TRAVELOGUE TO IRAQ – ENTRY # 9 TRIP IS WINDING DOWN

Family and Friends,

Our trip is winding down and tomorrow night, we’ll start our journey home.  Looking forward to a good meal in NYC…

It has been an incredible trip and I feel so fortunate to be able to come back to Fallujah and see, first hand, what is going on here.  I also feel very lucky because of all the support and encouragement I have received from many of you throughout this trip.

Onto the update…

A feint glimmer of hope has appeared on the horizon for Fatima, the young Iraqi girl, stricken with a severe  form of cancer, whom we met on a patrol.  The 32 year old Mayor of Fallujah has agreed to personally take her to Jordan and raise money from his tribe in order to treat her.  We expect the surgery to cost about $15k and there is no guarantee that Fatima’s cancer has not already spread to her brain.  There is also no guarantee that the Jordanians will allow the Mayor, Fatima, and Fatima’s uncle or mother to enter the country.  With the increased expectations from a glimmer of hope come additional obstacles.  Time is short and the mayor hopes to be able to leave next Wednesday for Jordon.

I don’t know if I will ever be able to say the sacrifices, bloodshed, or tragedy I’ve witnessed in Iraq will have been be worth it.  I pray to G-d that one day I will, but I doubt it.  After this trip, however, I am no longer as preoccupied with that question.  Although the  present  is tied to the past and the past to the future, I think what matters most  are the decisions we as individuals choose to make each day. These  decisions and choices, regardless of the larger geopolitical implications speak for themselves. Whether it is a young Marine who puts himself in harms way to save a buddy’s life or a mayor who comforts a family and attempts to save a young girl, the culmination of such acts of heroism and decency have given me a little hope.  Is this naive?

Many of you have written asking how you could help Fatima.  I’m currently trying to figure out how to help the mayor get into Jordan.  If any of you have any ideas, please feel free to offer them.  Once he has arrived, I have some friends who will be meeting with him to ensure he and Fatima have made it safely.  Though I have been incredibly impressed by the mayor’s altruism, I want to make sure he is, in fact,taking the girl to Jordan and not taking me to the bank.  If he is able to get there with Fatima, I may go to meet her and her family there, or I may attempt to help raise some funds to augment the mayor’s tribe’s donations.  Standby for solicitations…

The first day I met with the Mayor, I showed him a picture of my sister and, I believe, he fell in love.  This could be another reason he has taken up Fatima’s case with such exuberance.  When I have not been around, I’ve heard he has asked the platoon’s interpreter and some of the Marines if I was serious about setting them up.  And when I returned last night to say goodbye, he had three huge wrapped gifts for her.  I have to figure out how to get them home.  Or I just need to figure out how to get my sister to Fallujah.

Before we went over to the mayor’s office, I had the opportunity to sit in on a radio show at the Fallujah radio station.  I have never thought that I would be ever come back to Fallujah and sit in a radio station studio with two journalists, while they questioned a tribal leader and the head of the city council about  the  problems encountered at the polls on election day.  While security was tight and no violent acts occurred in Fallujah on election day, there was a lot of confusion.  Many people went to the wrong polling stations and because cars were not allowed in the city on election day, they had to walk from polling location to polling location.  Many gave up before they had the opportunity to vote and head home for the day.  Turnout was low at an estimated 40%.  So I sat in the booth and listened to two journalists grill the head of the city council.  I was able to ask a few questions and got in a Sabah Al Har Al Fallujah- Good Morning Fallujah.

After the radio station and our meeting with the Mayor, we said goodbye to the Marines at OP Burgess, the last Marine post in Fallujah, and said goodbye to Fallujah.  Gunnery Sergeant Michael Van Daele picked us up to take us back to Camp Baharia on the outskirts of the city.  We served together in 3/1 and his platoon fought on the adjacent block to mine in 2004.  There are a lot of old faces out here.  We joked about the numbers of times we accidentally shot at each other or got into fights over the radio about who really needed fire support at certain precarious moments in that fight.  His Marines love him and it has been amazing to see their reactions when I tell them that we served together in 2004.

This morning we headed out to our last meeting with a tribal leader- Sheik Khamis.  I didn’t get the opportunity to really speak to him because the regimental commander was meeting with him for the first time, but I did get to speak at length with his eldest son and some of his subordinate Sheiks.  Sheik Khamis, in his early 70′s, is one of the 17 most powerful tribal leaders in Iraq.  His tribe, Abu Isa tribe fought against the Mongols and Ghengis Khan over 700 years ago.  He was one of the first tribal leaders to work alongside Americans and at one point, over 2/3rds of his tribesman were working with Al Qaeda.  He fled to Jordan and was only recently able to return.  His son and some of the other Sheiks had amazing stories- some ancient and some modern.  More to follow in the film….

Thanks again for all your comments and emails.  They mean so much and I promise to write back as soon as I get some time and a faster email connection.

Love ya’ll,

Zach