Dear Friends and Family

Well we were on lock-down again this morning. The army came in and they had some intelligence on something that was to happen somewhere, who knows. The whole day was shot to shit as far as getting anything done outside. No problem, I sat in the steam sauna and swam in the pool for a couple of hours. Going into town is increasingly difficult. DynCorp insist that we have two Americans in the car and that two cars travel together in a convoy. For me this standard is hard to meet, since there are only two of us in fleet management. It frustrates me to no end that I can not work at this job full time without interruptions.

As already stated, the job is immense and will take a long time to complete under the best of circumstances; with this insurgent fighting it slows us down to a crawl. A great cause of the problem is that these two cultures are so different and neither side, the Iraqis nor the Americans, understand the other one. Rather than a gentle and slow meeting of these two worlds, we have been slammed together in an abrupt and most violent way. It goes without argument that the great majority of Iraqis were very glad to see Saddam be removed, no matter how or by whom. This fact does not mean that they wanted their country to be occupied by us or anybody else. Iraqis want us here; they just don’t want us here like the Germans were in France. The quickness of the war last year was because very few Iraqis wanted to fight for a leader that hated his countrymen as much as Saddam hated Iraqis.

This does not translate that Iraqis would be happy about seeing Abrams tanks tearing up their streets or subjugating themselves to unending searches and being relegated to the role of second class citizens in their own country, that are greatly mistrusted and have to be lead by the hand in all aspects. It is very true that Americans did not come to Iraq to colonize it, yet the heavy handed approach, that America seemingly has chosen, has put us in the eyes of many Iraqis in the role of a replacement Saddam. They do not trust the Coalitional Provisional Authority Iraqi Governing Council members. They see them as complete outsiders at best and former Saddam criminals, which had fallen out of his favor, at worst.

It seems very much in the nature of present day Iraqis to be mistrusting of everyone and they all but expect anybody in a position of power or influence to be corrupt. After 30 years of a completely corrupt system from top to bottom, this is of little surprise. The country yearns for good and honest leadership, but like a child, Iraq has no patience for the leadership to prove itself. So the general impression of the Americans is, that if they have not done anything good for the Iraqis soon, than they must be doing something bad. If they are doing something bad to them, then they kill us. Big problem

Iraq now has been blessed with America’s two greatest gifts,”Freedom and Democracy”. In our naïve ignorance we can not understand why this country does not eagerly embrace the concepts of our way of life joyfully and quickly. Our frustration shows itself in our anger. It is like giving a state of the art Pentium 4 computer to a person that has lived in a forest without electricity for the last thirty years and expect them to know how to use it within an hour’s time. “Why can’t you us it? It’s so easy……everybody knows how to us a computer, why don’t you start using it now”? Regardless of the intelligence or ability’s of the person, some things take time to master and adapt to a way of life.

Democracy is not a one size fits all shirt, that we can export wrapped in military hardware. Also freedom is a very relevant concept. It does not mean the same thing to the Iraqis right now that it means to us at home. Many things don’t mean the same thing to an Iraqi that they mean to us.

Just sit down with an Iraqi interpretater to translate a memorandum to a high ranking local official. To start with, there is no translation or concept for the word “memorandum” and after that it really gets difficult. We are failing at winning the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people because we do not UNDERSTAND the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people and most of them damn sure don’t understand us. We are frustrated that they don’t act like Americans? They are frustrated because WE DO. What the biggest evil in this country is now is not terrorism and insurgency; it is cultural ignorance and unwillingness to trust the other side.

The majority of Iraqis want the same thing we do. The problem is total lack of understanding and willingness to be equal partners with the other side. The dominate attitude seems to be, if WE are right then they must be wrong. This way of thinking exists on both sides. I can not help the urge to quote my favorite:” What we have here……is a failure to communicate.” Never has that been truer then here today in Iraq. We are like the two men that are lost in the woods, one is blind the other is lame. Neither one alone will ever get out.

Only by compensating the other one’s weakness can they both get out of the wilderness. I can tell you one thing for damn sure, this is a wilderness. Iraqis need a quick remedial lesson in the ways of the rest of the world. Americans need a strong lesson in cultural sensitivity and should be taught respect for others. When you see a young American GI driving down the street holding his weapon at ready you can understand why, but not when he shouts at the old Iraqi man to get his “mf ass out of the f..…g way, or he will blow his s…t away”.

Or you hear the story about the four children that took the stray US rounds during a fire fight and died, then you understand why some folks are less then happy about the US military being here. Big problem. The problem is getting bigger like a snow ball. A viscous cycle of cause and effect. In great part the problem is because the lack of mutual trust and respect. It is my impression that Iraqis are very passionate people. Man, when they love you, they really love you. Friendship is a bond thicker than blood here. But when they hate you, well they just kill you. Big problem. It is like either in Park or wide open, there seems to be no in between.

If in the future we can learn about each other, we can learn from each other and then we can learn together. I want to look at this glass as half full. Time will go by no matter what we do. We might as well try to do something good here, no matter how long it takes. If we can rebuild the police force here, that will be the most important beginning. Iraqis do not feel secure in their own country. They don’t fear just us, they fear each other, because to some Iraqis freedom means bashing their neighbors over the head and stealing all their shit, or kidnapping their children. It now depends on if we can make this country feel safe. Training the Iraqi police is now more important than ever. Now it depends on programs like these old men here at the Baghdad Hotel, that may be the best answer to the problem. Guy’s just like myself may get it right. …….my God, I just now come to fully realize it, this whole thing here in Iraq depends on ME to fix it !!!

Help me Jebus !!!!
As always, ma al salaama.
Rod