[MH,TS] Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle - Iraq 2011

[Icelander]

Col. Irmintraut is occupied with sharing his incisive religio-political analysis of the Middle East with Jon Maxwell and the rest of the table, in a loud and assertive voice. Mostly it seems to involve 'these people' shaping up, buying American and voting Republican. Nouri al-Maliki might be tough on some things, the Colonel acknowledges, but George Washington had to do some tough things too, for example in the Whiskey Rebellion. The United States may have occasion for frank discussions with allies in private, but the American media should not give aid and comfort to enemies of freedom by exaggerating divisions between those who oppose terrorism.

Irmintraut does mention how much he admires Iraqi patriots like the interpreters, who bravely take a stand against the forces of Ba'athist reaction and sectarian medievalism. Naji and Yusuf appear uncomfortable with so much praise. Notably, however, it no one seems too eager to contradict Irmintraut on any of his opinions, perhaps because 250 lbs. of bald, bearded glowering tends to discourage opposition.

Or maybe Ms. Weiss just doesn't hear a word that Irmintraut is bellowing, absorbed as she is in the sweet nothings that Akeem is mumbling at her in charmingly accented English. He thinks Philadelphia sounds marvellous, agrees with her that ex-husband was an immature jerk who couldn't handle an independent and intelligent woman and makes her laugh with stories of his superstitious grandmother's flatulent dog.

They start sharing stories about scary situations and narrow escapes. Finally, the conversation moves again to the dangers Akeem Nassir can expect to face as he goes with these State Department contractors to the Dhi Qar province. Evelyn tells Akeem that a local photographer who used to work with her, Abdul al-Yuni, lives down in al-Muthanna, around an hour's drive north of Nasiriyah. She gives him Abdul's number, in case he wants to hit him up and hear recent news or meet up with him.

After a few drinks, she also relaxes enough to share with Akeem a story that she'll never submit to any newspaper. Apparently, she has an Iraqi journalist friend, Lutfi al-Jaleela, who has been down to the provinces along the middle Euphrates and he has been shopping a conspiracy theory. Apparently, he thinks that the order of magnitude increase in crime rates in Dhi Qar and almost the same in Muthanna province are underselling the true situation. He thinks that a lot of disappearances in the area are going unreported, with people just disappearing and no police reports being filed, no one complaining to any authorities.

Evelyn explains that even though no evidence has turned up of any new militia or insurgent group working in the area, the locals are pretty consistently afraid of someone. Not that anyone will admit to it, but the speculation is that someone is extorting protection money from shops, demanding a share of any illegal profits and even forcing government employees to kick back a share of their wages in exchange for not being harassed. Those few people who have said anything, which they absolutely won't be quoted on, call them alerjal men sew' hez (الرجال من سوء حظ)) or 'Men of Misfortune'.

Apparently, her friend, Lutfi al-Jaleela, believes that a lot of the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in Dhi Qar and Muthanna are disappearing. He cites abseenism rates for police and army units in the provinces and says that they have been steadily going up. He also points out that no matter what sector of the economy you check, you find out that a lot of absenteeism is going on. Yeah, sure, a lot of the IDPs are going to be leaving there because there is no work, but a significant part of them are leaving paying jobs and not even bothering to quit.

In most cases, no one knows anything about the IDP who isn't showing up any more, but Lutfi has personally talked to several people who admit that they either heard noises from the place where the person was living or they flat out saw masked men abduct them. He thinks that the very absence of evidene, the very lack of any official response, is pointing at a massive conspiracy where the security forces are complicit in thousands of disappearances. He admits, however, that all he has is interprentation of demographic figures and a few shaky eyewitnesses, none of whom is prepared to be quoted.

Evelyn can't provide any more detail, because she's repeating third-hand rumours that she might not have credited herself, but Jerome Book, who has been listening while quietly sipping a beer thinks that her description sounds more like that of an ethnic group terrified of a group of traditional criminals than anything associated with political terrorism or religious militancy. Allowing for linguistic and cultural differences, it sounds like those 'Men of Misfortune' would fit quite well in in Highland Park, Detroit.

As the party breaks up, Book keeps thinking about these 'Men of Misfortune' and if maybe the oddities in Dhi Qar can all be traced to a single powerful criminal organisation that has infiltrated the government and police. Sure, maybe they have Iranian-backing and maybe they recruit from the Wild Sunni West of Iraq, but Book would place money on the fact that Ms. Weiss third-hand rumours of Dhi Qar are not describing religio-political terrorism, they are describing a traditional criminal organisation.

Our heroes consider taking a post-bar meeting and writing down the relevant information (well, actually, Col. Irmintraut suggests it), but most of them are too tired and drunk for it. Taz Walker goes home to call his wife on Skype, now that its morning in Queensland, and falls asleep mumbling drunkenly affectionate terms.

Jerome Book does stay up to write down notes from the trip to the Al-Rashid and he gets more and more convinced that Ms. Weiss story could be important. He goes and wakes up SSG Akeem Nassir and asks for Ms. Weiss' phone number. "Now?" inquires Nassir, already asleep, and is informed that now is indeed the time for it, as they'll be out of Baghdad tomorrow. Reluctantly, Akeem gives Book Ms. Weiss' phone number and goes back to sleep.

Book wakes up Ms. Weiss without a scruple and asks her how one would reach Lutfi al-Jaleela. She's obviously confused at waking up and just as obviously disappointed it wasn't someone else calling, but she does give Book Lutfi's number when Book expresses interest in buying the article she was talking about from him.

Next, Book calls Lutfi. He negotiates with him about buying the article, reaching an agreement at $100, which is low for something that took several weeks to research, but high for something that everyone has already passed on. Lutfi wonders if Book can pay him with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label, but Book explain that he'll be leaving Baghdad at dawn, so they need to finish this now. Lutfi, however, does not live within the Green Zone and so cannot see Book before the morning anyway. At this, Book asks if he has the article on electronic form, if he can get him the money tonight. Lutfi says sure.

Book calls Ms. Weiss again and arranges for her to give Lutfi either a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label or $100 at her convenience and transfers the appropriate funds to her account in the US. Then Weiss calls Lutfi and he agrees to send Book his article and all his notes, as long as Ms. Weiss guarantees that he'll receive a bottle of scotch the next day.

Satisfied with his work, Book receives plenty of Arabic text that he has no way of reading. He goes to sleep, planning to get young Nassir to translate it once they get to Nasiriyah. Darkness gathers and the PCs are all asleep in preparation for an 0600 departure date for their Dhi Qar assignment.