By Steven Levy, Senior Writer, Wired magazine
BAGHDAD — The sight is so weird that the people waiting for the military flight to Baghdad at the Amman airport just have to ask: Who are you guys?
There are 11 of us wearing suits, which is not the usual attire for a C-130 flight that requires body armor and combat helmets. And their geeky chatter also brands the contingent as not the usual group headed toward a war zone. In a clear break from conventional diplomacy, the U.S. State department is sending a business contingent of internet and Web 2.0 luminaries into Iraq. We're talking Twitter, Google, YouTube, Blue State Digital, WordPress, Meetup, Howcast and, uh, AT&T (OK, it's the guy who calls himself the telecom giant's "Director of Social Innovation"). I'm the embedded journalist.
Oh, and why are we wearing suits? Blame Jared Cohen, the young (27) State Department tyro who thought this thing up. Knowing we would have meetings when we landed in country later in the day (am I sounding like Nelson DeMille yet?), Cohen instructed us to look more like Japanese salarymen than T-shirted startup guys, a guise that turns out to be not only unnecessary (we have had time to change anyway when we arrive) but uncomfortable.
But all is forgiven when we get our ride from the Baghdad Airport to the Embassy Compound — a low-flying helicopter sortie that's like Google Earth in real life.
The trip, however, is way serious.
The idea is to use the brains of this small collective to give ideas to Iraqi government officials, companies and users that will help it rebuild. Iraq is short on the mojo that widespread internet can bring and the fast-track economic jolt that entrepreneurs feed on. Who knows that stuff better than a contingent of internet goombahs heavy on the Google juice and includes the guy who thought up Twitter?
That latter would be Jack Dorsey, and the Googlers are Kannan Pashupathy (who set up a number of its international offices, Ahmad Hamzawi (who heads engineering in the Middle East and North Africa) and Hunter Walk, the product head of YouTube. Other founder types include Scott Heiferman of Meetup, and Jason Liebman of Howcast.
The rest of the delegation consists of Raanan Bar-Cohen of Automattic (WordPress blogging), David Nassar of Blue State Digital, and ATT's Richard Robbins. Cohen hopes that a few of the companies will follow up and work out some technology exchanges or collaborations with Iraqis, beginning a process that will play at least some part in bootstrapping the bottomed-out situation into something approaching a 21st Century economy.
It's a ridiculously tall order. But the delegation is approaching this with conscientious sincerity. And to remind them of the gravity of the situation, there are flak jackets and helmets to don when venturing into the Red Zone (outside the highly protected International, or Green Zone) with potential perils unheard of in Silicon Valley.
Three days in, the trip has been a blur of meetings, visits and meals with lamb and hummus. Some highlights include a teleconference session with charismatic deputy prime minister Barham Salih, who breaks up the delegation (just before the call breaks up) by saying that he wants to use Howcast to learn to roast the perfect chicken — the dude did his homework — and then makes a compelling appeal for some help.
In a meeting with some Iraqis students and recent grads, we learn that while the youth of Iraq loves YouTube, they are far behind Oprah in embracing the joys of Twitter. A visit to Zain, one of the country’s leading mobile providers — by far, most people get connected with cell phones here as opposed to ISPs — gives an indication that at least someone in Iraq is turning a buck on technology.
A tour of the antiquities of the Iraqi Museum (apparently not everything was looted) winds up in a discussion of how the group might help out in creating a deluxe website for the facility. Trips to the University of Baghdad and the University of Technology expose the views of professors and — for precious little time — actual students.
And toward the end of the trip, the delegation gets to meet with the country's top leadership, including President Talabani.
As the trip goes on, the group begins to attain a contact frustration with the problems confronted by Iraqis who want to get moving with high-tech. In addition to issues with security (the real thing, not the anti-virus variety), there are problems with connectivity. There are problems with electricity. Obviously, Twitter and YouTube won't resolve the difficulties. But could the example of these visitors help Iraqis start their own Twitters?
The entrepreneurs in the group whose services involve community and activism (Blue State Digital, Meetup) brashly offer their own examples as means to start a ripple effect. And deep into night the group caucuses, trying to concoct some concrete steps to make sure the visit isn't remembered as window dressing.
There's loads to recount, and the trip isn't over yet. My chronicle of the entire journey will appear in an upcoming issue of Wired later. Meantime, you can follow the delegation by the tweets of the participants using the hashtag #iraqtech.
You expected cuneiform?