Council Chairman’s Baghdad Routine: Sitting With Saddam, Dodging Chopper Crash

By John Voket

This is the second part of an ongoing feature updating the activities of Newtown Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers, who is currently serving as a military Liaison Officer in Iraq.

Saying it has been an exciting and harrowing past few weeks for Newtown Council Chairman and Marine Corps Reserve Colonel Will Rodgers is probably a gross understatement.

The prospect of sitting in the courtroom with Saddam Hussein, discussing the condition of a fellow officer who was shot in the face, or miraculously being taken off a mission in which a transport helicopter crashed is far more than anyone should be expected to handle with aplomb. Still, Col Rodgers’ email correspondence from the Green Zone in Baghdad remains even-tempered and businesslike.

Col Rodgers spent the middle two weeks of November on the road. His trip through the countryside may have been just slightly less intense than the previous week or so during which a rocket attack ripped through the roof of an adjacent “hooch,” but failed to detonate.

“After that attack, things were relatively quiet until the Saddam verdict,” Col Rodgers wrote on November 9. “When it was announced here midday, it seemed like we were in a popcorn popper for a couple of hours, so heavy and constant was the celebratory gunfire in the city. We donned flak and helmets and were restricted from moving around for several hours. It was fortunate we took those precautions because several guards had rounds strike them but the gear prevented serious injury. We were expecting worse that night, and the military flights indicating there were bad boys acting up somewhere were unceasing, but it was surprisingly quiet.”

Two days before the verdict, Col Rodgers had an opportunity to get up close to the infamous dictator, when he was invited to attend part of Hussein’s presentencing hearing.

“I sat twelve feet behind and above him the entire day. At his trial. While the verdict from his first trial was only recently announced, his second trial, for allegedly gassing Kurds in his own country in 1988, has been underway for some time,” Col Rodgers wrote. “I…requested to attend the day following the election in hopes that the timing would lend itself to some dramatic courtroom outbursts. While no such outbursts occurred, the process was nonetheless fascinating.”

He described the proceedings, which included three teams of lawyers: the prosecution, the defense and a civil team, “whose job it is to flesh out the record at trial of events and facts that could be relevant in fixing civil damages or compensation for the victims in this or subsequent proceedings. The prosecution and civil teams each had one female member, the Justices and defense attorneys were exclusively male,” he wrote.

“The proceedings function more like a government meeting than our notion of a trial,” Col Rodgers continued. “The whole structure seems a combining of British and American judicial procedures. Surprisingly, defendants are allowed to pose questions through the Judge and often their questions were more useful than those of the attorneys.

“The testimony, though often unstructured and missing key connecting points, was compelling. Each of the victims described losing members of their families, indeed some entire families and whole villages, on a particular day after aerial gassing bombardments. The defendants were unmoved by the testimony. Saddam wore a suit. He looked, in a word, defeated. He appeared healthy but moved slowly and deliberately, almost shuffling. He did address the court once. His voice was weak.”

Col Rodgers described his time as passing quickly, due to the nature of his duties.

“Life here can be a whirlwind, with plenty of planning meetings that often have me operating in some rarified circles. I’ve met ambassadors, more Generals than I can remember, and some fairly high-ranking politicians and staffers (ours and theirs). On the other hand, I meet Iraqi workers and their families. When I go outside the wire, driving or flying, I’m invariably with junior officers and enlisted and the up-tempo of an operation ‘grounds’ me to the realities here and leaves me admiring those who live that existence 24/7.”

By month’s end, Col Rodgers had returned from his road trip and was eager to share some of his experiences.

“The one [trip] inside the country was to a much safer area, the city of Erbil. My party initially arrived at a Korean military base. The chow hall food was fantastic! We transitioned to local housing, and I actually had difficulty falling asleep because there was no background artillery or small arms noise,” he wrote. “I was there for work, but we did get a chance to go into the city for a visit. We went to the oldest section of the city, called the citadel, approximately 7,000 years old and billed as one of the longest continually inhabited places.

“From a tower we could see two neighboring countries. The inhabitants are Kurdish, and it was a little strange being the only American military member on the streets but there were no hostile stares, just curious ones. One of my favorite memories was seeing three carts, each one pulled by men so elderly they could call [former first selectman] Jack Rosenthal ‘boy,’ go by on the street in a row: first cart, rice; second cart, flour; third cart, Sony DVD players!”

Meanwhile, Chaos Ensued

Col Rodgers said his trip was a “fortuitous time to be away from Baghdad,” because it was quite violent in his absence.

“The mass kidnapping of university personnel occurred just after I left. In addition, there were numerous serious rocket attacks on the immediate area where I am, though none as close as the one that hit my neighbor earlier,” he continued. “Our unit’s most serious casualty thus far, another Judge Advocate sniped through the neck and out the face, is recovering at Bethesda. He’s undergone several operations and has many more to go, I’m sure.”

By December 3, the situation in Col Rodgers’ neighborhood worsened measurably.

“There is a full-fledged battle going on outside the Zone for past several days, with so many explosions and such heavy gunfire that we’re all getting blasé about even this higher level of activity,” he wrote. “It does make the Red Zone trips a little more [intense] though — my last was Thursday and I have two coming up Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Fortunately for Col Rodgers, he was cancelled from the Tuesday trip, but several other soldiers who headed out on the mission were not so fortunate. According to a report in The New York Times, the Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight troop transport helicopter with 16 people and equipment on board was flying over Lake Qadisiya, near Haditha, when it began to experience mechanical difficulties.

The pilots brought the twin-rotor helicopter down in a controlled maneuver and guided it to the water’s edge, and four American troops were killed in the crash. After dispatching an email to Col Rodgers following the report, his reply was uncharacteristically brief.

“Yes, re: the copter crash, that’s one of my normal runs and I was scheduled to be doing that. So when I saw the news I forwarded it to [his wife] Moira and [daughter] Amelia with an ‘It wasn’t me’ cover, a first thus far.”

Col Rodgers was much more forthcoming in relating his appreciation for the gifts and supplies he received from his Newtown neighbors, some of which he was able to share with other troops.

“I received a surprise care package from the Newtown Lions Club, which was pleasant,” he wrote. “I took a few things then gave the box to a junior enlisted Marine who choppered back to my main unit last night. I’m sure it will be appreciated. Several groups have offered to collect things and my unit is composing a list of needs and addresses which I will share shortly.”

He also sent appreciation to a friend who sent a supply of phone cards, and was also able to forward many of them to other soldiers in his unit. As far as any further needs, Col Rodgers related that any allowable items are extremely appreciated.

“…snacks, dry foods, magazines, books, nothing wet (or fragile) that will break, no toiletries needed. I guess just a junk food run. The cold weather gear has to be an authorized uniform item and everyone already has what is allowed.”

Among the most recent emails came the welcome news that Col Rodgers’ tour of duty is more than half complete.

This series will continue as further correspondence arrives.