Aid Worker in Iraq

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. A guy with a missionary group in Iraq came and spoke at my church Sunday. He's been to Iraq 4 different times since the war began.

He talked about the different groups and their thoughts on the war. Talked about how much the Kurds supported the US..that they'd like to be a state if possible! Talked about the Shiites, who make up the majority of the country and have a chance to actually have a political stake...said that this new iman (can't remember his name) will be short-lived, as all the other imans and clerics in the region are trying to distance themselves from him and his teachings. Talked about the Sunnis...who live primarily in the central part of Iraq and have been in power for generations, though they make up a statistical minority of the population. Said that the real problems are coming there..as you might expect from a group that was displaced from power.

Things of note that I took away:

1. He said the media's depiction isn't even close to what's going on over there. He said he doesn't believe there is deliberate deception, but that the reporters are carted around in armored vehicles called Trojans...they live in compounds away from the people...and they're taken to the worst spots, while rarely seeing what's really going on. He said the Iraq he sees while he's there and the Iraq he sees on TV when he's back home are like 2 entirely different places.

2. He said he's been involved in many different aid programs in many different countries who have been war-torn. He said that there is a real feeling among Iraqis that anything is possible...and by that, he means that it could go very bad or very good...but that truly, anything is possible. Talked about what a remarkable change that was from Saddam.

3. Said the people in Iraq were not nearly as concerned with the American prisoner abuse as you might think...but that it offended the hell out of the surrounding nations. Said the Iraqi people he came in contact with associate that prison with decades of a tyrant...not with this abuse. Talked about how disgusted and ashamed he was as an American aid worker in Iraq when that story broke.

4. Said the people's fear of Saddam was just staggering. Saddam set up a system like Hitler did where kids were to rat on their parents if they said something bad about Saddam or his regime. This guy was in an apartment with a couple of Iraqi families when the news broke that they captured Saddam. As the pictures of Saddam came through, there was absolute silence in the room. No one commented on how bad he looked. He asked one of them about it later and they commented that you would never say anything bad about Saddam for fear your kids might hear you and talk.

5. Said the story the news here is not telling is how booming the Iraqi economy is right now. And that the wealth is filtering down big time...not controlled by the wealthy class as it is in Saudi and other places in the Middle East. Talked about it as pure capitalism, for better or for worse. Tons of stolen cars from Europe are showing up in Iraq and being sold for 2000 American dollars, the currency of choice in Iraq. Laughed about the lack of infrastructure to support the kind of traffic they're seeing now. Also said that satellite TV is EVERYWHERE! And they get more channels from around the world than we do.

6. Said it's very much like Chicago in the 20's there. Guns everywhere. Gangs control turf and fight over it.

7. Said the British are well-received in the south where the war is looked upon more favorably than the central portion of the country. Said they have set up a police-control type situation similar to what they did in Ireland for so long.

As I remember other things I'll share them. But I thought this was really interesting because it was the viewpoint of one who had actually been there living among the people.

 

I signed up for his email update list. I'll let you know if I learn anything. He was just a guest speaker during our Sunday school hour...not a member of our church.

 

Another funny story...

he said they have been busy putting in power lines. but a gang stole the lines and tried to sell them the next day at a market!!!

so the coalition put the power lines back up and now pays that same gang to defend them.

 

i have the information at home...i'll try to remember to bring it to work and share it with you guys. i think they have a website, as well. definitely a Christian bent, to be sure. and he talked about the spread of Christianity throughout Iraq as well through an "underground church."

i asked him about the church in Iraq during Saddam's regime. He said Saddam made a deal with some churches in the south...that they could stay as long as they didn't associate with muslims and kept to themselves. then he would hold up the existence of these churches as evidence that he was really a nice and tolerant guy!

now those churches are under attack big time. which has led to the "underground church" which is big in the north of the country and spreading down south. the guy said new ideas are everywhere, and Christianity seems to be one of those.

 

A lady at our church...a very old lady...stood up and in a very angry voice said, "why is our media lying to us about this???"

he said he didn't think it was lying...but that the media itself wasn't really getting the story...that they weren't really exposed to what life in iraq is really like. he did say there were some british journalists, though, who interviewed him and when he answered their questions, one of the guys smiled and said, "thanks for your time, but those aren't the answers we were looking for."

 

I promised I'd bring back the name of the group this guy works with....

it's called Millennium Relief & Development Services

www.mrds.org