Barnes Blog
"You moved here 20 years ago and you don't know anyone?" Frank asks, skeptically.
"They are different; we don't talk to them," she says.
"She is Turkmen," observes Frank's translator. The vast majority of Huwija residents are Arabs; Turkmens make up a third of the population of nearby Kirkuk and dominate some other nearby towns. Though Saddam Hussein's project of "Arabization" of the northern oil fields was mostly focused on moving Kurds out of Kirkuk, he also forced out some Turkmens.
As he speaks with the woman, Frank concludes that he has been given directions to the wrong house. He looks sadly over to the gate and wall his platoon has destroyed. The woman, realizing that she has convinced the Americans they have the wrong family, asks for some medicine. "Let's get some IO stuff over here," Frank yells.
IO stands for information operations, missions intended to build goodwill among Iraqis by handing out medicine, school supplies, and toys. In a matter of seconds, one of the Charlie Company soldiers produces a soccer ball and two packages of notebooks and pens. It's the all-American deal in Huwija: Lose a gate, get a soccer ball.
As one of the children hugs the soccer ball and the other looks at the packet of paper and pens, Staff Sgt. Michael McMath bounds up to Frank with a notebook.
"We found this; it is filled with formulas," McMath says.
"He is a teacher," Frank says.
"A teacher of bomb making," McMath growls.
Frank shakes his head. "None of the names match up."
McMath switches gears along with the lieutenant. "Wrong house, eh," he says.
Frank fills out a claim form for the woman. If she or her husband bring the form to the city council, they can get money for a new gate, Frank explains.
The Americans pull away, hoping both that they will soon find the real location of the suspect and that they have not made a new enemy in the meantime. Maybe this was just a mix-up. Or perhaps an Arab Sunni tipster has purposefully turned the Americans on a Turkmenian family to harass them.
"That is the [expletive] part of this; you never know about the reporting," Wolff says as the patrol rolls down the street. "A lot of times it is a revenge-type thing. It's sad. We spend a lot of time trying to make people like us. Then we go and smash down their wall and hand them a claim ticket and some school supplies. You end up spinning your wheels."
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