The Closer
When the phone rang I knew who was going to be on the other end. A full-bird Colonel. The same Colonel, whom I hadn’t met yet, that called me 7 times the previous day–often with follow-up calls within 20 minutes of each other.
My job was to get the host nation to allow the United States to proceed with a project our government deemed “urgent” and “mission essential”. This Colonel was in-charge of this project but, up until the past couple of days, I had been working with his staff. The pressure to get this going had been building for the past 4 days and the host nation was not responding quickly enough for neither me, the Colonel, nor the United States. Time wasn’t on our side. When things get extremely urgent on a particular issue and begins to take on a very high level of interest, there’s only one course of action when dealing with our host nation; one-on-one discussions. Emails, FAX, voice mails, text messages (the local favorite here), and phone calls just don’t get the ball rolling as fast as direct negotiations do.
It was only 8 a.m. but after the Colonel’s call I knew that this issue had to be put to rest ASAP or life was going to get very ugly for me and my Boss (another O-6 Colonel). I immediately called my interpreter, “David”, at his home and told him to meet me at the location in town. As always, “David” was very excited to meet with our host nation friends. I joked with “David” to bring his “game face” and he laughed and reminded me to “bring your moustache!”–our inside joke about how every time we have a successful negotiation, we chalk up the victory to our ’staches! Facial hair on males is very important in this culture and we always try to use everything to our advantage.
As I was discussing our meeting location with “David”, the Colonel called me back and someone in my office told him that I was about to go meet with the host nation. He instantly said he was going too. Great, I thought. This Colonel was very passionate and excited for this project and I was nervous that he was “too involved” and close to the situation to be an asset on this trip. But the decision wasn’t mine and he was going with me.
I picked up the Colonel and we went “outside the wire”. Normally, when we leave the base we try to dress in civilian attire and blend in with the local population for force protection. In this case, due to time constraints and the short-notice decision I made to have this meeting, there was no time to go change out of our uniforms.
On the drive the Colonel asks “Are we going to have to drink tea with them?” Yes, sir. I started to have more concerns about how this meeting would go with the Colonel in attendance. It was obvious that he was under a lot of stress himself from his chain of command to get immediate positive results from the host nation. We needed to show the host government that we were serious and the issue was urgent, but without placing the stress we were under squarely on them. If we backed them into a corner they would feel uncomfortable and probably just go into delay mode. We didn’t need any of that. We didn’t have time for that.
I thought with the Colonel’s anxiety and stress he was under that it would be best if I did the talking since I’ve known the gentlemen we were about to negotiate with for the past few months and they didn’t know the Colonel. I also thought it might be wise during our drive to give the Colonel a quick refresher course on Middle East Customs 101. Yes, we would have tea with them if they offered. They often offer us “coffee” also during our meetings, and that is a good route to take for Americans who don’t particularly enjoy the unique taste of tea. Always ask how they’re doing and let them bring up the appropriate time to discuss the “business” at hand. Start the meeting off by apologizing for bothering them and taking them away from other work in their busy day. Never show anger or frustration. This is where “David”, my interpreter, earns his money.
If we get the point in discussions where we feel upset or frustrated, I told the Colonel to whisper to me and I would let “David” know quietly. It would then be up to “David” to play the bad cop. He’s Kurdish, Iraqi, with his mother from Turkey and his Iraqi father a former General in the Iraq Army during the pre-Saddam Era. It’s always better to let “David” do the yelling, gesturing, and show our frustration while speaking Arabic to the host nation. “David” and I have done this “routine” enough to know how it works and what the other person is thinking without words needing to be said between us.
Our meeting started off with coffee and tea. Since I’ve gotten to know the gentlemen we were meeting with over the past 3 months, we have what I’d call a “very good” relationship. The Colonel told me prior to this meeting that these people were the “log jam” holding things up, but I told him that wasn’t the case. Things in this culture just take longer to do. They are not a society as rushed as our own and take things more slowly.
This meeting went very smoothly. I was glad in the end that the Colonel came to the meeting because we had to negotiate a few small changes in our request and his expertise was quite helpful on the subject matter. Our hosts were quite positive and receptive to our needs as I thought they would be. When we left the meeting we were told by the host nation to expect an answer by afternoon. The Colonel, who every minute that went by became more pained, just smiled and thanked them for their time. I told him outside the building that we had got all that we wanted and to go ahead and pass along the good news to higher headquarters. He asked me if I was sure because they said we would hear back from them “this afternoon”. I told him that from their language we got everything we requested and “David” agreed. It is rare for them to make a decision on the spot; they like to take some time and not appear to be rushed.
The Colonel took “David” aside in the parking lot and personally thanked him for doing a tremendous job. “David” really liked the fact the Colonel did that and I kidded him later on the power of his ’stache! On our drive back to base we received a phone call from the gentlemen in charge of the host nation representation at the meeting and said we had their full approval. Our meeting had lead to another successful negotiation. I refer to “David” as “The Closer” because every time I have him with me in a meeting everything turns out favorable for us and the U.S.
Today I found out that “David” has accepted a job in Baghdad’s Green Zone to work with our U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Interior. He had a similar job between 2003-05, before coming to my unit. The job he’s going to will double his pay and provide a better life for his wife and kids staying behind. He has two siblings living in Baghdad in a safe neighborhood. He’ll more than likely live inside the Green Zone and not be able to see his relatives because he expects to get followed by bad guys if he leaves the Green Zone–and that would not be good for his family members.
But I get to work with “David” for another few weeks and I’m looking forward to that and all our talks. So the Two ‘Staches are still a team for now. However, I will miss “The Closer”.
Patrick
Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”: Chuck Norris once participated in the running of the bulls. He walked.
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