establish where limits might exist for freedom of speech.

In Iraq, this tentativeness applied to both the people and the government. The people wondering how far they can push to make their point without drawing the ire of security forces, and the government wondering how far they can let things go without compromising their ability to protect themselves. In the end, each made some poor decisions and people were killed and injured.

In spite of the aggressive associations implied by the naming of the day, the intent was actually to conduct peaceful demonstrations across Iraq (as well as other regional countries) to allow folks to express their general lack of appreciation for their quality of life. In most cases, that is how it panned out. Large groups of people showed up with placards depicting the varied sources of their righteous indignation. They milled around and made some modicum of noise to project the general ambiance of rebelliousness. The powers-that-be in several of the provinces met with protestors, talked through their many differences, and parted ways to follow up on progress later. A few local leaders essentially agreed that they were unworthy and simply quit.

Other venues were more complicated. In Baghdad, a group of rabble rousers very quickly broke from the main protest site and headed directly to a bridge leading into the International Zone, home to most of the central government as well as foreign embassies. The government of Iraq, however appreciative they might be of the right to assemble and free speech, are very much less appreciative of crowds of angry young men patrolling their neighborhoods. Thus, the entrances to the International Zone were heavily guarded. It is difficult to guess what the motivation of the afore-mentioned rabble rousers was, but it prompted them to march directly to security forces on the bridge and start chucking rocks at them. The outcome was fairly predictable and the takeaway is that throwing rocks at armed and nervous men is not a recommended way to express or exchange grievances.

In parts north of Baghdad, another highly energetic group with equally dubious intent marched directly to the local seat of government, chased the leadership away, and burned the building. Like most Iraqi protestors, what they really wanted was better services, more jobs, and less corruption. Unlike most protestors, what they got was a club upside the head. There were a lot of teachable moments that day.

Poor choices were not the sole domain of the populace. Iraqi leadership was very, very nervous because of the more serious outcomes of protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. While publicly proclaiming the constitutional rights of citizens to gather and protest, they were working hard behind the scenes to make it extremely difficult for any large gatherings to occur. It was done under the guise of protecting the people from terrorists, but the effect was to limit the ability to travel and the ability to stay in any one place for very long.

It was a bad day for journalists, with some killed, some stabbed, and some beat up. Nobody has been able to pin this on the government, but it smacks heavily of suppression typically associated with strong-arm regimes.

Not all of the security forces were well-disciplined; a number of people were shot and killed in confrontations that did not appear to require such drastic measures. Noting the examples of restraint shown across most of the country, it seems reasonable to say these isolated violent security force responses ran heavily counter to the intent of the government and will cause some serious trouble to the unit commanders involved.

To paraphrase an old pearl of wisdom: when all was said and done, much was said but little was done. It appears that nowhere was there a crowd that exceeded 10,000 people. The protests were widespread but lightly attended. The main messages were clearly conveyed to the government, which responded with numerous measures and recommendations to help.

Words, not yet deeds, so the rumblings continue. A week after the “Day of Rage” we saw more scattered, but subdued, protests in what was dubbed either “Day of Regret” or “Dignity Friday.” As I write this on Monday, 7 March, we are in the midst of the “Day of Remorse.” The apparent lack of enthusiasm for violent protest will hopefully soon get us back to “Day of the Week.”

Day of Rage

I wrote a few weeks back about what the US was doing in Iraq, with the intent to follow that up with my thoughts on what Iraq was doing in Iraq. In the interim, democratic fervor broke out across the Middle East and led me down a different path for the last entry. Since that story line continues unabated, I reckon I'm going to have to sort of blend the two concepts to provide a better perspective for what is going on here.

To set the stage, I'll lay out the basics of the first issue, what Iraq is doing in Iraq. It was almost one year ago (March 7, 2010) that Iraqis went to the polls to elect their first truly sovereign government since the coalition invasion in March of 2003. Participation was robust, representing more than 60% of eligible voters and all ethno-sectarian groups, and legitimate, having endured microscopic scrutiny from scads of international monitors.

Unfortunately, it took nine more months to finally form the elected government, and even that is not wholly true, since the most powerful ministries (Defense, Interior, and National Defense) remain under the Prime Minister, who has not deemed any candidates worthy as of yet. On the heels of this stalemate comes a somewhat shocking decision by the Federal Supreme Court to place a number of "independent" government bodies under the control of the PM instead of the Council of Representatives (roughly equivalent to Congress). Two of these independent bodies are the Integrity Commission and the Independent High Electoral Council (overseers of elections). This action, together with retention of control of the security ministries, has many Iraqis concerned about "another Saddam."

Intrigue aside, the formation of the rest of the government generated a lot of activity in the diplomatic and economic realms. Iraqi officials were flying all over the region visiting fellow diplomats, who were equally bent on coming here to visit. The Arab League Summit, planned for Baghdad but long considered in jeopardy because of security concerns and lack of government formation, suddenly drew advocates from across the region. More oil and gas deals were cut, oil production started creeping up, and all indicators were that Iraq was opening up for business.

There is still too much violence -- the zombies work hard to sustain the body count and are always looking for easy targets, typically crowds of pilgrims or market shoppers. The Iraq security forces are leaning hard on these guys, forcing them to find paths of least resistance and further contributing to the belief that they are an oozing sore on the skin of humanity.

All of that has now been overtaken by events. The toppling of the Tunisia and Egyptian rulers quickly became a regional movement to displace suppressive autocratic regimes. Though Iraq has what the rest of them want, which is representative government, they still feel they have plenty to gripe about and they have busily been doing just that for two weeks.

Unlike the regime change sought elsewhere, the issues in Iraq are, so far, more local. Corrupt officials, lack of jobs, and meager basic services such as electricity, clean water, and garbage removal. Demonstrations of widely varied sizes crop up each day in different cities and provinces. Sometimes the protesters misbehave and sometimes the security forces do as well. Protesters throw rocks and set fire to government buildings, security forces shoot some of them. There is considerable tension. And growing cohesiveness among the disenchanted.

There is not much Internet access yet in Iraq, but social media combined with very robust cell phone ownership combined to gradually direct broad interest to this Friday, the 25th of Feb. It is dubbed the Day of Rage. I, largely due to proximity, am not a big fan of the adoption of such a mean-spirited
moniker, but there it is and here it will soon be.

It is impossible to guess how this will play out. The Iraqis are justifiably upset with the lack of attention their elected government opted to bestow upon them, but must be aware at some level that no miracles will happen overnight no matter who is in charge. These folks all need to engage in some meaningful dialogue, quickly followed by some equally meaningful actions that clearly display honest intent and a credible plan for improvement over time.

Should make for a very interesting day.

Super Bowl and Mideast Unrest

I thought my next installment to this endeavor would be to discuss what it is that Iraq is doing in Iraq these days. Fortunately, other topics have moved to the fore and I can continue to keep that one “on the shelf” for future use.

First recent topic of interest is the Super Bowl. I write this on Super Bowl Sunday and in anticipation of a somewhat memorable event unfolding over the next 15 hours. For those of you reading this that plan on having or attending a Super Bowl party, keep in mind that about the time you are setting out the chips and dips, those of us who choose to watch here will be struggling to emerge from the deepest stages of sleep. Start time in Baghdad is 0230, so the prevailing strategy is to get 3-4 hours of sleep pre-game, stagger over to the dining facility to watch the game, then try to get 3-4 more hours of sleep post-game.

The powers that be in U.S. Forces – Iraq have deemed that Monday morning be free of scheduled activities, a hopeful attempt to prevent thousands of folks from sleeping on their keyboards through most of the day. This enables the post-game slumber. To help achieve that slumber, the Omnipotent are temporarily lifting the alcohol prohibition imposed by General Order #1. Every service member gets two beers during the game.

This is a welcome development, done for just the second time since my arrival here last April. However, it unfairly excludes a large part of our work force, that being the contractors and government civilians entwined throughout the organization. I briefly considered foregoing my beers in silent protest. Briefly, as in less time than it took to write this sentence. Sucks to be them. My apologies to those folks for my lack of sensitivity, but my experience is that misery will find me and I need not practice for it.

That’s it for sports. Now for world news.

The topic du jour, for jour after jour here over the last week, is the civil unrest in the Middle East exemplified by Tunisia and Egypt. I’m guessing it is at least mildly interesting for everyone back in the land of plenty; it is at least mildly disconcerting for most of us here in the land of wretched essential services. The Iraqis, inscrutable as ever, are tough to read on the topic of mass revolt.
There seems to be a segment of the population that believes Iraq holds the political high ground in the Mideast by virtue of their toppling of a despotic regime and institution of a democratic society. These folks believe others in the region want to be like them.

A variation of this view has a depressing caveat – they are embarrassed that it took an outside power, in this case the U.S., to unseat Saddam Hussein. Iraqis are deeply xenophobic and this interference does not sit well with most of them.

The more prevalent position is to use the Tunisia/Egypt events as a veiled threat to the new government of Iraq. Though there is huge potential for Iraqi economic prosperity from oil, gas, religious tourism, and other promising sectors, you can’t escape the physics that tell you potential can be a long way from kinetic. The current government is on the hook to get the ball rolling but it has to start by satisfying the basic needs of its own population.

So…democracy in Iraq is in the “show me” phase and everyone is very much aware of the possibility of Egypt’s trials becoming a blueprint for Iraq action. Unhappy folks all over Iraq have been protesting ever since the elections last March, mostly over lack of electricity. On one hand this is a good thing – the government allows citizens to assemble and recognizes their rights to criticize elected officials. On the other hand, you worry that demonstrations take on a life of their own and move beyond the intended goals of the organizers. Fixing Iraq infrastructure problems will take years, so the big question is: can it be done in a visible and measurable way that is acceptable to the population?

If not, my preference is to read about it in the papers rather than watch and listen to it outside the walls of this compound.

Current Status: U.S. in Iraq

Now that R&R is well behind me and I’m once again settled into what passes for routine here, it seems appropriate to provide an update on what is going on in Iraq. Being as I’m now strapped for topics on a week-to-week basis, I’ll try to milk this for two separate blogs – one about what the United States is doing in Iraq and another about what Iraq is doing in Iraq.

It was very apparent to me while home on R&R that this is not the happening, news-magnet war venue. It was more than a bit strange to read the paper morning after morning and discover that the struggle consuming my days, weeks, and months abroad doesn’t typically rate even a sentence at home. In the big scheme of things, that is probably OK. It suggests that nothing truly horrific is going down, like a scandal involving the Prime Minister and the wife of a close rival. Or an Iraqi soccer star accused of steroid use.

Fortunately, we are spared all of that grief, at least at this point in time. It is the same old, same old. Zombies blowing up innocents, government factions pointing fingers, officials perfecting the art of graft, and, in spite of all of that, economic growth and diplomatic success. What, you are probably not at all wondering, does that mean in terms of U.S. involvement?

It means that the Security Agreement the U.S. and Iraqi government signed in Jan of 2009 will be fulfilled in just a shade over 11 months from now. The military will complete or transfer all tasks currently being undertaken, primarily advising and training Iraq security forces, and vacate the premises not later than 31 December of this year. It should be interesting. While U.S. Forces – Iraq ably demonstrated the ability to rapidly reduce numbers of troops back in August, it also displayed an annoying tendency to not rapidly reduce associated tasks. There are considerable efforts expended here to help the Iraqis in a broad array of security and governance tasks and it will be a challenge to find the right balance between maximum assistance and minimal time to pack and leave.

As Security Agreement compliance progresses, the U.S. and Iraq governments are working on ways and means to execute a different accord, also signed in 2009. The Strategic Framework Agreement spells out a large number of areas where the two countries will continue to cooperate, to include business, energy, water, education, agriculture, and everything else they could think of at the time it was written. The document does not specify that either country do anything at all, just that they agree to work together and do good things in those areas.

The biggest obstacle to these good intentions is the persistent low level of trust the Iraqi people have for the U.S. or any other foreign influence. They mostly just want us gone, which we are busily planning to do. If pressed, they would agree it would be nice if some quality of life improvements could occur as the result of continued cooperation, but it seems both sides are not yet sure how to manage the contradictions. Some balance will eventually be reached that will keep the diplomats engaged enough with the Iraq government to allow U.S. engagement to advance civil capacity.

That, in a nutshell, is where we stand right now. The U.S. military is pushing hard to bring the Iraq security forces to the highest possible levels of competence over the next ten months, after which the physics of logistics takes over and sufficient work must be applied to move the considerable mass of USF-I the 7,000 or so miles home. That, thankfully, will not be my tale to tell.

R&R

I am returned from my brief foray to the real world. Christmas with family (which was a white Christmas before that day ended), New Year’s Eve with a rather raucous crowd of good friends, and plenty of quality moments spread throughout my 15 day stay. It was a wonderful break that passed all too quickly before I had to repack my bags and trundle eastward once again.

Much of my activity while home was blissfully unremarkable – the mundane rituals of daily living that most wish to escape from when practiced too long, but delighted in by those long absent from such routines. So, the only really interesting thing to relate of the whole experience is, unsurprisingly, the journey out of and back into theater.

I say unsurprisingly because anyone who recalls my early stories of the deployment experience will recall that getting there is half the fun. It was no different this time around. The whole thing is so militarily cliché: hurry up and wait.

My scheduled flight out of Baghdad was at 1650 on 21 Dec, but I had to make my way across the red zone to get to the airport. Normally this would require one of two ugly transportation plans: either utilize an embassy Rhino Run that gets me directly to the airport but a day ahead of time or find a ride across the street to Forward Operating Base Union III and catch an armored convoy to the Victory Base complex, then find some kind soul to take me to the airport. The latter process typically begins at 0700 and could take several hours to complete, but at least it is on the same day as the flight. I got lucky and was able to use a third option. My boss happened to also be flying out (inter-theater) that day and I hitched a ride with his security detachment.

I departed the embassy compound at 0800 on 21 December and arrived at the airport about an hour later. Things were going swimmingly. Sadly, it is still almost eight hours until the flight. Check in was quick and painless, the wait long and excruciating. In the end, it did at least leave on time.

Flight from Baghdad to Kuwait on a C-130 was about 1.5 hours, after which some RHIP kicks in and I (and a few other ranking dudes) am culled from the herd and escorted directly through the arrival processes. Not that they needed to be in any big hurry, since the contract flight from Kuwait to Atlanta wasn’t until the following evening. I sign for some linens, grab a cot and get a reasonably good night’s sleep.

Up early on 22 Dec, I shower, shave and breakfast the next morning and then go into long, long vegetation mode. They told me to stop by the liaison desk at 1300 to check departure times and my follow-on commercial flight itinerary from Atlanta to Norfolk. So I stopped by at 1300, only to be told to stop by again at 1500. At 1500, they told me to stop by at 1700 because that is when they would transport the distinguished visitors (colonels and above and sergeants major) to the airfield.

We departed at 1700. Did a quick customs check at the airfield and were directed to the DV lounge with a vague sense that the flight would leave around 2300. Somewhere near 2300 they told us there were some delays and we wouldn’t leave until the next morning. So there we were, about six colonels and another six sergeants major trying to sleep comfortably on the limited selection of chairs and single couch of the lounge. It was a very long night.

Fortunately, we did, in fact, depart around 0900 on 23 Dec. I say fortunately because my connecting flight from Atlanta to Norfolk was at 2140 that night and, accounting for time zone changes, any later departure would have made me very nervous. They allowed the DVs to board first, which again turned out to be a bust because it was all coach, all the way from tail to cockpit. Take whatever crappy seat you want before the rest of the gang crowds in. 350 seats, 350 passengers. But what the heck -- we're going home!

We flew first to Shannon Ireland to refuel, which was convenient because it enabled me to do a bit of shopping in their very nice airport store, sparing me some of the Christmas eve pain anticipated for my last-minute needs. There was a group of young Irish lads and lasses, maybe 6th graders, performing a Christmas concert in the terminal, which lent a nice holiday feel to the stop.

Stayed in Shannon for 1.5 hours and zoomed on into Atlanta, arriving at 1800. Once again got some RHIP treatment and was expedited through customs and take directly to a Delta counter, where they quickly moved me to an earlier flight that started boarding shortly after I hit the gate. All was good after that, arriving in Norfolk on time and to the reception of my family.

The return flight was less troublesome. Left Norfolk on time, arrived in Atlanta around 1100. Unfortunately, charter flight to Kuwait wasn't scehduled to depart until 1930. Another long day in an airport. When I eventually went to the gate, most of the military waiting there were scheduled for an earlier flight, which was sitting at the gate. They left way late, pushing our departure to almost 2200. Good news is that now I had a business class seat -- lots more room and a handy little reclining feature. I slept most of the leg to Ireland and again from there to Kuwait -- a consequence of too much fun and too little sleep the night before, thanks to an impromptu party with a few good friends.

Got into Kuwait around 2200 the next day, again grabbed a cot but this time only about 3.5 hours of sleep before having to make a 0430 roll call for my flight to Baghdad. That flight went out on time at 0730. Onboard was a sergeant major who works near where I was headed and whose work required the ability to move freely about the country, so I hitched a ride back to the embassy with his security detail.

And here I am. Again. But less than 100 days to redeployment, one more crappy ride halfway around the world before home for good!

Christmas in Baghdad

Given that the lapses between my blog updates grow ever longer, as material continues to thin and obligations continue to thicken, this will likely be my last entry prior to heading home for Christmas. I am one of the fortunate souls whose accumulated time in country makes it practical to take R&R during this very special family holiday season.

I write this on 16 December, just four days prior to leaving and nine days prior to Christmas, but the holiday spirit remains difficult to summon here in the middle of Baghdad. There are decorations and trees popping up in different offices and cubicles, cards piling up rapidly from friends, family, and the thousands of authors of “Dear Military Member” correspondence who ship by the case. The Embassy has festive lights strung everywhere around the compound. The dining facility plays Christmas songs at every meal. Even the weather is trying to help, as it has grown both cool and damp, with the sun hanging low in the southern sky in a dull and near-constant haze.

Still, one day stretches into the next and the battle rhythm does not allow for the numerous festivities and frivolities that typically drive us breathlessly through December, desperately seeking to jam more and more goodwill into the days leading up to Christmas eve and the big exhale. The giddiness that rises and stays so close to the surface as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is whittled to the carcass is much more deeply buried here, anchored down by the surroundings, by the endless tasks, and by the simple fact that the overwhelming majority of folks cannot be home for Christmas.

I’m not suggesting the whole place is in some deep funk – it’s a lot more like business as usual with a vague sense that we’re missing something important. Even so, when Christmas day rolls around the calendars will be cleared, great food will be served in large quantities, cookies and candies will be gorged upon, gifts will be exchanged and, no doubt, more than a few Christmas carols will be sung. Sometime around 4 p.m. local time here, though, people will begin drifting off to be by themselves. They are looking for phones in a quiet place or maybe heading to their laptops in their CHU or carrying those laptops to where they can find a good WI-FI connection.

It will be Christmas morning in the U.S. and I guarantee that everyone here who can will electronically plug themselves into it, via phone or Skype. A million tears will be shed here that afternoon as the mass of moms and dads, sons and daughters, and grandmothers and grandfathers watch or listen, trying to emotionally touch loved ones they cannot physically reach.

I did not mean for this bit of writing to dampen your spirits, but do ask for some small considerations. I am surrounded by brilliant and dedicated professionals in the Department of Defense and the Department of State. Almost all of them asked to come here, so there can never be pity. But at some point in time on Christmas day, raise a glass and honor our absent companions, both those whose empty chairs will be filled again next year and those whose will forever remain empty.

Then get a good night’s sleep because then, as always, they've got your back.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a milestone on a couple of different levels here in Baghdad. The 25th of November happens to be precisely seven months since I swiped my I.D. card at a machine in Kuwait to mark the start of my deployment clock in the Iraqi theater. More significant, I think, is the passage of Thanksgiving 7,000 miles away from home.

It is by no means my first holiday in theater, of course. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran’s Day have all come and gone on my watch here beside the Tigris River. Each requires distinct reflections, and each is associated with its own traditional observations. But none equate to the concept of “home” quite like Thanksgiving does.

And so my own personal reflections and observations must adjust to this unwelcome reality. My little gang of analysts began the day at 0900 with a leisurely 4-mile walk, sort of providing the excuse for the culinary excess to come. The walk ended just as a flag football game began between two organizations I share a large cubicle farm with. I had a little down time after the game to have a cup of coffee and write this blurb before the next event, which is an Iraqi lunch in the office provided by our colleague Haidur. That will, in all likelihood, convince me of the need to sneak into the gym before heading to the dining facility in the afternoon for the massive Thanksgiving meal for which military mess halls are renowned.

I anticipate no earnest effort by anyone to engage in real work after dinner (not that any effort is being made before then, either), so that becomes the cue for folks to retreat to their CHUs and begin connecting with their loved ones back home. Bandwidth is always a challenge here and will no doubt be doubly challenging with the expected demand placed on Skype today.

With the adjustments to the holiday observation pretty much established, I’ll turn now to reflections. First and foremost involves the giving of thanks. It becomes pretty clear after spending a short amount of time in a place like Iraq that I and every fellow countryman of mine should drop to our knees every day and thank God we were born Americans. We certainly have long lists of peeves, gripes, and topics of grave concern, but the lights come on every time we hit the switch, the water is drinkable right from the tap, and it never crosses our minds that when we leave the house to visit or shop we might die a violent death. Go ahead and complain about potholes and school budgets – it’s your civic duty – but be thankful that these are the types of things that make your life difficult.

The big reflection on this day is, of course, family. Weirdly, I have pretty much zero concern about the ability of my family to take care of themselves and keep the home fires burning while I’m away. Susie has been managing so much, for so long, that I rarely have any troubling thoughts about the family’s ability to cope. However, I am fretting a great deal about the turkey and, more importantly, the gravy. These are my Thanksgiving tasks, usually begun immediately after reading the morning paper and culminating with the Last Task before serving, which is making gravy from the turkey drippings.

It will all get done, and done well, but it is what I think about on Thanksgiving, a comfortable routine that is traditionally a prelude to a wonderful day spent with family and friends, food and wine, fun and frivolity. This one hits home more than any other holidays, because this one is all about being thankful for what you have and you just can’t escape the fact that it all is, temporarily, just beyond your reach.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

For anyone paying attention, you know that finally, after months and months of posturing, bullying, sucking-up, foot-dragging, lying, arrogance, deceit, and lord knows what sort of illegal behaviors, we finally see conditions established to form the next government.

But enough of election day in the U.S. The same thing happened here in Iraq at about the same time. Eight months and four days after the national elections, the Iraqi Council of Representatives finally gathered to finish the session they opened, and left open, way back in June.

This probably requires some explanation, though the truth here won't necessarily clarify a great deal. In accordance with the Iraq constitution, the newly elected council of representatives (COR) must elect a President within, I think, a week of the first session. That would have been a simple enough deal except for this: every bloc/list/party that won seats in the government wants prestigious positions in the government and there is no systematic means of doing this. That means you can't name the President unless you know who the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the COR will be, and each of the three main ethnic and sectarian insists on at least one of these positions. Anyone not getting the position they want will insist on certain ministerial powers for their bloc/list/party to offset the diminished powers of their own office. Since all elected officials know this routine, they met for about an hour at the initial session, then went home without ever closing it. They have all been collecting paychecks (HUGE paychecks) for eight months and not doing a damn thing to earn it.

The Prime Minister is the plum position and the most powerful, so each bloc/list/party maneuvers to get it. It's a no-holds-barred ugly process and it puts the whole system in flux as power players seek alliances along any imaginable lines. Guys who hate each other's guts, sometimes multiple parties of guys who hate each other's guts, will merge then diverge, coalesce then fragment, form then deform, always trying to gain an edge that others won't be able to overcome.

There is no end to outsiders willing to "help." The U.S., Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, and anyone else candidates can woo or influence to make themselves appear to have the upper hand. The two primary contenders spent huge amounts of time visiting neighboring states in hopes of gaining some sort of "most favored candidate" status. Each of these countries has their own agenda to work, and there was a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure from every direction to form the government in ways favorable to those countries. The U.S. wants an inclusive and representative government to preclude too much Shia influence, which plays into the hands of Shia controlled Iran. We also want to limit governance roles for Muqtada Sadr, a rather thuggish dude with a large following in Iraq that collectively have shown no real talent for anything but mayhem. Iran, of course, has their own vision of how things should look, and Mr. Sadr figures prominently in that view.

Anyway, this soup has been simmering for a long time whilst being stirred by these many spoons. Somehow, all of the players reached a point where they all thought they agreed upon some grand bargain. The COR reconvened, they named the President, speaker of the COR, and a couple of vice Presidents before things started unraveling. It seems the leading vote-getter from the elections, Mr. Allawi, could not overcome the alliances forged by his nemesis Mr. Maliki, but did manage to force some sort of power-sharing deal that resulted in a brand-new position in the government. Unfortunately, the COR didn't bother to name him to this position on day one and things turned ugly.

I think they may have worked things back out, but we won't know for a few more days because after the first session they took a break for Eid al-Adha, the celebration of sacrifice held each year after the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). Once they reconvene, Mr. Maliki will be formerly charged to form the government and has 30 days in which to do so. That means satisfying all of the deals made to enable his claiming of Prime Minister, so I expect it will be an interesting time between now and Christmas.

If not before I leave, then upon my return from Christmas R&R there should be a fully-formed government. Insha'Allah.

Halloween and Subsequent Activities

November is here, along with Election Day, so I can add a couple of things to the list of things I DO NOT miss.

I do not miss election campaigning in the good ‘ol US of A. I catch glimpses of the madness on TV while eating in the dining facility and it is just a sad state of affairs. If these knuckleheads spent as much time ruminating on real problems as they spend on digging up dirt on their opponents they might actually come across as marginally enlightened.

The parallels to the political situation at home and in Iraq are alarming, though at least here a lot of it can be attributed to a lack of experience with self-government. The national elections here were in early March of this year and, while the government still has yet to form, all of the elected officials are drawing obscene paychecks and doing absolutely nothing. In the US, that also appears to be the endgame but within the construct of a fully formed government. It’s all about the paycheck and re-election, so safest to not do anything useful for the long-term good of the country because it probably will make the constituency angry.

Next on my list of things I don’t miss: I have not seen a single advertisement or store display, nor have I heard a single song or note, that suggests to me that Christmas is only 53 shopping days away! It is strangely refreshing.

Halloween has come and gone, but not unnoticed. We had a little gathering in CHUville, where we could suspend uniform requirements otherwise enforced, and did up the occasion as best we could. It was a good break in the routine and generated more excitement than I thought possible in terms of costumes. We had some tunes blasting, burned a lot of beef on the BBQ, and chugged a few NA Lowenbraus. Weather was awesome, as was the company.

I am remiss in my duties of recognizing departing guild members. One month ago we said farewell to Air Force LtCol Laura Garrett. She was an invaluable deputy for the organization, a brilliant analyst, and a superb ambassador for all of J-9. She returns to Albuquerque, NM, and her husband, squad of greyhounds, cat, horse, and nuclear munitions. I don’t believe she ever admitted which she missed the most. Thanks, Laura, and good luck in whatever comes next for you.

I alluded a few times to the pleasant change in weather conditions here. A few nights ago we had a nice little thunder storm and some accompanying rain. I got up early the next morning for a brisk walk and it was just plain gorgeous. Nothing like cooler temperatures and the smell of fresh rain to adjust your attitude upwards. I’ll bust out of here for R&R in about six weeks and the vastly improved climate should help ease the passage of that time.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I'm now a wee bit beyond the halfway point of my tour of Iraq. I've already lamented some of what I miss of my real life, so maybe the next question to address is: what's changed or not changed in six months?

I'll start with what hasn't changed. The government. The elections were in the beginning of March this year and now, almost seven months later, it has yet to result in a new government. That, for you trivia buffs, is a world record gap between voting and government formation.

What has changed for the better, in fact way better, is the weather. Highs still bump up against 100, but the lows are reaching low 70s, high 60s. It is downright pleasant. We used to sit out and smoke cigars on Saturday nights because almost everyone changes out uniforms on Sunday, and by the time you sat around outside for about two hours smoking and telling each other outrageous lies you were totally soaked with sweat.

Now we go light up twice a week just because it is nice to be able to be comfortable outside again.

There are some interesting phenomenon associated with the cooler weather.

Pretty much all of the water used on the compound is stored in giant above-ground plastic water tanks. During July and August the thermometer rarely dipped below 100 degrees and typically topped out between 118 and124. The water in these tanks is always warmer than body temperature, so even with the faucet cranked full cold it is always very warm.

It's no big deal for hand-washing -- you just always turn to cold. It makes for unsatisfying mouth rinse after tooth-brushing. You can make the logical leap to what this means for the commodes. I have absolutely no previous experience with such a butt-sauna sensation and it amused me.

But cooler weather means cooler water and things are approaching what I consider normal.

Another unchanging scenario is work. Most of the folks around here, me included, have no real need to move about the countryside. If you have no need, you have no justification for transport. So work is a weekly grind of charts, slides, e-mail, and meetings as we work through our seven-day battle rhythm. You can walk around the compound, about two miles if you take the longest route. Occasionally you can walk across the street to a different compound, but you must buddy-up to move between the two locations.

I suspect this is a lot like being sent off to some minimum securityconfinement facility, except you have to do a lot more work here.

Another positive change, though always a tenuous one, is the security situation across Iraq. The Iraqi Army and Police have become very busy and pretty good at what they are doing. It allows a lot more people to move around the country, go to markets, and generally work toward some sense of normalcy in their daily existence.

The best change is in my countdown to R&R. Less than two months to go! Home for Christmas, count on me, snow, mistletoe, yada yada. Can't wait.

Halloween is one week away. We're planning a party in CHUville, where we can get in costume without violating any regulations. Pictures to follow in a future blog.

Things I miss.

I am now just two weeks shy of hitting the halfway mark -- six months in theater.

You might be wondering: hey, what's it like living in a metal box 7,000 miles away from home, being forced to wear military uniforms at all times, prevented from drinking alcohol, working seven days a week, and sharing an installation with a sizeable civilian population for whom none of the restrictions apply and who live in actual apartments? And oh, yeah -- let's not forget about the rockets.

You can probably see where this is heading. It pretty much sucks.

I can clearly see the importance of having a mid-tour leave program to get folks out of this environment, even if just for a couple of weeks, so they can re-connect with the people and the lifestyle they are beginning to desperately miss.

I'm ready to go home, even if just for a short while.

It's baseball playoff time and football is in full swing. All baseball playoff games happen sometime in the middle of the night here, so only the most rabid fan would bother watching them. The early NFL games start here at 2000 hrs (soon to be 2100), so it is possible to watch some at your computer (we get Armed Forces Network through some brilliant software application on our machines) and, if you really care, stay up for the whole game. Forget the second games, which start at 2315. It's not the same as lying on the couch staring at the big flat-screen with a cold beer in hand. I miss that.

Sundays are the closest thing to a weekend we get, since the start of work is pushed off until 1200. Unfortunately, it is the only large enough block of time available to sleep in, do laundry, clean the CHU, and maybe catch a little sun. It's not the same as grabbing the fat Sunday morning newspaper from the front yard, reading through breakfast and then retiring to the couch to finish the paper and any sleep I might have skimped on the previous night. I miss that.

The food is pretty darn good here, but it's more like going to a school cafeteria every day and piling various stuff on plates and in bowls and then sitting amongst the masses to wolf it down before ambling back to the office to continue the grind. It's not the same as lording over a well-seasoned flank steak on the grill whilst sipping a cold beer, then sitting down with family to catch up on what is going on in the world. I miss that.

I enjoyed my brief foray into ultimate Frisbee (I'll resume next week) but it's a pickup game with a bunch of dudes I've never met, many of whom are close to half my age and totally lacking in any common social reference with which to engage in spirited B.S. It's not the same as jamming a dozen fellow boondogglers into a beach house in the OB for three days of golf, war stories, and alcoholic excess. I miss that.


The CHU is a relative luxury, since I don't have to share it as many lower ranking folks do. The bed, with two memory foam mattresses stacked on the cheap issue one, is very comfortable. I've got TV, tunes, and a refrigerator as well as the much-coveted personal bathroom. But it's a lonely place. It's not the same as a home with family, a bed shared with my favorite lady, a refrigerator that has beer in it, and a shower in which you can reach up to wash your hair without banging your elbows. I miss that.

There's a lot more that I miss, but you get the point. My R&R is over Christmas, which is awesome. But it is still more than two months away.

At least the heat has finally given way to some very pleasant weather. I do not miss the cold.

War Story (sort of)

There I was, middle of Baghdad, middle of the night.

Minding my own business. Making the short walk along the roadway between FOB Union III and the Embassy Compound.

Suddenly, a black van comes screaming up next to me and screeches to a halt. A dude wearing a balaclava jumps out and butt-strokes me in the head with an AK-47, knocking me into the barrier next to the road.

Grabs me by the shirt and tries to drag me into the van. I know the bad guys are looking hard for hostages and that it never ends well, so I was hanging onto the barrier for dear life.

Frustrated, the dude grabs me by the boot and starts pulling, pulling, pulling my leg.


Just like I'm pulling yours.

The shiner and accompanying seven stitches are courtesy of a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee. I haven't played the game in five or six years, but obviously it is just like riding a bike: it hurts when you crash.

I was hanging in pretty well with a group I was spotting about 20 years in terms of bodily wear and tear. Unfortunately only six showed up for this evening's game, so it was 3 on 3. That makes for too much field with too few bodies on it and it resulted in a lot more running around than I had hoped for.

But, as I said, I was holding my own. Until the bottom fell out. The field is a sports venue covered with artificial turf, a new and, it turns out, not particularly good experience for me. First thing I learn is that you don't dive for anything. I get a nice Susan B. Anthony coin-sized raspberry on my elbow as a not-so-gentle reminder about two minutes into this thing.

Next thing I learn is that you don't want to be in all that much of a hurry changing direction because there is no such thing as "pivot" on this turf. Any effort to do so becomes a"sprain" as your foot remains firmly planted while the rest of your leg and body are executing the hoped-for change in azimuth. This took all of maybe five minutes to experience.

Things went well for awhile after that as I just accepted that if the frisbee is a foot out of reach it will just have to remain so until it hits the ground. Or if the guy I'm covering makes a highlight-film move to put distance between us, hurrah for him and I 'll just hope they throw the damn disc over his head.

But sometimes you just get caught up in the moment and lose situational awareness when it's just you and him, running full tilt into the end zone to catch up with a throw that went long but is settling gently. The disc is all you see, focused on it like a Hellfire on Taliban. Knock it away and the other team is denied. Fail to knock it away and have to make the long walk to the other end of the field. Up we went, still on a dead run but each now hoping to defy gravity just a tad better than the other. I slapped the Frisbee, but he gripped it at the same moment. Gravity resumed its control, which is normally OK but it turns out some other forces were at work as well.

The other dude came down onto the field with the Frisbee in hand. I came down into a six-inch high curb that marks the end of the playing surface. Still having a fair amount of forward momentum, the curb stopped my foot while the rest of me was very much a body in motion. The planted foot became the pivot point around which the rest of me now wanted to turn, which translated into a big-time smackdown. My right hand, right shoulder, and right side of my head all hit the concrete in quick succession.

I got a ride in the ambulance, a crack team of military medical practitioners surrounded me like a scene out of M.A.S.H., and now Humpty Dumpty is together again. Most excitement I've had in five months, and quite enough, thank you.

Doc says I should be ready to go again in two weeks. We'll see how long these lessons stay learned.

Random Acts of Violence

It's time, I guess, to speak of the unspeakable. The RAV. Not cute little SUVs from Toyota, but Random Acts of Violence.

It has been pretty quiet here in the IZ for quite a while -- seems like a month or so. That changed pretty dramatically today.

Today (Sunday) is part of our "weekend," meaning we don't report to work until 1200. That means turning off the alarm clocks and chillin' in bed until the mood moves you. The mood that moved us this morning turned out to be the "duck and cover" alarm at 0830, followed closely by one pretty impressive boom and one not so impressive one.

For some perspective, there have been a lot of duck and cover alarms since I arrived here five months ago. There have been a lot fewer accompanying booms, meaning the vast majority were false alarms. So starting the day with a rare double boom was a bit ominous and disturbing.

Two hours later, we get two more booms with no alarm at all. They turn out to be vehicle-borne IEDs outside the IZ, but those tend to be huge explosions and real attention-getters. Four hours after that we get more alarms and more booms and it is starting to become a real nuisance.

We get one more early in the evening, and this is the one that makes me think about RAV and the bizarre reality into which I have been thrust. I had just left the dining facility, after yet another most excellent feast, and was waddling back to the office when I heard a high-pitched buzzing sound somewhere overhead. It was a new sound to me, and a bit of a mystery until I saw nearby security guards sprinting for the nearest shelter.

Now, these guys are out patrolling every day, a few of their buddies have been killed by rockets, and they are sensitized to the sound. So it was kind of like the famous EOD t-shirt: "I'm an explosives ordnance expert. If you see me running, try to keep up." I piled into the shelter with them and another dozen folks (this is about a five foot by ten foot space, so a bit close. And, of course, hot).

Fortunately the rocket was way high and wide of the compound because it impacted before half of us reached the shelter. Which also probably why it didn't trigger the alarm. But that is where the RAV thoughts come in to play.

I have some close friends that were here when things were really, really bad. These guys were commanders of combat units, so they weren't comfortably ensconced in the most secure chunk of real estate in Iraq, as I am. They saw people die, some of them their own soldiers. In telling their stories, the death of soldiers was often ascribed to the fact that it just wasn't their day.

I thought that was a bit cold, but I'm quickly changing my mind. It is incredibly random, and here in the IZ maybe even more so. So far, all attacks are from rockets and all rocket attacks originate several kilometers from where we are. The weapon of choice is the Katyusha rocket. It is not a precision weapon. Hitting a target 3-5 kilometers away with one is kind of like trying to hit someone with a bottle rocket 50 yards away.

Or like me trying to hit a fairway with my driver on the golf course. You know the range and direction to the target, but the outcome is very much in doubt. But every once in a blue moon it all comes together and works as planned. That is the first part of the randomness. The next is whether or not anyone happens to be anywhere near where it lands. There is quite a bit of acreage here, and the kill radius of a 107mm Katyusha is fairly small. Still, there are areas in which people are almost always moving around, potentially at risk.

Which brings us to the final random factor: who is it that just happens to be moving around in the wrong place, at the wrong time? I am almost always either in my CHU or at my desk when an alarm goes off. I have been caught outside a few times, but always for false alarms. Until today. So for the first time in five months I happened to be in the open during a real attack, but it passed harmlessly outside the compound (as most do).

But it makes you think. Of the nearly infinite outcomes of the trajectory of that rocket today, there were some that would have been disastrous.

If it wasn't your day.

Ranting

It is getting more and more difficult to find something interesting to talk about while sequestered here on the Embassy compound. Fortunately, there are occasional events in the world that lend themselves to opinions offered up from a Mideast perspective.

This particular event may be worthy of deep thoughts and insightful prose but, to peg the fun-o-meter, it is hard to beat a good old-fashioned rant.

So let's get it on...

We have reached an interesting temporal junction, at which two meaningful observations will be unfairly joined by the actions of a single idiot.

The two observations are 1) the 11 November remembrance of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 2) the 10-12 November festival of fast-breaking, or Eid al Fitr, signifying the end of Ramadan.

The cause of the unfair joining is the hair-brained "Burn a Koran Day" scheme.

What, in the name of all that is holy, is up with the Wrong Reverend Terry Jones and his First Church of Bigotry down there in the Sunshine State? This clown is threatening to set Christianity back further in one day than Jim and Tammy Faye managed to do with years of self-aggrandizement.

How does the pique of a doddering fool warrant blanket condemnation of almost one-fourth of the world's population? Approximately 1.4 billion people are not going to be enamored of Jones' little gimmick. I might be less incensed over his incredibly bankrupt vision if it weren't for the fact that 26 million of that population live within a six-hour drive of where I sleep at night.

The more extreme of those 26 million joyfully launch rockets at us just for bragging rights in their little zombie circles. I'm a bit concerned about what they might do if actually pissed off.

Fortunately, 99.9% of the 26 M are not interested in either inflicting or absorbing mass casualties and, instead, are vigilant and steadfast in their efforts to prevent it. Just the same, I'd rather they not be miffed and thus possibly inclined to be a little less vigilant for a day or so.

For Jones, I would not be too surprised if "his god" phoned in a cancellation on the whole book-burning thing. I'm inclined to believe that any revelation that might rise from the ashes will be less about divinity and more about Darwinism. The guy needs to read up on Salman Rushdie or talk to some of the folks at the Dutch publication Jyllands-Posten. At the very best he will lose some sleep; at the very worst he will never wake up.

Since the whole thing is already well beyond common sense, we can only hope that whatever the next-best-thing to common sense happens to be prevails in this drama. If not, and some American soldier, tourist, or missionary is harmed as a result, maybe "his god" will talk him into mixing up a little drink that will whisk him off into whatever special hell his namesake Jim now resides.

Let's keep each of the afore-mentioned observations in the proper perspective and allow each the respect they deserve. Remember -- always remember -- the events of 9/11 and the early sacrifices of a global war on truly evil beings: violent zealots with no conscience and no respect for humanity. And give an appreciative nod for the personal sacrifices made each year by hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims, validating their spiritual beliefs through physical trials of hunger and thirst and culminating those trials with a three-day celebration of fellowship and appreciation for all that Allah provides.

Now THAT is a RANT!

It has been three days since President Obama's speech on Iraq and two days since GEN Austin replaced GEN Odierno and Operation New Dawn replaced Operation Iraqi Freedom. Everything seems largely unchanged yet...somehow different.

The pundits came out in full force to weigh in on these events and articulated some interesting opinions, for whatever they might be worth.

The President seemed to get it about right. The military did everything asked of them and, I think, a great deal more. After the wheels fell off the bus that got us here, military commanders throughout Iraq found themselves refereeing a very nasty civil war while simultaneously trying to sort out and kill the truly bad guys and effectively run the entire country.

It took several years and several thousand American lives, but slowly the landscape changed, the level of violence dropped precipitously, and Iraqis set about trying to restore some sense of normalcy to their lives. The Iraq security forces, both Army and police, grew steadily both in numbers and in capability. The combined efforts of the Iraqi and US forces relentlessly pursued the bad guys, disrupting their networks, choking off their funding, and capturing or killing most of their leadership.

All of that gets us to where we are today. A weird mix of violence and hope in a country groping, almost blindly, for a future it knows exists but can't quite see. A country that 10 years ago had only two allowable TV stations to watch and now is a sea of satellite dishes. A country whose pre-war citizens possessed just a few thousand of the cell phones that are now ubiquitous. A country boasting 40% more available electricity then during the Saddam era, supplying only one half of what the demand has grown to be as air conditioners and refrigerators continue to appear.

A country whose local markets are filled with carts of available goods, but where, in any city on any given day, one of those carts might explode and kill dozens. This place is a work in progress.

It is time to give the country back to its citizens, to put more pressure on its elected officials to form the government and start taking care of the people. Massive obstacles remain and, as many close to the problem have articulated, the outcome remains in doubt. History, as always, will judg the wisdom of the endeavor and the efficacy of the toil.

Now, however, the wheels are back on the bus and it's time for someone else to drive.

Exit Strategy

I have to hurry up and post this before President Obama returns from vacation and makes his big Iraq speech. It will make me look like either a prophet or an idiot. Since the pay is the same regardless, I guess it doesn't really matter.

Many of you may have read or watched news stories surrounding the departure from Iraq of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team on the 19th of August. The event was typically billed as the departure of the last U.S. combat brigade from Iraq, which is not exactly true, and sometimes heralded as the end of the war for the U.S., which is not remotely true.

So, you may be asking yourself, what exactly does it mean? Glad you asked.

I'll start by rolling back the clock to January 2009, at which time the United States and Iraq signed an agreement establishing how the U.S. would remove troop presence from Iraq cities by July 2009 and eventually the entire country not later than December 2011. This is referred to as the Security Agreement, fondly known around here as the SA, and it has absolutely nothing to do with what happened on 19 Aug.

What happened on 19 August was the result of a political mandate of the current administration that said, enroute to the removal of all U.S. forces by the end of 2011, we will end the U.S. combat mission and reduce troop levels to not more than 50,000 by 1 September 2010. On that date, Operation Iraqi Freedom ends and Operation New Dawn begins. Those operational units remaining in Iraq as part of the 50,000 are re-designated from Combat Brigade Teams to Advise and Assist Brigades with a mission change commensurate with the name change.

Beginning on the 1st of September, these units will no longer conduct partnered operations with Iraq Security Forces as they continue to battle a persistent level of violent extremist attacks. Some U.S. troops may accompany their Iraqi counterparts on these missions as advisors, but the door-kicking and trigger-pulling is wholly relegated to the Iraqi forces.

The primary function of the remaining brigades is to continue work on improving the individual and collective skills of Iraq security forces in order to enhance their capabilities and professionalism. The U.S. brigades are also part of the larger U.S. effort of working with the government of Iraq to continue enhancing civil capacity and economic opportunity across the country.

All of that said, these U.S. units are still fully manned and fully equipped combat units that will take whatever measures necessary to protect themselves. They will still be targeted by violent extremists and there will continue to be casualties right up to the point all are gone in December 2011.

So, in the end, you might still ask what exactly it means. Militarily, a case could easily be made that the war is won. Regime change happened, new government elected (we'll skip the part about how dorked-up that is), and Iraq security forces are large and in charge. Exit US military. It was a long and bitterly painful road, but the destination is reached.

From the larger perspective of U.S. involvement in diplomatic and inter-governmental activities leading to full Iraqi sovereignty and stability, history will judge. There are a ton of problems and none made easier by the nature of Middle East ways and means. If the will of the people prevails, all will be well. If it's business as usual for the Iraqi leadership, Lord help them all.