CHAPTER 22
THE ROAD TO BABYLON
O
n St. Patrick’s Day of 2003, following a long day of meetings, I was
relaxing over a pint of Guinness with a British colleague at a quiet
waterfront pub outside of London. His private security firm often hired me
to conduct due diligence investigations in Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union on behalf of large corporate and banking clients. I wanted to
thank him with a beer and enjoy one last English sunset before heading back
to the United States. Uncle Kracker’s version of the timeless Dobie Gray hit
“Drift Away” was playing in the background, and, despite my initial negative
reaction to this sacrilege, the song was beginning to grow on me. But I wasn’t
there just to toast the past. I also briefed my buddy on my plans to launch a
risky business venture in Iraq just as soon as the irrational but inevitable inva-
sion of Iraq was deemed a success. Some of his firm’s clients would undoubt-
edly set up operations in postwar Iraq and might require the services of my
new start-up, “Babylon Inc.” (Not the actual name.) We agreed to touch base
once we were both operational inside Iraq. Cheers!
Three days later, on March 20, 2003, the United States and its allies
invaded Iraq. Forty days after that, President George W. Bush all but
declared victory.
“Mission Accomplished.” So read the huge banner serving as a back-
drop to President Bush as he gave his televised May 1, 2003, speech on
board the USS Abraham Lincoln, announcing the end of hostilities in Iraq.
Bush’s speech was the green light I’d been waiting for. A few weeks later, as
I raced Mad Max–style across the Iraqi desert in the back seat of a Chevy
Suburban, my fate rested in the hands of a grief-stricken Sunni tribal chief
whose entire family had just been wiped out by the US military. Inside the
speeding vehicle, I was beginning to have second thoughts about my auda-
cious business plan, but at that point it was too late to turn back.205