Ahmad in Iraq

Baghdad - day 4

2009-04-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

So this is our last day in Iraq and it was packed with meetings just like every other day. The night before I had slept well so today, I had breakfast at the DFAC. I must say, even breakfast is great! You can get made to order eggs, sausages, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, and so many other things. I could really get used to this food! But I think I'm not as particular as others because some other people from our delegation told me that the eggs didn't really taste much like eggs, but I never noticed it. I actually had a huge mango also for breakfast and frankly, it kind of tasted more like an orange than a mango. But I didn't mind - it was different :)

After breakfast, we headed out to Baghdad University to meet with the administration (president + deans + faculty) and many students. When getting there, we had to take elevators to the 19th floor. Our security detail basically commandeered two elevators and shuttled us up bit by bit and made others wait till we were all up. It's sort of odd being chauffeured everywhere and not having to use any brainpower to go from point A to point B. Every small detail is worked out by the security team. Even basic things as opening doors - as soon as we get to our destination, we aren't allowed to open the door. The security guy in the passenger seat gets out, stands in front of our door, waits for the all clear from the team on the ground, and then opens the door so we can all get out. It's all very very well orchestrated. I have to hand it to them - these guys do their jobs really well!

This meeting took again too long as there was a lot of translation. What was really eye opening was that the school had lost so many students due to the war and lack of infrastructure. The CS dept (masters I believe) had no students for example, yet they still had faculty. They were working on fixing their infrastructure to start to attract students. We discussed the curriculum and some of their challenges. You could get a sense that they were once really proud of the educational system (was one of the best in the middle east) and then you compare it to what they were saying now and you can just tell that they have so much work ahead of them but they're truly trying to reform their ailing education system.

On our way out, there was a party going on for one of the graduating classes:

From Iraq - day 4

While we were in the meeting, we'd hear lots of cheering and blasts of a siren. We actually got a little bit worried and one of the deans jokingly said not to worry that it was just a celebration going on :)

We then headed off to a meeting with President Talabani.

At his entrance:

From Iraq - day 4

With the president:

From Iraq - day 4

Palace foyer:

From Iraq - day 4

Googlers at the entrance:

From Iraq - day 4

The meeting with the president was as you might expect, high level. The US ambassador was there and had officially announced to the president the appointment of a new US embassador to Iraq. We talked about some of our observations thus far and he gave us more perspective on Iraqi history and to caution us not to expect so much change so quickly in a country that is only 4 yrs old with a lot of very old habits. He was confident that democracy would come to Iraq and that things will not change overnight. We did the requisite exchange of gifts (we gave to him, not to us), and we headed out after an hour.

Still in the red zone, we headed to the University of Technology. I have to admit, this was a tense ride. The helicopters patrolling our convoy were really close to us, and the area we were in was much more run down than others. I also noticed people stopping to look at us and our security guys in our car were fidgeting more than usual.

From Iraq - day 4

I was actually surprised we took some of the streets we did. Anyway, we got there safe and sound as usual thanks to our security guys and we proceeded to head up the stairs to the 2nd floor for the meeting. It was a huge meeting with at least 20 University staff from their end and we spent so much time on intros. This group was much more proficient in English and so we avoided translation. By the time we had finished intros, we had gotten in to some of the conversation about their curriculum and their challenges. I then noticed our main security guy walk in and he didn't look too happy. Then I see some notes exchange hands and then our US embassy contact announces that we have to skip lunch with them and leave right away. For details I can't mention, we were quickly escorted to our cars and we headed out.

On the way back to the Embassy:

From Iraq - day 4

After getting back to the embassy, we had an impromptu Pizza Hut lunch and groups of us were taken to do various press interviews both for TV and print (some arabic press, some english). After all of this, we all did a press round table with a bunch of reporters from the LA times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Reuters, and others I can't remember.

We then headed out to meet with Barham Saleh, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. We were really impressed with his progressive views on technology and politics from a conference call 2 days before and were happy to meet him at his home in the area in the green zone they call Little Venice - mainly an area where Iraqi govt people live. We all discussed our views of the trip so far and he was very attentive and even pushing some of the ministers in attendance to take notes and implement some of our suggestions.

From Iraq - day 4

Heading back to the compound after that, we had a little bit to relax before a video conference at 10:30pm with reporters in DC that were State department correspondants for various news outlets. We did a quick 30 min round table with them and after that, we were all done!

Photo of us in a yellow 'duck and cover bunker' at the end of the trip. These bunkers are all over the green zone. Any time a siren goes off that warns of an incoming attack, you have about 10-15 secs to get into one of these bunkers.

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

We all headed to our rooms, changed and hung out next to the club again. Most of us slept around 2 or so and we had to wake up at 4:30 to be out by 5am for our ride back to the airport.

Here are some pics of our digs:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

On our way out, I took some pics of the route back:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

On the famous road (bomb alley) to the airport:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

Jolly ranchers and ammo - what else can you ask for:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

No tanks, or risk getting a ticket:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

Pic of all of us and the security team protecting us:

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

Maybe I have a future in security?

From Iraq - Last night and day 5

So we had a nice ride down the airport rode at 5:30am. It was pretty short but once we got near the airport, we had to go through a maze of side streets to get to the Sully compound to check in and board our C130 flight back to Amman.

By around noon, we were back in Amman and thankful we were all back safe and sound. Most of us headed to the Marriott hotel at the dead sea and hung out there for the day. Later that night, Jack from Twitter hung out with myself and a friend of mine in Amman. I ended up wearing my suit again (I thought I wouldn't have to be in a suit for a long time!), and noticed that my jacket and pants were frayed from the velcro of the bulletproof vest rubbing against it so often. So the lesson learned for all of you that plan to travel anywhere you need body armor, don't wear a nice suit and especially don't wear your jacket! under the vest! :)

The following morning, we both headed out for the airport - Jack heading to NY, and myself heading to Cairo.

Baghdad - day 3

2009-04-26T13:00:00.001-07:00

So this is day 3 of our great adventure in Baghdad. I again skipped breakfast at the DFAC (dining facility AC-something or other) in favor for 30 mins more sleep. We haven't gotten much sleep all week since we stay up so late and we are usually out by around 8am.

We gathered in the lobby of our building, put on our bullet proof vests and helmet and headed out to get in our cars for another red zone move.

On the way in the red zone:

From Iraq - Day 3

This time, we were headed to the Iraqi National museum for a tour. This is a picture with our US cultural affairs specialist

From Iraq - Day 3

We were really fortunate to get a tour as the museum recently re-opened. We had a behind the scenes tour of the museum and it appeared opened that day just for us (it was otherwise empty). We went through two floors of magnificent treasures. Unfortunately we saw many that were re-creations of the original piece as they were in other museums around the world. We were told during our tour that many of the pieces we were seeing were returned by foreign governments and local Iraqis but there was still quite a bit missing. The entire gold room had only pictures of the exquisite jewelery and when we asked where the originals were, they wouldn't tell us where but only that they were in a very secure place.

From Iraq - Day 3

Our federal agent with me after trying forever to convince him to be photographed:

From Iraq - Day 3

First recorded handshake in history:

From Iraq - Day 3

Ancient Quran:

From Iraq - Day 3

Pages from Quran written by Ali bin Abi Talib

From Iraq - Day 3

Sahih Bukhari:

From Iraq - Day 3

Talking with the head of the museum:

From Iraq - Day 3

Chief engineer of museum:

From Iraq - Day 3

After the tour, we headed to the VIP room with a conversation with the head of the museum and the chief engineer to discuss their challenges and how we might be able to help. They mentioned that they had simple needs such as a way to reach Symantec to solve an installation problem with Norton Antivirus as they were really worried about spyware. We were really shocked at the basic things they needed help with. Another thing they mentioned was the need for training ( a recurring theme in almost every meeting). They also said they were going to spend time building a website and we had suggested to them to get all of their artifacts online and let the chief engineer focus on what he does well and leave the website building to others. We had hoped that this project could be something we help with in order to get their magnificent treasures online for Iraqis and the world to see.

After this, we were off to the Ministry of Science and Technology for 2 hrs of presentations by various departments of the Iraqi governments on their use of technology.

Our driver - lots of ammo on his belt - you can see the tip of his machine gun on the bottom right

From Iraq - Day 3

Snipers on the roof watching us:

From Iraq - Day 3

The idea was that each presentation would be 10 mins and then we'd have 30 mins for open Q&A with the the audience. Unfortunately, many presenters presented in Arabic and so we lost a lot of time due to translation.

From Iraq - Day 3

Many went on for much longer and frankly, there was not much depth in the presentations and so I am not sure it was very useful for at least me personally. One of the presentations was from a Shia sheikh who spoke frankly about the issues of IT in the country (never expected this from a sheikh!) but he had really good comments and was constructive in his thoughts. We had hoped for presentations by the private sector; they were able to invite one CEO to talk about his thoughts about the government and the challenges in the country. He was really frank and I was quite impressed about how critical he was about the government. Mind you, there were ministers in attendance! He talked about how the economy was stalled, there were only a few private companies doing business, it was next to impossible to get a loan from a bank since the banks do not trust the government, employees had 3 months of vacation a yr, the government basically controlled everything, you required licenses to operate even simple businesses such as hosting, all IT certifications were through the govt, lots of corruption, and so on. It was a real eye opener to hear this and we were really happy we got to hear him discuss this. We had hoped to catch up with him that night but it never happened.

From Iraq - Day 3

Since it ran way over, we had absolutely no time for any Q&A so after the presentations, we headed out. In the entrance, there was some press there and a few people gave interviews. As Jack Dorsey (founder/chairman of Twitter) was giving a TV interview, I walked behind the cameraman and not estimating the thickness of my bulletproof vest, I knocked the camera and it went flying to the left. All I hear is an American cameraman saying 'Oh Sh*t!'...They kept going but they weren't too happy about that - oops! :)

We then headed out and were on our way to Zain Iraq - one of the big mobile operators there. One thing that was really interesting was the driving style of the convoy itself. I was told to not mention some of those specifics so I'll just say that it was fascinating watching the various maneuvers as we went through the city. From what I could tell, Iraqis seemed to oblivious and completely used to this. I rarely noticed anyone even batting an eye as we drove by in 6 heavily armored American suburbans with helicopter cover - quite remarkable.

Zain HQ - notice their security on the top left

From Iraq - Day 3

We met with various executives at Zain and their consultant that eases their relationship with the goverment. We also had lunch there and had a great conversation about their challenges in Iraq and some of the lessons they have learned in the country. In talking to one of their directors over lunch, he was telling me how their relationship with the government was very good and it seemed easy to work with them. He seemed pleased with their interaction.

After this meeting, we headed to the famous Rashid hotel that was bombed during the war when journalists were staying there. We met with many university students to talk about their use of the internet and what they would like to see change in the country and in the government. We also spoke at length about how they can personally make a difference in changing the perceptions of their country and to get their message out.

From Iraq - Day 3

It was remarkable to see how passionate and open minded these students were. Many of those in CS/IT were women. It seemed that the group was either in CS/IT or in Medicine. Nothing else! Frankly, they reminded me of students you see at any other university. They had the same things on their mind although they were really passionate about trying to make a difference by talking about the little things they were doing.

From Iraq - Day 3

Leaving the famously bombed Rashid hotel after seeing the students

From Iraq - Day 3

After the hotel, we headed back to the Embassy compounded and attended a cocktail reception with the Charge d'Affaires Ambassador Butenis. This was a 1 hr informal get together with various Iraqi companies and US officials. I had a few great conversations with some local companies about their business models. One was a local mobile operator, another was an Iraqi youtube competitor, another was a local content portal. I also had a detailed conversation with the advisor to the Minister of IT and him and I discussed the issues of communications at length. He conveyed to me that all is well and that many of the connectivity issues would be solved but I pushed him on this based on what I had heard from others during my trip. I could tell that there were many different perspectives on these issues and it was never as simple as any one of them that was expressed to me.

Later that night, we had a plan to go smoke shisha at the compound next to us but we didn't have the right authorizations to leave our compound and get to the next. So many of us ended up hanging out in front of the club (cleverly called American club). We ended up hanging out at the going away party for someone that was leaving Baghdad for Bahrain and joining the foreign service. Lucky for me, I headed to my room at 10pm to wait for a phone call. Well the phone never rang and so I fell asleep. This was great since I was lacking sleep all week!

Iraq - Day 2

2009-04-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, day 2...

I didn't get to sleep till around 1:30am and woke up at 8am. I decided to sleep in and skip breakfast. After getting ready, I headed out at 8:30 where I met with the rest of our group. We headed to our first meeting which was with Major General Perkins to talk about the military's strategic communications plan and how they reach out to various press outlets to get the right message out. Was pretty interesting. By the way, I'll be purposely a little light on the content of the conversations so don't be surprised if I skip detail there.

After that, we met with Major Steen and Lieutenant commander Eikenberry who walked us throug the national fiber network installation project which will create 4 fiber rings all through the country. They desparately need good connectivity through the country as this is their biggest issue right now. They also discussed the challenges they have with the Iraqi government since they still do not have IT laws passed as of yet and this is threatening the work they do.

After that, we met with senior staff from the Embassy: Ambassador Ford and Michael Dodman who is the counselor for Economic Affairs.

We then left to another building to do a conference call with the Deputy Minister of Iraq Barham Saleh who couldn't make it because he was in Kurdistan. We had a great conversation with him about technology and how it could shape Iraq's future - he really gets it. We were really impressed with him. We plan to meet with him again before we leave and get into some specifics about how we can help.

After that meeting, we had lunch in the same place everyone else does on the compound. The food was surprisingly good with a lot of cajun stuff for all the Louisiana folks! I was so excited to see grilled cheese sandwiches and 4 different types of chicken wings! The quality wasn't the best but they had a really awesome variety of stuff. They had a dessert station, ice cream station, a sandwich station, and a few others...We ate with a bunch of folks from the IT side, people that help manage the elections, and others I can't remember.

Pic of the lunch menu!

Ahmad in Iraq

Baghdad - day 4

Baghdad - day 3

Iraq - Day 2

Iraq - Day 1