AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > August > 25
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Now open wide and say ‘baaaa’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Abu Dijai, Iraq � A short Humvee ride out of Camp Striker, the barren landscape of the military base gives way to green fields and winding dirt roads lined with date palms and bamboo.
Bita Honarvar/AJC
Maj. Daniel Cardosa administers deworming medicine to sheep belonging to the Hamid family. MORE PHOTOS
The seemingly serene countryside near the Baghdad airport is filled with canals and tiny communities of people � mostly Sunni Muslims � who have struggled to eke out an existence for many years.
Just a few miles south of this rustic village of livestock farmers, eight Georgia soldiers were killed recently in two separate but similar incidents when their Humvees were destroyed by massive bombs planted in the road. This is the treacherous territory that soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, patrol.
While infantry soldiers continue their combat missions to hunt down insurgents and foil attacks, the brigade’s doctors, engineers, educators and veterinarians have launched a battle of their own.
This week, Maj. Mark Cuttle, commander of the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion’s Charlie Company, led a team of veterinary experts to Abu Dijai to treat the animals that are the lifeblood of the rural community. Farmers were struggling to keep their sheep and cows free of disease and worms, which can reduce productivity and lower prices.
“This is one of those things that gets us in through the front door,” said Cuttle, a vice president at AmSouth Bank in Chattanooga in civilian life.
The key, he said, is to get the people here on America’s side. But that is not a particularly easy task.
After the death of their comrades, the 48th Brigade Combat Team launched raids to clean out insurgent activity in the area. In the weeks following, the area has been less hostile, brigade officials said.
But in the hamlets around here, it’s impossible to look into the smiling faces of men dressed in traditional white dishdashas and boys in counterfeit Adidas football shirts and separate friend from foe.
“When we first arrived in Iraq, there was very little U.S. assistance in this area,” said Sgt. 1st Class Allex Hutchins, a single father of four from Buford who is the civil affairs representative for the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment.
“Instead of taking it by force, we are trying to take it with kindness.”
The soldiers who patrol this area know the farmers and their livestock need help.
Iraq has about 2.5 million cattle and 17 million sheep and goats, but years of neglect and war have endangered the country’s veterinary services.
In a report issued in late May, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned that any increase in livestock diseases might have a devastating effect on the supply of protein-rich food such as milk, cheese, meat and eggs.
Proper veterinary services might help Iraq produce many of its own animal products, so it could rely less on the current high level of imports of meat, eggs and dairy products, the report said.
“Farming has taken a big hit in Iraq,” said Maj. Daniel Cardosa, who owns a veterinary practice in civilian life in West Greenwich, R.I. “It’s plain to see, the animals have been suffering for a while.”
Cardosa stepped out of his Humvee with a pouch filled with a deworming agent called ivermectin strapped across his back. He wrestled with Hashim Hamid’s herd of 20 or so sheep, administering the milky white medicine orally through a nozzle.
Flies swarmed the sheep, which were also infested with worms.
Hamid said limited treatment was available for his animals from local vets, but he could not afford to pay them. He was grateful the Americans had stopped by, he said.
Free of disease, each sheep might be worth as much as $80 on the market to Hamid, who lives with his brothers and their families on a small plot of land in cinder-block structures. They fetch their water from a nearby canal and sleep outside among their animals when the heat gets unbearable.
Cardosa sprayed Hamid’s four cows with Cydectin, a deworming agent for cattle. The animals kicked and struggled as the camouflage-clad soldier approached with his sprayer. The entire family gathered around to watch. They had never seen a soldier treat their animals.
“This is very useful to us,” said Hamid’s brother Saddam, who offered to slaughter one of his turkeys for the soldiers. “We don’t have enough Iraqi doctors here who will do this for free.”
Cardosa said he would like to work with the new Iraqi government to broaden animal services.
“The Iraqis are quite capable,” he said. “They just need help with infrastructure.”
But working with Iraqis has not been easy in areas hostile to Americans.
“It seems that local vets are scared to work with us,” Cuttle said. “That has been our challenge. They are reluctant to be seen around us.”
Cardosa’s team visited three separate clusters of homes and treated small herds of animals at each. The tour drew two curious Iraqi journalists, dispatched to write about American goodwill.
They were disappointed that the project wasn’t on a larger scale.
“Just because you treat a few animals doesn’t mean you solve our problems,” Hussein al-Hameiry, a reporter for the Arabic-language newspaper Ad-Dostour, told Cuttle.
Cuttle replied that change would take place essentially one sheep at a time.
“We’re not going to solve all of Iraq’s problems, but we’re going to make a difference in this village today,” he said.
Al-Hameiry wasn’t convinced. It would be more useful for the Americans to help Iraqis learn the proper techniques, he said, than spray a few animals here and there.
“We built this civilization without Americans,” he said. “We don’t need them. We just need their respect.”
Hutchins, who kept close guard while the veterinary team tended to the livestock, also was skeptical that missions such as these would stop villagers from becoming informants for insurgents, or worse, plotting to kill his fellow infantrymen. Ending the violence in Iraq, he said, would take time.
“I know what we’re trying to do here,” said Hutchins, who works at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for the Transportation Security Administration. “But oppression is not something you come out of in a matter of days.”
A little R&R back home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We want to know how soldiers in the 48th and their families are spending time during their temporary leaves from Iraq. Mostly staying at home? Going to fun places? What kind of things are you catching up on, talking about?
