Thought you might enjoy this little add on to the story in Baghdad.
May 12, 2004
Iraqi Boy Scouts come in from the cold and reconnect to the world outside
“Iraqi Scouts Thrive Despite Tyranny, War,” by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, FOXNews.com, 11 May,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119658,00.html.
Brother Andy (Eagle Scout himself) sends me this story, which is just too good to believe: Iraqi Boy Scout troops went underground to stay alive during Saddam’s long rule, somehow managing to keep their network coherent all those dark years. Now they reemerge and link up with other Boy Scout networks in the Arab world.
Here’s the best excerpt:
Former Navy commander Chip Beck said contacts he made in the city informed him that local Iraqi scouting councils in the 18 provinces had survived attempts by Saddam to cut off sources of funding, meeting places and communication between brother and sister organizations. The scouts were alive and waiting for a chance to resurrect themselves, he said.
“You still have some older scout leaders in their 40s who had been trained by the world scouting organization and knew the ethics and training and maintained it. They kept it up,” Beck told Foxnews.com. “They’re emerging battered and tattered, but in relatively good shape.”
"The Arab region wants to welcome them with open arms and [is] looking for ways to help them," said Gabr, who spoke to Foxnews.com from the Arab Region Council in Cairo, Egypt, which is part of the world organization.
Yet another good example of how this occupation can lead to an Iraqi society reconnected with the world-at-large, so long as we don’t let the violent forces of disconnectedness drive this nation out of the world community again.
and
Boy Scouts making comeback in Iraq
Retired Navy commander works to restore honor code trampled by Saddam
Posted: June 3, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
On the shores of the Tigris River sits 40 acres of prime real estate which recently was home to a compound used by Saddam Hussein's secret police.
The location has since been bombed by coalition forces, and looted by local Iraqis.
Now, a retired U.S. Navy commander is leading the charge to turn the remnants of the police camp into a first-class camp and training facility for Boy Scouts in Iraq, and have Scouting flourish once again in the region.
Chip Beck, a former Scout himself and father of one, accepted the Pentagon's call to serve in Iraq as a civilian advisor with the Coalition Provisional Authority, and found in Baghdad a large number of fellow workers who also happened to be involved with Scouting.
"Scouting is perceived with tremendous excitement and receptivity, because it's been here for 50 years. It's got its own Iraqi face to it," Beck said on Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily Radioactive program. "We in America sometimes tend to think that Boy Scouts of America [is] the only Scouting organization in the world, when in fact it is one of 217."
The Boy Scouts originally were established in Iraq in 1954, but suffered repression with Hussein in power.
"Under Saddam, he had restricted their independence and movement. They couldn't travel outside the country to go to other jamborees, and international Scouts couldn't come here," Beck said. "Saddam didn't control the Scouts the way he wanted to. He started his own youth movement which was really corrupt."
But Beck says older Scout leaders, men in their 50s and 60s who had been trained with international Scout standards, kept their honor and dignity in the wake of deterioration caused by Saddam.
"They came through it kind of battered and tattered, I'd say, but with their head held high. Now we're trying to get 80 young leaders under the age of 35 – 40 men, 40 women from all over the country – to go to Cairo and be trained in a two-week professional Scouting leadership and program-management course. They're all excited about this!"
Beck says there's been no resistance to his effort, as he works with the Iraqi Center for Reconciliation, which includes leaders from the region's diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
"All of them agree that Scouting is good for their young people, their communities, themselves, the country. It promotes what I call universal values. It doesn't have to be American or British or Jordanian or South African or anybody's beliefs. It's something every decent person in the world can agree on. These are the values of right and wrong."
Beck is hoping to raise some $4.5 million dollars to rebuild the damaged secret-police camp as the national headquarters of the Iraqi Scouts.
And while he admits there is still violence afoot throughout the nation, he's optimistic it can be quelled.
"We can do it. There's more people out here in Iraq that want to see their own society succeed and need our help than there are those who want to destroy, but those with guns can also make a loud statement. It's the quiet ones that need to do the work more effectively."
(Editor's note: Those wishing to donate to the Iraqi Scouting effort can make checks out to:
World Friendship Fund, PO Box 152079, Irving, Texas 75015
Include the notation "Iraqi Scouting" in the memo.)