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Iraq: One Year Later
Matt Bramanti | Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Editor’s note: This is the third in a five-part series examining issues in the Iraq War.Just over a year ago, the world watched as American bombers began their “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, paving the way for the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of the country. But not everyone watched the Iraq War and its aftermath on television. Many figures with connections to Notre Dame have seen the situation in Iraq up-close. The PriestAmong them is Father Mike Baxter, who traveled to Iraq in December 2002 under the sponsorship of Voices in the Wilderness, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to ending the economic sanctions on Iraq. The group’s Web site boasts that it has organized “over 70 delegations to Iraq in deliberate violation of U.N. economic sanctions and U.S. law.”Baxter, an outspoken critic of the war, is a theology professor and a fellow in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.During the trip, Baxter and other representatives of religious, humanitarian and peace groups went to Baghdad, as well as the northern city of Mosul and Basra in the country’s south.Baxter said the trips’ purpose was to understand the potential effects of the increasingly likely war.”It was really to come to know some Iraqis personally, and to come to a better grasp of their situation,” Baxter said. “We wanted to see what their plight was probably going to be during and after the war.”He said that the collapse of the Saddam Hussein-led government has led to positive and negative consequences for the average Iraqi civilian.”People no longer live in the fear of him,” Baxter said. “But on the other hand it’s a much less secure place.”Baxter said he was concerned that sectarian disputes could lead to Muslim backlashes against Iraq’s small Christian population.”Just from being there, you could tell the country was going to split along certain factions,” he said. “[Christians] were concerned that by quickly taking away the Baathist regime, they would suffer.””Saddam Hussein put a quash to religious fanaticism of any sort, and that tended to benefit the Christians.” Baxter worries that the U.S.-led occupation could lead to a sort of religious imperialism, prompting violence from Iraqis.”Now you have American bible-thumpers in there who are telling Muslims they have to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior,” Baxter said. “There will be more [backlash] in the coming years.”He criticized the Bush administration’s attempts to justify the war in religious terms.”A lot of the Muslims there interpreted this invasion as a sort of Christian crusade,” Baxter said. “You have people like George Bush saying ‘God bless America’ and leading the invasion … you have neoconservatives thinking this was a just war.”He said the future of U.S. foreign policy should be rooted in peace, not war.”What we need are Christians who embody the peace of Christ, who live in such a way that the peace is not a sentiment or a thought, but an essential part of their lives,” Baxter said. “Part of my reason for going over there was to be part of that witness, even for a short period of time.”The SoldierCapt. Angela Hennessey has also seen Iraq firsthand, but in a very different capacity. She commanded the headquarters company of the 5th Engineer Battalion, part of the 4th Infantry Division, in Iraq. The unit, based in Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., was stationed in Taji, some 30 miles north of Baghdad.Hennessey said the lack of modern conveniences made her work difficult. Even things like basic hygiene became luxuries in the parched desert.”I didn’t get a shower for 84 days, and then it was a wooden stall with a garbage can full of water on top,” Hennessey laughed. “Before that, it was baby wipes and a bottle of water, huddled underneath a poncho.””Think about going back in time, but trying to accomplish the same missions you were trained to do,” she said.Those missions consisted of logistical support, providing supplies and utilities to her unit. At the outset of the war, Hennessey was tasked with setting up reliable supplies of food and water, without the benefits of electricity or refrigeration. Hennessey said the heat provided unique challenges.”Refrigerators just don’t work when it’s 120 degrees out,” she said. “And if you leave a bottle of water on the dashboard for 30 minutes, it would be hotter than a cup of coffee.”In addition to logistical work, her company also “adopted” four local schools, helping organize contractors to repair dilapidated facilities. The unit also delivered school supplies and basic medical provisions to local civilians.Hennessey said being a woman in a male-dominated society attracted helpful attention to her efforts.”The Arab men were just astounded,” she said. “They were so intrigued with women in the U.S. Army.” Out of the 163 soldiers in her unit, 23 were women, including mechanics, cooks, clerks and communications specialists. Under U.S. military policy, women are barred from serving in nearly all combat roles.”When I went out to the schools, everyone came out to see me. The sheik of the town even came out to shake my hand.”She said she hopes her work in improving Iraqi schools has a lasting impact on the children of that country.”If the kids grow up remembering the moment when a U.S. soldier gave them something, maybe they’ll grow up to like Americans,” she said. She recalled an instance when an Iraqi woman came to the soldiers, complaining of stomach troubles, and was handed a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.”They thought it was just the best stuff in the world, because they didn’t even have that,” Hennessey said.But not all the response was positive, however. Hennessey said the grandson of the sheik who had helped her efforts in the local schools was shot in an effort to intimidate the leader.But the thing she missed most was her family.”I missed talking to my husband and communicating with my family back home,” she said. “Being in that circumstance can be very lonely.” Her husband, Capt. Bart Hennessey, is also an instructor in the Fighting Irish Battalion.Hennessey had been married less than two weeks when her unit was deployed to Iraq. In the weeks leading up to the war, she didn’t know if she would even be able to make the wedding, held in Sacred Heart Basilica on campus.”By January, we were living week to week,” she said. “Every day, I was coming to work ready to go.””I had my family notified, my will written and my bags packed – all the things you do before you go to war.”Despite the sacrifices, Hennessey said she’s proud to have served. “Being back, I feel like time stopped for a year and now we’re catching up,” she said. “But that’s part of being in the army.”The PoliticianLast August, Rep. Chris Chocola viewed the effects of the war he voted for. The Republican, who represents Indiana’s 2nd District – including Notre Dame – traveled to Iraq with 10 other members of Congress.Chocola said he was interested to see if the media coverage surrounding the war accurately reflected what was really happening.”On my way over there, I had a little fear and trepidation,” he said. “All the news and TV stories looked like a bleak picture.”However, Chocola said he found a very different Iraq.”For every tragedy you see on TV, there are literally thousands of successes,” the first-term congressman said. “Schools were being reopened, power was coming on above pre-war levels, the economy worked.””The tragedies we see on TV happen … but there is another side of the story: We’re winning the war on terror.”He said the worst such tragedies came long before the war, wreaked by the Baathist regime.”In the Babylon area, we went to a mass gravesite where over 15,000 people were buried,” Chocola said. “Civilians were very happy that they were no longer under Saddam Hussein’s regime.”However, Chocola acknowledged that there are still dangers on the horizon. He said he was concerned about recent developments in Spain. Days after coordinated terrorist attacks killed 190 people on commuter trains in that country, Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was elected prime minister. Zapatero has pledged an immediate withdrawal of all Spanish troops from Iraq.”If terrorists think they can influence an election, that’s a cause for great concern,” Chocola said. “It’s yet to be seen how the new Spanish government reacts to this.”Chocola said he is confident that the U.S. will help transform the face of Iraq.”I’m very hopeful and optimistic about our success there,” he said. “The troops are doing a tremendous job.””Iraq can be a model for stability and democracy in the Middle East, where there isn’t a lot of that.”