TRIBALISM 237and they seemed to believe him. From day one I had intentionally kept my
company off the radar, with a very low and very Iraqi profile, with precisely
this scenario in mind. Only US government and American corporate cus-
tomers knew we were American. A higher profile might have cost Omar
his life. A few years earlier I had to part ways with one of my two American
“volunteers” who accompanied me to Baghdad in May 2003 because he
insisted against my wishes on talking with a reporter from Newsweek about
our business. I reached out to the reporter prior to publication, and she
graciously agreed not to mention my company’s name in the article.
The terrorists had gone through our guys’ pockets and found several
business cards of high-ranking KRG officials inside Sadiq’s wallet,
including that of powerful KRG interior (and Peshmerga) minister Karim
Sinjari. They forcefully questioned Omar about each and every business
card. When Omar told them he knew nothing of Sadiq’s contacts, they
beat him. One beating per business card.
Omar eventually came back to work. He had no idea we had paid so much
money for his release, and he was appreciative. We were grateful that
he was alive. At the time, there were no doctors in Baghdad who could
treat the kinds of PTSD suffered by both Omar and his daughter. Even
if there were, the doctors would have been overwhelmed with patients. I
cannot begin to imagine how mental health professionals will deal with the
women, children, and men who were subjected to unspeakable forms of
abuse, rape, and torture, first by AQI and later by ISIS during their three-
year occupation of Mosul. Omar’s daughter went to Syria for treatment for
her PTSD-caused condition, and today, years later, she is happily married.
Omar is now as “back to normal” as can be expected. During my most
recent trip to Baghdad, he cheerfully drove me around the congested city
night and day and helped me out in numerous other ways as well.
I was impressed with the bravery and initiative shown by Ali Baba’s cousin
Hatem in Mosul and suggested we hire him to open Babylon Inc.’s first