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John Smith (right) with Hussen Jowd, a butcher Lt. Col. Mary Ann Ante-Amburgey with Halima al Nueimi, head of the Department of Women in Ramadi, Iraq. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
Transcending the scenes of combat and violence on TV news, two Fredericksburg-area residents are part of a new mission in Iraq--helping rebuild lives, businesses and a battered society.
John Smith, 55, who lives in Sparta in Caroline County, works for the State Department in Baghdad, part of an embedded provisional reconstruction team. The teams, which attach to a military unit, help foster political reconciliation between various sects. They also build up the local capacity for Iraqis to govern themselves, and they assist with economic programs to get the country's battered economy back on its feet.
Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Mary Ann Ante-Amburgey, 51, of Fredericksburg recently returned from Iraq after serving on a provisional reconstruction team working with women, children and physicians in Ramadi, about 68 miles west of Baghdad.
The two recently talked to The Free Lance-Star about their missions in Iraq:
SMITH: building up government, economy
"In Baghdad, we were one of nine teams serving with a military brigade," Smith said in a telephone interview from Iraq. He's working in an area south of the capital known as the Sunni "Triangle of Death," an area notorious for sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslim factions.
When he arrived last September, "That area was 100 percent kinetic. You go by the grace of God," he said. But, thanks to the troop surge that began in January 2007, "there's a difference of night and day" in how much violence has declined, he said.
U.S. military officials last week reported fewer than 200 attacks per week in Iraq over the past 10 weeks. That compares to an average of 1,500 weekly attacks over the same period two years ago. Attacks in Afghanistan, however, have been increasing.
Smith said that as soldiers secured an area, "We were right behind them on the ground working on setting up local governments, town councils" and helping small businesses.
"It's very rural, with farming and agriculture being the principal form of economics, so we were engaged with local farmers," he said.
Working with Smith were representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agency for International Development, which provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.
In a country with a tribal culture, getting to know individual Iraqis was key, he said.
"They know how to farm and how to make money. But you have to build relationships of trust once you reach that acceptance into the community," he said.
He spends at least five days a week in the field, "walking dusty roads and engaging the local population. Now we're starting to see the fruits of our labor and the power of friendships."
On one of his trips to meet with small businesses, he met Hussen Jowd, a butcher in Arab Jabour, along the Tigris River south of Baghdad.
"Under four poles and a roof of goatskins, he'd butcher a goat about every two weeks," Smith said.
Jowd then got a microloan from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. He expanded his herd and built a new storage building with a refrigerator, all with the Americans' help.
Smith stopped by the shop recently.
"He's now butchering more sheep and a few cows. His son is running part of the operation, and he's opened a small restaurant. Now he has a herd of over 70 goats and he's marketing his meat up in Baghdad."
Jowd has become a symbol of how the reconstruction effort is working. President Bush mentioned the butcher in a speech in November.
Smith's team also helped Iraqis form business associations to help budding entrepreneurs.
"One of the most recent ones, a widow--sadly there are a lot of them--was working with other widows, purchasing excess milk" from family livestock.
"It was a really thriving business. Each of these employ other people. There were many of these small success stories," he said.
ANTE-AMBURGEY: HELPING FAMILIES, DOCTORS
When Ante-Amburgey arrived in Al Anbar province, Iraq's largest, it was relatively secure. But the majority Sunni Muslim region had been an epicenter of sectarian violence and much of the population had boycotted national elections.
Her group, Task Force Ramadi, was made up of more than 100 military and civilians with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Ante-Amburgey was assigned to the provincial reconstruction team, headed up by the State Department.
The team arrived in Al Anbar to find virtually no local government or social service agencies in place, especially for women and children.
"We had to show them how to do things," she said, "how to make a difference in the community and what to do to help themselves. A lot of [women] are not educated; the last 18 years, there's been nothing but war."
The focus is much wider: "They influence the kids a lot to stay in school and not to choose insurgency. A key to a stable community is the mothers," Ante-Amburgey said, noting that many are widows, their husbands killed in the fighting.
The women needed a lot of coaching. "Al Anbar is very traditional. They don't venture out much away from home," she said.
"Then for the kids, we had to make sure they know the importance of being educated and staying in school."
In July, Ante-Amburgey helped organize a youth conference, the first of its kind in the provincial capital.
"About 150 kids did poetry, which is big in their culture. They had a musical, and mentorship by local officials about how to make a difference for the future," she said.
"In fact, the mayor said it was so good to hear the kids sing after five years" of war. Al Anbar Mayor Mahmoun Sami Rashid Alwani gave her an award for her work in the province.
Another initiative was the 2008 Al Anbar medical conference.
"There's a big brain drain. Physicians left because of the fighting," she said. Only 30-40 percent of doctors are still practicing there. And there's a lack of medical supplies and training.
"In Iraq, most doctors work for public hospitals in the morning and in private practice in the afternoons. " Ante-Amburgey said.
Ante-Amburgey got a grant from the State Department Education and Cultural Affairs Office and brought in a neurosurgeon and urologist from the states.
"They were the first two westerners over there to teach," she said.
The last two days of the conference included a brain surgery, with the U.S. neurosurgeon assisting the Iraqis.
"That was a highlight. Through the exchange of ideas and training, you can really help another country."
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
ABOUT TOM SMITH AGE: 55 HOME: Caroline County EDUCATION: Administration and justice graduate of American University, with a master's in sports medicine from Virginia Commonwealth University. BACKGROUND: Grew up in St. Louis, instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, member of the Army National Guard, police officer in Boulder, Colo., and worked in private industry. Also has worked at the State Department as diplomatic courier and in logistics management and has done tours in Germany, Finland, South Africa and the Middle East. CURRENT JOB: Working with a State Department provisional reconstruction team in Baghdad. Will return home this fall. |
ABOUT MARY ANN |
