Innovators

[I wrote this blog entry before learning this morning about a security breach involving one of the military officers who accompanied us on the trip I describe here. As a result, I’ve gone back to what I’ve written and removed mention of specific people and places to reduce the potential for any negative repercussions.]

After several "extra" days in FOB Kalsu, feeling trapped behind the wire, I jumped at the opportunity to accompany one of my fellow team members to a poultry farm. The main purpose of the trip for the Civil Affairs officer who organized the visit, however, was to attend a meeting of the town council of a small Sunni community struggling to get back on it’s feet. We stopped at a nearby patrol base to pick-up a young captain who has been working directly with community leaders to help rebuild their area after decades of neglect and the more recent destructive activities of al Qaeda in Iraq. The patrol base is even more "forward" than the FOB or forward operating base where we have been staying for the last week. The base is small (two companies) but heavily fortified and the accommodations are basic at best.

The town council of this area consists of about 12-15 local sheiks. Throughout Iraq, U.S. Army Civil Affairs officers and captains at nearby bases are attempting to replace the old top-down command form of governing with bottom-up participatory decision-making. It’s not an easy task and predictably the results depend on the quality of local leaders. The captain working with this particular town council confided to me that he had been having difficulty with the group, with several meetings devolving into shouting matches. The meeting we attended was calm by this measure.









Grass-roots deomocracy-building in action.

The council leader acknowledged our presence and repeatedly insisted that he wanted to slaughter a sheep in our honor. Rather awkwardly and in what I considered to be a typically American direct way and without full appreciation for the nuance the situation required, the captain declined the offer, indicating that we had other appointments to keep. After a bit awkwardness, the meeting went on, with the council leader heaping effusive praise for the efforts of Coalition Forces, citing rehabilitation of irrigation canals, pumping stations, schools, and streets and the provision of electricity, improved plant seeds, and fertilizer as examples. They expressed satisfaction with the improved security situation, perceived to be attributable in large measure to the efforts of Coalition Forces. The U.S. military is seen as more effective than the Government of Iraq in getting things accomplished.

All this praise preceded the inevitable litany of needs. As our team has seen elsewhere, canal cleaning and power allocation emerged as priority items in this rural area. One problem occurring here is the opening of illegitimate secondary canals. In this community there are 13 "legal" and recognized secondary canals but now there are 36. This is troublesome because sections of the concrete lining of primary canals are destroyed to gain access to the water. To his credit, the captain tried to encourage a mindset of helping council members develop their own solutions for their own problems. There’s still a long way to go and it may take a generational shift for the potential of this approach to be fully realized.

One sheik demonstrated an ability to think beyond immediate and parochial needs to take personal initiative to help his local community. He collects $2 from every household and uses the money to hire workers to maintain the power distribution infrastructure (wires, poles, and transformers) in his area of influence. Unlike other parts of this area, which receive only 4 hours of electricity daily and the power distribution infrastructure is looted, the households in this community are supplied with electricity for 8 hours daily. The captain told me after the meeting that they are impressed with this sheik’s broad and innovative thinking and want to encourage him to stand for provincial elections this fall.

After the meeting, closed out by formal salutations and lots of man kissing, our convoy proceeded to the poultry operation owned by one of the sheiks on the town council. The sheik is a member of the Ghurari tribe of Sunni, well known for their skill in poultry farming. He learned how to produce chickens and eggs from his father and has been farming since 1970. He had to cease operations in 2004 because of the deteriorated security situation and only recently resumed production. Of the 18 poultry houses at his farm, only two were in operation at the time of our visit. According to the Civil Affairs captain who accompanied us, the sheik recently received a $5,000 micro-grant to buy chicks and then leveraged the grant to borrow enough to buy 12,000 chicks in an attempt to revitalize his poultry business.














An innovative poultry producer (2nd from right) talking with Chris Bailey, poultry scientist from Team Borlaug. Bilingual bicultural advisor (BBA) between them. U.S. Army Civil Affairs captain on the left.

My overwhelming impression is that this man is an innovator, a master farmer who is respected by his peers. He is clearly well-to-do; his house is large and apparently he has 4 wives and 77 children and grandchildren. Notably one of his daughters, a university graduate, serves as veterinarian for his operation. He is also the leader of an "Egg Association," with members representing 30-40 large producers but may eventually include as many as 100 members. He is clearly enthusiastic and optimistic about the future after several years of inactivity. Iraq has many people like this sheik, innovative and hopeful but lacking that initial injection of strategically placed resources to resume a normal life.