Email Article

Printable Page

N.C. Central Alum Back from Service in Iraq

By Lovemore Masakadza
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Deneesha Edwards/Campus Echo Army reservist Marquis Jackson called the detainees he helped process in Iraq "some of the most sensible people I have ever encountered."

Army reservist Marquis Jackson was attending a faculty meeting at Hillside High School in Durham, N.C., where he teaches, when his cell phone rang.

His unit administrator called to tell him he had been involuntarily transferred to a unit in Florida that was preparing to go to Iraq.

It was Jan. 14, 2004. Jackson�s wife was eight months pregnant, but he had to leave for Florida to join his new unit, which was leaving for Iraq on Feb. 7.

"To be in the military, you are a number," Jackson said. They put you where they need you.�

Jackson majored in political science at North Carolina Central University from 1997 to 2001 and expects to finish a second degree in English education. He was stationed at Camp Bucca prison for about 10 months. The camp is 300 miles southeast of Baghdad.

While overseas, Jackson looked back at his days at NCCU and remembered many words of wisdom from his professors.

"Dr. Ferebee told me to look at the world in a broader view and to be optimistic," Jackson said, referring to English professor Floyd Ferebee.

"Dr. Ware, Harrington-Austin and Bockting taught me to appreciate life. You never know when your education is going to be valuable to you," he said, referring to Michelle Ware, Eleanor J. Harrington-Austin and Margaret Bockting, all of the English Department.

He said Ferebee's words helped him realize that people around the world are different and it is good to respect each other. He said his education proved valuable when he mixed with the Iraq people. They have a different language and a different culture, and he had to show them respect even though they were prisoners.

After seeing the struggles of the people of Iraq to make a living, Jackson said he came back �much wiser and grateful.

"The Americans don�t know poverty," Jackson said. "The level of poverty blew my mind."

Jackson served as a processing non-commission officer -� he made sure that new detainees had proper identification and that the right data were collected.

At times he processed the data of 200 to 300 detainees a day, he said; the camp had about 4,000 detainees. Their crimes included illegal possession of weapons, assault and rape.

Some were from such countries as Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Jackson said the prisoners were rarely violent and that he was inspired by seeing the detainees face the same direction to bow down and pray.

"They were some of the most sensible people I have ever encountered," Jackson said.

Jackson said he did not witness any ill treatment of the prisoners, but he said he had heard about the prisoner abuse scandal by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib, another American-run detainee facility and the U.S. military's primary interrogation center.

At Abu Ghraib, some American soldiers were accused of inhumanely treating Iraqi prisoners by putting them on leashes and piling them up naked, among other abuses.

Jackson would not comment on the Abu Ghraib scandal, which ensnared prison guard Javal S. Davis, who attended Morgan State University in the late 1990s, among others. After pleading guilty in February to abusing prisoners, Sgt. Davis was sentenced to six months, a reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge.

Jackson said he treated detainees with respect and never received illegal orders from his superiors.

He said he cheated death one day when a missile landed 10 feet from him.

"Had it detonated, I would not be talking to you," Jackson said.

Jackson said he had to work 12 to 18 hours a day during his stay, and said American soldiers have overstayed their welcome.

"There was a time when the United States� presence was needed in Iraq, but I believe we surpassed that time," Jackson said.

The long hours did not deter Jackson from reading. He found some time for such books as Nelson Mandela�s "Long Walk to Freedom" and the "Autobiography of Malcolm X."

Lovemore Masakadza, a student at North Carolina Central University, is editor-in-chief of the Campus Echo.

Posted March 27, 2005