Filed from Mosul, this story originally ran in the Jan. 7, 2006 issue of the News-Miner.
The going rate for a duck in Mosul is about $5.
That’s what Sgt. 1st Class Michael Steffey and his platoon found out while patrolling the neighborhood of Al Ahmil on Friday.
As Steffey walked the street with the 2nd platoon, Alpha Co. of the 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, asking about the safety of the neighborhood, a woman came out of a gate and said a Stryker vehicle had run over one of her ducks recently.
Steffey didn’t argue or press the point, but asked how much it was worth. The woman said $5. Steffey only had 20-dollar bills, but Pfc. John Follman passed over five singles.
“That one was on me,” Follman said.
It’s not clear who with the 1-17 of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team ran over the duck, though it wasn’t Steffey’s platoon. But it was probably a driver who either didn’t realize he squashed a duck or didn’t have time to stop to reimburse the owner, as soldiers often do when they occasionally hit livestock in the busy streets.
The duck dilemma solved, Steffey and his platoon continued walking the neighborhood. Al Ahmil is in a poor section of Mosul with lots of mud, trash and animals in the streets. But Steffey said it’s also quiet.
“It’s the safest neighborhood in all of Mosul. I’d take my kids down there. In fact, I do take my kids down there everyday,” he said motioning to the soldiers of his platoon lingering around their Stryker vehicle.
Part of the reason for the safety might be because, ironically, the neighborhood is a suspected home to insurgents, Steffey said.
“They’re not going to do anything in their backyard,” Steffey said.
Residents are also susceptible to coercion by the insurgents and the imam, the religious leader at the local mosque. It’s unclear, Steffey said, if the imam is speaking against U.S. and Iraqi forces, but many of the residents freely admitted they voted in the Dec. 15 elections for the candidates the imam picked.
The apathy toward insurgents in the neighborhood is frustrating for Steffey, who said he hears complaints about all sorts of problems the residents want the troops to fix. A concern heard often last week was about the increased fuel prices implemented by the Iraqi government. But since the price has stabilized in the last few days, the chief complaint Friday was about lack of power. Some homes have power for only a few hours a day.
“If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” Steffey said.
The lack of power is linked to many issues, including a poor grid and increased fuel costs for generators. Steffey told the residents that the power issue is really up to Iraqi government officials, although U.S. troops are watching the situation. When he tried to ask residents what they think a good solution would be, he said they don’t usually offer up ideas. They often recite the common Arabic phrases, “In God’s hands,” or, “God willing.”
“I tell them, ‘I’m not asking you what God would do, I’m asking you what you would do,’” he said.
Steffey said he has a good rapport with the neighborhood. While visiting with one family, a man tells Steffey about his adult son who needs a wheelchair. The man lost the use of his legs in a car accident.
“Word got out that I’m the wheelchair guy,” Steffey said.
When he secures a wheelchair for this man, as he tells the family he will do within the next couple days, it will be the sixteenth wheelchair he’s given away in the neighborhood.
But even though the residents are friendly with Steffey and the soldiers, they aren’t afraid to say they hope the troops won’t be a staple in their neighborhood for an extended period of time.
Steffey asked one man if he was ready for the U.S. troops to leave and if the man thinks civil war will break out when they do. The man said yes, he wants the U.S. to leave but he doesn’t think the insurgency will take over or civil war will break out. He said he thinks the country is moving toward a greater acceptance and peace between the different clashing ethnic groups.
“Good,” Steffey said with a laugh. “If more people think like him, I’ll go home soon.”