01:36 PM EST on Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Frank the Moderator: Greetings all. Please feel free to submit questions early, John Mulligan will jump in and begin answering them as soon as he logs in later today at noontime. For John's latest stories on Iraq, go to www.projo.com/mulliganiniraq. NOTE: Some users are having trouble logging into the chat with Internet Explorer, try another browser, if possible. Or email fcarneva@projo.com and I'lll post your question for John. Thanks.

Frank the Moderator: An email question from Zoldano from your conversations with the troops, what do you think they need most now from the folks and/or government back home?
John Mulligan :My impression from the soldiers, Marines and airmen that I met is that their needs fall into these three categories:

1) Perhaps the most important need is for something that no American can supply, at least not directly:
A functioning government in Baghdad.
It's hard to overstate how heartened the troops were by the turnout of Iraqis on election day in January.
But the American soldier in Mosul and the Marine in Fallujah are also aware of the slow progress that the newly-elected assembly in Baghdad has made toward establishment of the political body that is supposed to write a new constitution for Iraq by August.
There some of the troops seems to wonder whether American diplomacy could push a little hard behind the scenes to help the Iraqi factions in Baghdad to make a workable deal.
But the sense seems to be, as Gen. John Abizaid told me on Sunday, that the Iraqis have to do this political work for themselves. (General Abizaid is the top U.S. commander in the region. Senator Reed was traveling with the general. They have known each other since they were young officers out of West Point.)

2) Based on his conversations with troops -- from the top brass to the field-level junior officers -- Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island believes that the troops have helped the Iraqi people to get close to an important opportunity to create a stable government.
But the Iraqis and the GIs need help to exploit that opportunity; they need to rebuild war-torn neighborhoods, turn on the lights, get the water running. The fear is that the civilian side of the U.S. effort -- State Department and Pentagon contract agents, engineers, civil affairs officers and so forth -- does not yet have the resources it needs in Iraq.
More than once during my trip, American soldiers reminded me of a universal truism that fits the fledgling assembly Baghdad as well as it fits Providence City Hall: If the potholes don't get filled, the mayor won't get elected.
This ``election'' is the effort to persuade people, through bricks-and-mortar public works and the like, to support the new government and reject the insurgency.
The stakes are bigger than the rise or fall of an individual politician back home. At stake are the future of Iraq's new government -- and the timetable for bringing home the U.S. troops.

3) From the folks at home, I think the U.S. troops want a steady supply of what they're getting already: The encouragement to keep plugging at a difficult job; the hometown news and gossip; the expressions of support.
I was forcefully struck by the reaction that Sen. Jack Reed got from the troops at each of his visits with Rhode Island units in and around Iraq. The seemed hungry and grateful for the chance to shake hands and chat with the senator.
And in my opinion, it's not so much a function of the power that Senator Reed represents in Washington, D.C. (although plenty of the troops are sophisticated enough to converse with him about the military health care system or the likelihood that some New England military bases will soon be shut down). It's more a function of the fact that Sen. Reed might know their cousin in Pawtucket.

Jean: How much of the country did you see? Or were you always on military bases?
John Mulligan: I spent the most of the trip -- roughly last Thursday night until Monday morning -- with Senator Reed in General Abizaid's traveling party. We flew into the country on a C-17 (piloted, incidentally, by an Air Force officer with family in Rhode Island). We were based in Baghdad at the U.S. military headquarters -- formerly Saddam Hussein's lakeside complex of government buildings and guest houses, plus one of his many palaces.
Each day, we took two or three trips to U.S. bases, via Blackhawk helicopters (from, of course, a unit of the Rhode Island National Guard). We traversed the short stretches -- from air field to military camp, for example -- in small motorcades with armored buses and lots of security. We saw a lot of the country by air. We got a close-up look at several bases. We did not wander around on our own or visit Iraqis in their neighborhoods or on their farms.

Charles: How did you find the morale of the troops?
John Mulligan: Morale seemed to me remarkably high, in general. In particular, I got a strong impression of pride in the contribution that the troops felt they had made to relatively safe conditions that surounded the elections in January. I'd say, too, that after many hours with these men and women, especially enlisted personnel and junior officers, you could tell the difference between those whose tour had just begun and those who were about to go home. Lots of gritty, shoulder-the-load-type determination among the former; guarded anticipation among the latter. Those headed home, were intent on getting safely through the day, but they were willing to talk about plans to go to the beach, sleep for a week, etc. There were some hints of worry in the background of some conversations, on two accounts. Here's how I would sum it up: 1. Is this thing going to work? 2. Is my unit going to have to come back to Iraq?

Charles: Did R.I. soldiers tell you what they miss most and did they give you messages to deliver to folks back home?
John Mulligan : Hmmm. I guess the #1 top answer to what they miss is along these lines: ``I miss Brenda and the kids.'' Or (you readers of Vietnam-vintage or older might be a bit surprised by the significent minority who answered the question this way): ``I miss Joe and the kids.'' Yup, there were ladies present, to use an old-fashioned phrase, for most of these conversations. And of course there were `kids' present, as readers of Vietnam vintage might view the younger enlisted folks and junior officers. That crowd talked, of course, about Mom and Dad and girlfriend or boyfriend. But they also talked about goin' down to Scarborough. And very much on the minds of the average soldier was sleep. Days of sleep. Weeks of it. Eons of quiet, uninterupted sleep.

Charles: What were conditions like on the bases? The weather? The food?
John Mulligan: I imagine the conditions would have been the envy of any time-traveling GI from World War II. The food, if I may venture a generalization, was excellent cafeteria quality, with pretty amazing quantities of fresh lettuce, apples, kiwi fruit, citrus and so forth. The main meals varied. Quite a selection at the big bases; less of one at the small bases. At The Oasis, as the football-field-sized mess hall in Baghdad was called, you could get Mexican food or burgers or sliced pork with gravy (my choice on Saturday night). At the U.S. base outside of Mosul on Easter Sunday, we were served sandwiches. The weather was beautiful. Brilliant skies -- a bit hazy a couple of mornings -- high temps in the 60s, pretty cool at night in Baghdad, high 40s maybe. ``Come back in two weeks,'' everybody told us. ``It'll be 110 degrees.''

Charles: What were Sen. Reed's thoughts on the trip? Did anything change his views?
John Mulligan: I think it's fair to say that Senator Reed found evidence for his view that the emerging Iraqi government represents a large opportunity for stability in Iraq and, well down the line, a reduction of U.S. troop force and eventual pullout. BUT I think Senator Reed would also caution that there is still a significant chance that this opportunity will slip away -- maybe because the competing Kurd and Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups will be unable to meet their deadlines for writing and ratifying a constitution and electiing a permanent government; maybe because American civilian ``forces,'' to borrow a military term, are not as numerous and well equipped for their jobs at politics and public works as the military is for its job of fighting insurgents. I think it's fair, in other words, to say that Senator Reed is hopeful but worried.

Charles: Now that you're back, what are your thoughts about the war? Any end in sight?
John Mulligan: Well, yes, I think there is an end in sight, but only in theory, so far -- only if the big `ifs' turn out the way the U.S. forces and the officials of the new Iraqi government and security forces want them to turn out. If those `ifs' turn south, I don't know what the end is.

Ace: Hi John, How "Hairy" for lack of a better word is the day to day life at Balad Airbase?
John Mulligan: Well, it depended, naturally, one whose day you were talking about. I would venture to say that the Blackhawk pilots assigned to fly General Abizaid and Senator Reed around the country on Easter weekend felt pretty safe and secure (not to mention glad to get this duty with the brass). Helicopter crews who had participated in raids on insurgent locations told a grimmer story. More precisely, they didn't tell a whole lot; they adopted soldierly euphemisms for combat and situations that might turn into combat: ``Yes, Sir, it was challenging,'' they might say. The Blackhawk unit told a great story about the rescue of a disbabled helicopter a few weeks ago -- a busted transmission moer than an hour's flying time from Al Balad. A Chinook heavy-lift helicopter flew across country at nighttime, strapped a giant sling around the Blackhawk, picked it up and carried it back to base. All captured on video -- kind of murky but pretty cool nonetheless -- through night vision goggles.

Frank the Moderator: Thanks to John for spending a hour answering questions on Iraq. Look for more from John in the Providence Sunday Journal on on www.projo.com. Thanks.