LTC Clarkston's Visit with the People of Dahuk

Blackanthem Military News, BAGHDAD, Iraq, February 07, 2006 14:15

Impressions - #34 (Second of three parts)

(Did I mention that, while packing for our trek to the chilly, snowy, mountainous environs of farthermost Iraq, I forgot to lug along my sleeping bag? Well, I did. Thank goodness for SSG Osborne of the 401st Civil affairs Battalion who graciously let me use his!)

Our second day in Dahuk started out before 6:00 AM with coffee around the conference table discussing the previous day’s visits and comparing the marked differences between this area and that from which we’d come. Not only were we not in "Kansas anymore" but it seemed that, for all intents and purposes, we weren’t in Iraq either.

Even the traditional clothing was different. Numerous of the men wore the traditional Kurdish shashbik uniform comprised of large legged (almost ballooned) trousers called shirwal, a short tight fitting jacket and a broad cloth swath wrapped around the midsection. The female’s traditional attire is called a kraskawi. Other men wore shashiks (turbans). As I understand it, a white shashik connotes a mullah or holy man, red and white indicates a leader, green and white shows that the wearer has made the trek to Mecca and black and white has no primary significance.

The Kurds are Indo-European and Aryan in both their language and race. They live in an area that straddles Iraq, Iran, Turkey and parts of the former USSR. Individually and collectively, they are a fiercely proud people. Pictures of Mustapha Berzani, a Kurdish patriarch, hang prominently in shops and homes. They are fast to assert that they are NOT Arabic.

Mosa Ali Bakir is an excellent example of the Kurdish race. Responsible for the Dohuk Governorate of In-country Displaced Persons and Refugees he is a man with a mission! Intense and animated his long, slender fingers emphatically punctuate his impassioned words. Hearing his carefully prepared comments, we sat in his office noting our warm breath cloud and dissipate before us as we spoke.

As we listened it became increasingly obvious that here was a man of great convictions. His office’s motto is "Let’s be the voice for those who have none." He opened his slightly broken English comments with "I want to express my thanks to all of the United States - from the President to the most simple person in the state - for the brave and historical decision for moving the Saddam regime from power. We highly respect those who left their countries and families for our freedom. They will stay bright names in the brains of all generations."
 

With the tiniest of spoons, we stirred the thick sugar which lay in the bottom of petite gold rimmed glasses that set upon delicate saucers enjoying the local hot, sweet tea. Mosa shared nearly horrors heaped upon his people under the previous despotic regime. This "Big wound inflicted upon the Kurdish body" he said included 20 million mines planted throughout Kurdistan still, regularly claiming innocent lives, use of chemical weapons on defenseless women and children and the total razing of over 4,500 villages.

Next we visited new water sites at the villages of Bagerat, Swaratoka and Sharya that now provide fresh drinking water for those who had previously not had such. At two - such was the importance these Reconstruction projects - formal ribbon cutting ceremonies were played out requiring our collegues, Dr. Linda Allen and Frank Serafini of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, to convey remarks on behalf of the United States.

Following several short speeches, snipping of a wide yellow ribbon, soft drinks, fresh fruit (including bananas from El Salvador) and delicious, flaky, baklava were served. Coming from the flat sandy area of Baghdad, standing in snow at our fist stop seemed strangely incongruous to it all!

Then, late in the afternoon as we were returning to our quarters we did - what to those of us who dare not venture "outside the wire into the red zone" in Baghdad - we walked through an open air market. Though our armed guard was nearby we were, obviously, very safe.

The area seemed to be like an intriguing amalgam of Tangiers, Mexico and Bangkok. Though the day was gray and rainy the bright colors, banter bargaining with peddlers and clearly sincere greetings to our American group stood in sharp contrast to that which we are unable to do a few hundred miles south.

Mark this region on your "places to visit" list as it is a fast growing, market expanding locale of focused folk who know where they’ve been and are determined to now control where they’re going!

By Tom Clarkson
LTC, Army (Ret)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Gulf Region Division
Public Affairs Office