At Camp Lima Base in Iraq
By Trish Schuh


KARBALA, Iraq- It should have been an hour's drive south from Baghdad. But it took an hour just to exit the checkpoints, with humvees intermittently veering into oncoming traffic. Along the road a wrecked car had collided head on with a tank. (One complaint heard from Iraqis was about tanks on the street accidentally driving up over the top of small family cars, crushing those inside.)

Outside the city, progress was frustrated by a mile-long convoy of American APCs, tanks, humvees and military supplies waiting for deployment to "Operation Lightning" in Baghdad. Hundreds of civilian vehicles were forced off the four lane highway onto a narrow dirt road bisected by rail tracks. We repeatedly stalled, zigzagged, and backtracked among cars, trucks and tanks. More waiting. Then amidst the chaos of noise and dusty, reduced visibility careened a train which sent cars squealing. Fortunately, it wasn't a car bomb.
We arrived in Karbala almost five hours later.

The Camp Lima Forward Operating Base just east of Karbala, is home to the 155th Armored Brigade BCT of the Mississippi National Guard. The Civil Affairs Battalion team headed by Chaplain Terry Partin, Major Jack Helmers and Major Kenneth Booth all voiced US concerns for Iraqi human rights and democracy.

Major Booth explained US reconstruction plans and the unit's motto: SWEAT (sewage, water, electricity, academic, and trash priorities). He said that a major obstacle was getting money for Karbala's rebuilding from the US government. Despite this, the military had begun 5 water and electrical projects, schools and a nursing home. Major Booth felt that Iraqis who expected more were being unreasonable. "They think every problem is a U.S. problem. They can't expect us to turn Iraq into Switzerland in six months."

Major Jack Helmers was asked why the Americans invaded Iraq; "There are many reasons," he said, "but mostly Saddam himself was a weapon of mass destruction. He killed Kurds and Shiites. He was working on other WMDs- we may still find them." He added that part of the US mission was "Explosive Ordnance Disposal."

Certainly the radioactive WMD, depleted uranium (DU) is easy to find, but American authorities have refused to clean it up. Conventional weapons also posed a danger. In the past, piles of live munitions had been tossed in the streets, unmarked due to a shortage of yellow plastic 'caution' tape.

Later, at the Karbala office of Iraqi Human Rights Watch, Hussein Al Abrahemy placed a cluster bomb on his desk. Citizens, he said, had unsuccessfully requested many times that the US military retrieve the WMDs they had dropped. Daisy cutters too, with cluster bombs, were still being found throughout the city. Children thought the yellow devices were toys. So on April 3, a committee headed by Ali Hamza of the Muslim Peace Team finally decided to dispose of the ordnance itself. Attempting to clear a school yard, Ali Hamza was killed. The Army promised compensation, but the family has received nothing. Responding to American inaction, the Community of Victims' Kin was founded, demanding that 5% of Iraq's oil revenue be distributed among war victims' families.

The incident challenged Major Booth's earlier statements on liberty, democracy and Iraqi human rights. Ali Nassir of the Iraqi Council for Solidarity and Peace commented that democracy was a long term commitment. "If you want to build a house it may take a year, but to build human beings it takes the future. The US Army didn't bring democracy."

It may not have even brought bathroom privileges. On the way out of Camp Lima Base were two latrines. One marked "IRAQIS ONLY" and the other "NO IRAQIS- AMERICANS ONLY". Asked for an explanation, Major Booth replied that it was due to 'cultural differences.'


Trish Schuh has worked with ABCnews, Al-Arabiya, Asia Times, Tehran Times, Syria Times and Iran News Daily. She has studied Arabic in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and recently observed the presidential elections in Iran.