Amarah

I'm writing this from FOB GarryOwen, a small camp in Maysan province near the main city of Amarah. Conditions here are very basic, in contrast to the large bases that have been our home in the past month. I'm staying in a 20-man tent (but it has a/c), sleeping on a camp cot, and showering in another tent that has water pumped from a bladder laying on the ground. The chow-hall (no DFAC) provides hot breakfast and dinner; lunch is MREs. The chow-hall is closed on Sundays, so it's MREs all day. Computer access is difficult, especially when there are a lot of soldiers on-line.
The camp started in June of this year so things remain in a state of flux. June is when the American presence began in this province. Literally this place has been passed by for much of the war. In part this was due to the presence of the British, who controlled the battle space, had some bitter battles with losses on both sides, and then pulled back to Basra. Earlier this spring, the Prime Minister launched an offensive to rid Basra of militias and criminal gangs. Many of them came to Amarah. A subsequent offensive by the Iraqi Army drove these militias out of Amarah. The Americans arrived on the heals of this offensive and are just now establishing a presence here.
This is the context for our work. Very little is known and very few contacts have been made. We are literally blazing the trail with the PRT and Civil Affairs Team. We've had a great couple of days of meetings, mostly to determine what we want to see and more importantly who we want to visit. As elsewhere in Iraq, there are great people here doing great work under difficult circumstances.
In some respects Maysan reminds me of Louisiana. First, this is where the Tigris River breaks apart into at least five branches, most spilling out into huge marshes, home of the Marsh Arabs, who have a culture that is as distinct as the Cajuns. The city of Amarah is located where three of these branches originate and, being a river city, reminds me of New Orleans. Obviously these are superficial similarities. However, we've been told that the Maysani's are considered the "red-headed stepchildren" of Iraq, having been ignored by the central government for decades. Bordering Iran, the people of this province suffered mightily during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam also created a huge canal/dam to divert water around some big marshes in the south of the province, choking off the water supply, as a way to subjugate the Shia's there. The Maysanis were also part of the Shia uprising following the first Gulf War, which was brutally suppressed by Saddam. Despite all this, there is tremendous hope here (as we have seen elsewhere in Iraq) and one needs only to see the tremendous construction boom of small houses. Factories with tall smokestacks belching black smoke are churning our bright yellow bricks everywhere in southern Iraq.
Back to FOB GarryOwen. I am here with two others from Team Borlaug, a subset of our full team, which remains at FOB Adder at Tallil Air Base, near Nasariyah, and is now working in Muthanna province. We are here with about 200 other soldiers. The other day we took part in a memorial service for a 22-year old specialist who was killed by an EFP during a route clearance mission on the road between Amarah and the other major town in the province. We all gathered by the MWR and the young man was remembered by his commanders and fellow soldiers. I could see more than one soldier sniffling and wiping away tears. He received a 21-gun salute and "Taps" on a bugle. It was a very emotional scene.
It reminds me, as if I really needed reminding, that I'm still in a war zone. Given the newness of this camp and recent events, I have to admit to feeling a bit more anxiety about my presence here. It's not enough to deter me from our activities. We were told that the camp has been rocketed twice since June and were instructed on what to do if the rockets start falling while sleeping. ("Get down and suck plywood.") We hear outgoing fire, mostly mortars, every night to deter these attacks. Despite all this, I feel safe with the soldiers in our security detail, who continue to do a magnificent job that enables us to do our assessments and develop ideas for projects to improve Iraqi agriculture. My senses and level of awareness of my surroundings has become sharper and more finely attuned. It doesn't hurt that daytime temperatures have moderated and the weather has turned fine.