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In Iraq, Kevin Rushing Builds Bridges to Revive Battered City
FrontLines - May 2009
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Kevin Rushing.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq—In the past
year, Kevin Rushing has greeted
so many Iraqis that he has mastered
the art of the perfect handshake.
That simple gesture has
helped him mend relationships
and win support for his projects.
“A man who has a good
handshake can win over people,”
said Rushing, 56. “He can work
a community—one sheikh to the
next—shaking hands with officials,
with colleagues, with
strangers. People remember him,
they listen to him, and they
embrace him.
“Relationships mean getting
to know people who have influence,
listening to ordinary
Iraqis explain what they need
most, and striking a positive
connection.”
Rushing is USAID’s representative
in the embedded provincial
reconstruction team
(ePRT) for Fallujah in Anbar
province, working with the military
to bring a sense of normalcy
to communities that experienced
some of the bloodiest fighting in
the war. He has always been an
intrepid adventurer. However,
his decision to come to Iraq was
partly inspired by his 30-yearold
son, Benjamin, who served
15 months with the U.S. Army
in Iraq as a communications specialist
and endured tough challenges,
including the loss of
some friends.
“My role has been to advise
the Iraqis on how to retain peace
and stabilize communities:
building trust, bringing a sense
of normalcy, and convincing
them to invest in business,” said
the Belleville, Ill., native.
When Rushing arrived in
May 2008, the conditions on the
ground were ripe for dialogue.
The U.S. military was in the
process of transferring control
of Fallujah, a city of 400,000,
to the Iraqis. The decline in
violence allowed stabilization
and reconciliation work to
move ahead.
With a portfolio of $50 million,
Rushing enlisted the help
of sheikhs and tribal leaders in
the communities to revive the
city. Among a slew of projects,
local officials identified the
renovation of Jolan Park as a
priority, after insurgents used the
area to launch attacks.
The renovated park has paths
and gazebos, providing residents
a safe place to gather and enjoy
themselves. The municipality
worked with the reconstruction
team, U.S. military, and local
security officials to rebuild the
park, creating short-term jobs for
unemployed laborers and longterm
jobs for the maintenance
crew. Rushing has also worked
on local projects in agriculture,
small-business financing, and
power-generation.
Rushing works out of offices
that are surrounded by concrete
blast walls and sandbagged
machine-gun posts; he wears
flak jackets and moves in
armored vehicles on trips he
takes outside the wire.
“The ePRT team is my
extended family and I am fortunate
to have good rapport with
my colleagues,” he said. “My
team leader and I complement
each other well—combining soft
power of influence and hardedged
diplomacy—we are in
many ways like Batman and
Robin.”
Rushing, who speaks Russian
and Bahasa, has worked in
Indonesia, Bangladesh, the
Philippines, Russia, Bosnia,
Cambodia, Jamaica, and
Ethiopia.
His veterinary skills have also
proved valuable in creating
goodwill.
While traveling to a meeting
with an influential Iraqi official,
Rushing learned that the official’s
Arabian horse had developed
respiratory problems.
Rushing examined the horse and
recommended medication; the
horse recovered quickly. “That
simple gesture was worth several
meetings for my ePRT collegues,”
he said.
When the U.S. Marines at
Anbar PRT provided 50 cows
for 50 Iraqi widows to generate
steady income to keep their children
in school, Rushing examined
all the cows before they
were distributed.
After his tour ends in May
2009, Rushing is moving to
Nepal with his family to lead
USAID’s office there. “The
Himalayas are calling me back,”
he said, with his sights set on
climbing Mount Everest.
Looking back at his year in
Iraq, Rushing says Fallujah is
undergoing changes in both
small and big ways. Small shops
and restaurants have opened
amid relative calm. And if this
stability endures, he said, the
Americans will soon pack up,
leaving the city in the hands of
the Iraqis.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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