By Paige Funkhouser
News-Chronicle
Surrounded by bombed, gutted-out and demolished structures, the crew of the Rock Island District of the Army Corps of Engineers realized just how desperately Baghdad needed their help.
On a mission to help rebuild the country's infrastructure, former Door County resident Mark Hoague and his engineering team were allotted $680 million by Congress to assess the damage and plan what needed to be done to rebuild Iraq.
As consultants for the United States Agency for International Development, Hoague's team was responsible for assessing schools, water and sewer supplies, railways, roads and bridges. They assessed, made reports, and then devised an implementation plan to be completed by Bechtel, a California-based engineering firm, with the help and labor of Iraqi engineers and contractors, within the $680 million budget.
When first assessing the demolished roadways and buildings, Hoague said they found structures gutted of their wires and piping.
"We went into schools and businesses, and the electrical was all pulled out," Hoague said. "People were taking the wires to sell for their copper. If things weren't stolen, people would burn it."
The devastation to this one-time first-world country made a lasting impression on Hoague and his comrades. Although the Iraqi people have taken to looting and pillaging for survival, Hoague said they still sustained a strong sense of cultural values.
"They have a lot of culture," Hoague explained.
He described the city of Mosul in the lush northwestern region of Iraq as having a great deal of biblical history. "Nineveh is there; it's where Jonah is buried," Hoague said. Much has been lost though, he said, because Sadaam built palaces and other private buildings over ancient ruins.
The Iraqi citizens, Hoague said, are doing their best to maintain some semblance of everyday life. He said many women still wear full burkas - leaving only their eyes uncovered, part of Muslim tradition. However, he also said several Iraqi women were on the engineering team, dressed in modern pants and tops.
"People are trying to change; they're doing things on their own," Hoague said. Many Iraqis he and his crew encountered are making valiant efforts to modernize school curriculums, currency and government - pushing away the images and subliminal control Saddam Hussein's regime lorded over the Iraqis.
Hoague said he and the Corps saw few ethnicities represented in Iraq because of the closed-border policies Saddam strictly enforced. The newly forming government entities are making strides to open the borders, allowing for the reunification of ostracized friends and families.
With the help of the U.S. government's monetary aid and coalitions to help reconstruct the battle-torn country, Hoague said the future looks bright for the Iraqis.
"It's going to take eight to 10 years for the Iraqis to really make progress, and possibly not until the next generation will changes really happen," Hoague said.
When asked whether such intense intervention was needed to oust Hussein, Hoague adamantly said it was.
"Just because we're not finding weapons of mass destruction," Hoague said, "doesn't mean something didn't need to be done for those people. I'm aware now of the luxuries we have in this country."
Hoague earnestly stated that the men and women of the U.S. military who are fighting and securing peace for the Iraqis "are the real heroes."
A corps engineer for 23 years, Hoague returned Oct. 15, after 3 1Ž2 months in Kuwait and northern Iraqi cities.
Hoague arrived in Kuwait City on June 29, overloaded with supplies he did not use. "I had too much stuff," said Hoague. "We were told to pack baby wipes for showers, because we didn't know what kind of living situation we would be in. We didn't know if we'd be out in the desert sun, so I had three bottles of sunscreen."
Door
County news 
