[Nightcrawler]

Well folks, my days of lugging around an M16 for a non-competitve salary are coming to an end. Matter of fact, I fly out of Doha International in nineteen days.

I don't ever want to come back to this country.

You've got to understand. I'm not Up North (as they call it here, referring to Iraq), I'm not in the war, any of that. Just a guy trying to make a buck to go back to school.

You learn an awful lot, living in a foreign country. You really don't appreciate liberty until you see what it's like to be without it.

Here, you might feel free. The emphasis is on feel. If you do, it's because the government is leaving you alone. Qatar is a monarchy, a straight-up dictatorship. People have no recourse for government abuses against them.

The Qatari citizens, making up some 30% of the population, enjoy all sorts of priveleges...they never get pulled over on the highway, they can do basically whatever they want, and they get a check from the gov't every month (from the gas/oil revenue).

A lot (not all) of them treat everyone else like dirt, too. Sense of superiority you'd expect from an Aryan Nations rally or something.

Everyone else here is a foreign national, just trying to make a living. Qatar's "labor laws" are set up so the employer can freely abuse the employee. Workers are often brought here under false pretenses, their passports are confiscated (hell, my company took mine for two months!), and a lot of the time...get this...they can't quit. That's right, you come to work here for one of these construction companies or something, and you CAN'T go home. THey have your passport, and in any case you need a letter from your employer (exit letter) in order to leave the country. Try to run away and they put an ad in the paper for you, say you're "absconding". It's funny, in a sad sort of way.

Oh, and if you tick your boss off, all he has to do is call the cops and say you stole something. Off you go for your beating and imprisonment. There is no due process here.

If a man finds his wife cheating on him, he can legally kill her, provided he pays her family. I don't know how often this occurs but I've heard it from Qatari soldiers. (Also, if your wife isn't a virgin when you wed, you not only get your dowry back, her family will probaly kill her.)

All media is state controlled. Internet (it's censored), tv, cell phones. Non-gov't controlled media are banned. You can't own a walkie-talkie here.

Guns? Qatari citizens can buy guns. The rest of us? Americans can get away with carrying knives, and you can own swords, but forget about any kind of projectile weapon. Even bows and arrows are outlawed.

The Qatari Secret Police wear civvies (thobes), drive unmarked Toyota Land Cruisers, and are in my estimation facists the equivalent of the Gestapo. Even asking one of these fine gentleman for an ID can get you a year in jail.

And you really, really don't want to go to jail here. Tell you what, all of that hooplah about Abu Garaib? It was a joke. Mid-East countries have NO BUSINESS pointing fingers about bad prison conditions. I know a guy who spent some time in a Saudi clink. He still has nightmares about it. (Hint: daily beatings, diseases, etc.)

I've grown up some, too. In a way. I mean, getting out of the house and working for a living did me some good, but seeing this place gave me a lot of perspective. I worry about stuff less now. I look at my problems in proper perspective.

I mean, until you've looked into the eyes of a slave girl, you don't know what the hell problems are.

And yes, there is slavery here. Indentured servitude is more common, but owning a "servant" (usually a Filippina or Indonesian girl) who has no passport, probaly doesn't get paid, and gets beaten when she messes up is something of a status symbol here.

I understand that recently Bush and Tony Blair got on Qatar's case about all these human rights abuses. Good. The Amir (the honcho over here) said that of course he didn't know about it, but would look into it. Yeah.

Anyway, my taxi's here, gotta run. Sorry if this is rambling. I'm looking forward to coming home, guys. Thanks for all of your support, and for putting up with me.

And take some time to appreciate being free.

[fish2xs]

stay safe. update us on what you see. if you need to wait until you're on US soil, that's fine. we don't want the islamic thought police attacking you.

[usp_fan]

Wow! thanks for taking time to record those thoughts Nightcrawler.

Stay safe and get home.

--usp_fan

[R.H. Lee]

Thanks for the reminder, Nightcrawler. Watch your six and get on back here.

[1911 guy]

Look up a buddy of mine. He's a programmer for lockheed, a contractor there in Doha. Name is John Holyak, goes by the name Yak. Tell him The Garlichman sent you. If there's a good time to be had, Yak will find it for you.

[P95Carry]

NC - hang in there - and thx for the write-up. I doubt many folks know what it's like over there. I can imagine it has been quite an education and in fact - have a sorta gut feeling your next novel just could be centered around some of your experiences!! ;)

Post real quick when you are back in the land of the free won't you.

[Lennyjoe]

It is an eye opener isnt it?

I remember all the trips to Kuwait and what I experienced there. It gives you a new perspective on living in the U.S.

Congrats on your sucessful tour. The mother land waits for you with open arms.

[GT]

+1 on the "stay safe" and +1 on the "great experience"


G

[Correia]

NC, are you still thinking about moving out to Utah for school? Give me a heads up if you are.

Good to have you back.

[Standing Wolf]

...until you've looked into the eyes of a slave girl, you don't know what the hell problems are.

I believe you. What I don't believe is how many nations we have "friendly" relations with that tolerate slavery.

[shermacman]

Thank you for the post.
Now, get home! Safely!

[enfield303]

+1 on the "Check Six" Come home safe man.

[El Tejon]

I thought only dead, white males owned slaves? ;)

[Skunkabilly]

Get your keester (sp?) home and fire up HL2! Hope to hear from you soon

[RTFM]

NC, it may be a little pre-mature, but WELCOME HOME!

Thanks for the report, hope your return s safe and speedy.

RTFM

[Andrew Rothman]

If President Bush wants so badly to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, why doesn't he start with our "friends"?

[KriegHund]

And people wonder why were out there...

Welcome back home man, and thank you.

[Mr. X]

If President Bush wants so badly to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, why doesn't he start with our "friends"?

Good question, but if you have enemies in the region, you probably need "friends" until you've dealt with your enemies first.

[mack69]

Good to hear you are safe and well Night Crawler....Glad to hear ya learned some good lessons too....consider yourself one of the priviledged ones....Nothing like experiencing the other end of freedom. Especially in a place like Qatar... We as Americans take alot of our freedoms for granted here...should be a requirement to serve in a non free country to get a look at what it really means to be free. Be safe, take care, have a safe trip home....mack

[Nightcrawler]

Thanks for all of the kind words, folks.

There isn't much of a threat here, terrorism wise. I mean, there was one bombing this year, unfortunately claiming the life of a British ex-pat in addition to the car bomber, but that was a huge deal.

Basically, as I understand it, it's like this. The Qatari government buys off the terrorists. Lets them hang out here, recruit here, finance here, etc. So long as they don't do anything IN Qatar, it's cool.

You wouldn't know all of this from looking around. The Qatari labor laws, in their codefied form, paint a pretty picture, but the vast majority of the abuses are merely overlooked.

Qatar does a great job of hiding its problems. Human rights abuses and poverty especially.

But hell, my taxi driver tells me the government is tearing down his house, to make way to "beautification" construction for the up and coming 2006 Asian Games. They gave him 30 days to find a new place.

No reimbursement, nothing. (Now, I'm sure the Qatari landlord got paid, but the average joe here always gets screwed.)

And I've heard the nuances of how the local courts work from the mouths of Qatari soldiers (actually, only the officers are Qatari. The enlisted men are from Yemen, Oman, etc. There's a strict caste system and ethnicity determines promotion possibility).

Get this. Say you rape a woman here. The Qatari troops tell me you might get a few months in jail. Rape a boy? A year, maybe. Rape a Filipina woman? Probably nothing.

If you accidentally kill someone, you can avoid prison by paying a fine. I'm not sure what measure they use to determine the value of the victim's life.

So basically, for all of these people that come from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, etc., both their employers AND the government are working together to ensure that they can't stand up for their rights.

How's that sound?

The Qatari citizens don't speak up, though, even though they can get away with it. I mean, that's unique to me. Even from the earliest days of the United States, there was ALWAYS someone that stood up and said, "this is BULLCRAP!". I mean, despite owning slaves himself, I read that Jefferson wanted to abolish slavery in the original Constitution, but the Southern states, economically dependent on it, wouldn't have agreed to it, so it was a compromise. Then there were abolishionists, women's rights workers, civil rights volunteers, people marching on Washington for all manner of things.

Here? Nobody says a damned thing. Nobody cares for their fellow man. The Qatari citizens have got it good, getting free money from the government and not really having to work, so to hell with everyone else.

They're fools. I've come to realize something very important, something so obvious it escaped me. Something I think far too many of us overlook.

At the risk of sounding like a Commie sympathizer, Liberty is collective.

If the government can arbitrarily or without just cause deprive one man, just one man, of his freedom, then no men are free. Because if the government can do it to one guy, they can do it to any guy they want, they're just waiting for a reason.

Freedom is not freedom if it's at the discretion of others.

Sorry I'm getting so long winded and preachy, folks. Stuff just needs to be said, you know?

Just...the next time you read about someone challenging a law in court, be thankful that you live in a country where that is even possible. People that call the United States a police state don't know what they're talking about.

Are you ticked off 'cause the cops try to do random vehicle searches in your area? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Start a campaign, make a big stink, make yourself a nusance, take them to court. That's how stuff gets fixed. Stuff never gets fixed if all you do is bang away at your keyboard about feeding the hogs, keeping your powder dry, or what have you.

For the folks who think America is a tyranny because they have to pay income taxes...hey, come live here. There are no taxes whatsoever here. I'm sure you'll love it.

All I'm saying is, for all of the problems America has, none of them are so bad that it's worth giving up on...

It will be good to be home. I fly out on July 3rd, landing in Michigan on July 4th. How fitting.

And...even though he won't see this, I'd like to give a shout-out to my friend Dave, who's up in Iraq right now as we speak. Take care of yourself, bro.

[Mongo the Mutterer]

If the government can arbitrarily or without just cause deprive one man, just one man, of his freedom, then no men are free. Because if the government can do it to one guy, they can do it to any guy they want, they're just waiting for a reason.

Freedom is not freedom if it's at the discretion of others.

Nightcrawler ... good on you. Get home safe.

[Nightcrawler]

Utah? Yes, I still am. In my heart, I know I want to go west. I just like it better out there.

However...Tennessee is in the running now, too, thanks to some contacts I made over here. We'll see...

Depends on the job market, mostly.

[P95Carry]

NC - long winded? Nope - just a fascinating insight that we should know about.

Home on 4th eh? Doesn't get much better than that! :) Stay safe.

[Skunkabilly]

So when are you going to introduce me to Ling? HAHAHAHAHAA

[Sharps Shooter]

Welcome home Nightcrawler. Thank you! :)

[0007]

Good to hear that you made it through the night, NC. As you said talking to real "slaves" will give you a whole different outlook on life. I always liked the idea of the US gov giving anybody who graduated from high school with a 2.5 average a round trip airfare to any place in the world except maybe Switzerland. Let'em see what the rest of the world is really like, not what the media and their teachers have told them it was like. Welcome back soon.

[Black Majik]

Good to hear you're coming back home. It didn't seem like that long ago when you first left. Its good to hear that you're doing alrite. Stay safe for just a lil' longer and thanks for your services overseas.

Welcome back. :)

[skidmark]

Sir, I bow to your eloquence.

If only others could read what you have said about freedom and why we all need to be concerned about preserving it.

Give me an address to send you the price of your first drink back in the USA. It would be an honor to cover that expense. Only wish I could arrange to be there in person to do it.

Thanks for being there & doing that. Remember to tell your story to everyone you meet - they need to hear it.

stay safe.

skidmark

[Harry Paget Flashman]

I've been to Tunisia, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia...I'm told that Qatar is "progressive" and "enlightened" by Middle Eastern standards. Closer to home you have only to cross back across the border from Tijuana, Juarez or Nueva Laredo to murmur, "God Bless America" and really mean it.

[Nightcrawler]

And to think that had I gone a different route, I could be firmly entrenched in the Black Helicopter Crowd. (Okay, I went through my the UN is coming to take my guns phase. I have an excuse, I was 18. Turns out the UN does want to ban guns worldwide, they're just an inept, meaningless, bureaucratic dog & pony show that the world maintains for some reason. Oh well, upward and onward!)

Heh.

Qatar IS considered progressive. They HIDE all of this ugliness. The tourists don't see it. You've got to talk to the every day folks. The taxi drivers, the construction workers, the store clerks. The hordes of guys in blue jumpsuits that work their butts off for a pittance.

(I once found a pay stub belonging to a local construction worker. He worked 28 days, no days off that month, with a few hours of overtime. His compensation? 650 Qatari Riyal. There are 3.65 Riyal to the US dollar, so you can do the math.)

They'll arrest a Chinese girl on site under the assumption she's a prostitute. While there are a goodly number of Chinese prostitutes here....to think people in the States think THEY'VE got racial profiling problems!

Again, thank you for all of your kind words and support. I do not feel I deserve any thanks for my service, as I'm just a guy doing his job. No heroics needed, just patience...

Oh yeah.

Sir, I bow to your eloquence.

BLUSH! :o

[Waitone]

If President Bush wants so badly to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, why doesn't he start with our "friends"?Until we get our own sources of petroleum under our control, we will engage in selective morality.

Welcome back!