fall 2007 - Seton Hall University

16
FEATURE |
IRAQI INTELLIGENCE:
Jason Faler was a key
informational cog in Iraq,
communicating in Arabic
with Iraqi soldiers and
civilians and passing that
information on to his
superiors in the U.S. Army.
understood the culture, gave me pretty instant
credibility with the Iraqi officers. In fact, I consider
a lot of these Iraqi officers like brothers.”
Faler’s understanding of Middle Eastern
language and culture and empathy for its people
made him a valuable resource during
his rotation in Iraq.
Iraqis trusted Faler enough that they
gave him crucial intelligence that in two
instances resulted in coalition forces
staging major operations. For his work in
Iraq, Faler — who was then a lieutenant
but who is now a captain — earned the
Bronze Star.
“I recommended him for the Bronze
Star,” said Lt. Col. John Burke, Faler’s
commanding officer. “It was a major deal
that a lieutenant would get recognized as
such. Lieutenants have a certain level of
responsibility; Jason quickly exceeded
that. We were directly, personally interacting
with the most senior Iraqi
officials, and Jason stood above, for his
fluency of the language, his work ethic,
his innate intelligence. Everyone would
go to him for information.”
Faler says he was a hub for intelligence
among the Iraqis. “A lot of them
trusted me to a great extent,” Faler said.
“They’d pull me aside and tell me what
was going on in their neighborhood or their village.
Once an officer brought in a neighbor of his
who had lots and lots of intelligence, about a big
operation that was being planned. The CIA wanted
to jointly interview him with me, so we set that up.
That intelligence led to a large operation by coalition
forces. It felt great for me to be able to lend
help with a big operation like that. I wore a number
of hats in Iraq: There was the adviser/liaison
hat and the intelligence officer hat. My role
had wide boundaries. It was very fulfilling.”
Yet it was not all easy. Joint Headquarters,
located just outside Baghdad’s heavily guarded
diplomatic/government area, was consistently
targeted for incoming mortars and rockets. When
Faler’s unit went “outside the wire” to the combat
zone with Iraqi troops, they met with hostile enemy
fire and once survived a harrowing ambush south
of Mosul. Perhaps the hardest part of Faler’s tour
was losing many of the Iraqi friends he had made.
For instance, on the day a U.S.-built operations
center was set to open, complete with modern
radar, plasma screen TVs and all the trappings,
“You just never know
when the next rocket
attack is going to come.
And they do come.”
Iraqi Brigadier General Ayad — “one of the best
officers I met there” — was assassinated on the way
to the grand opening celebration.
Faler not only performed his work in Iraq, he also
continued as a graduate student at Seton Hall, completing
online healthcare administration courses
while overseas. Upon returning to Seton Hall in
January 2006, Faler earned a Master of Hospital
Administration that May and later earned a Master
of Science in Jurisprudence, with a focus on health
law, that December. He now works as a healthcare
administrator in Salem, Ore.
While home, Faler’s mind is never far from Iraq.
He has devoted himself to assisting Iraqi friends,
especially the many interpreters who helped streamline
communications between U.S. forces and Iraqi
military brass, soldiers and general population.
“Many of them have been threatened, had their