Friday, January 09, 2004

 

Morning breaks on the watch tower

 

The sound of the Morning Prayer being read from atop the local mosque tower woke me this morning around 7am. I was still tired and sleepy but unable to fall back to sleep due to thoughts of today’s activities. Today is Friday, my no appointment, catch up on my reports, do everything else day.

 

I am enjoying the cool crispness of the Baghdad weather, actually dipping down at night into cold temperatures, but still relatively wonderful considering what we were experiencing during the summer months. The temperatures are invigorating, giving me even more energy to go about my daily tasks.

 

As usual the sky is clear blue without even a trace of any clouds, making me feel at times like we are already heading into spring. As I gaze up into the blue heavens thoughts of spring days as a child race through my head, wanting at times to feel like a kid again. I love spring with all its cool breezes, budding flowers and green grass sprouting from its winter hibernation.

 

My other hooch

 

Lately I have been spending my nights over with my team mates at our other place of residence, enjoying the large open rooms and of course the kitchen on the main floor. I have grown tired of my 8 x 10 shared trailer room with only enough space to stretch out on my small twin bed.

 

I have split up my stuff so that I can sleep at either location, depending on the circumstances and situation of the day. I am in a large open room on the second floor shared with baghdaddy. We even have a lounge area with a TV and four cushioned chairs left over from the previous occupants. There is a balcony, which overlooks the remains of the officer’s quarters, which was hit by several cruise missiles during the war, leaving piles of rubble everywhere.

 

Having grown tired of the smell and taste of the dining facility chow, I’ve started cooking my own food again, tasking my interpreters to bring in fresh produce from the local economy. For the last few mornings I have cooked up fried eggs and pancakes, which is quite a tasty treat (nothing like hot of the griddle pancakes and eggs. My dad always cooked breakfast for us, teaching me early on the skill of cooking).

 

For dinner I have even been cooking up some Korean noodles and Kim chi that several people have sent me. I had one unknown person send me a small bottle of homemade Kim Chi, my son sent me packaged Kim Chi, and Gary at FedEx sent me canned Kim Chi, all of which was fantastic. I will never complain about Kim Chi in any form.

 

I am planning on cooking up a pot of rice in a couple of days, so I can even whip up some Sushi. Now we are talking fine dining.

 

The Green Zone Cafe

 

Due to the fact that many of my sources refuse to be seen at the CPA palace for fear of being recognized by one of the Iraqi employees, I have been eating out a lot more lately with many lunch and dinner meetings with people in and outside the green zone. There is one small corner cafe within the green zone that facilitates that quite well, serving up a pretty tasty sampling of local cuisine and Iraqanized American food.

 

Due to the fact that I am spending a good part of my day in the Green Zone Cafe, the owner of the establishment even told me that I could have my own parking space, appropriately designated “Reserved for Chief Wiggles�.

 

I have gotten to know all the employees quite well, often popping back into the kitchen to dance it up with the kitchen help to a song playing over the speakers. Everyone will clap while singing to a popular Arabic tune.

 

It seems to work well for me to meet people in a place where they can have some tea or coffee with a Kabob sandwich while we casually discuss a variety of subjects in a room filled mainly with American soldiers.

 

Friday, January 16, 2004

 

I can’t believe it has been a whole week since I wrote last. Due to the events of the past week I have been unable to take anytime to write. It has been a crazy week full of daily activities completely filling up my schedule, each night crashing into bed very late, just to get up early to do it again.

 

Late night jamming

 

Some nights around midnight I will venture out from my office, down the semi empty hallways of the palace to the dining facility down stairs where they are serving midnight chow. I usually fix myself a cold cut sandwich to tide be over for the next hour or two. There is a serene feeling about the huge palace late at night when most people have retired for the day.

 

Although, in the confides of my office, I crank up the tunes as loud as I can and work away on my reports and other paperwork. There is never a shortage of things to work on, as I attempt to wrap up a variety of cases before I leave the end of February.

Last night Big Bear, an interpreter, and I were both jamming to the tunes while I tried to get through the one hundred unanswered emails from the last few days. Sorry if I haven’t been able to respond in a timely fashion to your emails of concern and well wishes.

 

Big Bear is an Iraqi who left this country when he was thirteen some 25 years ago to immigrate to the states, where he has been living. He mentioned last night that a dark cloud has been hanging over his life until now that Saddam is gone, something many thought would never happen. He can’t describe it, but he says for some reason he now feels that many of his life long dreams can now be fulfilled and will come to fruition.

 

The nature of my work

 

Lately due to the sensitive nature of our work we have had to take care of several Operational Security issues, creating unnecessary danger for all of us. I can’t explain the nature of these issues but quick and decisive action was necessary to eliminate the problem. We do have enemies out there that would definitely take action against us if they could.

 

All the major supposedly political parties are jockeying for position, wealth and power over here, with many of them acting more like organized crime families. On the surface most of them appear to be helpful to the coalition forces, providing information to our various organizations and agencies regarding terrorists, Fedayeen, and other enemies. But, when you dig down a little deeper you can see how elaborate and extensive their organizations are, with a variety of otherwise hidden agendas, to include property acquisition (or so they call it), theft rings, and various other money making endeavors.

 

Many of my reports relating to corruption and illegal activities in many Iraqi organizations have been going directly to the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, through the chain to Paul Bremmer’s office, and of course up through my chain of command. Consequently, I am unable to discuss any of these cases even in general terms until such time that they have all been put to bed.

 

All I can say is that many good things are happening and we are making great strides to improve the situation over here. Many of my reports go directly to Special Forces teams, who act upon the intel that I collect, actually going out with my source on occasion to carry out a mission. I work closely with several SF teams to provide them with actionable intel, making their job much easier.

 

Once in awhile my zeal and determination to make things happen do get my butt in a sling, causing a certain amount of consternation on my part. So far I have weathered the storms.

 

A candle is burning

 

A big thanks goes out to the FedEx gang that sent me a few candles and some incense, which I am burning as we speak (ok, I am typing). Candles have certain significance to me, so I try to keep one burning at all times. The burning flame has various meanings that inspire me to seek for excellence in my life, with a desire to be more deliberate, authentic and abundant.

 

My accident

 

You might recall a few weeks back that I spoke of getting in a slight fender bender while attempting to get to the CNN interview. I forgot to mention one funny side note about that incident. In my haste to get to their location I slightly bent up a fender on a bus who stopped unexpectedly.

 

After briefly stopping to check out the damage and discuss the situation with the bus driver, I sped off to my appointment, only to have the bus driver follow me around and then even wait for me at CNN’s hotel. It was only until my interpreter went out to resolve the situation that the driver decided to leave.

 

Awarding a small boy

 

You might also recall my description of a toy drop we did recently with heaters and blankets to people living around a mosque. Well a young boy, who noticed the homeless kids in his school, made that event possible by bringing their plight to the attention of his mother, who told us. So in recognition of his efforts we went to his school to make a presentation.

 

As we pulled up to the school it was strange but understandable to see several armed guards out in front of the elementary school. We have had several bomb threats at schools by individuals trying to disrupt and destabilize things. (Due to our intel we even discovered one bomb in a backpack at a school.)

 

Stopping at the school office, we spent a few minutes speaking with the principal about the purpose for our visit. She, a middle aged Iraqi women, was thrilled by our intentions to recognize the young boy. I was impressed with her desire to offer an education for the homeless kids, when other schools had turned them away.

 

There was one snooty well-dressed woman who, with her nose in the air, asked why we needed to help those people anyway. I was totally put out by her arrogant attitude.

 

With the principal leading the way, we went to the boy’s classroom with our team of do-gooders in tow. It was a great moment for the young man and all of us as we presented a letter from the CPA and several really nice gifts made possible by some great donations from home.

 

(By the way who ever sent that huge artists kit, with a full array of pencils and markers, with its own built-in easel, did a great deed in sending that to us. It was the specially selected item for this young man.)

 

As he stood there in front of his class to receive the award, he just beamed with joy and happiness, so eager to show his class what he had received. We took a class photo and encouraged the others to follow his example. It was a great day for everyone.

 

Our own building

 

Great things just continue to happen all around us. So many magical and wonderful things are taking place every day as we endeavor to make a difference anyway we can.

 

In our effort to get Operationgive registered over here as a Non-Government organization, NGO, we accidentally bumped into another small NGO, run by two Iraqi women. These two women, while not able to do much with it, had acquired the lease on a large building formerly owned by Saddam.

 

The building is in dire need of a lot of repair having been totally ransacked and looted after the war, to the point that all is now left is the cement walls and structure. There is no power, no heat, no air-conditioning, no fixtures or furnishings, but it is fixable.

 

The two women were excited to show it to us in hopes that we would be willing move in with them, even perhaps fix it up somewhat. It is a great building, one definitely worth renovating, with so many options for use.

 

Our vision

 

We have so many ideas and plans to perpetuate the “Sharing Joys with Toys� and Operation Give campaign even after my departure in March. Through your generous donations all of you have given us so much momentum now making so many things possible.

 

Here is must a short list of things we are and will be doing:

 

• Two more 40-foot containers full of toys and school supplies will be arriving by the end of the month, enabling us to continue on with toy drops all over the country

 

• The comic book is well on its way, hoping to have it published by the middle of February. Some of the drawings will be on the site any day.

 

• We are hoping to get into more children’s storybooks also.

 

• We are working with several doctors through the Ministry of Health to put together a list of medical equipment needed in hospitals, prioritized so that we can have people donate money for specific items or equipment. I will be working with the manufacturers to arrange for special pricing to be offered in the even we purchase such an item.

 

• We are thinking of creating a community center at this building, where kids can come and play, take classes, learn things, interact in a safe environment. It would be possible to purchase several computers to use as instruction tools, teaching less privileged kids how to use computers.

 

• Setting up a nursery or day care center

 

• Adopt a family or a school class program, enabling kids to interact with each other between countries.

 

• And on and on.

 

We would appreciate your ideas as we move along this path, developing programs and giving back to the community.

 

Thanks goes out to:

 

Thanks so much for all of you who have expressed your deepest sympathies to me for my Father’s current condition, as he struggles with colon cancer. I really appreciate your concern for what we are now going through. Your words mean so much to me, helping me get through this difficult time.

 

 

One world family

 

A couple of days ago I was sitting in the Greece Embassy speaking with the Greece Ambassador regarding our efforts through operation give to add something and to make a difference here in Iraq. In the course of our discussion he brought up an idea that I find extremely fascinating and one in which I totally agree. His words  struck me as true and also helped me understand my own drive and care for the Iraqi people.

 

His words were not necessarily unique but it was just the time and the place, the context of the words that struck me. He said, there is but one world family of which we are all a part of, no matter where we live or who we are. People need to put aside their nationalities, disregard their country boundaries, and be more concerned about being a part of the bigger picture the world family. There is no pure race, no genetically homogeneous group of people. If we were to analyze our DNA we would find that there are no pure Iraqis, no pure Kurdish, no pure Iranians, we are all part of a mixture of all races, all with various strands intermingled, proving that we are all more a part of greater whole. 

 

We are not here to do something just for the Iraqis but here to do something for the world. We contribute to the greater whole, assisting others to be more of a part of the world. We travel the globe to assist people in the world to improve their standard of living, to improve their education, and to help in their fight with diseases, to help the overall conditions of the world we live in.

 

No one lives in a vacuum, untouched by others in the world family, uninfluenced by the world environment. Now in the age of technology the world is our backyard, our neighborhood is another land of people; we do live in and are a part of the world family.

 

We share concerns for the world we live in. We want the same things out of life. Our lives are affected by the economies and environment of those around us, as all are totally intertwined one with another.

 

I care for the world family, all children of our Father in Heaven, all related as creations of the same God. We are all human beings, mankind created in the image of our Creator.

 

Language is an obstacle, a hurdle to overcome, not a closed door. Think about it. What do you think? I would appreciate your ideas.

 

Thanks, Chief Wiggles