'An Iraqi identity'

Iraq | Along with new leadership, Iraqis need a new way to think about government | Edward Lee Pitts

FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERNSTEIN, Iraq — Inside a hangar on an airfield once reserved for Saddam Hussein's military, soldiers from the United States and Iraq recently shared a meal and swapped hopes and fears regarding postelection Iraq.

Sitting around a table inside the 209th Iraqi Army Battalion's makeshift headquarters, the soldiers feasted on a spread of fresh fruit, yellow and white rice mixed with raisins, dates, cooked tomatoes, raw onions, legs of lamb, and beef kabobs—all decoratively arrayed upon metal platters. Words echoed inside the vast air hanger, its arching roof covered by coils of corrugated steel, protection against mortar attacks at a base now jointly housing U.S. and Iraqi forces.

With grins and laughs, the Iraqis talk about America's bombing of this base during the first Gulf War. Lt. Col. Mustafa Nsayf Hussan bragged and teased that it took his tank company only 12 hours to reach Kuwait City in Saddam's failed attempt to annex Kuwait.