T H E B I S B E E P R O J E C T

Scholarships for Service Class of 2011

2011-06-23T09:59:00.000-05:00

The Bisbee Project is proud to announce our Scholarships for Service Class of 2011.

Scholarships for Service awards recognize graduating high school seniors from the Central PA area who are pursuing a career in service by enrolling in Army, Navy, or Air Force ROTC, attending one of our nation's service academies, or entering service in a local, state or federal government agency upon graduation.

Recipients must exhibit qualities of outstanding leadership potential and academic achievement and demonstrate an exceptional interest in service. Awardees receive a cash award to help them with the expenses of college life. Now five years into our scholarship program, we are continually impressed by our Scholarships for Service winners. Congratulations, Class of 2011!

STEVEN BONE
Bellefonte Area High School

NICHOLAS TAYLOR
Bald Eagle Area High School

RYAN TRAVELPIECE
Central Columbia High School

REBECCA LYNN PARENT
Selinsgrove Area High School

DANIEL COOKE
Gettysburg Area High School

JOHN DiEUGENIO
State College Area High School

CURTIS SCHNEIDER
Lewisburg Area High School

Help Ryan go Down Under

2011-04-06T20:43:00.000-05:00

Travel abroad changes your life. If you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to see other nations and meet other peoples you never look at your own country the same way again. It’s just a great experience that can truly broaden your understanding of the world. A local student from State College High School is making plans to travel to Australia this summer and get a good look at the land “Down Under.” Ryan Snyder, 17, hopes that this trip will be an outstanding head start on his studies on foreign countries before he heads off to Penn State in the fall to major in political science and join the Army ROTC program.

Ryan Snyder, student ambassador to Australia

Ryan has been selected to participate in the People to People student ambassador program, an organization started back in 1956 by President Eisenhower to promote peace and goodwill around the globe. A group of travelers from central and western Pennsylvania will head to Australia this summer for an extensive trek that includes home stays with Australian families, immersion in Aboriginal culture, explorations of the Great Barrier Reef, living the life of an Aussie farmhand and seeing a whole lot of a pretty big country.

Ryan dropped us a note and let us know about his upcoming trip, and his plans to attend Penn State and participate in Army ROTC. He knows that serving in today’s Army means that you really need to know a whole lot about foreign places and people; we couldn’t agree more. There are insights that you can get only by traveling abroad and seeing how people live their lives, and getting to know how they see the world.

That's far away! Yes, it is...

Travel costs money, there’s no getting around it. Ryan has launched a fundraising campaign to help him raise the $7000 he needs to cover the costs of the program. He’s out there washing cars, doing odd jobs and really showing some solid initiative in setting some tough goals and making a plan to get there – good work, Ryan! The Bisbee Project salutes this future leader and we support Ryan’s project!

Can you help?

If you want to help Ryan achieve his goal, please drop him a line at [rms17@scasd.org] or contact us at [contact@thebisbeeproject.org].

VETERANS DAY TRIBUTE

2010-11-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

We believe that Veterans Day is a time to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who have come before us, remind ourselves about those who are serving now, and encourage those who will serve in the future.

Service in the military is often something that connects families across generations. Grandfathers, fathers, uncles, sons and brothers are increasingly joined by mothers and sisters in sharing a heritage of service in uniform for our nation. The bonds forged during service can be as strong as those created by family, and as long-lasting. Two of our recent Scholarships for Service award winners are now finding out just how strong these bonds can be.

Michael and Zachary Sunday, graduates of Bellefonte High School and members of our Scholarships for Service Class of 2008, are both on their way towards careers of service in the U.S. Army. While they may be facing some new challenges, they did have some help getting prepared — their grandfather not only set a good example for them as a former Special Forces soldier, but he also put them through some hard core training!

Zack is currently stationed at Ft Benning, GA for One Station Unit Training (OSUT), a training program that combines the basic course of combat training with advanced individual training. After OSUT, Zack will attend the Airborne school to earn his parachute wings and then head off for the Special Forces Assessment Selection pre-training. Zack intends to serve as a Weapons Sergeant in the Special Forces, and has a few years of training in weapons and unconventional warfare ahead of him.

Michael is on his way to Ft Jackson, SC to begin training as a Cryptologic Linguist. He will also face the challenges of basic training, and then he heads off to the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio in Monterey, CA. Most likely his training will involve in-depth language and culture courses in Arabic and Farsi, before also heading to Airborne school and a shot at joining the Special Forces. At some point during the next few busy years Michael also plans to finish his degree in Criminal Justice.

Michael and Zack grew up hearing all about serving in the Special Forces from their grandfather, Don Gordon. But this retired S.F. Army colonel not only talks the talk; he can drill the troops, too. With an “0-dark thirty” training regimen that included pushups, pullups, situps, 2 mile runs, road marches and other methods developed to help “weakness leave the body” the old soldier made sure these two new ones were ready to make first formation in tip-top shape!

Whisky Galore

2010-11-04T16:51:00.000-05:00

Previously, I discussed the early phases of the Scotch whisky industry, and its close relationship with Scottish political history. As Scotland became more integrated with the United Kingdom, so too did its national drink.

Scotch whisky as British history

Developments in the Scotch whisky industry in the nineteenth century largely reflect the broader themes of industrialization that changed the economic and social life of Great Britain during this era. One of the major themes of industrialization is an increasing homogenization of processes leading to mass production of goods. A prime example of this trend towards homogenization is the emergence of blended Scotch whisky as a major product. During this era, whisky transitions from a local product largely made by artisans on a small scale for local consumption to one that is mass produced using industrialized techniques. The marketing and selling of whisky also reflects the changes in consumerism of the era. My research did not encompass any of these major changes in detail, but these developments are incredibly significant for later phases where whisky becomes an important export product.

As briefly stated before, whisky is a distilled alcoholic fluid which means that it has been successively boiled into a vapor and the re-condensed into liquid form a number of times. After each distillation, the fluid that remains is of a higher alcoholic content than before. The traditional method of distillation uses a pot still, a large copper vessel with a tall neck that bends at the apex and leads back down as a pipe into a cooling tank. The fermented ale is super-heated in the copper still to the boiling point, the vapors rise to the apex and then condense in the cooler portion of the pipe leading to the receiving vessel. Pot still whisky is usually distilled twice in this manner, taking an ale of about 8% alcohol by volume and bringing it to a potency of about 70%.

The 1820s brought two significant changes to traditional whisky making. The Excise Act of 1823 signaled a change in Government strategy towards illicit distilling and tax evasion. The wide disparity of regulations across different regional jurisdictions were simplified and the new Act encouraged the purchasing of a flat licensing fee for a still and a standard duty paid on each gallon produced. Officially licensed stills had to be larger than 40 gallon capacity to qualify. Overall, the Act favored the large landowners with greater capacity stills, and pushed small producers out of business. Smuggling waned dramatically over the next decade.

Technological advances also favored large-scale production. Distillation done by pot still is a process done in batches. One batch of ale is run through the still at a time; it is a process of heating, cooling, cleaning and preparing for the next batch. A number of inventors worked to produce a still that would operate continuously with a steady supply of fermented ale at one end and condensed spirit coming out the other. Aeneas Coffey, a former Irish Excise officer, patented a continuous still in 1830 and a number of ‘Coffey Stills’, also called patent stills, began producing whisky in Scotland over the next few decades. Patent stills create highly uniform and very strong spirits, and work well with cheaper unmalted cereal grains, like corn. These whiskies are called ‘grain’ spirits to differentiate them from those made purely from malted barley.

Whisky grew in popularity in English taverns and hotels throughout the nineteenth century, competing against gin and ale and other alcoholic beverages. Scotch was drunk by English sportsmen on their hunting travels to the north, and brought back to revive memories of their Scottish holidays. An aphid disaster among the vineyards of Europe in the 1860s and 1870s devastated the wine industry, and reduced stocks of cognac (distilled from wine), the most popular liqueur in Britain at the time. However some factors worked against Scotch whisky’s popularity. Grain whiskies, largely a product of the increasingly industrialized Lowlands, were relatively bland as a beverage. Malt whiskies on the other hand had a reputation for the harshness of their taste and unpredictability in their quality, likely conjuring up an image of the feisty ill-tempered Highlanders that preferred such a dram. To suit the tastes of a growing British consumer class, blenders stepped in to develop a new product that evened out the taste and brought more predictability to the whisky drinking experience.

Merchants and grocers, responding to the needs of their customers running hotels, taverns and restaurants, were the first to see the benefits in blending a variety of grain and malt whiskies into a pleasing mixture and then bottling and selling the product under their own brand name. Adding blended whisky to their repertoires of products like teas, wines and imported foodstuffs produced some of the most successful wholesale business empires to emerge in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Family businesses like those run by John Dewar, John Walker and the Chivas Brothers used new techniques of marketing, advertising and salesmanship to bring Scotch whisky to an ever-expanding cadre of consumers. A traveler visiting an unfamiliar tavern did not have to risk the chance of receiving a blast of the local firewater when asking for a whisky. Ordering a well-advertised blend, like a Johnnie Walker Red Label, assured him that he was likely to get something enjoyable or at least be able to avoid it the next time. In this way, the standardization and homogenization across a variety of products and behaviors so prevalent during this era of industrialization can be illustrated in developments in the history of Scotch whisky.

An interesting companion to the more staid economic histories that cover British industrialization is Stuart Delves, Creative Fire: The story of Scotland’s greatest export (2007). Delves goes into the aspects of marketing and consumer psychology that have made Scotch not only a successful product, but extremely powerful as a ‘brand’ in itself. The ‘brand’ of Scotland and the ‘brand’ of Scotch figure prominently in British economic and business history, and some mention of the growth and development of the great ‘blending houses’ leads directly to a discussion of exports in the British imperial arena.

The United Kingdom budget of 1909-10 is credited with bringing a number of changes to the industry in Ross Wilson’s Scotch: The Formative Years. A hefty tax increase on whisky triggered a wave of consolidation in the industry, and pushed the remaining companies to increasingly look outward to the export market as the route to sustainable profits.

Since the 1860s a number of whisky producers cooperated as the Scotch Distillers Association, and this trade group incorporated in 1877 as the Distillers Company Limited, or DCL. The DCL continued to expand, adding blenders to its whisky portfolio and also makers of pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. By 1925 the DCL became an even more powerful company after the merger of the “Big Three”: the major blending companies of John Walker & Sons, John Dewar & Sons, and James Buchanan & Co. The DCL is the forerunner of Diageo, currently the world’s largest producer of spirits and a major multinational corporation with vast interests in the food and beverage industry. Industrial consolidation is an important and recurrent theme; particularly as these business moves are made in the context of major political events like the First World War. R.B. Weir’s The History of The Distillers Company, 1877-1939 is a major work of economic history that describes the political, legislative and technological influences on the industry during this turbulent time. I gained access to Weir’s unpublished thesis at the University of Edinburgh that served as the basis for this work, which contained extensive bibliographic information on his archival and manuscript sources. Weir was a professor of economics at the University of York and published scholarly articles on the Scotch whisky industry; his work is of particular interest to me due to his focus on the growth of Scotch as an export product after 1918. Weir credits the development of a world-wide network of trade agents throughout the British imperial area of influence with promoting Scotch exports. The new brands of blended Scotch worked well as products sold in a new method of exporting.

In the final decades of the nineteenth century Scottish trade transitioned from an ‘adventure merchant’ model to the ‘agent’ model. The adventure merchant model saw a partnership purchase a quantity of export goods from various sources and reap profit from the entire voyage based on their ability to sell the goods in foreign markets. The agent model placed an agent for a specific industry or producers in a foreign market who took orders and then relayed these orders, via merchant vessels, to the home industry for fulfillment. The seller paid for the shipping of the goods to the agent, and the agent was ultimately responsible for their sale. Shippers made profit from carrying, not selling, the goods. Weir discusses the role of Jack Walker, member of the John Walker family business, in shaping the Australia market for the Johnnie Walker brand in his thesis, providing insight into how orders from Sydney were sent back to London. The Walkers had agents in South Africa, America and even Singapore by the 1890s.

Tommy Dewar, of the Dewar family, famously went on a round-the-world excursion to publicize Dewar’s whisky in America, Hawaii, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong. He published his journal as A Ramble Round the Globe in 1894 and selections were republished during the 1920s in the DCL Gazette, the trade publication for the whisky industry. Copies of the DCL Gazette are located at the National Library and provide a snapshot of how the industry perceived itself, publishing stories on the lives of notable industry personalities as well as key developments in the business of Scotch whisky.

I found a few references to agents possibly working in the Middle East that require further research. Wilson’s Scotch: The Formative Years refers to the Wm Sanderson & Son company appointing an agent in Egypt in 1912, and the DCL sent their agent, J. Stuart Smith, on an around the world trip to develop the whisky trade in 1891.

Scotch whisky and the Great War

The first decades of the twentieth century saw significant changes in the whisky industry, and the world at large. Media sources, government records and business communication provide a wealth of data on these changes and relate how the First World War brought government intervention to the industry in a way unimaginable in previous decades.

In The Scotch Whisky Industry Record, H. Charles Craig pulled together a comprehensive compendium of noteworthy events related to the whisky industry. The work was published in 1994 and I found a copy of this rare work in the National Library of Scotland. The book aims to list every notable government act and significant business move related to the industry since the first official mention of ‘aqua vitae’ in 1495. I looked through the book looking for references to exports to Iraq and the Middle East around the time of the First World War but found nothing explicit. However, a few entries are useful to note here as illustrating some of the ways the industry was shaped by government policy in the era and set some of the standards that are still in effect today.

In 1908, a Royal Commission decided to protect the industry by declaring that ‘Scotch’ could only mean whisky produced and aged in Scotland, an indication that the product was sufficiently popular to warrant protection from imitations abroad. In 1915, the Immature Spirits Act set the three year minimum requirement for the maturation process. While it was commonly known that Scotch mellowed a bit with age and gained quality, the move was largely supported by pot still distilleries making malt whisky as a competitive move against their patent still competitors who could quickly produce and place large amounts of new whisky on the market. Overall the effect was to limit the supply of whisky on the market as the nation got deeper into the war on the continent.

This limitation was beneficial to business interests looking to charge higher prices for their more valuable supply, but another rationale was the growing interest of government in curbing the behavior of British citizens during wartime. Temperance movements influenced the business and politics of alcohol throughout the nineteenth century; the Great War provided powerful justifications for stricter control of the whisky trade. Another part of the Act of 1915 led to the creation of the Central Control Board, a body given the authority to reduce opening hours of pubs and taverns, regulate the alcoholic strength of specific beverages and in general work to restrict alcohol consumption across the United Kingdom. Social reformers and religious leaders of all stripes supported these moves to curtail what they saw as one of their nation’s longtime societal ills.

The wartime government of Lloyd George moved to strictly ration British agricultural products and control its industries to ensure that the nation’s supplies of grain and yeast did not all end up as whisky, and that its distillers were busy making the right kind of alcohol useful in high-explosive munitions. The government strictly controlled the price of spirits to prevent profiteering, and in 1918 prohibited whisky exports. In February of 1919 exports were again permitted, but only at half of the pre-war level. These moves to curtail the sale of whisky during the First World War stood in stark contrast to the policy of Winston Churchill’s government during the Second. “On no account reduce the barley for whisky,” he wrote in an April 1945 memo, calculating the strategic value of this commodity in producing dollars on the export market.

Scotch whisky and Prohibition

The temperance movement active in developing British wartime policy was part of a worldwide phenomenon. Prohibition in the United States, ratified as the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution in 1919 and in effect from 1920-1933 was merely one component of broader agenda of social reform that played out in the aftermath of the First World War. However, this episode looms large in the development of the Scotch whisky industry. At first the loss of this market is a major blow to the industry, but it inadvertently created several benefits over the long term. When American Prohibition was repealed, Scotch whisky was positioned as a premiere drink of quality in the eyes of American consumers, and Scotch producers were able to demand top dollar for their product.

In a series of archival documents from a number of sources I found a number of references to prohibition efforts in the US and around the world. In the archives of the Highland Park Distillery Company in the city of Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands just off the northern coast of Scotland, I reviewed a series of newsletters put out by the Whisky Association (WA), an industry advocate group. In periodic circulars and annual reports published from 1917 to 1921 major issues of importance to the industry at large are presented and discussed.

In an October 9, 1919 circular the industry was advised to not get tied up in the American market as Prohibition had indeed been passed and would go into effect the next January. (It was well known that many whisky dealers were involved in smuggling but the industry party line was to present the appearance of propriety.) As well, the British government was still maintaining a restriction on exports to foreign and colonial markets. Norway had recently passed a prohibition measure with 60% of voters in support, but this measure only applied to spirits. Whisky and other spirits continued to be unfairly singled out by temperance groups. New Zealand had also considered a measure, but the large number of soldiers still stationed in Europe voted overwhelmingly against its passage. The importation of spirits to the British West African Colonies was prohibited.

In a WA circular dated June 30, 1920 the position of the WA towards the American market had changed. Despite earlier suggestions not to get caught up in trying to supply American dealers, the WA saw a loophole in US law that could be exploited by the whisky industry. US law permitted spirits to be sold for medicinal purposes in pint-sized containers at drug stores. Whisky bottlers were told to attempt, through this avenue, to keep Scotch familiar to the American palate before a “Japanese or some other foreign concoction” became popular. The circular described a New York Post article reporting the fact the 16,000 doctors were now licensed to prescribe liquor, and the number was growing every month. The circular continued with a discussion of recent market activity in Australia, India and Japan. The editor expressed concern over Japanese “fakes”—the apparently widespread practice of copying Scotch labels for use on locally-made (and obviously inferior) spirits.

Another WA newsletter discussed a Daily Telegraph (London) article (January, 28 1921) describing Quebec as the “Mecca of the people of the United States and the dry provinces of Canada.” Quebec’s provincial government was reaping the benefits of staying wet when just about everywhere else prohibition regulations were in effect. The province was now the liquor capital of North America.

The Highland Park archives also preserved a large collection of business correspondence. I reviewed a stack of letters dated in the early 1930s, as momentum towards the repeal of Prohibition gained ground. There is a tone of desperation in the letters from American importers begging to be the exclusive agent for Highland Park in the US. But, as the many responses to these letters take pains to point out, Highland Park did not engage in bottling and selling its own whisky for wholesale or retail purposes. Highland Park was sold primarily to blenders and bottled under a separate brand. Although the executives at Highland Park writing these responses were plainly bemused by the apparent ignorance of the Scotch whisky industry among American importers, in hindsight they may have learned a thing or two from this interaction with eager American consumers. Highland Park is still a major component of the popular blended whisky, The Famous Grouse. But it is also now one of the leading brands of single malt Scotch whiskies, sold under its own brand name. The direct export of single malts, whiskies that are the sole product of one distillery, is only a recent phenomenon of the past few decades. While single malts now compete with blends on the shelves of liquor stores around the world, this was not the case back at the end of Prohibition.

By the end of 1934, the United States was the leading export market for Scotch whisky in the world. Through the efforts of quite a few smugglers, Scotch did indeed remain close to the American palate. The experiences of bathtub gin, moonshine and other illegally produced spirits gave American-made liquor a bad reputation and enhanced the belief that if you got your hands on some real Scotch, you were getting a quality dram. Scotch whisky maintained a luxury appeal in the face of many competitors and imitators.

During this search of an individual whisky distiller’s archives at Highland Park, I looked in vain for evidence of exports to, or even a discussion about markets for whisky in the Middle East. While I was becoming able to relate the history of Scotch whisky to a number of other historical themes, I had not found a great deal of material on the specific questions I had about Scotch in Iraq. Fortunately, I had a breakthrough with a little Johnnie Walker.

Whisky and world history

2010-10-06T17:26:00.000-05:00

In the next few postings, I will talk about my research trip to Scotland over the summer, investigating the connections between the Scotch whisky industry and broader historical trends, including the introduction of Scotch to consumers in the Middle East.

In March 2008, while working for the State Department in Baghdad, I wrote a report assessing the political, economic and social changes brought about in Baghdad as a result of the ‘surge’ strategy to bring greater security to the Iraqi capital and support the functioning of local government. As a member of the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team, an interagency unit tasked to conduct day-to-day diplomacy with Baghdad’s municipal government, I was uniquely positioned to interpret the developments I witnessed on the streets for the broader US Mission community. One of the phenomena I observed was the increase in the sale and consumption of alcohol in Baghdad, a trend that mirrored the simultaneous decline of violent events and civilian casualties during the early months of 2008. Baghdad was drinking more.

The social and cultural practices of alcohol consumption are a fascinating field of study, and are invariably connected to political systems, economic networks, and religious beliefs. As I looked deeper into Baghdad’s history with booze I became fascinated with the topic. While it had professional resonance with me as a political reported trying to make sense of the extraordinarily difficult contemporary situation in Iraq, I was also determined to one day return to this topic from the angle of a researching scholar.

While researching for my report I visited the Al-Wiyah Social Club in downtown Baghdad, which had recently just re-opened for business. This was a welcome event for a city weary of violence and grasping for something positive and hopeful to help it emerge from a dark chapter. I learned that the Al-Wiyah club was founded during the days of the British Mandate in the 1920s, and was a popular spot for British administrators and Iraqi elites to mingle, and among other things, drink Scotch. And there I was, having a Scotch with some Iraqi colleagues, with my Blackwater security detail positioned nearby. This is the moment that this project first began to take shape. Why are we drinking Scotch in Baghdad?

Scotch whisky is a major export of the United Kingdom, making up nearly 25% of all UK food and drink exports and bringing over £2billion (over US$3billion) to the UK balance of trade annually. 1 in 50 jobs in Scotland are directly related to this industry. The importance of Scotch whisky to the British economy goes back many years, and its worldwide appeal was fostered in no small part by the expansion of the British Empire and the global political, cultural, and economic ties of the British Commonwealth system.

In 1918 the British invaded Iraq, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and occupied Baghdad. In the aftermath of the First World War, the League of Nations established the British Mandate in Iraq to oversee the creation of the modern state of Iraq under a constitutional monarchy. British government and military practices were very influential in the development of Iraqi statehood. But what about preferences and behaviors related to alcohol consumption? The timing of this intersection between British imperial and Iraqi national history serves as the starting point for my research due to an interesting coincidence that merits further investigation.

A common comment I have received while explaining my interest in Scotch in the Middle East was, “But I thought Muslims didn’t drink alcohol…”. Islam is a major religion with a long history, and as such has been made up of many different sects with various interpretations on a whole host of issues. Opinions on alcohol vary across these sects, across many different times, and not least among many different individuals making individual choices. Alcohol consumption in Muslim communities is, on a broader level, a topic of significant research interest. However, the time period of the Iraq Mandate, 1920-1932, is coincident with another era in which alcohol plays a prominent role. It is exactly during that time period that you would be forced to admit: “But Americans don’t drink alcohol…”.

American Prohibition, in the form of the 18^th Amendment to the US Constitution was not only a fascinating episode in US history, but of incredible significance for the Scotch whisky industry. Dealing with the loss of one of the world’s greatest alcohol markets had enormous ramifications for different beverage industries all across the globe. Thus, this coincidence of timing induces me to investigate the connections between this loss of the significant American market, and its possible substitution by other regions across the globe to the Scotch whisky industry. Did not being able sell (openly and legally) in the US mean that Scottish exporters turned their attention elsewhere, for example the occupied Muslim areas of the Middle East?

These are some of the topics that framed my initial interest in the Scotch whisky industry and its connections to the modern Middle East. Over the past few months I began some preliminary research, and aside from the original questions that prompted my inquiry I found a number of ways that a study of the Scotch whisky industry intersects with broader world historical phenomena.

Overview to Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky is an alcoholic beverage produced by distilling a fermented ale derived from barley. The term ‘whisky’ comes from a contraction of the Gaelic term uisge beatha for ‘water of life’ – aqua vitae in Latin. Whisky, spelled ‘whiskey’ when describing its Irish and American versions, can be made from any cereal grain. Corn and rye are commonly used in North America. Legislation now controls the labeling of spirits in these markets and dictates the ingredients and procedures permitted to make and sell these beverages. To be sold legally as ‘Scotch whisky’ the spirit must be made from a natural water source and malted barley and aged in oak casks for three years within Scotland. Malted barley is barley that has been brought to a point of germination before being dried and ground into grist. Barley is unique among cereal grains due to the hardness of its husk, providing protection against mold and premature decomposition. Other regions also have prescribed definitions of their spirits. For example, ‘Bourbon’ is an American-style whiskey that must meet certain criteria in its mash bill (the cereal content) and aging process. (Bourbon must be made from at least 51% corn and aged in a new oak barrel in the United States. After two years it can be labeled ‘Straight Bourbon’.)

Most general histories of Scotch whisky make conjectures about the early development of whisky distillation, either crediting the spirit as a local invention or brought over from Ireland as a practice developed by Christian monks. The process of distillation was known to ancient Greek and Egyptian scientists, and was highly developed by Islamic scholars in the medieval era. The development of distilled alcoholic beverages was closely related to efforts to produce products with medicinal properties. Thus the ‘water of life’; the potency of a distilled spirit was believed to possess many properties beneficial for the drinker’s health.

From a historical perspective, there are still many questions about the early development of whisky as a drink popular in the Highlands of Scotland and whether we can convincingly trace these practices back through medieval Europe and to the Arabic scholars of the Middle East. During my research in Scotland I conducted an interview with Charles MacLean, widely regarded as the foremost popular writer on Scotch whisky. He said that this connection between whisky’s early history in Scottish lore and the diffusion of distillation knowledge developed in Islamic scientific works was an understudied aspect of whisky in world history.

MacLean is the author of a number of works on the Scotch whisky industry, notably Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History (2005). After reading his work, I contacted him about conducting an interview and our discussion ranged across a wide variety of topics related to Scotch whisky. He discussed his methods for research into the industry over the past twenty years, suggested a number of resources to assist me and provided insight into the current state of the industry. As well as writing popular histories on the subject, he is also called into service by the industry to conduct exclusive tasting events with foreign dignitaries and business leaders in order to encourage whisky exports abroad.

MacLean fields a number of requests for interviews and is very accessible; when I arrived I found him wrapping up an interview with a film director working on a project related to the discovery of the ‘Shackleton Scotch’, the crate of whisky found buried beneath a hut used by the famous British explorer during an Antarctic voyage in 1907. As a renowned whisky expert, MacLean was being called upon to help the company that made the Scotch recreate the precise recipe of the blend found in the bottles.

MacLean is one of a number of writers that have pursued research in Scotch, crossing boundaries between popular and scholarly writing. Many of these general works discuss the development of the industry as it relates to the history of the relationship between Scotland and its southern neighbor, England and the creation and development of the United Kingdom and the British Empire.

Scotch as Scottish history

A number of general works trace the development of the whisky industry in tandem with the broader trends bringing Scotland into the polity of the United Kingdom. Along with MacLean’s works, some other typical examples of these general histories are Ross Wilson, Scotch: The Formative Years (1970), Ronald Weir, The History of the Malt Distillers of Scotland (1975) and Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart, Scotch: The Whisky of Scotland in Fact and Story (First edition, 1951). These works provide a general overview of the industry as it developed within Scotland since around 1500, with reference to the great political moments that define Scottish history. The tensions between large landowners and subsistence farmers; between Highlanders and Lowlanders; between Edinburgh and London play out among the events of the 1707 Acts of Union, the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 and the changes to Scottish life brought on by the agricultural and industrial revolutions.

In this context, the history of Scotch is commonly told as a story of resistance, yielding to incorporation. The 1707 Acts of Union dissolved the Scottish Parliament and made Edinburgh subservient to London. Scottish supporters of the Union were largely nobles who had lost money financing a failed colony in Panama, a fiasco known as the Darien scheme. Economic motives figured prominently in the decision to join England, and gain access to her foreign markets. However the Union was not universally supported across Scotland, and became even less popular when the English customs system was applied to whisky. The smuggling of whisky, rampant throughout the eighteenth century, was as much driven by the economic desire not to pay tax as it was a political statement from Scots unwilling to submit to what was seen as ‘foreign’ rule.

The Jacobite resistance, hoping to see the restoration of the Stuart line to Scottish (and English) rule drew the majority of its support from the Highland clans, who were often united as much by their opposition to English policy as by their affinity for whisky. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the final stand of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite cause, the British Government enacted a vigorous strategy to incorporate Scotland within the rest of Britain. Laws were passed against the wearing of swords and traditional highland dress. Properties of rebels were confiscated and sold off to new owners, quickening the pace of the changes the agricultural revolution were already bringing to Scotland’s largely feudal clan system. The ‘Highland Clearances’ saw small subsistence farmers increasingly pushed off of their lands in favor of sheep, and highland families either ended up in the growing urban centers of Britain, in ships to British colonies, or homeless and starving. British military presence ensured that the spirit of Scottish independence would not rise again in the Highlands.

In the early part of the 1800s, with memories of rebellion and clan life fading into the past, the renowned novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott’s romantic portrayal of Highland life captured the imagination of audiences in Britain and abroad. His historical novel Waverly presented the story of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 through the viewpoint of a character initially sympathetic to the ideals of the Highland cause but eventually convinced to choose the more respectable side of Hanoverian government. Scott’s presentation of Highland life in this and other works fostered interest in Scottish history and tradition, and helped to fabricate a Scottish identity that would not be threatening to the unity of United Kingdom. Scott orchestrated a visit to Scotland by King George IV in 1822 that presented an idealized version of Scottish identity through clan pageantry, traditional tartan dress, as well as the drinking of whisky. This idealized Scottish identity was inaccurately contrived from the traditions of the shrinking Gaelic community of the Highlands and certainly not representative of most Scots. Nevertheless, it became largely fixed in the minds of the world and deemed acceptable by a population looking for a way to reconcile their national identity with their position within the Empire. Thus the ‘brand’ of Scotland was born – and Scotch whisky was soon to become its major product.

In the next installment, I will briefly touch on the changing agricultural practices and developments in industrial production in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the Scotch whisky industry is easily used to illustrate the major economic and social changes of this era.

IN MEMORIAM

2010-08-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Sue Van Dyne

May 25, 1928 - August 24, 2010

Sue passed away late on the evening of August 24, and will be sorely missed by her family and friends.

Scotland Brave

2010-07-13T17:40:00.002-05:00

My introduction to the works of Robert Louis Stevenson was not, as is I assume is more common, through a reading of Treasure Island or Kidnapped, but on the wall of a Hardee's restaurant along Routes 11&15, the major thoroughfare that leads into my hometown of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Connections between fast food restaurants and literature aren't easy to come by, but for some reason our particular Hardee's was decorated with a lithograph image of man in silhouette, resting his arm upon an oar dipped into the river flowing gracefully beneath his boat, with a fairly recognizable landscape of the surrounding valley stretching into the distance around him. And beside this image were these words:

And when I had asked the name of a river from the brakesman, and heard that it was called the Susquehanna, the beauty of the name seemed to be part and parcel of the beauty of the land. As when Adam with divine fitness named the creatures, so this word Susquehanna was at once accepted by the fancy. That was the name, as no other could be, for that shining river and desirable valley.

The quote was attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, and from that day forward I've always made the connection between that author and the river that defines the region in which I grew up. I'm not even sure when I learned that Stevenson was a Scot, growing up in Edinburgh but leaving later in life to seek out a climate more agreeable to his poor health. His journey took him across North America and eventually to the Pacific island of Samoa, where he died at the age of 44.

I am currently in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, the "Athens of the North"; and my route to the National Archives every morning takes me past the home of the Stevenson family, a large Georgian structure that has fallen on hard times; I gaze into boarded-up windows and over cracks yielding to sprouts of grass on the front landing. There must be a story behind why, in a city so cognizant of its history and tireless in its outreach to tourists, this building is not the site of a museum, or at the very least a trendy Stevenson-themed pub, but I haven't come across it. I did learn that Robert Sr. was a notable engineer, responsible for building some of the world's most advanced lighthouses of the age. His only son, however, turned away from studying engineering at the University of Edinburgh to pursue his passion for literature. I learned this from the cab driver on the way from the airport to my rented apartment in a neighborhood just a short walk from Edinburgh's Old Town and famous geographic landmark, Arthur's Seat. From the pinnacle of this hilltop one is offered one of the most spectacular views in Europe; the sturdy stone of the past, in the shape of the city's ancient Castle and the time-worn buildings aligning the Royal Mile, is surrounded by the encroachments of the vibrant present in the thrusting height of apartment towers, the massive arenas of modern sport and the pathways of progress, those cluttered highways and reaching train routes. It's a beautifully mad mosaic.

So, what am I doing here? Researching Scotch whisky. That's "whisky"- without the "e" (an Irish and American addition to the word, which itself is a made up concoction deriving from the Gaelic "uisge beatha" - from the Latin "aqua vitae" (water of life!)) Whatever you call it, it's a splendid spirit. More on that later. My objective over the next few weeks is to delve into the history of the Scotch export trade. Scotch whisky currently makes up over 23% of all food and drink exports for the UK, producing an extraordinary amount of revenue for the state, and maintaining the livelihood of 1 out of 50 people in Scotland. This commodity has had a fascinating history at the nexus of agriculture, economics, social behaviors, religious beliefs, popular culture and my particular interest: empire. I am researching the archives of Scotch whisky distillers, blenders and agents (sellers) in order to learn more about the significance of international trade to the Scotch business in the early decades of the 20th century, when the British Empire brought its products and habits to locations all across the globe. In particular, I intend to describe the arrival and growth of the Scotch whisky trade in Iraq, and the factors that led my good friend, Subhy al-Meshadani, Baghdad Provincial Council member, to tell me that no Iraqi today would throw a good party without serving Johnnie Walker...

Much thanks to the University of Pittsburgh's Nationality Rooms Scholarship program and to the Scottish Room grant committee under Robert Murdoch, Esq.

Scholarships for Service Class of 2010

2010-06-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

The Bisbee Project is proud to announce our Scholarships for Service Class of 2010.

Scholarships for Service awards recognize graduating high school seniors from the Central PA area who are pursuing a career in service by enrolling in Army, Navy, or Air Force ROTC, attending one of our nation's service academies, or entering service in a local, state or federal government agency upon graduation.

Recipients must exhibit qualities of outstanding leadership potential and academic achievement and demonstrate an exceptional interest in service. Awardees receive a cash award to help them with the expenses of college life. After four years, we are continually impressed by our Scholarships for Service winners. Congratulations, Class of 2010!

Quinton Piper
Bellefonte Area High School

Chris Gribble
Bald Eagle Area High School

Cameron Kingston
Central Columbia High School

Cameron Benner
Selinsgrove Area High School

Maxim A. Kalinkin
Gettysburg Area High School

David Drago
State College Area High School

Mitchell Smyth
Lewisburg Area High School

Dakota Clouser
Danville Area High School

Kenya Volunteer

2010-05-21T20:27:00.001-05:00

Below is an article about Norm Golightly, a classmate of mine from Penn and a fellow Mask and Wig member, who recently had an amazing experience volunteering in an orphanage in Kenya.

Orphans change volunteer’s outlook on life

BY JOHANNA WEIDNER, RECORD STAFF
TheRecord.com 5/21/2010

Norm Golightly needed a break from the hectic, yet privileged life of a movie producer in Los Angeles.

He found that respite, along with a new perspective, at an orphanage outside Nairobi in rural Kenya.

“I’ve never been in a happier place in my life,” Golightly, 37, said in a recent interview.

The children were dressed in torn clothing and had no possessions of their own — except huge, ever-present smiles that greeted Golightly at the orphanage doors.

“They’re genuinely happy and healthy,” said Golightly, a Kitchener native who had roles in school plays at Forest Heights Collegiate and attended a summer acting camp at the Centre in the Square. He moved to California after studying business at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania and until recently ran a movie production company in West Hollywood with actor Nicolas Cage.

Golightly stayed at the Cura Orphanage for five weeks earlier this year while trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life after the movie company’s collapse.

He had done some volunteer work in Los Angeles, including taking part in a mentoring program for inner city young people.

But, he said, “I found it a little too cosy.”

At the end of the day, he recalled, he would return to the comforts of his home.

“I wanted to get my hands dirty.”

Golightly recalled a friend of a friend whose father had started an orphanage in Kenya — and soon arrangements were made. The Cura Orphanage is supported by several Rotary Clubs in North America, the United Kingdom and Kenya itself.

Golightly’s offer to orphanage staff members unsure about his visit’s purpose was obliging: “I’ll do whatever. I’ll dig wells. I’ll mend fences. What ever you need.”

Nerves got the best of Golightly on the plane to Kenya.

He imagined himself being the odd one out in a place overcast in sadness.

Those worries vanished as soon as he stepped out of the car at the orphanage and the children rushed to greet him. The fastest of the bunch grabbed his luggage to take to the room where he would be staying.

“They were just so loving and they were so happy,” said Golightly. “It’s a really amazing place.”

The orphanage is home to 50 children between the age of four and 15. All lost their parents to AIDS. Another 100 children are on a waiting list to live at the orphanage. It has the capacity for 150, but there’s not enough funding.

Children live there for a decade or so, with no expectation they will be adopted.
Golightly was a welcome guest and a novelty in the young lives ruled by routine. He filled his days playing and talking with the children and found that most speak English quite well.

He had one big plan for his time at the orphanage — to bring donated used digital cameras to hand out so the children could snap photos.

“The cameras ended up being a big hit. It was chaos. They couldn’t get enough of it,” he said.
Basic instructions were given and then the children were let loose with the cameras to capture their world. The images amazed Golightly.
“They were so talented and they just see the world from a different perspective.”

The same happiness that caught Golightly by surprise is evident in the photographs. He plans to enlarge and frame some of them to hang in his home.

A book and a photo exhibit are also in the works now to raise money for the orphanage. And Golightly hopes to assist other orphanages and expand the photography project. He has posted photos on his Facebook group, called Kenya Spare a Camera, through which he also received donations to buy the orphanage a cow and chickens.

The trip revealed other opportunities to Golightly. He’s writing a book about charity and about the nature of giving, inspired by a generous gift he received from a girl at the orphanage. The broken bracelet was a treasure to a child who lives in a place with no toys or anything to call your own.
“She insisted that I take it,” Golightly said. “I realized this girl just gave me 100 per cent of her possessions as a thank you.”
People living in developed nations can learn from that girl’s gesture, Golightly said.

Making movies with a message is what he hopes to tackle now, blending his production expertise with his new-found outlook.

Leaving the orphanage was tough for both Golightly and the children.

“I think they thought I’d moved in and I’d just be one of them,” he said.

Sadness crept into the orphanage when the children learned their new friend would be leaving. Golightly, too, had forged a strong connection with the children and threw a party before his departure to lift everyone’s spirits.

A strong bond had been forged in just a few weeks and Golightly looks forward to returning to visit the children, who gave him far more than he ever expected.

“It was a truly amazing experience.”

therecord.com

Congrats!

2010-04-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Bisbee! Steve and Tara got married on April 1 in the Dominican Republic with a small group of friends and family-- and a bunch of other random people on the beach enjoying the Punta Cana surf... Best wishes to the two of you!

Hump

2010-04-14T13:11:00.003-05:00

It's Wednesday. There's transition in the air. The birds can tell, and their singing is at once a story of things past and an announcement of things to come. Self-promotion through story-telling. Like Twitter I guess. I didn't realize I was making that connection until just now. I've been in a philosophical mood. Perhaps a bit too much Ben Folds on my Pandora station; perhaps it's the spring in the air and the tastiness of the tuna sandwich I just made for myself that was somehow way too symbolic in that it reinforced my notions of self-confidence and respect for my abilities to survive and to perform under pressure; I've never had a lunch mean that much to me.

So as I contemplated the significance of my creation, this sandwich, I thought about change. I thought about those times in your life when you just take a step back and reflect on where you've been. Why this happened during a tuna sandwich, I'm not sure; but there have been a series of events that have led up to this now that I think about it. McNabb leaving the Eagles, maybe. Oh, and my brother Steve's wedding. We all just got back from the Dominican Republic where he and Tara got married in a completely awesome beach ceremony; just a terrific event and beautiful expression of love and family and sharing life. And I got to be Best Man, which is something I've always wondered if I'd get the chance to do someday. I don't know the statistics, but I'd like to think that every dude gets to do that at least once in their lives- be the best man and be there for some other guy as he makes what is probably one of the best things you can ever make in this world: a promise. And all the other stuff is pretty cool too- I won't tell you any stories about crazy bachelor parties or anything, because frankly, we got all of that out of systems a long time ago-- but we did, I think, have the chance to appreciate the significance of a bunch of things that have happened to us in our lives; for brothers, we're pretty close I'd say, but there's always plenty of opportunities to bring the people closest to you even closer.

I've thought a lot about that kind of stuff since I got back from Iraq. I don't say that to be dramatic; obviously if I can 'have a moment' with a tuna sandwich my threshold for self-reflection must not be that low. However, I do think it's important to address my Iraq experience in this context. Getting back to my theme of change and transition, there are a couple of recent milestones that I've hit since I made the change from that, very different, lifestyle and experience. Most of you know I'm in grad school (again...) and I just wrapped up my (second...) MA thesis paper yesterday. Which is all well and good- certainly not a Pulitzer winner- or whatever, other, award one might get... (I'm thinking of what the right analogy would be. Coming up empty. Anyway...) But anyway, the point was that its a milestone. Done. Moving on. And, for those of you who've known me for a while- you've probably heard me joke that before I went to Iraq, I "worked out like my life depended on it." And when I got there, I "ate like there was no tomorrow." Yeah, I developed some bad habits. Most of them involving Lucky Charms. Needless to say, I knew there was a problem when some of my Iraqi friends (never subtle...) asked me, "Did you... eat you? Where is our friend Dan? Maybe you are just standing in front of him." Yeah. So anyway, the 'learning moment' I'm offering here is that I'm finally out there running 10+ miles again and wearing that Banana Republic suit I bought for myself to attend the second Bush inauguration in 2005. (That's another story in transitions...)

So enough chirping about the past... what's coming up next? Steve and I are fired up about another year of The Bisbee Project. As well as our scholarship program, we're adding a new event to the line-up this summer. We've been doing a lot of thinking about our own experiences trying to live a life of service, and how our military background played into that. We're planning on hosting an event that will highlight the contributions of a bunch of other veterans we know who have moved back into civilian life and come up with really creative and important ways to give back to their communities. In business, in service groups, in the arts, in media and in public office. Really solid folks who are making a difference. I'll be posting more about it soon. In fact, I'll be posting more about a lot of things. Just a little out of practice.

New Addition

2010-04-05T22:40:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that Hussein, pictured here with his family, served with me in Iraq and is now starting a new life here in Pittsburgh. Well, he has now been joined by a few more family members -- the newest of which is little Mouj, born on March 30, 2010! She is a beautiful little girl, and has quite a head of hair on her! Her name means "foam of the ocean wave" in Arabic, in keeping a common practice of very descriptive names. Nour is now a very busy mother, taking care of this new little girl and learning English along with their son Soleiman, who has been doing very well in school - and loves Spiderman (so he tells me). Hussein is doing well in his job with a local security company, and we've been very lucky to find jobs for his sister Wafaa and mother Anne, who just arrived in Pittsburgh a few months ago. She's looking forward to getting her driver's license soon. (She thinks Pittsburgh traffic will be much easier than in Baghdad...) We all had lunch the other day and caught up - it's been quite a busy time lately. Mumtaz!

Tribute in the News

2009-11-11T19:30:00.001-05:00

Our Tribute to Veterans on Saturday was covered by StateCollege.com and reported today as part of their Veterans Day coverage.

Brothers and Veterans Inspire Others to Serve
Nov 11, 2009
by Jen Golding
StateCollege.com

Somewhere in the mosh pit of trailers and RVs at Saturday’s pre-game tailgate, surrounded by cheering fans and loud music, the people gathered at the “Biz-Hub” RV hung their heads in silence.

Although most of the people surrounding Beaver Stadium were honoring the Nittany Lions with traditional tailgates, brothers Dan and Steve Bisbee wanted to honor the men and women who have, currently are or have ambitions to serve in the military.

The veteran brothers, who grew up in Central Pennsylvania, agree that there is a short distance between the cutting edge of American foreign policy and small town Pennsylvania.

“The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the largest contingents serving overseas, therefore a huge amount of diplomatic effort is done by people from small town Pennsylvania,” said Dan Bisbee.

Dan majored in history at The University of Pennsylvania, where he enrolled in the Army ROTC program. Upon graduation in 1994, he was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army. He served at Fort Hood, Texas, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When he completed his active duty service, Dan received his master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for transatlantic security and intelligence policy.

In 2005, Dan returned to active duty when he was called to serve in Iraq to work with city officials in Baghdad on reconstruction. He returned home in 2006, but was asked by the State Department to come back in a similar capacity in 2007-2008. He returned to Central Pennsylvania in the summer of 2008. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh and working on a dissertation that connects the long-term history of Baghdad to the current efforts of the U.S. government of counterinsurgency and foreign policy.

“While I was in Iraq, I saw the key to success in Baghdad or anywhere,” said Dan. “It’s not the high-level politicians who matter, it’s the people who work in the government offices and dedicate themselves to fellow citizens.”

What made a huge impression on Dan was seeing Iraqis risking their lives every day just to go to work to make their city a better place.

“The experience changed me,” said Dan. “It made me more aware that things don’t just happen in history, people make things happen. Individual actions matter.”

Steve said his experience in the military changed him as well.

“I was overseas for every single holiday. I didn’t have a family at the time, but I witnessed how hard it was for people who did to be apart from their families, yet they were committed to serving their country,” he said. “I realized it’s important to make societies less stable than ours more stable.”

Steve graduated from Sellinsgrove Area High School in 1993, three years after Dan. He then enrolled in the Army ROTC program at the University of Pennsylvania as well, where he majored in business at Penn’s Wharton School.

After graduating in 1997, Steve was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army. He spent four years in active duty service, where he was based in Fort Hood, Texas, but served in overseas missions in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Fort Hood is the site of the mass shooting that occurred last Thursday in which 13 people were killed and 28 wounded by an Army psychiatrist facing deployment to Afghanistan.

“I spent four of my best years stationed in Fort Hood,” Steve reflected. “We need to take a moment to honor those victims and all civil servants.”

In 2001, Steve left military service to work on civilian assignments with the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Three years later, he moved back to Central Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree in business administration from Penn State University. He is now vice president of S&A Homes Inc., a residential home-building company based in State College.

In 2006, Steve paired up with Dan to start the Bisbee Project, a nonprofit organization which seeks to recognize young leaders in high school who could make good government servants. Scholarships for Service is an important aspect of the project, which awards scholarships to graduating high school seniors who are enrolling in Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC, or a service academy after graduation.

So far, 19 scholarships through 11 high schools have been awarded to exceptional students who plan to pursue a military or government service career. Dan and Steve disagree with the belief that our current generation of Americans isn’t up to our current generation of problems.

“We need to forge a path to the future,” said Steve. “To do that, we need to underscore the importance of service at any capacity.”

Steve and Dan were inspired by their experiences as officers in the U.S. Army at the forefront of American foreign policy. Because their service is such a big part of who they are, the idea behind the Bisbee Project is how to serve the community without being in uniform.

“We want our experiences as veterans to always be present with us,” said Dan. “However long you spend in a service career, it will always have an impact on you. It will greatly help you become a better citizen regardless of where you end up. That’s what our society needs right now.”

Dan believes smart citizenship means awareness of issues and the world around us and a commitment to making positive actions. That’s why the Bisbee Project awards scholarships to not only aspiring military personnel, but to motivated students who demonstrate an interest in government and community service.

“The call to service and volunteer is an important rallying cry,” said Dan. “The government should encourage more service no matter what level it’s on. It all makes a positive impact.”

Dan and Steve awarded the first scholarship to a student from their own alma mater. Since then, they have branched out to other high schools through relationships with rotary clubs and colleagues.

The scholarship money comes from private donations from like-minded individuals interested in encouraging the next generation of young leaders in Pennsylvania. Dan and Steve hold fundraising campaigns every year.

“But it’s not about the money,” said Steve. “It’s about the recognition. It’s special for them and for us.”

Also present at the Bisbee tailgate were representatives of the Penn State ROTC program. Justin Strine and Nicole Spiller, both freshmen, were presented a football signed by Dan and Steve and about seven other veterans present who had served in places such as Vietnam, Iraq and Bosnia. The football was meant to honor their commitment to serve.

One of those veterans was Dan and Steve’s father, Fred Bisbee, a retired U.S. Army ranger.

“He is an example of someone whose career in the military provided a model to take inspiration from,” said Steve.

Fred believes his sons are doing a “tremendous job” with the Bisbee Project.

“The Bisbee Project is a good opportunity for kids to learn about the military,” said Spiller after being presented with the football. Spiller plans to enter the Army Nurse Corps upon graduation.

The most recent scholarship recipients were also recognized at the tailgate. Brothers Michael and Zachary Sunday graduated from Bellefonte High School last year and are currently freshmen at Penn State. Michael and Zachary are both majoring in Crime, Law, and Justice.

“I plan to work for the FBI someday,” said Michael. “I think it’s wonderful that Dan and Steve give money to people who plan to serve our country.”

Dan and Steve’s future plan for the Bisbee Project is to spread through all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, recognizing and honoring students from every county with scholarship money. They are dedicated to communicating stories of people dedicated to service and using those stories to inspire young people to continue servicing our country.

“The ultimate objective is to give former veterans the opportunity to mentor future veterans,” said Steve. “I’m sure many kids have questioned their involvement in military or government service, so we need to create a supportive network and encourage kids to give service a shot.”

Photos by Victoria Magliaro.

From The Daily Item: Sunbury,PA

2009-11-11T16:30:00.002-05:00

Siblings pay tribute to veterans

By Tricia Pursell

The Daily Item

November 10, 2009

— SELINSGROVE — Selinsgrove native and Iraq veteran Dan Bisbee knows how important it is for small-town residents to step out and support their country.

“So much of our foreign policy right now is dependent on people who grow up in small-town America,” he said. “They do matter on the world stage.”

Bisbee is managing director of the Bisbee Project, which seeks to develop effective leadership, responsible government and global awareness.

He began the project in 2006, along with his brother, Steven, also an Army veteran.

“We started looking for ways we could continue our service,” Bisbee said.

Through fundraisers and donations, the project gathers money for scholarships for high school seniors who are pursuing a career in the service by enlisting in the Army, Navy or Air Force ROTC, attending one the nation’s service academies or entering service in a local, state or federal government agency after graduation.

Now in its third year, Scholarships for Service is awarding 19 scholarships, each worth a couple of hundred dollars, Bisbee said. In addition to the money, the students are selected and then recognized in front of their peers.

“For us, Veterans Day is about paying tribute to the greatest generations that have come before us, but it’s also a moment for us to inspire and encourage the next generation who are going to carry that torch into the future,” he said.

The Bisbee Project also raises money for Preserving Pennsylvania, aimed at historical preservation and natural conservation.

“I have a soft spot in my heart for the Susquehanna Valley,” Bisbee said. “I’m really fond of the place that made me who I am. When I was overseas, it was definitely a place I thought of getting back to very often.”

Bisbee graduated from Selinsgrove Area High School in 1990. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, he was commissioned an officer in the Army and served at Fort Hood, Texas, as well as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He later received a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he specialized in transatlantic security and intelligence policy.

In 2005, Bisbee returned to active duty to make his first trip to Iraq as an Army officer. He made his second trip to Iraq in 2007 with the U.S. State Department, serving on the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team. He is working on a doctorate in history at the University of Pittsburgh.

Steven Bisbee, president of the Bisbee Project, is a 1993 Selinsgrove graduate. He was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and served in Bosnia and Kosovo. He later was employed by the Department of Defense and now serves as vice president of S&A Homes Inc., a residential home-building company headquartered in State College.

Tribute to Veterans

2009-11-10T00:04:00.006-05:00

We had the honor of hosting a special Tribute to Veterans at our Penn State tailgate this past weekend outside Beaver Stadium before the game. At Veterans Day it is important to note the service and sacrifices of our nation's vets, and we were proud to pay our respects to the veterans in our midst, as well as those currently serving abroad.

We also believe Veterans Day is about inspiring and encouraging the next generation of veterans to pick up the torch and continue the proud tradition of service that we have inherited. Some cadets from the Penn State Army ROTC program joined us for our tribute, and we took the opportunity to recognize their role in keeping this tradition alive. We were also joined by one of our Scholarships for Service awardees, Mike Sunday, who is currently studying criminal justice at Penn State and hopes to join the ranks of our law enforcement agents at the FBI in the future. Below are some photos of the camaraderie at our BizHub tailgate.

The Next Generation

2009-11-05T13:13:00.004-05:00

We had the opportunity to speak to an outstanding group of students at Central Pennsylvania College yesterday. We talked to them about the mission of The Bisbee Project and our efforts to serve as a "scouting agency for talent", looking for dedicated and energetic individuals willing to give careers in service a shot. Whether it's military service on the front lines of American foreign policy or pitching in to improve our local communities, those who serve are those who really make a difference in all of our lives. Central Penn is a great school that produces graduates in business, communications, information technology, criminal justice and homeland security management. We talked to a number of motivated students who are on the brink of making that leap into their future careers, and we wish them all the best of luck.

Our visit was covered by a number of media outlets, and there are some links below.

CBS News 21 News at 10

ABC 27 News at 7

WHP CBS News 21 News at 6

Baghdad follow up

2009-10-31T19:27:00.004-05:00

I got through to a number of my Iraqi friends and colleagues in Baghdad over the past week since the explosions last Sunday that demolished portions of the Baghdad provincial government headquarters, a Ministry of Justice building and other government facilities in downtown Baghdad.

I first got a hold of Rasul, a staffer who worked closely with me on issues pertaining to the committee responsible for the administrative relationships between the Provincial Council and Baghdad's local district and neighborhood councils. He assured me that he was fine, but many of his co-workers were injured in the blast, some of them fatally.

I also spoke with Faisel Shuber, a district council member from one of Baghdad's suburban villages and one of my oldest friends in Baghdad. He had just come from meeting with PC member Mohammed al-Rubeiy and district council member Kadem al-Shimary; he said they were fine and that none of the current PC members were killed in the blast. As Sunday is the beginning of the workweek in Baghdad, this is extremely fortunate -- not only for those individuals and their families, but for the functioning of local government in Baghdad.

The council reportedly met at their usual weekly meeting on Tuesday, but at a different location -- to demonstrate their resolve in the face of a terrorist act specifically targeting them and their efforts to rebuild their capital. Another friend of mine from the Adhamiya neighborhood, Omar al-Rahmani, said he was on his way to the council building at the time of the blast and therefore narrowly missed possibly becoming one of the hundreds of casualties in these attacks. He assured me that Ms. Shatha al-Obedie, longtime media spokeswoman for the provincial governor, was not injured in the blast. Omar did explain how the blast at the Ministry of Justice also levelled a local kindergarten, adding to the horror of the event. Families have been searching for their children in the rubble over the past week. Please take a moment to offer your thoughts and prayers to the victims of this attack, and wish the people of Baghdad the fortitude to maintain their resolve in the face of the continuing challenges they face.

In other news about friends and colleagues in Baghdad, I am sad to post that former Baghdad Provincial Council member Dr. Kamel al-Shabibi passed away last week. He had traveled to the U.S. to undergo heart surgery, but suffered a heart attack before reaching surgery. He spent his last days with the family of his brother, who as an American citizen who has lived in the States for decades since emigrating from Iraq, worked at the US Embassy as an agriculture advisor to the reconstruction effort.

Dr. Shabibi was a fabulous gentleman, and was widely considered the "elder statesman" of the Provincial Council during his term, which overlapped my tours in 2005-06 and again in 2007-08. Respected for his wisdom and candor in a volatile environment sorely lacking in both, he served as an excellent moderator between the US Embassy and the Baghdad provincial government throughout many difficult situations. He was gracious with his time; weighing in on the heaviest issues complicating our joint reconstruction efforts as well as just being an enjoyable presence at our more social gatherings. A number of us gained extraordinary insight into Iraqi culture and politics just by having some tea with him; his overall impact on our reconstruction efforts is incalculable.

He was an extraordinary presence in the drive to improve access to microfinance in Baghdad, bringing capital to Baghdad's new generation of entrepreneurs and building strong institutional relationships between the Provincial Council and Baghdad's local district councils. While rarely touted as one of the critical components of the "surge" strategy that pulled Baghdad back from the brink of civil war in 2006-07, these economic initiatives, led by courageous individuals like Dr. Shabibi who refused to submit to naysayers and doubters, were instrumental -- and will continue to have an impact on the long term development of Baghdad and the wider Middle East.

He will be remembered as a friend, as a confidant, as a negotiator, as a leader, as a patriot, as a visionary, and as a generous man and a kind soul.

(In the photo above, I am standing to the left of Dr. Shabibi. We were attending a training sessions for new council members at the Rashid Hotel in early 2007.)

Baghdad blasts

2009-10-26T09:06:00.003-05:00

The Baghdad provincial government was one of the apparent targets in yesterday's attack in downtown Baghdad. Dozens of staffers and provincial employees were killed and injured in the blast. I have not received word of any Provincial Council members killed; Governor Salah was in Washington attending an economic conference and immediately flew back to Baghdad. PC member Mohammed al-Rubeiy has been quoted in several news stories, stating that 25 PC staff members have been killed. I will repost news here as I get it from individuals on the ground there in Baghdad and elsewhere.

from WSJ.com
Deadly Blasts Rock Baghdad, Killing Dozens
By GINA CHON

BAGHDAD -- Two powerful suicide car bombs near high-profile government offices rocked the capital on Sunday in the deadliest attack here in more than two years, killing at least 147 people and raising fresh worry about the capabilities of Iraq's security services ahead of national elections scheduled for January.

The Ministry of Interior said that in addition to the dead, more than 500 people were injured. Charred bodies, limbs and the smoldering shells of dozens of cars littered the area. The explosions also shattered windows throughout the nearby Mansour Hotel, which houses the Chinese Embassy. Some ceilings collapsed.

The blasts, which the government said bore the signature of al Qaeda in Iraq, most damaged Baghdad's provincial headquarters and the nearby federal Ministry of Justice. Many of the protective blast walls surrounding those buildings collapsed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the site of the attacks and blamed al Qaeda and members of the Baath party. His office said in a statement that the explosions were meant to create instability and to stop the January parliamentary elections.

President Barack Obama called the attacks an attempt to "derail Iraq's progress." He said the U.S. "will stand with Iraq's people and government as a close friend and partner as Iraqis prepare for elections early next year." The president spoke with Mr. Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani by phone to express his condolences.

On a roll...

2009-10-04T12:08:00.002-05:00

Steve's new business venture COGSTER.COM is up and running and driving the local economy of the State College, PA area forward. Check out the latest on YouTube...

It's Not Just Lunch

2009-08-21T07:42:00.006-05:00

Counterinsurgency is a full spectrum activity. While I typically discuss the political and social aspects of the campaign I was involved with during the surge, called the Baghdad Security Plan, or Operation Fardh al Qanoon (Arabic for "Enforcing the Law"), it is important to understand its critical security components as well. We talked about these "kinetic operations" at the Q&A session following my talk at the State College Rotary Downtown Club meeting on Thursday. The Downtown Club is one of five Rotary Clubs in the State College area, attesting to the strength of community service in the region.

Reacting to the unconventional nature of the military's role in Iraq, units deploying there began organizing themselves differently than they typically would for the large-scale combat operations that standard doctrine calls for. These novel adjustments, over several years of deployments, crystallized into new standard operating procedures that assigned certain units and staff positions to supporting either "kinetic" or "non-kinetic" operations, simply meaning those during which you intend to shoot bullets and those where you don't. In most Army divisions you would now find a two-star general in command, a one-star in charge of kinetic and another one-star responsible for non-kinetic operations. My work on the PRT in Baghdad was intricately linked to this one-star general and his staff as we developed the strategies and policies related to rebuilding and supporting Iraq's government service infrastructure and civil-society institutions. But we never worked in a vacuum; our strategies were closely coordinated with the kinetic operations that involved raids on insurgent strongholds, cordon and search missions and the security of key infrastructure facilities.

I was asked about the foreign fighters that served as main driver for the insurgency, and where they were now that the levels of violence have decreased. I replied frankly that our operations successfully neutralized a number of these fighters, and broke up the networks they used to plan and execute attacks on US forces and Iraqi civilians. A typical set-up involved a foreign fighter, backed by al-Qaeda funding, sub-contracting his work out to local Iraqis. These locals would be employed to set IEDs for passing US convoys, sometimes making a hundred or two hundred dollars for a successful attack, a substantial sum in Iraq. Getting the video of the attack could double that amount. Our counterinsurgency strategy involved getting intelligence on these networks, killing or capturing the foreign-financed leader, and then making an effort to create alternative employment opportunities in those areas where local Iraqis may be susceptible to the financial incentives of supporting the insurgency.

Therefore our overall strategy involved an extraordinary amount of coordination between the combat operations, and the campaigns of economic and political development targeted to support the ability of Iraqi government institutions to effectively and equitably provide services to the population.

This week's horrific attacks in Baghdad underscore the fact that while the insurgency may be down, it is certainly not out.

A few weeks before I left Baghdad, I was invited downtown to one of the city's notable social clubs. I visited with some of the middle aged and older professional gentlemen that made up the bulk of the club's membership, many of whom were enjoying a mid-day Scotch. We had lunch in the club's dining room, and then popped our heads into the main ballroom, where there was some kind of festivity occurring. It turned out to be a graduation ceremony for the Baghdad School of Dentistry. About a hundred or so of Baghdad's future dentists were having a party with their families, celebrating the completion of their training and the beginning of their new careers. I like to relate this anecdote when I talk about Iraq because it reflects what I refer to as the surprising element of the mundane to be found there. Over the past few years we have been made painfully aware of the roadside bombs, the suicide market attacks, and the strife of sectarian violence. But there's a lot going on there that we don't hear much about, that frankly may have a lot more impact on Iraq's long term future. Like dentists.

As always, we enjoyed the opportunity to visit with the community leaders found within the ranks of the Rotary Club; people who know that the future of a great community like State College doesn't stay great without the hard work of selfless individuals. Special thanks to Cathy Brown and Don Bedell, pictured here with me and Steve.

Scholarships for Service: DRAKE and GAGE COOPER

2009-08-12T11:21:00.008-05:00

Drake and Gage knew from an early age that the Army would be an important part of their lives. These twin brothers from Port Matilda, PA will both be attending Susquehanna University in the fall and will both be pursuing Army officer commissions through the ROTC program there. Their scholastic talent, drive and dedication to careers in service made them exceptional candidates for our Scholarships for Service awards. But what makes these two young men truly remarkable and worthy of our respect is their unflinching devotion to such a life in service with the full knowledge of what it may cost.

When they were just boys, their mom and dad got divorced. The strain of a military marriage was just too great on the couple. Drake and Gage's father had enlisted in the Army Reserves while he was still in high school and was well into a career of active duty service that had him based all over the world in places like Korea, Ft. Drum, New York, Ft. Knox, Kentucky and Ft. Lewis, Washington. Despite a long-distance relationship with their dad, the boys kept close by talking often and visiting whenever possible. As they got older, they started talking to him about careers in the Army. He advised that, if they were really interested in the Army, they should give officer's training a shot. When they started doing their college search, they took their dad's advice and also looked into ROTC programs.

Gage and Drake often joked and chatted with their dad, a Stryker commander and platoon sergeant, when he was deployed to Iraq in 2007. Supporting the "surge", the 2nd Infantry Division deployed a Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Baghdad for a 15 month tour in mid-2007. Those early months of the surge have been among the most intensive for combat units in Baghdad over the entire conflict in Iraq. Regular contact with their dad helped the brothers cope with the distance and the uncertainty, and they often got to share their thoughts on life after high school graduation.

On September 5, 2007 Gage and Drake were told that their father had been killed in Iraq. Compounding the tragedy of this loss, they learned that their father's death was due to the grossly negligent conduct of a fellow soldier, who accidentally fired his weapon while the two were in their quarters on base. Sergeant First Class David A. Cooper Jr., a decorated soldier and respected leader, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Their father's death did not deter them from considering military service. Nor did it obligate them, they said; influencing their choices in an attempt to respect his memory. "We just think the Army is a good career path for us," Drake said.

The two live with their mother and stepfather in a beautiful rustic house nestled in a verdant hollow just outside of Port Matilda. I was able to spend part of an afternoon with the young men and talk about their plans for the future. The two have an easy, level-headed demeanor about them that exudes a comfort level within their own skins, a quality rarely found in many recent high school graduates. Gage explained, "Our Dad was really laid back. We definitely got that from him."

They don't get too uptight about trying, or not trying, to be similar - a common malady among twins. "We have a lot of the same interests, and we've had a lot of the same experiences. It's not that surprising that we end up doing a lot of stuff together," Drake said, when I asked them about the decision to go to the same college and join ROTC together.

"We really liked Susquehanna University and the town of Selinsgrove," Drake said. "Coming from Port Matilda, we just didn't want to go somewhere really big." The two had made several visits to Selinsgrove during their college search, where they have some friends. As someone who grew up there, it wasn't really until recently that I could fathom why anybody would go there for college. Perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I can now fully appreciate the charms of my hometown and the campus that really makes it a great place.

Susquehanna is apparently very happy to have them as well, as their ROTC scholarship is being augmented by the school in order to cover some of their additional expenses like room and board. Affiliated with the program based at Bucknell University (in neighboring Lewisburg, PA) ROTC at S.U. is attempting to expand by attracting exceptional students like Drake and Gage. This is in noticeable contrast to our nation's so-called elite universities, like many Ivy League schools, where ROTC has been all but banished. As move-in day approaches at S.U., the brothers look forward to the move to Selinsgrove, and their futures.

"Doing ROTC while attending college is going to be cool," Drake said. "It's a really good way to blend our academic and career interests." Gage added, "We'll have a lot more purpose at school, knowing that what we're doing there is connected to our future jobs."

Drake is thinking about a major in Ecology, reflecting his love for the outdoors and the importance of environmental issues. But he's also thinking about law school and service in the JAG corps, he says. One of his favorite activities at Bald Eagle High School was 'Mock Trial', where he and Gage joined other students in a competition based on public speaking, litigation tactics and understanding the legal process. Their team advanced to Districts the past two years. Gage plans to major in History, possibly specializing in military history. Apparently he's joining quite a lineage of history buffs in the family, following after his dad and grandpa.

We wish Drake and Gage the best of luck in adapting to college life and in their eventual pursuit of military careers as U.S. Army officers. We are humbled by their extraordinary courage, and we are thankful that there are outstanding individuals like these men ready and willing to answer the call of service that our communities and our country greatly need. We are proud of you.

Drake and Gage are pictured above holding a photo of their father, SFC David Cooper Jr., taken in the turret of the Stryker he commanded in Baghdad.

The Hussein Chronicles

2009-08-11T16:19:00.005-05:00

Some of you may recognize Hussein, a friend of mine who worked with me in Baghdad as an interpreter during both of my tours, in this photo. This is a shot from last week during our first bowling outing in Squirrel Hill since Hussein arrived in Pittsburgh last winter. Neither of us could be considered 'avid' bowlers, or even 'proficient' bowlers. Frankly, it's a stretch to even call us bowlers at all. But we settled on bowling as the evening's activity and gave it a shot. My initiation into the sport began at a young age in Selinsgrove at Super Bowl 522, with the after school program run by Mr. Rutkowski. He always hovered over anybody with two strikes in a row, to be there if they pulled off the "turkey." Most of us choked under the pressure. Hussein told me about the times before the war when his dad took him to the bowling alley in the Rasheed Hotel. If that name rings a bell, it's because that's one of the most famous landmarks in downtown Baghdad and the place where many foreign journalists stay and report from when in Iraq. Located just on the edge of the International Zone, it has also served as one of the most popular places to conduct diplomatic business in Baghdad. I have to admit that after two and a half years of nearly daily meetings at the Rasheed, I had no idea there was a bowling alley there, apparently under one of the night clubs. Hussein's father was killed in a suicide bombing in 2006 at a market a few blocks away from the Rasheed. His mother was also injured in the blast, but has since recovered and soon hopes to join Hussein here in Pittsburgh. Nearly every member of Hussein's family chose to serve as interpreters. Hussein worked with me both while I was in the Army and with the State Department and also ran missions with Blackwater security teams. His mother worked at the US Embassy, and his sister Wafaa served with Army units at Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad. Wafaa just arrived here in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, also under the Special Immigrant Visa program, set up to expedite the immigration of Iraqis who served with the U.S. Government. Hussein was able to bring his wife Nour and little boy Suleyman to the States as well. We've had good news on the job front lately, as first Hussein got a job as a security guard and then his wife was able to get a job in the same building on the cleaning crew. Wafaa is working on getting some interviews lined up. They are adapting well to their new lives but it is certainly full of challenges. While most of the people he works with have been friendly and helpful, he does feel that his Arab appearance and accent throws some people off at times and he has overheard some prejudiced comments. He has even found that mentioning his pride at serving with Americans in Iraq has sometimes backfired, due to the inescapable politics that unfortunately tend to dominate that entire topic. For many of us, the war will never be as personal as it has been for somebody like Hussein and his family. Keep them and the many others affected by this conflict in your thoughts as they continue their own personal reconstructions.

Bellefonte Breakfast and Baghdad

2009-07-31T18:00:00.003-05:00

One of the things Steve and I really enjoy about getting out and about to the communities that make up Central PA is that fact that we always meet such great and fascinating people. It's a common trope of Hollywood that small towns are filled with either dullards or psychos, and those of us who have lived a significant part of our lives in small towns know that's not the case. In fact, in an age when global travel and communication are so prevalent, it's often the case that people from small towns have extraordinarily worldly experiences. Through our work with The Bisbee Project we stress that the distance between small-town Pennsylvania and American foreign policy is not very far at all. Just consider the number of PA National Guardsmen - our nation's largest contingent currently serving abroad - who have spent the past several years rotating between their hometowns and the front lines of our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seen in this respect, America's small-town values are thus probably the largest component of our entire foreign diplomatic effort. That's something to think about.

Speaking of diplomacy, I was very proud to meet Bob Lamb (pictured here) at last Friday's breakfast meeting of the Bellefonte Rotary Club. A longtime member of the club, Bob retired to the Bellefonte area after 30 years in our nation's Foreign Service, serving the State Department in our embassies around the world in countries such as Belgium, Cyprus and Liberia. Bob and I shared some other experiences in common, as were are both alums of the University of Pennsylvania (Bob in the Class of 1958; myself a 1994 grad; Steve is Wharton Class of 1997) and were inducted into the Friars society while at Penn. (We did the secret handshake.) Although a very rainy morning in downtown Bellefonte, our breakfast at the Café on the Park - with some of the most awesome oatmeal ever - gave us a great start to our day (which for me, involved returning to Pittsburgh via a still-way-too-many-construction-zones Route 22).

Huntingdon is a Cool Town

2009-07-30T15:17:00.000-05:00

During my haitus from Baghdad in the summer of 2006, when I was visiting Steve in State College (he refers to this period as "the occupation"), I spent more than a few afternoons riding my motorcycle around Central PA, touring the countryside at an appropriately leisurely pace. I ride a Yamaha V-Star, which falls into the "cruiser" category of bike, and that acurately describes the particular attitude I have towards riding. A network of lesser-traveled roads stretches out from State College connecting tiny hamlets, winding along streams, carving through farmland and rolling up and over the surrounding hills. You must remain very alert when riding, and this diligence is rewarded in the rich detail you observe in the passing terrain. The road takes on a familiarity that is unknown while traveling the same route in a car. Your relationship is more intimate, and the results of a misunderstanding therefore more potent. Moreso than you ever would in a car, you appreciate air. It's thick, and doesn't like to get pushed around. You feel it change temperature while passing a wheatfield or rounding a shady turn. In short, motorcycle riding makes you become more aware of variables. The essence of cruising is therefore to be found in the fact that even if it's the same road, it's not the same trip.

On one of these jaunts I rolled down Rt. 26 into Huntingdon, PA near Raystown Lake. I eased past the campus of Juniata College and through downtown and pulled over at the point where Standing Stone Creek pours into the Juniata River. A few old railroad bridges cross the creek at that point, and there's a little trail down under the trestles to the edge of the river. Maybe it was the similarity to my hometown of Selinsgrove, with Susquehanna University, that struck me but in any case I took an immediate liking to Huntingdon. "Cool little town," I thought as I remounted and headed east on 22.

On Thursday, Steve and I paid a visit to the Huntingdon Kiwanis Club to give our "What Matters" presentation, and as I rolled into town I saw the banner in the above photograph. Seems like I'm not the only one who got a good impression from this great PA town. Budget Travel magazine put Huntingdon in this year's list of the top five "Coolest Small Towns in America." Cool.

We had a great lunch with the Kiwanis members, and really enjoyed talking about the challenges and rewards of local government with Huntingdon's Mayor-elect Dee Dee Brown and Borough Council President Glenn Stampfle (pictured here). Special thanks to club member Mike Boyle for all the extra help.

State College... and the "Surge"

2009-07-27T13:14:00.004-05:00

Last week we delivered our Summer 2009 presentation "What Matters" at the State College Rotary Club. "What Matters" briefly lays out the connections that can be made between a foreign policy issue such as counterinsurgency in Iraq and the importance of community service in Central PA. Sound far-fetched? Not really. Using the events in Baghdad during the "surge" of 2007-08 as a backdrop, we stressed that in order to appreciate when a community is functioning in a positive and progressive way for its citizens, you need to understand that "history" matters, that "service" matters, and that "local" matters.

The surge strategy emerged when thoughtful reflection on "history" provided guidance on what had - and hadn't - been working to bring stability to Baghdad since the 2003 invasion. Policies and operations put in place supported "service" through enabling the return of Baghdad's mid-level officials to their positions in government and enhancing the efforts of civic-minded individuals to bring positive change to their communities. And major improvements were made to the security situation when the "local" concerns of Baghdad's citizens were addressed in important ways.

While many of the challenges faced in Baghdad differ from our day-to-day lives in Pennsylvania towns, a common thread is to be found in how solutions to our problems can be found in a deeper appreciation of the heritage of selfless service cultivated among the men and women that choose to see their personal well-being as intimately connected to the well-being of their local community - and beyond.

Thanks to the State College Rotary Club for their hospitality; and we want to express a special note of gratitude to club member (and retired Marine Corps Gulf War veteran) Eric Loop for making it such a great evening.

Live from the Afghan "surge"

2009-07-21T13:14:00.004-05:00

Another posting from Profile in Service Michael J. Baumgartner, currently serving in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Helmand is the region witnessing a significant increase in anti-Taliban operations lately. Mike is a part of what is starting to be called the "surge" in Afghanistan.

July Greetings from Helmand!

I returned to Helmand earlier this month from my second R&R and it is certainly good to be back. I say this not because I’m enjoying the rockets and assorted increased security issues we currently have - (I’ve received several close enough reminders over the past few days to know once again that I am not a big fan of rockets, especially when those clever bastards do it at 3 am on the one day you get to sleep in) - but because I really think it is privilege to be down here trying to help out while the big increased US security effort is underway. To have been in Baghdad trying to make a contribution during the Iraq Surge and now to be in Helmand during the Afghan one – I just really feel fortunate.

Stuff is tough at the moment in Helmand, and it is likely to get tougher in the lead up to the late August elections. The situation reminds me somewhat of my first months in Iraq in 2007 at the start of the Surge when the US went on offense and we had over 100 heroes give their lives in both May and June.

To be frank, I’ll be surprised if we see a resulting similar amount of progress here. What we really need is for the local population to believe in the sustainability of the Afghan government and security forces (most important) and Western security forces (of secondary importance) so that they have the confidence needed to stand up to Taliban intimidation. It is early in the offensive, but we are not at that point yet and it will may quite a bit to get there.

I continue to enjoy my job immensely with my Afghan team. We are still playing a lead role in the Helmand government’s most important governance and counterinsurgency program and there are still so many fascinating locals (opium farmers, women’s education, psy ops/public info, youth, mullahs) that I continue to interact with.

In many ways, I think what I am doing is a look into the future of US assistance to Afghanistan. If things go well and get better (let’s hope) there will be a reduction of US forces and more stuff like I am doing and if things get worse (probably not) or stay roughly the same (more likely) there will probably be a reduction of US forces and more stuff like I am doing. As a big positive sign, the current Helmand government really is intent upon helping the people here and in defeating the Taliban. They have a real tough challenge, but I can’t say enough how much I enjoy trying to help them do that. (And I say this with confidence even though I’m having a tougher time than normal with moments of stress and loneliness sometimes). Pray for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq and for all the souls of those who have recently lost their lives in fighting in Helmand.

-Michael J. Baumgartner

Summer Update

2009-07-13T11:37:00.002-05:00

The big theme for The Bisbee Project this summer is simply: “connections”. We’ve been keeping busy with all sorts of different activities, but when it comes right down to it the common thread is all about building connections in some way or another. Our guiding principle, as always, is one of service to our local communities. We believe that when you are doing something positive in your area, in doesn’t take much to see how seemingly small actions right in your backyard can have big consequences elsewhere.

We are proud to announce another successful year for our Scholarships for Service program. Our Class of 2009 awardees recently graduated from eight Central PA high schools and are on their way off to the challenges of college and future careers in service. As always, we are continually on the lookout for ways to support PA’s historical heritage with our Preserving Pennsylvania grants, and we continue to highlight the stories of some very talented and dedicated individuals with our Profiles in Service roster. Aside from these, we have been busy building connections through a whole variety of activities.

Dan is following up his experiences developing counterinsurgency strategy in Baghdad by doing research on the history of counterinsurgency and post-conflict governance en route to his PhD in world history at the University of Pittsburgh. Dan recently attended the World History Association annual conference at Salem State College in historic Salem, Massachusetts. The WHA is the professional organization dedicated to the advancement of a history that makes connections across vast spans of time and space, builds bridges between divergent academic disciplines and brings together scholars from all levels of education, from high schools to research universities.

Steve is displaying Pennsylvania’s entrepreneurial spirit by launching an internet start-up company dedicated to harnessing the global power of the internet to connect local businesses with local capital and local customers. The new platform, called cogster, will help investors who are looking to put their money in “Main Street” instead of Wall Street.

Whether you are in Baghdad or along the banks of the Susquehanna, the actions of individuals at the local level are always connected to what’s going on in the big picture.

Scholarships for Service Class of 2009

2009-07-10T06:59:00.000-05:00

The Bisbee Project is proud to announce our Scholarships for Service Class of 2009.

Scholarships for Service awards recognize graduating high school seniors from the Central PA area who are pursuing a career in service by enrolling in Army, Navy, or Air Force ROTC, attending one of our nation's service academies, or entering service in a local, state or federal government agency upon graduation.

Recipients must exhibit qualities of outstanding leadership potential and academic achievement and demonstrate an exceptional interest in service. Awardees receive a cash award to help them with the expenses of college life. This is the third year of the Scholarships for Service program, and we're always amazed at and inspired by the quality of applicants. Congratulations, Class of 2009!

Everett Benson
Bellefonte Area High School

Gage Cooper
Bald Eagle Area High School

Drake Cooper
Bald Eagle Area High School

Conor Dougherty
Central Columbia High School

Madeline Ede
Selinsgrove Area High School

Sergei Ismailoff
Gettysburg Area High School

Katelyn Kelly
State College Area High School

Zach Morrell
Lewisburg Area High School

Jacob Treon
Danville Area High School

Investing in Iraq's future

2009-07-08T06:46:00.003-05:00

Here's a recent WSJ editorial from counterinsurgency guru John Nagl and Dan Rice, a colleague from Iraq. Economic development in Iraq is the way to secure the security gains earned there; the authors propose an enterprise fund to help Iraqi businesses grow.

A Jump Start For Iraq’s Private Sector
WSJ July 7, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Now that we’ve withdrawn U.S. troops from Iraqi cities, American strategy must shift its emphasis from combat to post-conflict operations. As in post World War II Germany and Japan, economic development through employment is key to maintaining stability.

Yet current development programs in Iraq -- like the Commanders’ Emergency Response Fund, which lets senior military officials spend money on “urgent humanitarian relief and reconstruction” projects -- focus largely on short-term job creation, not on sustainable economic development that reduces unemployment in the long term. A more appropriate weapon would be an enterprise fund to help Iraqis invest in long-term growth.

American counterinsurgency doctrine recommends that the majority of effort be spent on economic development and governance, not on direct combat operations. To date, however, we have not followed our own advice: The U.S. still spends more than 90% of its investment dollars in Iraq on troops, equipment, weapons and logistics.

True, as security has dramatically improved, U.S. commanders on the ground have expended more than $4 billion in emergency response funds to provide Iraqis with jobs such as street cleaning, repair and garbage collection, and on essential services such as medical care and water treatment. But this pot of money was never intended to create long-term jobs, and commanders are restricted from investing the funds in private-sector enterprises.

Most of Iraq’s businesses were formerly state-owned enterprises. But we have dealt with this problem before. After the fall of communism in 1989, the U.S. helped Eastern European and Russian state-owned enterprises transition to the demands of a free-market economy. Ten enterprise funds were created in 10 different countries for a total of $1.3 billion. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) made loans to private-sector fund managers who invested the funds in small to medium-sized businesses. In essence the U.S. government became a very large limited partner in a private-equity fund to create sustainable jobs. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Eastern Europe has a prosperous private sector in no small part because of the impact of these enterprise funds.

Private capital is already at work in Iraq, demonstrating the validity of this model both for economic development and for increasing employment. For example, Iraq currently imports over $100 million of tomato paste from its neighbors every year, despite the fact that it has enormous agricultural potential in the irrigated farmland between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Until recently, Iraqi farmers had no incentive to grow tomatoes on a commercial scale because there were no tomato-paste processing plants within reasonable transportation distances. In 2008, a private-equity fund invested in the Harir Tomato Paste and Juice processing facility, which had been defunct since the invasion in 2003. With only one Western employee and 200 direct Iraqi employees, the Harir plant is now profitable and has given thousands of Iraqi farmers a market for their produce.

This model could be replicated in factories throughout Iraq in multiple industries if an enterprise fund is approved by Congress. We suggest a $250 million Iraq enterprise fund. While this would only account for one-third of 1% of annual U.S. spending in Iraq, it would have an important amount of financial leverage; the sum could open 10 $25 million enterprises strategically located throughout the country. Instead of spending billions of taxpayer dollars for short-term programs, the enterprise funds could create long-term growth and employment in Iraq while giving U.S. taxpayers a return on their investment in the form of a share of profits going back to the USAID -- while appreciably diminishing support for the insurgency.
As we withdraw from Iraq’s cities we must seek to replace our bases with businesses. An enterprise fund for Iraq is a good way to start the process of achieving victory through economic development.

Dr. Nagl is the president of the Center for a New American Security. Mr. Rice is a partner and co-founder of The Marshall Fund. Both are graduates of West Point who have served in Iraq.

Profile in Service: JAMIE MILLER

2009-06-01T18:21:00.000-05:00

JAMIE MILLER

James (Jamie) Miller was born in Cape Town, South Africa and immigrated to the U.S. when he was 18 months old. He grew up in the small town of Guilford, Connecticut, which he proudly represented in 1989 as captain of their State championship-winning soccer team. After Guilford High School, Jamie went to Harvard University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in History and Literature in 1995. Immediately after graduating, Jamie joined The City School in Boston; having focused his college extra-curricular activities on working with the homeless, he taught high school students about the history of homelessness and poverty in the United States.

In 1996, Jamie won the Lionel de Jersey Harvard Scholarship, founded to honor the last living relative of John Harvard (the University's namesake), which placed him for a year in John Harvard's former suite at Cambridge University. He received a Master's degree in International Relations from Cambridge, and stayed on to study for his Ph.D in History. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

While completing his doctoral dissertation in 2001, Jamie became a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Studies at Bard College in New York. He also served as Deputy Director of the Bard College Program on Globalization in Manhattan.

In 2003, Jamie became an American diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. He has served so far in our Embassies in Tel Aviv, Tripoli and Baghdad, and is currently serving in Paris. In Tel Aviv and Tripoli, Jamie worked on human rights and trafficking in persons. In Baghdad, Jamie served as the Embassy's lead officer on the province of Baghdad; in this capacity, he worked very closely with the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team, supporting their efforts to rebuild Iraq's capital during the troop surge of 2007 - 2008.

Jamie is shown above receiving an award from the Iraqi National Security Advisor's office for his work on a joint Iraqi/American anti-corruption program, and while conducting diplomacy with Iraqi officials at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad.

Scholarship for Service: SERGEI ISMAILOFF

2009-05-29T10:56:00.003-05:00

2009 Scholarship for Service award
Sergei Ismailoff
Gettysburg Area High School

This week we kicked off scholarship season with a visit to Gettysburg Area High School's Academic Awards Program on Tuesday night. We presented the first of this year's Scholarship for Service awards to graduating senior Sergei Ismailoff of Gettysburg, PA.

Sergei has been a key member of Gettysburg's JROTC program, serving as Battalion XO this year. He also competed on the unit's Ranger Challenge team, an elite skills and stamina competition that ROTC groups train for rigorously throughout the school year. Sergei is a soccer player, plays trumpet and is an Eagle Scout. He is headed to Penn State in the fall to study information technology and hopes to continue service by pursuing a scholarship with Navy ROTC.

The Bisbee Project is proud to introduce Sergei as one of our Class of 2009 Scholarships for Service awardees and we wish him the best of luck in the future!

Update from Afghanistan: Memorial Day

2009-05-26T20:27:00.001-05:00

Our Memorial Day message this year is brought to you by Profile in Service Michael Baumgartner, whose monthly messages from Afghanistan I re-post here at The Bisbee Project. Instead of his usual commentary on the state of counternarcotics in Afghanistan, Michael offers a Memorial Day tribute to two of our fallen colleagues. Steve Farley was killed in Baghdad last year, and Terry Barnich died in an attack in Baghdad on Monday. We offer our condolences to those touched by these losses, and our solemn remembrances to the many, many Americans who have fallen in the line of duty in service to their nation.

May Greetings from Helmand,
I hope this message finds you having a blessed and reflective Memorial week. As with last year in Iraq, I’ve found that being in the proximity of our brave men and women in uniform helps add a greater level of appreciation for this special day, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifices to make our country so exceptional.

In particular, I’ve dedicated my Memorial week reflections to two special Americans I knew from Iraq. The first is Steve Farley -- a Great American who was killed last year in Sadr City. I met Steve a almost a year ago and although I only spent a few hours with him, was amazed and heartened by his enthusiasm and dedication to helping America make Iraq a better place. The day I met him I had a bit of a rough morning as I had watched an MRAP truck in front of me take a roadside bomb and then burn down as we went through Baghdad, and I was honestly a bit depressed when I met Steve a while later. He quickly picked up my spirits and it was impossible not to be motivated by his sunny demeanor as we hung out in that crappy Sadr City JSS for the afternoon. He took me on a short walk ‘outside the wire’ and then had me watch how Iraqis who had property destroyed by the US military during the heavy fighting going on against JAM insurgents during that time had their claims processed by some young Army officers. It was really neat to watch, and I thought demonstrated the benevolence of America in a very difficult situation. After that, we talked about how to better get the central Iraqi government to coordinate and provide services to Sadr City as part of the Baghdad Security Plan.

The most amazing thing about Steve was that he was so dedicated to helping Iraq that after already serving a year in uniform in Baghdad, he stayed home in Oklahoma for all of a week or so before he came back as a civilian with the State Department. I remember that evening I met him telling some of my friends on Baghdad PRT about this amazing guy I had met – he really was.

About two weeks after I met him, Steve was killed by a suicide bomb while trying to help out at a Sadr City district council meeting. I’m sure he was at that meeting in part to try and get the bombed up sewer and water systems fixed (literally rivers of sewage were flowing in the streets after the fighting) and the people there some clean drinking water.

The other Great American I’ve been thinking about is Terry Barnich, a guy who used to work down the hall from me at the Embassy in Baghdad. I’ve just learned that Terry was killed in Baghdad yesterday (25 May). Terry worked in the State Department office that tried to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure and apparently was in a convoy that took an IED. Details of the attack are beginning to emerge. [Here is a Chicago Tribune story. DB]

Terry and I weren’t close friends, but we’d get a coffee occasionally and I always thought he did great work and was a good guy – the kind guy you definitely would have made an effort to get a drink with if you happened to both be passing through the same town.

Terry once saw me trying to take pictures around the Embassy with my small camera and offered to let me use his pretty high tech camera. His camera was a lot better and I thought it would be fun to try it out for the day. When I put the pic on my computer, I found that his camera’s memory chip still had a bunch of his pictures on it, and so when I downloaded the pictures I took, I ended up with a bunch of his too.

This evening I’ve been looking at a hundred or so random pics I have of Terry on my computer. He and his family in Glacier national park, in Rome, whitewater rafting, making funny faces and poses, etc. – the kind of stuff one does on holiday, lots of smiles and hugs. I always meant to delete those picture before, but never got around to it. Obviously very sad and surreal to see them today. I had never really paid attention to those photos; hard not to today.

The insurgents and terrorists who want to try to keep America from helping Iraq be a better place hit their marks with Steve and Terry. These two patriots were dedicated to helping the Iraqi people and did so much to help them. Please celebrate their sacrifice and include them in your Memorial week thoughts as we honor those who’ve made our nation so wonderful.

Pray for Peace in Afghanistan and Iraq,

-Michael J. Baumgartner

Job hunting? Use social networks to make crucial connections

2009-05-12T18:06:00.003-05:00

A Penn colleague of mine, Brennan Carlson, is featured in this Computerworld article. Brennan's tech savvy is out of this world, and his advice here is right on the money.

Job hunting? Use social networks to make crucial connections

Posted using ShareThis

Dropping in on Philipsburg, PA

2009-05-11T19:45:00.007-05:00

Continuing our tour of service groups located in the communities of Central Pennsylvania, we stopped by for a luncheon meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Philipsburg, PA last week. Nestled into the Moshannon Valley a few miles west of State College, Philipsburg has a history that dates to its founding as a frontier settlement in 1797. Even following the well-worn path of US 322, one still gets a sense of the wildness that must have greeted the area's original Indian inhabitants and early Pennsylvania settlers.

Steve and I have spoken about The Bisbee Project at a number of venues, and when I speak I generally relate our efforts to support local activism with my experiences in Baghdad during the "surge." It's really not as far a stretch as it may sound. While the security aspects of the surge, including the increase in combat power committed to Baghdad, have often been stressed, a lesser-known story involves the degree to which the successes of the surge were a result of local Iraqi leaders and mid-level government officials stepping forward to get their communities back on the right track.

One of the key episodes that I relate involves our efforts to combat the black market oil economy in Baghdad. In mid-2007, we recognized that a militia-run "extra-government" existed in Baghdad. Running parallel to the legitimate government institutions responsible for providing services to Baghdad's residents was a network of alternative institutions subverting government resources to serve criminal and militant ends -- whether offering services to a select loyal constituency, or to the highest bidder. One of the most pervasive, and profitable, networks dealt in the corruption of the oil products distribution system.

The Iraqi state has a system by which it provides oil products (gasoline for cars, kerosene for heating, propane for cooking, etc.) at a very low subsidized rate to its citizens. But to run such a system, you need strong government controls. Without those controls, corrupt officials on the inside and criminal networks on the outside have a huge opportunity to divert wholesale products to a retail black market. Citizens are often willing to part with a little more cash than to ask too many questions about where the oil they are buying came from.

A real success story of the surge came during the fall and winter of 2007/08, when a team of Iraqi government officials at the local, municipal, provincial and national level came together and coordinated an effort to deliver oil products at the official government rate to several Baghdad neighborhoods. This coordination reached across multiple civilian and security agencies and took place among individuals of many different political backgrounds. Success at this effort created a boost in confidence in the Iraqi government at a critical time, and established important precedents for inter-agency coordination within the Iraqi government.

There are lessons to be drawn from Baghdad during the surge, and these lessons are meaningful to the communities of Central Pennsylvania. While it is common to reflect on the great leaders and grand strategies of a moment in history, it is important to recognize the rarely-noticed decisions and actions of committed individuals at the local level -- individuals who take an active part in strengthening their communities. This is the message I brought to the Kiwanis Club of Philipsburg, and this is the message of The Bisbee Project.

Our thanks go out to Emily Getti-Doyle and the rest of the Philipsburg Kiwanis for a great afternoon, and we hope that O/P Senior Prom goes well! We would also like to take a moment to recognize Merle Butterworth, pictured here. Long before serving as a Kiwanis member, he served in the 3rd Army Division, taking part in the Battle of the Bulge during his three years in the European theater of WWII. To Merle and the generations who served before us, your example will never fail to inspire. Thank you.

The view from Tyrone, PA

2009-04-29T08:13:00.008-05:00

If you've never driven the section of Route 99 between State College and Altoona, PA in the early morning hours, you've missed some of the most beautiful scenery in Pennsylvania. Nestled into a ridgeline that creases down the center of the state, 99 winds south towards the turnpike while presenting commanding views of the hills and valleys that roll out to the west as far as the morning mist allows you to see.

About 15 miles to the north of Altoona lies the town of Tyrone, PA, an important community in the history of Pennsylvania's coal economy and home to the always popular Gardner's Candies. Steve and I dropped in to Joe's Place on Old 220 to visit with the Tyrone Kiwanis Club during one of their regular breakfast meetings. Steve talked about our ongoing efforts to build connections with service-oriented groups, like Kiwanis clubs, across the central PA area.

Steve explained part of the rationale of The Bisbee Project's Scholarships for Service program that I think is important to reiterate here. High school graduation season is approaching, and we make every effort to attend every ceremony where our scholarships are awarded. We think it is extremely important to recognize the young people who have decided to pursue careers in service in front of their peers, and make note of how crucial getting good people into positions of responsibility is for our society.

The recent NFL draft drives home a few points about what our society values, in our view. Now, we love pro football as much as anybody, but it is striking when you sit back and think about how much attention is paid to the development of our athletes -- and how haphazard is our society's approach to developing its public servants. For days we are glued to our TV sets watching the draft, and now many of us know exactly where last year's college football stars are playing in the next NFL season. But how many of us can name a single brigade or division commander serving in Iraq or Afghanistan? We can easily list off the names of the top three wide receivers or defensive ends snapped up with multi-million dollar contracts, but do we know who's running for our local school board in this spring's primary? Just something worth thinking about...

We want to thank Bill Ellenberger and the rest of the Kiwanis members for welcoming us to Tyrone. Community service may not be as glamourous as the NFL, but it certainly is essential. Thanks to everybody out there who understands where our real priorities are.

2009-04-08T20:30:00.002-05:00

From the WSJ Opinion page (April 8)

Harvard and the Marines
Why not give our officers the best education?

By JOSEPH KRISTOL and DANIEL WEST

'ROTC must go because we oppose the policies of the United States and we oppose the military that perpetrates them. The lines are clearly drawn; the time to take sides is now."

It was the spring of 1969, and the leaders of the Harvard chapter of Students for a Democratic Society were (with the above statement issued to the student newspaper) agitating to cleanse their campus of "imperialist exploitation." To opponents of the Vietnam War, members of the military -- even students in the Reserve Officers Training Corps -- embodied the policies they despised.

Forty years ago tomorrow, April 9, 1969, this sentiment culminated in a mob of students storming University Hall. Eager to be at the forefront of radical activism, they turned to violent protest. Arsonists torched a Marine Corps classroom, and the administration buckled. ROTC was purged from campus, symbolically repudiating the Vietnam War.

Today, America congratulates itself for having overcome the knee-jerk radicalism of that era. "Support the troops, oppose the war" is the modern battle cry of the antiwar movement. Americans seem to recognize that those in uniform shouldn't be blamed for policies set by elected officials.

But not at Harvard, where ROTC remains officially unwelcome.

The students of 1969 have become the faculty of 2009, and today students who wish to participate in ROTC are forced to train at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We are pawns in a political chess game. The issue is no longer Vietnam, but President Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that bars gays from openly serving in the military. Because of that policy, the university classifies ROTC as a discriminatory organization and has severed all remnants of support.

So Harvard today happily pays for future bankers to take accounting courses at MIT, but refuses to pay for aspiring military officers who take ROTC courses. Since 1994, anonymous donors have generously picked up the tab, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for Harvard's ROTC students.

Sadly, the number of Harvard students who choose military service has dwindled. Harvard, where ROTC was founded in 1916 and which once boasted over 1,000 participants, is now home to only 29 cadets and midshipmen, spread over four years and four branches of service. Recruitment opportunities are deliberately limited, and the student handbook cautions students against joining ROTC, remarking that the program is "inconsistent with Harvard's values." And cadets begin every semester seeking to avoid the professors known to exhibit hostility toward students who wear their uniform to class.

Rather than embracing the mutually beneficial relationship Harvard might share with the military, the faculty prefers to stand in the way of progress, abdicating its responsibility to contribute to one of our nation's most important institutions. The same Harvard that once produced 10 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and warrior-scholars such as Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, now turns its back on its proud, patriotic history.

But there are reasons to be hopeful that the 40-year exile of ROTC may be drawing to a close. Today, the faculty is out of touch with a student body that is generally supportive of ROTC. The support that both Barack Obama and John McCain expressed during the 2008 presidential campaign for the return of ROTC to elite college campuses showed Harvard's stance to be far from mainstream.

We are also fortunate that Harvard's new president, Drew Faust, has privately praised and met with cadets and midshipmen, and publicly stated her hope that the day ROTC returns to campus is not far off. Though she remains bound by Harvard's discrimination policy, she spoke at last year's commissioning ceremony and expressed her desire to see our numbers grow.

This is encouraging, but it falls short of the appropriate policy: support for the military and those who serve in it, regardless of federal policies. ROTC should be fully and unequivocally welcomed back to Harvard. Accomplishing this would take leadership and courage from President Faust. Perhaps she will be inspired to show this leadership as she joins Gen. David Petraeus in recognizing the ROTC graduates at our commissioning ceremony in June.

Messrs. Kristol and West, seniors at Harvard University, will be commissioned second lieutenants in the United States Marine Corps in June.

Serious Comedy

2009-04-01T17:06:00.004-05:00

A shameless plug for Mask and Wig ComFest 2009

Eleven years ago, Mask & Wig established an annual Intercollegiate Comedy Festival to showcase the talent of the nation’s best collegiate sketch comedy troupes. The mission of the festival is not just to put on a hilarious show that cultivates new talent, but also to honor and showcase a well-known comedian. Past hosts include Ana Gasteyer, Bob Saget, Kevin Nealon, Stephen Colbert, Tim Meadows, Gilbert Gottfried, Dan Bakkedahl and Kenan Thompson.

This year's host is Judah Friedlander of NBC's "30 Rock"

Visit www.CollegeComFest.com for more details!

Date:
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 8:00 PM (ET)

Location:
Zellerbach Theater
3680 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104

History lessons

2009-03-29T20:59:00.005-05:00

I spent my Sunday down at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh; if you are in the area, and haven't caught it yet I would suggest going by to check out an exhibit that is scheduled to close next week.

Free at Last? Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18th and 19th Centuries, is an exhibition tracing the region's involvement with slavery. While the Quaker State officially abolished slavery back in 1780, numerous loopholes allowed the practice to exist for years.

The exhibit is centered on records from 1792-1857, newly discovered by the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds, that document the sale, freedom rights, and imprisonment of more than 50 slaves and indentured servants in Western Pennsylvania.

Free at Last? also features biographies of leading abolitionists, successful freedom stories, a George Beck painting that is the earliest-known visual representation of Pittsburgh, and commentary on slavery written by noted Pitt history professors Marcus Rediker and Seymour Drescher.

Prof. Rediker was awarded the prestigious George Washington Book Prize for his latest work, The Slave Ship: A Human History.

History buff or not, you are bound to learn something. Go check it out.

A Visit to Mount Union

2009-03-28T08:15:00.004-05:00

We followed the winding path of the Juniata River deep into scenic Huntingdon County to pay a visit to the Kiwanis club of Mount Union, PA on March 24. We always enjoy the opportunity to meet and share our experiences with groups dedicated to serving their communities. This meeting was very special for us, because it marks the launch of our annual Scholarships for Service season. Over the next few weeks we will be working with high schools in the Central PA area to identify candidates for this year's awards.

After being warmly greeted by the club's President, Mary Trice, we chatted about the Mount Union area with club members. Like many areas in Pennsylvania, Mount Union has seen its industrial base wane over the past half century, but it remains an attractive business and residential community. The area is surrounded by natural beauty and possesses a rich historical legacy. Nearby is the site of Fort Shirley, one in the chain of the many frontier-era forts that stretch across Pennsylvania.

Steve offered some remarks to the group about our work with The Bisbee Project, and our commitment to building stronger ties with other groups dedicated to service. An important task these groups accomplish is to set a good example for the young people in their community, setting the stage for the next generation. Dan followed up with some remarks about his time in Baghdad during the "surge" and how small-town values have an enormous impact on the implementation of foreign policy. When units, such as those from the Pennsylvania National Guard, deploy overseas the soldiers and officers from those units become the face of US foreign policy. The experiences, values, and knowledge they bring with them directly effect how they perform their missions. Mount Union currently has a number of its sons and daughters deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They carry with them the values instilled in them by their community. A commitment to making our communities strong has consequences far beyond the town limits of a place like Mount Union, PA.

We enjoyed the opportunity to visit Mount Union, and we thank Mary and the rest of the Kiwanis club for their hospitality. See you again soon!

March for Babies

2009-03-23T22:00:00.005-05:00

Our family was blessed with the arrival of Chase a little over two years ago, but he had a very rough start to life. Thanks to the support of organizations like the March of Dimes, my nephew Chase is doing well, getting big, and is ready to take part in this year's March for Babies (well, maybe not the whole 6.2 miles!). Below, my brother-in-law John Kelty talks about Chase and our family's reason to support the March of Dimes. Please consider visiting Chase's March for Babies website and making a donation to this worthy cause. It would be greatly appreciated by John, my sister Sarah, big brother Cameron, and of course, Chase, as well as the whole Kelty/Bisbee clan. Thanks!

Hello Friends,

Another year has passed; I hope this message finds you and your families doing well. Understanding that times are tough, I would just ask that you consider supporting me in the upcoming March for Babies sponsored by the March of Dimes. This year′s walk holds special meaning to me, as I will be able to bring my son Chase to the event and watch him walk with his older brother. Chase is a living testament to the role that this charity plays in funding research that saves lives!

My son was born very unexpectedly at 23 weeks old, weighing a mere 1lbs 4oz. He spent the first six months of his life in NICU, enduring countless surgeries and blood transfusions on top of being ventilated due to severely underdeveloped lungs. Even after being released from the hospital, he spent the next five months on oxygen.

When we walk on 4/26/09, Chase will be celebrating his 2 year anniversary of being released from the hospital. I am excited that he has been getting stronger each day and one day this will just be a story my wife and I tell about our miracle child and his overcoming extraordinary odds at birth to become a healthy young man.

There is nothing in life harder than having an extremely ill child. By supporting the March of Dimes you are helping to fund valuable research that may prevent another family from having to experience what we did. Again, I ask that you consider supporting me in this campaign to give children a healthy start to life.

My personal web page address for donations is:

http://www.marchforbabies.org/chasekennedy

John Kelty

Afghanistan news

2009-03-22T20:44:00.007-05:00

This is a recent posting from Michael Baumgartner (see Profiles in Service), who is currently serving as a counternarcotics advisor in Afghanistan. As always, Mike's musings provide insights you won't normally find via major media outlets.

“The donkey with an unbalanced load will not finish its journey” (Pashtun proverb)

March Afghan Greetings!

I type this just as I prepare to go on my first R&R – wow has 3 months gone fast! In Iraq we used to say that the days were long but the weeks go fast. Here, everything seems fast – which is probably because I’m having such a good time.

I know it seems like I send a lot of “Lou Gehrig” type messages – but I really do feel exceptionally fortunate at the moment. Helping the Afghans try to beat opium and the Taliban and build a better nation state along the way is a great privilege. For most of the time when I was in Iraq I used to think that I wouldn’t trade places with Tom Brady and that is exactly how I feel at the moment. I really, really enjoy the Afghans I work with and I’m going to miss them tremendously over the next weeks of break. (Not that I don’t need the break – this place wears a guy down. Maybe I’m getting old, but I find it mentally more difficult here than Iraq.)

The thing I probably miss most versus Iraq is that because this is a UK military area of operation I don’t get to work too much with American troops. I enjoy the Brits, but I miss the leadership, talent and, most of all, the steadfast determination, of the Americans in uniform I used to work with in Iraq. (Not to mention that if this was an American AO, I’m sure that the base I sometimes visit would have a basketball court instead of the volleyball court of the Brits. Volleyball is not my thing.)

The fight against opium is having its ups and downs. The Afghans are doing a relatively good job at eradication, but the Taliban protection racket is putting up a good fight. Not surprisingly, drug lords aren’t real keen on having their crop pulled out. For me, counterinsurgency (and that’s what counternarcotics in Afghanistan really is) is more about local capacity development than anything else – can the security forces fight and can the government govern. I think we’re seeing some good pockets of progress on both counts.

As expected, the warming of the weather is worsening the security situation (the Taliban are a bit like bears in that they sort of hibernate for the winter). Helmand is definitely ‘indian country’ and it is very frustrating to me (and everybody else) that there are so many Taliban controlled areas so close to where we operate. The forthcoming US Brigade should help (and I’d sure take a couple of more) but in any event I expect we’ll see a big increase in asymmetric attacks as soon as poppy lancing (harvest) season is over in about 5-6 weeks.

In the past couple of weeks in my neighborhood we’ve had one infiltration and decapitation at the house of a government official, a missed assassination attempt on another that instead killed two little kids and put two more in the hospital, and a bike wired with 20 kg of explosives left at the police station down the street (fortunately spotted and disarmed before it went off). In a separate incident, this morning, a police command station that I frequent had a suicide attack that killed ten. So sad. I was about a mile down the road at the time and the unmistakable boom had me hitting the deck.

Certainly not as bad as Baghdad, but bad enough. (There is also some intel that Iran may step up the same type of mischief (far too kind a word) around here that they do in Iraq – but that is a discussion for another day).

I’d like to recount a short story from the recent “Women’s Day” celebration here in Afghanistan. On the day I had the occasion to have a fascinating discussion with a local female teacher on the situation of women here. I asked her why she thought it was that some Afghan men are so opposed to females being educated here. “Michael, these are the uneducated men and in reality what they don’t like is the idea that if a women has learning then maybe he won’t be able to control her or he will feel bad that she knows more than him. Maybe he won’t feel powerful.”

Later in the discussion I asked her what it was like for women in the Taliban times. “I used to live on the other side of this town during this time and our neighbor was a very big Taliban guy. He was very angry. Some days my friends used to come and we would go into the garden to talk and laugh and sometimes play some Indian music on a hidden tape recorder at very quiet level (music was banned when the Taliban ruled). One day he must have heard us because there was a grenade that came over the wall and exploded on us. Two of my friends were killed and one went hospital. It was very sad.”

“But there was another type of Taliban too. About a year later this man left his house and another Taliban moved in. After some months he learned that I had been educated to be a teacher and he invited me to his house and told me that I would be like his daughter and then he asked me to teach his you daughters in secret each day. I did this. He was a nice man.”

Pray for Peace in Afghanistan and Iraq,
Michael

Update from Kings Point

2009-03-22T20:09:00.004-05:00

Here's 2008 Scholarship for Service winner Nicholas Shiber, currently finishing up his first year at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY. He tells us that his first year at the Academy has been "challenging yet rewarding," and that rigorous academics, including courses in physics, calculus, and electrical engineering, are keeping him busy. However, with good discipline you can find time for other pursuits and Nicholas was able to balance academics with athletics this year, playing on the Academy football team.

But the life of a "Plebe" isn't all work, Nicholas tells us. Just a 30 minute train ride puts you in New York City, and a world of experiences that you can't find back in the old neighborhood of Central Columbia High School.

Great job this year, Nicholas. Keep up the good work, and best wishes for your future as a Merchant Marine. We salute you and your choice to serve.

Save the "Govies"...

2009-03-09T18:10:00.006-05:00

Pennsylvania, like all states, is facing some pretty big financial challenges but a particular cut in the proposed state budget that will eliminate the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence has motivated a number of alumni to create an advocacy movement intending to prevent the demise of what we believe is an amazing program. On Tuesday March 10, a rally in support of the Governor's School program will be held on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg.

I attended Governor's School for the Arts in 1989 as a theater major. I can say without hesitation that it was the most significant formative event of my life. The skills and training I received at PGSA supported my later collegiate experiences in theater at the University of Pennsylvania where I was a member of the Mask and Wig Club, Penn Players, Arts House Theatre and a number of other student performing arts organizations.

While living in Austin, Texas I performed with a number of companies, including the Austin Shakespeare Festival. Teaching junior high school at St. Mary's Cathedral School gave me another outlet for my experiences in the performing arts; I started a theater program at the school and directed students in a number of productions, including my adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, entitled "You Gotta Be Frank!"

Many who know me for my experiences in counterinsurgency may not know about my background in the performing arts, but I have always seen a direct link between these facets of my life. Directing a play is about convincing people to take risks and do unusual things under stressful circumstances; the many lessons I learned in this field definitely served me during my career as a military officer.

Steve is another product of the Governor's School program, having attended the Governor's School for Business. He went on to attend Wharton at Penn and now has an MBA from Smeal at Penn State.

To my fellow Pennsylvanians, please consider contacting your local state leadership and voicing your support for the Governor's School program. It has made a difference in our lives, and we are certain that it makes Pennsylvania a better state.

For more information, visit the 'Save the Govies' group site on Facebook.

Another side of the surge (Part 3)

2009-02-24T23:57:00.011-05:00

This is the final section of my recent article in the Pittsburgh Political Review.

There’s got to be a different way to run Iraq
Ali Fadel al-Misir deserted from Saddam’s army in the 1980’s near the end of the war with Iran. Like many deserters, he bounced around the neighboring countries of the Middle East waiting for the right time to slip back to his family in Baghdad without drawing any attention. He connected with a few of the Shia anti-Saddam groups in exile in Iran and Syria, but never felt compelled to join up with these emerging insurgent movements. He did make it back to his family (riding a motorcycle through the desert from Damascus to Baghdad) and then watched as his country suffered the shame of the 1991 Gulf War and the decade of UN sanctions. He praised the fall of the Saddam regime and was eager to support the efforts of building a new democracy in 2003. He was selected by his neighborhood to serve on the local council and was soon moved up to higher positions within the district, and then the Provincial Council. In late 2004, the Provincial Council chose Ali Fadel to serve as Governor of Baghdad following the assassination of Governor Ali al-Haidary.

The elections of 2005 were a major turning point for Iraq’s democracy – but not in the way that they are commonly portrayed. They did feature millions of Iraqis participating in one of the cornerstones of democracy, an election; however, it is crucial to look deeper into this event to see some of its later ramifications. Before these elections, most Iraqis serving in Baghdad’s provincial government were local community leaders with no partisan affiliation, and were generally dedicated to a “moderate” conception of what they wanted Iraq’s new democracy to look like, rejecting violence as a means to achieve political ends, respecting the rule of law and believing in human rights for all regardless of sect, ethnicity or creed. After these elections, the Baghdad Provincial Council’s membership did not represent Baghdad’s districts; they represented Baghdad’s major political parties (the system changed from geographical representation to a party-list vote). Furthermore, one can generalize that most of these partisan loyalists conceive of politics as a winner-take-all endeavor; democracy is a way to take power – not share it.

Ali Fadel and a number of other moderate leaders were swept from power in 2005, and watched from the sidelines as much of their democracy-building efforts were undone as a new era of sectarian politics was ushered into Baghdad. The new Shia-dominated Provincial Council (45 of 51 seats in that assembly) used their leverage to fire a number of municipal employees and replace them with political appointees in blatant episodes of partisan patronage. Local councils that did not toe the line of new Provincial Council directives found their budgets confiscated. The reverberations of this sudden and acrimonious divide between the local moderates and the provincial partisans still affect governance in Baghdad.

Politics everywhere can often be seen as some form of a client/patron relationship; in return for political loyalty, leaders distribute money, jobs and other forms of largesse (like protection) to their followers. This is particularly evident in Baghdad, as what we generally consider political parties are merely the political wings of complex organizations that have massive charity components as well as militia elements; many developed as underground and/or international resistance groups to the Saddam regime, and bring this mentality into Baghdad’s politics. After a meeting I brokered between the current Governor of Baghdad, Hussein al-Tahan and the Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, where these two men argued over the best way to fight the insurgency in Baghdad, Governor Hussein, a former Badr Corps commander, candidly told me that he felt the American commander wasn’t taking his ideas seriously enough. “I think I know what I am talking about,” he said, a clear reference to his former career leading insurgent attacks in Baghdad – against the Saddam regime. Governor Hussein’s temperamental leadership style and his relentless advocacy on behalf of Baghdad’s Shia community were clear indications of his past, and his strong connections to Tehran built during years in exile in neighboring Iran.

New political parties that do not have such a legacy in armed resistance or the resources of a social welfare network are at a severe disadvantage in Baghdad’s political arena. However, Baghdad does have a sizable population of politically active individuals that would like to see politics change; many want to see the current politics of identity transform into a politics of issues and ideals. After being pushed out of politics in 2005, many of these local leaders turned their efforts to civil society organizations and local social activism. Spurned by their own government, many of these leaders turned to American and international sources for funding. While we recognized that such one-off support to local moderates was indeed good for Baghdad, it did not seem to be either sustainable or conducive to helping these moderates affect change in the political system. Former Governor Ali Fadel al-Misir suggested a shift in our tactics.

Feeling left out of politics? How about a support group…
Along with the “civilian surge” of PRT personnel came a surge of money, in the form of Quick Reaction Funds (QRF), which we were to spend on “soft” development (as opposed to “hard” spending on infrastructure projects). We had QRF money to spend on training sessions, cultural events, democracy workshops; the conceptual shift that developed through the genesis of the Baghdad League was that the spending of this money could help Iraqi moderates build a support network amongst themselves – not just become dependent upon American aid. Ali Fadel suggested that a board of directors of elite Baghdad moderates made up of individuals with some public notoriety like himself and notable activist Madeeha Hasan Odhaib (named to TIME magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People (2008) for her advocacy on the plight of displaced persons in Baghdad), assist with the PRT’s outreach efforts to support local activism and civil society organizations across Baghdad. Thus American money would take on an Iraqi face and facilitate a different type of client/patron relationship – one based on shared ideals for public activism, not sectarian identity. Under the leadership of Ali Fadel, the Baghdad League took shape as a forum for many moderates who lack an outlet in active politics, but inspired by a sense of community and comradeship may throw their hats in the ring in future elections. With a new round of provincial elections scheduled for early 2009, there are many in Baghdad hopeful about changes that can bring a better future. Changes they have a say in.

Change we can believe in?
Iraq has entered a new phase. The earlier threat of all-out sectarian civil war has passed; most of the violence is now criminally-driven enterprise in a weak-state environment. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made strides in enforcing its will, notably with the actions in Basra, Sadr City and Mosul; moves that are forcing individuals like Moqtada al-Sadr to recalculate his movement’s participation in legitimate versus illicit activities. Maliki’s progress is due to a number of factors, but one I want to stress is simply that he and many others currently serving in the government are merely just getting better at doing their jobs. Running a government isn’t easy in any circumstances; fighting a complex insurgency is a tough way to get on-the-job training.

Regarding American involvement in Iraq, it is tempting and quite common to have beliefs on one hand, that the US is imposing “democracy at the point of a gun” in Iraq; or on the other, that democracy is doomed to failure in the Middle East for historical and cultural reasons. Both arguments are cynical and completely inaccurate. Iraqi politics is a competitive arena where many visions contend for supremacy; pluralistic democracy would be the goal of many with or without the US occupation. The people of Iraq continue to cope with the violent transformation of their society; it is crucial to understand the complexity of this situation and the contours of its trajectory in order to determine the best course of action for the future. Baghdad is still a very violent place. True political reconciliation is still an objective, not a reality. The trains are not running on time, and they won’t for a while. But we are also not where we were when the Iraq Study Group stated that “the situation is grave and deteriorating.” Probably the most important factor that led to the success of the surge is that we even tried it in the first place.

Cheers for Baghdad
Where can you get a six-pack of beer in downtown Baghdad? Nowadays, just about anywhere. That wasn’t the case in early 2007. The city was a violent mess. Citizens lived in constant fear of finding themselves on the wrong side of the militant thugs, criminal gangs and religious zealots that controlled their neighborhoods. Bars, restaurants, and discos were shuttered. I asked my friend, a former Iraqi army officer and born-and-bred Baghdadi, Omar al-Rahmani, how would we know if life in Baghdad was getting any better? He said, “When we start drinking again.” One evening Omar and I got the chance to split a bottle of Scotch, drinking to the endurance of an extraordinary city and its courageous people.

Another side of the surge (Part 2)

2009-02-24T23:48:00.004-05:00

This is the second of a three-part article on the "surge."

Taking money away from criminal gangs
Zaid al-Jafari still drives a beat-up Volkswagen to work at the National Security Advisor’s office every day. Mid-forties, with a wife and several children, Zaid has a lot to look forward to in life – and a lot to worry about. Many officials working for the Government of Iraq have finagled their way into getting an armored sedan and a driver to take them to work as well as many other perks, but Zaid resists the temptation to take advantage of his position – either for profit or personal safety. His selfless dedication to his country and its people was an inspiration for many of his Iraqi colleagues and his American friends; his reputation for integrity brought him to the attention of a US Embassy official, Jamie Miller, who was tasked by Ambassador Ryan Crocker to approach the Iraqi government about launching a joint anti-corruption effort in fuel delivery. Zaid and Miller conceived of Project Clean Delivery, a pilot program designed to improve the delivery of kerosene to one of Baghdad’s neighborhoods in order to develop lessons-learned for further efforts targeting corrupt officials and militant criminality subverting the delivery of government services in Baghdad.

Iraq has a public welfare system that delivers products to its entire population as a basic right; Iraqis get a monthly basket of foodstuffs from the government as well as authorization to purchase rations of fuels like kerosene, commonly used for cooking and heating. Iraq sells its fuel at a cheap subsidized rate to its citizens. With a weak government, this is a recipe for disaster. Corrupt officials on the inside and criminal networks on the outside have incredible incentives to divert these supplies and re-sell them (at black market rates) for exorbitant prices. Profits taken in Baghdad’s neighborhoods were supporting the militias that were terrorizing those very neighborhoods. Project Clean Delivery brought together US and Iraqi officials from a variety of institutions to look at every conceivable angle of this problem: the economic (are there policies we can change?), the security (can we prevent theft of kerosene at the warehouses?), the political (how will leaders who may be profiting from illicit activity respond?), the bureaucratic (what new procedures would prevent corrupt officials from re-selling fuel?) and major problems involving infrastructure (can we get more fuel into Baghdad to begin with?).

Over the winter of 2007-08, the Project Clean Delivery team securely delivered kerosene at the government price to over 50,000 families in recovering post-conflict neighborhoods in downtown Baghdad. This successful delivery inspired the expansion of the project into other areas of Baghdad and brought serious attention to efforts to fight corruption in the delivery of other government services. Project Clean Delivery, as a coordinated attempt to build Iraqi inter-institutional cooperation, propose effective anti-corruption measures and encourage debate about Iraq’s social and economic policies, was a success for a variety of reasons. One key factor came from “the ground up.”

One of the primary reasons Baghdad’s citizens permitted militias to operate in their neighborhoods was due to the perceived security they could provide in an unpredictably violent city. But it had a price. Criminal militias exploited these neighborhoods, charging “protection fees” from merchants, ransoms for kidnappings, and by taking a cut of the official fees due the government for some services. As security began to improve, many of Baghdad’s citizens began to turn against these militia practices. A combination of this backlash against militias amongst Iraqis, coupled with effective targeting of militia leadership by US forces, plus the docility of militants obeying Moqtada al-Sadr’s cease-fires during this period produced some significant momentum towards convincing many Shia political leaders to widen the political space in Baghdad and pull back from some formerly extreme positions to consider compromise with rival factions. As we started to gain ground with this initiative focused on the urban Shia population of Baghdad a major breakthrough occurred with the rural Sunnis.

The Sunni suburbs find a Communist champion
Rural areas generally always feel neglected by a central government; Baghdad province’s outlying communities, a ring of small towns and villages separated by sparse badlands around the edge of metropolitan Baghdad, have always gotten the short end of the stick. One Provincial Council member described to me Saddam’s method of dealing with those rural areas dominated by tribal leaders: “F—k ‘em.” However these rural areas and tribal communities were also serving as havens for Iraq’s insurgency and thus were critical to the long-term stability of Baghdad. Even though “foreign fighters” from neighboring countries were responsible for bringing in much of the ideology, weaponry and funding that supported the insurgency, the truth of the matter was that local Iraqis often harbored, supplied and fought alongside these insurgent groups. But just like many of the Shia militants that went too far in exploiting their neighborhoods, many of the Sunni insurgent leaders found their villages turning against them after they demanded strict observance of Islamic customs and banned smoking, alcohol and entertainment. Insurgent groups were also muscling in on many tribal leaders’ traditional power base – the distribution of jobs and money around the village. Some of these tribal sheikhs started to push back. This Sunni backlash moment in Baghdad’s hinterlands was fostered by the Awakening of Anbar province, as well as the shift in US military policy that permitted units to hire local “security guards” from among these tribal populations. Money is a strong competitor with ideology. So fairly soon we found ourselves engaging with a number of Sunni leaders from rural Baghdad that suddenly liked Americans, but they certainly didn’t like the Shia politicians running the central government. To help bridge that gap, we needed a Communist.

Subhy al-Meshadani is one of a dying breed of Iraqi: a cosmopolitan, poetry-quoting, hard-drinking, Paris-loving, international worker of the world. One of two members of the Iraqi Communist Party elected to the Baghdad Provincial Council, he has the distinction of being the only ethnic Sunni Arab on that body. Primarily known for giving long-winded speeches (even by lengthy Iraqi standards) and then falling asleep during council meetings, Subhy’s career took a surprising turn when Chairman Mueen al-Khademy tapped him to take over the Rural Services Committee, the body responsible for developing provincial government policy for the delivery of services to the outlying rural counties of Baghdad province. At first it seemed like a clever ploy by Mueen – the token Sunni on the Council given the impossible task of improving services in those ungovernable tribal areas. However, Subhy proved remarkably adept at charming both some very wary Sunni tribal leaders and some extremely hesitant Shia government officials; bringing them together in a forum we called the Joint Rural Planning Committee.

Baghdad’s government is extraordinarily complex; to improve any one service you have to deal with the technocratic officials that work in that ministry and their political bosses, the local council that represents the people in that area, and the local executive official that works for the Governor of the province in that area. Getting the Joint Rural Planning Committee up and running was thus a massive exercise. The idea was to schedule regular meetings where leaders from a rural community would truck in to the IZ (International Zone, a.k.a. the Green Zone) in downtown Baghdad (often escorted by the US Army unit responsible for that area) and talk (argue; shout; complain; rant; etc) about the service needs of their communities to officials from the provincial and national governments. The first few meetings we were just glad nobody got shot. Soon the meetings became more streamlined and productive. And then, in May 2008, Chairman Mueen decided that the meetings should be held at the Provincial Council, not at the PRT’s office in the IZ. This was a crucial turning point. The Shia leader of the Shia-dominated Provincial Council was taking responsibility for a forum largely beneficial to Sunni residents of Baghdad. In a moment of candor, Chairman Mueen admitted that the move might be “politically advantageous” for him; in other words, he saw political value in showing that the Provincial Council was reaching out to some disenfranchised communities in Baghdad. A stepping stone towards a more politically-inclusive Iraq. But political progress isn’t just about bridging the sectarian divide; it’s about fundamentally changing the nature of politics.

Another side of the surge (Part 1)

2009-02-24T23:25:00.004-05:00

I wrote an article for the Pittsburgh Political Review, a campus magazine, detailing my experiences as part of the "civilian surge" in Baghdad from early 2007 until mid-2008. I will post "Politics and Progress" in a three-part series over the next few days.

This is Part 1.

Politics and Progress
Another side of the surge

US troop fatalities in Iraq have fallen and the numbers of Iraqi civilian deaths and of violent incidents reported in Baghdad show similar positive trends. The re-opening of public parks and outdoor markets, relaxed nighttime curfews and trends of increased alcohol sales and consumption are just a few of the indicators of social life creeping towards some kind of normalization due to the improved security that Baghdad has experienced over the past months. Something has been going right in Baghdad lately. While there is little debate over whether life in Baghdad has improved, there is much debate over how this change occurred.

This article is about the “surge.” That’s a loaded term, so I’ll define what I mean. In January 2007, a new shift in strategy called The New Way Forward in Iraq added over 20,000 US troops to the Baghdad area. But the surge was not just about more troops. They were deployed in smaller units in more neighborhoods, and were more focused on providing security for the local Iraqi population. So the surge was both a quantitative – and qualitative change. The overall goal of this shift in security posture was to produce the stability that would create the space necessary for the Iraqi political process to get back on track and legitimize the government.

Legitimacy for a government is connected to two things, both related to the delivery of services to its citizens. First, citizens need to feel that are connected to the political process that determines the distribution of those services and second, they need to feel that their government has the actual ability to effectively deliver those services. At the onset of the surge the Government of Iraq was failing on both counts; the political process was widely perceived to be subverted by sectarianism and government institutions were not capable of provided adequate services. The challenges were enormous. Where do you start?

A “civilian surge” adds shoes to the boots on the ground
That’s where I come in. Another aspect of the strategy shift was the “civilian surge,” an expansion of the number of State Department officers deployed to work on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Provincial Reconstruction Teams are civil/military interagency teams tasked to help provincial-level government institutions develop a transparent and sustained capability to govern while promoting increased security, rule of law, political reconciliation and economic development. I returned to the Baghdad PRT in early 2007 with the State Department after completing a previous tour with the Army in Baghdad and served as senior policy advisor in Baghdad until May 2008. Working with Iraqi politicians, civil society activists, tribal sheikhs and the occasional reformed insurgent we performed counterinsurgency and promoted governance development programs, turning short term political reconciliation into sustained participation. The thrust of this article is going to focus on a series of political initiatives launched with the Iraqi government to capitalize on breakthroughs brought on by the improved security posture of US forces. My definition of the surge emphasizes the qualitative components of the shift in strategy that go beyond its purely military aspects and I intend to convey a narrative that highlights the agency of some Iraqis that, in many ways, are the true story of the surge.

Politics in Baghdad is a full-contact sport. Who wants to play?
Since my interpretation favors an Iraqi-centric approach, let me introduce you to some of the major characters. Members of the highly organized Shia political parties play a principal role. Baghdad’s provincial government has three major positions, all filled by individuals affiliated with ISCI (the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq; led by Shia cleric Abd-al Aziz al-Hakim). Provincial Council Chairman Mueen al-Khademy, Governor Hussein al-Tahan and Mayor of Baghdad City Saber al-Esawi control key levers of power in Baghdad, with authority over millions of dollars in budgets, hiring and firing of thousands of government employees, and the disbursement of a wealth of government contracts. Baghdad is a unique province because it is home to the capital city of the nation. Because of ambiguities in Baghdad’s administrative law, traditional systems compete with post-2003 innovations and political and institutional conflicts are rife; even though they are affiliated with the same party the Provincial Council, Governor and Mayor often find themselves at odds with each other and with the national government on many issues.

Mid-level officials without strong party affiliations form another key group in Baghdad; individuals like Zaid al-Jafari at the office of Iraq’s National Security Advisor and Ali Fadel al-Misir, a former governor of Baghdad, face extraordinary challenges performing their duties. Iraq has seen its traditionally large pool of competent civil servants reduced due to violence and flight; many who remain are cowed into supporting the more extreme impulses of a new cadre of political bosses. However, there remains a vanguard committed to speaking truth to power and using their position in government to equitably and efficiently serve the people of Iraq. Many have faced politically-motivated firings, intimidation and even assassination for their efforts, yet they continue in the face of adversity.

Another group vital to this story are those who found themselves at the margins of political life in Baghdad, but for a variety of reasons decided to engage in meaningful avenues of participation, rejecting the appeal to insurgency and violent resistance to the government. The figure of Subhy al-Meshadani, the lone Sunni on the Baghdad Provincial Council, embodies the efforts of those able to bridge the gap between the politically disenfranchised and the institutions of power in Baghdad. Working with tribal leaders of the rural communities on the outskirts of Baghdad, Subhy was instrumental in creating forums to build sustainable relationships between these communities, often former al-Qaeda havens, and Baghdad’s government.

Windows of opportunity cracked open by security gains
Over the summer of 2007 the security situation began to show signs of improvement in Baghdad. The US military, working much more closely with Iraqi counterparts through a new institution called the Baghdad Operations Command, launched a series of security initiatives intended to better protect the Iraqi population. One initiative focused on protecting key markets in downtown Baghdad frequented by the largely Shia population, emplacing controlled access points and barriers designed to prevent access to suicide bombers. A second program emplaced protective barriers around Sunni neighborhoods that were prey to Shia militants pursuing a strategy of violent eviction and sectarian intimidation. Both of these measures were yielding results by mid-2007; mass casualty suicide bombings in markets dropped while the pace and ferocity of forced sectarian removals slowed.

With progress being made on the security front, eyes turned towards the political process. At the national level the Iraqi government was gripped by stalemate, but at the local level the additional troops and PRT personnel on the ground were starting to build contacts with local leaders frustrated with the performance of the political leaders running their country. We decided to focus our efforts on reconciliation “from the ground up.” Support to these local leaders in their efforts to acquire better services for their neighborhoods and villages was one way to we sought to generate enough pressure on the elite leadership of the country to make some political compromises and get Iraq on the path to progress. One major problem these local leaders demanded to have addressed was the pervasive corruption in the delivery of fuel to their neighborhoods.

Bringing ROTC back

2009-02-09T19:25:00.004-05:00

The Bisbee Project is an advocate of the leadership training and wide-ranging experiences that participating in the ROTC program can provide our college graduates. We also believe our nation would be well-served by the return of ROTC to many of our elite campuses. At this critical time in our nation's history, we need to bridge the gap that separates many of our future civilian and military leaders in their college years. The New York Times editorial below makes a good case that now is a good time to seriously consider getting ROTC back on our campuses.

February 9, 2009
Send R.O.T.C. Back to School
By KENNETH HARBAUGH
New Haven

SINCE the Vietnam War, R.O.T.C. programs have been banned from operating on campus at elite universities like Yale and Harvard. These institutions have also long hindered the military’s efforts to recruit their students. But in March 2006, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the military must be allowed back on all campuses. The door is open. More important, the students themselves are ready.

I recently taught a course on the obligations of citizenship at Yale, where I also spent three years as a law student. If my university holds some prejudice against military service, its students, in my experience, don’t seem to.

The student-run Yale Political Union recently approved a resolution to invite R.O.T.C. back on campus. Several pro-military organizations have sprung up, including the Semper Fi Society, which helps undergraduates become Marine Corps officers.

While it is true that few of the students I taught will ever serve in uniform, part of the reason is that no one has bothered to ask them to. To change that, our new commander in chief should order the military to activate new R.O.T.C. units. Then President Obama should direct it to step up in-person recruiting efforts on these campuses.

TV commercials showing marines scaling mountains will not work on Yale students. But programs like Teach for America have great success recruiting from Ivy League colleges, because their recruiters are given time at the end of large lectures to deliver their pitch.

If the military demands similar access, students will respond. Imagine asking a 21-year-old: “How would you like to go somewhere where you are the only person who is capable of helping?” My students were desperate to serve their country in some way. We owe it to them to offer the armed forces as a realistic option.

But rebuilding a connection between America’s military and its most selective colleges is about more than providing exceptional opportunities to exceptional young people. It is, ultimately, about our military’s relationship to its civilian leaders.

At Yale, which has supplied more than its share of senators and presidents, almost none of my former classmates or students ever noticed the absence of uniforms on campus. In a nation at war, this is a disgrace. But it also shows how dangerously out of touch the elites who shape our national policy have become with the men and women they send to war.

Whenever I encounter animus toward the military at Yale, it is almost always born of ignorance. Students often cite the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military as a justification for the ban on R.O.T.C. They are far more sympathetic when I explain that such policies are enacted by Congress, and that the military has no choice but to comply.

Toward the end of the semester, I took my class to West Point. None of my students had ever seen a military base, and only one had a friend his age in uniform. But every one of them was deeply respectful of what they saw. My students understood that many of the cadets they met would soon be at war. And without my saying it, they also knew that the decisions leading to war are made by elite civilians like themselves.

As a candidate, Barack Obama called top colleges’ rejection of the military a “mistake.” As president, he can begin to correct that mistake by ordering the military to invest in new R.O.T.C. units and redouble campus recruiting efforts.

The door is finally open, but it is up to our commander in chief to lead us through.

Kenneth Harbaugh, a former Navy pilot, is the executive director of the Center for Citizen Leadership.

Super!

2009-02-02T10:17:00.003-05:00

No, I didn't light any fires last night or turn over any cars but I did take part in the madness of last night's Super Bowl victory here in the Steel City. Downtown at Mullin's the scene was pandemonium -- and Steelers fans poured out of the bars and into the streets to celebrate until the wee hours. Go Steelers!

The Big Day

2009-01-31T15:55:00.003-05:00

A report on the Iraqi elections from CNN.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Voting ended Saturday evening for Iraqi provincial elections and the mood was festive in some places, unlike the violence, intimidation and apathy that marked the balloting in 2005.

"Politics has broken out in Iraq. ... It's truly a proud moment," Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told CNN. "The distance that we have come is truly inspiring." Preliminary results were expected within a week, members of the Electoral Commission said at a news conference Saturday night.

Only two instances of violence were reported.

CNN's Arwa Damon, who toured polling stations with U.N. observers, said she noticed an increased sense of awareness and optimism among voters, who felt their participation would have an impact on their lives and country. Political analysts said this election could correct some of the political imbalances that resulted from the 2005 election. Saturday's voting also was seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"We are trying to build a new system of government in the heart of the Islamic Middle East," Saleh said.

The last provincial elections were in January 2005, after the ousting of Saddam Hussein, and most Sunni Arabs did not vote.

"This time, happening four years after the first elections, means that this process is on track to building a functioning democracy," Saleh said. "I think the election results will point to the real political map of Iraq.

"The overwhelming majority of the people of Iraq are having a stake in this process, are buying into this democratic process."

He added that politics "is no longer defined by violence," and is now transcending "sectarian and ethnic dimensions."

Voting was extended one hour, partly because a curfew had been lifted, allowing more Iraqis to go to the polls, Judge Qassim al-Aboudi, member of the Electoral Commission, told CNN. Those elected will have regional power over the essentials Iraqis have been desperate for -- basic services and jobs, Damon reported.

She said there was a sense of jubilation Saturday in Anbar province, the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad. The sprawling desert area was dominated largely by al Qaeda in January 2005, when the first provincial elections after the fall of Hussein were held.

In 2005, fearing retribution from the terror group, only about 2 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Observers believe the provincial vote will be a gauge of the country's political direction and a guide to how to the parliamentary elections will turn out later this year.

The results should spell out the status of the Sunni Arab "awakening" movement and the popularity of the Shiite factions, such as those backing al-Maliki, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. There were tough security measures in place throughout the country, including security rings around polling centers and vigorous searches of voters.

Nevertheless, three mortars exploded near a polling station in central Tikrit, about 100 miles north of Baghdad, Saturday morning, an official with the Interior Ministry told CNN. There were no casualties. Police also detained four people wearing Iraqi police uniforms who they said had thrown stun grenades at voters outside a polling center in Tikrit, Hussein's hometown.

Al-Maliki was among those voting Saturday, casting his ballot in the Al-Rasheed Hotel in the highly protected and fortified Green Zone. He told reporters at the polling station that the election is evidence that Iraqi people live under a high level of safety. Iraqi police and army troops lined the streets of downtown Ramadi, a city in Anbar province. One police officer said he was proud to be working on election day.

"Let the people see us standing here," he said.

Police vehicles blasted music outside, creating a festive atmosphere. One man brought his 7-year-old brother with him to the polling center.

"I want him to learn about democracy," the man said.

An Economic "Surge"

2009-01-27T22:02:00.003-05:00

Below is a recent clip of Dan Rice, a Baghdad colleague, talking about economic development in Iraq on Fox News. Dan did economic development work as a civil affairs officer when I was there and is now trying to encourage private investment in some of Iraq's recovering industries. In this clip, Dan is suggesting that we support an "economic surge" to follow the security surge that has brought stability to Iraq. We were encouraged by the rebirth of the poultry farming industry in Mahmoudiyah (southern Baghdad province) last year, and there are other sectors of Iraq's economy that are showing signs of marked improvement. Dan talks about tomato paste factories, and I can recollect talking to more than a few Iraqi businessmen who believed there were profits to be made in that business.

Change we can believe in

2009-01-22T20:09:00.003-05:00

Below is a Washington Post article on the upcoming round of Iraqi provincial elections to be held January 31. I wish I could be there to witness the drama -- sounds like many incumbents are seeking re-election, and I wonder how well they will do at the polls. I believe the article is referring to Hussein al-Tahan, the Governor of Baghdad (who, if he wins a provincial seat could reclaim the governorship) and Sabir al-Isawi, the Mayor of Baghdad City (and PC member, not head of the PC). The major change over the 2005 elections will be the fact that voters will choose individual candidates, not just party lists. This is a great improvement as it removes power from the party bosses and encourages a more responsible connection between office holders and their constituents; it was a key concern for the many local leaders I worked with and it is fantastic to see the results of their advocacy. To my good friends in Baghdad: Rock the Vote!

Iraqi Voters Getting a Taste of Retail Politics
Candidates for Provincial Seats Reach Out to Public With Posters, T-Shirts and Jingles

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 22, 2009; A08

BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 -- Facing a skeptical and sometimes hostile crowd, 13 candidates vying for seats on Baghdad's provincial council passed around a microphone for three hours during a town hall debate this month as voters threw out questions and challenged their answers.

"Should the militarizing of Iraq continue?" one woman sitting in the front row wanted to know.

"How are you going to deal with run-down buildings?" a man asked. "And the housing crisis?"

"How much have you spent on your campaigns?" an Iraqi journalist demanded. "Especially the big religious parties?"

At events like this one, at a social club in Baghdad, Iraqi politicians campaigning for seats in the Jan. 31 provincial elections have promoted themselves vigorously and engaged voters on both global and grass-roots issues.

This brand of retail politics marks a dramatic shift from campaigns conducted in 2005, the last time Iraq held elections nationwide. Amid growing violence at the time, most candidates ran largely faceless campaigns under the umbrellas of established parties defined by sect and religion.

While most of the established parties remain in the game, a staggering number of new faces and coalitions are jockeying for support at a time when American influence here is waning and dissatisfaction with the Iraqi government runs deep.

More than 14,000 candidates are competing for 440 seats on provincial councils in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Some are running as independents, but the majority belong to more than 400 political blocs, known here as lists, roughly 70 percent of which are new.

Around the country, the ubiquitous cement blast walls that in recent years have divided and protected Iraqis are wallpapered with political posters. Newspapers are packed with campaign ads. The airwaves are cluttered with campaign jingles. And candidates' photos and slogans appear on T-shirts and balloons.

In 2005, parties that got the most votes appointed members for seats. This time, an "open ballot" will allow voters to choose individual candidates within parties. "Individuals will be accountable to [voters] about what is going to happen on the ground," said Stefan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Iraq.

Hassan al-Tahan, a Shiite candidate for Baghdad's provincial council, came up with a particularly creative way to attract voters: He printed his photo on an oval-shaped blimp, much like the ones the U.S. military uses around Iraq to conduct surveillance.

Sabir al-Isawi, the head of the Baghdad provincial council, who is running for reelection, has a campaign poster with a photo of himself looking upward, juxtaposed against an image of a child drinking dirty water from a broken pipe.

A rival campaign has been running television ads that show Isawi's photo and ask, "What has this man done for Baghdad?"

The provincial contests, as well as national parliamentary elections expected in the fall, will offer new clarity about the balance of power among Iraq's parties, several of which have resorted to violence over the past few years in the pursuit of power.

The relationship between the central government and provincial authorities is also on the line, which has prompted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to create and fund "support councils" in provinces where his Dawa party does not have deep roots. Maliki also has become the public face of one list of candidates, converting the elections into a referendum on his rule.

And whereas Shiite parties joined a grand coalition in 2005, this time they are competing against one another in heavily Shiite southern provinces. Tribal leaders, meanwhile, are attempting to play the role of kingmaker in the south, as well as in other parts of the country.

Sunni Arabs, many of whom boycotted the 2005 elections, are widely expected to gain political ground around the country this year. In predominantly Sunni provinces, particularly Anbar, west of Baghdad, established religious parties are competing against secular ones, including some created by former insurgents who were thrust into leadership roles after the U.S. military put them on the payroll and enlisted them to fight the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In northern Iraq, particularly in Nineveh province, political tension is rising because the outcome of the vote is likely to shape a bitter and long-running disagreement between Kurds and Arabs over disputed areas along the southern border of the autonomous Kurdish region.

The campaigning has been marred by the killings of at least two candidates, as well as controversies over the role of women and the conduct of candidates on the campaign trail.

Female candidates in the southern port city of Basra and in Fallujah in Anbar province have drawn scorn for using their photographs on posters and in campaign literature.

Jaber Hussein Alwani, a tribal leader in Fallujah, said he was dismayed by the number of campaign posters promoting female candidates.

"We don't have a problem with women who want to be elected," he said. "But they don't have to publicize their photo. It's unacceptable. They can just publish their names."

Suha Jassim Mohammed, a candidate running for Anbar's provincial council, said she was unfazed by the uproar. The school principal has spent the past few weeks handing out glossy brochures with her photo. The country's recent violence, she said, has forced women into positions of prominence, in part because so many have become widows.

"Women are obliged to go out to work," she said. "Women want to participate in the election."

Women account for nearly 30 percent of the 14,431 candidates on the ballots. Under a quota system, parties that win multiple seats must appoint a woman for every three slots they fill in each council.

So far, none of the outbursts and controversies in the campaigns appears likely to derail the vote in any province.

After Iraq's parliament passed the provincial election law last year, Iraqi and U.S. officials braced for a bloody political season. But the level of violence, which has declined steeply since the summer of 2007, has remained relatively steady and is at a four-year low.

Even so, many Iraqis have read political motives into recent attacks that did not target candidates. Maliki has accused those who have targeted the country's still-crippled infrastructure of trying to undermine his administration during the election season.

Iraqis speak about the power and promise of the ballot with a mix of optimism, apprehension and skepticism.

Ahmed Hussein, 25, of Fallujah, said he and his friends voted enthusiastically during the 2005 elections. This time, he said, he's not going to bother.

"I will not participate," he said, standing outside the clothing shop where he works. "When they put up posters, they each make themselves out to look like the best. When they're in office, they do nothing."

Kahdoun Safi, 60, a political prisoner under the government of Saddam Hussein, said he, too, is underwhelmed by the way democracy has played out so far in Iraq.

"I will not vote for anyone," he said. "I don't trust any of them. They're all thieves."

Acknowledging the deep dissatisfaction with the status quo, Maliki and Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, recently issued statements urging Iraqis not to let their reservations about Iraqi politicians deter them from going to the polls.

Ali Khalderi, a television reporter who covered the recent town hall debate in Baghdad, was among the fiercest critics of the candidates. He suggested some were "less than educated" and called others liars.

And yet, he said, there's no doubt he will exercise his right to vote Jan. 31.

Democracy "is the only way of getting rid of dictators and violence," he said. "It will not end this election or next. It will take a whole generation."

Update from Afghanistan

2009-01-21T07:50:00.004-05:00

Michael Baumgartner, a colleague from my time at the Embassy in Baghdad and a featured Profile in Service, has taken a position in Afghanistan in support of the mission there. Below he writes about his recent arrival in country and his duties there, comparing them to our experiences in Iraq during the surge.

Greetings from Helmand Afghanistan!

A few bits of wisdom I’ve picked up from the local Pashtuns:

“Michael, you should not be using too much chewing gum. It is better for women to be gum chewing. If a man is using it too much, his beard will become crooked.”

“…for your cold, you should be taking black pepper and spaghetti noodles. This is the medicine that works.”

I’m having a great time in Afghanistan, and not just because of the above enlightening quotes from a couple of the Afghans I live and work with. Life here is tough, and the narcotics and Taliban insurgent challenges we are facing are tougher, but there is nowhere else I’d rather be.

I’ve ended up being sent to Helmand, a very turbulent province in Afghanistan’s south.

What am I doing? The US supports several counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan. One of these programs is to inbed a foreign advisor with an Afghan counternarcotics (CN) team that advises the Governor of the main opium growing provinces. I’m one of two such advisors in Helmand. The CN team is actually very counterinsurgent in nature – supporting carrots (good governance, economics, and information operations) as well as sticks (poppy eradication, other stuff).

Afghanistan supplies 90% of the world’s heroine and, if it didn’t already have enough problems, is quickly becoming the world’s most problematic narco state. The opium related economy is equal to nearly 1/3 of the rest of the economy. Although opium is clearly prohibited in Islam, it is a big funder of the Taliban and the bad things they do (Taliban mullah’s argue that since the opium is mainly being exported that it is ok because it corrupts infidels). Opium is also absolutely corrupting the nascent system of governance in Afghanistan, and since a successful US exit from Afghanistan requires some form of stability (so that this place doesn’t once again become Camp Jihaddi) – heroine has a lot to do with winning the war here.

Where as in Iraq I worked directly for the US Department of State, here the US has decided to utilize more contract hires. So, although I talk to a liaison at the US Embassy regularly who provides some direction on what we do, I actually work for a private company. Also, where as in Iraq I lived and worked mainly around Americans, here in Afghanistan I am one of only a very few Westerners surrounded and living amongst a compound of Afghans. It is quite a difference.

I’m grateful that I ended up being assigned to the province of Helmand. Helmand is possibly Afghanistan’s most problematic province. The Taliban control large parts of the countryside and have many spies and assassins around. (Their relative strength is evidenced by the fact that they even force the government to turn off the cell phone towers at night to help their movements – so very often my cell doesn’t have a signal).

Helmand is also the absolute drug capital of the world. My province alone produces nearly half of Afghanistan’s opium, which means that more drugs come out of here than Columbia, Burma and whatever other countries you want to throw in combined.

The way I look at it, this means that I’m getting a view to some pretty interesting stuff.

As far as the war goes, British forces are in control of operations in Helmand. I interact regularly with a good group of British officers and diplomats. Because they all live on a base, and I am off with the natives, I have some advantages that they don’t have (and they have a few, to be sure, that I don’t) .

Unfortunately, the Brits don’t have enough forces here. Roughly 8000 troops total, and far too few of them are on offense. The Brits also spend too much time on base and not enough on patrol (kind of like the US in Iraq before the Surge). Newspaper reports say increased US forces are likely coming to Helmand. This will help. In the near term, this place needs at least 20,000 aggressive troops with logistic support to take back control from Taliban forces (“Taliban” is a loose generic term for various groups of bad guys who want to kill foreigners or government forces). Frankly, I’m skeptical of the overall war effort here, but one thing I learned from the Surge in Iraq, is that America can do amazing things if it puts its mind to it.

I have arrived in Helmand smack dab in the run up to eradication season. As such, we have been very busy helping the local Governor with the plan to physically remove poppy. There are many counterinsurgency elements to this. In fact, for someone who likes counterinsurgency, this is a dream job. As many of you know, I was privileged to be very involved in the Baghdad Security Plan counterinsurgency and we had good success there. Hopefully, on a modest, localized level, I'll be involved in some success here as well.

As I begin to think about overall US policy here, I’m finding Afghanistan foreboding. For all of the challenge that the US faced (and continues to face) in Iraq, I think that Afghanistan is a much tougher challenge. The economic potential is much more limited (landlocked, few natural resources); less developed and educated people (God love them, but many of the Pashtuns here have a outlook on life that makes the dregs of Sadr City look like champions of the enlightenment) the problems coming out of neighboring Pakistan are more difficult to deal with than the very serious problems that come out of Iraq’s neighbor Iran; Iraq is flat and easy to move around (road bombs notwithstanding) – mountainous and roadless Afghanistan is a logistics nightmare; and, the opium black market is corrupting everything. To top it off, US allies here don’t have enough political support back home to get out and do the fighting that needs to be done and the number of Taliban attacks is increasing precipitously. Overall, Iraq is bloodier, but Afghanistan is tougher. Fortunately (sort of), success in Afghanistan is much less strategically important for the US than is success in Iraq.

Security wise, whereas my main threats in Iraq were mortar/rocket fire and potential IEDs, here they are likely to be targeted assassinations and suicide bombers. Sure enough, just last week we got a general tip some suicide bombers were around looking for targets of opportunity. What do you know, the next day as we were out and about, and just as we were driving past the most logical place to launch a hit against us if you were a bad guy, I look to the left and see a lone motorcycle rounding a corner and approaching at speed, I look closer and see that he’s about 18 years old, heavily robbed and, to top it off, carrying a (expletive) propane tank across the handle bars. I think to myself “well that didn’t take long” while wondering if we had time to do something that would make him a little less interested in driving up close to us, no time, he’s right there...and then...nothing – just a kid carrying some propane. Let’s hope they’re all like that. (And I must underscore that I face nowhere near the security threat of our brave troops out on patrol – God bless them).

Before coming down to Helmand, I spent several days in Kabul and made a few trips to a local US military base to get supplies and sneak in a couple of sessions at the gym. The gym had TVs carrying Armed Forces Network (really wish I had that in Helmand) and during a rest on the weights on one of the commercials up pops a general who is some top psychologist for the US Army and she gives a short infomercial about mental health in a war zone. Two of the points she made were 1: get enough sleep and 2: feel grateful for the ability serve your country in an effort bigger than yourself.

I’ll try to keep in mind her advice on number 1, but I won’t find it difficult at all to abide by number 2. I really do feel grateful. Exceptionally grateful. For the moment, I think I’ve got the best job in the world. I’m sure as heck not going to be doing this kind of stuff forever, and certain parts of life here suck to be sure, but for the time being it is something I am really enjoying.

Picture collage:
Pic 1/2: Can you tell who is the Afghan and who is the American? I thought not ;) You’ll notice that I’ve adopted the American practice of wearing a beard and a local scarf to blend in. Just in case you can’t tell, I’m the one in the blue stocking cap ;)

Brian, the other Westerner in pic 2 is a fantastic Scottsman, and although I can oft times barely understand him through his absurdly thick Scottish accent, we have a great time telling Iraq stories. He was a PSD there from 2003 to 2008 and has more Iraq contact stories than anybody I’ve yet met. The craziest one I’ve heard so far is when he randomly told how he once took a side contract to spend 2 weeks tracking down and recovering 11 stolen armored SUVs from some bad guys near Mosul in 2006. Private contractor world is really like the movies sometimes.

Pic 3: I find many of the old Pashtun men quite striking in how they look and carry themselves. Very rough, but at the same time strangely very regal. I think that this fellow is the head of education in Helmand. There are two things that seem to be ubiquitous around here, AK-47 riffles and cool looking old Pashtun men with cool beards.

Pic 4: What we call Operation Enduring Freedom, the Brits call “Operation Herrick.” I really get a kick out of the politeness and tone of discourse when discussing military stuff with British Officers. “Why yes, I would like a spot of tea before we begin…”

Pic 5: A bit of a sad picture. This fellow was a really friendly guy on our security team who has just had to leave and go home to his village. Taliban had previously killed his father and older brother some months ago. The other day he learned that they have kidnapped another brother. He was very matter of fact in that he had to go home, get his cousins, and either go and kill those local Taliban or be killed himself trying. It’s a different world out here...

New Year

2009-01-02T22:39:00.004-05:00

January 1 saw the transfer of the Republican Palace and the International Zone from U.S. to Iraqi control in a series of simple, yet poignant ceremonies. Several of my colleagues watched the final lowering of the U.S. flag from the Palace the night before, a simple gathering involving Ambassador Ryan Crocker, a few marines, and MG Perkins; who, as a brigade commander raised the first U.S. flag at the Palace in 2003.

Below is an LA Times article about the Green Zone transfer.

U.S. hands control of Baghdad's Green Zone to Iraq
By Kimi Yoshino
January 2, 2009

Reporting from Baghdad -- As Iraqi schoolchildren sang their country's praise and the band marched, the United States formally handed over military control of the heavily fortified Green Zone to Iraqi troops Thursday, a first major step in the American withdrawal from Iraq.

The Green Zone, a walled-off, 5.6-square-mile community in Baghdad's core, has come to symbolize for Iraqis the U.S. occupation of their country. Home to about 30,000 people -- including 14,000 American and coalition forces -- it is also the site of Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace, captured by American troops in April 2003 and, until a move last month, site of the U.S. Embassy.
Green Zone security had been the responsibility of Americans. But under the Status of Forces Agreement that details the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011, a new U.S.-trained military unit of Iraqis -- known as the Baghdad Brigade -- has taken charge.

"This is a glorious and blessed day in Iraq's modern history," brigade commander Imad Jassim said at a ceremony Thursday morning. "We're developing Iraq and its future."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said in a speech on state television that the "day of sovereignty" should be immortalized as a national holiday.
"A year before this date, it was a dream to just think about withdrawing the foreign forces from Iraq," Maliki said. "The dream that nobody was allowed to think about has become a reality. We consider this a reason for all Iraqis to rejoice."

U.S. officials lowered the American flag at the Republican Palace -- the largest of the presidential estates commissioned by Hussein -- in a private ceremony Wednesday, and on Thursday Iraqi officials raised their own nation's flag. For the moment the sprawling complex stands empty: Maliki and President Jalal Talabani are vying for control, so its future use remains undetermined.

In addition to the Green Zone transfer, other changes are being instituted:

* Iraq's military is now the lead agency, with the U.S. military conducting raids only alongside the Iraqi army. Arrest warrants will be issued by Iraqi judges and the decision to detain will be made by Iraqi commanders.

* Iraq now controls its own airspace, including the Basra airport, which transferred from British to Iraqi control Thursday.

* About 15,000 prisoners will be transferred from U.S. to Iraqi control, with cases coming under review for release or continued detention at a pace of about 1,500 a month.

* Private security contractors for many U.S. officials and agencies no longer have immunity from criminal charges under Iraqi law.

The Green Zone has long been considered the safest place in Baghdad, with every car checked and every person searched and scanned before entry. And though Iraqis are in charge, American troops remain. Even on this symbolic day, Americans set up a checkpoint to stop cars and check identification cards.

"I think common sense will say [terrorists] will probably test the Green Zone," U.S. Army Col. Steven Ferrari, commander of the joint area support group, said of concerns that the area may become a target. "I guess time will tell."
kimi.yoshino@latimes.com

Support for the Fort

2008-12-26T10:32:00.006-05:00

On Monday we took our dad, Frederick W. Bisbee, to Sunbury, PA to pay a visit to the Northumberland County Historical Society and make a Preserving Pennsylvania donation in his name to the Fort Augusta Project, the society’s ongoing expansion program that includes the building of a new research center and the reconstruction of a replica of the famous French and Indian War-era fort. Our dad Fred is an avid amateur historian and supported many efforts to preserve the rich history of Northumberland County while a resident of the area. Fred retired from the First National Trust Bank of Sunbury in 2000 after serving 22 years as the bank’s president and moved to coastal North Carolina with our mom Eleanor, who also retired in 2000 from Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg.

Fred met with Cindy Inkrote, Director of the Northumberland County Historical Society and discussed the plans to renovate and expand the facilities at Fort Augusta, widely acknowledged as one of the premiere historical sites in the area. A miniature replica of the fort used to be a familiar landmark in the city, but it fell into disrepair and was demolished. One component of the current renovation plan includes the construction of a new replica.

“Fort Augusta was absolutely pivotal to the early development of this area, and it is wonderful to see such far-sighted efforts being put into preserving it for future generations,” Fred said. The donation in his name to the Fort Augusta Project was a surprise birthday gift to honor our dad's long-time love of history in Central Pennsylvania. “We used to bring the kids to the old Fort Augusta replica to play – but I hoped they would learn to appreciate some of its history, too. It would be terrific for the community to see a new replica built,” Fred said.

Inkrote said that tough economic times when government and private sources tighten their belts are always a challenge for historical sites, but communities that make the effort to preserve their past are always glad that they did. So far, the current downturn has not dampened the society’s plans to expand their current facilities with the building of a new research center; but Inkrote said that every donation, big or small, can make a difference.

“Donating money for historical preservation is like making an investment in a community’s economy,” Fred, the career banker, added.

“Last year, we had researchers from 29 different states visit our center here in Northumberland County. Can you believe that?” Inkrote said. “And when they come to do research, they also want to see other area attractions.” A new building will allow the society to better preserve and display its outstanding collection of rare books and documents, Inkrote explained, enabling a greater number of visitors to appreciate their historical value.

Our parents brought their support for community improvement to their new town of Smyrna, North Carolina, where they helped establish a public library and have been very active during their retirement in local development causes. To honor Fred’s 70th birthday this year, we decided to make a donation in his name to a community organization in Sunbury; his love of the area’s history led us to the Fort Augusta Project.

“I can’t think of a better birthday present for me than to have my children give something to a community that has given us so much over the years,” Fred said.

Photo above: Fred Bisbee and Cindy Inkrote at the Hunter House Museum (site of Fort Augusta), Sunbury, PA. New exhibits for the museum are currently under development by local volunteers.

On Board

2008-11-21T18:47:00.008-05:00

The Bisbee Project is proud to announce the addition of Ben O'Neil to its Board of Directors. Ben will be sworn in during a brief ceremony at the BIZHub prior to the final Penn State regular-season game of the year, Saturday November 22, 2008.

President Steve Bisbee made the nomination and Managing Director Dan Bisbee seconded. Ben becomes the first at-large board member of the organization since its founding in 2006.

Ben currently serves as Director of Leasing and Development with a major real estate firm in the Washington, D.C. region. Ben started his career in energy futures trading on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange and later traded NASDAQ stocks and options on a proprietary basis. In 2002, Ben decided to attend graduate school at Penn State University where he deepened his passion for the great Pennsylvania pastimes of fly-fishing and Penn State football.

Ben’s interests in environmental stewardship and community development brought him to work with the Susquehanna River Greenway Project in conjunction with SEDA-COG during his years at Penn State. His charitable passions include issues which promote access to higher education and investment in local economic initiatives. The Bisbee Project is one of several charitable organizations that Ben serves as a board member.

“I’m a firm believer in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians,” Ben said. “We have been endowed with amazingly rich resources, both human and natural, and we deserve outstanding leadership to make sure we maintain our position in a globalized economy. I am proud to be a part of The Bisbee Project.”

Ben hails from Milford, PA and graduated from Delaware Valley High School in 1992. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Hobart College (1996). While at Penn State University, he earned a Bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture (2005) and an M.B.A. (Smeal College of Business 2006).

The big SOFA

2008-11-16T21:04:00.004-05:00

A crucial milestone in the future of our involvement in Iraq was reached today as the Iraqi cabinet approved the latest text of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US government. Dealing with the incredibly sensitive issue of the presence of US military forces in Iraq, the agreement will take the place of the UN resolution that currently authorizes our troop presence, which was scheduled to expire December 31. Now the agreement must be ratified by the national parliament. This issue is a real test for Iraqi democracy and will determine whether they can contain a contentious debate within the bounds of peaceful political discourse; any dispute over this document is more about domestic Iraqi politics than the number of US troops on Iraqi soil. The article below from TIME gives a quick summary of some of the Iraqi politics involved.

From TIME.com
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008
A Step Toward Keeping U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Rania Abouzeid / Baghdad

After months of thorny back-and-forth negotiations, several revisions, and much hand wringing, the Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday finally approved the contentious Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which provides a legal basis for U.S military operations to continue in Iraq after Dec. 31, which is the end of the mandate issued by the United Nations. But it's too early to pop the champagne. The bilateral U.S-Iraqi security pact is by no means a done deal: it must still be ratified by a fractured parliament. The Cabinet vote had only one nay to 27 ayes but nine cabinet members chose to absent themselves from the final tally, a foreboding sign of the controversy the agreement will face in the legislature.

The Sunnis have emerged as the main sticking point. Of the six present in the 37-member Cabinet, three stayed away from Sunday's vote, two grudgingly gave their conditional approval, and one, the minister for women's affairs, Dr. Nawal al-Samarrei, voted against the measure because it did not agree to put the pact to a referendum, a key demand of the Tawafuk Front. The front is the largest Sunni parliamentary bloc with 44 of the legislature's 275 seats. "If Tawafuk says no, that means the Sunnis say no," said party spokesman Omar Almashhadani. "We prefer that the U.N. mandate be extended or the Iraqi government agree to a referendum."

It's unlikely that either Washington or Baghdad will agree to any further delays on the agreement. Not only is the Dec. 31 end of the U.N. mandate nearing but the Parliament is slated to go into recess from Nov. 24 till mid-December. Few lawmakers expect a decision on SOFA before the interlude and some don't expect agreement before next year.

The U.S has already made significant concessions on the wording of the final draft, which sets firm deadlines for a U.S military withdrawal. According to the current draft, American troops will pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of next June and will fully withdraw from the country by the end of 2011, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said at a press conference. The dates "are final," he said, and "not subject to conditions on the ground." Washington has also yielded on the sensitive issue of immunity for U.S troops. "There will be no immunity for anybody breaking the law," al-Dabbagh said.

But it's still not enough for some Iraqi leaders, like the firebrand Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. On Friday, he threatened to resume attacks against U.S troops if they don't withdraw "without retaining bases or signing agreements." By rejecting the pact, Sadr, like some other opponents of the deal, is also hoping to burnish his nationalist credentials ahead of crucial provincial polls in January.

Whether Sadr's bloc of 28 lawmakers, coupled with Tawafuk's 44, vote for the agreement or not, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has the numbers to push it through. But his governing Shi'ite coalition and its Kurdish partners have made it clear that they don't want to do that without the approval of all of the country's main groups — Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds. "We are not prepared to approve this, the Shi'ites and Kurds alone," said lawmaker Redha Taki, a member of the Shi'ite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. "By democratic means, we are able to, but it's not good. We want consensus. We need consensus."

Maliki will address the nation on Monday in a bid to garner public support for the agreement. Washington can only sit back and watch as Iraq's exercise in democracy determines the fate of U.S troops in the country.

(Re)Building Bridges

2008-11-12T11:02:00.006-05:00

During my first few weeks of working in Baghdad in 2005 we witnessed the horrendous tragedy of the collapse of the Aimma bridge; a human tragedy resulting in a terrible loss of life, and a social tragedy widening the divide between Baghdad's communities. A long time coming, the repair of both this physical and psychological bridge is another reason to be hopeful about the future of Baghdad.

From the NYT
November 12, 2008
Baghdad Bridge Reopens, Restitching a Divided Area
By STEPHEN FARRELL

BAGHDAD — Shiites walking east and Sunnis walking west met at the midpoint of a newly reopened bridge on Tuesday, seeking to reclaim a landmark that had long symbolized the divide between Baghdad communities similar in name but polar opposites in sectarian makeup.

For three years Shiites from one, Kadhimiya, and Sunnis from the other, Adhamiya, had been unable to use the crossing, the Aimma Bridge of the Imams in northern Baghdad. It was closed after one of the worst disasters of the post-invasion era: in August 2005, rumors of a suicide bomber provoked a frenzied stampede in a procession of Shiite pilgrims. Nearly 1,000 people died; most were crushed, but many others drowned when they fell or jumped into the Tigris.

Tuesday’s reopening, attended by senior Iraqi military commanders and American officers, was a carefully managed set piece on tarmac covered in drips of fresh red, black, white and green paint — matching the colors on the Iraqi flag. The ceremony was conducted under heavy guard, with American Humvees on the perimeter and helicopters circling overhead.

Just 24 hours earlier a synchronized triple-bombing in Adhamiya killed 28 people, according to an Interior Ministry official. The American military put the figure much lower, at five.

But on Tuesday, the only blood in sight was of sheep slaughtered in celebration as hundreds of people marched with politicians and clerics from both sides to meet in the middle.

The revival of the bridge was more than symbolic. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government was eager to put cars and trucks back onto this major traffic artery, as part of its drive to open up Baghdad’s blocked roads, which create huge congestion for the estimated 1.3 million vehicles on the city’s roads.

Iraqi armored vehicles lined the approach roads to the bridge, which run past two of the country’s most famous mosques: the golden Kadhimiya shrine, burial place of the eighth-century saint Imam Musa al-Kadhim, and the ornate Abu Hanifa Mosque, burial place of the Islamic religious scholar known as Imam Adham.

Tensions between the communities run deep. Sunni Adhamiya, now walled off from other neighborhoods of overwhelmingly Shiite east Baghdad, was a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein, whereas Kadhimiya’s shrine is the holiest in Baghdad for Shiites.

However, speakers on Tuesday highlighted past efforts at cross-community cooperation. Some cited Othman Ali Obaidi, an 18-year-old Sunni high school student who drowned when he dived into the Tigris in 2005 to rescue Shiite pilgrims.

Ahmed Abdel Ghafour al-Sammaraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment, which oversees Sunni mosques, said that Iraqis were “united as one body” and that if any part fell ill, all the other parts “will fall sick as well.” Saleh al-Haidari, his counterpart at the parallel Shiite Endowment, hailed a “glorious day.” He added, “It is the day of Iraqis who proved to the whole world that we are a united people.”

In Adhamiya, Muhanned Saleh, 46, said he believed that the opening meant “a new and good stage of nonsectarianism.”

But not all Iraqis in the two neighborhoods were convinced. Another man in Adhamiya, Nazar al-Azawi, 42, said he was not yet comfortable “because the security situation is not good, and maybe the opening of the bridge will be exploited to inflame troubles again.” He continued, “I wish that opening had been postponed for a year, until everything is settled.”

Opinions were divided even among families. In Kadhimiya, Bashra Umm Ameer, 41, said that she would not use the bridge and that she was opposed to the reopening. “It is the connection between two different areas, one very much belonging to the Shiites and the other very much belonging to the Sunnis,” she said. “If the security gets worse, the sectarian war will return.”

However her daughter Shahinaz, 16, rejoiced, saying, “I have many friends in Adhamiya, and I haven’t seen them for a long time.”

Of the Americans present, Col. Bill Salter, a military adviser working with Iraq’s Baghdad Operations Command, said the Iraqi leaders “have been working extremely hard to balance both security and freedom of movement for the civilians, and that is a challenge.” As an Iraqi band played in the background, he added, “This is a great day.”

Atheer Kakan contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from the Adhamiya neighborhood.

11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month...

2008-11-11T19:56:00.004-05:00

The Bisbee Project pauses in gratitude to reflect on the service of our nation's veterans.

Thanks to all our veterans: past, present... and future.

On top of the World....

2008-10-29T21:37:00.005-05:00

Here in Pittsburgh we had our first snow flurry of the season; being a Philly fan in this town can also get you in frosty situations -- I joined a few other Philly fans at the local sports pub around the corner to watch the Phils finish up the Rays tonight; it was definitely sunny in Philadelphia! Go Phils!

Some of you paying attention to the Series may know about the sports drought Philadelphia has been through over the past few decades-- just like many other sports towns Philly has a "curse" that is invoked to explain such misfortune... Traditionally no building in downtown Philadelphia was ever taller than City Hall, adorned with a statue of William Penn. In 1987, the first of the towers of Liberty Place was finished and became the tallest structure in downtown. Since then, the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup twice, the 76ers lost the 2001 NBA Finals, the Eagles lost three NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl and the Phillies lost the 1993 World Series. Last year, when the Comcast building became the new tallest building in Philadelphia, workers attached a figurine of William Penn to the last beam. Looks like the curse is broken...

But just in case, I'm adding my own little Billy Penn to The Bisbee Project -- can't hurt, can it?

Arrival

2008-10-26T11:41:00.004-05:00

I just received some extraordinarily good news from, of all places, Toledo, Ohio. That's where Hussein and his family are going to be starting their new life in America. Hussein, a.k.a. "Johnny", worked with US forces in Baghdad since their arrival in 2003. He was my first interpreter in Baghdad when I was there with the Army from 2005-06 and then I got him re-hired to the PRT when I returned in 2007. Here, we are pictured in the lobby of the Palestine Hotel in downtown Baghdad, during a mission in early 2006. Working together in such an environment it is impossible to separate the professional from the personal in the relationships you build; on both counts, it is impossible for me to measure the full extent of Hussein's influence on my experiences in Iraq. Finally working his way through the incredibly challenging visa and immigration process, Hussein arrived in Toledo a few weeks ago with his wife and young son. Having already experienced a lifetime in his short number of years, "Johnny" is hopeful about the opportunity to get a new start with his new life.

Penn State over Michigan (46-17)

2008-10-20T21:40:00.004-05:00

For those of you not in the know, we tailgate at Penn State games with the "BIZHub" crowd - (Purple Lot #4797) - and let's be honest, this is turning out to be one fantastic year for Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions. The quote of the day comes from Nate, who said: "The last time we beat Michigan... I was eleven years old."

Mad Money

2008-10-14T20:14:00.002-05:00

Some financial news from Baghdad...

Insulated from global woes, Iraqi stocks soar
By KIM GAMEL

BAGHDAD (AP) — While the rest of the world is facing a financial meltdown, the Iraq Stock Exchange is booming.

The ISX index soared nearly 40 percent during September, boosted by increasing confidence in security gains.

The ISX is only open two hours a day, three days a week and brokers track trading activity on the floor with colored markers and white bulletin boards instead of computers. But investors are seeing gains, especially in the hotel sector, even as markets elsewhere are taking a tumble.

"I don't think that the current financial crisis will hurt our economy and especially this market because we are not connected to any of the global markets and we have very few foreign investors," said Omar Mouwaffak, a 73-year-old trader resting on a bench along the wall.

Foreigners comprise less than 3 percent of the daily volume, officials said, but with the improving security situation on the ground and a lack of attractive options elsewhere investors hope that could change.

"I think that some foreign investors who are afraid to pump their money in the affected economies will pump their money in here, though not necessarily huge amounts," said Salam Hassan Jawad, a 44-year-old trader and father of two, standing in the hall with two cell phones in his hands.

Iraq is in a unique position rebuilding its post-war economy with plenty of oil reserves and still largely dependent on U.S. money rather than international investment. That's reflected in the stock market, which only has 95 Iraqi companies listed and a daily volume of $1 million to $2 million.

Still, the Iraq Stock Market's chief executive officer isn't gloating. He's worried Iraq's greatest asset — oil — could prove its Achilles' heel.

"I believe we're still far from what's happening in the world in the financial markets. But in the end you must know we are part of this world. I believe somehow we will have some problems," Taha Abdul-Salam said Sunday in an interview at his office above the busy trading floor.

Abdul-Salam is worried dropping oil prices, which have plunged nearly 50 percent from a summertime high of $150 per barrel, will force Iraq to readjust its projected $79 billion budget surplus.

The lack of electronic trading is another problem.

"There are many funds thinking to invest here in Iraq. They send e-mails, they contact my brokers. They like to collect information," he added. "But some of those funds are waiting for the automation because they like to invest in the international way."

"We still trade in the manual way," he added.

Promoted by U.S. authorities, the independent Iraq Stock Exchange opened in June 2004 to replace the defunct Saddam Hussein-era Baghdad Stock Exchange, which was riddled with corruption.

It saw brisk trading in the beginning, with $10 million changing hands on a single day, but business tapered off as violence spiked and affluent Iraqis fled to neighboring countries, taking their money with them.

Abdul-Salam, who has a Master's degree in economics from Baghdad University and speaks English, sees an opportunity to get them back — stressing plans are under way to implement electronic trading.

"Those who ran away, we are trying to convince them that you must get back because we have good security now in Iraq. We are trying to build the country," he said.

Abdul-Salam said the biggest sector remains banking, but growth in hotels is driving up the overall index.

"Since September, the index going up because there is high demand in buying hotel shares," he said. "The other sectors didn't face any losses in their prices so the index is going up."

Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.

On the Net:
http://www.isx-iq.net

Update from Virginia

2008-10-13T19:20:00.003-05:00

Pictured here is Scholarship for Service awardee Harry Lesher, who made his way from Lewisburg, PA to Charlottesville, VA this fall to get started at the University of Virginia. Harry is attending UVA on a Navy ROTC scholarship and is looking forward to service in the active duty Navy when he graduates. He dropped us a note to let us know how he was doing -- he said that orientation was "quite a week" (that certainly is one way to describe mornings of 0500 PT and endless D&C (that's physical training and drill and ceremony for you civilians...)) but things are a lot better now as official classes have started and his crew of midshipmen have started to gel. Harry told us that he is learning that college is "a whole lot different" than high school and "time management" is definitely the skill you need to have to be successful. So far, Harry seems to be keeping on top of NROTC, three intramural sports, and Calculus -- that's success in our book! Great job, Harry and keep up the good work! Winter break is just around the corner...

Year Two

2008-09-22T11:37:00.005-05:00

We caught up with Cadet Derek Houtz, our 2007 Scholarship for Service award winner, to see what he's been up to -- and it sounds like plenty... Derek is starting his second year at West Point now, having survived his "plebe" year as well as a busy summer. He attended the Air Assault course this summer, and reports that it "wasn't much fun except for when we were able to work with the helicopters." That sounds like a pretty accurate description; the Air Assault course trains soldiers on the many aspects of the use of helicopters in combat and combat support operations. In between some grueling ruck marches and a lot of PT, you get to do some rappelling. Back at West Point this fall, Derek now has additional responsibilities for a new crew of this year's plebes, and is starting to think about what branch he will assess into -- Derek's giving some thought to infantry and aviation. Keep up the good work, Derek!

Below are some shots of Derek and some fellow Pointers.

September Update

2008-09-22T10:25:00.004-05:00

Fall is always a busy time of year, and there is definitely quite a bit to report on here at the Project. We'll be catching up with some our Scholarship winners to see how the new school year is treating them. We'll check in on some of our favorite historical preservation projects to get a status update. And of course, we'll be reporting on the gatherings hosted at the BIZHub -- we are proud to be a part of the Penn State tailgating community and offer an open invitation to anybody to swing by the BIZHub (Purple Lot #4797) before or after any of the Nittany Lions home games this season. We are also entering the home stretch of a very busy political season -- we will continue to provide updates on events in Iraq and elsewhere in order to provide as much useful information as possible about the activities and policies of our government here and abroad. Thank you for your support during the past year - and here's to another great year for The Bisbee Project!

Lessons Learned

2008-08-01T15:36:00.003-05:00

On Monday, I traveled out to the Army post at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to participate in the School for Command Preparation held there. The Army has a number of professional development courses that officers take in the course of their careers; a stint at Leavenworth prior to taking command of a battalion or brigade combat team is a common experience for many officers. There is a real desire among Army leadership to improve "interagency cooperation" between the military and civilian agencies; hence, the invitation to discuss the good, bad and ugly of the coordination I witnessed as part of the PRT on the ground and in the Embassy in Baghdad.

The PRT is an organization founded with the express intent to improve interagency cooperation at the tactical and operational level; however, the challenges we face in Iraq - even after three years of PRT implementation - are massive.

The crux of the problem comes from the inherently different perspectives that our three major institutions of foreign policy possess. I am referring to the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State (DoS), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID, the agency responsible for the administration of US foreign aid to other countries, is technically a part of the State Department, but there are significant differences in how USAID officers and State diplomats go about their business.

The DoD is responsible for equipping, training and deploying the forces we need to fight and win wars. State is responsible for our diplomatic efforts in Embassies across the globe, keeping Washington informed of the political and economic conditions in foreign countries. USAID spends our foreign aid on development projects intending to serve the citizens of foreign nations while promoting American interests and building goodwill towards our government.

Each of these institutions has its own culture and its own bureaucracy which enable it to perform superbly the many tasks each was designed to accomplish. However, outside of a 'normal' scope of responsibilities, these institutional cultures and bureaucracies work to inhibit the performance of the additional tasks demanded by an unusual situation.

Iraq is an unusual situation.

The military is coping with duties that fall outside typical warfighting training and doctrine. The military brings enormous resources to the table and a rapid and disciplined methodology for problem solving. Unfortunately this drive and energy that thrives on immediacy and efficiency often works against the processes of development that require a longer-term horizon or a more subtle approach to complex problems.

Diplomats with experience in well-established foreign governments are rarely prepared for the dynamic environment of a politically unstable Iraq. A culture that values informed and nuanced reporting enables the production of reams of information about Iraqi politics, but is hard-pressed to develop empowered junior leaders with effective decision-making skills and the confidence to guide, coach and mentor a new generation of Iraqi leaders.

USAID development specialists, while often working in under-developed parts of the world, have struggled to operate in such a hostile and unpredictably violent environment. A system of spending aid money through local “implementing partners” lacks accountability because of the unpredictability of the security situation, and contracts for long-term development projects are often not flexible enough to take advantage of shifting tactical realities on the ground.

My talk with the Army officers at Leavenworth centered on how we at the PRT worked to synergize the strengths, and overcome the weaknesses of each of our institutions in our work to stabilize Baghdad and facilitate governance capacity within its institutions.

The key was in working to unify our planning process. The Army provides direction to subordinate units through a complex system of Operation Orders. Staff officers and NCOs work round-the-clock at each headquarters to plan, produce and disseminate documents that lay out what units are to do, when they are to do it, and what resources are provided to accomplish their missions.

The State Department generally produces consensus on objectives through discussion and argumentation before the publication of broad policy papers.

USAID develops contracts with its partners establishing developmental goals for each project and outlining expected timelines for achieving results.

Working with military, diplomatic and development experts assigned to the PRT, and reaching out to elements of their respective ‘home’ institutions, enabled us to develop a joint planning document that outlined tasks and objectives for the PRT, based upon the guidance and directives of each institution.

While the document was valuable in itself, it was merely the product of a process that fostered greater interagency cooperation – the true goal of the exercise.

While pursuing our various objectives in Iraq, whether defeating an insurgency, facilitating the establishment an effective democratic government, or producing economic growth and participative civil society, our government’s agencies often find themselves competing over bureaucratic turf or at odds on policy specifics.

The key to reducing this interagency conflict is through a more effective planning-to-execution cycle at the tactical and operational level.

When we fail at this, we add to the number of already difficult challenges we face in Iraq. However, where this can be effectively achieved, our success becomes much more likely and much less costly.

Memory Bank

2008-07-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

For almost 50 years these murals hung in the lobby of the First National Trust Bank of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, displaying scenes depicting the rich history of the area where the branches of the Susquehanna River converge. The two murals, each over fifteen feet long and four feet tall, had dominated the stately bank lobby since 1956.

Painted by a local artist, they present a tableau of the area's early inhabitants the Susqehannock Indians, the development of the Canal along the river, the significant frontier-era Fort Augusta, the first ever commercial use of electricity (using Edison's dynamos), the evolution of the bank through several eras, and a number of other scenes of local history.

A few years ago, the bank (now known as Susquehanna Bank), underwent a significant renovation, and the murals were taken down and put into storage.

We are currently working with the City of Sunbury and the Northumberland County Historical Society in an effort to see these truly unique paintings displayed for the public to see and enjoy once again. We are funding this Preserving Pennsylvania project in honor of our father, Frederick W. Bisbee, who served as President of the First National Trust Bank for 27 years. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Signs

2008-07-29T20:24:00.003-05:00

I want to draw your attention to the following New York Times article.

It talks about the decline in influence that the Sadrist militia group, the Mahdi Army, has had in Baghdad in recent months. I'll cut and paste the first part of the article below, but let me hit a few of the major points. It talks about how pervasive the presence of Mahdi Army militants (known as JAM for their Arabic abbreviation) was in Baghdad, through their exploitation and terrorism of the local population in nearly every neighborhood.

While JAM inspired and ran a criminal network that profited from nearly every conceivable illicit enterprise, the most insidious was their seizure and control over the provision of government services. Because the Iraqi government controls the distribution of a variety of necessary products, notably cooking fuel (kerosene), citizens are reliant upon a system that can be subverted by corrupt, incompetent or compromised officials and exploited as a source of illegal income for the mafia-like militant groups.

Last year, a few of us at the PRT, the Embassy and some of our military counterparts worked with some trusted Iraqi officials to develop a strategy to combat this kind of corruption and exploitation by terrorists and criminal militants.

The article below and the sentiment that it evokes was exactly the kind of results we hoped our work might achieve.

I want to take a moment to salute Sayeed Jabour, a real Iraqi patriot, for being the kind of patriot that his country needs right now. He has risked his life daily to see this kind of progress come to pass, and a new faith arise in a new Iraqi government. Colleagues of his - and ours - have paid the ultimate price for such patriotism.

You'll never know the full story about what's really going on in Iraq. Everybody sees it through their own prism. But every now and then you get a glimpse that teaches you something. So keep looking.

A Shiite Militia in Baghdad Sees Its Power Wane
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: July 27, 2008

BAGHDAD — The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.

It is a remarkable change from years past, when the militia, led by the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, controlled a broad swath of Baghdad, including local governments and police forces. But its use of extortion and violence began alienating much of the Shiite population to the point that many quietly supported American military sweeps against the group.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki struck another blow this spring, when he led a military operation against it in Baghdad and in several southern cities.

The shift, if it holds, would solidify a transfer of power from Mr. Sadr, who had lorded his once broad political support over the government, to Mr. Maliki, who is increasingly seen as a true national leader.

It is part of a general decline in violence that is resonating in American as well as Iraqi politics: Senator John McCain argues that the advances in Iraq would have been impossible without the increase in American troops known as the surge, while Senator Barack Obama, who opposed the increase, says the security improvements should allow a faster withdrawal of combat troops.

The Mahdi Army’s decline also means that the Iraqi state, all but impotent in the early years of the war, has begun to act the part, taking over delivery of some services and control of some neighborhoods.

“The Iraqi government broke their branches and took down their tree,” said Abu Amjad, a civil servant who lives in the northern Baghdad district of Sadr City, once seen as an unbreachable stronghold for the group.

The change is showing up in the lives of ordinary people. The price of cooking gas is less than a fifth of what it was when the militia controlled local gas stations, and kerosene for heating has also become much less expensive. In interviews, 17 Iraqis, including municipal officials, gas station workers and residents, described a pattern in which the militia’s control over the local economy and public services had ebbed. Merchants say they no longer have to pay protection money to militiamen. In some cases, employees with allegiances to the militia have been fired or transferred.

At the peak of the militia’s control last summer, it was involved at all levels of the local economy, taking money from gas stations, private minibus services, electric switching stations, food and clothing markets, ice factories, and even collecting rent from squatters in houses whose owners had been displaced. The four main gas stations in Sadr City were handing over a total of about $13,000 a day, according to a member of the local council.

Um Hussein, a mother of 10 in Sadr City, the largest Shiite district in the capital and one of the poorest, said her family’s fuel bill had dropped so far that she could afford to buy one of her daughters a pair of earrings with the savings. Others interviewed listed simpler purchases that had now become possible: tomatoes, laundry detergent, gasoline.

One young man said that even though his house was right across from a distribution center that sold cooking gas, he was not allowed to buy it there at state prices, but instead was forced to wait for a militia-affiliated distributor who sold it at higher prices.

“We had to get our share of the cooking gas from Mahdi Army people,” Um Hussein said. “Now, everything is available. We are free to buy what we want.”

For the full article...

Choosing to serve

2008-07-06T17:46:00.007-05:00

We are proud to announce the recipients of The Bisbee Project Scholarships for Service awards for 2008.

The Bisbee Project recognizes graduating high school seniors who are enrolling in Army, Navy, or Air Force ROTC at a college or university or enrolling in one of our nation's service academies after graduation. Candidates are also eligible for recognition if they plan to seek a college degree and enter government service (ex. U.S. State Department, CIA, FBI, or other government organization).

Recipients of this award exhibit qualities of outstanding leadership and academic achievement and must demonstrate an interest in government and community enhancement. Government and military service is vital to our country and we aim to promote exceptional students who plan to pursue a career of service.

The scholarship consists of a one-time, cash award of $1,000 to be used in preparation for academic studies at the collegiate level. These funds are raised exclusively by private donations.

2008 Scholarships for Service awardees:

Adam Alessi, Danville Area High School
Kelly Beddall, Selinsgrove Area High School
Randy Breon, Bald Eagle Area High School
Harry J. Lesher, Lewisburg Area High School
Nicholas Shiber, Central Columbia High School
Daniel P. Siegel, State College Area School District
Michael A. Sunday, Bellefonte Area School District
Zachary M. Sunday, Bellefonte Area School District

Restoration Hardware

2008-07-06T12:06:00.004-05:00

The big news for the Project this summer is our partnership with the Northumberland County Historical Society to assist in a major restoration initiative involving Fort Augusta, a key frontier fort located on the banks of the Susquehanna River.

We are presenting the NCHS a Preserving Pennsylvania gift to add to the donations they have been collecting, and will be assisting in the effort to rebuild the Fort Augusta replica that once was a familiar landmark in downtown Sunbury, PA.

2008-07-03T18:55:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Wayne Laepple from the Daily Item and we talked about Iraq. Wayne reports on military and foreign policy issues for the Item. A number of local Reserve and National Guard units from Central PA have done rotations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Wayne reports on both the larger political issus and the personal stories involving these deployments. Below is a Wayne's recent posting in the Daily Item.

Selinsgrove native: Future looks positive for Iraq
By Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item
June 15, 2008

— SELINSGROVE — Baghdad was on the verge of anarchy when former Selinsgrove resident Dan Bisbee arrived in February 2007.

There was sectarian violence in the streets, with various religious groups fighting one another, suicide bombers an everyday threat, and everyone was shooting at Americans.

Survival was the prime concern.

By the end of his tour of duty last month, much had changed. Community services such as electricity and water were becoming available. The political parties were making deals with each other, not killing each other.

“The city government was discussing how many swimming pools would open,” he said. “They were holding policy debates.”

Bisbee was a U.S. Department of State employee, a member of the Provincial Reconstruction Team advising the government of the Province of Baghdad. He was one of about 100 American civilians, from the state, defense and justice departments, working with Iraqi-American translators and Iraqi professionals, helping the Iraqis in charge of the city and province to build their own democratic government.

Bids for attention
He first visited Iraq in February 2005 as a U.S. Army captain, working with Baghdad city officials as an officer in the Army’s civil affairs branch, and after his deployment to Iraq was completed, he went back as a civilian.

His job with the PRT coincided with the U.S. military surge in Baghdad, analyzing how the surge worked and how troops and U.S. civilians would be deployed in and around Baghdad.

From his time in the military, Bisbee was familiar with how the various factions worked. Their interactions and interests were much more varied than many in the U.S. understand.

“There are differences between the insurgents and the extremists,” he explained. “The extremists want a change in government to their advantage, while the insurgents want to destroy the government and replace it with their vision.”

In the simplest terms, Bisbee said, the violence is a bid for attention.

Sometimes the different factions work together if they have similar goals, but at other times they may fight one another. One example he cited was how some of the insurgent groups were allied with al-Qaeda earlier in the conflict but turned against al-Qaeda when they tried to enforce strict Islamic law.

“They weren’t interested in that at all,” he said.

Stability and credibility
Stability is coming to Iraq as the people recognize that its leadership is gaining credibility.

“When Prime Minister Maliki decided on his own to go after the Sadrists in Basra and in Sadr City, that was huge,” Bisbee said. “The people want a strong government.”

Bisbee believes the people in Iraq are among the smartest and toughest in the Middle East, which he thinks gives the nation the best chance to develop a democracy.

“They recognize they have to get away from identity politics — religious or tribal — and instead focus on ideas and issues,” he said. “It’s not about sectarianism. It’s about upgrading economically.”

While he has seen progress in the 29 months he’s spent in Iraq since 2005, there are bumps in the road ahead, he said.

“The Sunni question will come back later this year,” he said. “When the money runs out, then what?”

He explained that massive amounts of money have been given to Sunni factions to encourage them to cooperate with the Shiite national government.

And with the U.S. presidential election coming up in November, there is strong pressure to bring American troops home.

“We’re missing the point if that’s what we focus on,” he said. “It’s much more complex than that. What do we want our policy to achieve?”

Committed to the future
But from his own perspective, from knowing Iraqis personally, he is optimistic.
A month before he left Baghdad, he said, he was invited by an Iraqi colleague for a drink after work.

“We went to a social club in downtown Baghdad. It looked like a bar here, with guys sitting around talking and smoking, with their beers and whiskeys,” he said. “They were all professionals, doctors, lawyers and so on. They’re all there because they are committed to the future of their country. These were guys who could have left, but they stayed on.”

A few days later, he attended the graduation of Baghdad University’s school of dentistry.

“These were young people, in the middle of a war, who still believe in the future.”
At the university’s school of fine arts graduation, Bisbee saw young painters and photographers and film makers.

“It looked like an art school graduation here in the U.S., with lots of interesting clothing and use of hair products,” he said. “They haven’t given up on their country. They see a future there.”

2008-06-27T15:56:00.003-05:00

Tuesday's attack in Sadr City took the lives of EPRT member Steve Farley, Civil Affairs MAJ Dwayne Kelley, Nicole Suveges from the BCT's Human Terrain Team, another soldier, an Italian-Iraqi translator and 6 Iraqi civilians, at last report. I have word that District Council Deputy Chairman Hassan Shema was the likely intended target of the attack; he was injured in the blast and is recovering, as are a number of other council members.

Friends from the Baghdad PRT tell me that nearly 100 friends and colleagues observed the departure of the Angel Flight from Baghdad last night. Honoring the departure of the flights bearing the remains of fallen comrades is a solemn ritual observed in Iraq.

2008-06-24T22:40:00.003-05:00

An attack in Sadr City killed Steve Farley, a friend and colleague working on an EPRT in Baghdad, as well as 2 soldiers and another DoD employee. They were attending a Sadr City council meeting; several of the Iraqi council members were seriously injured. Steve was one of the most dedicated and effective members of the PRT community in Baghdad - he had just returned to Baghdad as a civilian after serving a year in uniform on the EPRT. I held him in the highest regard; he was truly making a difference and leaves a significant legacy. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him; my condolences go out to his family and to all touched by this event. The news I have is still fragmented; I have heard that several Iraqi friends of mine were injured but are recovering. My thoughts are with them tonight and with all my friends and colleagues serving in Baghdad.

Below is a CNN article.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four Americans -- two soldiers and two civilians from the Defense and State departments -- were killed Tuesday in a blast that rocked a municipal building in Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. Embassy said.

The attack also killed six Iraqis and wounded 10 others, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

A second employee from the U.S. Defense Department also died, but that person wasn't an American. The employee was a dual Italian-Iraqi national, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

The U.S. military said the blast struck a meeting of a district advisory council, a neighborhood group that looks at local needs and passes on its assessments to the provincial government.

The deputy head of the council was seriously injured, the Interior Ministry official said.

The U.S. military blamed Iranian-backed militants it calls Special Groups for the blast and detained three people in connection with the attack, including a suspect "fleeing the scene [who] tested positive for explosive residue."
"We believe the target of the attack was a high-ranking [district advisory council] member as well as the U.S. soldiers," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.

"We believe the Special Groups criminals were upset that the DAC member was working with coalition forces to improve the quality of life for the southern Sadr City residents."

A statement from Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, identified the slain State Department employee as Steve Farley.

"Mr. Farley was a member of our embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team for the Sadr City and Adhamiya districts of Baghdad City," the statement said.

"We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends, and our profound appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice that they made in service to their country and for the people of Iraq. This is a tragic loss and one we all mourn."

The U.S. Embassy statement didn't identify the other victims.

The blast dramatizes the perils the war still poses for Americans despite a Pentagon report Monday that touted a sharp decrease in violence in Iraq in recent months.

The explosion also marked the third strike in two days involving local politicians and political institutions in Baghdad.

A city councilman on Monday fired on U.S. forces at a municipal building southeast of the capital in the Salman Pak area and killed two soldiers.

Separately, the head of Abu Dsheer City Council in Baghdad's southern Dora area was gunned down at his home later Monday.

Last week, a bomb ripped through Baghdad's Hurriya district near a neighborhood advisory council meeting where U.S. troops were stationed, killing 63 people and wounding 71 others.

The U.S. military also blamed that attack on a Special Groups cell, but Stover couldn't say whether it was connected to Tuesday's blast.

"Last week's event was an attempt to incite sectarian violence and hatred against the Iraqi Sunni population in an effort to keep them from returning to Hurriya," Stover said.

Sadr City, the scene of Tuesday's deadly blast, is a stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and where some of the capital's most intense fighting in recent months has occurred between Shiite militia members and Iraqi security forces.

A truce deal was reached last month between the Iraqi government and al-Sadr's followers, ending weeks of fighting and allowing the Iraqi army to enter Sadr City, but violence persists.

Al-Sadr recently announced his intention to develop a new fighting force that would battle U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

Many followers in al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia have heeded a long-standing cease-fire, but some rogue forces are thought to be involved in violence.

"This was the fourth meeting of this district council, led by hard-working Iraqis determined to make a difference and set Sadr City off on the right path. Special Groups are afraid of progress and afraid of empowering the people," Lt. Col. John Digiambatista of the 4th Infantry Division said in a news release, referring to Tuesday's attack.

Twenty-two U.S. troops have died in Iraq to date this month. There have been 4,106 deaths of U.S. service members since the war began.
Other developments

• A suicide car bomb went off near a police station in central Mosul Tuesday evening, killing a child, a police officer and wounding 70 people, Mosul police said. Several houses were affected by the blast, which occurred in a market and residential area. Police and civilians, including women and children, were among the wounded.

• Coalition troops in Mosul killed a senior-level al Qaeda in Iraq leader Tuesday, the U.S. military said. The operation led to the killing of the group's "emir" of Mosul, the military said. A dozen people were detained in raids targeting the group in northern Iraq and Baghdad, the military said.

• U.S. troops raided a Shiite militant hideout Tuesday in southeastern Baghdad's Karrada district, capturing four suspects the military said were connected to recent attacks on coalition bases. A vehicle bomb being built in the hideout was destroyed, according to a coalition statement.

• Anbar province will soon be run by the Iraqi military. The U.S. military said it is transferring security responsibility this week to the Iraqis. Anbar is the 10th of the 18 provinces where Iraqi forces have taken charge of security control since 2003 and the first largely Sunni Arab province to do so

It's not 2003 anymore...

2008-06-03T21:37:00.002-05:00

A Baghdad colleague, and a good friend, Mike Baumgartner was featured in this recent column in the Boston Globe.

What I'd rather read
By Kevin Cullen
June 2, 2008

You would have to put a gun to my head to make me buy Scott McClellan's book.

Actually, you'd have to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger. And if you did that, I'd be dead, which pretty much describes the way Mr. McClellan's former employers at the White House view him now.

As for the debate whether the former White House press secretary's tome amounts to an act of crass opportunism or breathtaking if belated honesty, you can put me in the former camp. McClellan's inside account of the misguided and cynical effort by the Bush administration to drag a nation into war is about as revelatory as a book telling us that Barry Bonds took steroids.

I'd be a little more impressed with McClellan if, say, a few years ago, he had stopped midsentence, as he shoveled all that dookie from the podium with the neat White House seal in the middle, and said: "I'm sorry. I can't keep lying to the American people. We screwed up."

And if McClellan had donated the profits of his book to help soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines suffering from traumatic brain injury, then maybe I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, and maybe even read his book.

The book I'd like to see written is by a young man with a little more courage and a lot more character than Scott McClellan. His name is Michael Baumgartner, and he has spent the past 13 months in Iraq, trying to clean up a mess created by others.

Baumgartner is 32 years old. When he arrived in Iraq last year, it was the 68th country he had set foot in. He worked as an independent adviser to US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, as deputy director of economics in the Office of Joint Strategic Planning and Assessment. That's a fancy title that means he tried to help Iraqis put their country back together again.

I met him last year in Cambridge, in the Senior Common Room in Adams House at Harvard, where he got his master's in international development from the Kennedy School. His view of what needs to be done in Iraq was jarringly clear-minded and forward-thinking, removed from the never-ending discussion of how we got into this mess.

"It's 2008, not 2003," he told me yesterday from Tel Aviv, where he was attending a wedding. "Refighting the 2003 political battles does little to address the essential questions surrounding how we now get Iraq far enough down the path to stability so that we can withdraw. The 2003 issues are largely a distraction and have little to do with what our all-volunteer military and civilian force is doing to try and bring the Iraqi people peace.

"When my convoy took an IED last week in Sadr City, we were on our way to help the Iraqi government get clean drinking water and food aid to its citizens. Evidence about WMDs and Dick Cheney once being the CEO of Halliburton had nothing to do with it."

We hear regularly about how much we've wrecked in Iraq. Over the past year, Baumgartner has provided a perspective I couldn't get elsewhere. He told of a little boy nearly killed by an Al Qaeda bomb and how his friends pulled strings to get the kid to a US military hospital. Baumgartner was there when the boy hobbled back to give presents to the doctors and nurses who saved his life.

"Watching him cry as he handed out the presents and repeated a broken 'Thank you, America,' was one of the most amazing experiences of a very amazing year," Baumgartner said.

Baumgartner is more optimistic today than he was a year ago.

"I know a lot of people are still talking about how we got into Iraq," he said. "But how we get out is so much more important."

There is a story to tell, but I'd rather read the narrative of Michael Baumgartner, an architect of hope, not the likes of Scott McClellan, one of the authors of disaster.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. cullen@globe.com.

Last Night

2008-05-24T13:24:00.003-05:00

This is it. Again. Tomorrow morning I lift off from Baghdad International Airport and start the first leg of my return to the States. Over three years ago, in May 2005, I first arrived here; in May 2006 I completed my first tour with the Army. I've been back with the State Department since February 2007, bringing my in-country time to 29 months. I will be starting PhD studies at the University of Pittsburgh in the fall, working on a dissertation involving transnational political history and post-conflict governance.

I leave many friends in Baghdad, both old and new. The other night a group of us from the PRT hosted a gathering for some of my favorite Iraqi friends at the Palace. Tahseen Sheikhly and his family brought the muzguf; Shatha and Mahmoud, still very weak but just so determined to have a good time, also paid another visit; old friends such as former Governor of Baghdad Ali Fadel, district council members Mohammed al-Rubeiy and Kadem al-Shamary and a few others spent a few hours reminiscing as well as talking about the future. In an environment of such challenges, a few hours spent with such good friends is a welcome opportunity.

This week I attended a performance of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra. Despite a tremendous array of difficulties, this body of musical professionals continues to represent the artistic excellence of the Iraqi people.

I attended an awards ceremony for the graduating class of the Baghdad School of Fine Arts. We watched a few student films and browsed exhibits of paintings and photography done by students. Having some experience with artistic communities in various periods of my life, I have to say that there is definitely something universal about "art school students" no matter where you are -- even in Baghdad. I was asked to be a special guest presenter for the film portion of the awards ceremony, and most of the recipients would have looked completely at home at some of the parties I used to attend while living in Austin. Lots of 'flair.' Gratuitous use of hair care products. So many ways to be creative with a collar, and how far one decides to leave a shirt unbuttoned. And of course, some random girl who just had to wear a tiara.

A few of us went to a traditional Iraqi dinner and musical festival on Thursday evening. By the end of the night, nearly everyone was lined up around dance floor, participating in the traditional Iraqi group dance -- something like a combination between a conga line and the 'boot-scoot boogie.'

I was busy packing Friday afternoon when a good friend burst into my room and said: "Dan, the Government of Iraq needs your laptop for a cabinet meeting with the Prime Minister." A completely random set of circumstances led to the use of my Vaio as PM Maliki was briefed on the status of security operations and services in Sadr City. We are good friends with the Iraqi official who was setting up the meeting -- he ran into a snag and it was a no-brainer to step in and help. Sayeed is an example of the Iraqi that you never see on the news: a mid-level government employee who is patriotic, courageous, and completely dedicated to his profession and his people. I was honored to work with him in an official capacity -- and to know him as a friend and a man of honor. "Of course he can use my laptop, dude."

No doubt, I'm leaving on a high note; a few weeks ago under a daily barrage of rocket and mortar fire things did not look so bright. Signs of progress here can easily appear undone by a few acts of heinous violence. I believe that during my experiences of the past year and a half, which roughly coincide with the "surge" of troops and civilian personnel into Baghdad, I have seen tangible and irreversible momentum towards a better future in Iraq -- but I also leave with an acute awareness of the tremendous challenges yet to be faced here, by the residents of Baghdad as well as my civilian and military colleagues working to further this progress. I wish them all the best; to those who served before, to those who remain -- and to those who have paid the final sacrifice and will not return home. God bless you all.

One of Baghdad's Most influential

2008-05-15T12:49:00.006-05:00

If you haven't come across TIME's list of the World's 100 Most Influential People yet, go ahead and check out the listing for Ms. Madeeha Hassan Odthaib, one of Baghdad's leading activists and a member of the Karada District Council of Baghdad. Madeeha has been involved with the plight of displaced persons in Baghdad and is an inspiring example of somebody who just refuses to sit by watch a crisis unfold without doing anything about it. A few months ago I had the chance to sit down with her and talk about the sectarian violence that drove much of Baghdad's displacement crisis. She told me about her efforts to galvanize a reluctant government bureacracy to effectively provide assistance to needy families in her community; her personal activism generated the energy necessary to convince local leaders to respond -- and their actions led to greater attention by the national government. I saw her again a few days ago, just before her trip to New York to attend TIME's gala event for those on the list. We facilitated a session between a group of Baghdad's notable activists, civic leaders and political independents, and we were all proud to see Madeeha's hard work and example be recognized in such a high profile way.

Here is the article from TIME:

Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
By Queen Rania
It's not every day that success stories echo out of Iraq into the halls of power, but Madeeha Hasan Odhaib defies the norm. Armed with her sewing machine, unflinching stoicism and determination, Madeeha, 37, is mending the fabric of Iraq.

Four years ago, this mother of two and seamstress turned district council member took three sewing machines, leveraged them into 60 and built a business sewing hospital sheets and flags. She now employs 100 women. That figure may seem insignificant compared with the accomplishments of other achievers on TIME's list. But in a country with more than 60% unemployment and rampant poverty, such efforts provide a lifeline. Each woman Madeeha employs returns home with an invaluable sense of self-respect, money in her purse, food for her children and optimism for a daughter desperately seeking a role model amid mayhem. Madeeha also treads—or, rather, threads—the line between activism and heroism. She has coordinated with the Red Crescent, Red Cross, Hands of Mercy and Iraqi army to distribute food around Baghdad. And despite threats, she says she'll never give up.

Iraq is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises we have ever seen. While Madeeha rightly makes Time's list, women like her are found throughout Iraq, sewing hope one stitch at a time. Through Madeeha, we celebrate all of Iraq's courageous women, whose resilience and resourcefulness hold the promise of a new dawn.

Road to recovery

2008-05-11T14:37:00.009-05:00

I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to help out an Iraqi boy injured in a horrific suicide bombing at a Baghdad market back in February. While shopping at the market, Mahmoud, the nephew of Ms. Shatha al-Obedie, the Press Secretary for the Governor of Baghdad, was severely injured in the blast of a suicide bomber belt worn by a mentally ill woman who was no doubt unaware that she was being used by al-Qaeda terrorists to carry out their attack.

Shatha is a very good friend of mine and truly an example of an Iraqi patriot, working against incredible challenges to serve the people of Baghdad and get its government back on its feet. Immediately after the blast she called me to see if there was any way to help Mahmoud.

I am very grateful to so many colleagues in the Embassy and the Army for the remarkable compassion and professionalism they displayed in helping Mahmoud. Through their efforts, Mahmoud was stabilized and is now on the road to recovery. It is an honor to serve here with such great people.

Mahmoud wanted to pay a visit to the IZ the other day to thank those who helped him survive his trauma.

The Daily Item of Sunbury, PA posted Mahmoud's story on May 9.

Iraqi teen saved
Selinsgrove man saves Iraqi teen left for dead

By Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A Selinsgrove resident on Thursday said he acted after an Iraqi teen was told by doctors overwhelmed with suicide bombing casualties that his leg injury would probably cause his death.

Dan Bisbee, who grew up near Kratzerville and graduated from Selinsgrove Area High School in 1990, is a U.S. State Department employee working in the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Baghdad. Bisbee was able to arrange for Mahmoud Hassan al-Hadi, 18, to be treated in an Army combat support hospital after a February suicide bombing in Baghdad.

Al-Hadi, 18, was seriously injured Feb. 1 in an explosion at the Rusafa market. The attack, which killed 60 people and left more than 150 injured, became notorious when it was learned that a mentally ill woman had carried the explosives into the crowded market.

Al-Hadi was at the market that day with his aunt, Shatha al-Obedie, press secretary to the governor of Baghdad Province. Moments before the blast, he stopped to look at birds in the pet market while his aunt continued on.

Shrapnel from the explosion ripped his torso open, shattered his leg and resulted in internal injuries. His aunt was uninjured.

He was one of many victims rushed to the trauma center at Medical City in downtown Baghdad, where, according to Bisbee, doctors told his distraught aunt that the leg could not be saved and he would likely die from his wounds.

“They were just overwhelmed with casualties and could only do so much,” Bisbee said Thursday by telephone.

Al-Hadi’s aunt called Bisbee and asked for help.

Bisbee, who said he considers al-Obedie a friend and works with her daily, said her request was reasonable, both as a humanitarian issue and because of his high regard for her. “I had to do what I could to help out,” he said. “I spoke to the ambassador's office and he signed off, and then contacted the Combat Support Hospital in the Green Zone.”

Al-Hadi was brought by ambulance to the hospital and rushed into surgery, where Army doctors were able to save his leg and repair his internal injuries. After a few days of recovery, he was released to an Iraqi hospital to recuperate.

On Tuesday, al-Hadi and his aunt returned to the Combat Support Hospital to visit doctors, nurses and staff who had saved his life.

“I cannot find the words to express my gratitude for saving my life,” he told the group. “I will never forget you.”

Bisbee said everyone in the room was teary-eyed as the young man, who is still on crutches and has more months of recuperation ahead of him, entered the room.

“He was happy to still have his leg,” Bisbee said. “He’s starting to gain back the weight he lost after the injuries.”

Scholarship time

2008-05-11T07:55:00.001-05:00

With high school graduations right around the corner, The Bisbee Project is preparing to release its final list of recipients for this year's Scholarships for Service awards. Last year we presented one award, to Derek Houtz of Selinsgrove Area High School. Derek is now wrapping up his 'plebe' (freshman) year at West Point. This year we will be presenting awards to another Selinsgrove grad, as well as applicants from a number of other Central Pennsylvania communities. Thanks to everyone who has supported our program; we are proud to provide this kind of encouragement to young people interested in public service careers.

Doing lunch

2008-05-10T09:48:00.003-05:00

Diplomatic work is an odd business. Most of the time you are doing it looks nothing like 'work.' I was invited to have lunch downtown today with Tahseen Sheikhly, the Government of Iraq spokesman who was kidnapped by militants a few weeks ago; I wrote about hanging out with his children last week. On the trip downtown I revisited an area of the city that I haven't seen in a while. The Tigris River winds its way through the center of Baghdad and there are some terrific riverfront neighborhoods along its banks.

One such area, Abu Nuwas, has seen a remarkable renewal over the past few months. Walking paths, gardens and playgrounds have been refurbished where I remember seeing barbed wire and heaps of trash a few months ago. Abu Nuwas was once famed for its club scene; while the discos have yet to reestablish themselves, several of the famous fish market restaurants have reopened. Several famous hotels line this section of town as well. We met Tahseen at the al-Wiyah Club, one of Baghdad's prominent social clubs that date back to the British era of the 1920's. In fact the al-Wiyah Club was the preferred spot for Gertrude Bell, the famous British writer, archeologist and imperial administrator. Along with figures like T.E. Lawrence, she is among those who shaped the modern Middle East in the critical post-First World War era. We stopped by the club's bar to see her favorite chair. Membership at the club dropped after 2003, as Baghdad's affluent fled for neighboring countries like Jordan, but is now seeing a bounce due to the security improvements seen in Baghdad over the past few months. Also, the recent actions of Prime Minister Maliki's government has brought a renewed faith in Iraqi institutions and the government's ability to project its power in the city. At the bar enjoying an afternoon drink were a number of Iraqi professionals and retirees, eager to have a chat. I spoke with Mr. Ali Swadi, a prominent corporate lawyer, about the benefits of club membership at the al-Wiyah; he says his family has held a membership since the day the club opened its doors in the 1920's. Members enjoy the three swimming pools and seven tennis courts, as well as access to the massive banquet hall for formal functions such as weddings and business conferences. Today was graduation day for a class of future dentists; the Dentistry department of Baghdad's notable Mustansiriyah University was holding their graduation banquet at the club; we stopped by and shook hands with a number of future professionals who will likely fill the ranks of the al-Wiyah membership roster in a few years.

We had to catch our own lunch; Tahseen insisted that we have one of Baghdad's famous dishes, muzguf - a special way of preparing fish on a barbecue. A big tank out in the club's courtyard held a number of carp who resisted attempts at being netted and snatched out of the tank. Eventually two fish found themselves split open and roasting above an open fire. Lunch inside the posh dining room was as pleasant as any Sunday afternoon I remember at the Susquehanna Valley Country Club, the site of a number of family outings in my formative days. Tahseen spoke about the Government's work to bring security to Sadr City and deliver essential services to that part of the city; a challenge due to the activities of militants seeking to undermine the authority of the municipal government. However, Tahseen was hopeful that some headway had been made in some recent negotiations between political factions.

A surprise visitor showed up at the club for lunch; those of you who may have followed my experiences in 2005 here in Baghdad may remember my advisor Ali, who was with me during the exhilarating days of the 2005 election cycle. Ali now runs his own media company, and says he is doing well. He has finally realized his dream of running his own company, a dream barely thought possible when he fled Saddam's anti-Shia crackdown in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. He was helped in getting to San Diego through a Catholic charity group and put himself through a master's program at American University in D.C. before returning to work in Baghdad with Coalition forces. Now he represents a growing trend of Iraqi professionals and entrepreneurs returning to their country to help it get back on its feet. Ali, and most of the other gentlemen I met at the club, feel that the religiosity of the politicians currently in power in Baghdad, mostly Shia and influenced by the fervor of the Iranian Revolution, will eventually wane as the Iraqi mainstream helps the country return to displaying its secular, progressive, cosmopolitan and patriotic tendencies. I asked my new lawyer friend if he was afraid that the government, in an act of zealotry, would try to shut down his club for openly selling alcohol and allowing an open mixing of the sexes. He guffawed at the suggestion, nearly spilling his Scotch. "If the government tries to shut down this Club," he said, "Every man here will go and tell them to shut down the Government!"

Transitions

2008-05-09T14:26:00.003-05:00

I have been very lucky to work with some very talented people during my time in Iraq. Last night was a farewell to a good friend; a Black Hawk lifted off and sunk into the sky, chopping air and sliding over the city into the night. We've worked closely over the past year on tracking the issues affecting Baghdad; part of our jobs involved writing the official State Department reports on the status of Baghdad. This required us to piece together a vast collection of information from Iraqi leaders and citizens, US military assessments, development specialists and information gathered from a number of other sources. When I started to get into political reporting a colleague told me that one guiding principle to understand is this: everything happens for a reason. It is one thing to see the events play out before you; it is another to piece together the 'why' of it all and make sense out of the noise. Not to get fixated on the dominoes as they fall, but to see the hand that nudged them. You may be aware that there has been an uptick of violence lately, first in Basra and now in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. This is an incredibly important development. The Government of Iraq, under Prime Minister Maliki, has made the decision to go on the offensive against the militia groups that seek to undermine the credibility of the government. Many of these militia actors are, or claim to be, affiliated with the Sadrist movement, a Shia movement that encompasses a broad assortment of militant, social and political components. What we are witnessing in Iraq is now one of the existential issues that will determine the future of Iraq; namely, whether the aims of this Sadrist movement can be incorporated into the legitimate political discourse defining Iraq's governance system or not. As with all issues here, this is complex. There are elements within Maliki's government that want to completely wipe out the Sadrists; there are those who seek some sort of accommodation. As for the Sadrists, there are those who desire only outright domination of the government, and there are those who see the movement playing the role of legitimate political party within a democratic system. In the midst of this, the fundamental question of US presence in Iraq is also being debated, as well as questions about the broader balance of power among Iraq's Middle Eastern neighbors. Many may be war-weary after five years of what is called the Iraq War, and the day-to-day violence that is reported, without context, may appear senseless and just more examples to justify the rightness or wrongness, depending upon one's political persuasion, of the original decision to invade in 2003. But this conflict has evolved and continues to evolve as some fundamental political issues are debated in the form of violence. As a political reporter you do not seek to justify any form of violence, only to understand the motivations behind it and the conditions that may bring about its cessation. The decision by Prime Minister Maliki's government to pursue their objectives has brought about many hardships for many people, but may in fact, in its results, lead to greater stability and security for the people of Baghdad over the long run and set the conditions for a reduction in US military presence in Iraq. I am (once again) looking at the end of my tour here in Baghdad; I am scheduled to depart in a matter of weeks. It is easy to say that we are once again in a period of fundamental change here in Iraq; in an environment of constant evolution there is always something 'different' about the here and now that was not so before, however; you do yourself, and our efforts here, a disservice to not look a little closer at the nature of this conflict and try to understand that 'everything happens for a reason' and what is happening in Baghdad right here and right now is the result of forces trying to create a certain outcome in the right here and right now.

Profile in Service: MICHAEL J. BAUMGARTNER

2008-05-07T21:11:00.008-05:00

MICHAEL J. BAUMGARTNER

[The Bisbee Project is proud to announce that since this entry, Mike has expanded his resume of service -- he was recently elected to the Washington State Senate where he represents the 6th Legislative District. Congratulations, Senator Mike!]

Michael J. Baumgartner is currently serving as a foreign advisor to an Afghan counternarcotics team, developing economic and security policy with the Governor of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Michael served as Deputy Director, Economics in the Office of Joint Strategic Planning & Assessment (JSPA) at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq from May 2007 - June 2008. During the course of the “Surge” he coordinated US support of the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP) counterinsurgency effort with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Iraqi cabinet officials.

Other notable activities while in Iraq include co-authoring a paper on the “Consequences of US Withdrawal from Iraq” in preparation for Ambassador Crocker’s September 2007 Congressional Testimony; serving as lead coordinator and author of the Embassy’s 2010 Mission Strategic Plan; and regularly lecturing at Counterinsurgency Leader’s Course for deploying officers at Camp Taji, Iraq.

Previous to Iraq, Michael worked in a number of international business activities. These included working in the Executive Office of the Crown Prince of Dubai, serving as Vice President of a consortium attempting to build a new telecom network in Saudi Arabia and advising a US gold mining company in Venezuela.

In total, Michael has travelled to or worked in more than 60 countries. Notable trips include a year as a volunteer assisting the Jesuits of Mozambique, a summer with Transparency International in Kathmandu, Nepal and participation on a Joint US/Russian Forest Service project at Lake Baikal, Siberia.

Michael enjoys lecturing and his experiences in academia include working on the faculty of the Catholic University of Mozambique, serving as Teaching Fellow at Harvard College in economics for Dr. Jeff Sachs, and lecturing at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates and at the Brigade Combat Team Commanders Development Program at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Michael holds a BA in Economics with minors in Math and French from Washington State University (’99) and a MPA in International Development from Harvard University (’02). He also completed one year of study at the ESC Graduate School of Business in Chambery, France.

Profile in Service: BEN O'NEIL

2008-05-06T19:15:00.002-05:00

BEN O'NEIL

Ben currently serves as Director of Leasing and Development with a major real estate firm in the Washington, D.C. region. Ben started his career in energy futures trading on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange and later traded NASDAQ stocks and options on a proprietary basis. In 2002, Ben decided to attend graduate school at Penn State University where he deepened his passion for the great Pennsylvania pastimes of fly-fishing and Penn State football. In November 2008, Ben joined the Board of Directors at The Bisbee Project.

Ben’s interests in environmental stewardship and community development afforded him to work with the Susquehanna River Greenway Project in conjunction with SEDA-COG during his years at Penn State. His charitable passions include issues which promote access to higher education and investment in local economic initiatives. The Bisbee Project is one of several charitable organizations that Ben serves as a board member.

“I’m a firm believer in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians,” Ben said. “We have been endowed with amazingly rich resources, both human and physical, and we deserve outstanding leadership to make sure we maintain our position in a globalized economy. I am proud to be a part of The Bisbee Project.”

Ben hails from Milford, PA and graduated from Delaware Valley High School in 1992. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Hobart College (1996). While at Penn State University, he earned a Bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture (2005) and an M.B.A. (2006 - Smeal College of Business).

Profile in Service: PAUL KRATTIGER

2008-05-05T10:48:00.003-05:00

PAUL KRATTIGER

MAJ Paul Krattiger is currently an Engineering instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Paul commanded C Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 1 ID in Samarra, Iraq and Germany 2003-2005, and held a number of other assignments as a CAV officer in the U.S. Army. In 1998-1999, Paul led a tank platoon in Bosnia and Herzegovina performing an SFOR mission.

Paul is a 1997 graduate of the United States Military Academy, and received a Master’s in Engineering Management from Northwestern University in 2007.

Paul grew up in Albuquerque, NM.

paul.krattiger@usma.edu

Ranger challenge

2008-04-28T12:40:00.003-05:00

Greg and Jeff Soule, two Army officers representing the ROTC program at James Madison University, recently took second in the Army's annual Best Ranger competition. Greg is an old buddy of Steve's from Air Assault school and ROTC Ranger Challenge competitions - they've kept up over the years as their military careers took them down separate paths. Below is the Army Times article describing their superb performance during this grueling challenge.

The Bisbee Project contributed to their training expenditures and is proud to support these great American warriors and the ROTC program that produces leaders of such high caliber.

FORT BENNING, Ga. — Within minutes of winning the Best
Ranger Competition, Staff Sgts. Michael Broussard and
Shayne Cherry, both 24, emerged from a medical tent
looking like they were ready for another obstacle
course.

After embracing family and friends, the members of
Team 5 representing the 75th Ranger Regiment spoke to
members of the media in relatively dry shirts with
hardly a bead of sweat across their brow.

“I feel good,” Cherry said.

Broussard and Cherry emerged victorious in the 25th
annual David E. Grange, Jr. Best Ranger Competition at
Fort Benning, Ga., following a grueling three days of
field exercises and obstacle courses. Only 16 of the
28 teams that entered the event finished, with many
exiting slowly from the medical tent with white
medical gauze on their arms from intravenous
injections — evidence of the physical tax of the
competition.

Coming in second place were brothers Capt. Jeff Soule,
25, and Maj. Greg Soule, 32, of Team 3 representing
the Reserved Officers’ Training Corps at James Madison
University in Virginia. The two were separated nearly
all of training, with Jeff in Georgia and Greg in
Virginia.

“I definitely didn’t expect to be finishing second,”
Greg said as he pushed his 3-month-old baby, Addison,
in a stroller toward the awards reception. “We didn’t
have any time to train together really, about a few
days a month. I was expecting to have a few more
blisters on my feet.

“But what we did this weekend, my whole body is beat
down,” he said. “I just want to go sit down. I’m
walking around like I got pins sticking into my feet.”

His brother, meanwhile, walked to the awards ceremony
and barbecue afterward with a limp and lingering
cough. When one of his family members asked if he
wanted food, he said, “Yeah, but not coleslaw, just
meat.” Greg said he was most looking forward to a
beer.

Finishing in third place were Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah
Beck and Sgt. Jeremy Billings, 23, of Team 9
representing the 75th Ranger Regiment.

The first-, second- and third-place teams ran across
the finish line together. Many teams finished with
their rifles held high in the air. The soldiers,
family and friends attended an awards ceremony
afterward with barbecue food, cold ice tea and beer.
Gifts were distributed to the 16 finishing teams.

Cherry and Broussard won the bronze boot award for the
road march, a nighttime trek that took place on Friday
night. This year’s march came after a day of grueling
activities beneath an aggressive Georgia sun. All 12
teams that didn’t finish the competition were
eliminated during the road march, which was shortened
from the scheduled 30 miles to just 16 miles due to
the high dropout rate, soldiers said.

The Soule brothers won the competition’s award for
orienteering after an impressive showing in Saturday
night’s land navigation course. Soldiers were required
to find points they plotted on a map across miles of
difficult terrain without flashlights or any kind of
illumination devices.

“They’re not allowed to turn on any lights,” said
Capt. Kent Keirsey, a Ranger instructor for the 5th
Ranger Training Battalion. “They’re only allowed to
use ambient light, so they have to be spot on. … They
had great illumination last night. That moon was up
all night.”

Hanging out

2008-04-12T13:35:00.004-05:00

It was the most remarkable unremarkable evening. I just had dinner and watched a movie with a couple of friends. What made tonight a little more interesting than normal was the fact that the friends I got to hang out with are the family of Tahseen Sheikhly, the GOI official who got kidnapped and released by militants last week. Tahseen's family has been living in a hotel since the ordeal began; the attackers that kidnapped Tahseen launched RPGs at his home during the assault that exploded inside and burned the house to the ground. The family lost everything - save the life of Tahseen. I was meeting with some other Baghdad officials at the hotel today when I ran into the family having some tea with an Embassy colleague of mine. Tahseen's household consists of two married sons and a few unmarried daughters. Essentially camping out at the hotel for the past two weeks, they were getting cabin fever. The uncertainty of where they are headed next was clearly troubling them, despite their cheerful attitude and friendly demeanor. They know that so-called friends from their old neighborhood actually participated in the attack on their home and the seizure of their father - a well-known public spokesman for the government. My friend suggested that we take the group out on a "night on the town," which merely consisted of taking them to dinner at the Embassy cafeteria, giving them a quick tour of the Republican Palace (which, ironically and yet unsurprisingly, many Iraqis have never seen the inside of, while to many Americans posted here, it's the only thing they ever do get to see in Baghdad), and then taking a trip back to my hooch to play a little Guitar Hero and watch Jack Black in School of Rock, one of my absolute favorite films. Tahseen's children, all early- to mid-twenties, had a good time hanging out - or at least they convinced me that they did (I can get a little distracted when Guitar Hero is involved) - and I have to admit it was a great break for me to get away from the office. So often our work involves these grand strategies and intricate programs to win the 'hearts and minds' of Iraqis - yet, we almost ignore the living, breathing, friendly Iraqi people that are right here in front of us on a daily basis. Whatever report I had to write or emails I had to answer – I just don't think they'll ever be as critical as the few hours as I got to spend with these new friends. This is a difficult place to keep your perspective in, but every now and then you know you spent your time wisely. School of Rock cracks me up every time. And I know I wasn't the only one who got to enjoy the first good laugh in a good long while.