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Final Chapter
Danforth spent his last 45 days in Iraq mulling over the next seven or eight steps needed to launch each of the team's recommendations. How much staff would be needed? What technology would make the best fit? He crunched budget numbers and earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars. The team also worked on the CIO handbook, filling it with organizational charts, development processes, data center operational procedures and more.
At the University of Baghdad, Danforth and his team presented their findings to CPA senior advisors, USAID officials and Iraqi representatives from all 26 ministries. Having spent nearly 100 days in Iraq, in a country steeped in mistrust, he says his team had at last earned the respect of many of Iraq's most influential people. The ministries signed off on the IT Strategic Plan, and two days later a tired and gaunt Danforth, some 15 pounds thinner, sat on a plane heading home.
Friends and family gave him a hero's welcome. "I went out and bought every red, white and blue balloon in a five-mile radius," Diana says. Shortly after, he and Diana vacationed on a private island in the Grenadines. Meanwhile, Tatum Partners received kudos from Iraq's interim government and the CPA, congratulating Danforth on his exemplary performance not only in bravery but on the solutions developed and presented. "He hung in there and got it done," says Doug Tatum.
And so did Danforth's many colleagues, not all of whom made it home safely. In January, as insurgents ramped up attacks before the Iraqi elections, his "team mom," Tracy Hushin, 34, was killed by a suicide bomber on the road outside Baghdad International Airport. "She was just a lovely lady," Danforth says, his voice fading.
Today, at his home in a sleepy town in Florida, Danforth smokes cigarettes and gulps coffee. He speaks softly about his time in Iraq and of fallen comrades, and says he appreciates technology even more for its ability to unite people. He also says the experience has given him a balanced outlook on life. He's still a driven CIO, but lately he finds himself instant-messaging with his grandchildren daily.
But when Danforth talks about technology's impact on Iraq, his voice stiffens and carries the unmistakable pitch of American pride. Even as violence slows technology adoption, Danforth asserts that his team's efforts will help all Iraqis down the road. "You could tell they wanted technology; they wanted us to be there," he says. "I saw it in their eyes."
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