Basra – Settling In

We’ve been here for five days now and finally tomorrow we will have our first excursion outside the wire. We flew here through Amman, Jordan, spending the night in the “transit hotel” near the airport. The approach into Amman was beautiful, flying right over Tel Aviv, getting a tremendous view of the sweep of the Mediterranean coast of Israel, taking in nearly the entire country in one view. Then we passed over the northern end of the Dead Sea before landing in Amman. Very comfortable temps there, especially compared to Basra, where it’s been 110 every day.

After a night in Amman, we flew directly into Basra, passing over the remote western deserts of Anbar Province, Lake Razzaza near Karbala, and then an unmistakably familiar landmark, the Euphrates Fish Farm, then Diwaniya, Wasit, Maysan, and Dhi Qar provinces, all places I came to know last year. Upon arrival at the Basra airport, we were greeted at the door of the terminal by masked and gloved medical technicians screening passengers for swine flu. The ear of each passenger was probed by a thermometer to check for fever. Then, with some amusing confusion, we passed through immigration. For the first of my three trips to Iraq over the last year, I have officially entered the country, with a stamp in my passport to prove it. When we emerged into the main hall of the airport, seemingly spooked by our arrival, a group of fifty or so Shia women, probably pilgrims on their way to Baghdad, suddenly rose from their seats and moved off like a flock of birds, their head-to-toe black abayas flowing as they went. We walked with the Army lieutenant who met us and passed a Shiite cleric sipping tea with his retinue and giving us a wary glance as we passed by.

We drove to the base, which is immediately adjacent to the airport. The base, recently “inherited” from the British, is really a collection of smaller compounds that are scattered across the sand. We are staying at the PRT compound. Nobody says Provincial Reconstruction Team; everyone says “pee-are-tee.” Every province has one. It’s the U.S. State Department entity that works on nation building. The focus of this unit is rule of law, governance, economics, and essential service. We are working with the economics team. The PRT is a combination of civilian and military people.

Our compound, especially our living quarters, is quite comfortable, with everything within a very short walk. The biggest surprise is the accommodations. I have a private “room,” which is half of a shipping container that has been modified for living. The biggest surprise is that it is “wet,” with a toilet and shower. It also has a TV (that includes Al Jazeera along with Fox News, CNN, BBC, and a number of entertainment channels from Dubai and Qatar). Five star digs!!! For security purposes, there’s another shipping container stacked on top, with four inches of concrete poured into the bottom, so I feel safe. The compound also a recreation center with all the exercise machines and free weights anyone could want to work out.

There’s a small DFAC (dining facility) run by KBR. The demographics of the DFAC are illustrative. The main observation is that there are probably three or four support personnel, mostly private contractors, for every individual working for the PRT. There are the KBR workers, including Bosnians, African-Americans, and working-class white Americans. There are the private security contractors, mostly former soldiers, who take PRT personnel out on movements in their armored SUVs. There are the Ugandan guards who work for Triple Canopy and provide security for our compound. Finally there are a smattering of service personnel, most working directly with the PRT in varying capacities. Interesting group all in all.

My fellow teammate and I have spent the last several days struggling to get past the jet lag, acclimating to the heat, and planning our course of action. The deputy leader of the PRT, a lieutenant colonel, has been very helpful and plans to accompany us on our movements. I’m optimistic that we will be able to accomplish a focused assessment fairly quickly and then move into developing projects that can be managed by the PRT once we depart. We’re off to a good start.

I’m going to end this post on a rather somber note. On the Thursday night before the Friday morning we arrived here, mortars were fired on the base, killing three young soldiers. (You can read about it here). These random attacks are never specifically targeted, but occasionally they find their mark. I was saddened (and more than a little angry at the bad guys) to arrive to this news, but it has only strengthened my resolve to do the best I can to improve the situation on the ground so that such events will become vanishingly rare.