Survey group makes history, collects it, too

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The Iraq Survey Group, the military unit looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has yet to find any.

Spc. Merlinda Suka of Waipahu displays a ceremonial sword found in Iraq. Suka is one of three Hawai'i Army reservists with the Iraq Survey Group. Photo courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Joel Quebec

The soldiers from the 30th Military History Detachment at Fort Shafter are collecting artifacts, oral interviews, photos, documents and unit staff journals.

Some of what they have gathered — including a ceremonial sword that may have belonged to Saddam Hussein's son, Udai — is likely to wind up at the U.S. Army Museum of Hawai'i at Fort DeRussy, where it could become part of a display.

The remainder will go to the Center of Military History in Washington, D.C.

Sgt. 1st Class Joel Quebec, who lives in Kihei, Maui, said the unit gets some quizzical looks from fellow soldiers.

"Most people raise their eyebrows and say, 'Military history?' or 'What?' " Quebec said by e-mail. "A lot of people never realized there was such a thing."

Some confuse the military historians with public affairs, and think they'll publish soldiers' pictures in the newspaper.

"But we don't do that," said Quebec, who works for Guardsmark Security on Maui. "In fact, some have had reservations about talking to us about secret stuff for that reason. We assure them that we classify as needed and that there are no security problems."

Quebec, Maj. Annette Hoffman from Hawai'i Kai, and Spc. Merlinda Suka from Waipahu were mobilized Feb. 10, arrived in Kuwait on April 26 and moved to Baghdad and the Abu Ghurayb presidential palace complex May 6 after a two-day drive from Camp Doha, Kuwait.

The team has traveled by helicopter to Mosul in the north, and Quebec has convoyed to Tikrit for missions with one of the Iraq Survey Group teams. Quebec said he's not sure when they are coming home.

The 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group is replacing the 75th Exploitation Task Force. Both operations have been stymied in their efforts to find chemical, biological or nuclear weapons evidence. The Fort Shafter unit originally was assigned to the 75th Task Force.

"We arrange interviews with soldiers to get the soldier story and the story of the planning and implementation of the mission," Quebec said. "Many of the soldiers have actually thanked us for giving them the opportunity to say what's happened during their experience here."

The three Hawai'i reservists are at the palace compound near the airport.

"We don't go out much and are not so subject to ambush," Quebec said. "There is still a guerrilla effort out there, and we have had mortars lobbed into the complex on a few occasions, but we are relatively safe."

From one of the palace buildings, the military history detachment collected pieces of a bomb — one of the first dropped in the war — that destroyed a rooftop theater.

Several types of gas masks made in different countries and a couple of Iraqi military uniforms are among the more than 40 artifacts the unit has to log in. Other items include newspapers dated the day the war started, military books and field gear.

The sword was obtained by a "Mobile Exploitation Team" looking for unconventional weapons in Tikrit at a house believed to belong to a cousin of Saddam. The Hawai'i soldiers are still conducting research to determine if the sword belonged to Udai Hussein.

"From a distance it looks pretty cool, but up close it looks like a cheap trinket," Quebec said, adding there is an inscription on the blade, but it appears to have been spelled wrong, and the Arabic translator — who was born in the region — even has had a hard time with it.

Judith Bowman, curator at the U.S. Army Museum at Fort DeRussy, helped train the detachment members prior to their deployment, and the museum is likely to end up with part of the collection.

Quebec said guidelines set up by the Center of Military History, the military history group at Camp Doha in Kuwait, and Central Command determine what the unit collects and what can go back to the United States.

Although there have been stories about gold bathroom fixtures and gilded pistols, Quebec said gold and silver weapons are considered precious metals and are treated as Iraqi state property.

Palaces were heavily looted, and what couldn't be carried off was broken out of anger toward the regime, Quebec said.

"Since we are a liberating force and not a conquering force, we do not take 'spoils of war' and such," Quebec said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.