Thanks to Pete Higgins '69 for bringing the story (below) to our attention. For those of you who may have missed the article in the winter/ spring edition of the SHU alumni magazine, one of the feature articles is about one of our own, Jim Soriano, Class of '69. The article speaks for itself, but I would like to add a few personal notes about Jim. When I first learned about Jim working in Iraq in what has to be a high profile civilian job in Iraq, I wrote to my nephew, John, who was stationed in Baghdad with the CIA. His primary focus was working with the Kurds and, like Jim, traveled the country. I asked him (knowing that it was a one in a million shot), "Did you ever hear of a guy named Jim Soriano?" His response, "Are you kidding, either you know him, or you certainly have heard of him."
Jim was a great P/R and a terrific marcher. He marched on the '67 Nat'l Championship IDR & Trick drill teams and became the TD commander for the '68/'69 season. Jim, I hope you get to see this-- we're proud of you and wish you the best.
Here is the article:
Jim Soriano wears a Kevlar helmet and body armor to work.
Not every day, of course. But several times a week, when he flies to Baghdad by helicopter, or when he travels to Ramadi Government Center in a convoy of at least three armored vehicles with machine guns and a nine-soldier escort.
There, the 25-veteran of the Foreign Service meets the governor of Iraq's Anbar province and other local government officials to talk about post-conflict reconstruction plans. "It's not your normal commute to the office," says Soriano.
As the State Department's senior civilian official in Anbar since September 2006, Soriano has witnessed a "dramatic transformation from the dark days of the insurgency to the post-conflict period."
Soriano lives in a trailer at Camp Rimadi that has a dining facility, running water and a little entertainment. "I share the austerities of expeditionary living with the U.S. military personnel," says Soriano. Married to a Lebanese national , he sees his wife and 11 year old twin daughters several times a year in Beirut, Lebanon, where they live.
Soriano heads a 50-member Provincial Reconstruction Team. It's main purpose is to help the country achieve economic and political stability by helping local government build schools, roads, and sewage and water services. One of the most challenging aspects of Soriano's work has been conveying to the local government the need for financial transparency and explaining how to distribute resources wisely.
Last year Anbar received $183 million from the central government in Baghdad for capital-improvement projects. "The objective," says Soriano, "is to get the Iraqis to spend their own money on reconstruction-- not U.S. money."
A proponent of intercultural exchanges, Soriano felt personal satisfaction when he organized a visit by Anbar's governor and other officials to the U.S. in 2007. The trip, aimed at presenting the full spectrum of democracy, included a meeting with George W. Bush.
"Person-to person contact is the only way to break down Iraq's longstanding isolation," says Soriano.
His team has also arranged for eight moderate Sunni clerics to visit the U.S. in early 2009 on an interfaith study tour. One of the trip's planned stops? Seton Hall.
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