A report from the Provincial Reconstruction Team Front.

Joe Honan reports in from Embedded Reconstruction Team Ramadi. This is not your Uncle's DoD, as Joe is a surface sailor from JFCOM who's working with the Marines as an agriculture facilitator. It's too bad the Navy doesn't get it about sailors like Joe. Mind you, it's taken the Army long enough to "get it" but they do.

What's important about this picture?

Joe's caption says what's important: "Route Michigan traffic jam. Last year it was empty except for US soldiers trading shots with Al Qaeda." Emphasis mine.

Let's turn it over to Joe.

Sorry again for the delay in updating, but it's been a busy couple of weeks for me here. With security in the province getting better, we've been able to really take a long term look at the country around us. That means rather than just responding to crisis (like the emergency sheep feed program I'm working) we are really trying to get a handle on the whole agricultural system, what the needs are to make some quick fixes before the fall planting season and what the long term solutions are. That means I've been out most of the days these past weeks having meetings with various Iraqi officials district councils and farmers trying to get "the lay of the land."

Main issues are water and inputs. The place can be self-sustaining, growing the feed for animals and providing pasturage if they can get the water from the river to the fields. That takes power, and with electricity and gas in short supply, it's hard. Then there are the areas that need repair, and add on the inefficient flood irrigation (water flows to the fields in dirt ditched, shovel an opening, flood the field, shovel it closed again) and you've got a lot of acres that can't be cultivated. Add on issues getting inputs like good seed, fertilizer and herbicides and its hard to feed yourself, never mind truck surplus to market. Like anything else here, its all connected, so without seed, irrigated land stays empty, and without gas the tractors don't plow. Add on issues about finance so farmers can get loans, land ownership laws, and foreign policy, its gets confusing pretty quickly. I like asking open ended questions "so...you getting any government subsidies?" and just letting them talk.

Of course sometimes that leads to some difficult conversations.

Interpreter: "He says that the problem is that the young men think farming is too hard, and they join the army or the police because the money is better."
Me: "Uhh...yeah...Tell him that's too bad, but I can't help him there."

At one local council meeting (mostly tribal sheiks, since they get elected) I gave a quick update on the progress we had made, what information I needed about irrigation and sheep. What I heard next was:
Guy in the back pointing his finger at me, talking angrily and me hearing the occasional "Ameriki."
Lead sheik (actually a young guy) speaks conversationally and then everyone laughs.

What happened was the guy in back said that a problem was Turkey cutting the amount of water coming down the Euphrates, because they were building dams. America, which was the greatest power in the world, should go to Turkey and tell them to stop.

The Sheik told a story about his grandfather, when the irrigation was mostly rainfall based. It was dry, and a few of his people came and demanded he do something about it. "He replied, who am I God? Only he can make it rain." (Being part Irish I enjoy answering questions with amusing personal anecdotes.) His point was that they have their own government, and they can't rely on the US to do everything. That's an interesting development I've seen, most of the men I've worked with understand that they need to be reconnected to their own government before any real lasting change. They have security, a chance to send their kids to school without fear that they will be killed, and good local government. However this is a socialistic society, and without the help of the ministries in Baghdad they can't do it.

They're working on it. I spoke to the local Farmer's Federation about the lack of feed for their sheep (3 year drought) and they wanted to meet the provincial governor to talk about their issues. I told them that I'd see what I could do with the governor, but in the meantime they should gather letters from their farmers describing how they are being affected to present to the governor at the meeting. They said "We want the coalition forces there so they can hear what the governor promises." I said "You want the local paper and radio reporters there so all the voters hear what he promises." You could see the switch click on. There's an election in September, and the power inherent in the electorate only exists if they know, and the politicians know, its there.

(That Irish part I have? It's Boston Irish. I know how the game is played.)

We really are trying to build an airplane while it's flying. You can't just stop government and vital services like clean water while you assess and repair the purification system. You have to keep going along maintaining basic function, handling emergencies and doing long range solutions at the same time. Also keep in contact with the four or five other US organizations out there doing the same thing. Oh, and keep an eye on the security situation too.

Like any military organization, there is an underground group here called the "Morale Suppression Team" working against any fun here. (Think of the Illuminati as run by the Grinch). Anyway I had a run in with them last week.

MST: Hey you want to go on R&R? Four days in Qatar?
Me: Yeah sure I guess so
You're not excited? You can have a few beers and relax at the pool.
Really?
We'll send you early, you can go with Peeto and Izzy, and they're fun guys.
Oh wow, this should be great!
So you're excited?
Yeah!
Ooooh...sorry weather's bad. No flights out.

You can't crush anyone's spirit unless its been raised to begin with.

Anyway, I've added a few pictures. Enjoy

The link above is a .pdf of the pics Joe sent along with the update.

Joe notes: This shot shows the kids 2 seconds after they realize I don't have any candy - but the Marines on the other side of the HMMWV do...!"