From Helsinki, to Moscow, and back to perils of Iraq

Originally published in Cumberland Times-News in June 24, 2005

Editor’s note: Phil Smith, a 1963 graduate of Ridgeley High School, moved around the United States until the mid-1990s when he became a consultant in developing countries. His work has taken him to Kazakhstan, Russia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Currently residing in Moscow, he has kept journals of his travels. The following are excerpts from those times.

Baghdad, Iraq July 2004

Well, here we go again! I got a call two weeks ago to see if I could travel to Baghdad to establish the budgets and set up the financial reporting systems for the office of the new interim prime minister of the new Iraqi government. Sounded interesting but I wasn’t in Moscow and was just getting the new Russian visa for the next year. I told them I needed to travel back to Moscow from Helsinki, Finland,
and needed a few days to unpack and repack for the trip to Iraq.

Then I got back to Moscow and realized that the turnover of the government from the Coalition Provisional Authority to the new prime minister, president and Council of Ministries had occurred before the scheduled date. However, because of security considerations, no travel was being allowed in and out of the country during the week of July 1. So I couldn’t travel until July 4 (and a happy Independence Day to you, too!).

We arrived in Kuwait at 6 a.m. on July 6. We were taken to the Hilton Hotel and put in a villa which is leased fulltime by the British Embassy. There was a kitchen, dining room, living room, sitting room and five or six bedrooms with about 12 beds.

Outside in the very nice garden was a swimming pool. And it was all about 25 steps to the Arabian Gulf.

The only problem with schedules like this is we only had four hours to get ready for the flight to Baghdad. So we each took a bedroom (there was no one else there at the moment) and had a short nap.

We were picked up by the embassy staff at 10 a.m. and taken to the military airport in Kuwait. We finally were loaded and took off at about 2 p.m. By the way, there was no air conditioning and no covered waiting area (except a hot tent). So we were being slowly baked in the temperatures that were over 100 F.

We arrived at Ocean Cliffs, the name given to the residential facility by someone with a bit of a sense of humor. Actually the living quarters are on the first level of a parking garage in a very secure area next to the convention center. (The roof provides a good cover from potential mortars or rockets.) The offices were we work are a few hundred yards away. There are separate toilets and showers for men and women. And there is a bar/recreation room that is opened each evening. There is satellite TV with several stations including CNN international. The facilities are much better than the set up used last year in Basrah.

Within the Green Zone we are allowed to walk around without the armor or helmet. We can drive in one vehicle within the zone as long as we tell our bodyguards where we are going.

On Monday afternoon we started work as soon as we arrived.

We are supposed to wear our flak jackets when we are outside moving from the luxury accommodations to the offices. I don’t wear mine unless we go out of the Green Zone.

I was introduced around to the heads at the offices of the prime minister (PM) and president. Plus we had a meeting with the director general of the Council of Ministries (the Cabinet).

Iraq is hot this time of year. By Wednesday the temperature during the day was over 50 C or 122 F. And I forgot to bring a hat – absolutely brilliant. During the evening and night, the temperature drops to about 40 C or 105 F. The soldiers are all out there in this weather with flak jackets, helmets and full gear. I don’t envy them at all. We have been told August will be a bit warmer. Last year the hottest day when I was here was about 52 C or about 128 F. Looks like I might have a new personal record set this time.

Ocean Cliffs, our home away from home, is an interesting setup. Each unit has accommodations for two people – bed, chair, end table, small table and closet for each person. There are about 50 units with the current total population of about 70.

At night the bar becomes their local pub and it is a bit noisy. My unit is not close so I don’t hear them too much until they start going to bed and slamming doors. The British Embassy is also in the Green Zone. We can eat there and the food is very good.

(I found a knit shirt that I bought. On the pocket, it read “Baghdad, Iraq.” On the back it had, “The Green Zone: The ultimate gated community.”)