Posted on 10/07/2003 6:56:37 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
DANBURY — Being a cop in An Nasiriyah, Iraq, is a quite a bit different than being one in Danbury, Conn., according to Mike Georgoulis, who’s been both. For one thing, looting here isn’t anywhere near the problem it was when Georgoulis patrolled the streets of the southern Iraqi city as a Marine infantry sergeant earlier this year.
And while some Danbury residents may be angry at a neighbor, they aren’t quite as likely to grab an automatic weapon and take their vengeance 15 years later.
But in the early, hectic days after An Nasiriyah fell last spring, many Iraqis took advantage of the power vacuum to settle old scores, actions that would have been brutally punished under Saddam Hussein’s government.
"There was a lot of violence, but most of it was directed at each other, not at the Americans. When we first got there, we were dealing with six, 10, or 12 homicides a day,” said Georgoulis, who helped reorganize and train the civilian police force in the provincial capital of some 300,000 people.
When he reported back to work at Danbury police headquarters on Main Street shortly after 8 a.m. Monday, the 33-year-old patrol officer was greeted by a large red, white and blue banner erected by the police union.
"We’re just so proud of Mike and the service he did for all of us,” said fellow Officer Bob Arconti. "Our prayers were answered that he came back safe and sound.”
"It’s great to have him back,” said Sgt. Scott Fabich. "He’s definitely an asset to the department, and the city should be proud of what he’s done.”
Georgoulis, a cop since 1989 and a Danbury police officer since 1996, had been gone since November 2001, when his Marine Corps Reserve unit was called to active duty for 12 months in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Then, with war looming, the call-up was extended, and in February 2002, he found himself in Kuwait, preparing for the invasion.
In the first months of the war, Georgoulis, a firearms instructor and member of Danbury’s SWAT team, headed a small scout sniper squad, doing reconnaissance ahead of advancing troops. After An Nasiriyah was secured, he was reassigned to what was dubbed Attack Force Finest, a unit composed largely of American police officers whose duties included tracking down subversives and training a new police force.
Prior to the war, the Iraqi city’s police department numbered nearly 4,000 men. While most commanding officers had some professional training, the government saw the police as a way to keep people working.
"If things were bad, they just hired another 200 cops,” Georgoulis said. As a result, most of the rank-and-file had no training and, as would be expected in a totalitarian society, checks on police power were virtually nonexistent.
Even after the force was reorganized, Georgoulis said, police were still arresting people because a family member owed money to someone, because they were homosexuals, or simply for arguing.
"Every morning, we had to go down to the station and release them,” he said.
Complicating the task was Saddam’s declaration of amnesty in the fall of 2002, a move that emptied the country’s jails. Police records were destroyed or disappeared in the looting that followed the government’s fall, making it almost impossible to distinguish between those arrested for murder or for political activities, Georgoulis said.
Even leads about potential subversives and Saddam loyalists from the people, most of whom were cooperative and welcomed the Americans, had to be regarded with suspicion, Georgoulis said.
After the government fell, nearly a score of political parties sprang up, and many weren’t above denouncing their opponents in hopes of gaining an advantage.
"You always had to check their motivation,” he said.
Rioting and looting were also major problems.
"You could literally watch a warehouse the size of Danbury High School be destroyed. People would show up with a hammer and steal it brick by brick to build their own houses,” he said.
Realizing that many Iraqis were stealing just to survive, the occupying forces turned a blind eye to "old women taking a pot of gasoline for cooking,” Georgoulis said. But after a busload of looters broke open a gasoline pipeline outside the city, triggering an explosion that killed 14 people, the soldiers became more aggressive in trying to prevent it.
And while Georgoulis and his comrades were forced to go weeks without bathing, he was amazed at the Iraqis’ attention to personal hygiene, even in the face of power and water shortages.
"Hundreds of people would show up at the police station for a protest, and every one of them had a crease in their shirts and pants,” he said.
By the time he left Iraq in August, the citizens of An Nasiriyah had power and water 23 hours a day, compared to just two hours when the Americans first arrived, Georgoulis said. He’s convinced that most people in Iraq support the invasion, particularly in the south, where Saddam crushed a revolt after the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.
"An overwhelming majority of the people were happy we were there, and the percentage increased in proportion to their education,” he said. "I had grown men hug me on the street and thank me.”
Georgoulis, who is married and lives in Stamford, is also grateful for the home front support he received after his 1991 callup. During his military service, the city continued to pay him the difference between his patrolman’s salary and his military pay.
Before he goes back on the street later this week, Georgoulis must undergo two days of state recertification training, including qualifying with the new Glock 40 pistols that replaced the Berettas Danbury police were using when he left.
Lt. Joe Collins, who commands the patrol shift that Georgoulis will be assigned to, said he expects Georgoulis’ Iraqi experience will make him an even better police officer.
"Mike is a good, energetic patrol officer. When you deal with people of different cultures and outlooks, it makes you look at them differently. He can share that experience with the other officers he works with,” Collins said.
My sincere thanks to Officer and Sgt Mike Georgoulis!
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If the media were honest, they'd keep a daily running tally of things like 'Iraqis killed today' vs. 'Iraqis killed in average day under Saddam'. It's their job to report, and provide perspective so that accusations of bias won't carry weight (on either side of the political spectrum). It'll never happen, of course. They'll provide perspective only when it damages the right (or appears to).
I dislike using terms like 'us', 'them', 'we', 'they', because such terms are so stark. But nobody is to blame for that but the liberals, who are intent on marginalizing the conservative movement. It's only because of 'them' that there must be a 'we'. That's how I feel about it, anyway. I never notice someone's color or gender until they do everything to call attention to it, so that I can't help but react to it and thus be called a racist or sexist.
But I'm segueing into a different rant...
Those early revenge deaths were understandable after decades of suffering under Ba'athist neighborhood 'minders' who raped and murdered their neighbors.
Ollie North talked about passing villages where the Iraqi people were 'removing' the guilty in the days following the liberation of Baghdad.
On Oct. 4, Iraq reenstated it's "Council of Judges", separate from the Ministry of Justice, as a 'check' on government power - as it was before Saddam.
I totally agree! I live about 20 miles from Hartford, and avoid it as much as possible.
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
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