Uncle Robert,

I have a friend in Hawaii who has asked me to write about some of my experiences over here. She is trying to push a few people off the fence for the upcoming elections and wanted my personal insights into what I have seen. Here is a story I wrote for her that I thought you might like to read.

Here's a story for you about a man named Abbas Al-Janabi. Just another hard to pronounce arabic name? There's a lot more to him than that. Abbas was a good father, a good business man and a friend. Abbas was your average everyday Iraqi citizen. He started working with the U.S. Army in 2003 by procuring and selling goods to different units. He could get you anything you needed or wanted; from print cartridges, office furniture and supplies, satellite TV, cell phones to labor. He charged fair prices and never asked to make a profit on the labor he provided. He asked that we pay the workers directly so they could make more money. I met Abbas a couple of days after I arrived in Iraq. He was introduced to me by my counterpart in the unit we replaced and given a very good reference.

Abbas recognized early on that things were changing drastically in his country and he didn't want to get left behind. He decided to become an entrepreneur. Most importantly, he also recognized the value of fair business practices. He was very personable and humble. After he learned that I was married, he asked me the name of my wife. He never forgot her name and would ask me if Amy was well every time I saw him. He had a family too. His wife's name is Imam and he had a son and two daughters. A few weeks ago, he told me about how he was fixing up his house. Most of the homes in Baghdad are surrounded by garbage, dust and rubble. He told me how he had cleaned it all up and had installed a swimming pool in his back yard. He was very proud of his swimming pool. One could say he was living the American Dream, only he was an Iraqi, living in Baghdad.

That dream came to end at 2:00 a.m. on August 1, 2004. Some people didn't like that Abbas was prosperous. Some people didn't like the fact that because he was working hard, he was able to provide for his family and even have a few luxuries. These people decided that Abbas and his family didn't deserve to live. They crashed into his home and shot and killed everyone in the house. Not only was Abbas murdered, but so was his 11 year-old son, his brother and his brother's two young children. Then they looted his home. Luckily, Imam and their two daughters were staying with family that night, or they would have been murdered too. I have asked Abbas if he ever recieved threats. His response was always to shrug his shoulders and say something to the affect that is part of the world he lives in and that threats like that are rarely carried out. He never went anywhere without his MP5 submachine gun. I wish he would have had the opportunity to use it.

What these people did was pure evil. It was completely inhuman. The worst part about it is they will never be held accountable for what they did. One of our workers was Abbas' next door neighbor. According to him, these people did not murder Abbas because he was doing business with Americans. They murdered him only because of what he had. We Americans certainly have our own version of class envy, but this is ridiculous!

Abbas is gone now and those of us who knew him, miss him. I lost a friend. All but one of his workers quit their high paying jobs that I gave them because they were afraid that they would be next. The high paying jobs that I gave them earned them $10 per day to fill sandbags, pick up garbage, move cement bags and do carpentry work. This is about twice as much as they can make working anywhere else. Many of them used to work for Saddam building his palaces. Saddam paid them $2 per day.

The one worker who stayed on, Fuad, has decided to take his life into his own hands. Fuad is an unassuming little fellow. He stands a slender 5'4" high or so, doesn't speak a lick of English and favors wearing chino pants, a golf shirt and a fishing hat. He has recruited a new work force and become the "boss". This earned him a raise to $20 per day (more than most doctors make). He has also decided to take over Abbas' role as a vendor. Fuad knows what he's getting into. He is no stranger to violence. He has a plastic leg because an insurgent mortar round took his real leg. He also has some grotesque scars on his arm, chest and abdomen from his encounter with that mortar round. Fuad has picked up the dream and is running with it. Fuad wants to move up to the middle class. I wish him the best and hope that he succeeds. When the violence in Iraq is finally stopped, it will be people like Abbas and Fuad who will take their country to success. American servicemembers may be the heros in most Americans minds, and they should be, but guys like Abbas and Fuad should be the heros of the Iraqi people. They have the same drive to build something that made America as great as it is. They can do it here, we just need to give them the chance.

A lot of people have asked, why we are here. The short answer is that we are here to protect American interests. What then, are the bases of American interests? To me the simple answer to this question is to replace tyrany with freedom and liberty. I watched a speech by President Bush yesterday as he addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars. His position is that free societies are peaceful societies and I agree with him. He said that we are trying to help Iraq and Afghanistan develop into free societies and he hopes that it will spread to other parts of the region. I agree with and support his efforts 100%. It is a worthwhile effort.

People never hear about the individuals involved in this process. They hear from the "retired generals club" (arm-chair quarterbacks), the critics, nay-sayers and everything negative. We hear terms like "quagmire" and "shock and awe". We hear the statistics about how many servicemembers have been killed since it all started, but we never hear about what those people did. How many people's lives did they impact? How many times did they help out a family? How many times did they make a child smile? How many lives did they save, Americans or otherwise?

Where is the reporting on all the great things we have done over here? I see Iraqis denouncing the Americans on TV everyday just like you do. I have an advantage over you though. I have driven the streets of Baghdad and I've been out in the countryside. You know what I see? I see people waving and cheering us everywhere we go. I see children on the side of the road fascinated by all the big trucks they see rolling by. I see the smile on their faces when you throw an old man a cold bottle of water as you drive by. I see the delight in kids' eyes when you toss them candy, or sometimes more importantly, a meal. They don't hate us and they certainly aren't afraid of us. You have to almost beat the kids off with a stick whenever you stop on a street. When they do this, their parents aren't far away, watching to make sure junior doesn't get in trouble, but always with a wave and a smile for us "evil" Americans. Where is the reporting on that? What about all the people who now have water, sewer and electric service for the first time in more than 13 years? You'll never see a story on CNN about that. What about when we find families squatting in stables or garbage dumps, then help them to find a place to live? Ever see a story on CNN about that? You won't hear about it, but it happens. I know it happens because I have done it. Just last week I helped relocate six families who were squatting in some of Saddam's old horse stables into homes.

I've seen first hand that this place is in a shambles, but it's not from this war. Sure you see the odd bombed out building here and there that was most likely bombed by the Coalition, but the rest is a result of neglect on the part of an evil dictator who let his people slip into or close to poverty while he hoarded money and built palaces. I heard it said on a documentary that Iraq is a first world country that was put under the rule of a third world dictator for 30 years. It's true. This country has the resources to be one of the most prosperous in the world, yet it has all been wasted. We hope to change that.

I wanted to share Abbas' story because he was a part of all of this. He was a real person with a real life that was cut short by evil. It is the same brand of evil that killed so many Americans on September 11, 2001. There are literally thousands of stories in Iraq similar to those of Abbas Al-Janabi. These are stories of good people, who only want to live free and have the opportunity for success. They are not religious fanatics. They have their faith, the same as most Americans do, but they don't try to force it on anyone and only want to live in peace. Unfortunately, like Abbas' fate, many of these stories end in tragedy. Stuff like this happens over here every day. Do you ever see stories like this on the news? Is there ever an outrage or a call for justice? Abbas was not filthy rich, he was middle class. Imagine if this happened in America. The media coverage would be overwhelming. There would be countless hours of coverage on the manhunt for the killers and then the trial would be a complete circus dominating the news for months. The reality here is that there will be no manhunt for Abbas' killers. It's not important enough to waste resources on because of all of the other nut cases who are causing more trouble than simply murdering a few innocent people in their beds in the middle of the night.

Forget about whether or not there are weapons of mass destruction, it really doesn't matter anymore and I don't think it really ever mattered. I had to come here to come to that realization. Think instead about what these people deserve and how our country will be better off in the long run when we succeed in giving it to them. They deserve the right to choose their own destiny instead of being oppressed by a minority of whackos and thugs. These are the same whackos who, if given the opportunity, would just as readily murder you and your family as they did Abbas and his family. Think about this: If we don't stop them here, they might just get that opportunity some day.
Love, Rusty
HSC 411th EN BAN, UCD Camp Victory North APO, AE 09344

PLEASE pray for our Troops and "NEVER FORGET"