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Mesopotamia Meets Mayberry Out to Win Hearts, Minds Nebraskans Play the Good Cop in Their Dealings With Iraqis

Posted on: Thursday, 6 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By C. David Kotok

CAMP AL-ASAD, Iraq -- A smile and a nod greeted the shopkeeper as Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Johansen, an unloaded M-16 slung over his shoulder, accepted a cup of sweet chai tea.

Johansen, a Nebraska State Patrol criminal investigator from Stromsburg, doesn't seem like he's using all his skills as he works with owners and employees of Iraqi shops located on this Marine base.

But then, not all law enforcement work involves tough questioning.

"A little Andy Griffith goes a long way," Lt. Col. John Byers said of Johansen. "You end up learning more and not offending anybody."

That neatly summarizes Johansen's job: the good cop.

While most of his colleagues in the Nebraska Army National Guard's 67th Area Support Group are running basic services on the western Iraqi base, Johansen and others in the unit's "host nation section" are attempting to win some hearts and minds.

Iraqis -- known as "hajjis" among GIs -- are a minority among the non-Americans on base. Most workers in the mess hall and around the camp are Sri Lankans, Ugandans, south Asians and Africans.

The term hajji is not in and of itself a derogatory reference. The rough translation is "pilgrim" for the hajj pilgrimage that faithful Muslims make to Mecca. Intonation can turn it into a term of disgust by GIs frustrated over their inability to distinguish insurgents from the general Iraqi population.

Johansen said he has found the Iraqis fair and pleasant to deal with.

His Arabic is limited but improving. Johansen relies mostly on his skills in reading people to tell him how the Iraqi shopkeepers and employees are feeling. "You can tell if there is a problem or not," Johansen said.

Winning the shopkeepers' trust came slowly, but Johansen knew he had achieved it one recent day when a Marine private was giving a shopkeeper a hard time just as Johansen walked in.

The Iraqi "was relieved when I showed up," he said.

There are a dozen shops, most of them small. They are located mainly on the first level of the soccer field grandstand. Legend has it that Saddam Hussein's son Uday hanged members of an Iraqi soccer squad at the stadium after they lost a match.

Instead of fearing Saddam and his sons, the shopkeepers fear that insurgents might discover they are working with the Americans. None would give his full name in interviews or allow his picture to be taken.

"What's their guarantee they won't show up on the Internet or a newspaper in Iraq?" Johansen explained.

The shops' biggest sellers are cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars that might be Cuban, power strips and bootleg CDs and DVDs. Besides merchandise, one shop also does a brisk business mending clothes and embroidering military-style mementos.

"Business good," said Muhammad, a former fisherman who is now a salesclerk earning $10 a day. The special price for a Rolex watch on display was $20, he said, before whispering, "Not real."

The pay and working conditions are better than in town, Muhammad added. "There are no jobs in town."

While Johansen and others in the host nation section try to nurture the businesses, they're also aware that the troops remain suspicious.

At the mess hall, U.S. soldiers and American civilian employees with the proper identification pass quickly through the checkpoint. All non-Western employees, including Iraqis, are patted down.

"This job has many facets to it," Johansen said.

Running the host nation program, said Maj. Jim Oliver of Gretna, allows him to pick up information every day that he says will be useful at home.

"It's a great experience for me, being a history teacher," said the Gretna Middle School teacher.

The shopkeepers know they must follow base rules. That can be difficult. A new business owner wants to open a Middle Eastern restaurant, but first must meet U.S. health and food safety standards.

Oliver has found the Iraqis much like the kids back in Gretna.

"You give an inch, they'll take a foot," Oliver said. "If you tell them 'no,' they will go to someone else they hope will say 'yes.'"

As the effort to win hearts and minds on both sides continues, Oliver was pleased when a new shop recently opened.

It displayed the U.S. and new Iraqi flags, side by side.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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