Hope in the Warzone: On the Ground in Iraq

Photos by Steve Hemphill

Steve Hemphill, noted attorney, former Barry (Mo.) County Prosecutor, world-traveler, philanthropist and humanitarian and proud alumnus of William Jewell College, has been working in Baghdad since early January of this year. He is serving as Senior Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Justice/Prisons. Having worked and studied in many regions around the world, including the Middle East, China, Central America and England, Hemphill’s international experience reflects his deep commitment to service. In 1986 and 1987, he was a human rights observer in the Israeli occupied territories while hosted by the Church of England. Just prior to the start of the Iraq war in 2003, Hemphill met with United Nations officials while traveling through Syria, Lebanon and The Occupied Territories with the staff of a British non-governmental organization.

As he was preparing to leave for Iraq, Steve agreed to write about his impressions and experiences during his scheduled year-long assignment in Baghdad and forward them along with photographs back to us at Jewell. True to his word, his monthly “dispatches” have arrived as promised, filled with fascinating detail and insights into his difficult and courageous undertakings. Because of space limitations, we could only publish a few select entries from Steve’s wonderful dispatches. However, we are publishing all of his entries online at the Jewell website, and will faithfully add to the posting each month as we receive updates from Baghdad. To read these remarkable observations and reflections and to view additional photos, go to: www.jewell.edu/achieve/summer2004

To offer us some background and context about his experiences, Steve also took time to answer a few questions for Achieve after about a month “on the ground” in Iraq.

Achieve: Does the reality of life in Baghdad differ from what you expected and what is portrayed by the western media? Is there a real sense of danger in everyday life there?

Hemphill: Yes, the reality is very different from what I expected. Although, since I never lived in a war zone, I didn’t know what to expect. While the media reported the random attacks, I thought it really meant ‘random’ and hence nothing you can do to anticipate them. In reality, when you ‘stand out like a sore thumb’ while driving down the road, it becomes more ‘targeted’ than ‘random.’
A military approach to ‘force protection’ is an all-encompassing mindset and lifestyle. I never anticipated what it meant to exist safely in a war zone. It means the only time you take off your ID badge is when you shower or sleep. It means you don’t leave the building without wearing armor and being armed. It means you cannot drive except in convoys of at least two vehicles.

There are 27 concrete traffic barricades and four ‘manned’ gates through which we pass to get into the hotel. It’s not a real hotel. It’s an old hotel which closed at the onset of the Gulf War in 1991 and never reopened until a contract was issued to house military and civilian advisors last September.

From my ‘hotel’ window, I see 7 machine gun ‘nests.’ There are a similar number on the other side of the building. One is not encouraged to look out the window, lest it invite sniper fire. The refuge for fresh air seems to be the roof, which has several “machine gun nests” on it, but stay away from the edge as it too invites sniper fire. There’s already been one car bombing at the hotel, which killed eleven, and mortar attacks which have yet to claim a life. Last week, security discovered a nonresident ‘sketching’ the lobby scene. I have no idea how he got in, and I wonder whether the Kurdish guards let him out alive?

Achieve: Are there some “Snapshot images” that stay with you?

Hemphill: Yes, there is at least one ‘snapshot’ image which will never go away: the former execution chamber at Abu Graib prison. It is a room large enough for a line to form of those about to lose their lives. It was designed with an elevated stage area where two ‘gallows’ could hang men simultaneously, a few feet apart. The holes in the floor served two purposes; first, it allowed the condemned to hang from the noose till dead and then be dropped onto the conveyor belt which ran beneath. An automated system of death was necessary due to the vast numbers who entered the killing chamber alive and left dead. The actual ‘nooses’ are stored in my office closet.

On a much less macabre note, I will always remember the first time the sky turned orange and I experienced my first desert sandstorm. The ‘talcum powder’ grit in my mouth and the very ‘non-talcum powder’ itch under my clothes made it a snapshot image for multiple senses!

Achieve: Is there a sense of ‘idealism’ in what you do and why you are there?

Hemphill: Absolutely. Without a very strong ‘anti-pragmatic/pro-idealism’ nature, I would never have tackled the problems of the Middle East years ago or again now.

I became enamored with the Middle East in 1986 and ‘87 while visiting a friend in Ramallah, Palestine, The Occupied Territories. When presented with the possibility of serving U.S. interests in the Middle East in advance of the Iraq war, I seized upon the chance to return to the region, in November of 2002 (Lebanon and Syria) and January 2003 (Palestine, The Occupied Territories). The war was inevitable in January ‘03 when I met the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees based in Gaza. She offered me a job, but at the time I thought it too dangerous. Perhaps I should have taken her up on the offer; it might have been safer than Iraq!

During the war, I agreed to a “judicial” role in the reconstruction effort, but remained ‘on hold’ for months awaiting a more stable environment. While in China in November ‘03, a message arrived with an appointment as Senior Legal Advisor with the Ministry of Justice/Prisons. Within days, I was scheduled to leave.

In the past, I’ve grown weary of the frequent American responses to the Middle East: “We should just go in there and blow’em all up!” or “Let’em fight it out, that’s what they’ve been doin’ for years! They’ll never change!” etc. We’ve heard it before. The challenge is to go beyond that and say, “This is the United States, surely we can help.” Is that idealistic? Yes, of course it is. We should be the most idealistic country in the world; perhaps ever. Can these changes be forced upon a society which is so steeped in conservative Islam and authoritarian rule? I have moments of doubt everyday. But, I’m still an idealist and still willing to try.

Arab culture invented mathematics and engineering. This is the same Semite race that gave us Abraham and Jesus. There is plenty of room for hope. However, on the best days, it’s “two steps forward and one step back.” On the days when bombs kill the innocent and assassins kill the helpful, you can barely see forward where you once stood. The trick is simple: never give up.

Achieve: Is there anything in your liberal arts background that has helped prepare the way for the work you are doing?

Hemphill: My introduction to the international scene began when I was a student at Regent’s Park Oxford. Without a good liberal arts background from Jewell and Oxford, I might never have served in the Middle East, The Philippians, Central America or China. Without that experience, I certainly wouldn’t consider the U.K. my second home.

I was graduated from Jewell with a B.A. in three different majors: Political Science, Religion and Philosophy. Each has been very helpful in preparing me for work in a government (Poli. Sci.) in a Muslim country (Religion) where we’re trying to instill the initial concept of democracy and individual rights (Philosophy). On a daily basis, the messy implementation of these goals is complicated because too many folks are not interested in working ‘through’ a problem, but instead ‘patching it up and moving on.’

The problems I tackle in Iraq are not ‘courtroom procedures’ or ‘legal interpretations’ that I faced as Prosecuting Attorney. There, ethical decisions of whether and who to charge with a crime are quite different than the issues here. Here, decisions involve an entire population and their most basic human right: freedom: “How should we treat those who have broken the law?” and “What should the basis of that law be?” These questions were mostly answered long ago in the U.S. In Iraq, we’re trying to overcome thirty years of tyranny where it was a crime to even have those discussions. It was treason, punishable by summary judgment and death, if a citizen attempted to affect an answer to these questions.

I spend some of my time and effort meeting the expectations of the Geneva Convention and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Without a good liberal arts background, it would be difficult to apply their ‘lofty’ concepts in the brick and mortar world of feeding, housing and providing health care and access to courts for thousands of detainees. It takes a lot of help from the business and engineering graduates too!

The liberal arts background is helpful when dealing with the bureaucratic mindset where the big picture is sometimes forgotten. Often, I must stop a conversation and remind the participants of the ‘end goal’ which may sound ‘lofty’ to the narrow mindset. Nevertheless, without an ‘end goal’ for topics such as human rights and decent treatment of the least privileged, we fail as a society and I fail as a Christian.

June 2004

Postscript:

“Nobody ever said this job was going to be easy!” was Steve Hemphill’s response when recently asked about the prisoner abuse scandal. Even though all the instances of alleged abuse occurred before Steve arrived last January, the consequences of those incidents and the negative media weigh heavily on him and his efforts. At press time, Steve told Achieve of the challenge: “To an Iraqi, I may have lost credibility just because I’m an American, but I know my heart is in the right place and I also expect that of my American staff. Now we must find ways to convince the
10,000 employees of the Iraqi prison system.”

Expressing frustration over this recent turn of events in Iraq, Steve noted that he is “more determined than ever to stay until we get it right, or we’re asked to leave because we can’t get it right. So I pray for wisdom and patience all around.”

As the whole world has focused on very troubling news from Iraq, the Achieve staff has found comfort in knowing a Jewell alumnus was willing to forgo comfort and safety to help, and even more impressive, refuses to give up.

>> Steve Hemphill’s “Dispatches from Baghdad”