Herewithin, is the account of Kevin Boyce's support role to the GM Iraq Re-Entry Project Baghdad, September 2003

Long ago in the fertile valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a great civilization was born, which was to leave an indelible mark on the whole future of the world. This land was known as Mesopotamia from the Greek "between two rivers" and now forms part of modern Iraq. It was here that human beings first began to cultivate their land and where writing was invented, truly the birthplace or commonly know as the "Cradle of civilization".

General Motors strengthened its partnership with Al Mansour Automotive Company (MAC) by forming a strategic alliance so that MAC is the sole distributor for GM products in the emerging market of Iraq. This partnership is the cornerstone of the GM Iraq Re-Entry strategy, with both organizations committed to providing Sales and After Sales support to this new market of today, yet an established market of yesteryear, to the various government projects and departments and the future Iraqi GM customers. GM and MAC’s goal was to send engineers and support staff to Baghdad to set up an operation to support the GM products currently in use in the region.
Below is my account of the small part that I played, remembering the many people who made the Iraq Re-Entry Project possible without disruption to the day-to-day operation of the many GM Divisions involved.

Thursday 25 September 2003 Leave Dubai, 0800 from Terminal 2 on board a Russian Ilyushin 76 Cargo plane operated by Global Logistics. Crew is entirely Russian, and almost unaware or don’t care about the two passengers. We board the plane via a stepladder, no welcome drink from the stewardess and no emergency procedure to go through. We take our seats, which is on top of the wooden crates carrying generators.

It is unusual to be able to see all the internal workings and wiring of an aircraft, it carries its own spare wheel and tyre in case of replacement. The flight over IRAQ is in itself uneventful; however the scenery from the plane is most unique. The geography is one of what would appear of dust and rivers! The Euphrates River winds and stretches itself across the land like the roots of a tree, giving life to the dusty soil. It really seems a very fertile land, one rich in many natural resources such as water, oil, minerals and agriculture.

After following the Euphrates, we enter Baghdad airspace and over the city of Baghdad, the roads are visible and all seems like an ordinary city. We land at 10.20 am at Baghdad International Cargo Airport, military personal and equipment visible at every corner of the apron. The plane taxis to its corner of the airport and the door opens, two Military Policemen greet me, all seems to be going to plan, and I am now expecting a smooth transport to my destination. I am escorted to the makeshift passport control, and receive my IRAQ, Baghdad International Airport stamp in my passport!

I wait in the "lounge" for the bus shuttle to the Presidential Palace, it turns into a 3 hour wait, and so a chance to look around the airport. Evidence of war all around; rubble, military vehicles, personnel moving, Italian Red Cross moving in for their tour and even some local people leaving and arriving.

I am waiting for the bus, and finally it arrives I am fooled into thinking that I would be greeted and that the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) had arranged a personal escort, no such luck, just an ordinary Joe waiting for the bus. The next stop on the route is the Baghdad International Airport, (non cargo). Two U.S. soldiers jump aboard and Bob the driver instructs me to wear my helmet and bulletproof vest, the two soldiers are already kited out for the journey with weapons armed and ready for use if and when required. We now leave the Green zone and head towards the "Red" zone, so called because of its lack of control and safety. Baghdad is split into different zones depending upon the level of control and safety, and so in order to get to the other Green zones, it is required to cross Red zones around the city. Bob is from Texas, like so many other civilian workers for Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR, part of Halliburton, one of the re-construction companies in Iraq). It's his first time outside the U.S., but he seems happy enough driving a bus in a combat zone. We wait for our armed escort to arrive and once it does we head for the Presidential Palace Green zone. It transpires that some people advise not to travel on this convoy wearing the body amour, as it creates attention and so some traveler’s travel in normal vehicles, window open, radio on, and so traveling almost invisible to the local environment.
The journey through the Red Zone is completed in silence, and at high speed, in the event of collision with another vehicle, road debris and even people. Under no circumstances and under direct orders was the convoy to stop or slow down.

We travel through Baghdad; the roads are in very good condition considering the recent conflict, Mercedes, Peugeot, Opel, Ford and Chevrolets are in abundance, but all are over 10 years old, due to the U.N. Trade embargo after the last Gulf War.

16.00 The bus arrives at the Presidential Palace Green zone, via the North Gate "assassins gate" so called due to its exposure to attack. (January 2004, this is the scene of the suicide truck bombing, killing 25 Iraqis, 2 U.S. soldiers and 2 KBR personnel) and so we are now back into another "safe" Green zone, and we are greeted by the U.S. MPs who wave us through, one of the benefits of having a Humvee military escort.
Disembarking the bus, I am carrying one bag and two special reinforced containers so to take samples of fuels and send them back to the GM labs in order for our calibration engineers to determine quality and so modify calibrations to suit the fuel quality (results later show RON ratings of 78). I enter the Palace via the garden entrance, past the elaborate outdoor swimming pool. Wandering the corridors of new power, trying to locate the KBR Vehicle maintenance group having the feeling of a trespasser, and soon I find my contact, Tony Scott and introduce myself.

17.30 First job is to get a security pass, to allow myself access to certain essential areas in the compound, mainly the Palace, now known as the CPA Main Building. My ID states, "Loaded weapons in the CPA Main Building? No. Meals? Yes. MWR Facilities? Yes. Lodging Provided at: CPA Compound". Temporary ID arranged and now time to eat, first time since the day before, in flight entertainment / service on a Russian Ilyushin 76 is very limited indeed. We head towards the Hotel Rashid for dinner, driving parallel to the 20 ft. concrete barrier that has been constructed around the Palace grounds. We arrive at the hotel, destruction evident everywhere, a familiar scene that after a few days is just ignored and so we cue for our dinner of spaghetti, turkey and meatloaf courtesy of the U.S. Army and local chefs.

Dinner finished and so time to view the workshop facilities that Saddam left for us, and what a surprise, an Air Conditioned workshop (A/C not operational at the moment), hoists (heavy and light duty), battery shop, machine shop, rolling road, paint booth, petrol and diesel filling station, two story store room and several offices, a totally self contained dealership! The facilities were used for vehicle maintenance and modification; allegedly assault vehicle modification with surface-to-air cannons mounted on GMC and Isuzu Pick-ups. Waiting for repair are two of Saddam's vehicles, Opels; one an Omega A (Vauxhall Carlton) and a Vectra A (Vauxhall Cavalier). The Vectra A is a hatch model and the VIN reveals its character, built in Luton in 1988. The car park has an interesting mix of vehicles with different reasons for being there. Saddam’s 2 boats (the Palace backs onto the river Tigress), his sons two Porsches and one of several bullet proof Mercedes, as well as about 20 GMC / Chevrolet Suburbans, suffering from bullet wounds and accident damage and waiting for authority for either repair or disposal from the U.S. Military. One such vehicle is littered with entry and exit bullet holes, front - rear, left hand side – right hand side, glass shattered and poignantly through the windscreen and blood stained passenger seat, the driver managed to get the vehicle home, unfortunately the passenger was not so lucky.

21.00 The alarm goes out, a suspect vehicle has been abandoned on the July 4 Bridge, just behind the workshop facilities, military and fire brigade radios are buzzing with details, a small crowd gathers in the grounds waiting for the explosion, it is timed to be disarmed (by controlled explosion) at 21.30 and so we are all waiting for the big bang, but it turns out the device is diffused without the controlled explosion. The night sky reveals the yellow lines in the sky of the tracer bullets fired from the Red zone into the Green zone and can be seen almost every night.

Time for bed now, we have been allotted 8 port a cabins as home, but these are not ready yet, so I join the rest of the KBR personnel in a dormitory of about a 100, not much sleep because of the constant in and out of personnel and the gunfire seems to be getting louder and closer, nothing else to do but sleep.

Friday 26 September Drive down to the Palace for breakfast, it’s only a five-minute drive and takes longer to find a parking spot. Breakfast in the Palace Ballroom, the room is extremely grand, chandeliers from the ceiling, marble floors and walls; I would suppose the same as any country leaders residence.
Today our partners in the Iraq Re entry Project, Mansour Automotive Company (MAC) from Egypt, have made it to Baghdad, overland from Amman, Jordan. I am speaking to their personnel Director Ahmed on the Thuraya phone GM has given me during this project; currently no mobile network is in place apart from a unique service within the Palace that can only be used by KBR. It’s the MAC guys first time in Baghdad and so they are unfamiliar with the city as much as any stranger in the town. We cant get them into the Palace compound on a armed escort because the timetable for these escorts is arranged days in advance, and so eventually they find a local who gives them directions to the North Gate "assassins gate".
I arrange to meet them there, but no sign so I am wandering inside and outside trying to find them, here on the road is the everyday scene of any metropolis, lorries, buses, cars, people, only here we have sand bags, barbed wire and armed soldiers and is reminiscent of my trips to Northern Ireland. The phone rings, its Ahmed again asking "Where am I?" Of course I ask him the same, and the not so unfamiliar scene of two people using mobile phones about 20 feet apart unfolds. At last they are here, but it transpires only them and not their equipment?
They are checked along with their luggage by the MPs, its quite a hectic scene, cues of people trying to get in, soldiers checking IDs, vehicles entering / leaving, even children running about, the soldiers are tense because this is the scene of all to regular attacks, and so the soldiers treat all strangers as foe. All the MAC guys are through, with a little negotiation, laptops and any electronic equipment always causes extra attention at any checkpoint. We jump into two Suburbans and head back towards their and my new home for the foreseeable future, past the bombed out buildings of the Republican Guard, the columns of U.S. Tanks and the street vendors selling carpets, sweets, drinks, etc... These vendors have security clearance and so able to ply their trade inside the compound.

17.30 Getting the MAC guys in has taken much more time than expected, and now its time for dinner again, no lunch today. We park up, and inquire about security IDs, "come back tomorrow" the office is closed. Walking to the restaurant (Palace ballroom) we wander through the Palace gardens, now like a tent city, but still evidence of a beautiful garden, and also a beautiful swimming pool, complete with high diving boards and exterior chandelier that would not look out of place at any 5 star hotel.

It’s Friday night and entertainment has been arranged. Drew Carey is doing a show at the Rashid Hotel, but it’s sold out. So the other alternative is Gladiator at the CPA Compound, I had never seen it before, so why not? It was strange to watch a "war" film while living in a combat zone. The film ends, I go outside to make a call home with the Thuraya phone, great if you are pointing the phone in the right direction and not inside or near a building, but the sound of a muffled bang is heard. Is it an explosion, vehicle backfire? Soon the sirens start, people running about and a Black Hawk helicopter takes off, you can’t see it, and no lights are used at night so all you see is the shadow and hear the swirl of the rotor blades.
I ring Sandra, my fiancée, she tells me that my parents called, she tells them that I am still at work, which is true, but they don’t know I am working in Baghdad. So I call them, we discuss what present to buy for a friends' wedding in late October. They still don’t know I am here, what’s the point in letting them know.

Saturday 0600 We are awoken by three loud explosions, 3 mortars overshoot the Palace and hit next to the Hotel Rashid, the effect for us is that the Palace is closed off, so no breakfast!
We have a customer, Suburban 8.1 with reports of cutting out. Using the GM Diagnostic device TECH 2, we are able to communicate with the vehicles Powertrain Control Module (PCM) that reveals two Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), one for rear fuel tank sensor and one for "general misfire". Follow the diagnostic tree, but no obvious defect; take the vehicle for road test within the compound, all appears OK. Return to the workshop and place the vehicle on the hoist and remove the EVAP canister valve, it’s full of dust, very fine dust, much finer than normal sand. Clean the valve and remove the fuel tanks, they have evidence of contaminants and water, clean and replace the fuel filter. Our conclusion is that due to the extreme dust conditions, (it is so dusty and sometimes difficult to breathe here), that the EVAP canister valves are becoming blocked, so that under particular driving conditions, the tank starts to compress "suck in" and we are then faced with fuel starvation issues. The fuel tanks are made of reinforced plastic and so can deform to a high degree and then fall back into shape without any evidence of doing so. Sometimes when this happens, the fuel pump assembly will deform to a certain amount, and then we are faced with fuel starvation and lack of fuel pressure issues. This type of problem is unique to such new vehicles, and is a direct result of the unknown operating conditions here in Iraq and Baghdad, all part of the learning cycle in this new market and so a bespoke service schedule was designed to control this concern and also the concern of highly contaminated fuel from various sources around the region. One fuel delivery had 200 gallons of water and another had about 20 metal rods inside the tanker!

Sunday 0630 Head to the Palace for breakfast, no problem today, no attacks last night apart from the usual overhead gunfire. Return to the workshop, still no sign of the MAC mobile workshops, it seems they haven’t even left Alexandria yet? Probably needs a little extra assistance to move it up the paper chain! The equipment has to travel through Suez, through the Red Sea, past Aden (Yemen) then to Aqabah (Jordan) and then by road to the border with Iraq and finally, Baghdad.

The vehicle workflow is very erratic and so during slack periods we are conducting training sessions with the MAC team and also the local Iraqi’s that KBR have employed to carry out basic vehicle maintenance, some who worked in the same workshop under the previous regime. The local Iraqi’s are paid $3 per day.

Colonel xxx’s vehicle has a poor performance concern, so this receives top priority; again checking the EVAP reveals dust, and this is becoming a reoccurring theme, clean, etc... but still no improvement, fuel filter is clogged, replace, slight improvement it is possible to hear the pump operating but as we don’t have a fuel pressure gauge, (it’s coming with the mobile workshops), its time to measure flow rate with pipe disconnected, flow is very low, pump is replaced and vehicle is OK.

Word has got around KBR that representatives from GM are on site, and now we start to see more vehicles coming in for repair and service. Vehicle arrives from Kuwait aboard a 40 ft. trailer that went there for a warranty repair of crankshaft oil seal. This is one of the many reasons that we are here, to carry out on site repairs, repairs that the local staff are unable to do, warranty or not and so to stop KBR having to take vehicles to Kuwait a 350-mile journey requiring military escort there and back, in effect we are setting up a dealership, complete with Sales and After Sales capabilities.
Apart from getting staff here another logistic headache is getting parts here, many were shipped in by land from Kuwait and now flown into Baghdad from Cairo and Dubai. The list of fast moving parts includes front and rear windscreens, side glass, etc... Body panels, front and rear bumpers, front and rear lamps, as well as the normal service items and this is because of the bullet and crash damaged vehicles. This is a market that is crying out for accessory bull bars.

Next repair is a GMC Envoy, no A/C. The compressor has failed, and close examination reveals holes in the condenser, caused by road debris or bullet holes. It could be anything in this arena. We have the part, but no A/C R134a, that’s coming with the mobile workshops. It’s getting late, time for dinner. It’s our first sight of the crescent moon, the final moon cycle before Ramadan begins in late October. Hopefully, I will be home before Ramadan starts.

Monday. Suburban with Airbag warning Message on Instrument (IPC). Defect traced to contact unit behind steering wheel, no parts available, so we have to remove from a "written off" vehicle. We have to be careful with what we can remove as these vehicles have not officially been disposed off, but we need to keep the customer on the road and operational.

KBR require that all operational vehicles are fitted with CB Radios, and we have witnessed non automotive "computer whiz kids" wiring the radio’s direct into a power supply fuse by wrapping the wire around the pins of the fuse! It seems that experience from Bosnia where these radios were wired directly to the battery lead to many non-start /low battery situations. With today’s modern vehicle with Class2 Serial data systems, it is not so simple as to cut into a live supply, so Mustafa and I make up a simple relay controlled (ignition on) power feed for the radios.

More vehicles arrive with damaged glass, we have the glass and adhesive now, but not the right tools, so we make do with sharp knifes and ratchet straps, pieces of wood and bubble wrap, the glass bonds OK and another vehicle back on the road.

Many of the vehicles are used in covert and quick response operations, and so they come into the workshop for a quick repair as they need to be back on the road again, asap. Often, the soldiers will wait with their vehicles because of the equipment inside them, pistols, AK 47s machine guns, etc... and several times it would be necessary to go for road test with the "equipment" on the back seats, between the knees of the rangers, etc... Quite a surreal road test environment. It was like a scene from the "wild west", with the Suburban taking the place of a stagecoach. Even some of the rangers are wearing cowboy hats!

Interesting, many of the drivers, rangers and soldiers were extremely impressed with the vehicles performance, and commented that they used to buy GM at home, but had not done so in recent years, however, would return to the brand at the end of their tour.

Also, we found evidence of vehicle sabotage, cutting wires to the ABS systems, disconnecting airbag wiring connectors and this was done by the drivers under the impression that these devices compromised the performance of the vehicles. This is because sometimes they have to ram vehicles off the road; the last thing they wanted was the airbag to deploy during this intentional impact.

New KBR staffs arrive and some go home. Tonight we are having a security briefing. The tone is one of an expectation of increased violence and attacks on U.S. / CPA / KBR targets. The terrorists (freedom fighters, depends on what foot you kick with) have become more sophisticated in their means, more organized and more daring. This was to prove so evident later in the New Year with the vehicle suicide bombing at Assassins Gate in January, killing 25 Iraqi’s 2 Soldiers and 2 KBR civilian personnel

The days roll on, and soon one loses all trace of the day of the week. It’s hard enough to keep track in the Middle East where Thursday and Friday is the weekend, but at least the sense of weekend is there, but here, in the compound the weekend means nothing.

The KBR maintenance team is operating 7 days a week, 14 hours a day and so it’s just a simple event of waking, working, laundry, eating and sleeping with the occasional entertainment. Our MAC team would take Friday off as the day of rest for the Muslim community, and on this day they would leave the compound and venture out into Baghdad to get away from the boredom and repetitiveness of the compound, I wanted to join them, but if I left the compound, all my insurance was null and void, too much of a risk

Part of my brief was to obtain local petrol and diesel fuel samples, I had to ask one of the local Iraqi’s to fill my containers, it costs $1 to fill a complete 12 gallon vehicle tank (its about $16 in Dubai, UAE). It was difficult for him to accept my gift of $3. DHL have an office inside the Palace and flights in and out of Baghdad, so it was easy to send the fuel samples to the U.S. for analysis once they were obtained.

The Presidential Palace is truly an impressive building, along with its extensive grounds and buildings. Sadly, many of these out buildings have been destroyed, but the actual Palace itself has remained intact, probably an intentional action. Within the compound, there are many apartment blocks and villas, homes of previous staff and selected Bath Party officials, many local Iraqi’s are still leaving in the apartment blocks and many of the villas are housing the military top brass.

A complete independent city has grown within the ruins of the compound; its own power generation, sewage systems, road systems, policemen, plumbers, electricians, technicians, hospitals, etc...

"Golden Throne" at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad

Inside the Palace is of course lavishly decorated; marble floors and walls, chandeliers, heavy wooden doors, gold plated toilets, etc... The now famous "Golden Throne" sits alone in the "Jerusalem Room", just north of the ballroom. This is the place where everyone comes to have their photograph taken with the enormous painting of the Iraqi Scud missiles launched, breaking though the "silver lined clouds" headed allegedly towards Jerusalem. Inside this room is a piece of paper depicting the perceived story of this famous room, and the story is as follows.

There are 3 paintings in the "Jerusalem Room", one is the Dome of the Rock, (The Mosque of Omar) where the sacred rock upon which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and from which Mohammed began his Night Journey. The ceiling has a picture of heaven with horses flying to heaven and lastly the Scud missiles behind the "Golden Throne".

The story of the room and its pictures are as follows:

The First Exodus - Moses led the "Children of Israel" out of their bondage in Egypt. For forty years they made their way through the wilderness toward the Land of Promise. Moses however did not enter the "promised land". It was Joshua who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land.

The Second Exodus - King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Kingdom of Judea and the city of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. He transported thousands of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon where they were held in captivity (The Babylonian Captivity). King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon and in 538 B.C. permitted the captives to return home and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah saw this return from captivity as the second Exodus. Only, this Exodus would not be as arduous trek as the first Exodus: Isaiah 43: 14 - 21 "I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there"???? Isaiah saw the return from Babylon as a highway with shade tempera and water. He didn’t see this new Exodus as a forty-year sojourn in the wilderness like the 1st. Exodus.

The Third Exodus - The Gospel of Mark, (the earliest of the Christian gospel narratives) begins with the words of John the Baptist. John is quoting Isaiah "Get the road read for the Lord, make a straight path for him to travel". The Third Exodus is the "Jesus Exodus". Just as Joshua led the Children of Israel into the Land of Promise. So the new Joshua (Jesus is Latin for the Hebrew name Joshua) will lead the people of God into the Land of Promise.

A Fourth Exodus? - Saddam Hussain saw himself as a "new Nebuchadnezzar". It was his intention to do what Nebuchadnezzar had accomplished in 586 B.C. Namely; he would conquer Israel and recapture the city of Jerusalem. It is probably for this reason that the Scuds are painted on the wall in the "Jerusalem Room". The "Jerusalem Room" depicts the Dome of the Rock. It was from the Dome of the Rock that the Koran tells us that Mohammed was taken by Horse back up to Heaven and returned. The Dome of the Rock is built upon the temple mount in Jerusalem where the Jewish Temple had been constructed by Solomon, reconstructed in 516 B.C. after the Babylonian Captivity, and reconstructed a third time by King Herod the Great in 4 B.C.

A marble carving on the wall outside the "Jerusalem Room" leading towards the outside entrance to the Palace depicts Saddam’s recapture of Jerusalem and likens him to Nebuchadnezzar.

The room is now used as a place of worship for both Christians and Muslims, and I attended the Christian services whilst I was there and in the same room at the same time Muslims were giving their obligation of Salat.

Finally, the MAC Mobile workshops arrive; they are extensively kitted out complete with A/C recharging equipment, comprehensive tools and thankfully a fuel pressure gauge!

We also have a good delivery of parts now, and so the team is able to start stocking the parts store, allocating bin locations, etc... Things are really starting to come together, the team is settled, we have equipment and parts and our relationship with our customer has been cemented, we have proved ourselves and so now its time for me to leave.

To leave requires getting booked on either a KBR flight to Kuwait, or leaving the way I came in, on a wooden crate in the cargo plane. We opted for the cargo plane, as it was a direct flight to the UAE, however landing not in Dubai but Furjarah International Airport.

10 October My date for departure arrives, bags packed and the MAC team has bought me a present, a Baghdad Sheesa pipe. I have to dismantle it to get it into bag. I say goodbye to the team and wait for the bus to take me to the Airport. The bus timings are critical to the armed escorts who escort them. They are expected to depart and arrive at precise times, and this all part of the security procedures. The bus is full, soldiers, KBR civilians and media people, and like before we all have a helmet and bulletproof vest. Just before the bus is about to leave one traveler has to get up from his seat and quickly leave the bus to vomit. Was it the breakfast or the sense of fear everyone had? No one makes any comment. It could be you next. The driver, its Bob again, is getting agitated, he has a time table, the armed escort is shouting orders to leave, the poor guy is still unwell, he is then dragged back onto the bus as if we don’t leave, and our armed escort will go without us. Doors close, and we head out to the North Gate and into the Red zone streets of Baghdad en route to the airport. Again, the journey is completed in silence; those with weapons have them ready, those without just look out the window of the thin glass, no sign of bulletproofing here.
Thankfully, we arrive at the Airport Green zone without incident; I am the only one disembarking at the Cargo terminal and so collect my bags from the lorry that followed us, and say goodbye to Bob.
The airport is operated by both Military and Iraqi staff. I get my exit stamp in my passport, and wait for the call for the plane. The clocks in the terminal have stopped, it’s 07.48am according to them, and it’s really 14.00. I wonder if this was the time of the invasion? Waiting for news of the plane, its late, it hasn’t even left Dubai yet and so has to land and turn around in double quick time, otherwise it loses it slot. Thankfully, it only is dropping off cargo, its not collecting and so it lands and unloads quickly. I am ushered to the direction of the plane and say "hi" to the same Russian crew that brought me here. We are now waiting for two more passengers, two engineers from Cummins diesels. If they are not here in the next 5 minutes we will leave without them. They arrive in a military jeep, jump aboard and off we go. The plane is empty this time, so there’s enough room to lower the fold up seats at the side of the cargo area and have a seat rather than a wooden crate, as per my outbound journey.

It was a relief to leave, but also sad as I had many good relationships within the KBR/CPA organization, who, without them my stay would have been more traumatic and a lot less enjoyable. Although there is destruction all around, human spirit comes through regardless of language or culture. There were many tense moments and also some lighthearted moments, without that mix, nothing would be accomplished.

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