I'm doing some work in the office tonight; writing up a report on some success a few of our agribusiness specialists have had in rebuilding the poultry business in a rural area just south of the city. These reports, still officially sent out as State Department telegrams and referred to as 'cables,' are our official method of reporting back to Washington. In order to captivate our readership back in DC, bombarded by cable traffic from embassies around the world, we sometimes resort to great lengths to make our reports, sent out in an archaic 12 point Courier painfully unreadable format, as interesting as humanly possible. Which oftentimes means resorting to unspeakably bad puns, forced alliteration and slight exaggeration in our titles and narrative. Despite our efforts, Variety should rest assured that they face no serious competition from State Department reporters. In my twelve-paragraph report I utilized nearly every chicken reference I could muster in an attempt to liven up my story. I'll admit it, it's a fowl report. When I started to run low on material, I just started to wing it. Hopefully, Washington won't think I've laid an egg.
So, I have the option of stopping by the Ambassador's party later, but the office has been quiet today and I may just stay in and finish up a few other reports that I've been meaning to send out. I've been canvassing a number of my Iraqi friends and contacts about their views on alcohol consumption. In any society, booze has facinating social, religious and even political connotations; I've found that you can learn quite a bit about Baghdad by asking a few questions about beer. Historically, Iraq has been very loose about alcohol; as the security situation worsened, religious leaders and extremists took it upon themselves to enforce stricter social codes in Baghdad's neighborhoods. With the recent security improvements in the city, we're seeing more shops openly sell beer and liquor, and more and more Baghdadis go back to their old drinking habits. There is still an enormous amout of tension between those who would like to see a stricter interpretation of Islam and those who would not - and this will continue to play itself out for years to come in this society. But right now it seems as though lots of Iraqis are deciding that after the year that they've just been through, they'd sure like to finish it off with a good stiff drink in their hands.
The last person in the office, besides me, just hit the lights and left. Makes me remember my previous tour here; I spent Christmas Eve 2005 in Baghdad during my rotation with the Army. I was on duty that evening, and was the last one to close up shop for the night. I went through my old postings and pulled this one up:
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24 December 2005
I’ve got the last shift on our holiday rotation; I’ll be shutting down the office in a few hours. We maintain communication with headquarters with a computer console linked with a voice-over-internet system. A map of Baghdad with multiple icons indicates recent incidents in our battlespace. I can call up various overlays showing unit boundaries, critical municipal infrastructure, political divisions, etc. We’ve come a long way since the grease pen. I’ve got to keep an ear open for any calls to the ‘Embassy LNO’, our new designation since our office was technically disbanded last week. Lieutenant Colonel M. has just left, leaving me the last one in the office on this Christmas Night. He’s the justice expert; he worked with all the judges here in Baghdad. He’s an army JAG, but he’s looking forward to getting back to his other job designing fuel cells at NASA. He really enjoys corny jokes – more than you think he ought to. He may have a way for me to sneak into the Saddam trial; I’ll let you know if that pans out.
The CNN television in the corner (we’re not allowed to change the channel; in my solitude I may take a risk and flip over to BBC later on) continues to show some retrospective montage of the year; it’s pretty much all about tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes. Then there’s the segment on famous dead people – I don’t remember King Fahd being such a headline grabber this year; they place him right before the Pope in the segment that I’ve seen repeated several times already today.
To be honest, it’s been a challenging week. Another Iraqi friend has been assassinated. Again, someone who has worked tirelessly for the past three years to make his country a place he could be proud of. Cut down by thugs; criminals; terrorists; bastards. And a good friend of mine is in the hospital, recuperating after an IED attack on his convoy. We lost two good soldiers. They were out helping the local fire company deal with a chemical spill in the Tigris. I rushed over to the hospital; there seemed to be some unusual activity at the information desk but I wasn’t paying attention- I was asking about my friend when the specialist mentioned the fact that the Secretary of Defense was standing right behind me. I found Roger upstairs; a couple of minutes later Mr. Rumsfeld paid a visit accompanied by General Casey. They were working their way around the entire hospital, visiting injured soldiers. Roger’s not too bad off, considering his driver and gunner were killed nearly instantly. He weakly sat up to shake Rumsfeld’s hand; his leg has shrapnel damage and his left hand took a hit and needed stitches across three fingers. His face has a blast burn on the left side from his ear to his nose. Rumsfeld asked about the kind of mission he was on; Roger told the short version; then he introduced me. Rumsfeld turned to me and said, “So you’re a reservist – and you guys volunteered to come here? Thank you for your service, Captain. Thank you.” He shook my hand and the entourage moved out into the hall. The memorial service was a few days later; much like a family funeral these services are generally the only times to see friends stationed on the many bases across Baghdad, and much like family funerals, they fluctuate between being somber and bittersweet affairs.
Merry Christmas, everybody. Thanks for all the cards and calls and packages and emails – they have been very much appreciated. I’m going to shut down the office now, follow the correct procedures for turning off the equipment, securing the classified documents and making sure the coffee pot is unplugged. I’ve documented a call I received that one of the water treatment plants has lost power; a pretty regular occurrence, but still something that will require immediate attention by our team in the morning. I contemplate leaving cookies out; an aesthetic gesture evoking the season – but my concerns about rodent infestation prevent me. The TV stays on; CNN will continue to loop, unwatched, throughout the night; the memories of the past year will flicker across the walls as images of the dead and the destroyed are projected into the dark. And then the morning will come once again.
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I think I'll wrap up now. Leave the rest of the reports until tomorrow or the next day. Perhaps I'll swing by the Embassy gathering and visit with friends and colleagues; festivities here are awkward affairs but everybody does their best to enjoy the times we are able to set aside for these events. We all realize that we are somebody else's 'next best option;' if your friends here really had their choice, they'd be hanging out with somebody else tonight.
Happy Holidays to everyone- and to all a good night- and if you are in fact hanging out with exactly the people you'd want to be with on a Christmas Eve- take a moment to enjoy that.
