Muntadar & Ali

Ali, who showed up first, was a 21 year old Iraqi who grew up, and still lives, in Baghdad. Muntadar was 25, same deal. But Muntadar’s brother has an American visa (a very prized commodity) and lives in Fridley, MN. But he is currently living in Basra (southern Iraq) and attempting to get his 3 month old son passage back to the U.S. with him. Muntadar got his brother, Swaz on his IRAQNA phone so I could talk to him. Swaz, it turned out, needed the phone number for someone at the embassy. I told him I did not have that number, but that I would work on getting it for him and I would call him back.

They told me all kinds of stories about what was going on in Baghdad. They said they are glad they have their jobs with Global, but they asked how much they could get paid as a security guard in America. (they get $300/month with Global) “It depends what kind of security you’re working,” I said. Most security guards in America don’t even carry guns, let alone AK-47s, but you could make anywhere from $25k - $50k depending on training and experience. They oohed and aahed.

They told me Iraq is very bad – very dangerous. I asked them to give me a primer on which neighborhoods to stay out of and which ones were possible for me to travel within. We took out my map. Muntadar circled each neighborhood where, he said, I “would most likely be beheaded.” I was grateful for the pointer. He explained, in detail, the tribal and dynamics political dynamics of each neighborhood. He said there were neighborhoods where I could go to meet people, but that I should not stay too long there. He said I should move around a lot – never stay too long in one place. He told me to ditch the glasses. I told him that’s been arranged.

Ali spoke of his uncle driving through a neighborhood when an American soldier threw a bottle of water at his car for no reason and, “damaged it.” They both thought it was good that they had American soldiers here, “but sometimes they do bad things.” They asked what the American people think of the Iraqi people. I said, “Where I come from, everybody cheers for the Iraqi people. They did not like Saddam Hussein, and they do not like the insurgents, but they want the Iraqi people to govern themselves in a democracy.” “Yes,” Muntadar said, “We would like that too, but the Americans need to remember that many of the insurgents are not from here. They came here because America was here with its army.” As far the troops being here, both believed it was necessary for now, but that it would be good if some of them were more careful.