The Road to Baghdad at 35 miles per hour, with many questions along the way

Our experience yesterday riding for 12 hours in a cargo truck from

the Iraq/Jordan border, to Baghdad, was long and tiring, but

interesting, and left us with many unanswered questions.

October 3, 2003

On our first trip to Baghdad, in early March, 2003, just before the

invasion began, we traveled in a GMC SUV with other Voices in the

Wilderness Iraq Peace Team volunteers, in the company of another

similar vehicle. But at that time, the chance of any problems along

the way, other than a flat tire or mechanical problems, was very

minimal.

On this trip into Iraq, we had planned on traveling by the local

equivalent of a Greyhound bus, which is how we left Iraq in late

May, this year. We felt this was the most secure, comfortable, and

least expensive option.

But after arriving in Jordan, we discovered that Iraqi's were coming

to Amman in droves to purchase vehicles (over 350,000 since March),

duty free and importing them into Iraq duty free, as this

opportunity which began with the fall of the previous Iraqi

government may not last for long. So we joined this crowd and

purchased a van, believing that having our own transportation in

Baghdad, would not only be convenient for us and our family,

friends, and associates, but also much more secure under the current

circumstances in Iraq.

However, as it turned out, the 1989 Nissan mini-van we purchased had

engine problems, which meant it could only be driven a few

kilometers, safely. And, after more than two weeks in Amman dealing

with problem mechanics (the people kind) we were not successful in

getting it repaired there. So, on September 30th, we traveled from

Amman to the Iraqi Border in the cab of a single vehicle

transporter, with the van loaded on the bed. That transporter then

returned to Amman.

By the time we cleared customs and immigration for both Jordan and

Iraq, it was around 3 pm. This was too late to be leaving the

border for Baghdad. The recommended approach is to travel from

Amman to the border during the night, clear the border by dawn, then

join a large group of other vehicles preparing to leave for Baghdad

(agreeing to maintain a "buddy" system if one vehicle needs to stop

along the way), and then be off, as fast as you can travel safely.

The recommendation is 120 to 135 kilometers per hour (70 to 80 mph)

The reason is bandits. Passenger vehicles traveling alone are

frequently approached by armed bandits who pull along side, point a

gun at the driver, and force them to pull over, even when the

vehicle (car, pickup, van, or SUV) is traveling at high speed. We

are told it's usually a quick heist, with cash and any obvious other

goodies, such as cameras, and computers being the primary goal. But

the bandits seldom take time to search the vehicle or passengers for

more loot, as they want to be on their way before possible help

(other private vehicles willing to stop and help, or Iraqi police,

or U.S. forces) comes along and chooses to intervene.

Two Iraqi truck drivers waiting just inside the border to travel on

to Baghdad the next day, with their trucks pulled over at the side

of the road, befriended us. As the sun was setting, they loaned us

a prayer rug, and a piece of cardboard to place under it on the

pavement, so we could pray. They were also concerned about our

safety. Even within shouting distance of the border, as we were,

the road is dangerous at night. They went to considerable effort to

reposition one of their trucks to sandwich our van between theirs,

so we could sleep in it that night in relative safety. Then they

took us to dinner at a little gas station restaurant across the

highway and refused to let us pay for our meal.

At about 9am the next morning, we were successful in flagging down

an empty 40 foot tractor/trailer cargo (open bed) truck which was

leaving the border for Baghdad. We negotiated a price to take our

van to Baghdad with us in the cab of the tractor. There were no

loading ramps nearby, so we found a point on a nearby side road

where a large culvert passing under the road allowed the truck to be

driven off the road, into the culvert ditch, and backed up to the

edge of the road, with the tail end of its bed level with the road,

so my van could be loaded on board. By 10 am we were on our way.

Once the truck had reached "cruising" speed, we noticed, to our

dismay, that most of the other traffic on the road was passing us.

Leaning over to look at the odometer, we saw it was broken. Using

our watch and roadside kilometer markers, we determined our average

speed to be only about 60 kph (35 mph). Even at that speed, we did

from time to time overtake another truck. But, at least we were

making progress toward Baghdad, and with more safety than in a

private passenger vehicle, as bandits seldom bother the truckers.

The good news about this low speed, was that there was more time to

really notice the sights around us. And while we weren't moving

fast, and the truck looked older than its age (1982), it's engine

(Mercedes Diesel) emitted a solid sounding, comforting roar as we

plodded along.

Except for minor damage from the war, here and there, the road was

in good condition. And with three lanes in each direction, much of

the way, good quality pavement, a divider, broad shoulders,

cloverleaf style intersections, and bridges for all crossroads, we

could have imagined ourselves on a typical U.S. Interstate highway.

Sections of the guardrails were missing all along the way. We

understand they have been stolen over the years since the Gulf war

and sold for scrap.

Also missing, we noticed, for the same reason, are many sections of

pipe from an above ground Iraq to Jordan oil pipeline that parallels

the highway for about 200 km. Meanwhile, we estimate that around

twenty-five percent of the traffic on the same highway, are old oil

tanker trucks, carrying crude oil to Jordan, coming back empty,

burning up a considerable quantity of fuel as they come and go. Why

aren't there crews, Iraqi crews, already at work rebuilding this

line?

Early in the afternoon, we came to a major bridge that had been

bombed during the recent war. Why? , we ask. This bridge will be

very expensive to repair and it had little strategic value from a

military standpoint. The loss of this bridge did not stop the

traffic flow. It simply meant all the traffic must detour around

the bridge, by climbing slowly down the embankment of the canyon on

a temporary dirt road and back up the other side. This would have

been even easier for a tracked military vehicle than it was for the

truck we were riding in. Many Iraqi's seriously believe we caused

destruction such as this to give American companies income to shore

up our sagging economy.

For a stretch of at least 200 km., we observed that almost every one

of the high tension power line towers paralleling the highway had

been toppled since our previous trip. We asked the bus

driver: "Why"? He responded with one word: "Bush." How, we asked

ourself, were all these towers justified as targets? One only needs

to destroy one tower in a 200 km. stretch to put the entire line out

of use. Even if one feels our invasion of Iraq was justified, how

does one justify senseless destruction such as this? Did our troops

need target practice that much? Did they have nothing better to

do? How many depleted uranium shells did they spread throughout the

countryside in the process? How many Iraqi's will die later from

radiation poisoning? How many deformed babies will be born, as a

result?

At frequent intervals, about every 10 km, we noticed roadside rest

areas along the way. There was no grass, no trees, no restroom, no

water, but there were ferro-cement picnic tables and parasols

shading them. Security conditions being what they were, though, no

one was putting them to use that day.

We noticed that many of the trucks inbound for Baghdad were loaded

with sacks of fertilizer. Then we discovered that many of those

outbound for Jordan were loaded with sacks of wheat? Meanwhile, we

understand that ships full of donated wheat flour are unloading in

the port of Um-Qasir south of Basra, to feed Iraq. Is this yet one

more case where donated food ends up profiting thieves and/or local

government officials in countries where the west is trying to

assuage their guilt with donated goods, but ends up feeding greed

instead of the hungry?

It had been reported to us that the highway to Baghdad was now being

patrolled by Iraqi police and the U.S. Military, to improve the

security situation. However, during our entire trip, we did not see

a single Iraqi police vehicle, traveling in either direction. We

did not see any U.S. patrols until dusk, and they may simply have

been on their way to their bases before dark, rather than assigned

to patrol the highway.

Around 7 pm, we reached Al-Ramadi, which is about 100 km. from

Baghdad, just as it began to get dark. We had been warned that from this point through Falluja (about 40 km. from Baghdad) would be

the most dangerous part of our trip, from the standpoint of

bandits. In fact, many drivers of passenger cars take an alternate

route at this point, on an old single lane highway, to avoid this

area. Fortunately, we passed through without incident, and arrived

at a trucking yard in Baghdad at 9 pm. There, our van was

unloaded. When we paid the truck driver the agreed on amount of

200,000 Iraqi dinars, using a $100.00 U.S. bill, he became very

concerned. It appeared he had never seen a $100 bill, though they

are quite common in Iraq, these days, as government workers are

currently being paid in U.S. dollars. With the help of some

bystanders, we convinced him it was indeed worth even more than

200,000 dinars at the current exchange rate, he was suddenly quite

happy. He hugged us and kissed us on both cheeks, as we parted

company. After all, this was quite a bonus for him, as he had been

returning to Baghdad, empty, when we flagged him down earlier that

day.

We then paid a tow-truck to tow our van across the city.

Unfortunately, they didn't recognize our AAA card. The driver was

concerned about getting us to our destination and returning to his

home before the current 11 pm curfew. Traffic was already light,

and he didn't waste any time stopping for many of the red lights at

intersections along the way. We arrived at the apartment where our

Iraqi wife Amal ("hope" in Arabic) lives with her mother, and

brother and his family at about 10:30 pm. They were all quite

relieved that we had made it safely.

Martin Edwards is a Healdsburg resident currently spending most of

his time in Baghdad and reporting from Iraq for the North Bay

Progressive. He can be reached via Email at:

EagleEyeLite@Netscape.Net