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Iraq - life-changing project - Fate Fairies - book version
This entry was posted on 1/26/2012 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
The majority of my work during two projects in Iraq will have to be parsed into a book of its own. But, It does certainly merit reference in my first two books, Jobs of Bob, and Fate Fairies. It certainly was the closest I ever got to some real credited over seas journalism. And one can't discount the fate factor that I am lucky I still have all my fingers and toes.
The idea to go to Iraq started long before my third trip to Vietnam. Through my research into how to deal with traveling to 'Nam, I ran into some good references for getting around in "bad" places. A light bulb went on in my pea brain. I was writing about our contentious war in 'Nam thirty years after that war. Why not write about our current contentious war in Iraq...., in real-time...this time around.
Like so much in life, timing is critical. I have no children, my parents are passed away, and I have no siblings. I have been married to the same woman for 30 years and to my knowledge she is used to odd projects coming from my camp. She is also a savvy organizer.
As it turned out, said wife would be the "code interpreting" confederate, dug in State-side while I sent dispatches from at least five active war zones in the Iraq war theater: The Turks in eastern Turkey near Iraq have been at civil war with their own Kurds for decades; the Northern Iraqi Kurds are at war with the Turks; the same Iraqi Kurds are at odds with their own Arab southern Iraq countrymen; the Northern Region of Iraq is a hodgepodge of theifdoms and often warring tribes, political factions, and religious sects; and, in the middle of it all was the American military and their allies of which in the end almost 5000 were killed fighting several insurgent factions. My good sport wife, monitored and helped organize my correspondance through my whole endevor through the aforementioned hostilities.
Continuing on the timing theme, the job I worked at the time I had absolutely no interest in keeping anyway, so leaving town for two months was of no consequence. We had been living in our house for going on a decade and things were tight on that front. And Janesville is a good middle-America base of operations, just a couple hours from Chicago O'Hare airport. I was still in high gear in the throes of using the writing skills I learned in college..., and combining in life skills regarding traveling in difficult places. I also had local media connections having endured journalism training at UW-Whitewater. Then too, as it turned out to be perhaps the most important variable, there was that 10 years of eclectic medical training and experience. Three years in a Combat Engineer unit up by the old Iron Curtan in Germany during the end of 'Nam in the depths of the Cold War did not hurt either.
"There may never be another chance," was the mantra.
Two trips to Iraq then in a year and a half would by default probably be the most life-changing experiences in my life. Of course professional and big media journalists, and other people will find my efforts quaint. But, for a kid from previously humble rural means, I surprised myself at pulling it off. No embedded military work or protection - no help from "big media" - the projects were totally funded and run by...., me, and aforementioned wife.
In fact, after I returned from my first trip to Iraq, a local journalist called the State Department to make sure I had not broken the law. She did not want to be associated with an international fugitive. But the State Department lady told said incredulous young journalist, "He is an American, he can go where he wants - just don't cry on "our" shoulder if you get captured, killed, or...., worse!"
A third trip to the region and a first trip to Afghanistan would have to be put on hold. My age, my health, the economy, and the combination of all of the above have put my projects on a dead stop.
But, on the trips I did take, I negotiated crazed mafia taxi drivers; theifdoms of militias; Turks fighting Kurds; hundreds of checkpoints manned by crazy people with machine guns; Kurds fighting Arabs; Arabs fighting Arabs, Kurds, and Turks; cold mountain and desert nights; hot desert plains; travel sickness; hunger; thirst; doubting friends; doubting military public relations officers; more checkpoints; indignant journalists; and, my own battle of traveling with a temperamental heart and blood condition.
My focus was the same as my work in 'Nam..., culture. I found a gold fish shop; a plumbing shop (strange because there is usually no running water); generater shops - no electricity; tons of cigarette shops; beer shops; coffee shops; the Yazidi region and sect temple and its high priest (who was being visited by his nephew from Germany - speaking German in Iraq was odd); and, in the midst of one of the most contentious areas of Iraq near the Iranian border..., I found a bowling alley. All the aforementioned spots, were of course under the watchful eye of various malitia faction soldiers and their AK-47 machine guns.
The crazy taxi mafia took me all the way across the country twice. Their cars were junk. They took short cuts through battle zones. They used me as advertising, "Look, we got the American through the danger zone - we are your go-to taxi service in a war zone." One guy took me over the mountains, offered to take my picture above the Dokan Dam and then at the end of the drive, charged me more money for snapping the picture.
In the end, the only person that stayed on my team from beginning to end was..., my wife. Go figure. While most of the country makes art of ruined relationships, our now rather old fashioned partnership endures. Partners in crime I suppose.
This strange project of Iraq will follow me my whole life. As long as the noun/verb Google and the Internet survive, a quick search of "Iraq AND Bob Keith" will forever find me bound at the hip to said war and country. For that odd reality alone, I must grudgingly surrender to the notion that my Iraq work is to date, the most profound thing I have ever done.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
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