I'm sitting in Liberty Camp aboard Taqaddam Air Base, just outside Haditha, Iraq, on the shores of Lake Therthar. This was an Iraqi air base, so it has a moderate number of facilities that survived the two Iraqi wars (1991 Persian Gulf War, and 2003 Iraq invasion), which have been pressed into service for the U.S. military. There are a few bombed-out buildings still standing, especially reinforced aircraft hangars. Recall that Saddam believed his $40 million fighter aircraft to be safe inside these bunkers, but our precision-guided bombs with delayed fuses readily penetrated the concrete roofs, delaying detonation until inside the structures, where their precious but fragile contents were totally unprotected. But most of the buildings here were undamaged.

This is an historic moment for Iraq, the Middle East, and the entire world. In three days, the Iraqi people will participate in a referendum, to accept or reject the newly-fabricated national constitution. The ballot literally has only two boxes: "yes" and "no." All but the Sunnis are hoping the referendum will affirm the constitution, setting the stage for legislator elections in two months, and propelling this country well along on its epic path to democracy. The other involved parties include Shiites, Kurds, Turkomen, Christians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans. Iraq featured a thriving Jewish community for the past two millennia, but virtually all Iraqi Jews emigrated during the Saddam era.

A group of six of us from my Civil Affairs Group, based in Ramadi, some 40 miles north of here, was dispatched to this facility to assist with processing of the poll workers. The IECI (Independent Election Commission of Iraq) recruited thousands of poll workers. Because Anbar Province is the most restive of the 14, not enough workers could be recruited from inside this supermajority Sunni region, so workers needed to be recruited elsewhere and transported in. This is a massive undertaking in a war zone.

The workers recruited constitute a cross-section of Iraqi society. They were mustered at Baghdad International Airport, and transported here with fixed-wing military aircraft. We're responding to Air Force complaints that some of them left the latrines on board soiled, that they "liberated" some oxygen bottles, that they inflated some of the life vests, and that they - quite literally - ate the earplugs. I suspect that a cross-section of Americans would behave similarly. A few bad apples can certainly impugn the honor of the entire bushel.

The Marine Corps did a masterful job of preparing to process and accommodate the workers. A camp, surrounded by 8-foot high Hesco barriers topped by concertina wire, was created, replete with thirty 40-person tents, with plywood floors and brand new cots. An Iraqi caterer was standing by with gaily-colored uniforms on its staff, prepared to serve up to 1,000 persons morning and evening meals. Some 40 Porta-johns were lined up along one side, including a few of the special Turkish stand-up johns (all of them should have been this style, since this is the Iraqi tradition). Pallets of 2-liter water bottles were everywhere. And a laundry-bag sized "goodie bag" was ready for each person, including a light-duty Coleman sleeping bag, a pillow, towel (made in the USA!), dental hygiene kit, skin lotion, towel, flashlight with batteries, aspirin and diarrhea medicine, and a nifty sweat shirt with the Iraqi flag on it. The camp features a soccer field with goals, which saw considerable action. The camp was a joyous sight to the eye - democracy in the making. Americans would be proud to see their tax dollars at work in so noble a cause. I was.

On arrival from the aircraft, which taxied right up to the entrance of the camp, the poll workers needed to stand in line for hours to complete the check-in process, which was exquisitely precise. Each person had his name, address, and birth date translated to English. Then a photo was taken, and digitized records were made of the their fingerprints, and irises of both eyes! Their data was then checked against a database of criminals and terrorists. If they were "clean," they were issued a laminated card identifying them as election workers, featuring their name and photo, and a unique identifying number. Considering the length of the wait, outside, with inadequate seating, the workers were very well behaved.

The workers are flying on to another facility close to their polling center over the next few days. They will be bused to the polls on the day before the election, and then retrograded through the same locations to get them home again.

Some interesting questions were raised by the workers. Fully cognizant of their hazard of being attacked by insurgents, they ask if, should they be killed, there a mechanism to have their pay forwarded to their families. They are also concerned about the planned technique of paying them electronically, since consumer-oriented banks are not well established in Iraq. They ask to see doctors for innumerable medical complaints, but our policy is that medical care will be offered to them only in situations featuring risk of immediate loss of life, limb, or eyesight. For example, I obtained medicine for a man with known cardiac arrhythmia, but who forgot to bring his own medicine along. And we took one man to the base dental facility for a dental extraction, due to a severely painful dental abscess. But the long line of workers complaining of back pain, stomach ulcers, cough, etc. were advised to see their own physicians upon returning home. They ask for cigarettes day and night: Not too much concern about lung cancer in this group.

Although I wanted to see innumerable Thomas Jeffersons, Johns Adams', John Hancocks, and Betsy Ross's in this group, most of the workers stated candidly that they had undertaken the rigor and hazard of this enterprise, for the money. Whatever. They came, they adapted, and they will prevail.

Writing at 2130 hours, I just heard a loud boom and felt the concussion wave. Can't be sure if the sound constituted incoming fire from insurgents, or outgoing artillery from our batteries. Although I'm sitting in a tent, which would provide zero protection from a descending aerial round which struck its roof, this tent, like virtually all of the hundreds of them on this base, is surrounded by huge cartons of sand/earth (Hesco barriers), such that a round landing anywhere but dead center in the tent itself, would be unlikely to harm the tent occupants. So we press on with our duties, hoping that any incoming rounds land outside our protective Hescos.

Democracy is noisy and obstreperous. It's expensive. But freedom isn't free. And societies as different from ours as post-WWII Japan and Korea embraced it voraciously, and are now gleaming showcases of democracy. I see that splendid historic precedent repeating itself right here, with all the world to benefit.

By Thomas Risser
October 12, 2005
www2.townonline.com

Dr. Thomas Risser is a well-known Lincoln resident, a practicing cardiologist and captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He is a widower with three daughters. In June of this year he was mobilized to serve with the Marines near Fallujah, Iraq. He is a member of a CAG (Civil Affairs Group) in an eight-month deployment. In this capacity he is not functioning as a medical officer in direct support of combat operations but rather, as part of a broadly constituted team, to assist the Iraqis in infrastructure rebuilding.