Monday, December 08, 2003

The last of the big Saddam heads came down today. Two of them are now sitting on the ground waiting to be moved out, hopefully to a smelting pot. A great historical moment.

The daily grind and my continual grueling schedule finally caught up with me as I collapsed into bed last night, totally exhausted. Yesterday especially was extremely tiring as I had appointments all day well into the night. At one time, I had three different meetings with 8 different people going at the same time, jumping from one to the next in an effort to handle the needs of each meeting. By my last appointment I was just out of gas, expressing to the individual that I was really tired and needed to cut it short tonight.

Corruption everywhere

It was a day of emergencies, each one as important as the next, urgent situations stemming from the intricate web of corruption that has already been spun in several of the newly set up organizations. There seems to be no end to the Saddam want-a-be's in this country, making the selection process even that more difficult and critical.

Greed has captured the hearts of so many, greed for money and power. We are continually fighting the battle of weeding out individuals who are trying to take advantage of the situation that exists, with so much money floating around and so many new opportunities. Each corrupt individual seems to be like an octopus attaching a tentacle on any thing that is within their reach, each creating their own network of corruption.

It is survival of the greediest, everyone grabbing as much as they can for them self.  There is no black and white, only a large gray area between what is thought to be right and wrong, with many people feeling like something is owed them for the years of suffering under Saddam's rule but not that concerned if now there own greed isn't causing someone else to suffer. More than anything there is a feeling that everyone should take while the taking is good.

Often the tables get turned so that the criminals actually go after the good guys with charges and accusations, putting them on the defensive with fabricated stories of falsehoods. It is difficult to know what the truth of the matter is, not sure whose story we should believe.

There is dishonesty, deceit, and corruption at the highest levels, touching every aspect of life here. The higher it goes the more difficult it is to terminate, with individual power bases growing and support widening. At times, we run up against people that have become so powerful that others in investigative organizations feel too small to tackle them.

Camps are being formed; power bases established, connections and ties firmed up to the point that it is difficult to know where to begin and how to go about rooting out the problems. Every day we make an effort in hopes that we are getting closer to eliminating the enemies without and the enemies within.

We drive on with a firm conviction in the cause and our mission. I have a personal vendetta to take down some of these guys before I leave this place.

Another Toy opportunity up North in Kurdistan

A few of our associates helping us with the "Operation Give - Sharing Joys with Toys" campaign, had an opportunity to travel up north to a small city near Urbil called Sarahadean, right in the middle of Kurdish territory, now referred to Kurdistan. It is about 4 hours from Baghdad to the northeast somewhat. They piled up their pickup truck full of boxes of toys and took off for their excursion.

They met with the Major of the small town who was expecting them. He had arranged for the neediest families in the village to gather the next morning with their children outside city hall, to receive the items of joy. They were expecting about 40 families to show up but it turned out to be more like 400. They had entirely surrounded the building with children of all ages waiting for their toys.

The Kurdish media was there to capture the moment; little did they expect to see such a throng of people, all pressing forward pushing up against the building. At one point the kids all began pounding on the windows in hopes that they would pass out toys through other openings. The Kurdish media later broadcast the episode to all the Kurdish satellite channels throughout the world, as was confirmed by people in America, Canada and Europe.

Logistics became a problem as they tried to figure out how they were going to expedite the passing out of one toy to each child, insuring that kids didn't make their way back in line to pick up another. Getting all of them to line up in single file was a choir in and of itself. Then getting them to file through the door in an orderly fashion was a task, with each child wanting to get in the front of the line for supposedly one of the better toys.

All in all, they said it went off really well. They gave out all the toys they had brought (fortunately they took up a lot of toys), played with the kids afterwards in a number of ring-around-the-rosy games, and just had a great time. The mayor was very gracious to the team, whom he took out to dinner the night before and for pastries and coffee after the toys were passed out. He invited them back promising to make things a little more orderly next time. (I have figured out a way to logistically handle the numbers of kids we get at these events, so it shouldn't be a problem next time)

They were all so appreciative of your donations. All of you put smiles on so many kids that day. It is just so fantastic, you are awesome.

A new Idea for kids

I was thinking that it would be nice to have a children's section on my web site, giving kids a chance to participate in the "Operation Give - Sharing Joys with Toys" campaign. I would like to have children get involved with the kids in Iraq, writing to them, reading their stories and getting to know them to some degree.

I was thinking that the school kids over here could write letters to kids back home, that I could translate and scan onto my site with a picture of the child. Then the kids in other countries could do the same by putting letters on my web site, along with a picture.

So if I could get kids in the states or anywhere put a letter, addressed to the kids of Iraq, along with a picture on my web site, then I could translate them and give them to the kids in the school classes I visit. You could put a letter on my site or put a letter with a picture in one of the boxes of toys you send.

At the same time I will talk to a few teachers over here about getting their classes to write letters to kids back home, that I will post on my site along with a picture of the child and a translation.

I would also like to put up a few of the Chief Wiggles comic book stories that have been written, for your children to read. We are currently drawing the comic book and hope to be ready to print it by the end of the month. We would love to have more stories from all of you back home, so don't be shy about writing one. We accept all attempts. The first comic book is really coming together nicely.

I would also like to write a portion of my journal directed towards children, so they can read about things of interest to them too.

Well what do you think? I would love to hear your feedback either way.

Please send me an email with your ideas too.

Have a great day! Merry Christmas too.

Chief Wiggles