R. Clarke Cooper: Wartime Lieutenant Moving Up

Lieutenant Cooper (left) with me in Baghdad in 2004

Today I received an email from my former lieutenant, R. Clarke Cooper. During my tour in Iraq, he was the aide to Brigadier General Sandy Davidson. As the sergeant in charge of Davidson’s Protective Service Detail, or PSD, I received my daily briefings and instructions from Cooper.

After we came home, this remarkable young officer returned to Baghdad as a civilian employee for the State Department where he became the Congressional liaison for Ambassador Khalilzad. Now that Khalilzad is leaving his post in Iraq, Cooper is back in the States to “pave the way” for the man who will likely be America’s next United Nations ambassador.

I wrote the following about Cooper in my war journal:

"R. Clarke Cooper began his tour in Iraq as a “lowly” second lieutenant. He eventually made first lieutenant, but the requirements of his job in a war zone should have made him at least a captain. That was not the way it was, though. One-star brigadier generals like our boss only rated a lieutenant for an aide. General Davidson hit a home run when he got Cooper because the young officer was a professional and dedicated subordinate.

Cooper was no stranger to the world of politics. In 2001 U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton named him the Assistant Director of the National Park Service for Legislative and Congressional Affairs. Before that he was the Deputy Director of Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Federal Affairs Office in Washington where he helped negotiate the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Cooper also served as the Director of Governmental Affairs for the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida.

Our lieutenant was a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in history, the president of his senior class and the president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. His military service included training at the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. For crying out loud, the guy was even an Eagle Scout.

It didn’t take long to realize that Cooper was not your ordinary lieutenant. As an old man with a lot of dust on his boots, I knew this young man faced a promising future. He was focused and driven by an energy that wore me out sometimes. Cooper was awake each morning before the general and he was still working after the boss hit the rack. It took almost twenty-four hours a day to manage the activities of any general and Cooper was masterful at the job.

When Major Eversman left us, Lieutenant Cooper became my supervisor by default and we depended on each other to get the job done. With my tendency to scorn the political world in which he lived, the lieutenant often strained to keep me on a short leash. Fortunately, he knew his own limitations and he wisely depended on my experience for tactical decisions. His willingness to do this only increased my respect for him as a leader. He was diligent in his supervision, he knew how to use his soldiers as resources and he let them do their jobs.

I routinely met Lieutenant Cooper at the CPA (later the American Embassy) to review various administrative items and to plan the tactical movements related to General Davidson’s schedule. I waited for the L.T. in the large rotunda outside Ambassador Bremer’s office and we ate lunch in the ornate mess hall at the CPA. It was amazing to be in the heart of the operations center for everything going on in Iraq.

The CPA was filled with high-rollers from Washington, D.C., political appointees, diplomats, spies and the generals from the various countries in the Coalition. The place over-flowed with all the cloak and dagger stuff imaginable in a war-time headquarters building. It was a little like the Pentagon with a touch of Rick’s Café in “Casablanca” thrown in."

Clarke Cooper is on the fast track in the high-speed world of politics. He is intelligent, resourceful and destined for much greater things.

Remember his name. You will hear it again…

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

The Gold Convoy

Since my team in Iraq was responsible for protecting a general during our 2004 tour, we spent a lot of time at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone. My direct supervisor was Lieutenant Clarke Cooper, Brigadier General Sandy Davidson’s aide. (Davidson is now a major general at Centcom and Cooper is the State Department’s Congressional liaison for American Ambassador Khalilzad.)

When the general wasn’t being escorted by our C.O.B.R.A. Team, we often escorted other Coalition officers and civilians. We also were used to protect Iraqi civilian VIPs as well and General Davidson’s driver often accompanied us. Sergeant Herbert Hale was a highly skilled tactical driver.

The following entry from my war journal tells about our “secret mission” for the embassy:

“One morning we met Lieutenant Cooper and Sergeant Hale in front of the main doors of the U.S. Embassy. Cooper arranged for us to take some radios and recovered historical artifacts to the Iraqi National Museum and it would take our Humvee and the general’s to carry all the boxes. Cooper brought out the first set of boxes and put them in the general’s Humvee. He then called me over, pulled the top back on one of the cardboard boxes, moved a handful of styrofoam pieces out of the way and there, in all its glory, was a solid gold bar that weighed about 40 pounds.

I looked at him with an expression that suggested I wanted more information. He said he would tell me more later, but this was the one and only time we would do such a mission. When he walked back into the embassy, I opened the first container again and then a second one and I saw that both contained large bars of solid gold. I grabbed my camera and took pictures of the gold bars for posterity, but the movie “Three Kings” kept popping into my mind.

With some of the unusual activities we had seen in Iraq, I was concerned about the way this was being done. Although I maintained complete faith in Cooper, when he came out again with more boxes, I made sure he confirmed with me and the guys that there was written authorization for the transfer.

Cooper showed the paperwork to us and said the embassy administratively transferred the gold to the Ministry of Culture the day before and the written documentation was sent to the museum by diplomatic courier. Cooper said it was all legal and above-board. His word was good enough for me, but it was still nice to see the paperwork. The sting we did with the master sergeant ran through my mind (the C.O.B.R.A. Team assisted the Defense Criminal Investigative Service in apprehending a soldier who was a thief) and I wanted no part of any questionable deal. I knew Cooper would never knowingly involve us in anything improper, but I didn’t want him screwed either.

After everything was loaded, we took on an Iraqi passenger named Christina who worked with the Ministry of Culture. She sat in the only remaining seat since the rest of them were filled with boxes of artifacts and gold. We then proceeded on what was clearly a secret mission for the American embassy to transfer some eight hundred pounds of gold bullion to the Ministry of Culture via the Iraqi National Museum. Naturally, the enemy would love to get their hands on a bunch of gold bars. I tried to imagine how many IEDs, mortars or rockets could be purchased with all that gold.

Many Iraqi nationals must be aware of the transfer and this was a major concern to me. Was there a ministry employee who was a bad guy and who might try to hijack the shipment? I had to hand it to Cooper because he also thought about that possibility; the actual mission to transfer the gold was officially scheduled for the next day. He moved it up a day without telling anyone, so any plans to rob us would be screwed up. Sharp guy, that Cooper.

We pulled out of the embassy compound with the gold and the priceless artifacts and drove toward the Al Rasheed gate. We then headed north into Baghdad through heavy traffic. According to Cooper, by the time we reached the museum, representatives from the Ministry of Culture would already be there.

We kept getting stuck in traffic and I waited for potential hijackers to make their presence known. We scanned every car, every face and every building for any sign we were going to be attacked. We finally rolled into the offices next to the museum with our secret cargo of gold hidden in boxes marked “Ministry of Culture” and mixed in with the artifacts. While Cooper went inside, I pulled out my video camera and filmed the gold, lifting one of the bars partially out of its box.

Some Iraqis came out of the museum offices and removed all the boxes from our Humvees. We watched as the boxes with the gold were stacked separately. Then, as the other boxes were being carried inside the museum, the gold was loaded into a white NTV(non-tactical vehicle or SUV). Armed Iraqi men dressed in civilian clothes left with the gold, presumably to deliver it to the Ministry of Culture. At least we hoped that was what they were going to do.

Once they were gone, I was able to relax and not worry that we were caught up in some sort of sting operation. I still wasn’t totally convinced this gold wouldn’t end up being stolen by some Iraqi or group of Iraqis and somehow get delivered to the bad guys. We would certainly never know.

Our secret mission ended quickly as did our own opportunity to pull a “Three Kings” gold heist. Let’s face it, we were all cops so such a daring feat wouldn’t possibly work for us. Not only was honesty a factor, but we didn’t want to spend our lives waiting for the swift sword of justice to cut our heads off. In reality, the Iraqi people deserved to be the ultimate beneficiaries of the gold since it almost certainly came out of Saddam Hussein’s personal treasure stash. As long as the Sunni insurgents or Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army didn’t get it, I was satisfied. I still felt like I was living in some Humphrey Bogart-type world.

Spys, secret missions, gold bullion. Like Bogey said, it was the stuff that dreams were made of.”

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

The Journey of a Knife

As I prepare to leave for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for a month or so, I pulled a couple of pictures out of the archives. Other than me, the one common thing about the pictures is the Randall knife. This blade with the Indian stag handle was given to me by my late parents when I deployed to Vietnam in 1970 and it is engraved with my name.

One morning late that year, I led my platoon out of our night defensive position north of Bien Hoa near Nui Be mountain. We moved a couple of thousand meters when I reached down and patted my knife’s sheath, a habit which ensured the presence of that valued item.

To my horror, the knife was gone. I suddenly remembered I had left it where I made my “breakfast” of coffee and cocoa that morning. I stopped the platoon and took a patrol back to recover the knife. I was glad I found it before some North Vietnamese soldier stumbled upon it.

When I was preparing to leave for Iraq, I took the weathered knife to the Randall company in Orlando and asked them to re-furbish the blade. They did a beautiful job and made it look brand new. I carried it with me throughout our convoys and our travels in the war zone.

The first picture was taken in a jungle landing zone just before Christmas, 1970. Standing next to me is Captain Oakland Adams, a Ranger who was an outstanding company commander.

The second picture was taken in the Green Zone in Baghdad in October, 2004. Lieutenant Clarke Cooper was kind enough to re-enact the older photo, a copy of which I just happened to have on hand.

It is an interesting comparison, but a sobering one for an old soldier. Soldiers are much like knives; they both age over time, but they work just fine as long as you keep the edge as sharp as possible.

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com