I did a quick interview with my hometown newspaper, The Daily Item (Sunbury, PA), about my experiences in Iraq- here's the article- but they only keep archives for seven days, so I'll cut and paste it here:
REBUILDING IN IRAQ
Valley man: National loyalty long way off
By G. Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item
August 07, 2006
SELINSGROVE — A former Selinsgrove man who recently served with an Army civil affairs unit in Baghdad says it will take years for democracy to take hold in Iraq.
Dan Bisbee, a 1990 graduate of Selinsgrove Area High School who grew up near Kratzerville, expects the chaos in Iraq will persist through several election cycles, until the political system evolves from one in which tribal or religious loyalty is superseded by loyalty to the country.
Every day for the year he was there, Mr. Bisbee worked closely with civilian and military leaders in Baghdad, helping them build a working government from the ground up.
"Mr. al Mailki, the new prime minister, is still making political deals," said Mr. Bisbee. "He has lots of things to work out yet."
The critical problem, Mr. Bisbee said, is that few politicians have any loyalty to the institutions of government.
"They have only personal loyalty, to someone they know," he said. "They're only thinking about what the other guy can do for them and what they might be able to offer to the other guy."
"Eventually, Iraq's politicians will develop trust in their political parties and institutions," Mr. Bisbee continued, "but in the meantime, there is lots of paybacks and feuding going on."
Iraq is also being influenced by the countries surrounding it, Mr. Bisbee said.
"There is an ancient rift between the Arabs and the Persians, and Iraq is where the two collide," he said.
On the one hand, Syria and Saudi Arabia are Arab countries, and on the other is Iran, a Persian country.
Most people in America don't understand the cultural and religious differences between those ethnic groups, and Iraq is where the differences come into conflict, he said.
Ali Fadel, the former governor of Baghdad province, once remarked to Mr. Bisbee, "Iraq is like a piece of meat floating in the sea, surrounded by many sharks."
"He's right. All those countries are vying to be the leading power in the region," said Mr. Bisbee.
All are trying to exert influence over the various religious and political factions in Iraq, he said.
Politics in Iraq and the other Middle East countries continue to be affected by the First World War, Mr. Bisbee believes. At the end of the war in 1918, the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled most of the Middle East for several hundred years, was broken up, and France and England agreed to divide up the region.
Unfortunately, the division was made with no regard for cultural, ethnic or religious boundaries, which led to resentment against the changes, not to mention anger against colonialism.
When Britain and France walked away from the region in the late 1920s, the power vacuum was filled by un-elected strongmen or "appointed" kings .
Mr. Bisbee graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined ROTC. He then served four years of active duty in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas. While in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, he responded to an e-mail seeking volunteers to work in civil affairs in Iraq.
In Iraq, Mr. Bisbee served with the 448 Civil Affairs battalion, of the Fourth Infantry Division. He was stationed in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
"We were the public face of the Army, dealing with civilians in the war zone," he said. "Our job was reconstruction of schools, hospitals, water systems and soccer fields. I dealt with sheiks, tribal leaders and politicians every day."
Mr. Bisbee was never injured travelling daily from his quarters to Baghdad City Hall, but he did survive several attacks. Several colleagues were not so fortunate, though.
"Being in Iraq was a real eye-opener," he said. "We were training local police. Before the war, there was no local police force. They all worked for the national police, and their job was to protect and serve the Saddam regime, not to protect and serve the people."
"There was no concept of police being responsible to local politicians and residents," he continued. "And the politicians never had any responsibility for the conduct of the police, either."
Mr. Bisbee believes if coalition forces are withdrawn from Iraq any time soon, the country will collapse.
Over half the country is Shi'ite, but there are serious divisions among those people, he said. Some are secular, while others are aligned with conservative religious leaders. On the other side are the minority Sunni, many of whom want to work within the system but are unable to gain the trust of the majority Shi'ites. Many of the insurgents are Sunnis or former members of the Saddam government who don't want to give up power.
"Have you ever seen 'The Godfather'?" he asked. "That's what Iraq is like. Everyone is trying to capitalize on the chaos."
In spite of his personal reservations about the chances for success in Iraq, Mr. Bisbee is thinking seriously about returning as a State Department employee to continue working to rebuild the country.
"It would be an assignment in one of the provinces, helping them to become more stable," he said. "There are many components and layers to what we're doing, and we don't want to be 'imposers.' We would work to develop relationships with local leaders and politicians."
Serving in Iraq has given Mr. Bisbee a new appreciation for growing up in Selinsgrove, he said.
"Sitting in meetings there made me appreciate it so much," he said. "People here are working so hard. The police, the borough council, businessmen. We take them for granted here. They don't have that in Iraq."
"I was so impressed with the men there who are risking their lives every day to make positive changes in their country," he concluded.
