The People

It is nearly impossible to describe the Iraqi people without delving into the religious separations of the Islamic community. Islam is divide into 2 main categories, Sunni and Shia, with Iraq being predominately Shia. (65%) The divide within the religion of Islam itself is over the disputed successor of the Prophet Mohammad. This difference in hierarchy creates what I would compare to the political division of democrats and republicans. They both function under the same umbrella, only with different goals and understandings.

Some of this terminology may sound familiar after years of listening to media coverage. The takeaway from all this; Islam is the religion, Muslims are the people, and Shia/Sunni are the tribes/denominations. Much the same as saying Christianity is the religion, Christians are the people, and Baptist is the tribe.

Understanding this conflict in religious pursuits is detrimental in comprehending the impetus of Iraq. Political movements/leaders rise and fall on the crest of this division, exploiting the separation of community much the same way our own politicians do. The fundamental difference between our system and theirs; we separate religion from government, they do not. So rather than political parties, they have religious parties.

I wish to pull away our focus on the religious influence, and concentrate on the individual people of Iraq. I find that by aligning and contrasting our own daily lives, we find much more in common than media sources would have you believe.

My own experience with the Iraqi people is somewhat limited. The contact I had were brief encounters during convoy halts through Iraqi towns and villages. These happenstances usually consisted of small children begging for food and water. “Choco-lot-ay sir, choco-lot” is what they would say with small outstretched hands.

The most impactful experience I share with the Iraqi civilians, is the group of males that would collect the ‘brass’ after our machine gun test fires. As our convoy would leave base, we would pull over to a large berm and test fire a few rounds from every gun. This was to ensure that all the weapon systems were operational. As each round is fired, the ‘brass’ or casing is ejected from the weapon, and usually lands on the ground. After thousands of rounds are expended, a decent amount of material would be laying around. Usually picking up these leftovers is the responsibility of the Marines. However, this unique atmosphere allowed for Iraqi civilians to come and collect the brass, in which they would recycle or resell the metals.

Here is where it gets good!

As we aligned our trucks along the firing berm, these Iraqi males would come riding out of the desert on mountain bikes! NO JOKE! You could look out as far as your eyes can see, and on the horizon, would be small black dots. These dots would eventually form the figures of people as they came closer. Finally, they would arrive and sit patiently nearby, waiting. As we concluded our test fire, and the trucks pulled off, these men would RACE to the brass!

They would immediately fall to their knees, and start scooping the discarded ammunition casings into their shirts. This frantic operation would continue until every piece of brass was picked up. We would continue on our way, and they on theirs.