once upon a time in babylon... ذات مرة في بابل

تحية من بغداد!

Greetings from Baghdad!

I’ve been contemplating for a while about where to start with my experiences here in Iraq. I’ve promised so many people I would explain things in better detail – I’ve just been so incredibly busy since the day I arrived, that I haven’t had a chance to even think about it all.

For starters, let me explain what I’ve been-slash-will be doing out here. I am the reporting policy analyst for the largest USAID funded project in the world. It’s called the Local Governance Program. We were established out here to help implement the 2008 Provincial Powers Act, or Law 21, under the new Iraqi government.

I’ll be careful while explaining this in American terms, but for it to make sense, I’ll try to illustrate it as best I can.

Historically, Iraq has been governed entirely at the “federal” level. Meaning, Iraq has essentially only really had a central government. They operate with Ministries in each province (or state – in the America example) to hand out funding. The PPA attempts to dole out the power. The law calls for the election of governors for each province, as well as a Provincial Council.

Unfortunately, that’s almost all it does.

At this point in time, these elected officials essentially still have no power. They do not have the power to raise funds. They do not have the power to enact laws in their regions. They do not have the power to really affect change.

Yet.

Our mission here is to help provide technical assistance to the Iraqi leaders to help them determine what the PPA and other laws will allow them to do. We are attempting to break down the structure that existed under Saddam Hussein and the Ba’athist regime – to hopefully give the individual Iraqi, who varies just as much as any American, the ability to have a voice in the place where they live.

This is obviously easier said than done, but we are making progress and I feel like I actually get to be a part of something so much bigger than me. I originally came out here as an assistant to an incredible writer, Samer Badawi, but about the time I got here, things changed. Samer decided to take a position out in Afghanistan, and now I’m the only one working in the reporting department. After only being here for a couple weeks, I’m left with a lot of responsibility. But I feel pretty prepared. And because this work is so meaningful, I am so excited about getting to do it.

Now, you may ask, what’s it like in Baghdad?

Well I live on a compound inside the International Zone (IZ). RTI, the USAID contractor I work for, built a compound on the palace grounds of Uday Hussein, Saddam’s eldest son. The palace itself was demolished after the first surge in Baghdad. The palace was used as a bunker site, one of many, and was therefore one of the first buildings to be bombed by Coalition Forces. Its pretty cool though. Our offices are built inside his garage and front gate. He had an underground parking garage too where he kept hundreds of expensive luxury and classic vehicles. They’ve since buried the entrances and flooded it, but there are lots of rumors that many of these cars were left down there.

Uday was a pretty disgusting human being – he had a zoo (the space where our bungalows are now built) where he also kept tigers and lions. One of the lion cages is still up, next to the zoo keeper’s house, where we play pool, watch tv, and play poker. He used to pick beautiful women off the street, rape them, and then feed them to his lions and tigers. He was really brutal to Iraqi athletes, too. He was the head of the Olympic committee in Iraq … let’s just say he did really awful things.

They also have this pool, once a playground for Uday, that I go to often that is BEAUTIFUL. It’s unfortunate that it has such a disgusting former owner, but Saddam built it to help Uday recuperate after an attempt on his life left him crippled. Anyway, its pretty awesome.

The IZ is different than any other part of Iraq. It is a more secure zone, and where most government offices are. Many of Saddam’s Baghdad palaces are here, including Al-Salam, where Camp Prosperity is. I’m not allowed off our compound, even in the IZ, without another person. I can’t leave the IZ without an armed security detail. Both precautions are very good. Once I was coming back from a lunch at Camp Prosperity and the security guard pulled my head out the window to look at my badge and told me how beautiful I was. It was sort of scary. Fortunately, I had people with me.

I’ve gone to the US Embassy here a few times. It looks like a prison. It’s the largest, most expensive embassy in the world. Its like its own little country in there. Kind of awesome, but kind of strange, too. I was going there a lot for meals, but its kind of a target for missiles, so we’re not encouraged to go there. We have our own place for food, with a bunch of Danish soldiers. Its much closer and that’s usually where we go. The food is very limited and gets REALLY old, but its better to be safe.

Everyone I work with has these great life stories – I feel like I learn so much from them. I’ve had incredible opportunities to talk about the gospel here, too. We interact with many local Iraqi’s and its great to hear their perspective on religion and politics and culture and faith. I admire them so much and all the things they have been through. I want to write more on that later, but I just admire this people, very much. I love the fact that we can learn about each other’s lives and each other’s beliefs without anyone getting offended. I can pray over my meals and reference prophets and scripture and not get funny looks. It’s a really good place to be.

As far as the looks of Baghdad, it looks like a war zone. Check points everywhere, t-walls, hummers, tanks, machine guns, razor wire – you name it. Signs toppled on their sides, litter, mangy dogs… and the only people you really see are the military, mostly Iraqi, but some from Uganda, El Salvador, Peru, and, of course, the US. But Iraqi’s have taken control over the majority of the check points, so that’s predominately who you see.

I took a drive with my friend Muhannad the other day down to the Tigris. the TIGRIS. I seriously cant believe i live here.

I’m tired, I promise to write more, but this is what I have to say about my first 16 days in Iraq. More to come. I PROMISE.

سلام الله يكون معك

Peace of God be with you.

You know that healthcare reform bill? Here's why it sucks.

So here’s the deal on healthcare reform. I get it. I get that everyone needs and SHOULD HAVE healthcare.

However.

Socializing healthcare is not the way to accomplish this task. I often hear, when I express my opinion on the matter, “don’t you care about your fellow men? don’t you want them to have healthcare, too?” I think just about everybody’s facebook status these days reads something to the effect that “no one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.”

I agree with ALL these sentiments. Of course I care about my fellow men. Of course I think everyone should have the healthcare they need. Of course no one should die because they cannot afford healthcare or go broke because they get sick. But that’s not the point. When people try to play me this “don’t you care,” card, I can’t help feeling the hypocrisy of it all. You’ve missed the point. That’s not how CARING is supposed to work. I don’t show I care by forcing everyone in the nation to “care” and unwillingly give money to the poor/uninsured/insert-your-socialized-program-here. I show I care by donating myself, utilizing my own agency and will, to help those in need. I show I care by volunteering, by ACTUALLY serving and giving my time and talents. It takes no effort at all to put up a facebook status calling everyone heartless SOB’s who OBVIOUSLY don’t care about their fellow human beings because they don’t support this particular brand of healthcare reform. On that same token, it takes no effort at all to have the government take more money from you every month to do something you should be doing by free will. Why do you need the government to take your money and decide what it’s going to be used for when it comes to charity? Because you’re LAZY and don’t want to waste your time going out and helping the poor yourself. You’ll say, I just don’t have time for that or whatever your excuse is… but your passive “charity” isn’t charity at all… it’s mandated taxes. There are no blessings in heaven for what is forcefully taken from you. Only when we exercise our will to help others are we doing what the Lord would have us do.

That’s why communism is such a bad idea. Socialism is the same. Helping others, having charity, CANNOT come from mandates and acts of force. At that point, it ceases to be charity. Do I think we ALL should give more of our time and energies to charities we believe in? Do I believe that we are all capable of giving and doing a little more when we donate to worthy causes? Absolutely. Do I believe that everyone should have access to healthcare and that we, as individuals, have a certain obligation to look out for the welfare of our fellow men? Obviously. But it CANNOT be mandated.

Socialism removes the desire and the personal connection one can feel by serving and being served. I don’t know anyone who gets that warm fuzzy when they see the line on their paystub marked “taxes.” The reason so many in socialized welfare programs are ungrateful is because they have no sense of those who are serving them. It’s not a service anymore. It’s something they are “owed.” You are not OWED anything. It is out of the goodness of others’ hearts that you will be looked after when you are down. It is then your social obligation to go out and serve others, as others have served you. This humanity, this social interconnectedness is lost when the government seizes control of my opportunities to serve others.

As if these reasons are not enough – I have personal reasons to feel that socialized healthcare makes no practical sense.

With a thousand points to argue… I will merely argue one, because it affected me personally. I became very sick a few years ago and the first doctor I went to was a tool. I didn’t like him or feel like he addressed my problem. I saw two more doctors in Utah, all who generally made me feel the same way. My father, having worked in a school district always had great health benefits while I was growing up. But at this point, my father was retired, now on medicare, and had to pay separately and independently my healthcare (he and my mother agreed to do this while I was still in college.) Fortunately, they paid for really great health coverage. When things weren’t getting better, I withdrew from school and went home for the summer. My mother had made me an appointment with a doctor in Portland and felt really strongly that I should keep the appointment (even though I kept saying, ALL these other doctors say to wait.) I went, however, and IMMEDIATELY knew I’d found the right place. The clinicians were wonderful, I felt so at home, and the doctor had pioneered a new surgery that was exactly what I needed. MRI’s now showed a drastic change in my status, and this doctor had to act quickly (much quicker than the prior surgeons thought would be necessary.)

If socialized healthcare had existed at this time, I cannot say what would have happened. I imagine, however, that instead of making my parents pay for healthcare for me, I would have gone on that, thinking that nothing could possibly come up that this “free” healthcare wouldn’t cover. I made next to nothing, so certainly I would have qualified. But after having seen one specialist, this social healthcare would have said, “one doctor said everything is fine, so everything is fine.” How differently things could have turned out had I stopped at one doctor.

I’m not saying the system we have now is perfect, or even a good one. But it’s much better than the one they are proposing. Please don’t take away my right to act as a free agent. Don’t give my employer incentive to stop insuring me. Don’t give me and my peers incentive to not find the BEST healthcare for ourselves and our situations. Most of all, please do not take away my fundamental right to act charitably toward my fellow men. I have the RIGHT to the joy that only comes through willful sevice.

Mandated charity always faileth.

(and, yes, mr. obama... i hope you and your fishermen find fishy speech in here...)

i tried to avoid it...

but there are so many issues id like to address on the subject...

*warning* prop 8 discussed below.

since moving to the city of angels, i have had to deal with a few issues i never used to think were issues. as many of you know, proposition 8, a california proposition to define marriage as only recognized as being between a man and a woman, was passed on the ballot by a 52% majority in November. the same people who elected your man obama... helped pass this law. now what i have difficulty understanding is not the difference of opinion that circulates around this issue. I fully know and accept that many people will not only disagree with my opinion on this subject, they may hate me for it. without knowing anything about me, other than that i dont believe marriage is anything other than one man and one woman, they hate me.

i find this ironic on so many levels.

i made a video on youtube at the request of a friend who was compiling videos of YES on 8ers. i stopped reading the comments after a very short period of time because they were so hateful and ignorant. see the video (and the comments, if you like) here. in the video, i talk about having gay friends and how me voting yes has no bearing on my love for them. my purpose in making the video was not to convince anyone of my view point, but merely to express that you arent a bad person for feeling conflicted about the issue, and that voting yes doesnt make you hateful or mean or ignorant. it just means you have one reason or another for believing that marriage is between one man and one woman only. many of the comments say that there is no way i could possibly have gay friends and if i did, they would hate me for voting yes.

fortunately, i choose better friends than that. it, in fact, is not a lie when i say i have MANY gay friends. all of whom, even through disagreements, can see more to me than a "yes" or "no" vote on a proposition, many of whom, even understand why i would vote the way i did. they respect me. i respect them. respect does not require agreement. to tell me, and millions of others like me, that we should be ashamed of ourselves (see sean penn's acceptance speech at the oscars) for voting yes on prop 8 is arrogant, discriminatory, and, in my opinion, lacks fundamental understanding and is, therefore, ignorant. these people say things like "i dont understand how anyone could vote yes on this." isnt THAT the definition of being ignorant? being educated on an issue means understanding and appreciating both sides of it while maintaining your personal point of view. i fully understand the other side. i respect the fact that millions of californians voted no on proposition 8 and fully support their right to do so. however, democracy was exercised. if it had gone the other way, which i am certain in the coming years it will, i would never dream of trying to use a backdoor to negate the will of the people.

i get so tired of hearing that yes on 8 "took away the rights of gay couples to marry," hearing it called a "gay marriage ban," or that WE were the ones changing the constitution. and everyone just sits by and buys that. these statements take the entire issue out of context -- lest we forget that up until a few months ago, homosexual marriage wasn't recognized in the state of california or any other US state for that matter. the only reason making this proposition was necessary was because those on the NO side pushed, through the backdoor, i might add, for gay couples to have the right to marry. To consider it a ban is to insinuate that at one point it was valid and recognized by the consensus of the people -- which was never the case.

honestly, even now, i dont know what the appropriate solution is. i hate that this is even an issue at all. it is difficult for me to see the conflicting feelings, in both my friends and those who hate me. i cant imagine it would ever be easy to feel, even if your opponents dont see it that way, like your rights arent being respected. which is fundamentally what i believe BOTH sides were feeling throughout this issue. i know it will take time, but i believe that consensus among the people can be found.

the argument that religious people were trying to force their beliefs on everyone else is just ludicrous to me. seems more like the leftists were trying to force their agenda on the people of california, and the people of california fought back. frankly, i DONT have to accept homosexuality as being okay. i can love my friends who are gay and not agree with them. to me, its no different than having a friend who has a different religion than me. loving them and being their friend has little bearing on the fact that i will likely never, religiously speaking, see eye to eye with them. i can still respect them without ever agreeing with them.

finally, i have one last bone to pick. its partially directed at other mormons, and partially directed at those who criticize my church for getting behind this issue. ill address the latter first. churches have every right and i would argue moral obligation to get behind moral issues. its what they do. its one of the many purposes they serve. as a member of my church, i was asked to assist in the effort to pass this proposition. considering that this law is inherently consistent with religious teaching, this request was by no means out of line or inappropriate. never once, in all the discussions we had on the subject, did i feel anyone harbored malice or anger towards the opposing side. there was no hatred being taught. we love homosexuals. we love all people. we love all people equally. we know this is a difficult struggle with many conflicting emotions and points of view. but anyone who understands the bible, and the nature of God, also knows that to accept immorality and to justify it is to deny his commandments. that said, im not asking anyone to not be gay. if you are gay, i respect you and i believe you have the right to the pursuit of happiness. im not even asking you to give up your fight if you feel like marriage is what you need to feel equal. but dont tell me im wrong. im not telling you you're wrong. i think its only appropriate to agree that we have different paradigms on the subject.

as for members, those of you who like to write notes on facebook or blogs about how "wrong the church was in getting behind this," especially those of you who reside outside of the state of california... all i can say is... you have NO idea what you're talking about. you weren't here. i find it offensive that you can judge the PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA who love and respect their prophet who chose to follow his counsel and do everything they could to help with the yes on 8 efforts. saying that the prophet has "no right" to provide direction and counsel to the Church regarding moral issues couldnt be more wrong. i think that that is his PRIMARY purpose. what would be the point of having a prophet at all if he DIDN'T do those things? and as for saying that we shouldnt have done this because now the Church will be persecuted... did you ever learn church history? did you ever read the bible? the book of mormon? when have prophets and the followers of prophets NOT been mocked, scorned, and persecuted for their beliefs? to say these things ignores everything we know to be true as Latter-day Saints. i stand firmly behind the family. protecting that with every cell of my being. i would devote a million more hours to supporting the yes on 8 campaign in a heartbeat. for you, of all people, to belittle this effort is very degrading in my opinion. you are entitled, although not able to vote, to have your opinion on the subject. but please, dont be so condescending -- insinuating that you are such a more "understanding" or "enlightened" mormon because you dont support this. these attitudes foster all the problems and misunderstandings i listed above. your attitudes make it seem like we just "havent gotten to your level of understanding" when really i would argue... you havent made it to ours.

the official position of the church was, and ALWAYS HAS BEEN, to support traditional marriage. no one was ever commanded to vote yes on the issue. we are counseled and we must always decide for ourselves what we can reconcile in our own hearts, to be the right thing to do. i would never judge anyone for how they voted last November, nor how they feel about the issue now. i expect that same courtesy.