There is Kostecki leaning against a marble pillar in Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace. There's Kostecki smiling with Iraqi children in a rural farming community on the edge of Baghdad. There's where mortar ripped through a latrine at the American military base he called home for a short while. And the inside of a military Humvee, and palace domes painted with scenes from the Koran, and landscapes from the countryside where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow.
The images are a brief snapshot - a tour if you will - of Kostecki's six-month deployment in Iraq as an surge operations officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a liaison to the U.S. State Department.
Life in and around Baghdad is rich in culture and natural resources, Kostecki said. He was surprised to learn the degree to which agriculture thrives.
“It's very self-sustaining,” he said. “Iraq could have a premier way of living if they could get it together.”
Most Americans don't really know about the good work the U.S. military and civilians are doing to help the turbulent country find a more peaceful and prosperous way of life, Kostecki said.
These efforts don't often make the news; nevertheless, they are vibrant and effective, he said.
During his brief stay, Kostecki was honored to work alongside Americans who were helping Iraqi farmers, business owners and educators rebuild their lives in the post-Saddam world.
He was especially impressed with the good work that is under way to help build 23 vocational-technology schools, of which six are in Baghdad.
Faced with a 35 percent unemployment rate and 55 percent illiteracy rate, the effort is sparked by Iraqis who want better lives, who want to put their own people to work.
“They are really taking ownership of their schools and working hard to make these schools happen,” Kostecki said.
Despite the threat to their own lives and the constant risk of enemy fire, Americans are wading in among the Iraqis, learning how they can best help.
Calling them heroes, Kostecki said these unarmed civilians have given up their first-world pleasures to bring hope to a place that's been without hope for decades under Saddam's rule, war with Iran, and now because of the insurgency.
The Iraqi people, Kostecki said, are receptive to the help offered by Americans, and “have a strong will to succeed, but don't know what that looks like.”
“All of their leaders have been killed by Saddam,” he said, “and there's nothing for people to hold on to.”
Kostecki said he was impressed with what Americans are achieving in Iraq. Diplomacy is at work and making an impact, he said. Americans are sitting down with Iraqi community members and leaders. Ideas are being exchanged, needs are being met and problems are being solved.
“I have a positive outlook of what is happening with our troops - they are doing phenomenal things,” he said, “and civilians are, too.”
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