New Hampshire Soldier in Iraq Shares his Ongoing Story Part 3

  Below is an article that appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader. It is written by a soldier from New Hampshire who is serving in Iraq.His name is Col. Jonathan Sistare and he has been sharing his story, here is part one, and part two.

  Part three:

Editor’s note: Jonathan Sistare, the Jaffrey town manager recently hired by Salem, is a lieutenant colonel assigned to the 94th Regional Readiness Command at Devens, Mass. He was mobilized last July and deployed in September to serve in Iraq as a team chief for a Brigade National Police Transitional Team.

June 3- July 6

The return trip from my leave went by very quickly, mostly I guess because I got lucky with all my connections from Boston to Baghdad. I left Boston on Saturday, June 2nd, and arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday, June 5th. While wishing to be other places, like back home, I was in some way anxious to get back to my team and see the guys I’ve been working with for almost a year. They had all done well while I was gone, managing things just fine without me. However, in that each of us has our particular duties they were at least happy to have me back so I could resume mine, and they could resume theirs.

Upon my return I found that our team had moved from the old shopping center where we had been since about March 1st to the FOB (Forward Operating Base) where we had been from late December to the end of February. Things don’t always make sense in the Army, and people make the best decisions they can with what information they have available at the time, but our move to the shopping center didn’t make much sense as it put us about eight miles farther from the National Police Brigade with whom we work. Driving any extra distance in Baghdad is not a wise move for any of us. Someone finally saw that our location didn’t make sense and the plans were made to move us back to FOB Loyalty. We’re happy to be back here as it is close to our Iraqi partners, and our living conditions are much better, for which we are all grateful.

The fight against the insurgents continues in Sadr City, and will for some time. Our  National Police Brigade commander, my counterpart, is doing his best to squash the insurgency, but the elements of the Jaysh al-Mahdi, or JAM, (al-Sadr’s militia) are very powerful, relentless and evil. They influence and intimidate the local police and the National Police by threatening to kill them, or their families. It’s not a pretty picture here and can get be quite overwhelming. The JAM is essentially a mafia organization, and al-Sadr might as well be al-Capone of the 1920s in Chicago. His influence is everywhere and it takes a lot of courage on the part of the local law enforcement and military to overcome that. I can only imagine the pressure on my counterpart on how he deals with this. I see it in him and how it wears him out. Some days he just wants to get away from it all. Who can blame him?

I’ve adjusted my role lately to be as supportive of him as I can be with his situation and talk to him about what I know of American history and how people in our history who have been in his place have stood fast against the wrongs of the world. On many occasions I have told him that the future of Iraq is in the hands of people like him to rise above the corruption and the influences upon him and to do what is right for his country. He knows what is right and what he has to do, but no one I have ever met in my life has to deal with the pressure he has upon him every day. I’ve only read about people like him in history books. Perhaps someday Iraqi history books will write about him and others like him who are working in Iraq now to put an end to this violence .

Fourth of July

One of the ways I try to support him or give him the chance to have a little fun is to take him to special occasions whenever I can. This past winter when Gen. Casey was leaving command, my counterpart had wanted to give him a departing gift. I told of the story about trying to get a few minutes of Gen. Casey’s time. Recently, I was given a ticket to the Fourth of July celebration at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by our Civil Affairs team. The ticket was for Ali, my counterpart. I gave it to him and he wanted me to join him so I had to hook myself up with an invitation. We went to the event, and saw some people he and I had dealt with over the past nine months. One of the American generals we had met months ago was there and Ali went right up to him and said hello. The general was very pleased to see him and we talked for quite a while. The American general said he was surprised to see Ali there. I guess he was right as I looked around and didn’t see any other Iraqi generals at the event. I’m not sure how Ali got an invitation, but I’m glad he did.

The Iraqi Prime Minister and President were there, as well as the American ambassador and Gen. Petraeus. They all gave speeches. I looked behind me at one point and saw an Iraqi who looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him. I asked my interpreter who he was and he said he was the judge that presided at the Saddam trial. After the speeches, I spoke to the judge telling him he was my hero. He laughed it off and wished me a Happy 4th. This judge is another guy that might be in the Iraqi history books someday. He’s the one guy that so many other Iraqis wanted to be for all the years of the Saddam reign of terror. He got to preside over Saddam’s trial, and did it with dignity from what I saw, and sentenced Saddam to what he deserved.

After being back here for a month, and not feeling much interested in writing this journal as all I saw around me was unpleasantness, I thought during this Fourth of July celebration, “Wow, I’ve finally got something to write about.” My “high” on the event was quickly soured. Toward the end of the celebration, my cell phone went off and I got a call from one of my officers. He told me that our interpreter, Tony, was shot while on patrol. They rushed him to the nearest U.S. facility and gave him immediate aid. He was then flown to the International Zone to the Combat Support Hospital (CSH). He was shot in the upper part of the neck and the bullet came out his mouth, taking four teeth with it. We were in the IZ at the time at the Embassy. We stopped by the CSH, which is right down the road and saw Tony as he was getting wheeled into surgery. We came back the next day and Tony was sitting up looking good. He’s a happy, jolly kind of guy and his spirits didn’t seem to be too diminished. He couldn’t talk, as his mouth and neck are healing. He was happy to write us notes about his feelings. I was uplifted by one note where he said he couldn’t wait to get back with the team to take on the fight with the insurgents. His English is quite good (all of it!) and he actually used a few different words that I can’t repeat here. After going through such trauma and being so close to getting killed, Tony’s energy and determination gave me strength to continue on here as best we can. Maybe Iraqi history will also tell of people like Tony, who risked their lives to help the Americans provide assistance to their country when their country needed it.

History being made

When I stop and think about it, I am watching history being made every day and the Iraqis who are making it. I see Ali every day struggling to combat corruption and terror in his area of responsibility. I see Tony, a typical Iraqi who has the gift of being able to speak Arabic and English, and his desire to help the Americans who are trying to help his fellow countrymen – and nearly getting killed in the process. And, once in a while, I see people like the judge who sentenced Saddam and had the courage to preside over the trial of a madman. These people are Iraqi heroes. I hope what they are doing today will be remembered as we remember the heroes from our history.

I guess what helps me keep properly oriented is to remember our history and realize that just four years after our country’s birth, America had a lot to resolve within its borders. Heck, some 85 years after our country’s birth we all got so mad at each other that we fought a civil war for four long years killing hundreds of thousands of our fellow countrymen. If Iraq was given a rebirth of freedom in 2003 when Saddam was taken out, then they will need time to get themselves together, just as we did.

Americans getting killed and hurt in the process is very tough and difficult for us to deal with, trust me I’ve seen it up close and personal and it is truly beyond words to describe, but without us here now, this country is not going to make it. That’s the truth, plain and simple.