Posted on 12/29/2007 5:43:36 AM PST by SandRat
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq — What was once known as the Triangle of Death in this war-torn county is now the Triangle of Hope, an Iraqi adviser to an American Army unit said.
“We are building schools, roads and we have repaired a bridge,” Hashim Khidir, said of an area that is part of 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) responsibility south of Baghdad.
And efforts are being made to again increase the agricultural output of the Euphrates River Valley, which he calls the most fertile area in Iraq, a Sunni region long known for its farms.
One of those programs is re-establishing the once large poultry industry south of Baghdad, said the English-trained engineer.
Khidir helps provide engineering expertise to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry, 3rd Bridge Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division (Assault). But he said many other projects are helping to build a base for democracy in his homeland.
As a bilingual and bicultural adviser to the unit, he said he sees his job as being a bridge between the U.S. Army and the Iraqi people.
Khidir, who has an effervescent personality, sees a picture of Iraq being developed in a positive light, with a few dark shades to be brightened. He finds himself in three cultures — first as an Iraqi born-man, then with some German through his wife, and finally as an American, a citizen of the United States since 1975. The proud great-grandfather of two — he also has three grandchildren and three children — calls California home.
He has worked throughout the world, mostly for U.S. companies in the oil and gas businesses.
“I was born in Baghdad a long time ago,” Khidir said.
The last time he visited the Iraqi city was a little more than two years ago when he went to Baghdad with an older brother who was then living in Jordan.
Many of his relatives were born after he left Iraq.
“So many of them became engineers, doctors and lawyers,” the Shi’ite said.
There was sadness during the trip because he learned his older sister’s husband had been killed in a car explosion a couple of years earlier.
Khidir has learned about Americans lack of patience. He says it’s part of the American culture.
But the adviser said it will be some time before the war against terrorism is done, which means the United States will be in Iraq for an unknown period.
“Democracy is for the whole world. Our fight against al-Qaida is very justified. This fight is going to take a long time,” Khidir said.
Part of his job entails teaching soldiers about Iraq culture and language.
“I have a class every Thursday, where we talk about events,” he sad.
The soldiers are highly educated but need to understand another culture better, and they are doing well, the adviser said.
“This is the most educated group of soldiers I have met,” Khidir said.
He had less than good words for many national media outlets, such as CNN.
“I don’t see them being positive,” Khidir said.
The media has the duty to properly portray what is happening in Iraq, he said. The media lacks an understanding of the area’s long history, as a place where law, writing and other civilized functions were born.
And when it comes to religion, “This is the place of the prophets,” Khidir said.
In everyone’s faith-based background, what is missed is “that religion is culture,” the adviser said.
As Americans do not understand Iraqi culture, the same is true in reverse.
Seeing his function to help Iraqis understand American culture, Khidir said most sheiks want to know about Americans and it helps that many of them are educated and have lived outside Iraq.
A majority of Iraqis do like American culture, especially the concept of personal freedom, the adviser said.
Americans also misunderstand the political difference between Shi’ites and Sunnis, Khidir said.
There is a reminder in western civilization, and that involves the Protestant and Roman Catholic split and the wars that followed. Khidir said those conflicts were more political, but were wrapped in religion.
It is important for all faiths “to be compassionate and good to others,” Khidir said.
There is no denying in his mind that President George W. Bush did the right thing in eliminating Saddam Hussein, the adviser said. And, it is true the current Iraqi government is having a hard time, but it is getting better.
While some may think the Iraqi elections were rigged, Khidir disagrees.
“Yes there are some very bad elements (in the Iraqi government), but they are sitting down for the fist time and are trying to live together,” he said.
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
FR WAR NEWS!
bump
bump
Yuh think?
Iraq is so much better off now, than under saddam's dictatorship.
The Iraqi people see this, but the lamestream media is still in denial.
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