Interpret

Mustafa is the best interpreter, by far, that I've worked with. About halfway through the committee meeting he intuitively knew that I no longer cared for the word-for-word translation of the argument the deputy governor was having with the governor, and gave me the highlights. Something about whether to hire new engineers from Tikrit University to oversee the province's projects, or to use the local engineers that were already on the government payroll. Accusations flew over the propriety of each man's proposal while bored council members on robust gaudy couches carried on side conversations. The committee chairman, Sheikh Rasheed changed the ring tone on his cell phone. Twice. My battalion commander watched a tv in the corner showing Al Jazeera. Mustafa grew up in Kirkuk, but after the war moved to Bayji thinking it would be safer. That proved to be a miscalculation, as Kirkuk has (thus far) been spared the instability that was predicted due to its complicated history as a point of contention between the Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turks in the region. Mustafa got his degree in petroleum engineering, but was wise to learn a skill that is far more lucrative in this oil-rich state: English. So now he works here in Tikrit, with the provincial government. He epitomizes what I've been calling the 'guy' problem here in Iraq. There's some smart guys who have been to college, but can't get work doing smart stuff. If they know English, they'll do okay- but it doesn't help the society to have a bunch of engineers and doctors running around as translators (and making two to three times as much as they would as a doctor). In this area, most of the other not so smart guys ended up in the military or security apparatus of the state. Not all of those guys can find work with the new army and police forces. Out of either group, you have a leftover crowd of guys who need a job- need money- need respect- need something to do. That's the basis of our insurgency problem here in the Sunni triangle. In the U.S., 32% of all males are between the age of 15 and 29. In Iraq, that figure is 55%. That's a lot of guys under 30. Imagine if half the population of Texas were teenage boys. Mustafa wants to get a job in the U.S. We joked that he could go get a job with Halliburton, and come right back here. And we knew if wasn't such a far-fetched idea.