July 30, 2007
The past two days have been another exercise in patience. More character building. It's good for me.
After the trip to Al Qosh, a night mission was planned. It brought together Iraqi police, Iraqi Army and US Army in an attempt to follow up on some information concerning some caches in the city. It was a full moon, clear sky, and lots of people all prepared to squash the enemy's plans to disrupt celebrations should the Iraqi soccer team win. The team won the Asia cup and the mission did not turn up anything that was searched for. It was a nice night however, it was good to see coordination among all the forces and different cultures and in the end, as is most often the case these days, no one was hurt.
That is a good thing.
On the evening of the 29th, I found myself at the MWR (morale, welfare and recreation) center trying to use the computers there. In the midst of it all, there was a large celebration going on with many local Iraqi's from all ethnicities and religions, all dancing to loud music in celebration of the Iraqi soccer victory over Saudi Arabia, (1-0), giving Iraq the Asia Cup title. I found myself watching the crowd in total jubilence over this victory. It can truly be said that this one event has in fact brought together all Iraqis into one accord. If only for a little while, then so be it. But, what I saw, in my little corner of the war at this point, gave me an insight into just how profound the transformation of Iraq can be. For hours, the celebration went on and everybody watched.
No doubt, in other parts of the country, the celebration was bigger, but here, it was just as profound, albeit somewhat smaller than other places.
Watching the Iraqis under the Iraqi flag, celebrate with all vigor something as simple as a soccer game, does give insight into the glimmer of hope that some still see in the cause for continuing the care for this place called Iraq. If all it took was just a soccer game, well so be it. Those of us here will take it with joy. War has ravaged this country for the last five years, and prior to that the previous regime held back on this type of event. But on July 29, 2007, Iraq stood tall in the world of sports.
They won the Asia Cup. It is no small feat, and although I know little about soccer, I was caught up in the celebration in the moment for the people of Iraq. One goal did more for this country in one day, than a lot of other things in recent memory.
The enemies of Iraq did try to quell the victory and there were car bombs in Baghdad and other places, yet the people still rejoiced. Seeing the faces of the Iraqis at the MWR center in Mosul, one does not see a Kurd, or a Sunni, or a Shia, or a Christian...one only saw Iraqis celebrating an Iraqi victory. There is hope and perhaps in this little game of soccer, just as it was with ping-pong when China opened up in the early 70's, there is light, faint maybe, but there is light swallowing up darkness.
This week will see a media circus in Mosul. All the big networks are coming. That never impresses me.
It's like a good fly-fishing spot on a river in the Pacific Northwest being ransacked by yuppie city slickers on opening day of trout season. Not something I like to witness. Some are already here and the problems are already happening. Might be a good time to lay low and find other things to do.
We'll see. There is always something interesting to find.
In the mean time, I'll ride the bus that has no air conditioning and maybe find out why that is in 125-degree heat. Or maybe I'll find out why the computers never seem to work as they were designed to.
The civilian contractors always tell me it's somebody else's job. Maybe I could find that guy. Or maybe I'll just keep wandering around camp meeting all kinds of interesting people telling me life stories of this and that while we walk to chow. There are times that it might seem mundane, yet, it's an exciting mundaneness at that. For as the days click by, there will come a time when it will be time to leave and then the experience will only be a memory coupled with an historical account of what one man saw on walk-about in Iraq.
The big media folks will be rushing up here this week to ask the one question of General Mixon. When are we leaving Iraq...? If the question was asked to me, and if I was in a position to speak, I would simply say, "when we're done...!" I'm not done yet.
Jim Spiri
FOB Marez, Mosul-Iraq
jimspiri@yahoo.com
Comments (3)
Great post. Keep up the good job. We need to hear the truth. Thank-you.
Posted by Martha | July 31, 2007 6:00 PM
Posted on July 31, 2007 18:00
Dad-
Because you are embedded with the troops and see what takes place on a day-to-day basis, do you find it harder or easier to stay impartial and objective regarding America's involvement in Iraq? By the way, I love the photos, interviews, and articles you have posted and learn so much more from them than I do a 30 second clip from any national "all-news" tv network. Keep up the good work and stay safe.
-Moriah
Posted by Moriah | August 1, 2007 9:58 PM
Posted on August 1, 2007 21:58
Hey, I think its great what you are doing. Giving us the truth about what is really going on in Iraq.I pray the Lord will bless you for the things you are doing.
Posted by Jose Lopez | August 17, 2007 10:11 AM
Posted on August 17, 2007 10:11