July 24, 2005

BY ROBERT MOORE - Tribune Staff Writer

Perhaps more than many other United States soldiers stationed in Iraq, Morristown resident John Fassler and his Die Hard team can see a relationship between their success and the day all coalition forces can withdraw.

For the past six weeks or so, Fassler, a member of the Morristown Police Department, and the small Die Hard unit have been training the municipal police force in Tuz Khurmatu, a small city approximately 115 miles north of Baghdad.

"One nice thing about this new assignment is when I was with the engineers, I didn’t see much of the Iraqis doing anything for their country," said Fassler, who’s now in Tennessee on leave.

"Now, working with the Iraqi police, it’s given me a different perspective that there are actually people working toward the same goal we are – trying to get them set up so they can govern themselves … and make them more self-sufficient."

Tuz, which is located in a predominately Kurdish area outside the main combat zones, has approximately the same number of people as Morristown, but its police force is several times larger. While the MPD has approximately 65 patrol officers and 14 detectives to serve 27,000 residents, the Tuz police force has more than 310 members, according to Fassler. Fassler, who praises Tuz police officers for

accomplishing the most with the scarce resources, says the trainees face an entirely different set of problems than their counterparts in Morristown.

One challenge, Fassler says is a pervasive culture of thievery in which families have grown accustomed to stealing to ensure their survival.

"If you left something somewhere, when you came back it might not be there," he said. "Say, if you left a vehicle on the street, they may pillage it and take what they need. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens."

Fassler says the Tuz judiciary doesn’t enjoy the universal confidence of the police force, and the police force — especially after decades of Saddam Hussein’s rule — doesn’t always have the universal support of city residents.

“We get quite a few thumbsup, and we get about the same amount of indifference," Fassler said. "It’s difficult because for 35 years they were not given a choice or a voice.

"I think they’re capable, but if you could imagine living under a dictator — and then being totally free to do whatever you want — they’re kind of in a crawling stage now," he added. "It’s not all of them, but the average Iraqi appears not to be not quite sure what to do."

Fassler says a significant portion of the Tuz police officers are assigned bodyguard duty for the mayor, city council members and other political figures.

Large numbers of officers also assist Iraqi military forces, which routinely discover caches of artillery shells, landmines and other military hardware.

The most daunting obstacle to achieving peace in the region, Fassler says, is achieving peace between the dominant Kurds and the Shiite and Turkish minorities.

"We’re talking about disputes that go way back, and that’s not going to change any time soon," he said. "I used to think maybe we had race problems here between the whites and the African-Americans. We don’t.

"We just don’t. There’s a deep hatred (in Iraq) that goes back to Biblical times that I don’t know … It’s going to take a few generations to try to change that, in my opinion … That’s not going to happen over night … I think it’s going to start with the children."

Fassler shakes his head in a mix of disbelief and disgust as he shows photographs of piles of trash, an open sewer in the middle of the street and an elderly woman gathering her family's drinking water from a puddle where donkeys had walked only a few minutes before.

"The infrastructure is just about non-existent," Fassler said. "There’s no reason this country should not look exactly like Kuwait. We’re not allowed to take photographs of Kuwait, but Kuwait City is nice.

"This is 35 years of Saddam in my opinion," he added. "It’s nice to know we’re trying to help them start a democracy and try to help them move in a direction where they can govern themselves and help improve their quality of life … It’s just going to take some time."

Fassler will return to Iraq later this week. He says returning home to Morristown recently to news of political squabbles gave him a unique perspective on life in the United States.

"The fact is that we’ve got it real good in this country and we take a lot for granted," the soldier said. "A lot of times, we hear squabbles over budgets and things like that. If you would see what the city council and people (in Iraq) are put up against, it would probably embarrass us about what we fuss about here."

Three members of the Morristown Police Department, from left, Troy Wallen Patrick Vaught and John Fassler, are currently stationed in Iraq and are scheduled to return home in late fall.

Soldiers of the 278th Regimental Combat Team use some of their time off for haircuts, one of the small routines of life in the desert. For more on the day-to-day life of the troops, see page C-1 in today’s Citizen-Tribune. For a story about a Morristown soldier’s experience in Iraq please see page A-10.

Story Copyright to Morristown Citizen Tribune