The Destination is Inspiration
"My own words helped win the hearts and minds of these resilient people. They humbled me."
Being a public affairs specialist in northern Iraq was a world apart from my similarly titled role at the Pentagon. I witnessed colonels conferring with tribal leaders like peers, and that was really impressive. Then, seeing those representatives forge new alliances was incredible.
What really topped the experience for me was being able to take all the intelligence we gathered and all the relationships we made and craft sentences, paragraphs, documents, and other public information media to make my own impact on ancient, deep-seated attitudes. That was more than I ever dreamed possible.
No, what was really the most amazing were the Iraqi people's intelligence and their willingness and ability to adopt new ways of governing, of amaintaining law and order, and of getting along. They reaffirmed my faith in democracy and-yes-in humanity, too.
