*EPF311 10/29/2003
Iraqi American Recounts Recent Iraq Reconstruction Experience
(Says Iraqi people's smiles among his fondest memories) (860)

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- An Iraqi American who spent nearly three months working on reconstruction projects in Iraq said some of his most valued memories of the experience are of the smiles on the faces of Iraqis he saw every day.

Before the fall of Saddam Hussein in April, Fawaz Saraf said many Iraqis told him there were no smiles because of the fear people felt every day. "Now they were free and it is as if they feel they can smile," said Saraf, a Washington-area highway and bridge engineer. Now, with Saddam Hussein out of power, "people know that young men won't be recruited to fight a war again, won't be tortured or be forced to join a [political] party," and they feel hope, he said in an interview with a Washington File reporter.

Saraf said that for years living abroad as an Iraqi citizen before gaining U.S. citizenship, he could feel the "terror" Iraqis had felt when he went to Iraqi consulates. There to renew a passport or submit a required document, he would get a glimpse of the Baathist regime's cruelty, as everyone entering the compound was fearful; they all knew they were being monitored, Saraf said.

That sense of terror was reconfirmed by his experience in Iraq, he said.

Saying he had "the best of both worlds" while working in the country of his birth, Saraf explained that because he knew Iraq's language and customs he had more freedom to move about than did most of his civilian and military colleagues. That freedom included using local taxis to go to meetings and neighborhood gatherings instead of having to always move about in armed convoys to restricted locations.

"Yet every time I got into a taxi, the driver would tell a story about a cousin, brother or even himself, who had been tortured by the old regime," he said.

Of Iraq's future, Saraf, who left the country as a 12-year-old in 1970, approximately two years after Saddam Hussein came to power, said: "This is a golden opportunity for Iraq to develop economically and socially," adding that he hoped new Iraqi leaders would take full advantage of the international support being extended to the country. "The time is also right for the United States to prove it is behind Iraq for the long-term. This could be a turning point in the Middle East," he said.

After the Baathist regime fell in April, Saraf said he was eager to return to Iraq and use his skills to help the Iraqi people. His sister, Ban, also heeded the call to go to Iraq, where she is still working with local elected councils and on projects benefiting women.

Saraf was recruited by the Iraq Reconstruction and Development Council, a Department of Defense (DoD) contractor that was looking for skilled Iraqi expatriates for temporary assignments in Iraq.

After meeting with project coordinators in the Washington area and learning about the "intricacies" of the transitional Iraqi government, Saraf, who was to be placed with Iraq's Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction, flew with a group of other Iraqi professionals on a U.S. military plane to Baghdad.

"When we landed I looked at the faces of the people in my group," Saraf said. "They were 'shell-shocked.'" No one imagined they would be going back to Iraq, he said.

Saraf, who grew up in Baghdad, said he asked to work with the housing ministry in four provinces in the south of the country -- Al Basrah, Al Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Maysan -- close to his father's home region.

There he was billeted in and worked from a medium-sized hotel in Basrah, sharing sleeping quarters with 4-6 people from various countries that are part of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by L. Paul Bremer.

Saraf's work included doing structural needs assessments with his Iraqi counterparts, then submitting applications to coalition officials for project funding. He also helped the Iraqi subcontractors meet U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contract compliance regulations.

Saraf also helped register internally displaced persons, many of whom had taken up residence in damaged government buildings, so they could receive subsistence payments from the CPA. And he ensured that housing ministry officials were paid their salaries.

Saraf said the unofficial part of his assignment -- such as listening to people's concerns -- was often as rewarding as the official part. "Sometimes all people want is for you to listen to them," he said.

Of the frustrations he encountered, Saraf cited the lack of banks, which made payments for project materials and salaries logistically difficult. He said another challenge was teaching government workers how to work under modern, fair employment rules.

Yet, he said, for every challenge he encountered, there was always a solution, and the CPA gave the reconstruction workers decision-making authority to implement the solutions.

Saraf said the personal rewards outweighed the difficulties, which included periodic concerns about security. "I truly enjoyed every day, the look in people's faces," Saraf said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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