Getting to Iraq

As I indicated earlier, I spent the last two years in Iraq with the State Department. In the fall of 2007, while listening to NPR one morning, I caught a story about the inability of the State Department to get career foreign service officers (FSOs) to go to Iraq. During the story, the head of the FSO union delivered testimony about the danger faced by FSOs and the hardship such unaccompanied tours placed on them. My reaction was one of disbelief and shame. How could folks who had chosen a career path involving being positioned in troublesome spots around the world in order to represent the United States be unwilling to do their duties? Most of it, of course, was the anti-war sentiments of the individuals within State, egged on by their personal animosity toward President Bush. I felt it was an embarrassing moment for our country.

Senator Lugar of Indiana was chairing the hearing at which the testimony was delivered. I fired off an email message to his office saying that if FSOs did not want to serve on PRTs, perhaps other Americans with applicable skills would. Sometime in winter, I received a terse message from his office pointing me to a website for government jobs. There I found the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) and THE job for me: senior city management advisor. I applied and was hired.

At that point, I applied for a one-year leave of absence from my job as a professor of political science. The University was ugly about it, as if I was committing treason. In one of the nastiest letters I have ever received, the University administrator gave me a drop-dead date to return to work or sacrifice my job. My plan was to return to the teaching after a year, enriched with experiences that would give my in-class activities greater relevance and gravity. At the time, Iraq was THE war and THE issue. What better way to learn more about it than be in Iraq and work with the Iraqis?

I make myself sound noble. And, I paint the University as jack-asses. Neither is the truth – although from what I has happened to the University in the last two years, one might conclude that it is being lead by one.

The truth is that I was growing old teaching. I could no longer feel the passion. My finances were fine but I thought I could do better. I was trying to get beyond a divorce. My kids were grown and scattered. I liked WitchWoman but could not figure out what to do with her. I was restless. In lots of ways, I ran away to Iraq. Sort of a modern day version of joining the French Foreign Legion, or stealing away to join the circus.

For the University’s part, I asked for a leave of absence during a transition from a real president to a stooge for the Board of Governors. Bad timing on my part. The administrative staff was more focused on not making any mistakes than they were on advancing the University’s mission and nobody saw any potential in exploiting my work in Iraq. That explains why near the end of the first year, when the PRT leader in Basra offered me a job, the University’s response to my request for an extension of the leave was quickly and summarily rejected.

Again, I have to be careful of false nobility. The US civilians I’ve met in Iraq are here either because they are running from something or else for the money. I fall into the first category although I like the money, too. After a year, I had not run away from my demons. When the University said no to the extension, I put in my paperwork to retire from teaching and accepted the second year assignment in Basra. Good decisions. Neither the University nor I have missed each other.

That is enough background on getting to Iraq. At some point, I will talk about some of the experiences here. I’ve kept journals during the two years and expect to sort through them as I unwind from the tour. I will leave you with one ironic fact. They union representative who testified before Senator Lugar’s committee in 2007 became my boss in Basra a month after I arrived.